I 10, V 42

Outlook Newspaper The American University of Beirut

Vol. XLII, No. 10 |Tuesday, December 15, 2009| The Independent Student Publication Since 1949

Tolerance and diversity are celebrated during AUB’s 143rd anniversary Mohammad Hijazi Staff Writer

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UB celebrated its 143rd anniversary on Monday, December 7 with its annual Founders Day ceremony which was held at noon in Assembly Hall. During the ceremony, the winners of the Founders Day essay contest were announced.

The ceremony commenced with a formal procession of professors and deans led by Chief Marshal Samir Makdisi, followed by the Lebanese National Anthem presented by the AUB Choir- directed by Paul Meers. President Peter Dorman introduced the ceremony as an “ opportunity to both celebrate our history and reflect on our plans to build on this storied past and enhance our reputation as the premier desti-

nation for liberal education in the region.” He added that the university is planning to enhance “the international representation on campus” and “expand our financial program to attract a wide range of students.”

He then continued to explain this year’s essay theme, which is summarized as follows, “AUB publicly upholds the ideal of tolerance of diversity. In your experience, is the AUB campus a place where all kinds of diversity are indeed accepted?” He then noted that “the ideal of diversity is a deceptively simple one. It is one of those concepts that cannot really be opposed by anyone who believes in a campus or in a society that is enriched by different points of view, cultural heritages, and national origins...” After that, Dor-

man announced the winners of the Founders day contest as follows: Third prize went to two sophomores who wrote their paper jointly: Business student Timmy Malkoun and Political Science student Rita Harbi- noting that Malkoun was absent from the ceremony.

Second prize went to Fifth year Architecture student Mohammad Abdallah Ramadan.

First prize went to Fourth year Architecture student Zeina Koreitem. Her name will be inscribed on a plaque in the entrance of Assembly Hall.

The top three essay winners received $750, $500 and $250 cash prizes.

Consequently, Koreitem took the stand to read her essay entitled “Diversity

Photo by Mohammad Hijazi/Outlook

for Granted.” She said that once she entered AUB, she was made aware, for the first time, of the differences among people around her.

“Students are separated into enclaves that prevent them Continued on page 4

Dorman visits Syria and honors two International marathon runner visits AUB alumi Lojine Kamel Staff Writer

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INSIDE

his year, the Beirut marathon attracted athletes on both a local and international level, including Paul Tergat, five time winner of the IAAF World Cross Country Championship and former world record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:04:55.

AUB had the pleasure of hosting Tergat on Friday, December 4, at the Charles Hostler Student Center, where he delivered a motivational speech to an audience

Editorial & Opinion 2-3 Campus News 4-9 Life & Culture 10 World News 11

www.aub.edu.lb/outlook

Mhd Izzat Husrieh Staff Writer comprised of both athletes and students alike.

Tergat began his speech by praising the wonders of Lebanon, calling it a “beautiful country where I’ve really enjoyed myself.” He compared his life nowadays to his economically challenged upbringing in a small village in Kenya, where he was one of 17 children. “I have a big Continued on page 4

Letter to the Editor Entertainment Sports Out of The Box

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he Worldwide Alumni Associaton at AUB (WAAAUB)- Damascus Chapter held their gala dinner on Thursday, December 10. President Peter Dorman, along with several distinguished AUB staff members arrived in Damascus to attend the event, which was aimed at reuniting AUB Alumni in Syria, after five years of absence. The profits and donations collected from the event were dedicated to Syrian student’s

Jazz in AUB Jazz concert in Assembly Hall

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scholarships at AUB. The event was marked by the presence of several Syrian businessmen, along with several distinguished Lebanese guests, among whom included the Lebanese ambassador to Syria Michael Al-Khury, television host and producer Ricardo Karam, Syrian actor Doreid Lahham, AUB trustee Abdulsalam Haikal, and the Advisor to the Syrian President Collet Al-Khuri.

In his keynote speech, President Dorman updated the

Joy To the World, O’ Come All Ye Faithful Christmas Hymns

Bliss Street, West Hall 208 tel: 01 350 000 ext.3193

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guests of the latest developments taking place at AUB, including the accreditations that the university has acquired. He also shared the future expansion and development plans and encouraged the alumni to take part in the major changes occurring at AUB. WAAAUB Secretary Muhieddine Doughan inContinued on page 4

FIFA World Cup 2010

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FIFA World Cup 2010: We can’t wait!

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Editorial & Opinion Editorial “Winning isn’t everything, Charlie Brown!”

Op-Ed

Tala Kardas Losing hope in Copenhagen

Mohamad Yahia Hamade Editor-in-Chief

“It is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action – it’s military leaders in my own country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance,” stated President Barack Obama during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo.

All eyes now have turned away from Oslo to Copenhagen. The whole world, or at least the very few who remember, is hoping that this year’s conference won’t share the fate of the Kyoto conference, back in 1997. The product of that conference, the Kyoto Protocol, was completely ineffective because major polluters, mainly the United States and China, either did not comply with or were not affected by the recommendations.

Although former President Clinton signed the deceleration, Congress did not approve of it, and the United States has continued to increase its emissions levels ever since. Today, Obama faces the same problem with the Senate and domestic climate legislation.

None of the U.S. legislators are going to sign climate change commitments until other major polluters, mainly China, do the same. Both Democrat and Republican Senators said they will withhold support for the bill until other major polluters agree to dramatically decrease their emissions.

China’s recently released plan is to reduce carbon-intensity (carbon dioxide emissions per unit of economic output) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. This means that Chi-

nese emissions would still be increasing, but still at a slower rate than the current one.

The less-than-ambitious Chinese plan is no match to what the Obama administration has up its sleeve. However, the latter, politically impossible plan is not nearly enough to satisfy those who see U.S. emission targets as contingent on a major commitment from China.

According to White House officials, any fully binding legal agreement will be postponed until a meeting in Mexico City in December 2010. One begins to wonder how committed the Obama administration is to making real progress at Copenhagen, if it refuses to make a meaningful commitment until a year from now.

The Copenhagen agreement, as Obama has already made it clear, will have an “immediate operational effect.” How is this going to happen if any resolution reached will be without congressional support?

Obama’s promises to the international community at Copenhagen will be nothing but empty promises. Without Congress support and the much needed Chinese cooperation, the Copenhagen conference will produce nothing more than stick-figure covered meeting minutes and a really long gas bill.

The whole world awaits the United States and China’s next move. What they ought to be doing is to use the climate talks to pressure all reluctant parties and reach a mutually beneficial agreement, or the entire global climate will inevitably suffer.

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s everyone knows by now, leaders, policy makers, and experts are all gathered in Copenhagen, until December 18, to discuss an issue that has long been neglected: climate change. And while I’m mostly excited to see what will unfold, I am also filled with skepticism.

The whole purpose behind this summit is to reduce the overall carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, thus stopping the problem of global warming before nothing is left of this Earth. Theoretically speaking, reaching this goal requires the cooperation of everyone and changing the habits we’ve long since been accustomed to. Unfortunately for us, this is never going to happen if we keep being lethargic and blaming every-

one else for our own problems.

To make matters worse, even those we are supposed to exemplify disappoint us at every occurrence.

The delegations every country has sent to Denmark are there to advocate a cause, regardless of what their true agendas are. We already know that many are strong proponents and will do anything to see the problem resolved, yet they are the biggest committers of an environmental crime. Travelling by private jets, only being driven in the top standard cars, and using the conference as an excuse to take an extended vacation are not helping the cause. A month from now, we will look back and record the damage, not the good, incurred by having over a thousand human beings overcrowded in one city.

It’s important to mention that this is not the first and never will be the last conference that places emphasis on the environment. It will not be the first nor the last that will use the illusion of fear to lead to false promises. It will not be the first nor the last where the poor Lebanese will rush onto the scene, with a declaration that’s not based on anything substantial, hoping that the

entire global community recognizes them for a country that has more than just internal strife.

The problem we have on our hands is a huge one and denying it would be a sign of ignorance. The repercussions, however, of using that problem as a façade for other interests is simply losing any hope of attaining sustainability and ensuring a better future for us and for the coming generations.

As human beings, we have a tendency to think in our own best interest, and I hope that doesn’t manifest itself further in a potentially catastrophic way over the coming weeks.

Countries like Lebanon that relatively have low emission rates should be an example, rather than wait for the everindecisive United States officials to make up their (its) minds. It’s a shame we have to resort to attention-hogging when we have the qualifications to do a much better job.

The moment we can put this behind us and grow based upon our capabilities, we can become a better community, a better society, and a better world- a world where CO2 is no longer associated with a threat to the human population.

Merry Christmas From The Outlook Team

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Editorial & Opinion Op-Ed

Lojine Kamel Congratulations on Your Baby (Insert Desired Gender Here)

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oy? Girl? Which would you pick? How would you decide?

If you’ve watched the news lately, you’ve probably heard of how some people are electing to pick their child’s gender through in-vitro fertiliza-

tion, a process where the egg and sperm are fertilized outside of the womb. Of course, this process is teeming with ethical and evolutionary issues all over the world. In fact, most countries have banned this “social sex selection,” including Britain, China, Canada, and Australia, among others. Unsurprisingly, this selection method is legal in the US, home of the liberal-minded and ethically diverse.

So what exactly does this mean? It means that over 70 percent of the people opting for this procedure come to the US from foreign countries and pay a ridiculous amount

of money – just to choose a gender that they already have a 50 percent chance of conceiving!

I personally find the solution to this moral dilemma relatively simple – just DON’T pick your child’s gender!

Let’s just leave girl sperms and boy sperms to battle till death (quite literally) in order to win prime egg fertilization rights. It’s either that or years from now we will find ourselves amongst an unbalanced gender feud where girls trump boys or boys trump girls (I vote the former).

Evolutionary speaking, if this procedure becomes more

commonplace, it could seriously hurt the future populations of several countries.

People from China and India – who tend to opt for males– could face a huge decrease in their female population- and therefore reduce later generations. In places like Canada, where girls are the “chosen sex,” population could also diminish– and say hello to an increase in bigamy!

Sure some countries like China have laws that regulate the number of children they have. Perhaps, others really, really want two boys and two girls – “a matching set” as I’ve so often heard it called.

It’s still no excuse. Next,

Op-Ed

they’ll want blond kids with blue eyes and Hitler to rule the world.

Summing up the positive points, or should I say point – this procedure is effective in avoiding sex-linked diseases.

So if all your male babies are destined to have muscular dystrophy and die at an early age, this method allows you to select only females without the disease, which is an understandable use.

To me, the cons outweigh the pros by far. So here’s hoping for a world with a bigger ethical capacity than that of a teaspoon. If we start with gender, then hair and eye color, then what’s next?

Fouad Badaoui Let’s talk politics

I’ve always seen AUB as this bastion of free thought and tolerance, as a place where the crippling norms of society are nullified and where individuals can come up with revolutionary ideas.

By “always,” I mean up until my first day at AUB. I was wrong and I was blind. My eyes were opened as I was introduced to the wonder-

ful world of SRC elections: bribes, threats, and stereotypes aren’t bad, they come with the community. Besides, who ever heard of progress in a university?

Don’t get me wrong, I love politics! I love discussing ideals and theories, but what we have in AUB is nothing like politics. My dream would be to see a poster on campus that said something like, “Come to the debate between these 2 opposed political clubs.” Instead, I get the following scenario: the West Hall area is packed, frenzied people, colors, and noises everywhere.

On one side, they’re screaming their political slogans, while on the other they’re screaming their own “modified” slogans… Silly old me!

And here I thought SRC was about library quotas, finan-

cial aid, dorms curfews, GA salaries, Instructor Course Evaluation (ICE), and cafeteria food quality…

Congratulations, we did it again! We proved that with just the right mix of nonchalance, ignorance, fear, and hormones we can take that God-awful concept of democracy and shove it down the toilet and feel good about ourselves. This year we went the whole nine yards. Instead of just having a non-functional USFC, we don’t have any USFC at all. In fact, the administration actually felt we needed to be punished for our immaturity. You know what that means, right? We’re grounded! We’ve been too naughty for a USFC! That’s like no desert after dinner.

What most people don’t realize is that as long as the

SRC elections are the most important part of the SRC, no one will ever win. If you were a candidate or supporter of one of the two groups of progress then I have a question for you, why? Why would you want to help your political party get as many seats as possible in SRC? What do they have to offer that other political parties don’t? So far, the most honest answer I got was “we don’t want the others to win.” Of course, before that, you’re going to tell me something like “our candidates are smarter” or “we have a better platform” and that may very well be true, but that still doesn’t have anything to do with your political party. It doesn’t answer my question and it surely doesn’t explain why you need to bring sectarian slo-

gans and confessional policies to AUB. The result of you cheering, booing, and voting only after receiving the command to do so is a deterioration of life on campus: ignorance, tension, mistrust… basically everything that went wrong with the last generation. And if you’re not happy with any of the groups racing for SRC, then don’t sit there idly waiting for someone to tell you what to do. You don’t like something, change it. Run yourself, relate to others, and discuss real issues concerning students, regardless of political or religious affiliations. Don’t be passive, be active, be the change you want to see.

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Campus News

“When I was growing up, I had no role model. Nobody told me I was good at anything. But I was determined to succeed.” -Paul Tergat

Founders Day Continued from page 1 from benefiting and learning from the diversity on campus.

I am a strong believer in the beneficial effects of exposure to as many different cultural and social experiences as possible,” she said. She pointed out her realization that “each group existed in its own box” especially when she “jammed with the ‘Fiskies’ and met with ‘frenchies’.” She continued to speak about her experience with the SRC elections and noted that “the University’s policy of banning the presence of political parties on campus doesn’t help in diffusing their effects. It instead allows the Lebanese culture of political sectarianism to seep into campus through club activities, without being openly discussed.”

“There is great potential in turning the tide so that AUB

becomes an institution which creates positive change in Lebanon [and the world], instead of being a microcosm for the ailments of our time.

What is needed is the fortitude to say that the problems exist, and the courage to prescribe the solution,” she concluded her essay.

Meanwhile, Dorman introduced the Keynote Speaker, Chemistry Professor Makhluf Haddadin, a former AUB dean and Vice-President for Academic Affairs, who had a lengthy speech entitled “Torch-bearers: Scholars from AUB,” which paid tribute to 14 scholars who were affiliated with AUB. Haddadin, a renowned chemist who participated in the discovery of the Beirut Reaction - a chemical reaction that helps in producing hundreds of an-

ti-cancerous and anti-bacterial drugs, briefly described the achievements and some personal anecdotes of those scholars: Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck, Al-Muallem Butrus alBustani, El-Sheikh Nassif al-Yazighi, Professor Emeritus Kamal Salibi, Professor Khalil Hawi, Professor Emeritus Costas H. Issidorides, Professor Emeritus Edward (Ted) Kennedy, Professor Emeritus Abdul-Mun’im Talhouk, Professor John Batatu, Professor Emeritus George Fawaz, Professor Emeritus Sami Fuad Haddad, Professor Vasken Derkaloustain, and Professor Charles Abou Chaar.

The ceremony concluded with the Alma Matar being recited by the choir and a recessional with Ramzi Sabra playing the organ.

Photo by Mohammad Hijazi/Outlook

Weekly Weather

Paul Tergat in AUB Continued from page 1 family,” he proudly stated, “and if there’s one thing I learned from them, it’s the love to share.”

Growing up in Kenya, Tergat aspired to become an engineer but instead found a great passion for running. He started training at age 19 and attests his accomplishments to his strong will and determination. “When I was growing up, I had no role model.

Nobody told me I was good at anything. But I was determined to succeed.” From that point on, Tergat practiced running daily and eventually progressed to 210 kilometers a week at the height of his career. “If I were a car,” he joked, “I probably would no longer be road-worthy.”

Tergat’s love of Kenya was infectious and his love of running, even more so. “I come from the beautiful country of Kenya,” he said. “the country of champions.”

The audience was easily captivated with Tergat’s easy-going nature and evident willpower.

Master’s student

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Photo by Outlook Staff

Joline El-Chakhtoura was one of many who praised Tergat’s impressive achievements. “It was certainly an honor to meet Mr. Tergat today. Not only is he one of the most accomplished world athletes, but also a virtuous ambassador against famine. He exemplifies self-motivation and strength of mind telling us that when there’s willpower, nothing is impossible.”

Aside from running, Tergat was named a UN World Food Programme ambassador in 2004, an honor closely tied to his childhood in Kenya. He has had the opportunity to dine with several influential people, including Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, and Barack Obama, among others.

“I was very lucky in my life,” he said, “as long as you have something in mind there is al-

ways a door open for you.”

The highlight of the evening occurred when one audience member asked if Tergat had ever encountered a wild animal while running. Tergat laughed and explained that it was really quite normal in Kenya, while the Kenyan ambassador joked, “And this is why he runs so fast.”

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Friday 18th 20° C www.wunderground.com

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‫‪Campus News‬‬ ‫مقابلة مع عميد شؤون الطلبة الدكتور مارون كسرواني‬ ‫فاطمه بوحليقة‬ ‫كاتب صحفي‬

‫عام ‪ 1950‬م‪ ,‬التحق عميدنا الفاضل‬ ‫باالنترناشيونال كولدج وقد كانت‬ ‫في ذلك الوقت القسم االستعدادي‬ ‫من اجلامعه األمريك ّية‪ .‬بعد حصوله‬ ‫العامة‪ ,‬التحق باجلامعة‬ ‫على الثانوية‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫األمريكيه في بيروت حيث حصل على‬ ‫السياسية‬ ‫بكالوريس في العلوم‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ألف وتسعمائ ٍة‬ ‫العامة عام‬ ‫واإلدارة‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫وتسع ٍة وخمسني‪ .‬بعدها‪ ,‬شغل في‬ ‫إداري‬ ‫مكتبة اجلامعة منصب موظف‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ثم عاد الى االنترناشيونال‬ ‫سنة كاملة‪ّ ,‬‬ ‫كولدج أستاذا للتاريخ واجلغرافيا والتربيه‬ ‫الوطن ّية‪.‬‬ ‫في احلقبة عينها‪ ,‬تابع دراسته في‬

‫اجلامعة وحصل على ماجستير في‬ ‫ّخصص نفسه عام ‪ 1946‬م‪.‬‬ ‫الت ّ‬ ‫استقال من االنترناشيونال كولدج عام‬ ‫املتحدة‪,‬‬ ‫ليتوجه الى الواليات‬ ‫‪1966‬م‪,‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫حيث اكتنفته جامعة أنديانا‪ ,‬متاب ًعا‬ ‫دراسته وحائزًا على الدكتوراه في العلوم‬ ‫السياسة واالدار ّية عام ‪ 1971‬م‪.‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫كذلك‪ ,‬زاول مهنة التّعليم في جامعة‬ ‫ملدة عام‪,‬‬ ‫مانكيوتو في والية مانيسوتا ّ‬ ‫عاد بعدها الى اجلامعة األمريكية في‬ ‫بيروت عام ‪ 1972‬م‪ .‬أستاذًا مساع ًدا‬ ‫السياس ّية واإلدارة‬ ‫في دائرة العلوم‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫العامة‪ .‬عام ‪ 2002‬م‪ .‬عينّ عمي ًدا‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫لشؤون ّ‬ ‫الطلبه‪ .‬وفي مقابلة و ّد ّية أجرتها‬

‫األوتلوك‪ ,‬في العاشر من كانون األ ّول‪ ,‬في‬ ‫مكتبه في مبنى الوست هول‪ ,‬أطلعنا‬ ‫الدكتور كسرواني على مقتطفات‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫مسيرته العمل ّية التّي نحتت على‬ ‫صخور جامعتنا‪.‬‬ ‫مالذي يزعجك في عملك وماالذي‬ ‫يسعدك ؟‬ ‫أكثر ما يزعجني ويقلقني ويحزنني هو‬ ‫اخلالفات التي حتدث بني الط ّالب‪ ,‬بني احلني‬ ‫واآلخر‪ ،‬اذ أ ّن االختالفات تقوم على أشياء‬ ‫أما أكثر ما يسعدني‬ ‫ليست‬ ‫باملهمة‪ّ ،‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫وحدتهم‬ ‫فهو عندما أرى ط ّالبنا قد‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫املبادئ فتعاونوا لتحقيق أهداف تخدم‬ ‫لبنان والوطن العربي‪.‬‬ ‫كيف تصف لنا التغيير احلاصل في‬ ‫اجلامعة من الفترة التي كنت فيها‬ ‫تلميذا إلى أن أصبحت عمي ًدا لشؤون‬ ‫الطلبه؟‬ ‫من الصعب أن أقول أن ّ هناك تغيي ٌر جذري‬ ‫ٌّفي تص ّرفات ّ‬ ‫الطالب‪ ،‬ولكن ما حدث هو‬ ‫التغيير خلف أسوار اجلامعة‪ ،‬اي في‬ ‫مجتمعنا وهذا بالتالي ينعكس على‬ ‫تغيير بعض تصرفات الطالب من حيث‬ ‫بالدراسة وبناء املستقبل‪.‬‬ ‫االهتمام‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫نالحظ أن هناك نسبة ال بأس بها من‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫الطالب ّ‬ ‫الذين يهدرون الوقت وال يبدون‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وربا‬ ‫ّحصيل‬ ‫ت‬ ‫ال‬ ‫في‬ ‫ة‬ ‫كافي‬ ‫ة‬ ‫ي‬ ‫جد‬ ‫العلمي‪ ،‬مّ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫السبب إلى ال ّرفاه ّية التي تو ّفرت‬ ‫يعود ّ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫مقارنة مع الفتره التي‬ ‫في هذا العصر‪,‬‬ ‫عاشتها جامعتنا في اخلمسينيات ‪ .‬إذًا‪,‬‬ ‫سطحي‪,‬‬ ‫التّغيير ليس جذريًّا بقدر ما هو‬ ‫ٌّ‬ ‫الصاخبه‬ ‫أي في التّصرفات وال ّلهو و احلياة ّ‬ ‫التّي لم تكن معروف ًة أو متاحة‪ .‬ك ّلها‬ ‫العلمي!‬ ‫أث ّرت عليهم وعلى حتصيلهم‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫يهتم‬ ‫وباملقابل جند قس ًما كبيرًا منهم‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫بجد وإقدام‪.‬‬ ‫بدروسه وبناء مستقبله ّ‬ ‫كيف تنظر الى الدور الذي تقوم به عمادة‬ ‫شؤون الطلبه في مختلف مجاالت‬ ‫اجلامعة‪ ،‬وهل ترى أن هناك دور أكبر يجب‬ ‫عمله في املرحلة املقبلة‪.‬‬

‫‪ed in the Syrian Revolution‬‬ ‫‪against the French mandate.‬‬ ‫‪He the lead the public opinion‬‬ ‫‪afterwhich until his assaina‬‬‫‪tion in 1940. Shahbandar’s‬‬ ‫‪niece received the certifcate‬‬ ‫‪on his behalf.‬‬

‫‪College then, with a law de‬‬‫‪gree in the early 1900s was a‬‬ ‫‪distinguished veteran states‬‬‫‪man. Abdulrahman Shah‬‬‫‪bandar, on the other hand,‬‬ ‫‪got his medicine degree from‬‬ ‫‪AUB and was a distinguished‬‬ ‫‪nationalist who participat-‬‬

‫‪Haykal, “ Our society expects‬‬ ‫”‪us to give as we took before.‬‬ ‫‪President of The Syrian chap‬‬‫‪ter of WAAAUB, Sami Mou‬‬‫‪bayed concluded the event‬‬ ‫‪with honoring two of the Syr‬‬‫‪ian AUB alumni, the late‬‬ ‫‪Faris Al-Khury and the late‬‬ ‫‪Adbdulrahman‬‬ ‫‪Shahban‬‬‫‪dar, in appreciation of their‬‬ ‫‪high dedication to serving‬‬ ‫‪their societies. The Advisor‬‬ ‫‪to the Syrian president, Col‬‬‫‪let Al-Khuri, and her grand‬‬‫‪son received the honorary‬‬ ‫‪certificate on behalf of Faris‬‬ ‫‪Al-Khuri.‬‬ ‫‪Faris Al-Khuri, who gradu‬‬‫‪ated from AUB, which was‬‬ ‫‪known as Syrian Protestant‬‬

‫‪Photo from www.aub.edu.lb‬‬

‫ممّا ال شك فيه أن الكمال هلل‪( ،‬يبتسم)‬ ‫– ثم يتايع ‪ -‬دائ ًما هناك امكان ّية‬ ‫للتّحسني‪ ,‬فعلى سبيل املثال إن طريقة‬ ‫تعاملي مع التّالميذ في منتهى الصراحة‬ ‫والو ّد‪ ،‬فكما تعلمون إ ّن باب مكتبي‬ ‫مفتوح دائ ًما ّ‬ ‫للطالب‪ ,‬لذلك فإنني ال‬ ‫اترك عقبات بيني وبينهم‪ :‬أستمع‬ ‫إليهم وأطلب منهم أن يطلعوني على‬ ‫مشاكلهم ألساعدهم على حلهّ ا‪ .‬هذا‬ ‫ما يساعد على بناء عالقة احترام ومو ّدة‬ ‫بني الطالب وعمادة شؤون ّ‬ ‫الطلبة‪ .‬أحلقبة‬ ‫التي قضيتها هنا لم تشهد حركات‬ ‫نخجل منها في اجلامعه ‪ -‬اشتباكات‬ ‫أو ما شابه‪ -‬كانت فتره مسامله‪ ،‬ما‬ ‫طبيعي احتفال بفريق‬ ‫شهدناه هو شيء‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫في انتخابات طالب ّية لم يتح ّول الى عنف‬ ‫كما جرى في بعض اجلامعات‬ ‫ما مدى قربكم من األندية الطالبية؟‬ ‫العالقة ود ّية بيننا وبني األندية ّ‬ ‫الطالب ّية‪،‬‬ ‫فهم يعتمدون علينا في بعض املساعدة‬ ‫املال ّية من مجلس ّ‬ ‫الطلبة واألساتذة‪،‬‬ ‫ونحن نعتمد عليهم في القيام‬ ‫بواجباتهم ( مبادئ النادي)‪ ،‬فعلى‬ ‫سبيل املثال نادي الكتاب الذي يقوم‬ ‫دوريًّا باجتماعات أسبوع ّية ملناقشة‬ ‫كتاب معينّ مع اعضاء النادي‪ ،‬وهذه من‬ ‫ونشجعها‬ ‫نرحب بها‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫النشاطات التي ّ‬ ‫بأ ّية وسيلة ممكنة‪ .‬نحن مع النّوادي التي‬ ‫تعمل على تفعيل نشاطاتها وحتقيق‬ ‫األهداف التي من أجلها نشأت ونشجع‬ ‫ووجودها‪ ،‬فهم يجسدون صورة ح ّية‬ ‫عن نشاطات اجلامعة ويخلقون ج ًّوا من‬ ‫التعاون بني ّ‬ ‫الط ّالب‪ ،‬فكل نادي يضم عدد‬ ‫ال بأس به من األعضاء الذي يصبحون‬ ‫عائلة واحدة متجانسة متفاهمة‪...‬‬ ‫إنّها جملاالت خللق صداقات جديدة‪...‬‬ ‫ما هو رأي حضرتكم باالجنازات الطالبية‬ ‫في اجلامعة وبعد التّخرج؟‬ ‫نحن نعت ّز بخ ّريجينا‪ ،‬فقد حقّ قوا اجنازات‬ ‫مهمة في العالم العربي والغربي‪،‬‬ ‫ّ‬

‫فعدد كبير من األطباء الذين تخرجوا‬ ‫مهمة‬ ‫من اجلامعه يتبوؤن مراكز طب ّية‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫في الواليات املتحدة‪ ،‬وهذا ينطبق على‬ ‫املهندسني في العالم العربي الذين‬ ‫ساهموا في بناء كثير من الدذول العربية‪،‬‬ ‫فمعظم خريجينا تفوقوا في نشاطاتهم‬ ‫املهن ّية وهذا فخر نعتز به بال ّ‬ ‫شك!‬ ‫كيف ترى العالقة بينكم وبني نادي ّاحتاد‬ ‫الطلبه؟‬ ‫عالقتي انا شخصيا عالقة ج ّيدة ال ّن‬ ‫هناك تواصل مباشر بيني وبينهم‪ ،‬وفي‬ ‫حال غياب رئيس اجلامعة‪ ,‬أترأّس اجتماع‬ ‫مجلس الطلبة واألساتذه‪ ،‬فالعالقه‬ ‫دائمة وهناك مو ّدة واحترام بيني وبينهم‪،‬‬ ‫ولكن املطلوب منهم ان يعملوا اكثر‬ ‫بصدد القضايا الطالبية‪.‬‬ ‫ما هو رأيك باألوتلوك؟‬ ‫باالجمال انّها كجريدة طالب ّية تتميز‬ ‫الصحفي الذي خاصة ظهر‬ ‫باملستوى ّ‬ ‫في هذا العام‪ ،‬فمعظم ما كتب حتى‬ ‫اآلن يشهد له باملهن ّية‪ .‬هو غير منحاز‬ ‫ويعطي رأي مختلف الفرقاء‪ ،‬وهذا شيء‬ ‫يُشكر عليه الط ّالب النهم مجردون من‬ ‫اي نزعة او محاولة لتمرير معتقدات او‬ ‫اجتاهات سياسية معينة‪.‬‬ ‫رسالة توجهها إلى طالب اجلامعه‪:‬‬ ‫ثقتي كبيره بأن طالب هذه اجلامعة في‬ ‫نهاية املطاف يغادرون اجلامعة بعض‬ ‫قضاء بضع سنوات وهم يتطلعون لبناء‬ ‫عالم أفضل لهم والبناء وطنهم وهذا‬ ‫أملي ان يكون ط ّالبنا نواة االصالح في‬ ‫عاملنا املعاصر‪.‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫اليقل عن‬ ‫كلمة أخيره ‪ ...‬عشت ما‬ ‫خمسني سنة من حياتي في هذه‬ ‫غصة ألنّني‬ ‫اجلامعة‪ ،‬أغادرها وفي قلبي ّ‬ ‫هنا قضيت أحلى سنني حياتي كتلميذ‬ ‫وكأستاذ وكعميد لشؤؤن الطلبة‬

‫‪Dorman in Syria‬‬

‫‪Photo by Outlook Staff‬‬

‫‪was AUB’s youngest trust‬‬‫‪ee Abdulsalam Haykal, a‬‬ ‫‪2001 AUB graduate with a‬‬ ‫‪joint BA in Political Science‬‬ ‫‪and History, stressed on the‬‬ ‫‪importance of education as‬‬ ‫‪means of independence. He‬‬ ‫‪encouraged the audience to‬‬ ‫‪take part in financing schol‬‬‫‪arships for Syrian students‬‬ ‫‪wishing to study at AUB and‬‬ ‫‪praised the Asfari Scholar‬‬‫‪ship Program, which current‬‬‫‪ly helps around six new Syri‬‬‫‪an students enter AUB every‬‬ ‫‪year by fully covering their‬‬ ‫‪expenses “This is the time to‬‬ ‫‪plant in Syria and those who‬‬ ‫‪plant should be well educat‬‬‫‪ed to grow good seeds,” said‬‬

‫‪Continued from page 1‬‬ ‫‪troduced the alumni associ‬‬‫‪ation and listed of its accom‬‬‫‪plishments. Doughan hoped‬‬ ‫‪that WAAAUB will be able to‬‬ ‫‪serve both AUB and its alum‬‬‫‪ni worldwide in the near fu‬‬‫‪ture. “Damascus chapter, we‬‬ ‫‪need your support and in‬‬‫‪volvement to transform our‬‬ ‫‪ambition into a reality: a‬‬ ‫‪strong worldwide alumni as‬‬‫‪sociation, with active mem‬‬‫‪bers in different chapters‬‬ ‫‪around the world, staying‬‬ ‫‪connected to each other and‬‬ ‫‪to our Alma Mater,” he con‬‬‫‪cluded.‬‬ ‫‪Another notable speaker‬‬

6

Campus News Chronic Pain and the Brain

Lojine Kame Staff Writer

C

hronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer than the temporal course of natural healing, and is normally associated with a particular type of injury or disease process. On Friday, December 4, visiting lecturer, A. Vania Apkarian, a professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, presented a lecture entitled “Specificity and Plasticity of the Brain in Chronic Pain,” which aimed at addressing and identifying sources of chronic pain and its perception in patients.

Apkarian explained that this debate of the perception of pain has been studied for centuries by several notable doctors, including Arab physician Ibn Sina who broached this topic in the 12th century: “Pain is always a subjective perception, can we objective markers for it?”

Paul Geha and Marwan Baliki, two AUB alumni, worked with Apkarian in order to collect and analyze data in order to answer this age old question: Can we quantify the perception of pain? To narrow down which areas of the brain were associated with pain perception, they performed experiments in which patients rated their awareness of thermal pain in comparison to actual thermal heat. It turns out that, yes, it is indeed possible to verify pain perception by viewing brain scans, as proven by their data.

Apkarian’s results showed that the areas with the highest brain activity during perception of acute pain were the insular cortex and the thalamus, located near the frontal lobe and mid-brain respectively. This data was contingent with the fact that

the higher the brain activity (which was measured by amount of blood flow), the more pain is perceived. Of course, different people perceive different amounts of pain, although Apkarian’s research found no quantifiable

pain condition based on brain scans of certain areas. One area in specific, called the gray matter, was found by Apkarian, Geha, and Baliki, to be most influential in chronic pain classification.

"It’s a million dollar question, we’ve got the million dollars, and we’re still asking the question.” difference in pain perception based on age or gender of participants.

Interestingly, Apkarian’s research finds that different pain conditions show distinct brain activity. This means that, technically, it is possible to diagnose a patient’s

Through this research, Apkarian discovered a medical breakthrough- that the density of gray matter decreases with chronic pain patients over time. Based on the measure of this density, it is now possible to distinguish between several types of chronic

pain conditions, with around an 85 percent accuracy rate.

Not only could this information help prevent misdiagnosis, but it could lead to several medicinal advancements concerning the treatment of chronic pain.

Apkarian concluded his lecture with a round of questions from the audience, which included several AUB professors and physicians.

Probably, the most memorable question dealt with whether there was a specific duration and intensity for pain to be classified as chronic which sparked a debate between several of the audience members. So what defines chronicity? “It’s a million dollar question,” said Apkarian, “we’ve got the million dollars, and we’re still asking the question.”

Professor discusses factors hindering Lebanese freedom of press Heather Jaber Staff Writer The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences held a Brown Bag Discussion on the controversial subject of the freedom of the press in Lebanon, on Monday, December 7. The discussion included a lecture by Dr. Nabil Dajani, the chairperson of the department, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ). He has worked as Associate Editor of the Journal of Communication for Social Change, taught as Professor of Mass Communication, and written various articles and texts regarding the subject of the media, including a book titled Disoriented Media in a Fragmented Society: The Lebanese Experience.

The topic of discussion, the

issues with the modern-day media, particularly in Lebanon, is arguably one of the most pressing concerns in the country. The Lebanese, as a society, lack a fair and balanced news outlet, instead receiving information from journalists with ulterior motives, such as financial reward for sway in a certain direction. Dajani addressed this issue, stating, that the “Lebanese media institution is going through…a multifaceted crisis.” The core problem of the media was, according to Dajani, “an absence of media policies.”

Dajani’s description of the current media was one of disapproval, as he portrayed it as an “unrestrained media… with political leaks...” and “cheap entertainment flowing through their content.”

According to him, the current media causes “disorientation

of public.” He described Lebanon’s current situation as one of confusion, misinformation, and corruption, boldly saying, “Lebanon today is a bazaar.”

The basic problem discussed was in the media’s lack of attention to the citizen. “The citizen must be the focus of the media…not the journalist,” stated Dajani. The media’s current role includes distracting citizens from what is truly important and affecting them on a daily basis. He also called attention to the confusion between “profit and information divulsion,” the main reason for the corruption of the media in Lebanon.

Lebanese media is also free from government control because, according to Dajani, “there is no government,” but “they are not free from tribal sectarian groups.” These

“tribal sectarian groups… [have proven] to be a failure” in the improvement of media performance. He argued that even some football teams in Lebanon are based on these sectarian groups and that its place in the media is detrimental.

Dajani’s discussion was met with criticism. Other faculty members of the department and graduate students raised important questions, such as what types of solutions could be offered to under-privileged journalist students, to which Dajani replied that there were various types of scholarships and solutions available. Some criticism was in question of the discussion, such as the comments of Sociology Professor Samir Khalaf. He agreed on “putting the ugly spin on [the media],” but mentioned that “sometimes it borders on cli-

ché.”

Solutions offered by Dajani included preparing citizens for a democratic society, improvement in communications teaching and training, “active participation by citizens in public debate,” and, perhaps most importantly, “a financially self-sufficient media.” In this way, corruption could be reduced. Though the discussion was met with mixed criticism, this is to be expected with such a controversial topic and Dajani’s experience as a student and teacher of the media was apparent.

Dajani summed up his solution by turning the attention to what most journalists may have forgotten. In the end, they are meant to be catering to those who are affected by the daily news most - the people. “The media needs to be close to the citizens.”

7

Campus News

“In Lebanon and the Arab World, we want the Ferrari model for everything. It doesn’t happen that way because it is a gradual fix.”-Dr. Ali Mokdad

BSS: A Spark in the Dark Rami Diab Contibuting Writer “

D

eeper than temperature and the extinction of the polar bear is the idea that we all share this beautiful, ailing planet, Democrats and Republicans alike,” says Sheryl Crow, American-born songwriter.

Quite surely, this was also the message sent on Friday, December 11, from Downtown Beirut, where a variety of people from all walks of life stormed up the stairway just a few paces up from the parliamentary square to raise their voices in unison yelling, “We Want a Real Deal!”

The Biology Student Society (BSS) at AUB, along with the league of Independent Activists (IndyAct), The Green Party of Lebanon, The American Chamber of Commerce, and the Association for Forest Development (AFDC) readily assembled themselves in close proximity with the rest of the peaceful demonstrators.

With banners and candles in

hand, they exemplified the paradigm of motivated citizens concerned for the betterment of mankind. Several political figures, such as Member of Parliament Nadim Gemayel and Minis-

ter of Environment Mohamad Rahal, joined the bunch and expressed their ideas in writing on the wall that bore the slogan highlighting the event: “Beirut Wants a Real Deal [on Climate Change].”

Photo Courtesy of Rami Diab

Hala Hassam, Supervisor of the club of Community Service and Human Rights and current Senior Representative of BSS expressed her opinion of the Biology students at AUB saying:,“This

is rock-hard proof to the common fallacy that Biology students are but a bunch of devout bookworms.” Paul Ramia, BSS president espoused the idea of a hardworking Biology Student Society saying, “We can make a difference, every little bit counts.”

Banners that read “We want 350” and “Save the Earth” added vigor and vibrancy to what ended up to be a colorful night to remember.

BSS with its newly established committees looks forward to invest in future opportunities to lend a helping hand to the community in need; our community.

That said, American Cultural Anthropologist Margaret Mead once stated, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Monitoring health disparities: not solely a US issue Tala Kardas News Executive

T

he Faculty of Health Sciences hosted its second seminar of the year on Wednesday, December 9, in the Van Dyck Amphitheatre with Dr. Ali Mokdad, Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington, as the guest speaker. Mokdad’s lecture was entitled “Monitoring Health Disparities in Cardiovascular Diseases in the US: Lessons for Lebanon.”

He started of the lecture with introducing the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. This institute is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, yet most of the money that is used to conduct research comes from grants. IHME mainly works around in clusters, focusing on key projects

such as global burden of disease, risk assessment, and evaluation.

The institute is known to divide its work into geographic regions then basing their research according to the availability of data. If the information they need is in fact available, they go into details, try to match the global burden of disease, do the costs, and finally, set forth interventions. According to Mokdad, the institute chooses a country that is a representation of the region and then goes about visiting, checking, developing an instrument, and collecting data. At the IMHE, their job is to mainly develop that instrument and methodology that they will use. The challenge here, however, is to “develop a questionnaire that will allow the [institute] to do the comparison across countries.”

On the matter of Lebanon, the prospect for data collection is very promising, as the money to go ahead with the project is present. The only problem they face is in the collection of data, which can easily be provided if concerned ministries cooperate.

He continued to say that “it is a shame that in this country we do not publish the ‘garbage’ of what the country has. We should get out what happens so we can analyze it to fix the problem. We must also train people on how to do the job.” He continued to say that “In Lebanon and the Arab World, we want the Ferrari model for everything. It doesn’t happen that way because it is a gradual fix.”

On another note, Mokdad discussed the issue of health platforms and where healthcare can be provided. He noted that though there are a lot

of discussions in factors go into it, the most important thing is “the comparative costs of providing the services.”

Going back to the United States, the lecturer gave the example of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and the great disparity that exists according to the interaction between geographic location and race. He used a study conducted by Christopher Murray that divided America into eight “Americas” based on race and geographic location to better explain the idea of disparities. On that matter he said, “What’s scary is the change that we can observe.

There is a huge decrease in

life expectancy in many counties, though the country’s life expectancy is increasing-especially amongst females.”

Linking this issue to Lebanon, Mokdad said that the studies carried out in the US on chronic diseases show very similar results to what is happening here in this country.

The best thing to be done is to “take this measured data and adjust it so we can be able to carry out self-reporting.”

The lecturer continued to discuss the disparities as well as methods of assessments. After concluding his seminar, the floor was open for questions and discussions relating to the matter.

8

Campus News

“The World As I See It” Heather Jaber Staff Writer

R

ecently, AUB hosted a photography workshop called “The World As I See It,” conducted

by Adrianne Koteen, a freelance photographer residing in San Francisco. Koteen has an impressive collection of work under her belt, including work related trips to six continents, an exhibit at the United Nations, and work with the International Museum of Women. As her work frequently relates to non-profit events, Koteen’s work with AUB was aimed at encouraging those who may be less privileged to express themselves and their surroundings through photography.

The exhibit, held in the Mahmoud Malhas Common Room in West Hall, featured the works of these amateur photographers. The workshop was held in September and included the work of a range of people who had little or no knowledge of the photography process.

Marwan El Sabban, Professor of Medicine at AUB, as well as Director of Creative Media Unit in the Office of Development in the Communications Department, oversaw the workshop. Of the pro-

cess, Sabban said, “all these people come from over-marginalized, underprivileged backgrounds…we gave them cameras and asked them to record what they saw. Over a period of five days, we helped them choose their own work.”

One specific photographer, Zaher Soubhi Ismail, had a particularly impressive selection of work. His photographs were comprised of shots of construction workers at work from sunrise to sunset. These pictures included an interesting subject in the construction workers and skillful use of lighting. Of the pieces, Ismail said, “the different dimensions allowed for good pictures, and the sunrise epitomized the golden hour of the morning. The pictures talk and tell a story.”

This kind of story-telling was perhaps the main point of this exercise. The various photographs on display told different stories and a great deal about the photographers as well. For example, one photographer, Mahmoud Abdallah, photographed a girl praying in the traditional Islamic prayer clothing,

with henna drawn down her arm. These pictures seemed to represent one type of home life, while another set of photographs were of an artist’s studio, with bright paint cans and pictures plastered on the wall and piled together. These pictures were taken by Zaman Kazem, and

they showed a different type of creativity present in the photographer’s home life.

The collection of photographs may, in the end, serve to enlighten and tell a story to its viewers. Though the pictures did not, as a whole, show mastery of photographic skill, they symbolized some-

Photo by Outlook Staff

thing more important - a diverse collection of personal statements.

Of the experience, Sabban concluded, “we’re biased when we’re looking at other peoples’ work - there’s no judging here.”

General Assembly to Launch 2009-2010 Yearbook Outlook Staff

A

UB’s yearbook “Campus” is a student publication that goes back decades. It is a tradition that has been maintained at AUB since 1963. This year, the tradition is being revived yet again for the academic year 2009- 2010, with the yearbook general assembly that took place on Wednesday, December 9.

The purpose of the general assembly was to explain how the yearbook operates to newcomers and to further recruit interested members who did not sign up previously to join the team. This year a welcome addition has been

made to the team as a public relations’ editor has been introduced, in order to promote the yearbook better than in the previous years.

The yearbook is making an early launch this year with the general assembly being held significantly earlier than last year’s. The ultimate goal is to close the gap created by previous yearbooks, and if things go right this year, then yearbooks coming out in the future will correspond to the academic year that just ended. This will set the correct standard again for future yearbook bearing generations.

The yearbook will be more present on AUB campus this year and that is a promise.

Instead of living in the basement of West Hall as usually does, unheard of and ignored, it will be brought out to ground level. More will be heard about the yearbook and perhaps more interaction will be carried out with this important student publication.

The yearbook assembly, attended by Dean of Students, Dr. Maroun Kisirwani, and yearbook advisor Dr. Rabih Talhouk who has been advisor for the yearbook for years and has worked with many

student committees before, set the mood the rest of the year. The cabinet working with Dr. Talhouk this year include Maurice Salem (editor in chief), Mohammad Hijazi (associate editor) Nadine Ghaith (associate editor), Mohammad Chehab (Team coordinator), and Maya Terro (Business manager) … It is a promising start to say the least.

The general impression that the yearbook is merely a book full of student and faculty pictures, but that is not the case. At best, it is the capturing of a time and a place that is continually changing.

Each yearbook celebrates the spirit of the year in which it was published and that is achieved through several means.

First, there is the yearbook theme, chosen collectively by all members of team. Each yearbook holds a dedication to a person who was significant in some way to that year.

Everything else, from the design of the book to the array of pictures from campus activities and life, also contributes to the full documentation of one academic year.

9

Campus News

History professor attacks America “As America goes, so goes the world” Yasmin Fansa Staff Writer

A

merican society is sick,” admited Noel Ignatiev, an eminent American History professor, who was invited on Tuesday, December 8, to speak about the anti-slavery movement.

Surprising his guests, especially with his sense of humor, Ignatiev commenced by announcing his opposition towards the worldwide American anti-slavery group, cofounded by Charles Jacob in 1994. Ignatiev bluntly declared the falsehood of many of the incidents presented by the anti-slavery group, and proceeded to discuss Charles Jacob’s involvement in certain worldly schemes: halting the construction of a mosque in the United States, convincing Harvard University to reject loans from the UAE monarchy, contributing to the David project for Jewish leadership (which raises strong voices for Israel), and most disturbingly, interfer-

“

ing in the Middle Eastern affairs (especially in the Iraqi invasion).

Claiming that American history is divided into four categories, slavery, segregated south, formation of the urban ghetto, and the formation of the hyper-ghetto (prisons), Ignatiev compared American prisons, which he referred to as “monstrous institutions,” to the anti-slavery movement.

He argued that prisons shape American life from every dimension – politically, socially, and economically – and claimed, “prison is worse than the actual crime an individual commits. What makes us white is that we don’t have to go to prison. The U.S. government controls it’s citizens by putting the blacks in jail and keeping the whites out of jail.” In this way, the whites benefit from government spending, the wealth of the nation, and the high employ-

ment positions.

Moreover, Ignatiev asserted that the prison system is the reason many U.S. Presidents have won votes in the past. Many presidents must give gratitude to the disenfranchisement of many black citizens and to the fact that some state prisons are given no choice but to vote for certain candidates.

Ignatiev concluded by saying that the society of the United States is corrupt and the “prison system is precisely the backbone of it.” Instead of creating social order, prisons lead to greater antisocial behavior. For this reason, measures must be put forth to abolish the existence of prisons, even though this will not occur in a capitalist society.

More importantly, the corruption of prisons is not only evident in American society.

Being the current superpower, “as America goes, so goes the world.”

Photo from Facebook.com

Jazz concert in Assembly Hall Roupen Ohannessian Staff Writer

A

merican society is sick,” admited Noel Ignatiev, an eminent American History professor, who was invited on Tuesday, December 8, to speak about the anti-slavery movement.

Surprising his guests, especially with his sense of humor, Ignatiev commenced by announcing his opposition towards the worldwide American anti-slavery group, cofounded by Charles Jacob in 1994. Ignatiev bluntly declared the falsehood of many of the incidents presented by the anti-slavery group, and proceeded to discuss Charles Jacob’s involvement in certain worldly schemes: halting the construction of a mosque in the United States, convincing Harvard University to reject loans from the

UAE monarchy, contributing to the David project for Jewish leadership (which raises strong voices for Israel), and most disturbingly, interfering in the Middle Eastern affairs (especially in the Iraqi invasion).

Claiming that American history is divided into four categories, slavery, segregated south, formation of the urban ghetto, and the formation of the hyper-ghetto (prisons), Ignatiev compared American prisons, which he referred to as “monstrous institutions,” to the anti-slavery movement.

He argued that prisons shape American life from every dimension – politically, socially, and economically – and claimed, “prison is worse than the actual crime an individual commits. What makes

us white is that we don’t have to go to prison. The U.S. government controls it’s citizens by putting the blacks in jail and keeping the whites out of jail.” In this way, the whites benefit from government spending, the wealth of the nation, and the high employment positions.

Moreover, Ignatiev asserted that the prison system is the reason many U.S. Presidents have won votes in the past. Many presidents must give gratitude to the disenfranchisement of many black citizens and to the fact that some state prisons are given no choice but to vote for certain candidates.

Ignatiev concluded by saying that the society of the United States is corrupt and the “prison system is precisely the backbone of it.” Instead of

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creating social order, prisons lead to greater antisocial behavior. For this reason, measures must be put forth to abolish the existence of prisons, even though this will not occur in a capitalist society.

More importantly, the corruption of prisons is not only evident in American society.

Being the current superpower, “as America goes, so goes the world.”

10

Life & Culture

AUB’s Maria Hraoui takes part in Miss University pageant Nadine Gaith Staff Writer

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rains and beauty joined hands at the Miss University Pageant last month, as university candidates from 16 different universities in Lebanon competed for the title. The pageant took place at the Regency Palace Hotel on November 12, 2009, with AUB’s own Maria Hraoui, a Political Science student with signature curls and a friendly smile, participating.

The general impression is that AUB considers itself a serious academic institution, one that cannot trouble with silly pageants, but it will not oppose them completely. AUB may not be as fanatic about these things as the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) and Sagesse University, as there are no Miss AUB pageants and this event was not advertised anywhere on campus. AUB

students are still allowed to participate in such competitions but are not expected to come watch. Two VVIP tickets were given out to AUB, but no one attended the Miss University pageant, clearly indicating other universities are more supportive of these things.

Speaking to Maria about her experience in the pageant, she said that behind the glamor was months of training, but it was well worth it. “It’s really nice getting to know all the girls. There was no competitive attitude.” Her participation in the pageant, though not intended, was a huge publicity stunt. Due to her unique look, Maria had people randomly pointing at her ever since the pageant. She said that she received over 1000 friend requests on Facebook, making her something of a local celebrity.

Anyone watching the pag-

eant that day would have noticed something was not fair at all. Although Maria had the highest scores in all three categories, she was not in the top 3, and had to settle for Miss Photogenic instead. Two title winners were from AUST, the only university with two contestants participating while each university was supposed to only have one. Rumor has it that AUST paid for the results. The reason could be one small way to elevate AUST’s status as a university.

Whether pageants are admired or hated, it can not be denied how much they feed into the local entertainment sector. Despite some suspicions, Miss University and all the students who participated in it carried an important message: beauty is not more important than education.

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Choir warms audience’s heart and spreads the holiday cheer Tala Kardas News Executive

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he AUB Choir, Choral Society, and Ensemble Polyphonica proudly presented their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, December 13 and Monday, December 14 at the Assembly Hall. Though the weather was generally bleak, this did not dampen the singers’ mood, as they went though the show with wide smiles and beautiful voices that left everyone in attendance completely enchanted.

Under the direction of Dr. Paul Meers, the organ playing of Ramzi Sabra, and the piano stylings of Vartan Agopian, the members went through an impressive repertoire of classical Christmas-related compositions and earned never-ending applause for their beautiful

execution.

At 7pm sharp, Meers welcomed the audience and highlighted a few technical errors and changes, before leaving the floor to the singers. Then, women clad in black dresses with a red flower on their lapels and men in dark suits entered from all sides of the hall, clutching their musical scores, and singing Goudimel’s Pseaume. They were in complete unison as they made their way towards the stage to claim their positions and ended the piece.

They then continued with a set of two pieces by Giovanni Gabrieli, followed by a set of three compositions by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. All five were in Latin, yet the meticulous pronunciation coupled with the variation between

the vocal ranges indicated the singers’ proficiency in that language.

Following that was a set of three Christian chants sung in Arabic and arranged by Shireen Abu-Khader. The choir did not miss a single beat here and were also in complete harmony-as they were during the entire show. This combination proved to be one of the many highlights of the evening and displayed the complete discipline and dedication of the members.

After a brief rearrangement up on stage, the Ensemble Polyphonica came forward to sing Poulenc’s “Quatre motets pour le temps de Noel.” Meers’ conduction and the Polyhonica’s exhilarating performance were the two highlights of this

segment, which ended with the loudest applause of the evening so far. They were joined by the rest of the choir on “Hodie Christus natus est” to conclude the fourth and final segment of classical music.

The fifth segment was dedicated to medieval English and Scots carols and by then, the performers had showcased the entire spectrum of their talents. There was not one moment where the audience was not swayed by the beauty of the music being sung, even if the language seemed to be unfamiliar.

Before the last part of the concert inside the hall begun, Meers thanked the members themselves for all the work they have done and for the dedication they have shown and stated that

this was the “hardest program [he] ever had to teach, but It was made possible because of everyone involved.”

He also extended his gratitude to all the supporters, whether musically or technically, and announced that a selected group of students have been invited to perform at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York in May 2010.

This evoked loud cheering and astonishment amongst the audience. Meers then invited those in attendance to sing along with the choir to three famous Christmas carols, before braving the cold weather to sing more of those under the recently lit AUB Christmas tree at the concert’s end.

11

World News

World News: Irony as Obama defends U.S. wars while accepting nobel peace prize Mohammad Hijazi Staff Writer

Surrounding a lot of controversy, American President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace during a ceremony on Thursday December 7, 2009 in Norway. The fact acknowledges the paradox of receiving this award as the U.S. is embroiled in two wars, while maintaining that instru-

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ments of war have a role in preserving peace.

In his acceptance speech, Obama told Nobel Committee members and guests in Oslo that achieving peace must begin with the recognition that the use of force is sometimes morally justified.

“Make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonvi-

olent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies.

Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms.”

Obama also used the Nobel platform to exhort allies to help eradicate terrorist extremism in Afghanistan. “I understand why war is not popular, but I also know this: The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it,” he said, while urging support for NATO and saying “peacekeeping responsibilities shouldn’t be left to a few countries.”

“War is justified in cases of self-defense, when civilians are being slaughtered by their own government, or a civil war threatens to engulf an entire region,” continued Obama.

After spending much of the speech talking about the

use of force, Obama told the crowd that the recipe for lasting peace should include the development of alternatives to conflict that are strong enough to force intransigent regimes to adhere to international law.

Moreover, he said that Iran and North Korea must be held responsible for violations. “Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia,” he said.

“Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.”

The Nobel Peace Prize winner ended his speech by insisting that a faith in human progress “must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.”

Obama is the third sitting

U.S. president to be awarded the peace prize. Theodore Roosevelt claimed the award in 1906 for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese war. Woodrow Wilson won in 1919 for his work as chief architect of the League of Nations. Former President Jimmy Carter received the prize more than two decades after leaving office in recognition of his continued work for international peace and human rights.

The Nobel committee had announced earlier in October that it would bestow the honor on Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” — giving an extra nod to Obama’s goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

on Dec. 14 (3.15 pm at Cinestar 6, Mall of the Emirates). The film has a UAE link, depicting an Iraqi-German who travels here to meet his long-lost Iraqi father’s family. The documentary reflects on family ties, cultural differences and the bond between parents and their children.

Director Hadi Mahood’s Collapse documents the collapse of Iraqi culture after the fall of the regime in 2003 and the plight of artists and cultural institutions. The film will be screened on Dec. 13 (6.45 at Cinestar 10).

Al Mihna (Tangled Up in Blue) marks its World Premiere at DIFF. The movie, directed by Haider Rashid, is about the son of a worldrenowned Iraqi writer who struggles with his conscience and his assassinated father’s legacy. The film screens on Dec. 13 (6.45 pm, Cinestar 5) and Dec. 15 (7

pm, Cinestar 12).

Another striking feature is Apres La Chute (After the Downfall), by Hiner Saleem.

The film is set in Baghdad during April 2003. Saddam Hussein’s regime has been toppled and a group of IraqiKurdish exiles meets in Berlin to celebrate. The film will be screened on Dec. 15 (9.45 pm, Cinestar 12) and Dec. 16 (1.30 pm, Cinestar 5).

DIFF 2009, celebrating its sixth year, runs until December 16 and is held in association with Dubai Studio City. Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Pearl, Emirates Airline and Madinat Jumeirah are the principal sponsors of DIFF and the event is supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).

Dubai Interational Film Festival

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eneath the strife that makes headlines in Iraq is a rich culture of cinema that is brought to the forefront at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) 2009. The line-up of Iraqi films at the festival include those from renowned auteurs including Rashid Masharawi, Shawkat Amin Korki and Hiner Saleem, as well as upcoming filmmakers Haider Rashid and Hadi Mahood.

The films My Father, My Uncle and Collapse have

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opened to critical acclaim at DIFF, and have set the tone for the thematic and narrative brilliance characterizing the Iraqi films at the festival.

DIFF Artistic Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali said the Iraqi films demonstrate the resilience of the creative professionals in the country, who continue to pursue their passion and create tales that touch human hearts.

Kick Off is about a friendly football match between

Arab and Kurdish boys in an Iraqi refugee camp that turns sour. The film is by award-winning director Shawkat Amin Korki and will be screened on Dec. 12 (10.30 pm, First Group Theatre) and on Dec. 15 (8 pm, Cinestar 9). This is the film’s only second screening following its highly successful debut at Pusan Film Festival.

In the powerful documentary, Al Ajniha Assaghira (Little Wings) director Rashid Masharawi visits Baghdad to meet the young children forced to work around the city drawing parallels between them and youngsters in Gaza. The film will be screened on Dec. 12 (6 pm, Cinestar 6) and Dec. 14 (2 pm, Cinestar 11).

Mein Vater Mein Onkel (My Father. My Uncle), directed

by Christoph Heller, made its Middle East premiere, and will be screened again

12

Letter to the editor That they may have life and have if more abundantly Anonymous After thanking the medical personnel at AUBMC’s Emergency Department and at AUBMC as a whole, for their continuous efforts, I address this letter to AUB’s BOT Chair, President, and to the VP for Medical Affairs.

Dear Dr. Khoury, President Dorman and VP Sayegh, Doubts on the preparedness of the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) Emergency Department during times of natural disasters, especially earthquakes and tsunamis, or wars - mainly bombings or air-strikes have been recently raised. That is so, because the AUBMC’s Emergency Department has been open to criticism and complaints due to reported incidences from American University of Beirut (AUB) staff,

AUB students, and visitors, which briefly include: New coming patients are left unnoticed and not taken care of. Patients, rather than receiving attention and treatment instantaneously, have to wait for a long time before one of the present staff notices their presence. Sometimes the protection staff, thankfully, present provides assistance to the patient instead.

Even if the patient is noticed, he or she won’t find a place to sit or lay down, due to the shortage of beds (the department is always full house.)

Lack of enough medical staff.

Few cases of doctors’ recklessness, evidenced by making patients wait for no reason, even when the doctor

has nothing to do, thus leaving the new patients in pain rather than relieving it.

Not providing proper attention and treatment for children or elderly patients admitted to the emergency department.

Very noisy environment, which hinders proper communication between staff and patients and does not provide a healthy atmosphere for the patients. I quote a patient saying in Arabic: “‫ما فيني إحتمل بقى! في كتير‬ ‫”!ضجة‬. Patients come to the Emergency Department for a specific reason, but leave with anxiety and stress. Patients are even complaining from the loudness of the Emergency Department staff.

Unavailability of specific staff to receive patients

and take notes of their cases after 7:30pm.

Lack of privacy due to the absence of proper separators between patients, thus not providing confidentiality of patient’s case.

Therefore, the AUB and AUBMC administration should opt for solutions to improve the health status and well-being of patients admitted to the Emergency Department, in specific, and to the whole AUB and AUBMC, in general. The problems faced should be resolved through: Launching an Inaugural Fund to raise at least 15 Million USD to recruit more staff on 24 hour, provide more space (and beds) in the Department to admit more patients, and to improve more facilities in the

Christmas Hymns Joy To The World

O’ Come All Ye Faithful

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.

Come and behold Him, Born the King of Angels; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.

O Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation, Sing all that hear in heaven God’s holy word.

Give to our Father glory in the Highest; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning, O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Medical Center.

Meanwhile: Replacing all the curtain rooms by proper rooms with sound absorbing barriers that ensure privacy of patient and less noise.

Awareness programs for staff through educational sessions about their roles in receiving patients, taking care of them, and minimizing noise.

Putting calming music for the patients to relax.

We have to improve our services before our competitors take our place in the excellence of services provided by the AUB as a whole and so AUB’s motto stays praising life and not death.

Press Release: Donner Sang Compter Did you ever think that you had, within your hands, the power to save a life? Nonprofit volunteer organization “Donner Sang Compter” works to encourage Lebanese youth to donate blood in the “absence of a developed centralized blood bank in Lebanon, that will cover the needs coordination between hospital blood banks,” according to their mission statement.

As “the missing link between available donors and people in need of blood,” the organization manages to cover blood requests made to their emergency hotline, thanks to the database of potential donors they constructed. Donner Sang Compter holds regular recruitment stands and fundraising activities to promote donors enrollment and seek sponsorship support.

For your urgent blood, platelets, or plasma requests call 03-314868. Visit www.donnersangcompter.org or Facebook group “Donner Sang Compter”.

13

Entertainment Album Review

Rihanna-Rated R

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he much-anticipated third album, “Rated R,” by the songstress behind the ever-so popular anthems “Disturbia” and “Umbrella,” Rihanna, is now available everywhere where music can be found. Yet, if one is expecting to find, on this venture, heavy beats, flirtatious lyrics, and seductive vocals that have made Rihanna famous in the first place, then they are very, very wrong. In fact, the Rihanna that this album introduces is a dark and twisty one, one that hasn’t completely healed from the unfortunate Chris Brownbeating incident in February 2009. The album takes this aspect and expands on it, delivering an end-product that can only be described by the word, “Why?” It is a far departure from anything she has ever done in her musical career and even collaborations with producers, artists, and writers who are known to be the best in their field, cannot save this project from being the utter disaster it is.

Kicking off with the one-minute long “Mad House,” the track sets the scene for the

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rest of the album and heeds a warning set to something out of an old Dracula movie: “To those among you who are easily frightened, we suggest you turn away now. To those of you who think they can take it, we say, welcome to the mad house.” To say that this warning is grossly overstated would be an accurate description, as it should have

Band Review

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ne of the newer bands on the music scene is Thriving Ivory. This American alternative/pianorock band originates from Santa Barbara, California and relocated to San Francisco. Thriving Ivory reached instant fame with their first self-titled album, which was re-released on June 24, 2008. This album was originally released in 2003, but was not well publicized. The sound of the second release was inspired by bands such as U2 and Coldplay. The debut album hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart on the strength of the charting single “Angels on the Moon.”

After half a year, Angels on the Moon appeared on the

said something along the lines of “To those who appreciate good music, you won’t find it here.”

The second track “Wait Your Turn” is the actual point that signifies the start of the downward spiral that this album is. There is far too much focus on getting a hard-rock sound but the effort comes across as amateurish, while the sing-

ing feels far too elongated.

It is best to forget that this track even existed. Speaking of which, second single and third track “Hard” belongs to the same exact category. Trying to understand what the lyrics allude to is a difficult, time-consuming task which is not facilitated by the mélange of music and brief rap interruption by Jeezy.

Her attempt to slow things down on “Stupid In Love,” while commendable, is still not good enough. Listeners are reminded by the oncefantastic piano on “Unfaithful” but that’s as good as it gets. It seems as though it’s only there to fulfill the criterion of having a least one breakup song on the album.

The most disappointing track is easily number five, “Rockstar 101” which features the legendary Slash on guitars.

It’s unfortunate that a man who has been known for some of the most famous guitar riffs of the 80s and 90s has to now resort to playing for an overly-confident “pop” star.

Sadly enough, his playing goes by unnoticed because of Rihanna trying-to-hard to be something she is not.

While manically depressing,

Thriving Ivory

US Pop 100 Chart, reaching at number 28.

This five-piece band challenges one of the 10 Commandments of Rock: “Thou shall not prefer pianos to guitars.”

But on Thriving Ivory, the group latches onto one soaring mid-tempo rocker after another, as their lead singer Clayton Stroope serenades his eternally broken heart over keyboards, bolstered by guitars and strings. While they share some similarities with the Coldplay modernrock crowd, the band pulls off the tricky proposition of being sensitive without slipping into utter wimpiness.

Not surprisingly, much of the material on Thriving Ivory has to do with love – often,

Stroope is either pining for a girl who dumped him or dealing with an unhappy relationship, about ready to go south.

The album’s opener, “Runaway”, sets the tone. Borrowing the searching tone of U2’s grand “Where the Streets Have No Name,” Runaway finds Stroope counting stars and journaling his thoughts, hoping to find contentment after a series of disappointments. Scott Jason’s hopeful keyboards and Drew Cribley’s forceful guitars underscore the singer’s determination to find a fresh start and the song is just one of many on the album which tries to counteract sadness with swelling choruses.

“Twilight” is a quicker paced,

Tala Kardas first single and sixth track “Russian Roulette” can easily pass off as the best one, probably for lack of alternatives.

Though the suicidal connotations are heavy and the track ends with a gunshot, it is in fact a very twisted love-letter that requires in-depth analysis.

Fortunately, the pace picks up after track sixth, providing the okay-but only okay“Fire Bomb”, “Rude Boy,” “Photographs,” and “Te Amo.” The latter has what is the only addictive island-beat of the whole album, instantly placing it at an advantage over others.

Yet after briefly indulging in the above mentioned songs, the album comes to a closure with “Cold Case Love” and “The Last Song,” reminding the audience of what they wished to forget, and at the same time, feeling thankful that this is all over soon.

This album should be rated R for its explicit content, bad music choices, and mainly for portraying Rihanna in the most unimaginable way possible. It is best if this album is avoided at all costs.

Mohammad Hijazi

less repetitive, and quite catchy tune. The best part of the song would be the simple, yet elegant piano that fits quite well with the tone of the song. This song can be seen being featured prominently in movies and television, if ever released as a single.

“Alien” is the most personal song in the album, according to Keyboard player Scott Jason. “That song is about my brother. And my brother, he’s a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant kid, a full scholarship to Berkeley, and he’s gone through some pretty heavy stuff. So that song is really personal,” he said.

Other great songs in this album include: “Hey Lady,” “Long Hallway with a Bro-

ken Light,” “For Heaven’s Sake,” and “Day of Rain.”

All of the songs on this album are amazing, and once you start listening to one of them, you cannot stop, and it will get you hooked on piano rock. Perhaps, however, the most ingenious of their songs is their 2009 single “Flowers for a Ghost,” which captures tremendous emotion with Thriving Ivory’s usual piano rock style.

All in all, this band has a great future heading their way, especially since piano-rock is not very common these days and there’s a high chance of huge success for their upcoming album.

14

Entertainment

Movie Review

C

harles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is one of those stories that have become ingrained in our minds, to such an extent that it now transcends the media it is delivered in.

In other words, whether told orally, in a lengthy novel, a children’s book, a cartoon, or a puppet show, we all know what happens, or at least the gist of it. Everyone knows the story of Scrooge, a man who hasn’t a semblance of Christmas spirit. Rich and bitter, he has his ways changed via the visiting of three ghosts on Christmas Eve, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet-to-come.

Now, given the illustrious and well-known nature of the story itself, it is likely to be the case that everyone has their idea of what “A Christmas Carol” is or ought to be. Both avid Dickens fans and even children, who have heard a stripped down version of the story via a library read-along session, have etched in the back of their minds ideas about what the characters look like, what the mood is, and so on and so forth.

A Christmas Carol

Seeing as the preconceived notions are many, Disney’s task of making a movie that suits everyone’s tastes is harder than ever. They have, however surprisingly, created a final product that will simultaneously do just that.

This is largely due to the fact that Disney has accepted the artistry of the story as is and has accordingly taken no unnecessary freewheeling poetic license. Rather, they acknowledge that the story or plot itself has stood the test of time. The only adages or changes made that need to be discussed are in terms of the physical manifestation and execution of the story per se.

The first question that comes to mind with any Disney movie, especially one of this caliber is, and to put it in the simplest and most colloquial form: “Is it cartoon or real-life?” The answer to such a question is not as clear-cut, despite the eitheror-nature of the inquiry itself. Not only is it CGI, but the nature of the animation goes above and beyond any of its predecessors, even Dis-

Restaurant Review While cultural cuisine literally means the food of a given society or country, such a definition is somewhat naked, as it is free from the stigmas and perceptions associated with these foods. Japanese food, for instance, is generally associated with refinement and class, whereas Chinese food is often considered quick and affordable. When we think of Mexican food, we cannot but envision a large messy burrito or a hearty portion of nachos bound together by a tumor of cheese.

This, however, is only one side of the story. Exhausting this clichéd “story” metaphor further, this perception of Mexican food is nothing more than Part I, where

we merely view the characters superficially. Part II is a shockful of plot twists, revelations, and “deeper” understanding. Simply put, Mexican food is much more than messy nachos, and this is attested to by restaurants like Pacifico.

Located in the heart of Monot Street, this restaurant combines an oddly effective juxtaposition of both quaintness and refinement.

In terms of décor, the shaky wooden high-seats and nylon curtains mesh well with the dim candlelight, resulting in a bohemian pub vibe, which is accentuated further by the frequent live jazz music.

The food is no different in

ney’s “The Polar Express” which was said to have one of the most life-like computer graphics. The depth and intricacy of the graphics are simply breathtaking and awe-inspiring, adding a sort of magical feel to the movie. Never is there a moment where the viewer finds her/himself reacting to the tackiness or rashness of the animation itself.

The second most crucial element pertaining to the physical execution of an animated movie is the voices of the characters, a component which this movie seems to excel in. The casting of Jim Carey as Scrooge as well as all three ghosts, initially seems like a poor choice and one that is doomed to fail.

Carey is famous for his comic and somewhat silly voice and his casting to play the voice of scary ghosts and a somber and despicable old man is ostensibly an anomalous choice. Yet, Carey manages to restrain his “funny” voice for the most part and deliver an authentic portrayal of the ghosts and Scrooge, thereby demonstrating his range as an ac-

Pacifico terms of character. Upon first arriving, one is presented with carrots and cucumbers in a glass, and tortilla chips, which are served with a small bowl of Salsa Fresca. Unlike the case is with many other Mexican Restaurants, the Salsa Fresca or “Fresh Salsa” lives up to its name; rather than tasting that homogenized, preservative-induced, jar-bought salsa flavor, the dip at Pacifico is ostensibly flavorsome and rich.

Keeping with true Mexican Tradition, Cheese Nachos are included on the menu, yet the quality of this famed Mexican appetizer is quite superior at Pacifico. The cheese is of high quality and

Timmy Malkoun

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tor.

In short, the movie is what it is—a well-made remake of a famous Christmas story. While it is not a must-see,

in that it does not offer anything groundbreaking, it is by no means a must-not-see.

It is simply a good Christmas movie.

Timmy Malkoun one can taste the difference.

In addition to this, one is given both spicy guacamole and regular or mild guacamole, thereby adding another somewhat unconventional or unexpected choice to the diner’s palette of dips.

Other must-try dishes include the Vegetable Quesilldias, which are grilled to perfection, the Avocado Salad, and the Mexican Burger, which hosts an interesting fusion of vegetables, sauces and spices which are typically Mexican, with the good old beef patty. Another musthave is the mixed Fajita, which includes not only the customary beef or chicken selection, but, a scrumptious mélange of vegetables, beef,

shrimp and chicken. Having discussed the food itself, we must turn our attention to the extensive drinks menu, which doubles the actual food menu in length, which further adds to the gastropub nature of the venue.

Though the food is simply great, one evident disadvantage of Pacifico is the prices and portion-sizes. The portions are quite small, often leaving one digging down their dip bowls or reaching for a pita-bread to wrap their fajita only to find none left.

While the prices are generally higher than other restaurants that serve typical Tex-Mex food, they are not significantly higher, and the venue and food are worth it.

15

Sports Kerr wins in a friendly dorms basketball game Emile Zankoul Contributing Writer

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fter the inconvenient incidents that took place around two weeks ago in the men’s dorms at AUB, a better aspect of the life on campus was presented on Thursday, December 8. On that day, a friendly basketball game between the residents of the Penrose and Kerr was organized.

After the try-outs which decided which players would participate, the game took place at Charles Hostler’s indoor basketball courts.

The designated players arrived at around 7:45 pm and started to warm up. As time passed by, a modest audience gathered to cheer the players and at 8:15 pm, the game tipped off.

The first quarter witnessed a quick start, as both teams were scoring with a high field goal percentage along with a relatively good number of shots from behind the arc. The score remained close during those first ten minutes.

At the half, the Kerr team

managed to build a small lead, as the score was 27-24.

The third quarter looked like the first one as both teams scored well; each basket by a team did not pass unanswered.

The turning point was mainly in the fourth quarter, during which the Kerr players managed to take advantage of some of the Penrose’s turnovers and build up a lead that kept growing with each minute, reaching a dozen of points.

The final 45 seconds of the

game witnessed a final attempt to trigger a comeback, with the Penrose players trying to stop the time and reduce the lead by fouling. The gap did decrease indeed, but this comeback was stopped by the referee’s final whistle, after which the final score was 53-47 in favor of Kerr team. Besides that, the general mood of the game was rather calm with players showing the required respect to one another.

The Kerr team may have won the numbers, but sure-

ly, all the players, the audience, and the university also gained, as such activities enhance ethics, sportsmanship, and chemistry between students- especially those that share the same residences.

Such activities, sports be it or arts, should be seen more often since they are a way for students to express themselves and let off steam, thus probably reducing the possibility of the aforementioned incidents from happening.

FIFA World Cup 2010: We can’t wait!

Roupen Ohannessian Contributing Writer

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veryone is highly anticipating the FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa between June and July 2010, making it the first time that an African country will welcome the best teams of the world. The preparations had started in 2004 and ended with 10 newly built or upgraded stadiums. The African people proved their excitement towards football by buying more than 550,000 tickets for the Confederations Cup in 2009. This worldwide thrill has lately intensified by the draw for the finals that took place on December 4, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

This draw saw the 32 teams distributed into 8 groups, from which 2 nations will continue their road to the final by knockout stages.

There have been proposals to add the Republic of Ireland as the 33rd country of the tournament, after their harsh elimination against France, something which was later withdrawn by the Football Association of Ireland. The 8 groups participating in the FIFA World Cup finals are as follows:

Group A - South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France Group B - Argentina, Republic of Korea, Nigeria, Greece Group C - England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia Group D - Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia Group E - Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark Group F - Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia Group G - Brazil, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal Group H - Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland From each group, only two teams will proceed to the next stage, the round of 16.

The winner of group A will meet the runner-up of group B and vice-versa and so on for the rest of the groups.

The quarter finals will hold matches among the teams in the first 4 groups and the last for 4 groups separately. The crossing-over between these two happens in the semi finals.

As for each group, here is a quick review of what the draw brought. Note that the

statistics are powered by Castrol Predictor and are based on the strength of each team and on the possible sides they may face on their way to the finals.

France could have drawn against strong teams, but luckily for them, they face minor sides of the tournament. They have 2.6% chance of winning the tournament and predictions tell they will end as runners-up of their group, only behind Uruguay.

Argentina has a relatively easy task in group B, but they may end up against France in the next stage should the latter fail to finish top of their group. Argentina’s chances of wining the final are 7.5%.

England saw a lucky draw putting them in a group with Algeria and Slovenia, who both entered the tournament via playoffs in their respective continents. There is a possibility of 10.4% that they will win the final.

In group D, the Germans are the favorites to finish as winners, but note that all four sides finished first in their respective qualifying series.

A 5.8% chance is predicted for Germany to win in the final. In the round of 16, there

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is a possibility of the repetition of the 1966 final where Germany met England, in a controversial match.

Being in light weighted groups, Netherlands’ and Italy’s paths to the round of 16 seem relatively easy and their chances in the final are 10.1% and 3.6% respectively.

Group G is appropriately labeled “group of death” because three strong teams, Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal, will be battling for two places. Brazil most probably will advance to the next stage but the remaining spot is uncertain. Brazil has the best chances to win the tour-

nament (23.6%).

Spain’s task is easy in group H, but later on, they will have to face one of the three strong sides of the group of death. Spain’s chance of advancing the stages until the final match and winning the cup is 16.1%.

As for the final match, the most predicted ties include an interesting match between Spain and Brazil, a repeat of the 2002 final with Germany and Brazil, a thrilling match between arch rivals Argentina and Brazil, and finally a tie between promising sides England and Spain.

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out of the box The Outlook team Chairperson

Maroun Kisrwani

Faculty Advisor

Rami Khouri

Responsible Director

Antonios Francis

Editor-in-Chief

Mohamad Yahia Hamade

Associate Editor

Marwan Jaafar

Arabic Editor

Mariam El Ali

News Executives

Tala Kardas Rasha Salem

Layout Director

John Hajjar

Members at Large

Rachid Akiki Simon Barakat

Business Manager

Mayah Haidar

Photography Editor

Salim Batlouni

Staff Writers

Rawan Abu Salman Mary-Ann Awada Fouad Badaoui Ali Badran Fatima Buhilaigah Moussa Chalah Yasmine Fansa Nadine Ghaith Mohammad Hijazi Maryam Hoballah Mhd Izzat Husrieh Khalil Issa Heather Jaber Wajiha Jurdi Kheir Lojine Kamel Elie El Khoury Timmy Malkoun Rita Obeid Yasmine Saab Wally Saad Sandra Sawaya Maya Terro Ilija Trojanovic Tarek Tutunji Mohammad El-Jabi

Photographers

Abir Abdul Ahad Qater Al Nada Mohsen Dima Barbir Tariq Buhilaigah Mohammad Al-Mad

Psyched Out

Rita Obeid

BULIMIA NERVOSA Who does not feel that they need to lose some extra pounds? Well, Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder that goes beyond those feelings. People with Bulimia often fear gaining weight, are in a desperate need to lose weight, and are highly unhappy with their current size and shape. Bulimia is defined as an eating disorder that is characterized by binge eating episodes, i.e. consuming huge amount of foods in one sitting, then followed by compensatory behaviors known as purging, that include vomiting and the use of laxatives. These episodes of binging and purging are often done in secret and are accompanied by feelings of shame. This cycle usually repeats several times a week.

People diagnosed with Bulimia often feel that they have no control over eating.

Unlike what most people think (and unlike anorexia), people with Bulimia can maintain a normal body weight for their age. It is important to note that people with Bulimia also have a coexisting psychological disorder, such as depression or anxiety. Also, many physical dysfunctions result from all the purging, including gastrointestinal and dental problems. There are two types of bulimia, the “purging” type and the non-purging type, in which these people use other compensatory behaviors such as fasting or excessive exercise to compensate for the binging. Symptoms for bulimia include: recurrent episodes of binge eating, feelings of no control over binging, compensatory behaviors, acid reflux, worn out teeth enamel, and kidney problems- amongst others.

Bulimia is much more than just than a problem with food. There is no known single cause for this disorder, but some factors that play a part include: personality traits, culture, families, stressful events, and biological triggers such as genes, hormones, and brain chemicals.

Treatment of Bulimia involves a number of options and depends on the patient’s needs. A patient may undergo nutritional counseling, as well as psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is widely used, along with medication such as antidepressants, which may help patients who also suffer from depression and can also decrease the binging and purging behaviors. Research also shows that CBT has been effective in changing attitudes towards eating and reducing the binging and purging. Therapy can also be done in group settings.

With the constant need and obsession of staying thin, our society is one that greatly suffers from eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia. Moreover, Bulimia Nervosa and other eating disorders should not be taken for granted just because they are characterized as “eating disorders.”

They are hazardous to one’s health and may even be fatal. Thus, they should also be given the attention and care, as all other mental disorders, since unlike what most people think, eating disorders are not so easy to deal with and are not under the control of the person affected.

Heads Up on Health

Maya Terro

Get your granny online NOW… According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project ,targeted at assessing the prevalence of internet use amongst different age groups in the US, around 92 % of Americans aged 18-29 admit to using the Internet and e-mail, at least occasionally. For those aged 30-49, the percentage falls slightly to 87% and for those aged 50-64, the percentage is somewhat 79%. For those 65 and older, though, the rate falls off a cliff, to a mere 42 %.

This is not good news for old folks, however. A recent study by the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, a non-profit think-tank in Washington, DC, showed that spending time online cuts the incidence of depression among senior citizens by at least 20%.

These results were based on surveys of 7,000 people aged 55 and older, who were retired and not working, but not living in nursing homes. According to this study, increased Internet access and use by senior citizens enables them to connect with sources of social support and rapport whenever face-to-face interaction becomes more difficult, hence, they are less susceptible to depression.

“Considering that depression costs the U.S. economy about $100 billion annually, Internet use for the elderly may have a significant payoff,” concluded the 26-page study.

Furthermore, other relevant studies have found that first-time use of the Internet by seniors enhanced brain function and cognition. Still, other research shows that there is more to seniors’ resistance to surfing the web than sheer crotchetiness. According to a study by Florida State University, aging often involves decreased memory, attention, cognitive speed, visual acuity, and fine motor control — the same capacities needed to use a computer. So, it’s no surprise that senior citizens typically take twice as long to learn digital skills and are more prone to errors when they do get online.

Consequently, they may decide that the results are just not worth the effort, unless websites were made more elderly-friendly – by creating web sites with higher contrast, larger fonts, minimal scrolling, more navigational aids, and more user help referencing.