DM's finances exposed SASA shines p. 28
Greek life psych p. 6 Movie sex p. 13 NU’s body art p. 18 Chicago’s under-21 scene p. 22
NORTH BY
Winter 2010
➽➽
Their
Left, Willard head chef and Service Workers United union steward Tom Breitsprecher. Right, campaign leader and Weinberg junior Adam Yalowitz.
Campaign
Why students are championing a living wage for NU's unsung workers
NORTH BY
WINTER 2010
41 Mental image
Northwestern’s secret mental health disability By Angelica Jaime
28 Save the dance Settling the score on Dance Marathon’s finances By Nick Castele
8 Data
Who makes the most bank at NU By Alex Campbell
18 Students expose their tattoos A look at Northwestern’s best body art By John Meguerian
30 SASA Spectacular
Photo essay: Color moves and culture comes alive through music and dance at the annual South Asian Student Aliiance show. By Jared T. Miller
15 Lab heroes By Amina Elahi
21 NU’s onehanded fencer By Colin Becht
16 Northwestern on ice
Catch a glimpse of the winter games in our own backyard with NU Synchro. By Bettina Chang
23 Stylesheet By Abby Shure
45 Steelin’ home By Dan Camponovo
north by northwestern|
3
NORTH BY
NORTHbyNORTHWESTERN.com Amanda Litman
Vi-An Nguyen
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
MANAGING EDITOR
Alan Boccadoro
Matthew Connolly
Jessica K. Chou
Sarah Adler
Julie Beck, Caleb Melby, Tom Schroeder
Monica Kim
Sarah Davidson
Aubrey Blanche
ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR
SENIOR EDITOR
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITOR
Max Brawer
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Rui Yang
Deeya Burman
BUSINESS MANAGER
BUSINESS MANAGER
Jake LaRaus
DIRECTOR OF TALENT
Jierong Pan
BUSINESS MANAGER
FEATURES
NEWS
Matthew Connolly
Vi-An Nguyen
Ralitza Todorova
Billy Schwartz
VICE PRESIDENT TREASURER
Sourav Bhowmick POLITICS
Alex Freeman LIFE & STYLE
Dan Camponovo WRITING
John Meguerian, Katherine Tang PHOTO
Ellen Cooper, Rocio Martinez VIDEO
Geoff Hill WEBMASTER
Gus Wezerek GRAPHICS
VICE PRESIDENT
ASSISTANT EDITORS
SECRETARY
Cover photo by John Meguerian
ENTERTAINMENT
SPORTS
INTERACTIVE
PRESIDENT
Kevin Sullivan
Nathan Lipkin, Colin Becht
Emily Chow North by Northwestern NFP An Illinois not-for-profit organization Amanda Litman
MANAGING EDITOR
SECTION EDITORS Vanessa Dopker Caty Enders OPINION
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Monica Kim
MANAGING EDITOR
ASSISTANT MANGAGING EDITORS
Hallie Busta Ralitza Todorova
Nick Castele
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
DESIGN EDITOR
SENIOR EDITOR
Yalowitz and Tom Breitsprecher were superimposed together for the purposes of the cover. Published with support from Campus Progress / Center for American progress (online at CampusProgress.org)
Feifei Huang, Kaitlyn Jahelka, Lorraine K. Lee, Sasha Von Olderhausen, Dan Q. Tham, Katherine Zhu, Ross Lipschultz, Edwin Rios, Josh Sim, Matt Zeitlin, Anirudh Malkani, Shivani Banker, Abby Shure, Sean Kane, Todd Kushigemachi, Hayley Altabef, Sisi Wei, Ryan Reid, Blake Sobczak, Greg Swiatek, Ngozi Ekeledo
NORTH BY NORTHWESTERN
SUBSCRIBE!
1
yr. for
(3 ISSUES!)
20
$
northbynorthwestern.com/subscribe
outlook Overheard on listservs As a frequent listserv abuser, I do not think censorship is the right option. Instead, you could try peer pressure or physical measures.
Guys... i feel like this has gone on too long. New topic. How about talking about me? Everyone loves me...
Ignore trolls. does anyone have the number for the yummy guy who devotes three minutes to an extended fishing metaphor?
Everyone knows that all Digimon end in -mon. Plus Pokémon are waaaay cooler than Digimon. Please catch up.
Context-free comments ➽➽ From northbynorthwestern.com
I just find it very hot that a girl can so seamlessly interweave football knowledge and social knowledge. Please be single? When I go streaking, it’s a gloriously average day. When I go streaking, it’s a national holiday.
Willard... Where Dreams Come True
Can someone please make small custom Willard candle holders?
Glossary
Redefining Winter Quarter’s buzzwords. By Caleb Melby
Canning\ka-niŋ\ n. 1. The process of going out and collecting donations in public places. Donations are normally placed into a can. 2. A small price to pay to have the opportunity to dance for 30 straight sweaty hours… right? Drop a Bid\dräp ā bid\ v. 1. Used as an official signifier of an interested male’s desire to join a certain fraternity. 2. A confusing turn of phrase used primarily during Rush Week. “So the guys at Omega Chi wanted me to drop a bid, but I wasn’t really interested, so I dropped the bid.” Lecture in Tech\lek-ch r in tek\ n. 1. Instruction heavily reliant on Power Point, presented to 400-plus students who are checking Facebook instead of paying attention. 2. A quest of Tolkien-esque proportions for the South Campus-ite. 3. The catalyst for numerous dubious sexual favors. “You’ll do anything for me if I take notes for you today?” (North Campus students, please see Lecture in Fisk). e
Northwestern iPhone Applications\ north-wes-t rn ī -fōn a-pl -kā-sh nz\ n. 1. Programs made accessible via the iPhone, designed to be useful in any number of circumstances, now tailored to your Northwestern experience. 2. The campus maps app can show you where Tech is, but no man or app can navigate it once you get there. e
e
e
1800 Club\ ā(t)-tēn h n-dr d kl b\ n. 1. The iconic bar that suddenly closed its doors, forever changing the face of Northwestern nightlife. 2. A classier, quieter bar with regulars who are at a loss following its unexpected closing: “So now our options are The Keg… or Chili’s… how do you guys feel about a game of Monopoly?” e
e
e
e
e
illustrations: emily chow
Seasonal Affective Disorder or (SAD)\sēz-n l a-fek-tiv dis-or-d r\ n. 1. A mood disorder that throws people of normal mental health into a depressive state in the darker winter months. 2. The best excuse you will ever have to drink in your room all by yourself while watching Glee on a Friday night.
This conversation is an offense against Eywa The only credible love story of our day! Besides Lolita, of course. I still see some people on facebook with this “Whatever I can get” in the looking for. They must have had for a long time. If FOX’s honest slogan was “Our news women are hot. Watch us.”, MSNBC’s would definitely be “Join us in giving B.O. a B.J.”. what is it about humanity that requires everything enjoyable to be labeled as potentially hazardous? Porn for the win! (There, I said it.)
outlook|
5
science of...
How CollegeACB creates monsters
You and me and everyone we know The psychology behind Greek life. By Alexandra Sifferlin
6|
But psychologists are not only interested in why students would be willing to participate in hazing activities, but also why students are willing to haze younger or newer members. Some psychologists turn to research indicating there is a diffusion of responsibility in a group, which allows no single member to take the blame. “We look to the others in the group to guide our behavior and if ‘everyone seems to be doing it, then it must be okay.’ Then we don’t feel responsible,” Welborn says. Many states have passed legislation prohibiting hazing and Northwestern University has strict rules in this arena. According to Northwestern, hazing is very broad, from “forced consumption of alcohol,” to “treasure hunts outside the confines of the University.” If a violation is made, fraternities and sororities can expect strict school punishments and potentially state punishments as well. Individually, people may not naturally fall into certain behaviors, thoughts and opinions, but in a group setting, all three can be altered. “If the group norm or behavior is cruel, then the members are cruel or become outcasts and maybe even targets of the cruelty,” Oster says. But, the impacts of group mentality can also be positive. While college is considered a prime environment for group conformity, it can offer beneficial results for students. “Group norms and structure are very helpful in settings or situations where people learn to grow and evolve as social units,” Oster says. “It’s when people who are incapable of independent thought... can take the healthy structure of such groups and expand it into ‘law,’” Oster says, “a situation where there is only one right way and there is no tolerance for anyone or anything different from themselves. Then it becomes a problem.”
Photo: Katherine Tang; logo: courtesy of CollegeACB
It’s the age-old excuse: “Everyone was doing it.” Whether it’s buying into trends, becoming the apathetic bystander or participating in weekend shenanigans, science has been proving that when surrounded by other individuals, people may act in ways contrary to their normal behavior. As social beings, we are easily “corrupted” by others’ likes, dislikes, prejudices and stereotypes. According to clinical psychologist Marc Oster, college students are especially susceptible to the consequences of group mentality. “The impact on any young person who is still developing in their sense of themselves and how they relate to others can be significant,” Oster says. “They fail to learn to think critically and for themselves. They learn, as both our contemporary political and advertising climate shows, that truth or fact is what you say it is – regardless of the evidence.” Enter Greek life. “We tend to choose to belong to groups where people seem similar to us,” says Marie Welborn, a clinical psychologist. “And since we as humans have a need for affiliation, we often are willing to conform rather than risk rejection.” Simply put, social groups like sororities and fraternities can stifle individuality. And hazing? According to Welborn, if it means going along with the group norm, people will often do whatever they are asked in order to enhance status within the group. Even if it means going against some of their values. Thus students are more willing to participate in uncomfortable activities in order to fit in and “bond” with other members. Many members even find hazing fun and a “good way to get to know the other guys.” In fact, psychological research has proven that the more difficult it is to gain entry into a group (that is, the worse the hazing), the more a person will enjoy and value the group after joining.
While Greek life may be the obvious group setting in college, the ubiquitous Facebook is also a contributor to the perils of “group think,” especially among students. Social networking sites may be dangerous tools in terms of group mentality, clinical psychologist Marc Oster says. “I think it is used by individuals to please themselves in the context of others. To connect with others based on what you think they want to hear,” Oster says. “If you say certain things, things you believe others want to hear, they respond to you. Their response is a social reinforcer.” Ron Callari, Founder of iOptimize Marketing, an Internet Marketing company, has studied the different consequences of using social media. According to Callari, people who spend too much time communicating via computer lose faceto-face social interaction skills and values. “A significant part of how people communicate with each other is through body language and facial expressions. When that aspect of communication is removed it’s easy to view online interaction as less personal and more disposable,” Callari says. As a result, Callari says people can be less inclined to feel compassion, empathy or do the right thing on behalf of others online. When anonymity is possible, morality can be skewed. Sites like CollegeACB.com (and the now-defunct Juicy Campus) become popular outlets where students can say just about anything they want without consequences. “There is a tendency to be more spontaneous, less thoughtful and more misunderstood as result,” Callari says. —A.S.
faceoff
What was your most
embarrassing winter accident? “I was walking to school and my face was numb because it was so cold and a bird pooped on my neck. I didn’t feel it until a half hour later when I got into school.” —Weinberg freshman Maggie Lamas
“I was walking up the stairs in Kresge when it was still really slushy. I took a step and almost tripped, and it was really obvious. I took another step and fell, and my hands touched the disgusting stairs and I yelled, ‘DAMN IT!’” —Rebecca Ritger, Weinberg sophomore
“I always wear flip flops because I’m from Georgia. I wore them one time going to the library one day and there was a puddle of ice and I stepped in it and my entire foot was soaked in ice and water. I thought I had frostbite.” —Weinberg freshman Darwish Gani
“I was doing primal scream last quarter wearing a dress, but my friend pushed me into the snow and shoved snow down my dress.” —Weinberg sophomore Lisa Wang
“We went ice-skating in Millennium Park and we made this chain and someone got flipped around and we all just clotheslined someone and all fell down.” PHOTOS: ANNIE CHANG and Ummul Kathawalla
—Thea Klein-Mayer, Weinberg sophomore
“I didn’t know dorms were closed until Sunday so I stayed at Hotel Orrington. I locked myself out of my hotel room... in my boxers.” —Jesse Grider, Bienen freshman Interviews by Annie Chang and Hannah Bricker outlook|
7
data
$ Output
Input
- $195,624,227
- $7,227,318
By the billions
While your dorm furniture is falling apart, Morty’s living like a king. By Alex Campbell Think quick: Which president makes more money, Obama or Schapiro? Morty’s starting salary has yet to be made public, but if the $930,090 President Henry Bienen made in 2007 (according to the latest available data) is any indication, serving 18,000 or so Wildcats is a fair bit more lucrative than the approximately $400,000 you’d make serving 300 million or so Americans. Given that you’re more likely to be tuition payer than taxpayer, it might seem irksome that your (parents’) money goes to the coffers of a “private” institution, which doesn’t appear to tell you anything about what it’s doing with your (parents’) cash. Conspiracy theorists fear not: Northwestern doesn’t get to hide everything. Every year, the university files a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service, detailing the billions of dollars moving in and out of the school’s hands. The latest data is from the 2007-08 school year, and it provides a broad picture of the kind of coin it takes to run this school, and the kind of salaries that are to be attained from higher education. Here’s a tip: it pays to work in Northwestern’s finance department.
$952,129
Total compensation of Head Basketball Coach Bill Carmody during 2007
8|
Money Northwestern spent on “consulting services” from Huron Consulting Group during the 2007-08 school year
- $732,476
Total money Northwestern spent on “lobbying expenditures to influence a legislative body (direct lobbying)”
Additional costs
+ $35,290
Revenue from “student tuition and fees”, per student (undergraduate and graduate), 2007-08 school year (an 11% increase on the 05-06 school year)
+ $ 5,142,180
Amount of revenue Northwestern got from “interest on student loans”
Additional revenue
- $ 1,749,809,945
+ $2,726,356,312
Northwestern’s total expenditures during the 2007-08 school year (A 24% increase on 05-06)
Northwestern’s total income during the 2007-08 school year (A 41% increase on 05-06)
$930,090
Total compensation of President Henry Bienen during 2007
$1,013,833 Total compensation of William H. McLean, chief investment officer during 2007
Photo: misterhyun on stock.xchange; Carmody: courtesy of northwestern atheltic communications; Bienen: Katherine Tang; mclean: courtesy of northwestern university
Total in cash grants that Northwestern gave to students in financial aid and scholarships
relationships
Bad Romance
Following up on “we can still be friends.” By Alex Freeman
Staying friendly with your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend can feel like balancing on a tightrope while wearing ice skates, but it has been done. With some effort to power through the awkwardness and some tips on how to act around your ex, you’ll be back to normalcy, seeing him or her as a friend once again.
Post Cheating Friendship
Every breakup may feel unique, but cheating is a nearly guaranteed relationshipkiller. To stay friends after you cheated, beg for mercy. To stay friends after your significant other cheated, learn forgiveness. Lissa Coffey, Huffington Post’s relationship expert and frequent contributor to The Today Show, offers blunt advice. “It’s up to both parties to do their part. Counseling certainly helps. And complete honesty.”
Post Breakup Friendship
If you broke up with your former flame, give it time to cool down. You may be ready to accept the loss of intimacy, but he or she won’t warm to the idea immediately (and if he or she does, you don’t really have a problem). Wait for him or her to accept the situation. “If both agree on how they want to now define the relationship, then it should take no time at all,” Coffey says. If you’ve just been dumped, don’t beg him or her to take you back. Man up and face reality. Acceptance comes with time, so remove yourself from the situation and take a break. Communications junior Laura Edelman split with her boyfriend of two and a half years before studying abroad in Prague for four months. Edelman’s breakup went smoothly partly because of the distance – they never visited each other. “Being physically apart for so long really allowed me to clear my head,” Edelman says, “and without that distance, I don’t know what would have happened.” Either way, distance is key, and separation is necessary to retain a friendship between ex-couples. Now back in Evanston together (but not together), Edelman sees her ex-boyfriend occasionally, but says she prefers being with him while hanging out with some of their mutual friends to diffuse the tension. A general rule: no calling, texting or any other form of personal contact. Let the situation boil over with time. And once the two are ready, Coffey says, “be respectful and polite, leave the past in the past, and don’t bring up old stuff.”
Cheaters never prosper Relationship expert Lissa Coffey’s thoughts on infidelity on campus. Do you believe cheating is more prevalent in college than outside of college? illustration: Elena Aleksandrova
I do think that college is a place where you learn about yourself and relationships. And one way we learn is by making mistakes. So there probably is cheating going on, and hopefully college students are learning from it, and understanding just how hurtful and damaging it can be.
If alcohol was involved, does that excuse cheating or make it worse? If alcohol is involved that’s another issue. How often is alcohol abused? Is this a problem? Nothing
excuses cheating, but alcohol makes it two problems instead of just one.
Should the guy or girl always tell their significant other if they cheated? I believe in total honesty. Otherwise if the person finds out from someone else, it is a worse fallout. And if the person doesn’t tell they’re carrying around all this guilt and it will show. And the cheated-on person deserves to know. Secrets are never good.
Does cheating lead to an automatic breakup? Should it? No, not automatic. Many relationships can rebound,
and even become stronger. It is a matter of both parties really wanting to work it out to rebuild that trust. If the trust cannot be rebuilt, there’s no relationship, so a breakup is inevitable. But should a breakup because of cheating be automatic? No. People make mistakes, and forgiveness goes a long way. If cheating becomes habitual, then that’s another issue.
Is there such a thing as physically cheating with no emotions involved? No. But there is such a thing as emotionally cheating with no physicality involved. There’s also financial infidelity. If it involves secrets and dishonesty, it’s cheating.—A.F. outlook|
9
getting paid
Makin g the lit tle buc ks The bes t money -makin g gigs o n camp us. By T om
Schroed er
The Gamer Norris Game Room Attendant and Events Coordinator Tonantzin Carmona Weinberg sophomore
10 |
ARTica Assistant Supervisor
The Theater Junkie The Artist
Rebecca Loeser
Communication sophomore
Duties: Renting out the art space, keeping track of supplies, cleaning the rooms, interfacing with customers, odd jobs and paperwork at the art studio in Norris The Good: Employee discounts, a free Mini-Course and time to work with crafts. “It’s extremely rewarding to help people have a fun, relaxing time. When it’s not too busy and I don’t have too much office work to do, I’ll do some crafts.” The Bad: Inconsiderate customers, stressful days, messy cleanup. “Please clean up after yourselves, people! And don’t mix paints in the cups; that ruins it for the next person and makes me spend my time getting messier and paintier than I planned.” Starting pay: $8 per hour for an attendant Hours: 4-10 hours per week plus weekend shifts Work-study required? No, but preferred
Struble-Wallis Action Team (S.W.A.T.) member Chris Andes
McCormick sophomore
Duties: Watch shows, assist and take care of paperwork in the event of an accident and help out show crews at Struble Theatre and Wallis Theatre on campus The Good: Good company, fun work and free shows. “I love my job. It’s a great way to meet people, and I get to see all the productions for free. It’s a part of my job to watch the shows; I have to see each one like four times or however long it runs to make sure nothing goes wrong.” The Bad: Unpredictable hours. “I won’t work for a month or so, but then I’ll have like 50 hours in a week and a half. I think once I worked 80 hours in 10 days.” Starting pay: $7.45 per hour Hours: Extremely variable Work-study required? Yes
Norris Marketing Max Cove
Communication sophomore
Duties: Designing posters, TV ads and other graphics for use in Norris The Good: Recognition, flexible hours and a good atmosphere. “It’s always cool when people say ‘Oh, I thought a professional design group did that,’ but no, those are just students. Also, the environment we have in our office is a lot of fun; I’d encourage anyone to come by on Halloween to the third floor where our offices are. We decorate.” The Bad: Decentralized location. “We’re not necessarily at the hub of Norris; we’re on the third floor in the very corner. But as much as it’s sort of shut off from everything else... we’re still connected, and we get to know what’s going on.” Starting pay: $8.25 per hour Hours: 8 hours per week, and schedules are very flexible Work-study required? Yes
Photos: Blake Sobczak and Ummul-Kiram Kathawalla
Duties: Attending to the register, coordinating birthday parties and student group events and playing games with customers. The Good: Laid-back environment and you get to play games. “If nobody needs anything and nobody shows up, then you’re free to do whatever you want as long as you make sure nobody’s doing anything bad. Our boss is pretty cool and she lets us play with the games; sometimes she encourages it. I get to play pool; I’m pretty good at Rock Band.” The Bad: You won’t get many hours and it doesn’t look good to potential employers. “It doesn’t look that good on a résumé, or at least I don’t think it does. [Employers] don’t really like to see ‘Game Room’ as much as other jobs.” Starting pay: $8 per hour as an attendant Hours: 6-9 hours per week plus one special event Work-study required? No, but preferred
The Creative Thinker
health
Cold as ice
Perhaps an icicle won’t kill you (like in The Lovely Bones), but these deathtraps just might. By Katherine Zhu Usually, our primary concern is getting to class in the cold – if we make it to class at all. But be warned: there are some dangerous health threats that accompany a winter wonderland.
Hypothermia
Thin ice
CO
Due to prolonged exposure to cold weather, hypothermia causes symptoms such as shivering, slurred speech, weak pulse and shallow breathing. For all you hip party hoppers, be careful when you consume alcohol — you may not realize when you’re in danger. That warm, fuzzy bliss without a care in the world (otherwise known as a beer jacket) can make the trek back from North to South Campus extremely dangerous if you’re not dressed appropriately.
Just a quick step onto unstable ice can result in disaster. Stay away from unofficial ice-skating areas, even if you’re dying to get on the Lakefill. You don’t want to get caught in the freezing water and risk hypothermia or even death.
Carbon Monoxide is a silent but deadly gas that can accompany the indoor heating required in winter. Colorless and odorless, it can cause brain damage and death. CO is produced by burning any material containing carbon, so beware of household appliances like gas water heaters, kerosene space heaters, and propane stoves. Lack of proper ventilation can cause a build-up of carbon monoxide. Early symptoms include headaches, nausea and fatigue.
The truth about 3 flu flighters 1. Airborne photo: bewinca on stock.xchange; oranges: topfer on stock.xchange
A mixture of seventeen herbs, vitamins and minerals sounds good, right? However, clinical studies have found that while Airborne has “been suggested as beneficial without scientific evidence showing a real benefit,” says Dr. Mark Loafman, Feinberg professor of family and community medicine.
2. Vitamin C Supplements
Higher doses of vitamin C (200mg per day, according to Loafman) have only been shown to decrease the likelihood of catching a viral respiratory infection for outdoor athletes in winter. “No benefit for the rest of us, however,” Loafman says.
3. Bundle Up
Going out with wet hair or not wearing a coat “does not in itself increase your chance of becoming infected,” Loafman says. However, this type of physical stress can weaken the immune system, making it more susceptible to cold and flu viruses. To be safe, dress warmly. —Amber Gibson outlook|
11
buyer’s guide
1
Dance ‘til you drop Last a little longer with these Dance Marathon goodies. By Julia Haskins This year we’re dancing for StandUp For Kids, and the Marathon can be daunting if you’re not well-prepared. Luckily, DM Public Relations committee co-chair Kaitlin Vernon, a SESP senior, group leader Matt McKenna, a Communication senior, and former co-emcee Benjamin Singer, a Communication senior, shared their Dance Marathon knowledge and their favorite items for the best 30 hours of dancing possible.
3
2
1. For some style “I [bring] a different outfit for each block,” Vernon says. “Each block has a different theme, so people go out in sequins and crazy costumes.” Be sure to stand out, but remember to make sure your outfit is comfortable enough for a three-hour block. Shiny Hot Shorts ($26 at American Apparel)
2. For comfort If you don’t want to bring a ton of shoes, try comfy gel insoles to keep you moving. Singer suggests Dr. Scholl’s Insoles ($11.59-$15.69 at CVS)
3. For the smell “Put baby powder on [your feet] before [each] block. It keeps your feet from getting sweaty and nasty and smelling bad,” Singer says. He also suggests a washcloth and deodorant to freshen up during breaks. Baby Powder ($3.49 at CVS)
6
5
4. For safety The music will definitely be pumping. “I definitely wish I had brought earplugs,” Vernon says. “I learned my lesson.” If you must rock ear plugs, you can at least do so with cute colors. Howard Leight Ear Plugs ($4.99 at CVS)
5. For hygiene
6. For relaxation Now it’s time to relax. “The best thing you could do is definitely crash and get to bed,” Vernon says. To ease you into sweet dreams of Dance Marathon, try heat wraps to ease the pain. Heat Wraps ($2.49-$14.99 at CVS)
12 |
4
photos: Jessica K. Chou
You will sweat. A lot. But there are several products available to make you feel a little less gross. “The whole point is to keep each block fresh,” McKenna says. A sprizter bottle and oil absorbing sheets will make your face feel fresher. Carry-On Spritzer Bottle ($1.99 at CVS), Neutrogena SkinClearing Shine-Control Blotting Sheets ($6.49 at CVS)
sex
Sexual education
1
2
Human sex prof John Michael Bailey’s favorite sex scenes. By Myrtie Williams Hollywood knows sex scenes can make even a mediocre film memorable. Just imagine watching The Notebook without the passionate tension between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Or try sitting through Titanic minus the satisfaction of Kate and Leo’s forbidden intimacy. If anyone on campus can pick a good sex scene, it’s Human Sex Professor John Michael Bailey, a selfproclaimed lover of the cinema. His tastes have transitioned “away from the typical American blockbusters, into the more quirky, alternative, foreign [type],” but he was more than willing to give us a list of his favorite sex scenes.
3
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Body Heat (1981)
While Professor Bailey acknowledges the importance of the infamous tent scene, the one that best jogs his memory is between actors Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams: “There’s this part of the movie where Heath Ledger has sex with his wife, and he flips her over...shortly after that Jake Gyllenhaal comes and they are caught kissing,” he says. “It’s memorable, it’s sad, and a great scene.”
The “smoldering tension” between Kathleen Turner and William Hurt takes place in the midst of a Florida heat wave, which was made even hotter by the chemistry between the main characters. Bailey says that the film was “imprinted” on him when he was just out of college. We’re sure that Turner being “at the height of her sexiness” had something to do with it. But Bailey says that students in his class are often unimpressed after viewing scenes from this movie.
4 Secretary (2002)
Maggie Gyllenhaal plays psychiatric-outpatientturned-secretary in this movie full of intense and sadomasochistic sex scenes. “The one that I remember,” Bailey says, “is the one where he [James Spader] calls her in and he starts spanking her, spanking her hard. She’s shocked at first, but in the middle of it she starts holding his hand.” While the scene doesn’t actually involve any nudity or intercourse, it’s the precursor that’s hot enough to make up for it, he says.
5 Blue Velvet (1986)
This David Lynch film made Bailey’s list mostly for because it is disturbing and unpredictable. He refers to it as “a freak show,” and rightfully so: Kyle MacLachlan’s character hides in Isabella Rossellini’s character’s closet. Rossellini catches him, threatens him with a knife, and proceeds to sex him up, knife still in hand. “Later, something much more disturbing and worse happens with her boyfriend…overall it’s tension-filled and fascinating,” Bailey says.
Bound (1996) If you were wondering when he’d get to the girl-on-girl action, here it is. From the creators of The Matrix, the Wachowski brothers attempt to illustrate a typical mobster movie complete with gangsters, violence, and yes, a lesbian love affair. Bailey remembers the scene between Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon as “one woman, who you think is this married straight woman, [seducing] a lesbian, and she does it very well.”
Online poll: Which movie sex scenes have you tried? 52% Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire in Spiderman (up-side-down kiss)
33% Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball (on the floor)
10%
13%
12%
9%
Viggo Mortenson and Mario Bello in A History of Violence (on the stairs)
Diane Lane and Oliver Martinez in Unfaithful (in a bathroon stall)
Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (in a tent)
Jason Biggs in American Pie (with food)
outlook|
13
checkout students
|
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
stuff to do people to see things to check out
food + drink
|
entertainment
Student superheroes Your lab partner may just be saving the world. By Amina Elahi
Chris Sell, Weinberg junior There are plenty of students who complain about Northwestern’s eco-unfriendliness. Junior Chris Sell is already working on it. The international studies and political science double major transferred here from Notre Dame last year, armed with a plan to improve sustainability at Northwestern. His company, Ecco Living, now supplies paper, cleaning and dining supplies to seven greek houses on campus. Up next, Sell and his team plan to expand their business into Evanston, with a focus on libraries and religious organizations. Sell’s goal is to make using eco-friendly products affordable. To do so, he buys items in bulk from wholesale manufacturers and sells them at the same price as conventional
products. As if that’s not enough, Ecco also donates trees to the Nature Conservatory’s Plant a Billion Trees project. “I see it as a self-sustaining charity,” Sell says. “The mission is good but also the byproduct of the business is good.” While Ecco runs fairly smoothly now over the phone and out of a storage space in Rogers Park, this wasn’t always the case. In the early days, it often required storing boxes at Sell’s parents’ home in Barrington and delivering packages individually, but Ecco outsources most of its deliveries now. So how exactly is Sell going to save the world? “I’m going to make social businesses self-generating engines for good,” he says.
Kelly Shelden, McCormick junior Kelly Shelden gives the phrase “international student” new meaning. Throughout her childhood, she moved from Indonesia to the UAE to Oman, giving her an inside look at many places Northwestern students only dream of. Before college, Shelden considered majoring in political science, but she “wanted to do something more direct.” Instead, she majors in biomedical engineering with a minor in global health. In high school, Shelden took trips to Oman’s deserts and saw firsthand the backwardness of the hospitals there. When she ended up in a third-rate hospital after a soccer injury, she was shocked by the lack of resources. “The equipment was old and you could tell that it was not kept up in the same condition,” she says. “You could
really see the discrepancies in levels of health care, even within the same city.” So Shelden jumped at the opportunity to start a local chapter of Engineering World Health at Northwestern. With the memory of her hospital stay in mind, she helped EWH become fully recognized by McCormick last spring. Now she leads the group of students who repair damaged medical equipment twice a month in the subbasement of Ford. The machinery is donated by Mission Outreach, a non-profit headquartered in Springfield, Ill. Once the items are in working order, they are sent to hospitals in developing nations. “Global health is my passion,” she says, “but what I want to do with it, I don’t know yet.”
Kelsey Stoerzinger, McCormick senior
Photos: katherine tang
Kelsey Stoerzinger had a change of heart when it came to her major pretty early on. The oboe player considered combining music with political science, but then she discovered material sciences and engineering. After taking a nanoscience class sophomore year, Professor Teri W. Odom recruited Stoerzinger to work in her lab. “You draw connections [in nanoscience], which I really like,” Stoerzinger says. “There are all these things you can look at that are really unique to small particles.” She’s done research with Odom ever since, interspersed with stints as an intern at General Motors and Dow Corning Corporation. In the lab, Stoerzinger engineers various nanoparticles (versus creating them through chemical reactions), with work focusing on killing breast cancer cells.
Now, as a senior, Stoerzinger faces an opportunity that may shape the rest of her life. With an award from the Winston Churchill Foundation, Stoerzinger will spend 11 months pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Cambridge. She’s excited by the prospect of working with a helium-3 spin-echo spectrometer, a piece of equipment that offers better spatial and temporal resolution than any other on earth. “The research that I’m doing is something that I can only do at Cambridge, which is why it’s awesome that I got the scholarship,” she says. Stoerzinger faces at least five to eight more years of school before she can pursue her dream of becoming a professor and researcher. With a long road ahead, it seems like saving the world from cancer is only just beginning. checkout|
15
students
sports
|
chicago
|
|
stylesheet
food + drink
|
entertainment
! Hey fellas
Slidin’ with style
d o is a co-e lly synchr ically Technica ys ph e ar s sport. Guy s and the girls skater stronger a boost. would love
Fall with grace, like NU Synchro. By Bettina Chang If you’ve ever gloried in the smell of stale rubber or the sound of a Zamboni in an indoor skating rink, chances are you took ice skating lessons. Then, you were outraged when your teacher said the first thing you’d learn to do is fall. Still, learning to fall (and stand back up) safely is way more important than jumps and spins, especially if you’re disrupting traffic at a public ice rink. For the girls of the Northwestern Synchronized Skating Team, skating in a group has become their passion. A lot of them started out as singles skaters, but now they’ve dedicated their skills to choreographed group routines and competitions. The team, led by Jessica Swenson, a McCormick senior and president of the team, has maintained its standing in the top four of their sectional, even as
16 |
Bend your knees
If you do end up falling, you’d rather end up on your knees than on your tailbone.
Protect your face
Pretty straightforward. You generally don’t want your head or face crashing into anything solid, including a slab of ice.
Keep your hands in When other people are walking by, the last thing you want to do is leave your fingers on the ice,
2007 First place at
Midwest Synchronized Skating Sectionals, Open Collegiate division
ready to be stepped on.
Bounce back quickly
Your spill might make you feel like you should be languishing in pity for a bit, but you should get up as quickly as possible, especially if there are a lot of people around you.
Standing up
The synchro girls suggest the “puppy position” to get back up: get on all fours then use one foot at a time. Then put your butt in the air and stand up. Ta da! Only marginally embarrassing.
Smile!
Just because you feel like an idiot doesn’t mean you have to look like one too. Give a big smile and wave to your fans.
2008 Third place at
Midwest Synchronized Skating Sectionals, Open Collegiate division
It only seems right that Swenson, a Minnesota native, had her first skating experience on a slab of ice in her aunt’s backyard when she was around 2 or 3 years old. Swenson started taking lessons in 1st grade and joined her first synchro team when she was 9 years old. “The team aspect of synchro is why I love it so much,” she says. “You’re holding onto someone the entire time—and you’re not alone in front of the judges.” She credits the friends she made on her first synchro team with her love for skating and the importance she puts in community. “It’s a way for me to continue being part of the skating community and to meet people from all across campus,” she says.
2009 Fourth place at
Midwest Synchronized Skating Sectionals, Open Collegiate division
2010 Second place at
Midwest Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships, Open Collegiate division
photos: emily chow
Years of glory
more and more schools join the division. Swenson, Carol Kim (vice president) and Anna Balabanova (assistant choreographer) of the synchro team have a couple of tips for the next time you’re slipping on ice on Sheridan.
students
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Trivial Pursuit Like the popular board game, but ten times more intense. By Laura Rosenfeld
Searching for Nirvana Practicing meditation without tabletop zen gardens. By Sourav Bhowmick Barefoot and seated on the floor in half-lotus position, members of the Northwestern University Zen Society are on a quest. Sure, they look for the meaning of life, but they find much more along the way through the Buddhist art of meditation. In its sixth year, the Zen Society meets every Thursday under the dimmed lights of the Oratory Room in Alice Millar Chapel. At a typical meeting, about 25 members spend 45 minutes to an hour practicing meditation, followed by an informal discussion about questions on religion, philosophy and morality. Many members of the Zen society meditate for reasons such as finding happiness, perfecting self-control, or becoming self-actualized. “Who am I? What is the purpose of my life?” asks Kristen Radtke, a Weinberg sophomore and President of the Zen Society. “I meditate to know myself better, and to treat other people better.” Radtke suggests that by virtue of practicing Zen, many practical benefits are attained, such as strengthening the immune system and fueling the body with newfound energy. Physical discipline is also acquired as the meditation positions can be difficult for newcomers.
Weinberg junior Zach Warburg, however, uses meditation to better control his mind and find clarity within it. “It blocks off all the white noise in your brain and clears the mind of excess thought,” says Warburg. “You learn to focus on the present instead of dwelling on the past or looking into the future” This method of focused thinking is valuable for problem-solving and conflict resolution, according to Warburg. “Your mind is burdened with unnecessary considerations. When you focus your thinking, you think a lot faster and more efficiently.” A real treasure for Northwestern students is the added bonus of stress relief and relaxation. Many members, however, challenge the notion that meditation is primarily for relaxation. The Zen Society’s most dedicated members keep returning because of the inner peace and mental acuity they achieve. Though many perceive Zen to be an exclusively Buddhist practice, the Northwestern Zen Society welcomes members of all backgrounds to attend their weekly meetings. “It’s not a Buddhist thing – it’s a human thing. Everybody should try it once in their life,” says Radtke. But if you really want to find the meaning of life, you’ll probably want to take those shoes off more than just once.
3 ways to find peace on campus Apparently Zen is not all about relaxation. “Sometimes, awareness let’s you be sharper, clearer and more conscious of your actions,” Radtke says. “Relaxation is a part of awareness, and the awareness is a part of the relaxation.”
Which U.S. President has a city and holiday named after him in Paraguay? If you answered Rutherford B. Hayes, you could be a member of Northwestern’s Quiz Bowl team. These students know more about everything than anyone should ever know. Using their knowledge of literature, science, history, arts and everything in between, the team competes against other colleges around the Midwest in tournaments throughout the year. Quiz Bowl President Anant Shah, a Weinberg sophomore, and two freshmen members reveal their secrets for quick memories and steadfast concentration in high pressure situations. REPETITION, REPETITION, REPETITION: If you want to actually learn and retain knowledge, Shah says, you must repeatedly look at the information over a period of time. Studying the information over and over again will help you remember it quickly and effectively. THE BIG PICTURE: To perform well during stressful situations, Shah suggests thoroughly understanding what you’re getting yourself into. By analyzing the situation rationally, you will know what you need to do in order to be successful. For example, on a test if you understand you have to pull concepts from different parts of the course and fit them all together, you will prepare properly and ace the exam. “If you understand the big picture, the little picture is not all that hard to get,” Shah says. CHILL OUT: Team members all agree that in order to be successful, you’ve got to relax. Focusing on the pressure will only make you more nervous and will prevent you from concentrating on what you want to achieve. “Relax your mind going into it,” Weinberg freshman Cory Haala says. “You’re not going to do as well as you think if you stress about it.” Haala finds talking to people, grabbing a bite to eat or playing cards calms him down between Quiz Bowl matches. KNOW YOUR LEARNING STYLE: Everyone learns using different methods, explains McCormick freshman Alex Cash. Find what works best for you and use that to your advantage. Cash says he distinguishes information on the Internet based on the properties of the individual Web sites, such as the font. Shah, on the other hand, takes classes on subjects that will help him perform well in Quiz Bowl.
Photos: Katherine Tang; Blake Sobczak
1. Don’t listen to your iPod when walking up Sheridan: take in your surroundings instead. “If you’re listening to your iPod when walking, your vision isn’t spread out,” Radtke says. “You’re very concentrated in your head. I think that’s very important for the kind of energy you’re giving out.” 2. Look up at the faces of other people in public instead of always looking down. “Just be aware of your interactions with other people,” Radtke says. “I think that leads to happiness – genuine interaction, and I think we miss out on that stuff.” 3. Be aware of your own actions and physical state. “If your mind is a bit frazzled, it’s amazing what a few physical adjustments can do. Sit up straighter, take a deep breath and you’ll feel a lot better.” —S.B.
checkout|
17
students
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Justin Kim
Beinen and Weinberg senior
The tattoo on Kim’s rib cage reads “brother” in Korean, which is a companion to one his brother has.
Eunice Park
Communication senior
The music staff on Park’s rib cage “embodies the role that music has played” in her life.
Ana Valdez Weinberg junior
Valdez has a gypsy head on her rib cage, which is a traditional tattoo, but she had it done in the style of the Day of the Dead to represent her Mexican heritage.
Stephen Boyle Medill sophomore
Boyle has a tribal cross between his shoulder blades, which he says means “I love Jesus and I’m 138 pounds of solid fury.”
Carrie Heckel
Communication freshman
The tattoo on her rib cage are in the Peruvian Nazca style of a hummingbird. The tattoo commemorates time she spent in Peru and symbolizes resurrection.
Body of art
Northwestern students spill about their ink. Photo by John Meguerian 18 |
students
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Scott Shimizu
Communication sophomore
Jessica Young The Graduate School
Shimizu’s tattoo on his rib cage is his family crest, which means “clear water” in Japanese.
The orchid string on Young’s back reminds her of a symbol in her favorite childhood books.
Christina Minich Weinberg senior
Minich has blue and purple cobras on her left leg, which symbolize goddesses. She and her best friend have the same tattoo.
Jordyn Wolking Medill freshman
Wolking’s tattoo on her left shoulder is of Grumpy the dwarf from Snow White, and it is in memory of her grandfather.
➽ SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS ONLINE AT NORTHBYNORTHWESTERN.COM checkout|
19
students
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
When shyness is more than a personality trait
Work it, wallflower! Anxiety doesn’t have to keep you from being the life of the party. By Heather Devane
20 |
Conversation Tips Although social situations can be intimidating, making conversation with strangers is a simple matter of having a game plan. According to Kappa Delta sorority recruitment adviser Amy Conway, the most important tip to remember in a seemingly overwhelming social setting is to have confidence. “Confidence is key,” Conway says. “Do not be afraid to get into a conversation where you do not know what the topic is. Be interested and engaged and ask questions.” To help muster that extra bit of self-assurance, Conway suggests having some premeditated talking points. Knowing what to say will help suppress the anxiety surrounding new social settings. “If you are shy and unsure, make sure to put yourself into [social] situations to become more comfortable,” Conway says. She adds that participating in volunteer work or student groups are two instances that encourage socialization. In addition, conversation etiquette – maintaining eye contact, listening, smiling and being involved – help to carry a conversation and communicate interest. The most important tip for improving socialization is also the most obvious. “Listening is key,” Conway says. “Do not be afraid to say, ‘Tell me more.’ That opens others up to continue the conversation.” —H.D.
Photo: KaTHERINE Tang
Sitting on the couch in her dorm’s lounge, Becca Rodriguez seems cool, calm and collected. The Weinberg freshman bursts into fits of giggles as she talks with her suitemates about the latest episodes of Dexter and Jersey Shore. Just five months ago, however, she was a completely different person. “The first day we came to school was especially difficult,” Rodriguez says. “I found it hard to try to be a part of the big groups of friends that were already forming.” Though Rodriguez has overcome her shyness, her experience is not unique. According to the Anxiety Disorder Association of America, of the 15 million American adults that experience social anxiety, a large portion can be found on university campuses nationwide. In a college environment where making friends and being outgoing is essential to developing an active social life, shyness is the culprit that robs these students of the ability to forge new relationships. “Shyness describes a behavior and becomes a concern usually when it begins to impair daily
life,” says psychotherapist Dr. Sheila Orbanic. “As a character trait, it’s nature versus nurture.” This was the case with Becca Rodriguez, who says she “didn’t know what to say or do in big groups of people”. “I would try to look busy or distracted,” Rodriguez says. “But really it just upset me if I couldn’t be part of a conversation.” Though Rodriguez has largely overcome her shyness, many students continue to struggle in social situations. Community Assistant Tara Patel is trained to look out for these students and to help alleviate their anxiety. “For people who we don’t see very often, we try to either go to their rooms individually or seek them out,” Patel says. “It’s important to let them know you’re available if they need to talk.” Rodriguez agrees, saying that new situations can be overwhelming, and shy people are more likely to isolate themselves than they are to reach out to strangers. It is not hard to see how shyness can have such a significant effect in a college setting where meeting friends is a matter of opening oneself to new experiences, and with that, vulnerability. But Becca Rodriguez is proof that shyness can be overcome. With the proper coping techniques and some openness to new experiences, introversion can be a thing of the past. “I came to college and I realized I couldn’t be ‘that girl’ who stayed in her room,” Rodriguez says. “It forced me to talk to people and now I have some great friends.”
While anyone can be quiet by nature, 1.8 million American adults suffer from a different level of shyness: agoraphobia. Literally translated as “a fear of open places,” agoraphobia is a serious condition that often confines its victims to their homes out of fear of the outside world. Studies have shown that genetics and substance abuse are factors that can predispose people to the problem. In some cases, however, negative experiences that occurred outside the home can also play a role. For instance, if a person had a panic attack in a public place, he or she may develop a phobia of leaving the house for fear of another episode. According to psychotherapist Dr. Sheila Orbanic, everyone falls on a continuum of anxiety levels. Following a traumatic event, this anxiety can reach phobia status. “Someone could have a phobia and not know it until they’re in it,” says Dr. Orbanic. “When you go from anxiety to panic, there’s no rational thought.” Several therapy techniques can be employed to break down the fear caused by such an event: cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques and group therapy are common approaches. “In cognitive behavioral therapy, [patients] are taught to be aware of what they’re thinking and how they respond to the thought,” Dr. Orbani says. “But desensitization and exposure therapy can take weeks or months.” Severe agoraphobia may call for a higher level of treatment, and patients can be prescribed medications like Prozac, Lexapro or Xanax. —H.D.
students
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Going en garde for the season The one-handed Zorro of women’s fencing. By Colin Becht
A
She says she chose Northwestern because of its prestige. “And the coach is really nice.” According to head coach Laurie Schiller, Collins has a shot at reaching her goal, to go to the NCAA’s. “She’s got lots of potential and she has the potential to be an NCAA qualifier at some point,” Schiller says. “She’s still learning. She has a long way to go before she’s going to become the star.” But even so, Schiller sees Collins as someone who could soon become a team leader. “I think she’s going to step into a very strong role next year,” he says. While freshmen standouts in other sports may dream of becoming a professional, Collins is aware that collegiate fencing may very well be the conclusion of her career. “I’m just doing it to get through college, and afterward, I don’t know,” she says. “I’ve had somebody approach me to go to the Paralympics [an event for athletes with physical and visual disabilities], but I don’t think I’d be doing that.” Paralympic fencers are required to sit in a wheelchair, something that doesn’t sit well with Collins. “It doesn’t feel right to me,” Collins says. “I have able use of my legs. I just don’t think that’s right.”
Coach Schiller’s 1000-win legacy Earlier in the Northwestern women’s fencing season, head coach Laurie Schiller reached a career milestone. He earned his 1,000th win. Schiller is one of only two coaches in NCAA history to reach 1,000 victories, joining North Carolina fencing coach Ron Miller. Schiller is in his 32nd season as head coach of the fencing squad and has brought increased success
with his most recent years with the Wildcats. Entering this season, the ‘Cats have won 30 or more bouts in each of the past five seasons. Last year, Northwestern placed third in the Midwest Fencing Conference, the ‘Cats’ 17th straight top-three finish. Schiller has earned the honor of Collegiate Coach of the Year from the United States Fencing Coaches’ Association, once in 1998 and again in 2004. –C.B.
checkout|
21
Photo: Julie Beck; COURtesy of Northwestern athletic Communictions
s the women’s fencing team jogs around the track in their team sweatshirts, freshman epée (a type of fencing weapon) Karalina Collins blends right in. Only after warm-ups when she removes her sweatshirt does she becomes distinguishable from the rest of her teammates. Unlike the other 36 of them, Collins is missing her hand and some of her right forearm, the result of a birth defect. Despite this handicap, Collins is making a name for herself in fencing, finishing 32nd out of 142 Division I competitors at the United States Fencing Association North American Cup. Collins also earned sixth place out 62 at the Remenyik open. “I’m extremely happy,” says Collins, a Weinberg freshman, when talking about her early success. “A lot of girls that have been fencing for as long as I have or more haven’t gotten the results that I have, so I think so far I’m doing pretty well.” A key driver of her motivation? Fencing scholarships. “I had [fenced] a long time ago in Girl Scouts,” Collins says. “I didn’t pick it up again until freshman year of high school. I was looking for a way to pay for college, and I had to choose between volleyball and fencing. In volleyball you’re not easily noticed. In fencing, you’re apparently more noticeable. It got me a scholarship.” The size of the scholarship was a big draw in making Collins a Wildcat.
students
|
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Duck the velvet ropes
Breakin’ up the group is hard to do
But you can have more fun without a fake. By Zoe Fox
W
elcome to junior year, also known as the awkward time you’re waiting for your legal ID to gain its timeearned market value. All your friends are 21, but you’re stuck counting the months on two hands. Not in the mood to passively witness a bouncer turn away your good-enough-for-Evanston fake as your 21-year-old friends enjoy adult nightlife? While your older friends rage downtown, the not-yet-legal partiers in your group can turn to one of these non-lame nearby hot spots that are underage friendly and still worth the El ride.
Friends raging in Belmont: Club Mambo
Caught outside a bar in Wicker Park: Arabia Hookah Bar Open until: 2 a.m. Sunday - Thursday, 3 a.m. Friday - Saturday 1046 N. Milwaukee Ave. arabiahookahbar.com Travel across the globe to Arabia with only a brief El ride. This intimate smoking spot offers authentic Moroccan decor, rich Arabic coffees and mint tea, amidst an environment promising to relax. The bar’s 27 flavors of shisha give your liver a rest while
22 |
Post-game entertainment in Wrigleyville: Uncommon Ground Open until: 2 a.m. Monday - Friday, 3 a.m. Saturday, 12 a.m. Sunday 3800 N. Clark St. uncommonground.com Experience the restaurant/bar hailing the first organic rooftop farm in the country. Eat food from the garden or choose a drink from the taste bud arousing menu of hot beverages. Ask for a seat in the music room to hear one of the several nightly live performances. Don’t forget to look around at the rotating gallery of contemporary artists. Nearby bars: Raw Bar, Ginger Man, Yak-Zies Bar, Rockit Bar, Cullen’s Bar, Full Shilling Irish Sports Pub, Casey Morgan’s, Bernie’s Tavern, The Piano Man.
Night out in Bucktown: Diversey River Bowl Open until: 2 am. Sunday - Thursday, 3 a.m. Friday - Saturday 2211 W. Diversey Ave. www.drbowl.com Worth a bit of a trek from the Bucktown bars, Diversey River Bowl is your familiar small town bowling alley with a twist. Diversey River Bowl takes Rock n’ Bowl to the next level with atmosphere enhancing fog machines, dozens of intelligent lights and strobes and non-stop floor-shaking Rock and Roll that will make you think you’re in the midst of a hopping night club. A full pizzeria serves all your favorite munchies. Nearby bars: Mutiny Corporation, Quenchers Saloon, Green Eye Lounge, Lottie’s Pub, Gallery Cabaret, Danny’s, Map Room, Charleston Inc.
Get friendly with the band. If the guy in your chem lab knows the bassist’s brother, take advantage. Often musicians will be willing to put you on their guest list or help you sneak in. Offer to help them load in their guitars and amps.
Offer to help out at the venue. Venues are always looking for college kids to put up posters or pass out publicity material on their campus. “Go on to the venue and search for internships,” says Kristin Clarke, a junior at UIC and an intern at a Western Avenue concert venue. “If you’re willing to put in some time, you can usually get in.”
Know the venue layout. Venues that have multiple entrances or back doors often allow for sneaking past the bouncer. At Metro, you can slip in through the door that attaches the Metro Store to the venue. At Reggie’s Rock Club, sneak through the back door.
Risk it. —Z.F.
photo: courtesy of schubas tavern
Open until: 2 a.m. Thursday - Saturday; 12 a.m. Sunday Wednesday 3336 N. Milwaukee Ave. clubmambo.net Live music can warm up any blistery winter night in Chicago. Dance to reggae, house, salsa, meringue and of course, Latin music, until the early hours of the morning. Caribbean fare is served in the adjacent Mambo Café. Worried that a 17+ club will be filled with high schoolers? The increased cool factor of Latin music is likely to deter much of the younger, less-desired company overflowing most other 18+ dance clubs. But make sure you go on a Friday night -- Saturdays are 21+. Nearby bars: Dunn Inn, Big Teddy Bear Inc., Janina’s Tavern, Brudder’s Lounge, Alice’s Lounge, Abbey Pub, Mirabell Lounge, Little Rascals Bar, Happy Night.
you take a stab at your lungs. They’ve even got interactive traditional belly dancing shows every Friday and Saturday night. Nearby bars: Five Star Bar, Sonotheque, West Town Tavern, Gold Star Bar, The Chipp Inn, Relax Lounge LLC, Alexi’s Bar.
With artists like Andrew Bird, Kanye West and Wilco originating from Chicago, the area has a solid reputation for music. But while many of the pleasures of being 21 are easy enough to come by, accessing concerts for the 21+ set isn’t always so easy. Why all the 21+ shows? “It’s really not up to us,” says Maureen Newell, manager of Schubas Tavern. “The band will prefer it one way or the other.” Other venues keep all of their shows 21+ to keep a certain vibe and to avoid worrying about underage drinking. But with the following tips, making it to the front row of a 21+ concert may be a reality, even if you were born in the ‘90s.
students
|
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Stiletto Swagga
With eclectic and daring duds, this girl’s got her own style
With her own style blog (eat-clothes.tumblr.com) and plans to create an online store featuring her favorite clothes from both designers and chain stores, Communication junior Yaa Boakye’s daily “costume” is anything but ordinary.
What’s your personal style creed?
It’s eclectic and changes every day. In terms of just one philosophy, I can’t decide, but I like different pieces. I’ll wear pieces from any style, but won’t let one style define an outfit.
What are your inspirations?
Designers like Dan and Dean Caten of DSquared2, Jeremy Scott, Heatherette, Chanel and Bottega Veneta. Also, blogs like Karla’s Closet, Garbage Dress, Luxirare and Sea of Shoes. Lady Gaga is also a style icon – she’s a genius.
What are your fashion essentials? I only own summer apparel and always wear heels. I’m into DIY pieces, too. My current favorites are rompers, onesies and strong jackets. My signature piece is a flowered headband – I’ve worn it every day for a year and can’t find another one like it. To go out, I wear mostly black (it’s easier and trans-seasonal) and big hair accessories because I keep hair and makeup simple.
What other accessories do you use?
With my piercings and tattoos, I want to challenge norms and have people dig deeper than my nose or lip ring to find out who I am as a person. My tattoos are a childhood theme: puzzle pieces on my shoulder and one on my left wrist. My right wrist says “rock paper scissors.”
How else does fashion influence your life?
I’m an assistant manager at Urban Outfitters and use the employee discount. I’ll edit pieces to make them work for me – I’ll cut it and add a belt. I shop at Crossroads, the vintage section of Belmont Army, consignment shops and Forever 21 for designer imitations.
How has your style changed at Northwestern?
PHOTO: JOHN MEGUERIAN
Freshman year, I wore ‘gaudy shirts’ like the “G is for Gangster” shirt from Urban and other graphic tees, lots of color and Vans sneakers with pictures of Tupac on them. Now my style is more practical. I decided not to be trendy, and now I’m thinking about what to wear down the road. I focus on tailoring and fit now.
INTERVIEW BY ABBY SHURE
Yaa is wearing: Blazer: Bebe. Faux fur scarf: H&M. Sequin tube Forever 21. Leather shorts: vintage. Tights: Urban Outfitters checkout|
23
students
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
|
entertainment
Shovel it in Masters of the hard court give the low down on an athlete’s intake. By Josh Sim Want to eat as many as 6,000 calories a day and still be in Division-I athletic shape? For men’s basketball guards Alex Marcotullio and Michael “Juice” Thompson, well, that’s exactly what they do. Marcotullio, a key rookie in the resurging men’s basketball team and Thompson, the unquestioned leader at the point, dine on what most people would classify as a daily diet of unchecked gluttony. But for the lithe sharpshooters, there’s more work to be had than simply chowing down to your heart’s content. Here’s their advice for a high-power workout diet.
Calories are good
Athletes can’t cut back on the calories and still perform in top shape. Both Marcotullio and Thompson stress that the need to monitor their diets is key to performing as best as possible during the season.
If it’s fried, forget it
Besides the power bars and protein shakes that are stereotypical jock food, what they eat seems strangely familiar: PB&Js, yogurt, fruit, pasta, steaks, and chicken. It’s what you don’t find in their diets that’s significant: no pizza, hamburgers or unnecessary grease.
When you eat matters
A light breakfast of carbs and fruit, followed by a meal consisting of protein and carbs (chicken and pasta, for example) is typical fare during the season. It’s important to maintain a regimen to keep up muscle mass.
Moderate your intake
Portion control can be as taxing as two-a-days, and “the dorm food is buffet, so you have to maintain focus and not eat as much, since freshmen can gain a lot of weight,” Thompson says.
Indulge a bit
Meet our players Alex Marcotullio
Michael “Juice” Thompson
Early into his first year, the Michigan native and Weinberg freshman made a splash against the ranked Notre Dame by scoring 13 points in a dramatic upset. Since then, he’s settled down, but that doesn’t mean the “Southpaw Sniper” is done with his work. Hailed as the future, if not immediate, replacement of Craig Moore, the sharpshooter has proven his talent for shooting the long ball – almost 85 percent of his shots this season have come from beyond the arc. His familiarity with the Wildcats has a solid base: He’s played high school AAU basketball with fellow Wildcat Davide Curletti.
He’s not too bad for a guy Coach Bill Carmody didn’t even have on his radar – Carmody didn’t consider him initially when recruiting. But “Juice,” a Communication junior, has been a workhorse since his arrival on campus in 2007. With Craig Moore’s graduation and Kevin Coble’s hiatus, Thompson has been asked to step up his role as a leader and player, and has become a powerhouse with an average 13.1 points per game and 51 three-pointers this season. He plays an average of 37.7 minutes per game (nearly 95 percent of the length of a game)--the highest of any player in the Big Ten.—J.S.
24 |
Photos: Jess ica K. Chou; players courtesy of Northwestern Athletic Communications
Thompson will splurge occasionally, but he says “I avoid it mostly, but I splurge at most once a week.” During these bouts of weakness, both have their sentimental havens. “Chipotle and BK,” says Marcotullio with a grin. For Thompson? “Chili’s and Buffalo Wild Wings.” But, just to cover his bases, he adds: “Mom’s cooking.”
students
|
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
food + drink
entertainment
From Skol to Svedka
Just because you’re drinking shitty vodka doesn’t mean it has to taste like it. By Kevin Sullivan Vodka Soaked Fruit Get your drank on and some vitamins at the
same time. We’ve taken a sample of common fruits, submerged them in vodka for 10 to 15 minutes and scored the results. (Use a glass bowl. Plastic or metal will affect the taste.) Best: Apple, Pineapple, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Mango Worst: Strawberry, Orange, Honeydew, Pears
Use a Brita water filter While you may have thought about it, you probably never considered actually trying it. But pouring shitty vodka through a regular water filter actually does make it taste noticeably better. All you need is Brita water pitcher with built-in filter, bad vodka and a little patience — filter at least three times, and you can tell your guests it’s Grey Goose. Oh, and don’t use that filter for water afterward.
Skittle Vodka To taste the rainbow and hopefully not much vodka,
you’re going to need two 14-ounce bags of original Skittles. Before you can start taking shots, there’s going to be a little grunt work. Separate the two bags by colors (each color will make a fifth of flavored vodka). Empty five vodka bottles and place the Skittles into each one. Replace the vodka and shake well. Here’s the hard part: wait a full day to let the skittles dissolve sufficiently. Then, filter using a couple of coffee filters. Opa!
The essentials of a well-stocked bar Art Bryan, owner of The Redhead Piano Bar, says you just need a few items to turn any bar into a refined drinker’s haven. First, you’ll need a good (read: not Skol) vodka: “Whether it’s Grey Goose or Ketel One, you need something that is better than the well,” Bryan says. Any host should also have a decent bottle of tequila. “You don’t have to spend the money on Patron, but 1800 is good.” A good rum will round out your liquor essentials. Mixers can be broken down into three categories: juices, mixes and sodas. Bryan says that the three basic juices for mixing are orange, cranberry and pineapple. Be sure to grab some sour mix and lime mix, and have tonic, cola, diet cola and 7UP on hand. For beer and wine, Bryan suggests keeping it simple. “In addition to your liquor bar, always have a Pinot Grigio, Riesling or unobtrusive Chardonnay, and a decent pilsner or lager beer on hand.”
Back in the ‘90s If college is the last time we can actually get away with acting like kids, shouldn’t we drink like them too? Bartenders Andrew Twarogowski, Jimmy Sisson and Art Bryan of The Redhead Piano Bar have helped us recreate some childhood favorites with a very adult twist. It’s like you’re a kid again – or at least a kid with a drinking habit. —K.S.
Chocolate Milk
Capri Sun
Sunny Delight
Hawaiian Punch
1 part Stolichnaya Vanil Vodka 1 part Godiva Original Dark Chocolate Liqueur 1/2 part half & half A splash of Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur
1 part Cherry Vodka 1 part Bacardi Dragon Berry Rum 1/2 part Red Apple Schnapps 1/2 part pineapple juice
1 part Stolichnaya Ohranj Vodka 1 part Tangerine Schnapps 1 part Mango Schnapps Splash of pineapple and orange juice
1 part Cherry Vodka 1 part Passion Fruit Rum 1 part Mango Rum 1 part Pineapple Rum 1/2 parts orange juice, pineapple juice and grenadine checkout|
25
students
|
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
entertainment
Four stars Theaters you want to check out, and they aren’t playing Avatar.
Music Box Theater
Gallery hopping
Go beyond the Mona Lisa in our own backyard. By Amanda Lerner
Smart Museum of Art
Hours:Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.to 8 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: Free Robertson originally worked at the Smart, located on the University of Chicago’s campus. The Smart has both a permanent collection and special exhibitions, and it covers a wide range of styles. After you stop by their “Sites to Behold: Travels in EighteenthCentury Rome” exhibition, you can fill up on food ranging from pad thai to a
falafel sandwich, mac & cheese or an Italian sub at their cafe.
The Oriental Institute
Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 10 a.m.to 6 p.m.; Wednesday 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 6 p.m. Admission: Suggested donation of $7 for adults For a more specific experience, check out the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. It is also located on the Hyde Park campus, and is usually open later. It also has both permanent galleries and rotating special exhibits, and deals specifically with the ancient Near East. After you’re done, you can stop into The Suq, the museum store, and pick up some souvenirs.
Art Institute of Chicago
Hours: Sunday -Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission: $12 for students, free Thursdays 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. The AIC really has it all: from the Modern Wing to Animal Images on Ancient coins. “The Art Institute has wonderful encyclopedia collections,” Robertson says. The AIC also has a museum shop that carries jewelry and stationary among other things. The AIC is located on Michigan Avenue, so if you need a break from shopping, you can stop in to browse the collections.
➽➽ FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE BLOCK MUSEUM’S ART OFFERINGS ONLINE AT NORTHBYNORTHWESTERN.COM
26 |
Oriental Theater 24 W. Randolph St. Back in the height of the Jazz Era, the Oriental Theater was among the most popular movie theaters in the city. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Oriental showed exploitation films that respectable theaters refused to show. The theater closed to the public until the 1990s when a Canadian company restored the theater. The Oriental’s 2009 production of Wicked was the longest-running Broadway-touring play in Chicago’s history.
Portage Theater 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave. The Portage Theater is home to the Silent Film Society of Chicago, but their screenings range from “B-Movie Madness” to the 1958 War of the Colossal Beast. The theater tends toward marathons of similarlythemed movies, generally not the sort of films you’d catch in the local AMC. The theater’s quirky atmosphere features a full pipe organ. Take the Brown line to the Irving Park stop. Get on Bus X80 towards Harlem. Get off at Cicero.
Sunset Cinema: It’s a bike-in! 2728 W. Evergreen Ave. Known for playing cult classics from the 90s, the Sunset Cinema only operates during spring and summer, so you’ll have to wait till then. Take the Red Line to 95th and the 70 bus to Division and Washtenaw. —Nick Merrill
photo: katherine tang; theaters: emily chow; robertson: katherine tang
David Alan Robertson, the Ellen Philips Katz Director of the Block Museum, has overseen many changes at the Block. In the past decade, the staff, budget and endowment have doubled. He previously held positions at the University of Oregon, Dickinson College, Yale, and the University of Chicago. Robertson strives to make the Block a national presence in the art world, and has so far succeeded. Robertson also wants to, “reach out as much as possible,” to Northwestern students and immerse them in art.
It’s easy to forget that we have a worldclass museum literally in our backyard. The Block Museum opened its doors in 2000. It transformed from a changing exhibition gallery to the current collecting institution it is today. “It was never devised to be a collecting institution. It happened by osmosis,” says David Alan Robertson, director of the Block. “As an undergrad, you don’t think you have much time [to learn about art], but you have much more than you will in the future,” Robertson says. “This is the time of your life to learn about these things, and visiting [museums] is a good way to start.” For the amateur art lover looking to venture off campus, Robertson recommends these museums.
3733 N. Southport Ave. This is the place for independent film in Chicago. From 1977 to 1983, it played Spanish films and porn. The theater began playing old films in 1983, and independent, cult and foreign-language films were added to the roster soon thereafter. Ride the Red Line to the Addison stop. Walk five blocks west to Southport Avenue, turn right, and walk two blocks north.
students
|
sports
|
chicago
|
stylesheet
|
food + drink
entertainment
On the download Find the guy across the hall in iTunes. By Nolan Feeney You can tune into American Idol to watch aspiring pop stars get their shot at stardom. Or you can open up iTunes and find a handful of Northwestern students who aren’t waiting for a television break to put their music out there. Whether they’re signed to a label or self-releasing music, playing with a band or recording solo material, here are some student musicians you won’t find in your local record store. It’s time to put your classmates on your iPod.
THE MAIN MEN Wienberg sophomore Mike Johnson; Beinen sophomore Christopher Kim; Bienen junior Bryan Millet; Weinberg junior Zack Levine
Photos: Evan Bakker: Blake Sobczak; Laura Schatz courtesy of Laura Schatz; Mori Einsidler courtesy of Mori Einsidler; The Main Men courtesy of Christoper Kim
This Northwestern alt-rock quartet is a residential college success story: Johnson, Kim and Millet all met in Jones last year before recruiting Levine for drums. Since then, they’ve been recording tracks one instrument at a time on Kim’s computer. Johnson says coordinating shows around all the members’ extracurricular commitments can be a challenge – sometimes they’ve had to play shows without all members present – but the band can usually make it work despite the busy schedules. The band’s eponymous debut came out last year, but the group is gearing up for the digital release of their as-yet untitled sophomore album. The Main Men – $8.91
LAURA SCHATZ, Bienen freshman While Schatz is a vocal performance major, most of the vocal duties in her band, Freemans Fortune, are shared between bandmates Chris Freeman and Maggie Fortune. But Schavtz plays cello on “The Ghosts Next Door” and sings back up on “Keep Me Numb.” The folk-pop trio is unsigned, but Schatz says the band, which released their debut album in October of last year, plans on playing shows together when all members are home from college. Growing Season ($5.95)
EVAN BAKKER, Weinberg freshman He hasn’t been a Northwestern student for very long, but through his band Silent Agency, Bakker has more material on iTunes than any other person on this list. The guitar player and his friends have been self-releasing music since high school, but Bakker says they are hoping to land a record deal in the near future. Although college has separated the band’s members, Bakker says distance hasn’t been a problem. “It’s actually fine because we can hype up shows three months in advance so that when everyone’s back in town, we can really make it kick ass.” Let’s Build a Summer ($7.92) Coming Up For Air – EP ($7.92) Talk to Me - EP ($5.94)
Mori Einsidler (MORI), Communication freshman While most students on this list are releasing music without a label, some don’t even need a recording studio. Einsidler, who records under the name MORI, writes and records all of her songs out of her computer through recording software Pro Tools. But Einsidler, who uses TuneCore to distribute her music, said being on iTunes isn’t that special. “You go to the website, pay a fee, say your music is yours so you’re sworn to not stealing, and you pay like, what, 30 bucks?” she says. “You could be on iTunes.” Killing Time - EP ($5.95) “Prom Song” ($.99)
How to get on iTunes Wish you were on our list? With the number of music distribution services available online, the hardest part about being an international recording artist isn’t finding a record deal, it’s writing your hit single. While royalty rates are competitive across the board, the cost of putting your music out there varies. TuneCore charges a set-up fee of a dollar per song and a yearly upkeep of $20, and it will sell your music in international stores for another dollar per market (iTunes Japan, anybody?). SongCast is more expensive, charging roughly a $20 set-up fee for each album and an annual cost of about $70, but it can distribute your music to other stores like Amazon and Rhapsody as well as provide social networking integration. If you’re a fan of the tangible, with a set up fee of $35, CD Baby will make and sell physical copies of your album through its online store, but it also does digital distribution. Unlike its competitors, CD Baby doesn’t require a yearly subscription, but it does take a cut from your sales. On the bright side, its flexible price scheme allows you to sell your music for as much or as little as you want. –N. F.
checkout|
27
SHALL WE DANCE? FOR YEARS, DANCE MARATHON HAS DONATED LESS MONEY TO BENEFICIARIES THAN THE ADVERTISED TOTAL. EVERY YEAR, DANCERS WONDER WHY. BY NICK CASTELE
M
an versus food!” shouts a man in a banana suit at Dance Mara-
thon Top Chef. Banana Man’s friends – a gal dressed like the St. Pauli girl and two guys in a pink track suit and a shiny shirt – say they came to support a friend in the culinary competition to raise money for DM’s beneficiaries, StandUp For Kids and the Evanston Community Foundation. Costumed cheerleaders chant while 15 teams prepare $375 of food in Evanston cooking school Now We’re Cookin’. Two buses idle outside, burning gas, waiting to drive guests the mile back to campus. President Morton Schapiro, Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and football’s Coach Pat Fitzgerald judge the teams’ dishes. ASG president Mike McGee is here. A cappella group Extreme Measures and guitarist comedians from NSTV perform. Top Chef joins a slew of DM fundraisers – weekly trivia contests at Buffalo Wild Wings, a dirty word spelling bee and speed dating at Merle’s. DM has been fundraising and advertising since last year’s grueling dance party ended. And DM is growing. No – it’s exploding. What started in 1975 as a 15-couple dance in Blomquist is now a 500-couple media experience in a climate-controlled tent outside Norris. Donations have skyrocketed from a few thousand dollars to a few hundred thousand. With so many administrators, students and local businesses involved, it’s clear that Evanston and the Northwestern community stand by this fundraising colossus. And why not? Since 2004, DM has given more than $2.9 million to charity. Last year alone, DM gave $576,470 to Project Kindle. If you visit DM’s Web site, though, you’ll see something different. “Last year alone we raised more than $917,834,” it says. Those who danced last year
may remember seeing that number revealed on a giant billboard at the end of the night. But they might also remember seeing Project Kindle get a check for a bit more than half of that money. They might remember looking at all the lights, the DJ booth, the projectors, the video cameras, the food and the T-shirts, and wondering, “Where’d the rest of our money go?” mccormick junior jonathan lin danced in last year’s dm with his girlfriend,
Christine. Lin didn’t know that DM gives less than the fundraising total it publicizes. “I first realized that during the dance,” he says. Since then, DM has soured on him. But don’t get him wrong – Lin is no misanthrope. He volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and has been doing Alternative Student Break since his freshman year. But he can’t understand why 30 percent of DM’s fundraising total doesn’t appear on checks to charity. A letter to the Daily Northwestern in spring 2009 said, “I think it is a disappointment how much money gets donated to DM but does not get received by Project Kindle.” A commenter on a spring 2009 North by Northwestern article said DM’s product total “is over the top, and while a lot of it is donated, don’t claim these exaggerated numbers as the amount you ‘raised for’ your charities.” For years, Dance Marathon has given less money to its beneficiaries than it publicizes as its fundraising total. Last year, about $277,000 of the fundraising total did not go to Project Kindle or Evanston Community Foundation. But SESP senior Allister Wenzel, finance co-chair of this year’s DM can settle the score. He explains that the $277,000 is the value of the things that companies donate to the event. Wenzel calls it the “product total.” “Everything we try to get donated, if not discounted,” he says. The product total only contains donations that are “absolutely essential to the maintenance and operation of Dance Marathon,” things like food, the stage, the tent and the lights. The other part of the fundraising total is what Wenzel calls the “cash total,” the sum of all monetary donations from dancers, corporations and other individuals. This is the money that goes to the beneficiaries. Fans cheer their friends at DM Top Chef, an annual student cooking contest fundraiser. President Morton Schapiro, Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and football’s Coach Pat Fitzgerald came out to judge the teams’ dishes. Fundraisers like Top Chef raise the bar every year in terms of how much money DM brings in for its beneficiaries.
Photos: North by Northwestern file
28 |
At the end of 30 hours of dancing, two different numbers are revealed: a higher number that includes all of DM’s total fundraising efforts, and a lower number on the check written to the beneficiaries.
Thanks to all the product donations, DM spends very little money compared to the amount it gives to beneficiaries. DM’s expenses are less than onetenth the size of its donation to charity “by a decent amount,” says SESP senior Lauren Troy, one of DM’s co-chairs. Troy quickly points out that DM doesn’t spend any dancer donations on expenses (also called overhead). “Our main source of overhead is dancer registration fees,” says McCormick senior Ryan Farrell, DM’s other co-chair. Each dancing couple pays an $85 fee. DM pays for the rest of its expenses with ASG money, a $5,000 startup fee from the beneficiary and other grants. “We only spend money on it if absolutely necessary,” Wenzel says. Moreover, Whole Foods donated $25 gift cards to each team to spend on ingredients at DM Top Chef. Now We’re Cookin’ donated their kitchen. “Any space that we ever hold an event, with very few exceptions, is completely free,” Farrell says.
S
o why publicize the product total as part of the grand number at all?
Troy says ignoring the product total wouldn’t give due credit to the DM committees who secure those product donations. “Without that,” she says, “DM wouldn’t be possible.” The product total also scores points with corporate sponsors. Farrell says they can show a potential donor company the product total and say, “Part of our total comes from you.” And according to Troy, “that’s how all major fundraising organizations do it.” But DM at UCLA hasn’t even considered counting product total. Finance Director Sarah Young says, “I’m sure I could find the number, but I’ve never personally added it up […] It’s not something we look into a great deal.” The school’s DM Web site says they raised $384,000 in 2008. “That money is clear-cut how much we give to beneficiaries,” Young says. Even our DM used to separate cash and product totals on its Web site. A 2005 version of the site even published its overhead expenses—something Troy declined to do for recent DMs. But Michael Nilsen, senior director of public affairs at the Association of Fundraising Professionals, says that it’s fairly normal practice for fundraisers to publish a fundraising total that combines cash with product. He even praises the amount of cash total compared with fundraising total. “To give 70 percent is very good,” he says. lin still wishes dm would publicize only the cash total. “I don’t think that I
should [have to] go to the Project Kindle Web site to see that number,” he says. He even says the product total “does count as part of their overhead
cost” because somebody had to pay for all those donations. Local businesses donate money, food, paper and electronic equipment to DM. And the amount they donate “is actually considerably higher than we put in the product total,” Wenzel says. So why not take the money we would have spent on a stage or sound system and give it directly to charity? Troy and Farrell say it’s not that easy. Much of DM’s expense money comes from ASG grants that must go towards expenses, not to the beneficiary. What if we reduced DM’s expenses, though? What if we shrank the registration fee and increased the minimum amount of money each dancer must raise? Wouldn’t we end up with smaller overhead and a bigger cash total? “We want DM to keep growing,” Farrell says. “If we have to someday put in a little extra money but we’re getting an enormous growth in the amount of campus that we can really involve, that’s what we want.” The way the cochairs see it, a bigger DM eventually means more money for the beneficiaries. DM gives more money now than it did 20 years ago, when it was much smaller. But from 2008 to 2009, the product total actually increased while the cash total decreased. In the short term, increasing product does not guarantee more cash. But DM’s not just about fundraising, Farrell says. It’s about understanding. Dancers fight fatigue, hunger and pain for 30 hours so they can comprehend someone else’s suffering, even though it’s only temporary for the dancers. “When you sit and you read these stories about homeless kids— that doesn’t end for them,” he says. And hopefully the caring and volunteering will last longer than the dance itself, the co-chairs say. They mention SESP senior Jorie Larson, who saw an email on the DM listserv about volunteer openings with StandUp For Kids. Now she works with new volunteers and oversees about 15 street counselors – including four Northwestern students. “It kind of felt like serendipity, the way I got that email,” she says. Yet Lin thinks that DM should pick beneficiaries that do the most good for the least amount of money. Instead of paying to send kids with HIV/ AIDS to a camp like Project Kindle, DM should have donated to the AIDS research that might yield treatment, he says. But who decides which causes deserve the most money? “When I was canning, someone said to us, ‘What about Haiti?’” says Kelli Marks, a SESP sophomore at DM Top Chef. She doesn’t rethink Dance Marathon, though. “That’s just living in a world where there is more than one problem to solve.” north by northwestern|
29
Weinberg freshman Viraj Raygor, McCormick junior Gaurav Gadodia and Weinberg freshman Ajay Haryani (left to right) perform with Northwestern Bhangra. The group’s dances originate from the Punjab region of northern India and Pakistan, but the style is evolving with modern influences. Northwestern’s group is in its fifth year on campus.
CULTURE 30 |
ABLAZE While you were at Tracy Morgan’s show, the South Asian Student Alliance was putting on its annual festival of color, costume, music and movement. The result? An energetic display of South Asian culture in movement and rhythm. By Jared T. Miller
Weinberg senior Sheena Agarwal, president of Bhangra, is proof of the group’s evolution; traditionally an eight member, all-male dance, Northwestern Bhangra includes six women along with six men in its dances. The Punjabi folk style dates back to the 1400s. Opposite: Communication junior Annum Bhullar, captain of Mirch Masala, applies make-up before the group’s circus-themed performance. Mirch Masala is the newest female dance troupe on campus, blending classical Indian dance with hip hop.
north by northwestern|
33
34 |
Weinberg freshman Sue Chuang (left) applies makeup before Deeva Dance Troupe’s dance. The all-female group blends classical Indian dance with Bollywood, jazz and hip hop, and recently placed second in the Manhattan Project, a competition hosted at NYU. Weinberg freshman Rajul Parekh (right) dances in Deeva’s “seven deadly sins” themed performance.
more photos online at northbynorthwestern.com
north by northwestern|
35
Waging war
36 |
Photos: Emily Chow
What keeps living wage campaigners inspired during what could be a losing battle? For them, it’s simple—the stories of Northwestern workers behind the counter. By Christie Thompson
K
evin* has worked in the same Northwestern dining hall for 12 years. “Thirteen years on April 22nd,” he says repeatedly, with a smile that reveals a few missing teeth and a sense of pride. Kevin can’t afford health insurance or dental coverage. He recently waited eight hours in a Cook County hospital to get several decayed teeth pulled, a common and cost-effective means of dealing with dental issues.
Kevin makes around $10 per hour – even though he’s been at Northwestern for more than a decade. Without enough money to start a savings account, he spends four dollars each week to cash his checks at a local currency exchange. But Kevin still speaks of his time at Northwestern with fondness, directed mainly toward the “darn good workers” he spends hours with each day prepping and cleaning. He makes sure to remember each co-worker’s first and last name in every story he tells. But Kevin has felt the effects of tight controls on labor costs through staff cutbacks and an avoidance of overtime pay. Under a previous manager, Kevin was given a long list of cleanup tasks to complete before locking up, but was also told to punch out by 8:30 p.m. every night, as the company did not want to pay for overtime hours. With only three people left at closing, Kevin spent several nights working until 9, 10 or 11 p.m. off the clock and unpaid. Kevin gives these details slowly and reluctantly. “I couldn’t leave it until the next day,” he says, who had mentioned the issue to his unresponsive manager. “It was some tough times, sure was.” Riding the “organizing high” of the Obama campaign they had both worked on, SESP senior Conrad Hendrickson and Weinberg junior Adam Yalowitz asked their NCDC education committee members to find an issue on campus they could organize around at the beginning of fall quarter. Weinberg sophomores Caity Callahan and Maggie Birkel came to them with the issue of labor relations on campus. By the end of October, they had met with dining hall managers and the representative unions on campus. “It’s one of those issues that when you talk about seems obvious, but it isn’t talked about often,” Yalowitz says. “One of the goals is to really change the way students and workers interact... It’s an issue of defining community. Workers should be included in the Northwestern community.” So Yalowitz and Hendrickson began a petition in November 2009 to raise the compensation of Northwestern employees from what is often around $10 an hour to $13.23 an hour with health care benefits. "At first Maurice [Nix] laughed at us," Yalowitz says of the Norris Union Steward's initial response. "He didn't think a lot of students cared." The petition has since garnered over 1300 signatures, more than 40 of which are from faculty members. Hendrickson and Yalowitz then went to President Schapiro last December with concerns that Northwestern workers were not being paid decent wages. Since then, Northwestern administration has said they are open to discussing the issue. But concerns remain about the feasibility of finding the estimated $2 million to $5 million that the Living Wage ordinance would cost Northwestern. “Revenues just don’t grow because you and I want them to,” says Eugene Sunshine, senior vice president of business and finance. Sunshine says paying workers a living wage would mean *Names of workers have been changed, as Sodexo asked them not to speak to media.
tradeoffs and cutbacks with other university priorities, like faculty salaries and financial aid. “That’s a very substantial amount of money. You have to prioritize. Where is the money supposed to come from?” While Schapiro and the rest of the administration have said they will “strive to provide fair compensation…sufficient to meet the basic needs of its personnel,” it’s unclear what this looks like in a paycheck. Does the $250 to $300 workers take home weekly pay for their apartment rent, public transportation, weekly groceries, co-pays on their doctor visits, cell phone bills, and car payments? Does the compensation of a full-time employee provide childcare for their child at home, a plane ticket to attend a niece’s wedding, and money to get by in those unpaid weeks every December when students head off to Christmas break? For the 57 percent of Northwestern employees making less than $10 per hour, and the 91 percent making below a living wage – is it enough?
Sodexo employee Suzanne* wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning. After getting her 7-year-old granddaughter (who she often refers to as her daughter) ready and off to school, she comes home to clean the one-bedroom apartment they share. “She’s got [the bedroom] now, because she’s growing. So last year we painted it and fixed it all up,” Suzanne says with the tiny, ironic laugh she sprinkles throughout the conversation. “So her mommy’s on the couch.” She then spends an hour or so searching the newspaper for a second job opportunity. Suzanne found her job at Northwestern six months ago, after two years of unemployment. She had worked for $14 per hour at a printing shop in Chicago (a job she says is comparable in demand and skill), but was laid off when the printer closed. Even though she now works five days a week from 11:30 a.m. till 8:30 p.m., the $240 she takes home weekly isn’t enough to earn herself her own bedroom or buy her granddaughter the computer she needs for school. Suzanne heads home from Evanston around 8:30, or 9 on Sundays. After an hour and 15 minute commute on public transportation to the Ravenswood neighborhood in the North Side of Chicago, she heads off to pick up her granddaughter from her sister’s house. Suzanne can’t afford a stay-in sitter that would get her young granddaughter to bed earlier, as the $60 a week she pays her sister already takes a quarter of her weekly income. The two often don’t get to bed until 11 p.m. every night. “[She’s] all cranky, my poor baby,” Suzanne says with a slight shake of her head. “I barely make ends meet to pay the babysitter.” What defines a living wage? Dr. Robert Pollin, founding co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-author of A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages in the United States defined it as “a wage that is adequate to enable the worker to support themselves and their family. It allows them to be secure, to maintain self respect, [and] to participate in the life of their community.” The organizers of the campaign calculated
“Opponents of the campaign say a living wage will “out-price” current employees. By raising the lowest wages, the university or Sodexo will need to cut back on labor costs and thus lay off existing employees. “Somebody’s going to lose their job,” Sunshine says, speculating that four employees with wages raised by $2 would replace one $8 per hour employee. “[And] in this financial climate, a lot of people are already unemployed.” north by northwestern|
37
Campaigners created Valentine’s Day-themed cards and posters to encourage administrators to raise the wages of Northwestern workers. They gathered outside the Rebecca Crown Center to demonstrate.
a tentative rate of $13.23 with health care benefits through the Illinois Self-Sufficiency Standard as a living wage for Northwestern workers. At this income, a family with two wage earners should be able to support two children. “No one who works full time should have to live in poverty,” says Jinah Kim, assistant director of Asian-American Studies at Northwestern and a past Union organizer. In November 2009, a full-time dining hall employee was still not making enough to house their family, living instead in a local homeless shelter, according to union steward and head cook Rafael Marquez. The workers of their dorm quickly rallied to create a “hardship fund” to get their coworker on his feet. It's common to equate homelessness with unemployment, but with housing market prices, this isn’t always the case. Increases in national and statewide minimum wages rise much more slowly than the cost of living, especially in the expensive neighborhoods around Northwestern. In 1968, an employee working full-time at minimum wage made a living 20 percent above the national poverty line for a family of three. Now, 42 years later in an economy twice as active, a person working full-time on minimum wage earns 25 percent below the three-person level poverty line. Many Northwestern workers classify as the "working poor," or those employed full-time but still unable to make ends meet. Food services employment at Northwestern also has the added hardship of being primarily seasonal. “Only the people with the seniority get to stay,” says Maurice Nix, Union Steward for the employees of Norris Center, or, as many students know him, the man that makes the best wraps in the Norris Food Court. Hours are cut drastically during student breaks, if not entirely. Many workers file for unemployment checks during this time off, a strain on both finances and pride. These fewer shifts can also affect employee’s health insurance coverage. Depending
38 |
on their plan, workers may be left uncovered for several weeks during the vacation, or facing huge payments upon returning to work in January. “It’s good when it’s good, but when the hours are not here, they’re not here,” Nix says. Most Northwestern workers don’t live in Evanston, where the average monthly rent for a 2-bedroom apartment is $1,805. Many commute daily from the far South or West Sides of Chicago. Longtime employee Eva’s* commute from the South Side on the El takes two and a half hours every morning. “I come 22 miles every day, here, and I go 22 miles back,” she says. Eva’s well known in her dining hall for “telling it like it is,” a recognized face and strong personality who says she speaks to students as she would her own children. Eva’s grown son is now helping her finance a car, which will cut down her commute. Parking is not provided, and employees can choose to pay seven dollars a day to park in the lot, or arrive particularly early in order to find sometimes-distant street parking. But despite the absurd travel time and cost of transportation, it’s preferable to trying to make it in the overpriced surrounding neighborhoods. “I know I never could live up here. Evanston is so high, it’s ridiculous,” Eva says dismissively. The question of whether or not to raise wages is tangled in Northwestern’s indirect relationship with its dining hall employees. In 1972, Northwestern switched from running food services on campus themselves to contracting to various outside companies. Sodexo has now been in charge of Northwestern dining since 1998, and Northwestern Human Resources does not deal directly with Sodexo employees. “When the university was running everything, they tried to be fairly generous,” says Willard head chef and union steward Tom Breitsprecher, who has worked at Northwestern
for almost 31 years. According to Breitsprecher, Northwestern took part in profit-sharing programs and tried to provide for the majority of healthcare costs. But food service corporations like Sodexo mainly answer to themselves in terms of worker care and compensation. “In the service industry, it used to be ‘if we take care of our workers, they’ll take care of our customers,’” he says. “Now [they’re] seen more as a cost or liability rather than an asset.” By contracting out, Northwestern can save money on food services, and pass off their responsibility to the employees of on-campus dining. “[Northwestern administration] pretty much can wash their hands of employee issues,” Breitsprecher says. Sunshine emphasizes that there is a separation between Northwestern and the staff of contracted companies like Sodexo. “The university has a contract, but they’re not our employees,” Sunshine says. The university has no legal obligations toward the workers of Northwestern food services, he says. Sunshine maintained that demanding Sodexo raise its wages would step on the responsibility of the representing unions to debate such issues. Sodexo and union representatives meet every two years to discuss wage raises, which generally result in nickel or dime increases. Most recently in the fall of 2009, Sodexo adamantly maintained that they could not afford more than a nickel raise for workers due to the recession. However, after further negotiation, the union won a 55-cent increase for Northwestern Sodexo employees. If Sodexo handles the employees, is there even anything administration can do to raise wages to a living standard? Organizers say the size of the Northwestern client is enough leverage to make Sodexo comply with any demands made by the university. In 2008, the combination of retail, catering, and resident dining services on Northwestern amounted to $27.11 million in revenue. Campus organizers are
“I was supposed to go to college when I started here at Sodexo,” says John*, a Sodexo employee. He's hoping to study computer science. But the cost for a four-year university degree seemed insurmountable, and John was reluctant to ask for a loan he might not be able to pay back. In an ironic inversion of the American dream, John now hopes to save up enough money to go back to Mexico to earn a degree, where it will be cheaper. “[The administration] probably thinks whatever they’re paying us is fair,” John says. targeting their efforts on pressuring the Northwestern administration to alter their contract with Sodexo. “We can leverage student power with the administration much more than we can with Sodexo,” Hendrickson says. “They should be accountable.” While Eva treks to work each morning, others have struggled to find lodging closer to work. Rick*, a soft-spoken but affable line cook, was able to find convenient housing nearby – at the local YMCA. He’s one of three Sodexo workers who rent rooms there monthly, a living situation comparable to that of dormitory living on campus. “I’m paying about $500 a month,” Rick says, with the Village People’s “YMCA” pumping ironically through the dining room speakers. Rick has worked as a cook in several different restaurants, and someday aspires to attend cooking school. At the Y, “they’ve got a microwave on each floor, but I still don’t have a stove,” he says simply. If wages were increased, Rick might get his own stove, kitchen and even bathroom. “I would be able to find somewhere nicer to live. I’d be able to afford it even though I have other bills,” he says. Opponents of the campaign say a living wage will “out-price” current employees. By raising the lowest wages, the university or Sodexo will need to cut back on labor costs and thus lay off existing employees. “Somebody’s going to lose their job,” Sunshine says, speculating that four employees with wages raised by $2 would replace one $8 per hour employee. “[And] in this financial climate, a lot of people are already unemployed.” But others question the math and logic behind such conclusions. According to Pollin and Weinberg senior and orga-
nizer Matt Fischler, higher wages often results in much lower turnover rates. By raising wages, you are not removing jobs, but rather creating financial security for those already employed. Jobs with more longevity can often result in higher productivity for companies, Pollin says. Kim also points out that higher wages mean more money
being put back into the market economy through consumer spending. “What we’re fighting against fundamentally is that idea that these people have this assigned commodity value,” says Kyle Schaffer, a Northwestern alum and current organizer for Unite Here labor union. “I think it’s kind of a twisted
Be the change
Northwestern is not the first – and surely will not be the last – university to see its students rallying around a living wage campaign for campus workers.
Harvard
Stanford
Georgetown
As a Harvard alumnus, Gregory Halpern participated a three-week occupation of Harvard's president's office with 50 other students in April 2001. The sit-in caught the attention of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who traveled to Cambridge to negotiate campus workers’ wages with Harvard administrators, on the behalf of the Harvard Living Wage Campaign. “On one hand it was a huge success and on the other hand, a huge failure,” says Halpern, who was disappointed that Harvard, an institution boasting one of the nation’s highest collegiate endowments at the time, agreed to only sign a temporary contract raising campus workers’ wages, but failed to promise a living wage policy.
As part of the Stanford Labor Action Coalition, students began organizing a living wage campaign in 1998. They fasted once in 2003 and again in 2007 to protest unfair treatment of workers and inadequate salaries. “While Stanford said we have a living wage policy, all that meant was some workers on campus earn a living wage,” says Daniel Weissman, a graduate student at Stanford and member of SLAC, who fasted for eight days in 2007. Though the fasts caused Stanford administrators to reconsider campus workers’ wages, certain restrictions on living wages still exist to the dismay of SLAC members. Current policies withhold the promise of a living wage to unionized workers and campus workers that work for “tenant businesses” including on-campus restaurants and the Stanford bookstore.
University administrators implemented a Just Employment policy in 2004, which ensured living wages for all campus workers following a nineday student-led hunger strike. The students, who dubbed themselves the Georgetown Solidarity Committee (GSC) forced Georgetown administrators to reconsider campus worker wages. But Chessa Gross, a Georgetown senior and member of GSC, says that GSC’s work isn't done. “Once we won, it wasn’t just over. We have to help enforce the Just Employment policy.”
➽➽ Not bad, Harvard, Stanford and Georgetown. But despite their successes, living wage campaign challenges remain at all three schools. “It’s really hard to build an institutional memory because people turn over so fast,” Weissman says. However, sustaining a living wage campaign on campus doesn’t have to be elaborate according to Weissman: Rallying for a living wage “is kind of unreasonably, ridiculously easy to do. It seems like it should be impossible,” but a group of motivated students “can change the course of the entire university.” —Vanessa Dopker
north by northwestern|
39
SESP senior Conrad Hendrickson works with other members of the NCDC Education Committee to petition the Northwestern administration for higher wages for its workers.
thing if you start to think that raising workers wages somehow hurts the workers. It doesn’t play out that way.” John* works in the same dining hall as his mother and sister. After his father was laid off from work the previous year, John gives a significant portion of his weekly $300 income toward paying the bills they all share. John speaks pragmatically, in numbers, rough figures and cost estimates. More difficult for him is talking about the emotional aspect of his father’s unemployment. “He was very depressed, didn’t want to go out, didn’t want to eat. Our morale was down the drain,” he says. John and his family had been visiting fam-
Weinberg junior Adam Yalowitz heads the NCDC Education Committee, which leads the campaign.
40 |
ily in Mexico City before receiving the news. Like many others, his parents left Mexico for economic opportunity. “You work to live a better life,” he says, reiterating his mother’s mentality. “I was supposed to go to college when I started here at Sodexo,” John says, hoping to study computer science. But the cost for a fouryear university degree seemed insurmountable, and John was reluctant to ask for a loan he might not be able to pay back. In an ironic inversion of the American dream, John now hopes to save up enough money to go back to Mexico to earn a degree, where it will be cheaper. The economic opportunities his parents came to the United States for in the first place seem further away
“One of the goals is to really change the way students and workers interact. Workers should be included in the NU community.”
than ever. “[The administration] probably thinks whatever they’re paying us is fair,” John says. John’s financial obstacles are not unique. Student organizer Hendrickson spoke of a young food service worker who’s seen similar economic barriers to the educational opportunities students at Northwestern can enjoy. “I’ve been working with him to try and get him enrolled in community college,” Hendrickson says. “We’ve always hit a road block because he doesn’t have the money to stop working and go to school. He’s got the will… all he’s lacking is the money and the resources.” “Northwestern’s budget should not be balanced on the backs of workers.” These were the words of President Morton Schapiro during his first meeting with the Living Wage Campaign organizers in December. But at press time they have rejected submitted plans to raise wages. Eva was hoping to go back to school, but can’t afford it. Rick worries it may be too late for him to enroll in culinary classes, something he’d always wanted to do. Lauren*, a college graduate and dining hall employee, hopes her son can someday have the chance to attend a school like Northwestern. Suzanne’s granddaughter wants to become a nurse, but Suzanne struggles to provide things like the computer she needs for her schoolwork. “My comfort at college was born on the backs of men and women [who] could not afford to send their children to school,” says Kim, who graduated from Columbia and became a labor activist. “How is my privilege built on the exploitation of others? What does a liberal arts education mean if not to better the lives of others?”
HUSH HUSH The percentage of students at Northwestern who use counseling services is twice that of similar colleges.
But despite the best efforts of CAPS, a mental health ASG committee and the defunct NU Mental Health Alliance, we’re still not comfortable saying our problems out loud. By Angelica Jaime
Anna Sanders* is completely at ease; no hint of sadness, no worry crosses her friendly, beaming face. Everything from her tousled brown hair down to her sparkling silver slippers says effortless. The crispness of her cardigan and skirt ensemble is unmistakably New England, (think Ralph Lauren catalogue, but less stuffy). The first time we meet, Sanders’ enthusiasm is clear, her foot bouncing as she tells her story. It was on a Sunday afternoon in October 2008, she tells me, eyes dropping to the floor as she thinks. Her enthusiasm wavers and it becomes painfully clear that sharing this, even anonymously, is difficult. “I had been at work. I remember having this feeling of this nervous energy; I was shaking, breathing heavily. I was having a panic attack,” she says. Sanders left work that day, panic coursing through her, hoping to find relief once she returned to her apartment. In her room, the fear, the racing thoughts, the deep melancholy became overwhelming. “I was so tired of having my life ruled by my depression and my anxiety that I picked up a bottle of my antidepressants, and I poured them out on my bed planning to overdose,” she says. At this point Sanders was sobbing uncontrollably. Then, something inside her snapped. Frenetic nervousness still buzzing inside, the SESP junior called the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) emergency line. With trembling fingers clutching her phone, she confessed she was going to commit suicide. *Names of students have been changed north by northwestern|
41
S
she would become one of about 1,800 students
who used CAPS last school year. According to CAPS psychologist Dr. Wei-Jen Huang, 11 percent of Northwestern students make use of university psychological services, which is twice that of similarly ranked universities. At Northwestern, he says, “everybody’s so smart, but everyone is struggling with the question of, ‘Am I good enough?’” Students strive to maintain a perfect façade, a flawless version of themselves, hoping it will get them the success they’ve been working so hard to attain, he says. But statistics only tell so much. Anna Sanders isn’t just a number recorded in yet another survey. The have-it-all-sorority girl could be anyone, keeping a secret she fears no one will understand. It’s that acceptance that seems lacking among Northwestern students. “Northwestern is not a
very safe environment. I have so many students who feel so isolated and lonely, but when we’re able to create a safe place for them they start to be more real and become more loving,” Huang says. He specializes in couples therapy but works with students with a wide range of issues. “The stigma associated with seeking help from CAPS at this university is a big obstacle, despite having the resources we have, we need everybody’s help to get the positive message out,” Huang says. Part of the reason, he says, is particularly because of the fear of imperfection. They compare themselves to other students, and in doing so, create the false sense that they can never achieve enough. Students are much too busy, he says, piling on extracurricular activities, becoming leaders of student groups, all in the hopes of standing out among the competition. Huang says that at CAPS, a safe environment, a place for reflection and different perspectives, is created. The problem is reaching students in the first place. Getting the word out efficiently, particularly when all of their clinicians focus primarily on serving students, becomes an obstacle. “We don’t know how to resolve those kinds of issues. We have all of these services, and we’re here to help but we need students’ help also,” he says. for sanders, keeping her struggle with mental ill-
ness private was something she had been doing for months. That is, until that October afternoon. Her sophomore year was marked by a romantic relationship, one she calls “really unhealthy
on many levels.” Her boyfriend criticized her, pointed out flaws in her body and made fun of her intelligence. She stayed in the relationship because she was convinced it would make her happy. Their breakup at the end of last school year sent her into a deep depression and led into “the worst summer of my life,” she says. During that summer, Sanders started seeing a therapist from the Evanston area and began taking antidepressants. Even though she sought treatment, she still isolated herself from her friends. She became distant, fearing the start of Fall Quarter and seeing her ex-boyfriend. When she returned, he barraged her with text messages and phone calls and began “telling people that [she] was a backstabber and a slut.” As his harassment escalated, so did her anxieties, building to the point where Sanders would wrench at the sound of any phone ring. “I know this sounds crazy but something that made me stay in that relationship was the idea of giving off an image of perfection,” she says. She wanted to be the girl that had everything, the girl that had her whole life in spotless order, and was willing to make unhealthy choices to keep that façade firmly in place. And so the pressure to keep face grew, until that Sunday afternoon in October. The weeks following her suicide attempt were a blur of hospital stays and therapy sessions. She chose to stay at Advocate Lutheran General, in nearby Park Ridge, trying to keep her struggles as private as possible. “I didn’t want anyone to find out that this had anything to do with my ex boyfriend
Left, CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) is located at 633 Emerson Street, but has temporarily moved to Foster- Walker. Right, Dr. Wei-Jen Huang wishes more students were upfront about mental health. “The stigma associated with seeking help from CAPS at this university is a big obstacle, despite having the resources we have, we need everybody’s help to get the positive message out,” Huang says.
Photos: Blake Sobczak
42 |
because if he knew that he still had that power over me, that was just one more thing he would have over me that he could use to manipulate and use me,” she says. It was during her time in the hospital’s group therapy that she gained perspective. “These weren’t crazy people, they weren’t ‘mental patients.’ These were people who somewhere in their life had experienced a loss— be it of another person or part of themselves,” she says. The amount of love and acceptance she got from her fellow group members, she told me, was unlike anything she had ever gotten from even her closest friends. the caps-asg student committee serves to bridge
the gap between students and psychological services, working to build a more accepting community at Northwestern. They work to foster mental health awareness and communication across campus, organizing events like Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Current committee board chair Allison Gallerani says that getting the word out about planned events is always a struggle: The point of the committee is to reach as many students as possible about counseling services, but events are so full that CAPS can’t keep up. “It’s not a conversation that’s happening on campus, but the resources are being used,” Gallerani says. It isn’t surprising when she tells me that the stress clinics offered by CAPS are consistently full. However, the committee can only do so much, their actions being hindered in part by CAPS itself. “Starting student-run discussion groups or even a student hot line would help reduce stigma, but it introduces a lot of liability issues,” she says. josh petersen* started using
caps this fall quarter and is very much among those not quite comfortable talking about mental health, especially his own. “My main fear is that people will—not think that I’m crazy or anything like that—I don’t want it to be something that defines me,” he says. The Medill junior is not afraid of defining himself, however. He doesn’t go as far as calling himself a hipster, but admits that his reputation has always hovered in the area of “cool.” His Ray-Ban framed face is set to somewhere between bored and amused, and he tugs out the cuff of his shirt from under the sleeve of his argyle sweater regularly. For him, seeking the help of CAPS was a long time coming. Petersen’s sophomore year was lost in a sea of drugs, alcohol and endless parties.
“There is a huge pressure on this campus to be perfect — to get the grades, to be super-involved. Often, you feel guilty if you are not totally stressed out,” said Martinson. Then a newly minted frat brother, he wanted to take advantage of a scene he might not be a part of once he graduated. His lifestyle began to take a toll on his academic career, his motivation to study quickly fading as the year drew on. After failing two classes and making lackluster grades in the classes he did pass, he was placed on probation based on financial aid regulations. Despite advice from his girlfriend to seek counseling for his growing apathy and lack of motivation, Petersen was hesitant and unwilling to admit that his social life was encroaching on his ability to perform academically. He put it off until this fall, realizing he couldn’t continue to destroy his life. Gallerani says one step toward more open conversation about mental health on campus might be an unaffiliated student group to pick up where CAPS leaves off. Northwestern had this option, not long ago, in the form of the NU Mental Health Alliance. The group began at the end of Spring Quarter 2008 with the goal of creating an inclusive environment to discuss mental health issues, reducing stigma and serving as a liaison between students and on and off-campus resources. According to publicity chair and Weinberg junior Derek Tam, the group experienced its highest member activity during fall of 2008, as they helped organize the vigil for Trevor Boehm, a student who had gone missing that quarter. Throughout the following months, the group tried to gain recognition from the university but membership fizzled off, and by the end of the 2009 school year, the group fell apart. “The campus as a whole wasn’t really receptive to the
ASG-CAPS committee chair Allison Gallerani wants to reach as many students as possible about counseling services, but events are so full that CAPS can’t keep up.
Gallerani
whole thing. In a sense, I guess we were limited by the very thing about the Northwestern community we were trying to break down: this reluctance to talk about mental health issues,” Tam says. NUMHA’s former services coordinator, Weinberg junior Jessica Martinson, says she hopes that despite lack of interest in the group, people can start talking about mental health. “It’s important that people are able to talk freely about how they’re feeling and what they’re going through. There is a huge pressure on this campus to be perfect — to get the grades, to be super-involved. Often, you feel guilty if you are not totally stressed out,” she says. during his treatment, petersen really only wanted
a prescription for Adderall and a pat on the back: anything to help him regain focus. What he got instead was a series of sessions with a therapist and a plan of action. He received advice on organization, stress relief and how to battle apathy. Petersen was never diagnosed with a mental illness, but sees therapy as an important step in maintaining a healthy mental state. “If I had just gone and got some drugs to help me focus, I would have gotten results—maybe good results—while I was taking them,” says Petersen. “I feel like what they’re doing for me now is going to keep me from having a breakdown five years from now and in my career, staying in bed all day when the consequences are dire. What I’ve received is better in the end than what I expected,” he says. Though he’s gained so much, he didn’t immediately tell even his closest friends. “I wanted to feel it out first,” he says. “Our school is very gossipy. Everyone wants to know everyone else’s business.” Part of what keeps Petersen from opening up to his friends about it more is that he doesn’t want to burden them. “I don’t think my friends care enough to know personal details that I don’t offer to them in the first place,” he says. “Generally I assume that unless someone knows what I’m going through, most people don’t want to deal with other people’s problems because they have their own problems.” north by northwestern|
43
scope
Steelin’ home
I
Taking the T. By Dan Camponovo
photo: mattox on stock.xchange
n just a few days I’ll be packing up my clothes and heading home for spring break. Home for me is Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, a suburb of the state capital Harrisburg. I’m more excited to come home for this break than I have been in a long time. I’m riding the rails, taking the train home this break, just me and the great wide world over there. It’s 675 miles of steel taking me back to the city I know so well. I wish I could say it’s purely fiscal reasoning behind my decision. A one-way train ticket costs $74, whereas the cheapest (two-stop) flight comes out to be $178. The cheapest direct flight is $444, and while I wish the train ticket were just a dollar more expensive and while I appreciate the direct flight’s price repetition, there are a myriad of reasons why I’m deciding to take the train home for break. The train is by far my favorite way to travel, except for maybe the comfort of my own car. I’m a firm believer in the cliché the journey is more important than the destination. A flight leaves O’Hare at 7:42 a.m. and lands in Harrisburg at 10:26 a.m. I can travel 700 miles and be home in time for lunch. There’s no poetry in that — rather, there is poetry, but it’s not the kind I’m looking for. A train leaves Union Station at 6:40 p.m., gets into Pittsburgh at 5:05 a.m., leaves Pittsburgh at 7:20 a.m. and arrives home at 12:45 p.m. It’s an excursion, it’s a quest, it’s a very definite expedition. It’s going to take me a little over 17 hours to get home. That’s 1,025 minutes of travel. Just me and the open road, for lack of a better, railwayoriented metaphor. The summer before my junior year of high school my best friend convinced me to
I’m a firm believer in the cliché “the journey is more important than the destination.”
go on a school-sponsored trip with him to Russia and China. After touring Moscow for a few days we boarded the Trans-Siberian Railroad and took a three-day trip to Irkutsk. After spending a few days there, we took another three-day jaunt through Mongolia to Beijing. It was a three-week summer trip, and we spent six and a half days on trains. We washed our hair in beer because there were obviously no showers and we played games of “Catchphrase” in broken English with a group of fellow Dutch travelers, remarking at the difficulties of syntax and the cultural divide board games illustrate. Some people on the trip wondered why we didn’t fly across Siberia, but I wouldn’t have traded the trains for the world. Some people tried to sleep the days away, others exhausted their paperbacks and iPod batteries. I’m not saying I didn’t bring a book or music to pass the time — we had six days on a train to kill. Gets boring at times. What I’m saying is that to this day, one of my favorite travel memories is just sitting on my cot, looking out the window at the changing landscape for hours at a time. I’ve seen the Russian forests, the Siberian taiga, and the Gobi Desert pass before my eyes through a pane of glass at 35 miles per hour. One of my favorite things about being from the East Coast is everything’s proximity to everything else. Where I come from, I’m three hours by train from some of the largest and most important cities on earth. The Keystone Amtrak line stops over in Philadelphia on the way to New York, and the Washington D.C. line will get you to Penn Station in about three and a half hours, presuming it isn’t running late. I considered getting a student advantage card over the summer because of how often I was riding the rails. Taking the train back to Mechanicsburg for spring break feels like coming home, in more ways that one. It’s returning to my roots, back to my comfort zone, back to my home. Past the sprawling metropolis of Chicago, the lowlands of Indiana, past Toledo, past Cleveland, through to Pittsburgh, through the fog-covered hills of the Alleghenies and straight on ‘til morning. I can almost hear the Amtrak conductor on the intercom now. Next stop, Harrisburg — end of the line. scope|
45
essay
Awake By Sam Allard
46 |
and comes in those Styrofoam cups whose lids never quite latch properly. Café Mud and the Italian Coffee Bar have zero bona fide coffees, only espresso drinks that come in heavy cups fatter than they are tall, and a criminal allure feebly veiled. At Market Fresh Books and the Hilton Garden Inn, coffee is free. Coffee is everywhere. That is, everywhere in my body and in my blood. The conventional wisdom is that it carries you through the all-nighters like some honorable sailboat. Grab a cup at quarter to twelve and you won’t be able to sleep, is the promise/warning. But then there’s the next afternoon, when all you want to do is die, when the body manifests its deepest frailties and seems to yelp not for sleep but for liberation from a totally insolvent form – the muscular temple which seems so sturdy and unshakable and yet fundamentally cannot withstand 24
consecutive hours of being naught more than alert. At that point, when the nausea sets in, one more sip is poison. It’s slick and ammoniac on your tongue. Swallowing the stuff – what has become an oil – seems the very antithesis of joy. But swallow we must. Recklessly and dauntlessly we must. Swallow and continue to swallow gallons upon gallons of perilous, eye-rattling portions of what will forever be an elixir. Coffee is that mystifying potion which keeps us, at hours sensible and business and wee, awake. Woe is the day when I order decaf at 4 p.m. Woe is the day when I roll my eyes like the man who treats my mug like a villain, and says “good luck getting to sleep tonight” with a snigger, as if getting his eight hours makes him a more superior individual. This man, of course, in an essential way, is a moron. His mistake is assuming that I’ll be trying to get to sleep tonight at all.
Photo: johncpeck on flickr, licensed under the creative commons
Coffee is everywhere. Just for instance, coffee is right here in my coffee mug, a mug which I’ve come to regard as more or less a permanent apparatus of my arm, a mug which I treat like a gas tank. Even if it’s halfway full, I refuel, because Lord only knows where the next service station might be. I’ve been doing this for the past four years more as a matter of habit than as a matter of custom. But now, with graduation crawling closer, my coffee drinking has become a habit I’ve subjected to conscious hyperawareness, in an effort to establish a kind of collegiate status quo. It sounds silly maybe, but I’ve convinced myself that as long as I don’t start drinking coffee the way adults do – guardedly, nostalgically, on a schedule – even if I’ve graduated from college, I might not have to graduate from the collegiate pathos. This is crucial because it seems now, more than ever, I have the cognitive equipment to tackle a world I don’t fully understand. Coffee is everywhere. Take a finite landscape – say Evanston, Illinois, USA – and do your best to imagine just how many mugs might be filled, at any moment, with the aggregate reserves. (Quite a few.) And because senior year is a package deal that comes with the compulsion to anthologize, I’ll get more specific. The thing is I happen to have a pretty stellar memory for the places where I’ve had a cup of coffee around here. Like most people who value their personal pasts, I parcel my memories and label them for future access, and because I’m always trying to get my hands on more coffee, I need those memories at pretty close recall. For example, Willard, Allison, Hinman, Plex and Sargent have coffee which has a thinness to it, a vaguely caramelized aftertaste
play Go U Northwestern BL F BL Go U Northwestern!
Don’t fret Beat the blues with a little jam sesh, Wildcat-style. With finals looming ahead, you may be in need of a serious pick-me-up. Here are our fight song and alma mater, mapped out by Northwestern doctoral guitar performance candidate James Baur, for your guitar-playing pleasure. Grab a few friends or rock out solo and put a little “u-rah-rah” back in your life.
Cm EL BL Break right through that line. EL E dim BL With our colors flying D Gm C C7 We will cheer you all the time F7 U Rah! Rah! BLF BL Go U Northwestern! Cm E L D Fight for victory, Cm BL EL B L E L G7 Spread far the fame of our fair name C Dm F7 B L Go! Northwestern win that game. Gm D7 Gm (Whistle) (Yell) Go Northwestern Go! Fm C7 Fm (Whistle) (Yell) Go Northwestern Go! Hit ‘em hard! C Hit ‘em low! Go Northwestern Go!
How to spend every day of Reading Week Monday
Chicago: Tired from Dance Marathon? Relax with a little classical music. Tickets are free for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There is a $1 service fee, but that’s less than you spend on your morning coffee each day, so you can fork it over for a taste of the symphony. They’ll play pieces including Sibelius Symphony No. 5 at 8 p.m. Evanston: Not into Finnish composers? Break beat poet Idris Goodwin celebrates his CD release with a performance at Evanston SPACE at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 beforehand, $12 at the door.
Tuesday
Northwestern: If you were too lazy to hop the El downtown on Monday, but still like to pretend you’re cultured, then check out Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra and University Chorus in Pick-
Staiger at 7:30. Student tickets are $6. Wear Harry Potter robes in Deering Library during Reading Week. Get your robes ready. (Snuggies don’t count.) This Facebook event was postponed Fall Quarter because the creator was trying to recruit J.K. Rowling and some of the Harry Potter cast to attend. Regardless of whether anyone wants to fly across the pond to see a bunch of nerdy college kids study, it should be fun times.
Wednesday
Northwestern: Block Cinema shows “The Art of the Steal” at 7 p.m. Admission is $4. For half the price of a movie at the Century Theater and without the walk to Evanston, see a sneak preview of a documentary about “the heated controversy surrounding the Barnes Foundation art collection.” Chicago: Listen to Surfer Blood and Turbo Fruits at Schuba’s Tavern at 9 p.m. For $10 beforehand, $12 at the door, you can see what the venue’s Web site calls “anthemic, bombastic, life-affirming indie pop.” It’s a small price to pay to have your life affirmed.
Thursday
Northwestern: Purple Crayon Players present “The Phantom Tollbooth” in Shanley Pavilion at 8 p.m. Be a
Alma Mater Intro: B Lm, E L, E L7, A L AL DLAL Hail to Alma Mater E L Fm B L EL We will sing thy praise forever AL DL AL All thy sons and daughters EL AL DL EL E L7 A L Pledge thee victory and honor EL B L7 Alma Mater praise be thine E L7 AL EL AL May thy name forever shine DL Hail to purple AL Hail to white B Lm A L E L E L7 A L Hail to thee Northwestern
good person and support student theater. Chicago: Tired of winter? Not seeing enough plant life after months of snow? The Chicago Flower & Garden Show is at Navy Pier from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For $15, get a taste of spring with feature gardens, demonstrations from gourmet chefs, free seminars, and plenty of eco-friendly vendors.
Friday
Chicago: See Muse and the Silversun Pickups at the United Center starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at around $40 plus service charges. Go ahead and shell out some of your textbook money for next quarter for tickets. Is the show sold out? Find a scalper. They’ve been called one of the best bands around to see live, so go judge for yourself while you have the chance.
Saturday
Chicago: Do you want to see the Chicago River dyed green? The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins at 12 p.m. (dyeing the river is set for 10:45 a.m.) and begins at Balbo Avenue and Columbus Drive. Go all Ferris Bueller and find yourself a float to dance on. Not into the holiday spirit? Check out the exhibits at the Chicago Zine Fest at Conaway Student Center, Columbia College from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. –Shaunacy Ferro
scope|
47
R W .C T O O O S T N N C E N R . Y W R O N M B H N R O T E H C R Y T . T M B N OR NO ES CO H O . W N BY H T N N R R M H Y T O E B R W N T T O H S H R T N M T E R O R Y W T O C O B TH S . N N E N H R Y W R M S O B E H N S T dia.C O H R T W E e . T H E M O N R T eR E W N h O t R T H ameT E N Y O S l B N E B Sorts M N E W H Y Sp edia O R T y H W ultim.raCph s R B T E T w g H M N e R S to N ntO N T o s e R O h N E u R m ng R n E PCamprM i N i E W ta Dat als O T e & H Y t m N n n x S T ni hio EO e B A M S E R . C COuteMFaspinioiHnng O W O C O T O it eo H N r . C R W id h N T . N V t Y N N O HBeal O R E R M m
r
co n.
w
te es
t
y hb
t
si i V
r No
N
th or