Pipe Dream Fall 2012 Issue 22

Health nuts

By candle light

Eating well in your dining hall is tough, not impossible

Volleyball is slated to face off against No. 1 Penn State in the first round of the NCAA tournament this Friday J Street U-Binghamton commemorates extinguished lives at a political rally for peace by candlelight

PIPE DREAM Friday, November 30, 2012 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXII, Issue 22

Another blow for Greek Life Hazing as defined by the code of student conduct

Both the University and the national headquarters of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity withdrew their recognition of the Binghamton University chapter of ZBT yesterday after the chapter said they were unable to pay back the large debt they had accrued during the past several semesters.

The chapter owed the national organization nearly $20,000 dollars, according to Laurence Bolotin, executive director of ZBT’s Indianapolis headquarters.

The debt began with a small mismanagement of funds several years ago, according Brandon Lentino, president of the BU chapter of ZBT. “It kind of snowballed … into a bigger debt which made managing it that much more difficult,” Lentino said.

“We did our best to try and

rectify the situation that was started before some of our current members were in and we just weren’t able to do it in the timely fashion that nationals looked for.”

Although Lentino said ZBT remained “mostly current” with their payments over the last three semesters — while he and Dom Mattaresee were president — they were unable to generate significant revenue to chip into the debt while paying their current dues.

He suggested that the size of ZBT, which is only around 14 members, down from between 17 and 21 during previous semesters and significantly smaller than chapters at other schools, made it more difficult for his chapter to generate the large sums national demanded.

The Binghamton University chapter of Alpha Chi Rho (AXP) is under investigation for hazing violations by the University and national AXP headquarters after receiving allegations of hazing from a disgruntled, disaffiliated former member.

AXP has been ordered to suspend all fraternity activity pending the outcome of the investigations. A representative of national AXP headquarters said they are working with the University to conduct their investigation.

Campus administrators refused to elaborate further until the investigations are concluded; however, in a written statement University President Harvey Stenger reaffirmed his commitment to student safety.

“While I remain supportive of our students organizing in ways that contribute positively to their development and to the

quality of our university and community, I will be strict and swift within the rules of our university,” Stenger wrote.

The allegations seem to stem from Matthew Opramolla, one of two AXP members arrested during the police raids on Greek parties in mid-October.

Opramolla, a junior majoring in English, said he decided to report any AXP violations he had witnessed to Dean of Students April Thompson after fraternity members voted against paying for his legal fees following the arrest.

“Personally I don’t care about the hazing, you know.

I’ve participated in it, I think if you’re pledging a fraternity, you gotta expect that kind of stuff,” Opramolla said. “So that’s something they did, and that’s something they should be held accountable for — if not paying me the money.”

Several members of AXP, who asked to remain anonymous, said the fraternity did not have the money to pay Opramolla’s fees in full, but noted that they

offered Opramolla back his fraternity dues to help pay the fees.

Opramolla told Pipe Dream that he accused AXP of a litany of violations including firstsemester pledging, brothers physically fighting in front of blindfolded pledges and crossing pledges following the suspension of the chapter.

Opramolla said the majority of pledges since he joined AXP as a first-semester freshman in fall 2010 have been firstsemester freshman as well.

Members of AXP disputed each of these claims, including the claim that their pledges crossed following their suspension.

“Those are all false allegations, completely false,” one member said. “We did not cross any pledges, the school sanctioned us and told us to suspend all pledging and we complied.”

Opramolla noted that

Fingerprints provide FitSpace access

Members of the East Gym can now swipe a finger instead of an ID card to work out at FitSpace, thanks to biometric technology implemented this fall.

All members of the gym can register their fingerprints, which takes about a minute.

— Cindy Cowden Campus Recreeational Services

“Biometrics is not a new technology, but we were limited in its use in the past by our management software system,” said Cindy Cowden, associate director of Campus Recreational Services. “After returning to the renovated building and updating our computer systems, we decided to more carefully investigate the use

of biometrics and ultimately to begin implementing it in a controlled manner.”

Students still need a Binghamton University ID to access the main building and for group fitness classes, but Cowden said the gym hopes to put biometric readers in additional locations as soon as next semester. She also said registering for biometrics may be mandatory for all students with a fitness membership in the future.

“One of the driving factors is security and efficiency,” Cowden said. “We run into access issues all the time, everything from patrons forgetting their ID cards and being denied access, to patrons using false IDs to enter the facility and effectively stealing services. Using biometrics is a fail-safe method of identifying members — you can’t forget your finger when you come to the building and you can’t share your fingerprint with anyone else.”

Cowden said the information collected for the biometric readers is secure.

“The fingerprints we collect are not shared elsewhere Jonathan Heisler/Photo Editor on campus, and the data is Max Delin, a freshman majoring in engineering, scans his finger to gain access to securely hosted offsite with FitSpace. Biometrics was recently integrated into the East Gym to allow for easier a software company that access to FitSpace without the need for an ID card. specializes in access control,” Cowden said. “The safety and oversee, and this also includes $300 for each location plus security of all our patrons personal data.” licensing fees. She said the is first and foremost in the According to Cowden, the programs and facilities we biometric readers cost about

pornography in the modern age.

“By visiting a single ‘YouTube’ porn site, you can Adventurous and curious see more sex acts in a minute Binghamton University than the most promiscuous students learned about the ups Victorian could have seen in a and downs of one of the world’s lifetime,” he wrote. most infamous industries: Internet pornography.

“What we’re here to do is talk about porn,” said Craig Morris, a doctoral candidate in the anthropology department.

“But we’re not going to talk about my surfing habits. We’re going to look at this from an academic standpoint.”

Morris’ lecture, “Content, Consumption and Consequences of Internet — Craig Morris Pornography: A Discussion of BU doctoral candidate ‘A Billion Wicked Thoughts,’” remained lighthearted on Thursday night, with Morris receiving plenty of laughs from the crowd when discussing the popular “Rule 34.”

The new trend in porn “If you can imagine it, it according to exists as Internet porn,” said viewership, Morris, pointing to the art of Morris, is to look for videos erotic falconry, where birds of with real amateur participants prey perch on penises of male as opposed to professional porn stars. Real female orgasms are models, as an example.

In his PowerPoint presentation, Morris raved about the accessibility of

One suspended, one removed “We were able to stay mostly current on most of our current fees but some of them weren’t able to get paid just

because our chapter is smaller and they just kept adding those onto the debt,” Lentino said. “It’s unfortunate because when this debt was started, the chapter was a little bit bigger,

— Brandon Letino ZBT President

there were more members on the national roster.”

While Lentino said he worked with the national organization to try to develop a payment plan, the two sides could not come to an agreement.

“The type of the money they were expecting is the type of money that comes from a chapter that is 30, 40, 50 kids,” he said. “The scale they used working with larger chapters with larger amounts of members paying dues isn’t the scale that we were on.”

Bolotin, however, said that when the organization worked with the chapter to agree on a payment plan, the BU chapter was “unresponsive.”

“We’ve been working with them for over six months to try and pay off part of their debt and they haven’t paid off any of it,” Bolotin said.

Due to University policy, ZBT will not be allowed

to continue operations on campus without a national sponsor.

“We tried to keep ourselves motivated and keep up with other options in the hope that nationals would see we were trying … I think they felt that the best option was not to continue on the path we were on,” Lentino said.

“As far as letters that brothers paid for themselves like i.e. the t-shirts sweatshirts, stuff like that that they wore on campus, I would assume that each brother is probably going to keep them in some box in the back of their closet or in a drawer somewhere to remember the experience that kept us all together during college.”

Ex-member upset after his arrest

— Matthew Opramolla BU Junior

although he is making these allegations against the chapter, he does not believe hazing at AXP is particularly severe compared to other fraternities on campus.

“It wasn’t a problem, I do feel like if people, some of the pledges didn’t feel comfortable, I think we’d recognize it,” Opramollo said. “I don’t think

it was horrible compared to some of the stuff you hear.”

Interfraternity Council President Zach Stein, a member of AXP, said Jordan Roth will serve as interim IFC president until the investigations are concluded. He declined to comment further.

Pipe Dream could not reach Roth for comment.

A History of Trouble 2005

2008

Students came together at the Pegasus statue in front of the Glenn G. Bartle Library on Wednesday for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of recent violence in Israel and Gaza.

The vigil was an apolitical event, hosted by J Street U– Binghamton, that encouraged students to rally for peace and honor all lives that were lost during the violence.

Javeria Ahmad, a junior double-majoring in history and French, said peace is important regardless of religious beliefs.

“Regardless of what faith you are, you shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of intolerance and violence,” Ahmad said.

Students huddled in a circle and held candlesticks to remember the lives that were lost during the conflict.

Students at the event read poetry and signed cards to send to senators and representatives to urge involvement by American leadership and demonstrate students’ stances on the conflict.

Ilan Benattar, a member of J Street U and a junior doublemajoring in history and Arabic studies, commented on the importance of the vigil and

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what they hope to achieve in the future.

“It was important to take this opportunity and to increase the presence about not just Israelis suffering or the Palestinians suffering but that this is something reciprocal,” Benattar said.

“It’s a vicious cycle and we wanted to take a moment to remember the tragedy on both sides and hopefully we can start discussions on a new way forward.”

J Street is a national organization that promotes leadership and peace in the Middle East.

Originally, organizers planned to read the names of those who died because of the violence and have a moment of silence in their honor.

According to Tina Ritter, co-founder of J Street U at Binghamton University and a senior double-majoring in biology and linguistics, names were not mentioned during the event since not all of the names have been released.

The most recent escalation in Gaza started when Israel killed Ahmed Jabari, chief of the Gaza military wing of Hamas, following weeks of indiscriminate rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Israel stated that its aims were to halt the rocket attacks and disrupt

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the capabilities of militant organizations.

On Nov. 21, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr announced a cease-fire during a joint news conference in Cairo. The cease-fire calls for “complete and total cessation of all hostile activity” initiated in Gaza, according to an Israeli government spokesman.

Derek Gumb, Student Association executive vice president and a senior majoring in politics, philosophy, and law, attended the vigil to show his support for peace.

“I believe that the best way forward is a peaceful one,” Gumb said. “It doesn’t matter what your political party is or whose side you’re on.”

Ella Schwarzbaum, treasurer of J Street U and an undeclared sophomore, said that she was impressed with the results of the vigil.

“It’s nice and reassuring to see that people on campus also care,” Schwarzbaum said.

Jonathan Heisler/Photo Editor

Students gather at the Pegasus statue on campus for a candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims who suffered from the violence in Israel and Gaza last week. The vigil was hosted on Wednesday evening by J Street U-Binghamton, a student group on campus that’s part of a national organization that promotes leadership and peace in the Middle East.

Pipe Line

Stenger's got game

Professor talks on paranormal activity Gary Truce, a professor in the health and wellness studies department, will host a presentation on paranormal encounters Monday, Dec. 3. Truce will share his experiences in parapsychology, talking about his encounters with the paranormal, and will show a video on the topic. The event is scheduled for 8 p.m. in the Appalachian Collegiate Center.

SUNY BEST to host presentation on SUNY’s state impact The SUNY Business and Education Cooperative of the Southern Tier (SUNY BEST) will host a presentation by Brian Hutzley, titled “SUNY Support for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.” The presentation will highlight the many roles played by SUNY and its campuses to provide statewide support and opportunities with an emphasis on statewide assets such as the Small Business Development Centers, SUNY Works (Co-op) and SUNY Pipeline. The presentation will take place at 10 a.m. on Dec. 6, in room 1324C of the Continuing Education and Outreach Office in the Glenn G. Bartle Library.

Tobacco Review Committee to conduct survey The Student Association-Binghamton University Council Tobacco Review Committee has formulated a survey to assess students’ opinions regarding the university’s current tobacco policies and the possibility of a SUNY-wide campus smoking ban. This survey, set to be released in the next week, will use the results from the survey data to formulate a policy that will be sent to University administrators as the official student opinion on this issue.

NYC to grant tax extension to Sandy victims More than 3,000 homeowners with badly storm-damaged houses will get extra time to pay city property taxes and some could receive rebates if state lawmakers agree, city officials said Thursday. Payments due Jan. 1 would be postponed to April 1, interest free, for residential properties that need extensive repairs to be habitable or are damaged beyond repair because of Superstorm Sandy. They also said they want to give partial rebates to reflect the homes’ lost values, but that would need state Legislature’s approval. The extension, which the City Council is expected to approve Dec. 10, would apply to households that owe an average of about $500 on their Jan. 1 quarterly or semiannual payments.

State targets 12 more gas stations for price gouging New York’s attorney general Eric Schneiderman said the state is taking enforcement action against 12 more gas stations accused of price gouging after Superstorm Sandy, bringing the total to 25. Schneiderman said a Bronx driver waited an hour and was three cars from the pump when she was told it would cost $50 for five gallons of regular.

Stations nearby were charging $3.95 a gallon. Queens drivers reported prices of $7.90 a gallon in East Elmhurst, and $7.25 a gallon in Ridgewood. A consumer in Elmont, Long Island, complained about a station charging $6.99 a gallon.

Jonathan Heisler/Photo Editor

University President Harvey Stenger discusses the importance of Division I sports at Binghamton University and his prospectus for the season at the men’s basketball game against Brown University.

A statement from the President I have said since the first day of my term as president, I am dedicated to the safety of our students and student safety is my highest priority. While I remain supportive of our students organizing in ways that contribute positively to their development and to the quality of our university and community, I will be strict and swift within the rules of our university, and the laws of our state and federal systems to do what I can to prevent danger and injury to all of our students.

— Harvey Stenger

In other words This Day in History —Officer Lawrence DePrimo, after a cell-phone photo of him giving a barefoot, homeless man in New York City went viral

Did you know....

The record for most beers drank in one siting was set

by Andre Rene Rousimoff, better known as Andre the Giant who drank 119 beers drank in six hours

November 30th 1900 Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and author, died of cerebral meningitis.

His last words were reportedly, " My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go."

Writers Needed

Porn speaker talks preferences

The Indian International Student Union (IISU) will present a dance, fashion and a cappella show all in one skit Saturday night for their biggest event of the year, “Tamasha: The Spice is Right.”

According to IISU President Eric Chacko, the skit is about sibling rivalry between two chefs.

“The story of the skit is two brothers whose father died, one of which is adopted,” Chacko said. “They had a big falling out, and when their father died, he left them a recipe that would help them both out. They’re competing against each other trying to find this recipe — that’s why the show is called ‘The Spice is Right.’”

The program will include a variety of Indian dance styles, including Bollywood, classical, fusion and bhangra and will feature student groups Binghamton Bhangra, Binghamton Masti and Quimbamba as well as New York Masti A Cappella.

“We have hip-hop dances right next to Indian dances, we have fusion dances right next to classical dances,” IISU vice president Jonathan Varghese said. “The Latin American Student Union, their dance group, Quimbamba, they’re

doing Latin dancing, regular hip-hop and modern dancing and incorporating it into our skit. So when we say it’s cultural, we mean it’s really open to anyone, and it’s really accessible for anyone to enjoy.”

In previous years, the annual event has attracted nearly 400 people. Chacko said he hopes more people will come this year since the IISU has rented out the Osterhout Concert Theater.

“We know people from Albany are coming, people from Buffalo,” he said. “We talk to the Indian student unions from those schools and a lot of those people are coming over. It’s a big cultural show among the Indian community.”

Varghese said the show is enjoyable for anyone and that is the main purpose.

“Basically Tamasha means fun or entertainment or good time in a host of South Asian languages, and the show reflects that,” Varghese said.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1 in the Osterhout Theater in the Fine Arts Building. Doors open at 6 p.m. and tickets are $8.

a hot commodity, Morris said.

“Men do not like women who are overacting,” he said. “They don’t like women whose performances are too enthusiastic. People are now looking for sites where girls are just posting naked pictures of themselves. Authenticity matters now.”

In addition to discussing preferences of heterosexual men, Morris enlightened the crowd about the porn-viewing habits of gay men and of women.

— Craig Morris BU doctoral candidate

“Women watch porn,” Morris said. “But they watch porn very differently than men. When they look for erotic content online, they are looking mostly for erotic fiction. Gay men watch almost the exact same porn as straight men. Their Internet histories match straight men’s almost exactly.”

Although he praised the virtues and positives of pornography, Morris also warned against it becoming too large a part of a person’s everyday life.

“My big concern is

where completely happy, monogamous couples are having their relationships destroyed by porn,” Morris said. “Men are becoming so addicted to this that they are giving up on completely healthy relationships.”

He cited porn presenting unrealistic standards for sexual stamina and physical appearance as a negative impact.

“I would say that it gives men a very bad self image,” Morris said. “You’re not going to see a whole lot of six-inch penises in porn.”

In addition to providing students with interesting facts and statistics about porn and porn watchers, Morris criticized the book “A Billion Wicked Thoughts,” by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam. He said that the book, which examines Internet porn habits in order to understand male and female desire, felt sloppy and hastily put together.

“Whenever someone does something for the first time, they rush to publish it, particularly in the field of human sexual behavior,” Morris explained. “There’s a lot of economic scholarship about the costs and unbelievable amount of money that comes from the porn industry.”

Benjamin Moosher, a freshman majoring in computer science and a selfproclaimed porn connoisseur, said he left Morris’ lecture with a newfound perspective.

“I’ll never look at porn the same way again,” Moosher said. “I learned so many things at the lecture tonight.

I came because I was very interested in the topic and it’s something very important in

Sex Stats

my life, and I was definitely not disappointed.”

But one of the most important pieces of advice Morris offered up to the audience stood out in particular.

“If you ever have to

research Russian porn, don’t,” he said.

Snacks and handshakes Students and faculty enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, virgin cocktails and professional small talk during a networking information event held

by Binghamton University’s Career Development Center on Wednesday in the Old Union Hall.

Wren Fritsky, a career counselor at the CDC, gave a presentation on networking, set up in 10-minute intervals that allowed time between sessions for students to practice networking skills with faculty members.

— Marty Wygmans Director, TRIO programs

According to Fritsky, more than 70 percent of all opportunities are networking opportunities, and events such as “Handshakes and

Hors d’oeuvres” are good, safe ways to practice networking.

“You only have one chance to make a strong first impression and it is a skill to be practiced,” Fritsky said.

When networking, Fritsky said that it is most important to listen for a connection to find common ground. He noted that networking is essentially binding what you have in common with others.

“Before you get to the first impression, research who you are meeting, dress appropriately, have questions ready, and have introductions ready to share,” Fritsky said.

When considering students for hire, Marty Wygmans, director of the TRIO Programs and Veterans Services, said that what she looks for is if the student arrives on time, dresses appropriately, uses proper language, and what the student does with his or her cell phone.

“If a student is not dressed appropriately it says that you don’t take care of yourself, or that you’re a rebel,” Wygmans said.

To allow for conversation, Fritsky suggests that students appear welcoming by smiling, having an open posture and having their right hand open and ready for handshakes.

“When introducing yourself, make this first move to shake hands and maintain eye contact,” Fritsky said.

According to Fritsky,

icebreakers for initial conversation include common topics such as the event itself and food. To learn more about someone, she suggested asking about his or her winter break plans, recent books or movies seen, current events and hobbies. However, she notes that it is important to keep conversation casual and avoid “deep” topics.

“Sharing first makes you seem more trustworthy,” Fritsky said.

Fritsky said that body language and non-verbal communication make up 55 percent of first impressions, and because of this, it is important to pay attention to your facial expressions, posture, personal space, tone and volume of voice and body-mirroring.

Jenny Fu, a sophomore majoring in management, said that a lot of students outside of the School of Management do not know how to network, and since the Handshakes and Hors d’oeuvres event was held by the CDC, it was open to a lot of students.

“Regardless of what field you’re in, you need to know how to network,” Fu said.

Ryan Omoruyi, a sophomore majoring in graphic design, attended the event hoping to learn how to be more professional in a laid-back environment.

“I wanted to know how to be professional with casual talking, when less pressure is on what is being said,” Omoruyi said.

With World AIDS Day around the corner, Binghamton University student groups teamed up to discuss the disease’s global impact and educate their peers about sexual health.

Two members each from the Charles Drew Minority Pre-Health Society and the African Student Organization sat on a panel in front of 30 students that participated in an open discussion Thursday titled, “AIDS: How Can We Do Better?”

Keara Caughman, a discussion panelist and a senior double-majoring in biology and chemistry, said education is key.

“It does not matter what age you are,” Caughman said.

“Educating each other brings more of an understanding about this disease. It is not something that you just learn from getting it; you want to prevent from getting it.

Knowledge is key.”

Miranda Nortey, president of the Charles Drew Minority Pre-Health Society and a senior majoring in biology, said students should be informed about HIV/AIDS prevention and testing.

“Our goal was letting people know about the AIDS/ HIV epidemic and giving them ways to prevent it and showing them different types of techniques to encourage their partners to get tested as well,” Nortey said.

Taisha Destin, vice president of the Charles Drew Minority Pre-Health Society and a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience, said one way students can protect themselves against HIV/AIDS is through communication.

“Telling your friends is something [that] can really help,” Destin said. “It is one thing to hear it from a professor or a faculty member, but it is another thing when you hear it from a friend, such as getting tested together or something like that. If you just have an environment where you can just talk openly about it with a friend or in groups and have more organizations on campus, I think that is a great way of promoting safe sex.”

Tebebe Makonnen, a sophomore majoring in theater, attended the panel and said it is important to talk about HIV/AIDS because it affects many different people.

“I think that it was great that we could all sit down and discuss the AIDS disease in

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honor of the World AIDS Day because it is important for everybody to keep the AIDS disease close to our hearts and in our minds,” Makonnen said. “There are people that have to deal with this that are our friends, families and loved ones that are in need of our help.”

— Tebebe Makonnen BU sophomore

Panelists encouraged students to take advantage of various contraceptives offered for free by campus Health Services and heads of the residential communities to promote safe sex and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Students talk about biometric system readers have been worth the investment, but there are some flaws to the system.

“Occasionally the readers do not pick up a fingerprint accurately and we still have to be able to verify a membership status,” Cowden said.

Emily Ragusa, a freshman majoring in integrative neuroscience, said she registered for the system to keep up with the new technology.

“At first I was a little hesitant about it and unsure how I felt allowing a database to have my fingerprint,” Ragusa said.

“After some thought, I decided to go with it. If the campus is moving towards a more advanced way of doing things, I wanted to be a part of it.”

Tom Sperber, a sophomore double-majoring in history and philosophy, politics and law, said the biometric readers are convenient.

“It’s a really good idea!”

Sperber said. “To be able to leave my ID at home would be much easier since I don’t like to work out with my wallet. I lift way too much for that.”

But Catherine Christophel, a junior majoring in biology, said she thinks the system is superfluous.

“It’s expensive, faulty and unnecessary,” Christophel said. “A card isn’t difficult to bring to the gym. They think

Jonathan Heisler/Photo Editor

The University’s East Gym will be incorporating biometric finger scanning for students to access the main building and group fitness classes.

that a thumbprint is more efficient, but systems like that are flawed and expensive.”

One student had a specific condition preventing him from using the fingerprint-reading system.

“The calluses on my fingers from playing guitar prevents me from registering my fingers in the gym’s new finger identifying system.

Never thought there would be a downside of playing guitar,” wrote Scott Wisotsky, a sophomore majoring in political science, in a Facebook

{

status.

Molly Sigel, a freshman majoring in human development, said the biometric system could be extended to other facilities on campus.

“I think it would be really nice if the entire school started using it so then you didn’t have to get into your building with an ID card,” Sigel said. “And for meal plans also, that’d be so nice, it’d be so convenient.”

Card Access Coordinator David Martin said, however, that plans for more biometric

systems on campus will not be in the works any time soon.

“The quick answer is no, we are not considering using biometrics for the school as a whole at this time,” Martin said. “It’s always been a conversation piece that’s brought up when other facilities implement it, but it’s always been shot down because of the cost. It’s very expensive.

It’s considerably more, 2 to 3 times more [than $300] to install it in a door.”

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to giving a playground to the underprivileged, I am guessing it would be fun for the children.”

Under the veil of fluffy, Jae Hak You, a junior syrup-covered pancakes, majoring in finance and Binghamton University’s management information P r i c e w a t e r h o u s e C o o p e r s systems, thought the event Scholars were busy was a fun break from work. fundraising in the Mandela “Coming to the event was Room this past Wednesday just an opportunity to take for their latest project, a little break from studying, developing and enhancing the see some friends and support Walnut Street Park located on a good cause,” You said. “And the West Side of Binghamton. the pancakes are pretty good, Bryanne Klucka, cochair of fundraising for the senior class, came up with the idea of using pancakes to attract students during a brainstorming session at the beginning of the semester.

“I thought everyone on campus likes to eat, so it would be an interactive fundraiser for students to come to the event,” said Klucka, a senior majoring in finance. “We have — Jacob Seidner a little music playing, and it BU sophomore is for a good cause, building a park for underprivileged children. This is more of a social, simple fundraiser.” surprisingly.”

Each year the PwC Scholars Kevin Eng, a member of the adopt a project, and this Scholars program, thought year the goal is to fund the that the event was fun to construction of a toddler play host and a great way to help area and community garden children in the community. to enhance the Walnut Street “In the kitchen we were all Park. flipping pancakes, and that Theo Baktidy, president of was really enjoyable.” said the PwC Scholars, said that Eng, a senior majoring in the fundraising efforts have accounting. “And the money been going well so far. is going towards building a “I think fundraising has community park, which is been going pretty good,” said important since prior to this Baktidy, a senior majoring in project the children would accounting. “We have a couple play in industrial parking lots, of big events coming up, so we so by providing this park the are looking to be successful kids will now have a safe place there as well. It just takes a to play and it also encourages while to get momentum, and physical activity in the we are starting to finally get community.” momentum for the year.”

The total needed to build Jacob Seidner, a sophomore the park is $18,000, and the majoring in industrial and Scholars program has raised systems engineering, enjoyed $4,000 up to this point. the chance to both eat The next event scheduled pancakes and contribute to to support the building of the project. the park is a water pong “These pancakes are tournament at 3 p.m. this fluffy and delicious,” said coming Saturday in Old Union Seidner. “And although I am Hall. not entirely sure what they are doing, if it is related

Library shows Civil War materials The event featured two PowerPoint presentations

by Kilmarx, a curator of rare books, and Deligato, Special Collections staff a Binghamton University members Beth Kilmarx and archivist, about 16 separate Yvonne Deligato hosted a collections that can be used for presentation Thursday to research on the Civil War and display some of Glenn G. Bartle local history archives.

Library’s Civil War artifacts.

Materials within these Attendees were encouraged to bring a lunch and eat while they listened to the presenters share their expertise during the brown bag lecture.

Anne Larrivee, an organizer for the event and a subject librarian in human development, social work, Africana and anthropology, — Anne Larrivee said opening the lecture up Subject Librarian to students was a new idea for Bartle Library.

“We’ve had brown bags in the past that have been collections include letters, exclusively library faculty diaries, photographs and rare and staff,” Larrivee said. “And books. usually those brown bags “Because we have materials are highlighting conferences on the Civil War in Special that people attend and things Collections we were asked to do they’ve learned. So this one a presentation on materials we was a topic that I felt could be had and talk about specifically of interest to people outside what is in the collection,” the library, so I wanted to Deligato said. reach out.”

Deligato said she has a

specific criteria for materials dealing with local history.

“We have a number of books in the local history collection that are about various aspects of local history in Broome County and adjoining counties,” Deligato said.

Larrivee said they wanted to help promote the library and its resources and how people can use the collections for their research.

“It’s a really great time to highlight the Civil War because it just passed the 150th anniversary and the Lincoln movie just came out,” Larrivee said. “And I know that our special collections have 16 separate collections that highlight some Civil War resources.”

Although much of the audience was composed of library staff and faculty, Larrivee said students will find that the secondary information often used during research is easily accessible.

“You find in Google, you find things in the databases that have a lot of research drawn from other research, from other research at times,”

Larrivee said. “And so what I would like to highlight is that there are opportunities for other research to find primary resources.”

Tenzin Dorjee, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said she came to the event because she has an interest in American history.

“Especially during [the] Civil War and Great Depression because there are many things that we can learn from those,” Dorjee said. “I’m interested to look at the first sources, the primary sources.”

Jill Dixon, the acting director of public services of the BU libraries, said the materials presented were intriguing.

“I especially enjoyed learning about the unique bindings of Civil War publications, our local history collection, and women’s involvement in the war,” Dixon said. “I particularly found fascinating the story about a local woman who disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Army.”

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Four average-looking men and women sat at a panel Thursday night, each with two things in common; they were all HIV-positive, and all of them once believed that “It Can’t Happen To Me.” Each panelist told their story about how they contracted HIV, as well as their reactions to the diagnosis.

Chris Pasquarelli, a panelist, contracted AIDS when he was 20 and suffered severe depression when he first learned of his diagnosis.

“After I found out, I tried to commit suicide four times, figuring it’s a death sentence,” Pasquarelli said. “’I’m gonna die anyway, why not just do it now?’”

David Joseph, another panelist, was born with HIV and said he struggled with being different from an early age.

“I said, ‘Mom, how come I’m the only one in my class that has to be called out of class every day to take meds? What are these meds? How come I get sick so much? Why do I have to see the doctor more than anyone else has to? What’s going on, what is wrong with me?’” Joseph said.

Despite coming from different backgrounds, each panelist made the decision to reach out to change peoples’ outlook on HIV. Tree Alexander, a panelist who contracted HIV when he was 20, said the disease never affected his goals in life.

“I would say it hasn’t changed much, ‘cause even when I was a kid, I wanted to change the world, and I think this is part of changing the world,” Alexander said.

Leanna Thorton, a panelist

also born HIV-positive, made it clear to the audience that her personality came before her virus.

“How I dealt with love, having sex and stuff, was I let them get to know me first before I actually told them,” Thorton said. “You got to get to know me before you get to know HIV.” Shantel Smith, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said she admired the panelists’ bravery in talking about their experiences.

“I thought the panel was great,” Smith said. “It’s quite amazing for people to come up and [sharing] their stories with the world takes a lot of courage.”

We Speak BU hosted the third annual “It Can’t Happen To Me” panel in honor of World AIDS Day, which takes place on Dec. 1.

“HIV has no face,” said Shantae Blount, senior adviser at We Speak BU and a senior majoring in graphic design.

“The moral of the story is that HIV and AIDS can happen to anyone, and that life isn’t over.”

Clarice Hampton, president of We Speak BU and a senior majoring in psychology, said the event was necessary to combat prejudices against HIVpositive people.

“It’s important because the stigma of AIDS is prevalent, and by bringing this panel together, we can show how HIV can happen to anyone, and people can live with it,” Hampton said.

As people entered the event, they received paper leaves and were asked to write how AIDS has affected their lives. At the end of the panel, the leaves were arranged to make a tree, symbolizing how AIDS can affect anyone and that everyone is connected.

A Bike-Friendly Binghamton Daniel O'Connor/Staff Photographer

Nathan Partridge | Release Walking around campus, students cannot help but notice that there are bikes.

Everywhere. Bicycles overflow from racks in front of the Engineering Building, are chained to lamp posts and are left in the tombs of Glenn G. Bartle Library. On a campus as large as Binghamton University’s, bicycles are an obvious advantage for mobility — they are easy to use and environmentally friendly.

But the infrastructure of Binghamton, Vestal and campus have proven insufficient, cluttered and outright unsafe for both riders and pedestrians.

Jeffrey Kastle, a senior majoring in environmental studies, and Devan Tracy, a senior majoring in mechanical and sustainable engineering, are trying to change things.

They are members of IDEAS, or Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions, an on-campus environmental activism group.

Their latest project: the Binghamton University Bike Share Program.

A bike share program consists of several hubs housing public bicycles, which can then be checked out, ridden and docked at another station, ready for another rider to pick them up. The system will ideally work on a “radio frequency ID tag” system, registering the student taking the bike

out and sending a signal to one of several receivers on campus, holding the student accountable and assuring that the bikes are not abused. It is an incredibly convenient way to facilitate quick and free mobility across campus, as well as cutting down on pedestrian and automobile traffic, and above all, helping students get to class on time.

“A lot of we engineers have to go to the Engineering Building to hand in homework,” Tracy said. “It would be great to be able to just get on a bike, drop it off and get back without any hassle.”

The bike share will be funded by a grant given to IDEAS by the SUNY sustainability fund, which could reach up to $7,500.

The club has also received bikes donated by Binghamton’s strong cycling community, and is in the process of obtaining funds from Residential Life and independent donations.

University at Buffalo, SUNY Cortland and Stony Brook University have already implemented such programs, and to great success.

The program is part of a continuous campaign to reduce the University’s carbon footprint and make BU a greener campus.

Benefits to students aside, a bike share program encourages students to leave their cars at home, instead choosing to hop on a bike, ride to class and simply dock the bike at a station when they are done.

This cuts down significantly on energy consumption and carbon emissions released by automobile use. What’s not to like?

“Even people who aren’t environmentally conscious are going to be excited because it gives them more options to get around campus without having to walk these long distances to spots that are hard to get to,” Kastle said.

The club is working on other projects as well. IDEAS is working on adding bike racks to the OCCT buses, which lack the same racks that the Broome County buses possess. They

are encouraging everyone on campus to register their bikes, so if they ever happen to get stolen, students can report the crime to local authorities and greatly increase the chance of having their bikes found and returned. But most importantly, IDEAS is hoping to expand bicycle-friendly facilities in the community as well with the proposed Greenway project, which aims to create a pedestrian- and cyclist-only path along Vestal Parkway, notorious among the local cycling community for being incredibly inhospitable to riders coming from the city

Dorothy Ferrell| Release

Tyler Constance/Staff Photographer

Sodexo, infamous for being the No. 1 cause of the Freshman 15 at Binghamton University, isn’t the best at keeping students eating healthy. But with some creativity and nutritional knowledge, you can navigate your way through the Sodexo universe and emerge a stronger and healthier you.

But you can’t do it alone. Here are some tips to get you started on your nutritional journey.

Get it to go. Use a takeout container and you won’t feel obligated to finish your food in one sitting. You’ll be glad later when you’re reaching for your leftovers instead of your candy stash.

Use the buddy system. Are you dying for a slice of chocolate cake? Satisfy your craving without going overboard by splitting it with a friend. Pay for it and you’ll get major brownie points.

Especially if you’re splitting a brownie.

Put it in a sandwich. Ask the folks at the grill to make you a portobello mushroom (tell them to leave off the bun). Then bring it to the deli, and put it on panini bread. Add pesto, fresh mozzarella and roasted red peppers; grill and enjoy. Let’s be real here — if it’s tangible, it can be made into a sandwich.

Experiment with chicken fingers,

of Binghamton to campus on their bikes.

“It’s dangerous,” Kastle said.

“There are people that have been run off the road by drivers, including a Binghamton professor just this year.”

The bike share program, which is set to begin next semester as a pilot program, will work in tandem with the Greenway project to make all areas pertinent to BU students greener, safer and more bicycle friendly. It makes Binghamton a prouder campus and improves the lives of everyone attending school here.

“There are things that get

vegetables and whatever else is being offered at the Entrees counter.

Put it on a salad. Hit up the salad bar! There’s some great stuff in there.

Sprinkle on some cranberries and pecans for instant deliciousness. Just beware of fattening toppings, and stick with a basic balsamic or red wine vinaigrette, or skip the dressing altogether. If you’re looking for more protein, add chicken from the grill section. Salmon is another healthy and delicious option. Use a plastic takeout container at the salad bar — add dressing, seal and shake. Your salad will be instantly dressed!

Go whole wheat. Substitute white rice with quinoa or brown rice, and get creative with the spice station. Whether it’s a burger, sandwich or wrap, always ask for whole wheat. If whole wheat just isn’t your thing, leave your sandwich open-faced to get rid of some extra carbs.

Yogurt is loaded with good stuff, and when you buy it packaged you get portability and portion control. Flavored yogurts from the salad bar station are pretty sugary, so limit your intake by drizzling it over fruit.

But limit the processed and packaged.

Chobani, sushi and Honest Tea are great options … once in a while. If it has a label, keep it down to a few each day, because constantly buying $7 sushi is a

locked up because of politics, but not this issue. There’s a demand, and as long as that demand is there and we get the word out, this will happen, and everyone will benefit from it,” Kastle said.

Interested students can like the project’s “Binghamton Bike Share” Facebook page, which will be posting more details as they arise. Or, if you would like to play an active role in the program, you can contact Tracy directly at dtracy1@ binghamton.edu.

fast way to run up your meal plan dollars.

Don’t be that person who is starving by Dec. 1.

Parfait (the fun way). On weekends, dining halls offer pancakes with toppings. This provides you with an opportunity to put whipped cream on anything and everything. Layer the following in a cup: raspberries, whipped cream, blackberries, whipped cream, blueberries, whipped cream. Repeat. (It’s still healthy because there’s fruit.)

Break the hamburger habit.

Hamburgers are tasty, but not great for you. They sit under heat lamps and often involve slices of salty melted cheese. For a change of pace, order a turkey burger on a whole-wheat bun — they’ll make one fresh for you. It’s a leaner option, and tastes even better when you load up on veggies from the salad bar.

Don’t fear the word “vegan.” Many dining halls offer a few vegan dessert options. The fruit bars (raspberry or blueberry) and cookies (oatmeal or chocolate chip) are not too sweet and surprisingly good overall, despite the reputation that vegan baked goods have for being dry. On that note, stay away from the vegan brownies. They actually are dry.

Binghamton Gets Theatrical Photo Provided by Binghamton University

Rachel Powers | Release Binghamton University just can’t stop the beat of the 25 talented triple threats (acting, singing and dancing) who are storming the Watters Theater stage for the theater department’s annual Mainstage musical. Directed

by Anne Brady, “Hairspray” is the final Mainstage production for the fall season, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman.

For those unfamiliar with the plot, “Hairspray” centers around a heavy-set Baltimore teen, Tracy Turnblad, during the 1960s when television shows were beginning to desegregate. Tracy enjoys dancing and has her heart set on performing on the popular television show, “The Corny Collins Show.” However, as she pursues this dream Tracy discovers the unfair treatment of blacks in the industry and makes it her mission to help integrate the television show.

When it came time for professor Anne Brady to select a musical to direct for the fall 2012 semester, she wanted to find something fun.

“I loved working with JoEllen [the choreographer] on ‘Urinetown’ and I wanted to do lots of dancing and could incorporate as many people as possible, because I wanted to bring new people into department,” Brady said.

Brady had to beg the costume and design departments because of how much work would be required for a show like “Hairspray.” She explained that the play’s novelty and relatability would make it a big hit with the campus audience.

The department not only had to find a way to keep the play within budget, but they also had to perform the play on a stage with little storage space to tell a story with several different locations. It takes “We Can’t Stop the Beat” to an entirely different level — the actors literally change scene on set while singing, dancing and acting, continuing the play’s journey without a second to stop and breathe.

“We have three round platforms of various sizes that shift during the course of the play,” Brady said. “There are several elements that fly in and out as well.”

Rudy Bamenga, a senior majoring in theater who plays Seaweed, said he enjoys the different levels of the set.

“They definitely give me a lot more of an opportunity to play around with the set, and the fact that it does move so often make this a production where I can easily be influenced by the set,” Bamenga said.

Michelle Goldrich, an undeclared sophomore, plays spunky and strong-willed Tracy Turnblad. This is Goldrich’s first production with the theater department.

“I did shows in high school, but this is a completely different level of professionalism,” Goldrich said. “Anne has you say what is your intention and how you are affecting each person, and how are they affecting you. It’s more than words in script. What am I doing has taken acting to a whole other level. It’s crazy and I’m loving it.”

Imani Williams, a sophomore majoring in theater, said the secret to handling the challenge of energetically singing and dancing at the same time is in the cast’s stamina and endurance; they continue to power through even when they are exhausted at the end

of the show. She confessed that a big reason she tried out for “Hairspray” was the appeal of a black ensemble.

“I thought I’d like to see what it feels like to go back to the 60s and see if I could take on feeling what a black person felt at that time,” Williams said.

Underneath all the glamour and dancing, “Hairspray” is filled with deeper messages that will speak to audiences and resonate with them.

“As light-hearted as it is, it also has some really interesting and important messages about how people can be who they are, and that the things

that separate us aren’t really that different,” said Brendan Gregory, a sophomore majoring in theater.

Performances will be Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 7 and 8 at 8 p.m., with an additional performance on Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. All performances will be in Watters Theater. Tickets for “Hairspray” can be purchased at the box office in the Anderson Center, by calling the Anderson Center Box Office at (777) ARTS-2787 or by visiting www. b i n g h a m t o n . e d u / a n d e r s o n - c e n t e r.

Tickets are $10 for students, $16 for faculty, staff and seniors and $18 for general admission.

Preview: Out of The Frying Pan

“Problem Child,” the dark comedy presented by the Binghamton University theater department this weekend, is about a couple, RJ and Denise, who have cleaned up their act after a life of drugs and crime in order to get their daughter back from the state. The play begins with the couple cooped up in a motel room for a week, awaiting the arrival of an uptight social worker, Helen, who creates more conflicts than resolutions.

Director Austin Tooley, a second-year graduate student studying theater, described working on this production as an exciting challenge.

“I was looking for a play with a clear, exciting story that could resonate with the audience here at the University and I think that the issues in the play — class, addiction, prejudice, social justice and depression — are so important and omnipresent that

any audience member will be able to recognize the situation and hopefully come away with a lasting impression,” Tooley said.

The rehearsal process for student directors such as Tooley reveals how they use the knowledge learned in the classroom for plays in the theater department. Student directors can relate to the actors and thoroughly explain the details in each scene on their level, as they have taken the same classes.

Jacob Wentlent, a senior majoring in theater who plays RJ in the play, said his wanting to work with Tooley is one of the main reasons he auditioned for the production.

“I saw a production directed by Austin Tooley last semester, and really loved what I saw,” Wentlent said. “In talking with actors from that production, they made it very clear that Austin was an exciting, intelligent director to work with.

Daniel O'Connor/Staff Photographer

That was the deciding factor in auditioning. I do find the play very interesting. It is a one-act, which means it’s the perfect length, not too long, not too short. It is full of twists and turns that, as an actor, are extremely fun to play.”

“Problem Child” is not only an entertaining comedy that pulls at your heartstrings, but also stands out because of its heavier

issues. Written by George Walker, it is the final studio show of the semester and is not to be missed.

The production premieres at 5 p.m. on Nov. 30, with additional performances at 5 p.m on Dec. 1. and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Dec. 2 in the Gruber Theatre (Studio B), Fine Arts Building room 196. Tickets are $3 and can be purchased at the door.

What do you get when you combine six young actors looking to make it in the business, a Broadway producer who can’t cook and a staged murder?

The Dickinson Community Players’ production of Francis Swann’s “Out of the Frying Pan.” Lindsey Pasieka, a sophomore majoring in English, plays the young and cheerful Dottie Coburn. She commented that the plot of the play offers scenes of hilarious insanity throughout the performance.

“The characters all have these fantastic little quirks that come alive on stage in hilarious ways,” Pasieka said.

“The show also offers romance, arguments, police officers, drugged girls and a gumboobsessed producer. If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will.”

Jorge Granja, a junior majoring in human development who plays the handsome Tony Dennison, agreed that audiences should find the performance very entertaining.

“The show itself is a timeless piece in the sense that it shows the life of people striving to be actors but adds a comedic touch to it,” Granja said. “It’s enjoyable to see the relationships of the six main characters and how they work off of each other to try and achieve success.”

Granja explained that this production specifically has required a rehearsal process

that involves more acting theory than the previous Dickinson Community Players shows he has been a part of.

“It helps the show and DCP as a club in general because we are developing as actors in technique and not just experience,” he said.

Pasieka also talked about the unique in-depth character development she did for this show, which she has not been asked to do for past productions.

“Our directors scheduled one-on-one meetings with each of us to discuss our roles,” Pasieka said. “They used techniques from Constantin Stanislavsky, Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner to help us go deeper into the text.

They explored the subtleties of each scene and constantly encouraged us to raise the stakes and find new nuances in our characters.”

Binghamton University is in for a treat with this Dickinson Community Players production.

It promises to go above and beyond what one is used to seeing from the club because of the time and dedication the actors and directors have put into the preparations for the performance.

Students can purchase tickets for “Out of the Frying Pan” for $3 at the door. The show premieres at 8 p.m. on Nov. 30 and has additional performances at 8 p.m. on Dec. 1 and 3 p.m. on Dec. 2 in the Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center’s Multipurpose Room.

Dorothy Farrell | Release “Life of Pi” is not so much about a number’s infinite irrationality as it is the universe’s circularity and infinite possibilities. Based on the acclaimed novel by Yann Martel and directed

by Ang Lee, “Life of Pi” tells the story of a wise teen named Pi after he is in a shipwreck while traveling across the Pacific Ocean. Surviving on a lifeboat, Pi is challenged with limited supplies,

vicious aquatic elements and a Bengal tiger.

After growing up surrounded by his family’s zoo in India and practicing three religions, Pi is equipped with his father’s zoo-keeping knowledge, deep faith and sharp wits. Although the shipwreck costs Pi his security and the lives of his entire family, he perseveres through months at sea. Years later, Pi recounts the tale to a curious writer who guides the story.

The dialogue and scenes closely resemble the original story illustrated in Martel’s novel.

What Martel depicts as a cunning journey through his written saga, Lee executes through tasteful aesthetics. Illustrative scenes feature beguiling landscapes, from the sunset on a placid open ocean to the lushness of a tropical fantasy island. Extraordinary animals are captured on film with an air of fascination and appreciation. The imagery is complemented with rich Indian music, reflecting the story’s cultural roots. Suraj Sharma, who plays Pi, delivers a strong performance. He taps into the role of a

Photo Provided by LifeofPi.com

spiritual survivor faced with the relentless fear of impending death. Sharma also captures the emotion intertwined in the complex relationship with Richard Parker, the tiger with whom Pi shares the lifeboat. Characterized by quarrels, competition and eventual mutual respect and understanding, the complex relationship between Pi and Richard Parker is one of the film’s most riveting assets.

The brilliance of the tale lies in the irony that such a story could ever be portrayed quite as convincingly as it is. Conceptually, the likelihood of a boy and tiger ever living on the same lifeboat is near impossible. Yet the story is marvelously seamed together. By fleshing out the logistics of the situation and incorporating mysterious Indian folklore charm, the film largely avoids plot holes and inconsistencies. Details such as how the lifeboat managed to be kept so clean, however, are sidestepped. The storytelling allows each part to fall into place, but the questionable existence of the tiger seals the tale’s ultimate plausibility.

Although the film’s overall message is powerful, some of the action scenes are not the strongest. The shipwreck seemed like a long strip of white noise and wet, smeary shots. Also, filming countless scenes depicting a raging ocean waves is difficult territory. CGI animals detract from the essence of the film’s livelihood, but may have been a necessary measure for portraying specific animal behaviors. One of the directing challenges is avoiding monotony despite consecutive scenes of a lifeboat on open water. The film compensates for this by delivering impressive minor characters and situations.

“Life of Pi” excels in conveying an inspiring message. Hardship, faith and triumph drive the captivating survival story. The movie has universal appeal to children, adults, animal lovers, soul searchers and everyone in between.

Vampires after Twilight Eurih Lee | Release After four years and five movies, it’s finally come to this. The “Twilight” saga is over. While “Breaking Dawn — Part 2” left some fans with the peace of mind that (spoiler alert) Bella and Edward will be together forever, it left other fans lost and wanting more.

To all of the lonely souls and “Twilight” fans: whose relationship do you now live through vicariously? Where will you go now to feed your newfound obsession with starcrossed romantic vampire lovers? How dare Stephenie Meyer just leave you hanging like that.

If it is too soon to part from Bella and Edward, there is always the option to replay the “Twilight” saga from start to finish or drown yourself in an ocean of fan fiction. But if there’s one thing “Twilight” detractors can credit the series with, it’s opening the doors of the underrated world of monsters and making werewolves and vampires sexy.

With the new year just around the corner, do yourself a favor and check out the plethora of new vampire entertainment

that has emerged in film and TV in the wake of “Twilight’s” popularity and the array of vampire entertainment that has been around even before “Twilight.”

1. “The Vampire Diaries” This show is everything that “Twilight” should have been.

Instead of the tacky threeway romance between Edward, Jacob and Bella, “The Vampire Diaries” gives the term “love triangle” a whole new meaning.

This show includes vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers while following the romantic struggles of high school student Elena Gilbert as she finds herself caught in the middle of vampire brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore.

2. “True Blood” Missing the hot and steamy love scenes from Twilight?

Well, prepare yourself for some “True Blood.” This show includes vampires, werewolves, fairies and pretty much every other mythical creature you can think of. And to top it off, three words: vampire sex scenes. Enough said.

3. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Who doesn’t love a good throwback? This show follows

the forbidden love story between a human and vampire.

Sound familiar? Creator Joss Whedon is now more famous for having directed “The Avengers,” but prior to that movie he was known for this late 90s and early 2000s TV hit.

The writing is great, and who doesn’t love Sarah Michelle Gellar?

4. “Interview with the Vampire” Based on the 1976 Anne Rice novel of the same name that started a vampire craze of its own, “Interview with the Vampire” is perfect for the tortured souls out there.

The movie involves a little more horror and thrill than the mentioned shows but it’s definitely still worth the watch.

It also has a pretty impressive cast — Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas all play vampires in the film.

5. “Teen Wolf” MTV has never really been known to make quality shows, but if you’re a Twi-hard and Team Jacob, you might enjoy “Teen Wolf.” Although this show doesn’t include vampires, it focuses mainly on the romantic aspects between a teen werewolf and a human.

Katie Kravat | Release If you are experiencing symptoms of TV withdrawal, don’t worry, you are not alone.

Many people are plagued by a frequent and long hiatus taken by their favorite TV program during the holidays. If anyone has a friend suffering from this affliction, show some compassion by giving him a hug, or maybe make him some soup. We all need as much help as possible to get through this rough time.

It always seems that just as are you are getting into a routine, and just as you are getting addicted to a TV show, it goes on hiatus. Whether it is a short,

one-week break for the holiday, a mid-season break or a whole year gap for the new episode, a hiatus can be excruciating. Take, for example, “Lost.” Possibly one of the most talked about shows in the history of television, “Lost” became known for its frequent on-air breaks. Just as fans began to unravel the many mysteries of the island, “Lost” went on a oneto-two-month hiatus. And what about “Doctor Who?” Another popular cult classic, “Doctor Who” went off the air in December 1989 and did not return until March 2005. That’s 15 years! Talk about withdrawal! Today, fans of “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” have had to endure perhaps the longest season returns to date.

It is no piece of cake. Fans are dying to see what will happen next on their favorite shows, and are forced to bite their nails and wait.

There are reasons, however, for the long and short breaks alike. The average length of a prime-time season is approximately 22 episodes, and there are 52 weeks in a year.

If there were no hiatuses, the season of your favorite show would begin in September and would already be finished by the end of January. Fans would have

to wait almost nine months for the next season to air. Plus, it takes around a week to shoot just one episode. The breaks serve to get production caught up to date with where the viewers are.

Additionally, broadcast networks usually choose to air the newer episodes of its hit shows when the advertisers are paying particular attention to the viewership patterns. This is known as the “sweeps” period in November, February and May, when viewers are expected to be on vacation or catching up with family, rather than watching TV. However, what about those viewers who are sitting home during the breaks?

Don’t they matter?

The hiatus can cause a breach in the viewer-program relationship. For one, some hiatuses are so long that the viewer forgets about the show and loses interest. Secondly, the break will often throw off scheduling for certain programs.

A returning show will suddenly air on a different night at a different time, causing viewers to miss tuning into what was once their favorite show. Ultimately, the viewer must be his or her own judge. If the show is worthwhile, then perhaps so is the wait.

Alex Carducci | Release Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, has impacted the R&B, indie and pop scenes more than any other musical artist in recent memory.

Released over the span of 10 months, his three free and marvelous mixtapes, “House of Balloons,” “Thursday” and “Echoes of Silence” have caught the attention of music critics and studios alike. The Weeknd recently signed a major label deal with Universal Republic Records to release his debut compilation, “Trilogy.”

If debut compilation does not sound quite right, it is not a phrase really heard in the music business then or now.

To Universal Records, however, “Trilogy” sounds like a success.

Compiling all three of The Weeknd’s previous mixtape releases plus three new tracks, “Trilogy” is composed of 90 percent formerly free material, initially released through the artist’s website, along with three new tracks — which were coincidentally uploaded to YouTube before the compilation was released. Universal likely wants to capture that residual mainstream market yet to be exposed to the leaning, crooning, smoking and sensual world of the young, private and

talented Montréalais. In days past, in different genres, the signage of a major label usually meant something — a loss of values, a change in sound and identity, an increase in the size of the venues played, etc.

Tesfaye’s deal currently feeds into none of those former stigmas, and while he has emerged from a genre certainly less susceptible to scrutiny from major signing than the indie rock world, the expectation that a label deal will bring about a new or worse Weeknd is really low. His three new tracks, “Twenty Eight,” “Valerie” and “Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun),” along with another promotional song, “Enemy,” not available on “Trilogy,” all show a familiar Weeknd. Here, Tesfaye takes a couple risks and thankfully, predictably, they work out.

On these new tracks, Tesfaye is vocally at his very best, approaching Michael Jacksonlevel clarity and depth while steering his lyrical work in a more direct manner, setting aside much of the symbolic interplay pervasive in his three mixtapes. He’s adhering to that historically intuitive, sometimes true yet always confusing notion of “stay the same but the change.”

The bulk of the release, the

three mixtapes, will certainly be new to some and of greatest interest, but to those who’ve heard it, “Trilogy” is certainly still worth consideration; the tracks are remixed and remastered and are available in higher-quality formats. While the formatting on the free releases was quite good and the production quality high, this sort of production-heavy music benefits from a more complete, less compressed frequency scale. To those interested in where The Weeknd might lead them next, the new tracks segue quite well into familiar territory. For those unfamiliar, these records appeared over time, and are quite heavy — lyrically, musically and in terms of production. If you attempt to digest the entire compilation in one sitting you’ll likely end up failing and will likely consider The Weeknd’s music to be quite one-dimensional. It’s advisable to take each section one at a time and start in order; the final new tracks will not upset the whole.

While The Weeknd’s music rests firmly on song craft, vocal talent and masterful production — the things that initially hook a listener — the reasons behind releasing three mixtapes in succession and one massive compilation cannot be

Photo Provided by Universal Republic

determined with a great deal of theme in mind. It’s a trilogy, not a greatest hits, nor is it really a compilation in the normal sense. A trilogy is a story with three parts, so expect different

voices and many themes where Maybe it will turn out that The symbols exist and interconnect Weeknd isn’t so much “The and circumstances play. These Weekend” but “The Weakened.” releases were an underground thing first and foremost, so you’ll have to do some digging.

RELEASE DATE– Saturday, March 21, 2009

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Creator of the Lost Boys 9 Go ashore 15 Cowboys and Indians 16 Cuthbert of “24” 17 Cultivated 18 Engine component 19 Retaliated 20 Typesetter’s concern 21 Isolated 22 Thrift store buys 24 “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” setting 25 Disaster relief org.

26 Milquetoast 28 Small cells 29 Record, nowadays 30 Ancient Anáhuac residents 34 Fought vigorously to abolish 37 Blood bank workers 38 There may be one on your car 39 Windy City transportation org.

40 Leather workers 42 Sandwich order 43 Family entrée 46 Planner’s fig.

47 Gorilla 48 Brought about 50 Swell area 53 “Golf for Enlightenment” author Chopra 54 Carpentry gadgets 55 Aplenty 56 Cameos 57 Fixes 58 Least refined DOWN 1 Photo file image 2 Noted 19th century scapegoat 3 “Here’s mud in your eye!”

4 Aegis wielder 5 Chaucerian estate manager 6 Clip 7 Passionate confession 8 Mtge.-related payment 9 He received a Best Actor nomination for playing 1-Across in 2004 10 “A Face in the Crowd” director 11 Italian bakery items 12 Up 13 Geneva’s river 14 Hundred Acre Wood dweller 20 Old map letters 23 Some toys 25 Checker’s determination 26 Playground retort 27 World of Warcraft spellcasters 29 The Sun or The Moon

31 Ring or rink 32 They’re about average 33 Crack 35 Violently attacks 36 Like a dogfight missile 41 Played first 42 Party lines?

43 First secretary of Homeland Security

44 Wee hr.

45 “The Story of __ H”: 1975 Truffaut film 47 Is useful 49 Gets by, with “out” 51 Popular flatbread 52 __ mgr.

54 Letters after C or MS

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

03/21/09

CLASSIFIEDS

By Doug Peterson (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

03/21/09

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On the heels of two New York Times articles, the University’s subsequent scrutiny of Greek organizations on campus, and the arrest of two fraternity presidents last month, surely this is proof that the school has found the scapegoats they were looking for — the public hangings that portend the end of Greek Life at Binghamton University.

Not so fast. While the timing of the two most recent incidents may appear to point in that direction, the facts tell a different story.

First and foremost, Alpha Chi Rho, otherwise known as AXP, has not lost their charter; they are simply being investigated. The investigation stems from allegations of hazing leveled, not by a concerned parent or friend as has been the case in the past, but a “disgruntled, dissociated” former member of the fraternity. Whether the allegations are

true or not, this is the University fulfilling its obligation to look into the reports; it’s not the case of an overzealous administration chasing geese.

The fact that the investigation of AXP was launched a mere day before ZBT’s dismissal from campus does, on its face, appear to be something of a two-pronged attack by the administration. ZBT’s loss of their charter, though, did not stem from hazing, parties or any other violation of campus or legal rules.

Rather, they revoked their own charter — the ZBT national organization made the decision after its chapter here racked up debt totaling almost $20,000.

As with AXP, the circumstances leading up to their troubles were caused not by a University on a witch hunt, but by internal problems. In neither case was hazing the

direct cause of the loss of a charter, nor do the cases seem to be linked in any way.

Whether this sets a precedent for disgruntled brothers in other fraternities, national organizations looking to reduce the liability their highly scrutinized chapter here must be, or an administration that will use this momentum to chase down other organizations remains to be seen.

For the time being, however, the two incidents appear to be isolated from each other and from any broader campus initiative.

The administration, despite taking allegations of hazing more seriously, does not appear eager to vilify all of Greek Life. So, easy as it may be to jump to hyperbolic conclusions, we’re sticking with: hold your horses. At least for now.

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In independence, Spain should look to U.K. A foreign wind has been blowing through Europe of late, but not the crippling debt crisis that has brought the once-mighty European Union to its knees. No, this gust of popular sentiment has its roots in something far more ancient: Nationalism.

On Oct. 15, in a move that flew under the radar in much of the U.S., Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond signed an agreement with British Prime Minister David Cameron to hold a referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom in 2014 (which is, not coincidentally, the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn which assured Scottish autonomy for 400 years).

It is strange and perhaps uncomfortable to think that one of the great pillars of the Western world, Great Britain, could be on the cusp of dissolving. Yet this development did not occur out of nowhere; Scotland

has always had a staunch fringe of tartan-bedecked, bagpipe-playing nationalists. However, it was not until 2011 that the Scottish Nationalist Party achieved a majority in the Scots Parliament, a massive step toward independence.

David Cameron, in his response to the growing separatist stirrings in England’s northern neighbor, has demonstrated remarkable foresight and judiciousness. Though the Prime Minister has made it abundantly clear in his statements on the issue that he opposes Scotland establishing its own nation-state, he has wisely left the decision up to the Scottish people.

Such a view demonstrates admirable consideration for the ethnic and cultural character unique to Scotland.

In stark contrast to the British government’s progressive stance stands Spain, a country that, compared to the U.K., is a virtual paragon of ethno-linguistic diversity.

The separatist movements in Spain are many and long-standing, but, like their ilk in Scotland, they have been growing in regional and national prominence over the past few years. In the far northwest of the country, the Basques, a ruggedly individual people spread over a mountainous land, have been struggling for independence

from Spain for as long as Spain itself has existed.

During Fascist dictator Francisco Franco’s rule from 1936 to 1975, violence conducted by the paramilitary organization ETA (which has since ceased all armed activity) served as the Basques’ primary means of struggling against Spain. In 2008, when a referendum on Basque independence was proposed by a coalition of nationalist parties, the Spanish Constitutional Court barred any vote from occurring, demonstrating flagrant disregard for the will of the people.

richest region, has been suffering disproportionally from Spain’s recent economic troubles, as Catalans pay far more in taxes than they receive back from the Spanish government.

Recently, Catalans (who, like Basques, maintain their own language and ethnic identity) have elected a nationalist parliament and president.

Polls from the Catalan research group CEO show that 57 percent of inhabitants would support secession from Spain. However, just as in the case of the Basques, the government in Madrid has pledged to shoot down any attempt at a vote on breaking from Spain.

A fundamental truth of democracy holds that the people’s will is the will of the state, and vice versa. By denying the people of the Basque and Catalan regions the right to decide their own political future, Spain is committing an injustice that the international community ought to condemn. The sense of respect with which Cameron has treated the Scottish independence cause is sorely lacking on the Iberian Peninsula.

— James Constant is a freshman majoring in history.

Yet the controversies in Spain have continued. Catalonia, the country’s

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Facebook and Free Speech: If you can say it, should you?

In this world of unlimited access to information via the Internet and social networking, most people are well aware that if you say it in writing, it is going to be there forever. Not just that, but almost anyone can access your Facebook page or Twitter account — or Myspace, for those of you still stuck in 2002.

what you were doing on Friday night.

Recently, this issue was thrown into sharp relief with the case of Lindsey Stone, a Massachusetts woman who was fired from her job after one of her Facebook pictures went viral.

The picture shows Stone at Arlington National Cemetery flipping off and yelling at a sign that reads “Silence and Respect.” While this may seem like a funny picture to some, it is a slap in the face to all those Americans who take the commemoration and respect for those soldiers who have died very seriously. At best, the photograph is in bad taste; at worst, profane.

Once people caught sight of this It is not uncommon for students photograph, a Facebook group was and adults alike to be warned about created calling for the firing of employers looking at Facebook to see Lindsey Stone and in short order they what kind of person you are, what kind got what they wanted. But the story of language you choose to use and does not end there. The firing of Stone

from her job has led many to question rights have been suspended under whether or not she should have been related laws regarding pornography protected under the First Amendment and treason. rights to freedom of speech.

The moral of the story: have some respect, people. Not just respect for yourself but also for your country and for the people who are going to see what you post. Not everything is appropriate and not everything will be tolerated. Employers want the people they hire to exemplify upstanding citizenship and with good reason.

Imagine that Lindsey Stone had worked for a company like Disney.

Would her post not affect how viewers see Disney as an employer?

The answer to that question is no. Of course it would. One employee has Her job is not protected by free speech. the power to stand for, and change, The First Amendment applies to the the image of an entire company. An federal government and more recently example of this was seen during the state and local governments, but not recent presidential campaign when to privately owned companies. Even David Chalian, a reporter, was caught at the national level, some of these making inappropriate comments on a

hot microphone. The incident was not only embarrassing for him but also for his network, which then terminated his employment.

In this respect, privately owned companies should have every right to temper behavior that they deem inappropriate with the threat of termination. No one can tell you how to speak or what to say — that is a right that belongs only to the individual.

But be warned, your actions have consequences and what may seem funny or harmless in the moment could come back to bite you. Not all jokes are funny and not all opinions should be voiced in a public forum.

You have the right to take a stand; just make sure it’s worth it.

— Shelby Wilson is a junior majoring in archaeology.

"Science," God's Way Let’s say that you’re at the international airport in Frankfurt, Germany, fresh off a nice European holiday during which you’ve enjoyed good wine, good food and good company. It’s easy, as you’re standing at a second, Americaspecific security check right before your gate, to feel like you’re leaving a wonderland to return to the drudgery of the United States (especially when you’re facing unsmiling and overworked airport officials).

I get it. Vacation destinations tend to have a glossy, postcardworthy sheen that comes from seeing only the best parts of something and when you’re going home, you’re going back to the troubles that you recognize in your own country.

I’d like to propose something different. Thanksgiving was but a week ago, and while our thankfulness may have been interrupted by the mania of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and all the ridiculous shopping frenzies in between, we can still give thanks to be in the country that we’re in. Despite the TSA, the GDP and our GPAs, this is a beautiful land.

Up here in Binghamton, it can be easy to forget that there’s more out there than long, miserable winters in the fifth most depressing city in the country. From the New England fall foliage to the Everglades to the Grand Canyon to Mount Rushmore and the redwoods

of the Pacific coast, America is rich.

We have national parks where you can wonder at the stars and world-class cities alive with energy that light up the night. Sure, you can point out that for almost every marvel of nature or human design there is an associated atrocity, but that’s true of everywhere. There’s hardly a famous European castle that hasn’t been linked to some sort of gross human rights violation, violence or otherwise despicable act. Terrible people, like tax collectors, exist everywhere.

Of course, there are wonderful people everywhere, too, and Americans are some of the most resourceful. There is an entrepreneurial, resilient spirit here that bands us together in the face of adversity and tragedy. It’s this can-do attitude that put a man on the moon and a rover on Mars.

It’s looking at a completely godforsaken situation and thinking, “Yeah, this’ll work.”

It’s digging through the wreckage of a house battered by a hurricane and looking for the pieces that fit together. It happens time and time again and it’s beautiful.

and study whatever you want — the only real limitation is the one you put on yourself. If selling knick-knacks and paddywhacks is your thing, go ahead; someone will buy them off you.

There’s just as much room to fall as there is to get up again and there are never any excuses for staying down.

My parents brought me over from Germany because, like many other immigrants, they believe there are opportunities here that don’t exist anywhere else.

No country is free of shortcomings. This isn’t a call for American exceptionalism.

Part of loving and not just obsessing over something is recognizing its flaws. There are things that need to be worked out, policy areas that need to be examined further and issues that need to be addressed.

This is true of every country, because countries are made up of people, and at the basest level, if your friend has an Xbox 360 and you’re playing on a laptop that can barely run Microsoft Word, you’re going to want to know why. Coveting what someone else has is an unfortunate habit human beings have been afflicted with since we first evolved, and it’s not going anywhere soon. We might as well learn to live with it.

Let’s not just exist here and suppose that it’s good enough until we can get out and go to that shining utopia we imagine at the horizon. Let’s bury our hands in the soil, plant the roots of changes we want to see and be proud of where we are This is a country where now. you can make something of yourself without being bound — Chantal Berendsen is by convention. This is a place a senior double-majoring in where you can enter a university German and political science.

Last week The New Star published an article reporting on the dismal education of some state-funded private Louisiana schools with creationist agendas. According to the Louisiana constitution, non-public schools must certify that they provide “curriculum or specialized courses of study of quality at least equal to that prescribed for similar public schools.”

The article inspired many critics, including Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, to expose the anti-science bias present in many private Louisiana schools, which fail to meet the requirements enforced by the state. Kaczynski displayed in one of his articles the pages from a fifth grade science textbook, which teaches evolution and creationism as competing theories.

The textbook introduces evolutionary teaching with lines such as “according to evolutionists,” suggesting that an evolutionist and a Christian simply look at fossils in different ways.

One page, titled “What the Bible teaches us,” discusses how dinosaurs were (in quotes) “discovered” by an English scientist in the 1600s, but follows up the statement with a long biblical argument detailing God’s creation of the animals on the fifth and sixth days and man on the sixth, concluding that dinosaurs and man would have lived side by

side. The text states that we know that God spared some of the dinosaurs in the Flood and literally reads, “God’s word is always accurate. We can always trust it to be true even in the face of science.”

Paleontologists have proven that the last of the dinosaurs disappeared during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, which occurred around 65 million years ago. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, evolved between 250,000 and 400,000 years ago — not even remotely close to the age of dinosaurs.

Creationists (without any scientific evidence) believe the Earth is much newer in origin, claiming that God created the earth in six days about 6,000 years ago. Carbon dating has proven this to be wrong, dating the earth’s creation to about 4.54 billion years ago.

It seems fairly obvious from this textbook what is going on here. Educators are essentially being forced to teach evolution in schools, and their reluctance to do so is shining through their words. They’ve come up with a way to teach children evolution, but scare them into disbelieving it.

By telling kids who were most likely raised in a religious setting that God disagrees with what they are learning and reminding them that God is always right, of course we are going to end up with generation after generation of people in this country who refuse to call science what it really is: fact.

This is brainwashing at its best and subjecting vulnerable children to this total rejection of reality isn’t just deceptive — it abuses their young minds.

Evolution is a scientific theory, but creationists

refuse to understand that the word “theory” has a different meaning in the scientific community than in everyday use. When used in the nonscientific context, “theory” can suggest that something is just an unproven idea. A scientific theory by definition is “a wellsubstantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment.”

Evolution is fact, and God is not. That is not to say that believing in God is wrong; believe as you wish.

But there is a huge difference between believing in God and practicing religion, while completely denying fact.

Teaching religion in place of natural science is undeniably wrong. This is a regressive learning environment, purposely designed to confuse children and brainwash them into fearing the truth and to exclude people of other or no denomination.

— Madison Ball is a freshman majoring in history.

A defense can only carry a team so far, and on Wednesday night, the Binghamton University men’s basketball team couldn’t muster enough offense to capitalize on a strong defensive outing. The Bearcats (2-5) remained close throughout the game but ultimately fell, 65-54, to University of Pennsylvania.

Binghamton’s defense held Penn (2-5) to 34.5 percent shooting from the floor and forced 16 turnovers. But the offense shot just 29.3 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from beyond the arc while losing the ball 19 times.

“We defended well enough to win the game, but we just didn’t score well enough and we didn’t take care of the ball well enough,” Binghamton head coach Tommy Dempsey said.

Even though senior guard

Jimmy Gray and junior forward Roland Brown found themselves in early foul trouble, Binghamton clawed back from a 20-11 firsthalf deficit to cut Penn’s lead to 22-21 with 7:52 left and entered the break down 39-34.

Early in the second half, Penn’s lead fluctuated between four and eight points. A Gray three-pointer with 12:26 remaining made the score 51-46.

From there, Binghamton would score just three points in the next 11 minutes and Penn would slowly amass an insurmountable lead.

“We dry up at times,” Dempsey said. “I thought Penn’s defense was really good. I thought when the game got snug they really buckled down defensively and we weren’t getting great shots. Some of the good shots we were getting didn’t fall.”

The Bearcats’ defensive game plan was predicated on a mixture

Men's basketball vs. Penn

54

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of 2-3 zone and man-to-man to keep Penn off balance. Entering the night, the Quakers had two juniors combining to average 34 points per game in 6-foot8 forward Fran Dougherty and 6-foot-3 guard Miles Cartwright.

Dempsey had said he wanted to limit the duo’s production, as Penn’s other players were inexperienced, unknown commodities.

The Bearcats successfully contained Dougherty and Cartwright to the tune of 26 total points on 8-of-22 shooting, but the other Quakers stepped up.

Penn’s bench scored 32 points on 6-of-14 3-point shooting.

Zones frequently afford offenses looks from beyond the arc, but Dempsey said a decent number of the 3-point attempts were contested.

“They did make some timely threes, and they had some guys that hadn’t done much make some threes, and that certainly hurt us, but overall I thought the mix of man and zone was very effective,” Dempsey said.

Binghamton freshman Jordan Reed posted a game-high 17 points and, with 11 rebounds, notched his fourth doubledouble in five games. His ability to gain possession of the ball for Binghamton and draw fouls — he ranks No. 10 nationally with

8.5 fouls drawn per 40 minutes, according to www.kenpom.com — helped the Bearcats stay in the game. He shot just 5-of-18 from the floor, however, and 7-of-12 from the charity stripe.

Junior guard Rayner Moquete joined Reed as the only other Bearcat in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, and classmate Alex Ogundadegbe had a career-high 12 rebounds — five offensive — to go along with six points in 28 minutes.

“That was the best game I’ve seen [Ogundadegbe] have,” Dempsey said. “He was all over the place. He was tough, he was active, he was fighting for rebounds, he was really good in the middle of the zone. He embraced the challenge of going against some of their good big guys.”

Gray, who entered the contest averaging 35 minutes per game, logged just 22 minutes due to foul trouble. He scored five points on 2-of-7 shooting and posted two assists to three turnovers.

The Bearcats are set to return to action on Saturday, when they host Mount St. Mary’s University at the Events Center.

Daniel O'Connor/Staff Photographer The Mountaineers (2-3) beat Junior Alex Ogundadegbe had a career-high 12 rebounds at Penn, but Binghamton America East member University couldn’t find enough offensive firepower to overcome the Quakers. of Hartford on Nov. 13 and coming at the hands of University somewhat deceptive.

George Washington University on of Pittsburgh and Georgetown Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Monday. With two of their losses University, their early record is

The Binghamton University women’s basketball team failed once again to secure its first victory of the season on Tuesday in a 61-48 loss to Canisius College at the Events Center. The Bearcats (0-6) are off to their worst start since the team made the leap to the NCAA Division I level in 2001.

Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl said that while the team has played “well in spurts,” it “has yet to put a whole 40 minutes together.”

The game opened up with Canisius senior forward Ashley Wilkes hitting a jumper, and from then on, the Golden Griffins (2-3) never looked back. The Bearcats were held out of the paint for most of the first half, due to the presence of a tall front court for Canisius. The Bearcats’ lack of size hurt them early on, forcing them to take numerous outside jumpers, on which they failed to connect until junior guard Vaneeshia Paulk hit one with 8:12 left. By then, however, the score was 20-13 in favor of Canisius, and Binghamton would not be able to overcome the deficit.

By the end of the first half, the Bearcats had attempted a total of 26 field goals to the Golden Griffins’ 37. Canisius also connected on 6-of9 3-pointers, whereas Binghamton missed on its only three-point attempt of the half.

The opening of the second half only brought more woes for Binghamton, as Canisius began to slow the Bearcats offensively.

But with 9:38 left and the Golden Griffins’ lead at 21, BU finally got on the comeback trail. “[We put] pressure on the ball handlers,” Scholl said. “They weren’t able to run the ball as effectively, and not [able to] score as easily.”

Binghamton came within nine points with three minutes left to play, but couldn’t sustain a run in the closing stretch. Paulk played a huge role in Binghamton’s late run and accumulated a career-high and game-high 17 points in addition to pulling down six boards and dishing out two assists.

According to Paulk, the Bearcats need a consistent leader on the floor as an extension of Scholl. When they fall behind and lack someone on the floor to pick them up, Paulk said, the Bearcats tend to let the game slip away.

“We need a scorer, but we need

someone vocal, too, someone who can get us energized,” Paulk said.

Referring to this game in particular, Scholl cited turnovers as the reason for the Bearcats’ loss.

“We’d get a stop, come down, turn the ball over, and they’d come down and get a score, and that hurts us a lot,” she said. “That’s what put us down in the 20-point deficit in the first place.”

Scholl said she believes that the team “is at a point right now where they will get tired of losing soon” and will eventually get a win once they themselves believe they can win.

“Once we do get our first win, and they get that feeling, things will start to get rolling,” she said.

Two Binghamton High School alumni returned to the area as members of the Canisius team.

Junior guard Jen Morabito and

freshman guard Tiahana Mills, who graduated from Binghamton in 2010 and 2012 respectively, were excited to be back.

“Even though we were the away team, we could hear a lot of people cheering for us as our names were called,” Mills said.

As to what their team’s key to success was in the game, Morabito said that the Golden Griffins “were able to get the ball moving, [both] inside and out, [and] we were able to get it together.”

The Bearcats will look to get into the win column for the first time this season at the ASU Classic over the weekend. Binghamton is scheduled to take on Arizona State University at 1 p.m. on Saturday and either University of Nevada, Las Vegas or University of Dayton at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Jonathan Heisler/Photo Editor

Junior guard Vaneeshia Paulk’s career-high and game-high 17 points weren’t enough as the Bearcats fell short in a 61-48 loss to Canisius.

Men's basketball vs. Canisius

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Welcome to Week 13 of Pipe Dream Picks! Can you believe it? Every week, Pipe Dream sports editors and one guest will attempt to correctly predict the outcome of four upcoming games of their choice, selecting one prediction as a LOCK. Getting the LOCK correct earns you three points, while getting it wrong costs you one. Pushing the LOCK neutralizes the pick. The other three games are worth one point each, with a half-point for a push, and there is no penalty for wrong guesses on these. The guest continues to dominate the Pipe Dream sports staff; though Megan and the guest each totaled 4.5 points last week, the guest still holds a sizable lead over the Sports Editor, and assistants Erik and Ari round out the standings. Interested in making an appearance as the guest picker? Submit your picks to sports@bupipedream.com.

Pipe Dream Picks Guest Megan Erik Ari

33.5 18 16 9.5

23-10-3 16-18-2 16-19 14-21-1

LOCK: Houston (-5.5) over TENNESSEE The Texans will make history on Sunday with a victory over Tennessee, earning them an 11-win record for the first time in franchise history. There’s a lot at stake, and the AFC’s best team should step up to the challenge.

SPORTS EDITOR

Megan Brockett’s Picks

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Ari Kramer's Picks LOCK: Houston (-5.5) over TENNESSEE Is there something I’m missing here?

Philadelphia (+10) over DALLAS Spreads this big always appeal to me. I haven’t really looked into it, but they probably always screw me over, too.

ST. LOUIS (+7) over San Francisco Jim Harbaugh’s QB decision comes back to bite him.

KANSAS CITY (+3) over Carolina Because it’s about time.

NY Giants (-2.5) over WASHINGTON If the Giants hadn’t already proven that they were the real deal, they certainly did last Sunday when Eli and the G-Men embarrassed the Pack.

WASHINGTON (+2.5) over NY Giants RGIII came really close last time, and the Giants are coming off a high.

Arizona (+4.5) over NY JETS Insert a middle school caliber butt joke here.

LOCK: Arizona (+4.5) over NY JETS Because Ezra and Tina don’t know shit about football and that seemed like a safe bet.

LOCK: San Francisco (-7) over ST. LOUIS Colin Kaepernick and/or Alex Smith will probably lead the 49ers to a double-digit win at St. Louis.

Jacksonville (+6) over BUFFALO Because Anchor Bar and Duff’s are overrated. Not that we think Jacksonville’s better, but whatever.

NY JETS (-4.5) over Arizona Now that Fireman Ed is just Ed and the rest of the fan base is nearly in a mutiny, it’s in the Jets’ best interest to just call it a season and lose out for the draft pick. But they’ll probably screw that up, too.

Cleveland (PK) over OAKLAND THREE, FOUR, CLEVELAND ROCKS!

OAKLAND over Cleveland Yeah, I know Cleveland beat Pittsburgh last week. But Charlie Batch makes Carson Palmer look like a Pro Bowler and a teenager.

DALLAS (-10) over Philadelphia Because we saw how well brotherly love worked out for AXP this week.

DETROIT (-4.5) at Indianapolis After a blown call cost them Week 12, look for the Lions to come out firing on all cylinders against the Colts.

GUESTS

Ezra Shapiro and Tina Ritter's Picks

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Erik Bacharach's Picks

Volleyball set for first round of NCAAs It’s almost that time of year again.

The next few weeks will likely leave you with a nebulous recollection of a latesemester malaise. Common symptoms may include Adderall vertigo, poor nutrition, sleep deprivation and a bruised self-concept.

That’s right. The fantasy football postseason has arrived.

Stay positive. Look on the bright side, gamers. At least you’ll have final exam preparations to distract you during this critical period of roto-induced stress.

Unfortunately, there is no counseling offered at Binghamton University to students overwhelmed by the ineptitude of Darren McFadden and Ryan Mathews. The best medicine is to realize what wisdom your flawed predictions have brought you and to try to move on. Fantasy baseball is only three months away.

The 13th week of the 2012 NFL season is here whether you’re ready for it or not, and you should understand that the fantasy football gods rarely respond to prayer between now and the close of the season. Hopefully you got all of that out of the way during the earlier weeks.

Beginning to doubt the existence of the fantasy football gods? I understand.

The top teams in each league are not all led by football sages. The reward for your research seems to be marginal and fortune favors your opponents consistently.

Though you’ve amassed a respectable total of points on the season, head-to-head success is startlingly unimpressive.

I get it. However, what you may have failed to detect up until this moment is the ostensibly comical nature of roto divinity.

This week is generally the last of regularly scheduled contests in the fantasy football community and it’s fairly certain

that Beanie Wells, DeMarco Murray and Darren McFadden will all be making returns to regular action. What this means for the majority of owners who’ve endured such dispositions is that the aforementioned big-name running backs, presumed to contribute sizably to their respective squads at the time of the draft, showed up for battle just in time for the post-war parade.

Sold? This stuff has to come from somewhere. If you own any combination of the three, chances are that you’ve already been burned by their disappointing 2012 campaigns. With such episodes in mind, don’t you ever wonder if there truly are omnipotent beings perched atop Pigskin Mountain amused by your frustration? It sure seems like it sometimes.

By now, playoff pushes have either been thwarted, completed or remain in progress. Week 13 in fictional football leagues is similar to Week 17 of the NFL regular season. Depending on your position in the standings, you may have a lot to gain from a win at the conclusion of this weekend.

You may also have feelings of total ambivalence, having been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before anybody even knew who Marcel Reece was. Regardless, it’s always nice to finish the season on a high note.

A brief review of the standings and total point accumulations of each team up to this point may generate a bit of surprise.

Perhaps there’s more parity in your league than you had expected, assuming that it’s devoid of comatose managers.

It wouldn’t be uncommon in the least. The truth is that one week can make or break a season. One poor start/ sit decision could easily cost you a league championship appearance. The standings ordinarily tend to be cramped. There’s little room for uneducated decisions and absolutely no room for roster negligence.

Don’t lose focus. You may only be a few matchups away from make-believe football coronation.

After a week of anticipation, the Binghamton University volleyball team is set to face No. 1 Pennsylvania State University in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Volleyball Championship tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Bearcats (13-17, 8-4 America East) have now reached the NCAA tournament three times since joining Division I in 2001, each time drawing the Nittany Lions (29-2, 19-1 Big Ten). Penn State swept Binghamton in both of their previous tournament encounters in 2005 and 2009.

The Bearcats have just one player remaining from Binghamton’s last tournament team in senior middle hitter Alex Roland. Although Roland played in all three sets of the 2009 tournament matchup, she played a much smaller role then.. As a senior, Roland led the America East with a .271 hitting clip and finished seventh in the conference in blocks per set to earn AllConference honors.

Fellow middle hitter Grace Vickers, a junior, joined Roland in earning AllConference honors with a .264 hitting clip, good for second in the conference. Vickers, who was named to the America East first team, led Binghamton and ranked fourth in the conference in average blocks per set with 0.88. Both Vickers and Roland also found themselves in the top 20 in the conference in average kills and points per set.

Sophomore Amanda Dettmann, who became the first-ever Binghamton player to collect a major conference award with her America East Co-Setter of the Year honors, finished the regular season ranked first in assists.

The Bearcats earned their bid to the NCAA tournament by winning the America East title, upsetting No. 1-seed University at Albany in straight sets. Vickers was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament and Dettmann and senior outside hitter Iva Partaleva earned All-Tournament honors.

As tonight’s match approaches, the general sentiment around the team is that of excitement.

“I remember watching Penn State play

Brad Blansky/Staff Photographer

As the only remaining player from Binghamton’s 2009 America East Championship team, senior middle hitter Alex Roland will look to anchor in their matchup against No. 1 Penn State.

in the NCAA finals in Sacramento,” Vickers said. “Actually being able to play on the same court as these girls is a huge honor, and I can’t wait to go out there and give it our all.”

Penn State finished the season atop the AVCA Coaches poll and No. 2 in the RPI behind Stanford University. But the program’s success runs deeper than just one season, as Penn State has established itself as a household name in the NCAA volleyball world. The Nittany Lions are the only team east of the Mississippi River in the 31-year history of the NCAA tournament to win a championship, and they have done it five times, in 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

“They’re still one of the top teams in

the country,” said Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama, who was named America East Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. “We’re excited to be playing them, and we still have to compete hard this weekend.”

The winner of tonight’s match between Binghamton and Penn State will play the winner of the tilt between Yale University and Bowling Green State University. That second-round matchup is scheduled for Saturday.

The Bearcats’ first-round match is scheduled to be held at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa.

SPORTS

Penn snaps BU's streak See Page 15

Friday, November 30, 2012

SET FOR THE DANCE

Volleyball heads to University Park for first round of NCAA tournament against No. 1 Penn State

See Page 15 Brad Blansky/Staff Photographer