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ISSUE 7 • VOLUME 126

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

UCMC details exhaustive preparations for Ebola Kelly Zhang News Staff A patient suspected of having Ebola tested negative for the virus on Thursday night and was released from the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC).

This comes three days after Kenneth Polonsky, the executive vice president for medical affairs, and Karen Warren Coleman, vice president for campus life and student services, sent an e-mail to the University community detailing preparations for the Ebola virus.

The UCMC says they were well prepared to handle the case.

The UCMC, one of four hospi-

tals in the Chicago area that is prepared to treat possible Ebola infections, has been designated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to treat patients with the greatest risk of having the disease. The other hospitals able to treat Ebola patients are Rush University Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and Lurie Children’s Hospital.

On Wednesday night, two passengers, an adult and a child, traveling separately from Liberia became ill while on their way to O’Hare Airport. The adult passenger was sent to Rush University Medical Center, has since EBOLA continued on page 3

Autumn fallin’ Hyde Park proudly shows off its fall colors, sporting a range of greens, yellows, and reds as shown by this home near East 56th Street and South Woodlawn Avenue.

PETER TANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

SG discusses stipends ITS launching password change campaign as petition reaches goal Adam Thorp Maroon Contributor University staff members, including student staff who are eligible for benefits, will be asked to change any CNet passwords that are over a year old as part of the Information Tech-

nology Services (ITS) department’s campaign to bolster the security of University services. In an email to ITS staff members about the project, senior communications project manager Sandra Melnyczenko wrote that around 12,000 people fall into this category.

“We know password changes can be bothersome,” Melnyczenko wrote in the e-mail. “But old passwords and passwords that don’t meet complexity standards—or both—can make you susceptible to hacking attempts.

And when you’re susceptible, so is

Cairo Lewis & Christine Schmidt News Staff & News Editor

Several College Council (CC) representatives voiced their opposition to the decision to pay stipends to new executive cabinet appointees at Student Government’s IT continued on page 2 (SG) weekly meeting on Wednesday, while the executive slate cited the need to encourage socioeconomic diversity. The following day, students submitted a petition with over 700 signatures calling for a Tamar Honig referendum on the stipends to SG. Maroon Contributor “When I made this executive order in the summer, I had no idea United States Paralympic athlete that it would come to this [level Blake Leeper shared his life story of controversy]. Other slates went of overcoming physical disability through a similar process of apon Wednesday evening in an event pointing new positions, but the at Ratner sponsored by UChicago’s people elected were not paid,” SG diversity awareness initiative, RISE president Tyler Kissinger said dur(Reflect. Intervene. Speak. Engage.). ing the meeting.

Born with both legs missing beKissinger established the power low the knee, 25-year-old Leeper has of the SG president to issue execubeen using prosthetics since an early tive orders over the summer and age. He grew up playing basketball then released a series of unprecand baseball, but chose track and edented orders creating five new field as his sport of choice due to his positions: chief of staff, director love of running. of communications, director of Leeper, nicknamed the “American finance, director of new ventures, Blade Runner,” cites the power of and director of technology. After positivity as the reason he has been an application process, he then able to surmount his disability. Doc- appointed people to those roles, tors told his parents at birth that his who would be supported through chances of ever even walking were a total stipend of $4,200, or about slim. But they remained optimistic 0.2 percent of SG’s annual budget. and raised their son with the firm be- Three other SG positions (weblief that the only disability in life is a master, photographer, and graphic bad attitude. designer) already receive stipends.

“Yes, I do have two disabilities,” CC, the undergraduate arm of LEEPER continued on page 2 SG, voted in favor of appointing

Paralympian: “I do it to be the best”

Blake Leeper prepares to enter the Ratner Athletic Center, where he gave a talk on behalf of the Office of Campus and Student Life last Wednesday.

FRANK WANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

IN VIEWPOINTS

Blacklight x Maroon » Page 4 Occupy Hong Kong » Page 4

Kissinger’s picks to the cabinet at their meeting on October 16, and Graduate Council seconded their approval on October 20.

The reasoning behind this order revolves around encouraging people to commit to their positions and to increase productivity. “This is about accessibility and accountability,” Arlin Hill, SG’s vice president for administration, said at the meeting.

In a statement posted on the SG website on October 20, Kissinger said that the stipends also serve as an aid to students who wanted to serve on SG but needed to earn money at the same time.

“We wanted to design a system that was simply meant to help to support students who need to support themselves, students who we—as an organization and a student body—ought to make sure are able to have a seat at the table,” he wrote.

Several SG members voiced their disagreement with the stipends and the criticism it caused to be heaped on them. “Personally, I don’t agree with the process. Students should have been given the opportunity to share their input a long time ago,” Blaine Crawford, a second-year CC representative said.

The petition, submitted by third-year Kevin Hasenfang, listed 733 student signatures. A petition needs 717 signatures, or 5 percent of the student association, to force a referendum on an issue, according to the constitution. There will POLICY continued on page 2

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Classical works De-Classified in USO’s Halloween production

Homecoming brings Bears to town

» Page 6

Second City and Hubbard Street collaboration » Page 9

» Back page

Chatter’s Box with Paul Comet » Page 11

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 24, 2014

2

Film director discusses “being a black face in a white place” Kiwon Lee Maroon Contributor Doc Films, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA), and the Organization of Black Students (OBS) hosted two events this Monday, including previews of a new movie on campus race relations, a talk by the director, and a community discussion.

This event is part of the OMSA’s new program, the Emerging Minds Project, which aims to generate discussion among students about social issues.

After showing clips from his film Dear White People at Doc Films, director Justin Simien discussed the inspirations for his project and how it differs from other movies that feature black characters. Afterwards, at an event co-hosted by OMSA and OBS, contemporary human development post-doctoral scholar, Myles Durkee, led a discussion on issues raised in the film.

Dear White People is a satirical film about “being a black face in a white place,” according to Simien. The film explores the experi-

ences of four black students who attend a prestigious university with mostly white students. Simien wanted his film to portray a microcosm of the American experience by exploring the stories of young black college students.

Simien found a dearth of black characters in the movies that were influential to him. “That’s subtly almost saying that my experience is not the same as the rest of humanity. I really just wanted to see myself as a human being, as a complicated, messy human being.

Staff members will be made to change old passwords in first phase, students to follow IT continued from front

the data you work with every day.”

If staff members do not adopt new passwords or passphrases (a new alternative to passwords) after multiple reminders, they will be shut out of their accounts until they do change them.

The only students included in the current phase of the

campaign are students who receive benefits as staff members of the University. The campaign will later extend to faculty and the remaining students will eventually be asked to update their passwords.

ITS staff members were asked to change their passwords in August.

The new passwords will have to be at least 12 charac-

ters long and include at least one number, one symbol, and both uppercase and lowercase letters. Passphrases, which may be used instead of passwords, are a series of words that, together, are at least 19 characters long. ITS staff anticipates that the passphrases will be easier to remember and to type in from a mobile device.

science in brief

Professor seeks to understand the science of drug abuse through rats Isaac Easton Maroon Contributor Abraham Palmer (A.B. ’92), an associate professor in the Department of Human Genetics, has been awarded a $12 million five-year grant by the National Institute of Drug Abuse to study the genes that play a role in drug abuse in rats. Although Palmer and his team haven’t yet reached any conclusions, they hope to identify genetic regions and specific genes that are connected to drug abuse.

“We come to [our research] with the fundamental notion that some people are probably more genetically susceptible to drug abuse than others,” Palmer said. This means that to understand abuse and treatments for abuse, the team must first understand the genetic architecture that makes an individual predisposed to it. The research he is doing, though, is going to be conducted in rats.

One of the many keys to Palmer’s research is that, within the past four to five years, there have been advances in the research of the use of embryonic stem cells, and their role in rats, that allow researchers to inject rats with specific genetic material.

From the early nineties until recently, much of the genetic testing had been done in mice due to the limited tech-

nology available to researchers. However, it is more difficult for mice to acquire the behaviors that Palmer and his team are interested in studying. “It’s a lot easier for us to teach a rat that if you press a lever you get [intravenous] cocaine,” he said.

Palmer and his lab are currently working on projects using cocaine and nicotine that they hope can shed light on the genetics of drug addiction. One looks at the fundamental genes that influence people and make them more susceptible to relapse. Another project looks at the social factors involved in smoking and how interactions with peer animals can influence the self-administration of nicotine.

Furthermore, Palmer’s lab will analyze gene expression in the parts of the rat’s brain that they know are impacted by drugs. In their studies, they look for the behavior of the rats when they come into contact with drugs, how the genes they have injected them with prior to conducting the tests play a role, and the possible biological factors that occur during drug consumption. “The reason [we] shifted a lot of research from mice toward rats is that the tools have recently come around that allow us to manipulate rat genomes that we have for a long time mouse genomes,” he said.

Palmer said that studying the genetics of human drug abusers is extremely hard for a variety of reasons. “One of the big impediments has turned out to be that a lot of the genetic variation that [is causal for drug abuse] is extremely rare…maybe unique to almost one individual [per] study.” But with rats, they “can breed [them] in a very systematic way so that [they] can create a situation where all of the genetic variants are somewhat common” so they can test hypotheses about drug abuse on a geneby-gene basis.

In terms of looking ahead to future drug abuse treatments, “people are working on [the question of ] how will you deliver either the replacement gene or the enzymes necessary to stitch that gene into the person’s genome,” Palmer said. Initially researchers would only be able to test people with very severe diseases like cystic fibrosis, due to safety concerns with gene alteration, but when, according to Palmer, “we have a level of safety with these procedures, we could move from these very severe cases where people’s lives are at stake…to increasingly less severe situations.” These situations could include drug abuse.

I need that experience,” said Simien.

When discussing the difference between his film and other black movies, Simien said that he wasn’t interested in making a film that had a dogmatic, “racism is bad” message or that served as a form of propaganda. “I really wanted to show how complicated these things can feel because when people see themselves and their complexities and then see other people and their complexities, that’s when we can have a conversation that can change things,” he said.

OMSA and OBS cohosted a separate event later that day that featured Myles Durkee. He discussed the “racialized” experiences among students of color at predominately white institutions, including facing racial micro-aggression and accusations of acting white.

Durkee asked the audience, which was mostly comprised of students of color, if they had ever felt that they have been monitored at stores or stopped by the University of Chicago Police Department because of their race. Half the audi-

ence raised their hands in response. He cited these questions as examples of racial micro-aggressions.

He also explained the relationship between accusations of acting white and detrimental outcomes to their mental health, including depression.

Moderator Jacqueline Stuart said to Simien, “I went to college in the late ’80s, early ’90s. I don’t know if it’s encouraging or depressing that exactly the same types of conversations were happening now that were happening then.”

Leeper hopes to compete as first American Paralympian in 2016 Olympics in Brazil LEEPER continued from front

Leeper said. “But I still have a thousand more abilities to show the world that I’m a truly special person.”

Leeper recounted an incident that occurred around the age of five or six during a game of t-ball. He related how badly he wanted to hit a home run, how badly he wanted to make his father—the coach— and his teammates proud.

After hitting the ball and running, he made it halfway to third base when one of his prosthetic legs fell off and he, subsequently, fell in the dirt.

“I can remember just sitting there asking, ‘Why me? What on earth did I do to deserve this? Why am I the only kid missing legs?’” Leeper said.

While these questions plagued Leeper in his youth, he said he eventually realized they weren’t the right ones to be asking. As he got older, his focus shifted from lamenting what he could not control to fostering the parts of himself he could control. Instead of “Why me?” the question became, “Why not me?”

This mindset led Leeper

to his goal of competing in the 2012 Paralympic Games, where he won first a bronze medal, and then a silver. Just to be at the games felt like a tremendous honor, he said, but still he sought the gold.

“I don’t train and dedicate my life to be number two or number three,” Leeper said.

“I do it to be the best. I do it so I can say I’m number one.

If I don’t reach it, I’m going to keep fighting and keep fighting and keep fighting until I am number one.”

Encouraging students to cultivate this same drive in all of their endeavors, Leeper added, “You guys should always be happy for the opportunities presented in front of you, but never be satisfied.

You should always want more, push for more.”

In his last race of the Paralympic Games, the 4x100-meter relay, Leeper’s team broke the world record, and he received his first gold medal.

While his athletic prowess and determination have helped Leeper achieve success, he admits that there are hard days.

“I’ve cried my tears. I’ve had the pain. I’ve cried as my mother’s cried, my father’s cried. We’ve asked the whatifs. I’m done crying. I’m done feeling sorry for myself. I’m done with all that,” he said.

“The only thing I’m going to do now from this point on is put a smile on my face and be happy for what I have.”

Looking forward, Leeper currently has his sights set on competing as the first American Paralympian in the ablebodied Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

“The day I was born, the doctors said I’ll never walk….

Now I’m standing in front of you today saying I’m one of the fastest runners in the world,” he said. “That’s letting you know that whatever you go through in life, whatever that obstacle might be—with the right heart, the right mind, the right focus, the right team, the right positive attitude, the right perception—you can physically, mentally overcome any challenge that comes your way.”

SG to hold referendum on stipends within month after ensuring signatures are valid POLICY continued from front

most likely be a referendum within the month, but this will be done once the petition’s signatures are checked for validity. According to Kissinger, the results of the referendum are not binding,

but several representatives at the meeting expressed interest in gathering more formal student input through a town hall format or office hours.

In the meantime, Student Government is determining

how they will respond to students’ concerns regarding issues for the longterm.

“There is a deeper problem about how SG presents itself,” said Katherine Shen, another second-year CC representative.

CORRECTIONS • A caption in the October 21 edition of The Maroon misidentified the man in the photo on the front page. He is Justin Simien, the director of the film Dear White People, not Myles Durkee, a postdoc in the comparative human development department.

• “Petition Circulates to Force SG Referendum on Appointee Pay” (10/21/14): This article misstated Tyler Kissinger’s claim that all petitions to Student Gov-

ernment must be in print form. Kissinger in fact only claimed that the SG constitution was unclear as to whether online petitions should be accepted.

• “New Allergy Research Isn’t Peanuts” (10/17/14): This article mistakenly cut out the last two paragraphs and incorrectly referred to the bacteria Nagler studied as cells.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 24, 2014

3

UCMC patient Ebola-free, released from hospital EBOLA continued from front

improved, and is being monitored out of isolation. The child passenger was said to have no known risk of exposure to Ebola, but vomited during the flight. Eventually the child was sent to the UCMC out of caution for observation in isolation.

On Thursday night, the Chicago Tribune reported that the child’s test results for Ebola were negative and the patient was released from the hospital.

UCMC epidemiologist Emily Landon expressed confidence in the UCMC’s preparations for the virus. “We are working with experienced, professional caregivers, who volunteer for this task. We provide extra training, to make [safety] issues top-of-mind. We go over how to put on the gear and how to take it off.

People most often make mistakes when they take it off. Sometimes it requires patience and meticulous care to remove contaminated protective gear safely. We have the fancy Tyvek suits but they protect the staff only after they’ve been taught how to put it on and take it off,� Landon said.

Landon went into detail about how the UCMC is dealing with the threat. According to Landon, anyone who arrives at the UCMC complaining of fever, or of symptoms consistent with Ebola, will be asked about recent travel. Patients who are suspected of having Ebola will be put in an isolation room and infection control will evaluate the patient. Symptoms include fever, muscle and body aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, clotting disorders, and bleeding.

35 physicians and nurses at the UCMC have volunteered to treat any patients suspected of having Ebola. Since August, these staff members have been practicing medical procedures, including checking vital signs on dummies while wearing the masks and full-body Tyvek suits with hoods.

“Because of research projects on campus, we have a fabulous biosafety team with a ton of experience training people. There are little things you wouldn’t think of. For example, sleeve covers over the Tyvek suit.

These are easy to put on and take off. You take them off first, before removing the suit,� Landon said.

Since Ebola is spread through bodily fluids, the UCMC plans to take extreme caution in handling bodily fluids and waste from any patients with Ebola. Waste will be removed from the patient’s room very carefully, through a complex procedure, put in a garbage bag, sealed, sprayed with disinfectant, and bagged once more. It will then be put into a transport container, which will be heated in a large pressure cooker before it can be disposed of. “I’m pretty comfortable with the logistics of taking care of a patient while protecting the staff. I worry about finding patients early enough, before they get really sick and pass the virus on to their family. I worry about the little glitches that have the potential to delay detecting an infected person, time that gives the virus a chance to spread,�

Landon said.

Although the UCMC has 1,000 Tyvek suits for the hospital’s staff, exceeding the CDC guidelines, UCMC nurses were involved in a National Nurses United protest on Tuesday to have the CDC train all nurses on how to use hazardous material suits. The CDC says that based on recent experiences at hospitals, hazmat suits aren’t necessary for successfully treating Ebola patients. The CDC instead recommends a fluid-resistant gown or coverall with double gloves, waterproof boot covers, an air purifying respirator or mask, a full-face shield, and surgical hoods.

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VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed OCTOBER 24, 2014

BLACKLIGHTxMAROON

“...for a black girl” Dealing with race exception myths and interracial dating on campus Nina Katemauswa Blacklight Editor-in-Chief The first time I went on a date with an attractive guy from one of my new classes, one of the first statements he made to me was “To be honest, I don’t usually go out with black girls, but…,” followed by an earnest and lengthy explanation of what made me different and what had caused him to overcome his formerly less diverse dating experiences to give “this” a chance.

Afterwards, I found myself wondering if by this he was referring more to the actual date with me, or just towards my blackness in general.

Unfortunately, while his opening disclaimer was a little troubling and pretty unnecessary in my opinion (Since when did grabbing coffee with someone become a remarkably significant act of tearing down racial barriers anyway— especially in this day and age?), such comments have been in no way atypical of my friends’ or my own brief experiences with interracial dating on this campus. Most times the prevalent assumption— within and outside of black communities—is that if you’re a black woman dating a white man there must be something about you that is exceptional; either you are exceptionally pretty, exceptionally quirky, exceptionally intelligent, or possibly even exceptionally affluent or “well spoken”—anything to suggest that you’re not just “regular” black, because otherwise why

would he be with you instead of a normal (read: white) girl?

Growing up in suburban Texas, I was familiar with the phrase “pretty for a black girl” being used occasionally to describe myself and girls of similar complexions by teachers, classmates, crushes, and friends alike. While students on this campus believe themselves to be far too sophisticated to make such obviously crass observations, it doesn’t stop me from hearing echoes of the same sentiment in every presumably well intentioned remark upon my “eloquence,” or how “put together” I look, from both my peers and professors nearly every year I’ve attended this school.

Let’s be honest: The fact that I did the assigned reading and managed to use the same rhetoric as the author in order to succesfully describe my thoughts shows that I am both literate and capable of coherently presenting my ideas— characteristics that are not so remarkable when considering that they are mere prerequisites for every student at this University in the first place. Again, my “eloquence” is exceptional not in the context of my being a student on this campus, but my being a black woman.

The same goes for my appearance—do I look so “put-together” or “pretty’”—for a black girl—because you truly value the things that make me stand out—or is it because my particular socioeconomic status as a semi-affluent student affords me the luxury of

presenting myself in ways that are more aligned with mainstream (again, read: white) society’s expectations of Women—in ways that other, possibly less privileged, black bodies you are significantly less attracted to may not be capable of ? Gym memberships, regular hair & nail appointments, and easy access to various clothing stores don’t automatically make someone more attractive, but they can certainly help.

These expressions of awe or wonder towards my so-called exceptions—the way I conduct myself, the type of music I listen to, or my appearance—are grounded in the deeper and more problematic assumption that certain groups are inherently less capable or deserving of possessing certain interests and attributes overall.

Saying that you “usually” don’t date people of my skin tone mirrors the people in my hometown who said, “Wow, you were one of only 4 percent [the percentage of black students who were admitted into the University of Chicago my incoming year]? You must be so proud!” In fact, when I stop to really examine what is being said, neither make me feel even the slightest bit comforted or proud in any way. Ultimately, to say you don’t (usually) date black girls is problematic because black women (and black people) come in all different shapes, sizes, shades, and other types. Thus what you’re really rejecting is the very attribute of blackness itself. So even when you appear to be glorifying me

as an individual, your statements and position are inherently racist—not simply indicative of a preference. No matter how you try to spin it, the sentiment is fundamentally racist, and that is exactly how it comes across to me.

The fact that I still feel pressured to sit back and smile gratefully at you all the while only adds insult to injury. How gracious of you to compliment me. How progressive that even though you don’t usually date black girls you’re willing to bend the rules this one time, for this one girl! And how diverse our school is for having an entire 4 percent of its student body be black.

Such statements result in the altering of certain achievements-making it into a traditionally elitist academic institution, winning the sustained affection of a “down” white man, being one of maybe four black girls in your majority-white sorority, or being the only black class rep for your particular graduating class—from the accomplishments they would be for all other “normal” (yup, read: white) individuals: becoming well educated, successfully maintaining healthy relationships, or remaining socially active on campus.

Instead they become horrifically distorted and politicized, because you accomplished those things not as a person, but as a black person, when usually we don’t expect that to happen.

Regardless of race, we all perpetuate these harmful ideas of exceptionalism among bodies of color.

These ideas are harmful because they can only exist within the continued context of systematically propagated inequities. They are even more harmful because they change the tone of the discussion to a misleadingly positive one centered on the value of individual pride and accomplishment, so that no one has to seriously confront the more challenging emotions of collective guilt and shame that lie just beneath these often sincerely constructed messages of praise.

We, as a campus so obsessed with our ability to think about matters critically, need to be much better about examining the things we say regarding race in both professional and casual contexts, as well as the “harmless” opinions we hold that are ultimately firmly rooted in less innocuous origins of prejudice and white supremacy.

For now I’ll stick to enjoying my coffee the way I “usually” prefer to: Alone.

Nina Katemauswa is a thirdyear in the College majoring in philosophy and political science.

BLACKLIGHTxMAROON is a column curated by the Viewpoints editors and the editors of Blacklight, UChicago’s premier literary publication for students of color and minorities. If you would like to contribute, email blacklightxmaroon@ chicagomaroon.com.

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Occupy movement in Hong Kong will fail without our support

David Grossman

Factcheck This!

As far as protests go, until someone starts throwing Molotov cocktails, the footage isn’t likely to make international news. When the Egyptian revolution kicked off with massorganized protests in Tahrir Square, deadly clashes broke out all over the country with protestors and police squads exchanging deadly volleys of tear gas, rocks, and rubber bullets while the world watched with baited breath to see if a social media–fueled revolution could topple yet another Middle East dictator with the glorious forces of democracy. In China, after Beijing broke its promise of free elections by declaring veto power over the nomination process and 800,000 people in Hong Kong signed a protesting petition, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have marched through the streets demanding the right to selfrule. And yet the recent protests in

Hong Kong have received no such attention. Perhaps the struggle for free elections isn’t that interesting after all—we just want to sit back and hope to see a big brawl. Although Hong Kong is technically part of China, the 155-year-British colony has taken on a more westernized identity, complete with a free press and a general assumption of sovereignty. This expectation of freedom is now on display from the government headquarters to the tourist districts of Mong Kok and Causeway Bay in an unprecedented display of public disobedience.

Not since Mahatma Gandhi have we seen protests of such scope and peacefulness. The very symbol of the Occupy movement of Hong Kong has become the umbrella, the defensive tool of choice in response to police use of tear gas. In contrast with, for example, the Occupy Wall Street

movement, the activists in Hong Kong have a singular clear demand and the intent to continue however long it takes to build up sufficient political pressure for mainland Beijing to capitulate. After every night of contentious protests, students spend the morning cleaning up the streets, handing out water bottles, pitching tents, and putting up posters. One pro-democracy supporter tweeted that Hong Kong was “a city where protestors don’t smash up shops, and they also clean up after themselves, yet get teargassed and pushed by the police.” But despite the obvious popular support for free elections, Beijing has chosen to dig in rather than give way. Actively blocking all television footage of the protests and declaring through Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader (who has been asked to resign by the Occupy movement) that the protests have “almost zero” chance of securing an election process over which Beijing does not have ultimate control, the Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that progress is not just OCCUPY continued on page 5

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | October 24, 2014

5

“But people shouldn’t have to pay for their freedoms with their lives for us to care about their oppression” OCCUPY continued from page 4

beyond the horizon. In the face of such intransigence, the lack of escalation on the part of the protestors is truly remarkable.

On its face, the conflict seems clear cut. Hong Kong wants the power of self-determination, and Beijing just wants power over Hong Kong—the essence of democracy versus imperialism. The public stances of western democratic powers on the Occupy movement reflect just that, with the U.S. issuing a statement saying that it “supports universal suffrage in Hong Kong,” defined as “a genuine choice of candidates representative of the voter’s will,” and the U.K. similarly declaring it “essential that the people of Hong Kong have a genuine choice of chief executive…through universal suffrage.” From a political perspective, the former British colony is still fairly moderate in its views toward the mainland—the people of Hong Kong care about free elections in principle, not because the leaders they wish to elect are fundamentally intolerable to Beijing.

But the Chinese Communist Party isn’t trying to control Hong Kong, not really. With mainland China’s economy on the rise, Hong Kong is no longer the economic backbone of the nation. Instead, it’s afraid that if the protests are successful it will set a dangerous precedent that the police state of China would not survive.

Why else would any media coverage of the situation be so heavily censored? Forced to accept free markets to become an economic superpower, the ruling party still clings to the notion that democracy is not simi-

larly a requirement for prosperity, so through propaganda and repression they maintain the illusion that for China there can be no alternative. If Hong Kong, a different government but part of the same China, were to suddenly become a stark counterexample, the people would realize that they have some hope for realizing change through non-violent political action. China could likely quell any sort of armed rebellion, but such a social awakening would be nearly impossible to control.

All context aside, the point is Beijing said “No,” and that’s looking like the end of it. When 846 Egyptians died in their revolution and over 3,000 people were injured, the world paid attention because even though the politics were complicated, whatever the protestors wanted was worth dying for. But people shouldn’t have to pay for their freedoms with their lives for us to care about their oppression. And if we don’t care, who will? After talking to several Chinese students, it became apparent that the shared perception is that the Hong Kong protests are doomed for failure. Joshua Lam, a second-year student from Hong Kong who has been closely following the situation, explains that “in this conflict the moderates are the student leadership and the Hong Kong government and the radicals are the locals who want absolute freedoms or even independence and Beijing who wants absolute veto power over who gets on the ballot.”

When asked whether the local extremists in Hong Kong are likely to dominate the conversation on the

ground, Lam pointed to a live televised debate between student leaders and top Hong Kong politicians, noting that after a seemingly unprecedented public discourse about their demands one of the debaters turned around and told supporters at the main protest site that the government “didn’t give us a material response or direction.” This oscillation between the different groups of protesters’ diverse range of opinions dis-

ELEANOR HYUN

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courages incremental progress and instead serves as a warning to Beijing about the danger of allowing even limited freedoms. In a country like the U.S. with freedom of speech and open discourse, such protests pose philosophical questions about values, but in China, where there are no such privileges, certain practicalities take precedence. So let the protestors shout, and hold up posters, and make convincing oral arguments.

Regardless of how big this revolution grows, who gives a crap? People in mainland China can’t know about it. Citizens of Hong Kong won’t work effectively together to support it. And the rest of the world simply won’t care until someone puts down an umbrella and picks up a rock.

David Grossman is a secondyear in the College majoring in computer science.

THE CHICAGO MAROON

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UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WITH THE HYDE PARK SCHOOL OF DANCE

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Heartlandia OCTOBER 24, 2014

Classical works De-Classified in USO's Halloween production

Members of the University Symphony Orchestra mug for the camera in preparation for their latest show.

COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Hannah Edgar Arts Contributor The University Symphony Orchestra (USO) will kick off its 2014–15 season with its annual Halloween Concert this Saturday.

The Halloween Concert is perhaps the most popular of the six concerts presented by the USO each year, and, in true UChicago fashion, it is known for an unorthodox twist: Both musicians and audience members are encouraged to forgo the stuffy, button-down attire so often associated with the concert hall and come in costume instead.

“With the Halloween Concert, I try to pick themes that have some relation to Halloween tradi-

tion, but [also] provide an opportunity to present some standard repertoire,” music director Barbara Schubert said.

This year, the concert theme is “Classified.” The night’s program includes music from a handful of spy and thriller films and features the Hyde Park School of Dance in a collaborative performance of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the evening’s centerpiece.

Elgar composed the variations in 1899. Each variation was written with one of Elgar’s friends in mind: For example, the rapid-fire second variation, in the style of a toccata, is meant to represent a pianist who was known for his dexterous preparatory scales. The fourth and 12th variations—

which feature solos for viola and cello, respectively—are dedicated to friends of Elgar’s who played those instruments.

“I’ve played the Enigma Variations once before, and it’s been much richer playing it the second time,” observed Aaron Hollander, a fifth-year Ph.D. student and bassoonist in the orchestra. “There’s a lot of complicated rhythm, a lot of exquisite melody . . . I think Nimrod [the piece’s lyrical ninth movement] is what everyone sort of remembers. That’s always been one that’s stuck with me.”

For many years, identifying the dedicatees was the variations’ central “enigma”: In the manuscript, the identities of Elgar’s friends are concealed by their initials or by a

clever pseudonym that precedes the variation. Though all of the dedicatees have since been identified, there is still a mystery at the heart of Variations that baffles music scholars: what exactly is the theme from which the Enigma Variations derive?

“There’s been a whole lot of speculation on what the main theme is,” Schubert said. “[Elgar himself ] said it was an original theme, others think it’s based on Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott [a hymn by Martin Luther], some people think it’s based on another folk tune.

Again, it’s a level of obscurity or mystery—something that’s hidden that you’re left to discover.”

Schubert is looking forward to the season ahead and says that this year’s ensemble is one to watch.

“It’s stronger than ever,” Schubert said of the USO. “All across the board, it’s a really talented group.”

This year’s USO musicians were hand-selected by Schubert after a round of competitive auditions at the end of September. The group is not just musically diverse: The USO counts everyone from firstyears to tenured faculty members among its ranks.

“The average listener may not realize how much of what they hear in the movies has its founda-

tion in classical music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” Schubert said. “All of the music they hear and like so much is essentially derivative from classical composers. So, we have fun with it, but we’re certainly trying to point out the common realm of expression between the two genres.”

“Having fun with it” may be something of an understatement.

Musicians in the orchestra maintain that the Halloween Concert is one of the most exciting of the year, not least of all because Schubert herself participates in the antics.

“Barbara always has the wildest entrances,” Hollander says.

“Whatever she comes up with, it’s sure to be a blast.”

“Once she was Michael Jackson and she actually did the dance with the Hyde Park School of Dance,” recalled third-year Ph.D. student and violinist Lindsay Wright. “Another year she fought a Chinese dragon-style two-person rodeo horse for the baton [during Rossini’s William Tell Overture].” The result? “She won—thank God.” Performances will be at 7 and 9 p.m. at Mandel Hall. Suggested donations at the door are $8 for general admission and $4 for students and children.

Umbilical cord noose leaves audience breathless in Smokefall Taylor McDowell Arts Contributor The visceral depths to which the second of the Goodman Theatre’s fall productions descends are places best left masked by day-to-day naïveté, by dull dry routine, and by the numbing reality of merely getting by. These are places that, like an anchor of dense wrought iron attached to the hip, Anne Kauffman’s production of Noah Haidle’s hauntingly beautiful Smokefall plunges the audience member into. It encases its audience in an existential angst, thick beyond escape, and twists one’s guts with the pronged tool of an unfamiliar, penetrating fear.

Upon arriving at the Goodman, the theater aficionado will discern—from settled deeply beneath the cool still air in his cushioned seat—that the set is gorgeous. It perfectly mimics the warm rooms of a lived-in house. They are familiar: This is the kitchen, complete with trimmed-down table and quietly empty chairs. There is the living room, next to stairs that lead to bedrooms and beyond. Here is the front door, true to wood-and-glass art deco style.

The kitchen has green-tinged appliances set side-by-side with slightly ornate darkly wooden cabinets. Refrigerator and countertop surround a spindle-legged table. Four lean breakfasting chairs wait invitingly just left of center stage. Moss-green carpeting climbs the stairs and marks the setting as mid-century America.

The elevated bedroom set behind sits placidly at a striking angle, cutting maybe 20 degrees into the base of the stage and shooting upward, back and to the right of the audience’s vision.

The visual style is striking.

The arrangement is functional, elegant; it is anticipatory of the sharply jagged direction the play will take.

Thank AMC’s Mad Men for the haunting familiarity of the set. Thank that show also for your familiarity with the stricken families and alienated individuals that characterize the popular vision of mid-century, suburban post-war America.

The stage is populated. Narrator Footnote (played by Guy Massey) describes the play’s activity with a dry humor that agrees with the audience, if the laughter is any indication. Violet (played

by Katherine Keberlein) prepares breakfast and plays host to Daniel (Eric Slater), her husband, and the comedic Colonel (star Mike Nussbaum), her father. Troubled daughter Beauty (played by the incredibly talented Catherine Combs) joins silently. She will be key to the project of the play.

Good mid-century family life ensues.

Daniel is stricken existentially.

His wife Violet is pregnant with twin boys. He loves his daughter Beauty, but she hasn’t spoken in three years. He is troubled at the prospect of John and Samuel, whom he whispers to through the bulge of his wife’s swelling stom-

Catherine Combs, Mike Nusssbaum, and Guy Massey reprise their roles in an encore production of the critically praised play.

COURTESY OF LIZ LAUREN

ach. They will be born into this world, the world that Daniel loves so much that—though he yells at his wife nightly—he is compelled to wake in the morning and trudge to and from the office with a kind of fervent, religious asceticism. Commendable, but it masks a deeper festering wound.

The twins in the womb are best friends; they love each other more than they will love any thing or person ever, in real life or beyond.

And they are fear-struck: Notice

how difficult it is to throw oneself out of the warmth of the womb into this, our cold world. They comfort each other though: "You go first," "Hell no, you’re the first to go," "No bloody way," "You have to," "Fine, I’ll jump first, but you’ll follow immediately OK? I’ll feel the air moving between us as your body works to catch up to mine," "OK, absolutely."

They’re doomed, and so are we.

The second twin chokes on the grip of the umbilical cord around

his neck. He is hung. We are left empty. The story is a mass of shadows. What do you do at intermission after that?

The play is redemptory in small ways, if not for the genius of its performances than at least for the utter beauty of its staging. Still, Noah Haidle must have some real hope for man, or some small hope for the existentially ostracized individual. "What is a life?" he asks.

The answer: The warmth felt only when it is shared with another.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 24, 2014

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Lyric caters to dedicated opera fans with Strauss's Capriccio MJ Chen Arts Staff Richard Strauss knew a thing or two about theory and practice. His Capriccio is a meta-opera: an opera about opera. Sound academic? It is. The work takes some getting used to, but the current Lyric production is to die for. It stars Renée Fleming, offers gorgeous singing, and presents sets featuring the Queen of Divas (shuffle over, Beyoncé).

Capriccio is a sort of witty, happy, operatic Sophie’s Choice. Courted by two lovers, the Countess Madeleine (Fleming) faces a difficult decision: who will she favor, the poet Olivier (Audun Iversen) or the composer Flamand (William Burden)? Of course, the whole shtick is an elaborate allegory for the importance of words versus music in opera. Duh. The answer, too, seems straightforward enough. If she picks the poet, words are more important. If she picks the composer, music is more important. Thing is, we never really find out—Richard Strauss pioneered maddening endings before Christopher Nolan ever made Inception. The grand mystery is never resolved.

Director Peter McClintock’s revival production looks nothing short of spectacular. It melds Rococo with Art Deco, creating a refined and seamless aesthetic. At first glance, Madeleine’s drawing room screams Louis XIV–style excess, complete with florid scrollwork and a mural of the muses.

But look closer and the set loses its historical homogeneity: a wide, sloping lampshade, smooth crystal tumblers, the swirly couch. Yet rather than

distracting from a unified timeframe, these occasional Art Deco elements dress down the scene and relax the atmosphere.

If you watched the Super Bowl last year, you probably remember Renée Fleming (Countess Madeleine) singing the national anthem. Fleming is one of the greatest divas on the planet, pairing ravishing beauty with the rare operatic ability to bring characters to life, this time playing the woman at the center of this terribly academic love triangle. And her voice! It’s simply a force of nature, sweeter than a 4.0 and richer than the Hamptons. Onstage, Fleming plays the Countess with consummate dignity. Decorum gives way to passion in the immortal final scene as the Countess questions her indecision. Her melody soars over turbulent orchestration. Spellbinding.

I consider the second most important character to be La Roche (Peter Rose), the lovable theater director.

He’s a colossal busybody replete with unsolicited advice, playing the basso buffo, or comic bass. Yet La Roche departs from his trope in a stirring monologue two-thirds through the opera. In it, he defends the sanctity of the theater and exalts its creation of a higher reality. Rose delivers a paramount performance, singing despite a throat infection on opening night.

I felt that, if anything, his condition enhanced the role rather than diminished it. A theater director knows best that “the show must go on”—Rose had the courage to do what La Roche would do.

Tenor Burden and baritone Iversen play the composer and the poet, respectively. Both have good chemistry

Madeleine (Renée Fleming), Flamand (William Burden), and Olivier (Audun Iversen) are caught in a romantic triangle in Capriccio.

COURTESY OF TODD ROSENBERG

with Fleming and exude a sense of friendly rivalry. I particularly enjoyed their quick ripostes in favor of music or poetry, delivered with freshness and wit. Personally, I felt that Burden was the more convincing paramour with a defined romantic vibe. To be honest, Iversen has the disadvantage because his character’s a bit of a prude.

A duo equally as dynamic, Bo Skovhus and Anne Sofie von Otter paired off as the Count (Madeleine’s brother) and the actress Clairon. Their courtship is a sort of subplot that runs throughout the entire opera with many a sly glance and flirtatious wink exchanged behind more academic dia-

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logue. I loved the big acting scene, in which the Count recites an excerpt of Olivier’s play to show off his “considerable” acting chops by egregiously overacting to each line. Skovhus plays the buffoon to von Otter’s cool thespian.

As usual, Sir Andrew Davis delivers the goods in the orchestra pit.

The Lyric Opera Orchestra sounded beautifully lush, serving juicy strings with generously gilded brass overtones. I particularly loved how fluid and conversant the opening string sextet was—each part played in independent unity, capturing the opera’s salon atmosphere. Some difficulty, however, seemed to persist in balanc-

ing the vocalist to orchestra output ratio. At times the singing was muffled by overzealous accompaniment, an effect particularly detrimental to the opera’s chattier, argumentative scenes.

Fortunately, Madeleine’s big moment suffered no such setback: the orchestra did not—or could not—cover Renée Fleming.

By no stretch of the imagination is Capriccio an accessible opera. It’s a Media Aesthetics class put into cocktail gowns and set to music—not everyone’s cup of tea. But I loved this current production for its stellar singing and intergalactic cast. To me, music reigns supreme.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENT | October 24, 2014

8

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 24, 2014

9

Second City and Hubbard Street take leap with collaboration

She gets the laughs; they got the calves. Second City teamed up with Hubbard Street Dance for a special show.

COURTESY OF TODD ROSENBERG

Evangeline Reid Associate Arts Editor Both leaders in their fields, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and The Second City combined in the collaboration of the year to create an unprecedented performance that is lively, tender, fresh and adorably absurd. After its brief run of only five shows, everyone is talking about it.

Audiences arrived with little idea of what to expect from The Art of Falling but left knowing it was a risk worth taking.

In a video preview, Kelly Leonard, the executive vice president of Second City, said, “This will either be the grandest success or the great-

est failure of all time. And I really mean that in the best way possible.”

And it’s true. This show pulled both groups out of their comfort zones in more ways than one. A large part of it was the massive production size that is fairly new to Hubbard Street—following their very successful work One Thousand Pieces, which uses a large cast—as well as to Second City, which typically keeps its teams under 10 people.

With the number of risks inherent in this kind of larger production and mixing of genre, it is clear why the show was only scheduled to run for one weekend. Who could anticipate the response? Yet all five evenings the show maxed out the theatre’s

capacity, which is over 1,500 people, and received an immediate standing ovation.

It seems clear that the root of its success comes from the nearly yearlong careful collaboration leading up to it. The two groups took the time to find each other’s strengths and grow from there under the guidance of director Billy Bungeroth. From the way the show was billed—a compromise between the two groups’ methods of more versus less—to the performance itself, it was something very, very different, and intentionally so. It was not just dance and comedy living on one stage. It was startlingly honest communication through two sur-

prisingly compatible means.

The show opens with a surprise visit from Hubbard Street’s artistic director, Glenn Edgerton, welcoming the audience to the adventure like Willy Wonka to his factory.

What follows seems fit: It’s all one massive ride of inventive staging and quick wit and real people. It’s built with three main storylines interwoven and scattered with smaller vignettes. One story follows an eager new employee who is incredibly nervous around one (particularly cute) coworker. This is the catalyst for several hilarious and bizarre scenes: everything from dancer-made chairs, exercise bikes, crucifixes, and messenger bags to a piece choreographed with office chairs and set to the dramatic music of Swan Lake.

Another story line follows a quiet man who finds himself next to a very talkative older woman on an airplane: a woman who likes to use conversation starter cards and also thinks they have correct answers.

The number of bodies on stage for this storyline provides its strength as well as its realism. It lends itself well to a very poignant closing, as all the passengers reach up to turn off their lights at the same time and hang there, suspended. The third story line follows two men through their early relationship and features a sassy and wonderful Croatian grandmother, played by Tawny Newsome.

It was Newsome’s endearing elderly character that held these storylines together more than anyone else. The audience meets her in Act One when she appears to ask frontrow audience members some questions in a typical Second City style.

But instead of turning them into jokes, the musicians and dancers improvised in response to the answers and then combined them into a “never-before seen” piece. The feat was impressive.

In fact, the show as a whole was moving, entertaining, mesmerizing, and laugh-out-loud funny.

Something about the combination of beautiful and careful movements with well-crafted words and music—there are also hilarious songs as the icing on the cake—is very compelling. This collaboration has stumbled upon something wonderful, something that many hope will be repeatable. Five shows just weren’t enough.

The good news for those who didn’t see it is that, though the people in it have busy schedules packed with performances and other work in the coming season, there may be an opportunity to see this again in the not-too-distant future. There’s even a recent precedent for it. Hubbard Street reproduced a very popular piece of theirs just over a year after it first premiered, and a Hubbard Street spokesperson made it clear that the group listens to its audience. Reproducing the show would require both collaborators to be on board, but it sounds like at least one of them is open to it.

I won’t ruin the way the show builds from humor to something much more profound by giving away the ending, but I can tell you that you that you won’t forget it. It will leave you invigorated and hopeful.

So get on Facebook. Get on Twitter. Tell Hubbard Street and Second City you’re willing to wait, be polite, but make it clear you want to see this show because, trust me: You do.

Cannibals blend right in on new season of The Walking Dead James Mackenzie Arts Editor Sometimes it is easy to forget that AMC’s The Walking Dead is meant to be a horror show. That’s partly because the genre is so rare on television, FX’s American Horror Story notwithstanding. It’s also because of how overt the show is in its scares. Classical cinematic horror relies on hiding and deception, whereas The Walking Dead earns its keep from buckets of blood and gore, matched in quantity only by the show’s camp. The show seems to fall in the action genre more often than not, featuring more thrills than chills.

Soon to be the last remnant of AMC’s once-formidable crop of excellent dramas, The Walking Dead was and remains the most inconsistent of those shows. The first season was a revelation for fast-paced, high-production-value thrillers on cable, while the second opted to slow down and develop a cast the writers had previously shown little interest in. The third season was a master class in building tension, but bungled its finale so badly that half of the fourth season was dedicated to trying to fix it.

We start out the fifth season with our survivors in the captivity of the cannibals who run the supposed safe haven of Terminus.

They manage to escape and torch

the place, but are then hunted by the surviving and still hungry Terminians. In the course of running away, they meet a reclusive priest played by Seth Gilliam, who joins Lawrence Gilliard Jr. and Chad Coleman in the show’s ongoing quest to reassemble the supporting cast of HBO’s The Wire. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and friends are immediately distrustful of the pastor, and with good reason. From zombies in the barn to the Governor to Terminus, the show has made such a habit of setting traps within facades of safety that by now betrayal seems more like a matter of course than a real question. “Not everyone can be bad,” argues Rick’s son Carl (Chandler Riggs), but if he truly believes that then he does not follow The Walking Dead very closely.

And that’s just it: The thing we sometimes forget about The Walking Dead is that the zombies from which the show draws its premise are often not the source of its actual horror. It’s the people, or more specifically what people are capable of doing to each other, that cools the blood. The first two episodes of the fifth season seem intent on reminding the viewer of just how bad we can be, and they could not be better for it. Our heroes don’t get offed right away by the cannibals, but we see several unknowns disposed of in truly brutal fashion, even by the increasingly violent standards of cable television. Zom-

Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) would rather just deal with more zombies.

COURTESY OF

20TH TELEVISION

bies tearing the living flesh from the bones of screaming victims somehow fail to match the horror of the clinical throat slitting that is the preferred method of slaughter by the denizens of Terminus. Despite their temporary reprieve from this, it only takes until the end of the second episode for one of the leads to suffer a fate the cruelty of which could only be devised by TV writers.

There’s an inevitability to that fate inherent in The Walking Dead and other kill-’em-all shows like HBO’s Game of Thrones. There’s a pact between viewer and creator that we’ll get our fill of all the violence and mayhem we crave, but in exchange we have to bear the trauma of watching these characters suffer. These scenes seem to question our perversions as viewers while at the same time encourag-

ing us to bask in them. The action scenes are less complicated in their construction. There is no guilt and little horror, only a well-shot and well-choreographed mix of handto-hand and gun-based combat with humans and zombies alike.

Unlike in some of the more personal and visceral moments, here the living and dead blur together, the only important distinction being killed or yet-to-be-killed.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 24, 2014

Smart Musuem carves out space to celebrate 40th anniversary

A picture from the Smart Museum's inaugural exhibit in 1974, featuring sculpture from the Joel Starrels, Jr. Memorial Collection, which is also shown in their current museum-wide exhibit Carved, Cast, Crumpled.

COURTESY OF THE SMART MUSEUM OF ART

Grace Hauck Arts Contributor “Why are these two pieces similar? Why are they even significant, if they can mean anything?” our overly-excited docent asked us on our private tour of the Smart’s new exhibit, Carved, Cast, Crumpled: Sculpture All Ways.

Impatient, I tried to lose him

in order to formulate my own thoughts on the showcase. He asked us questions that he must have considered provocative, yet were in fact so rhetorical that I could only awkwardly stare back.

Closer to individual pieces, I realized his questions stemmed from the captions next to them. I was jarred by the Smart’s intent to evoke a specific emotion or opin-

ion from me. This became apparent later: Their stated goal is to question what it means to be in the presence of an object.

Carved, Cast, Crumpled: Sculpture All Ways is the Smart Museum’s newest exhibition, specifically on 3-D objects, and one of their grandest endeavors. In order to take on such an immense exhibition, the curators moved both

temporary and long-term pieces into storage, so don’t come looking for that Rothko. It is no small feat, and one taken on as part of the Smart Museum’s 40th anniversary celebration. The gallery comprises sculptures and sketches from multiple centuries, continents, and materials. The exhibit traces back to the Smart's roots by featuring elements of its very first exhibit with work from the Joel Starrels, Jr. Memorial Collection of modern sculpture. With such an expansive array, it’s an easy atmosphere to get lost or confused in; I found myself questioning if this made the artwork, or my time, less significant.

In the gallery, you will find statues of the human form, amorphous shapes, and abstract entities. The sculptures of Rodin are aesthetically pleasing in the classic sense— one antiquated piece that struck me was a repurposed vase, made from fragments of multiple vases of the same time period. Repurposing, employed through various techniques such as the pastingtogether of this vase, was a major theme throughout the showroom.

Moving into the more modern rooms, space became more clearly delineated, even as the pieces became more complex. The most notable was of abstract quality, but quite concrete purpose and meaning: The paraSITE is an inflatable tent for homeless in urban areas to hook up to vents in order to keep warm and sheltered. While it is the only piece in the entire exhibit I looked up later, it was the only one I considered too practical to

be seamlessly incorporated in the exhibit, or in the Smart museum itself. Also of note thematically is Lipski’s Water Lilies No. 34, a long tube filled with eggs in varying states of decomposition, a portrayal of the ephemerality of art for art’s sake.

Each modern piece seems to stand out from the walls and floors around it, as 3-D objects are known to do, creating a certain fluidity within the space for visitors to easily walk through. For the average viewer, your time at the Smart might be minimal, but the curious might find themselves taking time on a few pieces in particular that catch their attention. While I won’t remember any of these pieces as exceptional, I will remember the exhibit in its entirety as a conversation starter and a means to appreciate sculpture as an art form: sometimes underappreciated, and always temporary.

I caught up with the docent before I left, thanking him for his time. I told him how I appreciated that the exhibit allowed viewers to go beyond simply "looking" into the realm of interaction; the sculptural works can be walked around, and the art itself demands continuous contemplation.

The exhibition runs until December 21. If you’re lucky enough to snag a docent, take the time to delve a little deeper into the process of the pieces. Then decide for yourself—as the Smart asks you to—what these objects are, and what it means to be in their presence.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | October 21, 2014

South Siders aim to keep composure versus Warhawks Men’s Soccer Eirene Kim Sports Staff Chicago (8–4–2) takes a break from the UAA as it hits the road to take on UW–Whitewater (9–3–3) this weekend.

The Maroons feel confident after three consecutive UAA weekends that have left them within striking distance of the UAA title.

“The team feels good after a strong start to our conference.

We just need to continue focusing on what has made us successful the past few weeks,” said fourth-year forward Nick Hollenkamp.

Chicago has tallied eight points in the UAA standings within the past three weekends, putting them in second place, and just one point shy of the leader: Brandeis. The Maroons hope this confidence and positivity, which factored into four shutouts against Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Rochester, and Case Western, will carry into this weekend’s big game.

“We feel very confident going into this weekend, hoping to keep our streak of clean sheets,” said second-year midfielder Alec Magdaleno.

Chicago recognizes that there are still a lot of games left before the UAA champion is crowned.

The competition to come is tough, and Whitewater is no exception. The Maroons may be confident with their results so far, but they still expect more out of themselves.

“We feel confident coming off of a four point weekend...but we are still unsatisfied since it only resulted in four points. We need to improve our finishing in the final third [of the UAA],” said fourthyear midfielder Nic Lopez.

Regardless, the Maroons have not let their confidence distract them from the hard road that remains ahead. Every game counts, and Chicago knows that its confidence must be supplemented with hard work in every practice and game in order to be successful against the Warhawks.

“We need to keep humble and keep working hard every day to succeed,” said second-year center back DJ Weis.

With that, the South Siders know there are no days off for the rest of regular season in order to keep their postseason dreams alive.

“Every player needs to do their job, and we have to continue

what we have been working on,” said Magdaleno.

Though Whitewater is not in their region or conference, the Maroons are still preparing “for a notoriously physical match,” according to Lopez. Whitewater has historically been a rough opponent, and Chicago looks to stay composed in a physically and mentally challenging match.

“Last year, at times it was an emotionally charged game, but on Saturday we will be focused on keeping the emotion out of it and just playing our style,” said fourth-year midfielder and team captain Kyle Kurfirst.

With that, the Maroons hope to maintain their success as they go into their last two weekends of UAA competition. These last few games against big teams like NYU, No. 3 Brandeis, and longtime school rival Washington University will be the determining factors of a postseason berth. A win at Whitewater will certainly keep Chicago in a good rhythm going into its last few regular season games.

The Maroons will hit the road to Whitewater to take on the Warkhawks. Kickoff will be at 3 p.m. in Whitewater, WI , tomorrow.

11

In the Chatter’s Box with Sarah Langs

Paul Comet is a third-year defensive back from Champaign, IL. We chatted with him to get some insider info on the life of a Maroon athlete..

Chicago Maroon: When did you start playing football?

Paul Comet: I started playing freshman year of high school.

CM: Do you feel like that was late to start playing?

PC: I think, compared to some, it was late in the game. I actually played football for a year in the fifth grade but hurt my knee. My mom wouldn’t let me play until high school after that.

CM: What other sports did you play in high school?

PC: I also played basketball and ran track.

CM: How did you decide to try to play football in college? When did you know you’d try to?

PC: I decided to play football in college because it was obviously something I really enjoyed and ended up being an avenue to more competitive football and academics. I knew I wanted to continue playing in college if possible after my freshman season.

CM: What are some differences between a high school team and the team here?

PC: The major difference between high school and college football is the speed, intensity, and attention to detail. In college, coaching is your coach’s job, so they are much harder on you and expect much more out of you than in high school.

CM: What’s your mentality when you’re out on the field?

PC: Mentally, on the field, you have to be extremely focused. I would say my mind is in some sort of analytic state because you have to constantly read what the offensive players are doing and make adjustments accordingly.

CM: You’re a third-year, so you still have

some time, but will you try to play football after college?

PC: Unfortunately, after next year I will be done with football and on to hopefully bigger and better things.

CM: Does your approach on the field and as an athlete inform the way you act as a student, or even just the way you approach things in general?

PC: I think being an athlete plays a very large role in the way I approach things. I think I approach things aggressively and fully, and in turn very competitively.

CM: Do you follow the NFL? Have a favorite team?

PC: I do not follow the NFL, but my favorite team is the Bears.

2O14/2O15 CONCERT SERIES

JAZZ AT THE LOGAN

Fourth-year midfielder Nic Lopez battles for a header in a game against Rochester last October.

FRANK WANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Regina Carter with special guest Edmar Castaneda FRIDAY / OCTOBER 24 / 7:30 PM LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS / PERFORMANCE HALL, 915 East 60th Street Come hear violin virtuoso Regina Carter and Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda in the season’s opening concert for the acclaimed “Jazz at the Logan” series.

Tickets: $35 / $5 students “Regina Carter creates music that is wonderfully listenable, probingly intelligent and, at times, breathtakingly daring… taking the listener into the future of jazz.” —Time Magazine

$5

Edmar Castaneda

For tickets call 773.702.ARTS or visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu

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The Julie and Parker Hall Endowment for Jazz and American Music

A limited number of FREE tickets are available through the Sponsor-AStudent Program, made possible by University of Chicago Arts Pass. For more information, visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu/tickets/student-tickets

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “They have to speed up the process of throwing the football, or J.J. Watt will go to the Hall of Fame TONIGHT. — NFL analyst Jon Gruden comments on the lackadaisical Pittsburgh Steelers’ passing attack

Chicago women row from water to podium at Head of the Charles Derek Tsang Sports Staff When their boat finished in the middle of the pack at the Head of the Charles Regatta in 2012, Ariel Stevenson and Sara Mohr promised their graduating coxswain that they would win a medal for her.

Now fourth-years and the crew club’s captain and president, respectively, Stevenson and Mohr came through with a second-place finish in the Women’s Collegiate Fours division at last weekend’s Head of the Charles race. Fourth-year Emily Anagnostos, second-year Suzanne Lechner, and fourth-year coxswain Marc Kealhofer rounded out their boat.

The Head of the Charles is the world’s largest regatta, attracting some 11,000 athletes and 400,000 spectators to Cambridge, MA, for

60 races over two days. The Charles is a chance for participants to mingle with Olympic rowers—Stevenson said she made sure to get a picture two years ago—and with alumni. The Maroons were staying with Broadview’s original Resident Heads, and they received their medals from their former coxswain, who was volunteering at the medal stand.

Competing against schools like Trinity, Penn State, and UC Santa Barbara, the Maroons finished in 18:54, about half a minute behind first-place Barry University. Their previous best had been fifth place, in 2011. The team also sent a men’s boat, which finished last out of 44 boats after incurring a penalty for hitting another boat’s oars.

Coach Trish Brubaker said that before the race, she thought the women’s four “had a shot at win-

ning a medal.”

“I’ve worked with all of them for a while, so their potential has always been very apparent to me,” she said.

Before embarking on the Charles’s famously serpentine three-mile course (there is a full 180-degree turn at the two-mile mark, which is rare), boats line up single-file in the order they finished last year. This meant that the Maroons started 12th, behind Lafayette and in front of Illinois. The women’s four has a tendency to “try to crush it,” said Brubaker, so she had them start off slow to keep them relaxed.

But about a mile into the race, the Maroons upped their tempo from 32 to 34 strokes per minute, according to Stevenson. “We passed Lafayette in five strokes, which is impressive.”

The Maroons had a scare under

the second bridge, where they got too close to Wheaton’s boat and clashed oars. They found out later, though, that the judges decided to give the minute penalty to Wheaton instead of Chicago. From there, the race was smooth rowing.

“They looked relaxed but powerful and committed,” Brubaker said, who followed the team along on her bike. “A lot of times in head races you can’t really tell how fast your crew is going. In this case, their speed was very visible. With every stroke, you could see the crew gaining on the boats that started ahead of them.”

Mohr deferred credit to the boat’s coxswain, Kealhofer.

“Sitting at the start line, not knowing how well we were going to do, it was very reassuring to know we had someone like Marc, who was in control,” Mohr said. “He steered

a perfect course, so we didn’t have to worry about anything, we just had to pull, and we knew Marc was going to get us there.”

The Maroons have two races left in their fall season: a scrimmage against Illinois and the Head of the Hooch at Chattanooga.

The crew team has grown rapidly in the last few years, and Mohr credited some success to that depth.

“To have a fast four, you need more than four women willing to put the work in,” she said. “Our whole women’s team is very strong.

We’re committed to that, and we push each other to be better.”

Between that and the club’s improved financial situation—the club is in the black for the first time since a former president put them into debt to buy two boats six years ago—Chicago crew’s outlook for the spring season is quite rosy.

Homecoming brings Bears to town No. 12 South Siders duke it out with No. 7 Thunder Football

Russell Mendelson Senior Sports Staff

The 5–1 Maroons are coming home this weekend, with hopes of picking up their momentum once again.

Chicago started with five wins before losing its first contest last Saturday at the hands of No. 15 Bethel (5–1).

“Losing games are those hopefully rare occasions where you get a kick in the butt to show you what you’re actually good at and all those other things you need to desperately improve,” said fourth-year tight end Bryan Tisdale.

Fourth-year defensive lineman Scott Mainquist saw the game as a learning experience for the team from an even broader perspective.

“I think the team realized that if we want to be able to take the next step as a program, we are going to have to be able to play up to the level of competition that we saw last week, and that means playing fundamental football and executing assignments on the field,” Mainquist said.

The Maroons have a chance to correct some of those mistakes as Wash U (2–4) journeys to Hyde Park this weekend forChicago’s homecoming game.

“Homecoming for us is a great game because it is when the student body really comes out to support us,” said fourth-year offensive lineman Isaac Stern. “The administration puts their best foot forward with the block party, as well. Beyond that, the opportunity to beat our rivals Wash U is more than we could ask for.”

Fourth-year quarterback Patrick Ryan is also looking forward to tussling with the Bears at home.

“Every game is special to me now that it is my senior season, but this one does mean a lot to me,” Ryan said. “Playing our rival Wash U for the founders cup in front of a great crowd is just an awesome opportu-

Women’s Soccer Katie Anderson Maroon Contributor

Fourth-year defensive end Brandon Bolock leads the No. 10 defense with nine tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS

nity.”

Tomorrow’s game provides a bit of extra pressure for the Maroons, since it’s the first chance of the season to face a UAA opponent in Wash U. “[T]here is always a little added pressure when you start league play, and it involves a rivalry game but this year I feel as though we have a greater confidence in ourselves because of what we have accomplished up to this point,” Mainquist said.

Mainquist’s partner in crime,

fourth-year defensive lineman Brandon Bolock, shares his fellow Maroon’s confidence.

“In the words of Coach Wilkerson, we need to ‘do what we do,’” Bolock said. “I truly believe that we are the better team, man-for-man.

By doing our job and trusting in ourselves and coaching staff, we will be successful this weekend.”

The Maroons look to take down the Bears tomorrow at Stagg Field at 1:30 p.m. Homecoming festivities begin at 11 a.m.

The No. 12 Maroons (11–3– 1) hit the road today to face off against non-conference No. 7 Wheaton College (11–2–1) later tonight. This week’s NCAA Division III regional rankings placed Chicago No. 1 in the Midwest region, and Wheaton College No. 2.

With a long history of competitive matches against the Thunder, the Maroons are going into the game with eager anticipation. Last year’s match ended in a 1–1 tie after two grueling overtime periods. Additionally, the Maroons have failed to beat Wheaton in their past four matches. The squad used this rivalry as motivation in this week’s practices.

“This game is always heated because of a long-standing rivalry between us and Wheaton, and this year we are both ranked in the top 25 nationally, so it should be an excellent matchup,” said fourth-year captain and defender Katie Shivanandan.

“This week in practice we focused a lot on offensive patterns and strategies that will help us succeed against Wheaton’s unique style of defense,” said first-year midfielder Whitley Cargile. “We emphasized that games against Wheaton are always competitive and that this year will be no different. The outcome will show who the best team in the Midwest region really is.”

Although the rivalry hangs over their heads, the Maroons

are going into the match with confidence and poise based on their strong performance thus far this season. Last weekend, in a pair of pivotal conference matches, the squad defeated Rochester 2–1 and then tied Case Western Reserve 0–0 in double overtime. Aware of where it stands, the team recognizes its strengths and is focused on using those strengths to its advantage in tonight’s matchup.

“Our biggest strength is the depth of our team,” Shivanandan said. “After a long weekend of two hard games against Rochester and Case Western, we will need everyone tonight, and everyone is up to the challenge.”

Additionally, the Maroons’ defensive effort all season has been remarkable. Just last weekend, the South Siders held Rochester to only six shot attempts in the game; fourth-year goalkeeper Jacinda Reid dominated, making four saves and only allowing one goal in her 80 minutes in the net. Overall, the Maroons have recorded an impressive eight shutouts during the season, including five in their last eight matches.

“We have been really good this season at finishing games strong. Once we have a lead, we are good at not getting too comfortable. If we are able to score early in the game, we’re confident in our defense’s ability to hold onto the lead and finish the game with a win,” Cargile said.

The Maroons hope to execute that strateg y tonight. The South Siders take the pitch at 7 p.m. at Wheaton.