Spring 2015 Issue 5

Can you feel the love tonight?

Give your valentine a shout-out in Pipe Dream!

From now until 8 p.m. Feb. 12, Pipe Dream is selling Valentines for $1 each to be printed in our Feb. 13 issue.

Email manager@bupipedream.com or visit UUW B03.

PIPE DREAM Tuesday, February 10, 2015 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXVII, Issue 5

With dorm-specific filters, students spruce up Snaps

Campus geotags showcase Collegein-the-Woods, Mountainview pride Gabriella Weick News Intern

Snapchatters on campus are no longer limited to showing their pride with a simple Binghamton University geotag — College-in-the-Woods and Mountainview College residents can now rep their dorms with community-specific filters.

After observing multiple Snapchat filters at her friends’ respective colleges, Alejandra Lee, a freshman majoring in computer science, decided to put her interest in graphic design to use by creating custom geotag filters on Photoshop over winter break for each residential community. She said it took about two days to complete them, and that her goal was to represent each community’s theme in her designs.

“I saw on Snapchat’s website that you can create your own geotag filters, and the first thing I thought of was

Binghamton,” she said.

The Snapchat website allows users to draw “geofences” around particular locations, then upload an original design for the area. The approval process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months, as designs must follow the company’s criteria. Areas can also have multiple geotag options if more than one design is approved for that location.

“It has to be original, it can’t be offensive, it has to be something interesting and then Snapchat can accept it and put it to use,” Lee said.

According to her peers, the new designs have been well received.

“They’re awesome,” said Isabella Benayoun, a sophomore majoring in business. “I think it’s really cool that you can show your living community pride.”

Melissa Neira, a senior majoring in English, said that she would like to see geotags created for Downtown

See SNAP Page 2

Wish Granted

Franz Lino/Photo Editor Pictured: Marc Lawrence, the writer and director of the Binghamton-set movie “The Rewrite,” and Hugh Grant. After the on-campus screening of the movie, Lawrence and Grant stayed to answer questions and share their experiences filming in Binghamton.

Grant, Lawrence attend 'The Rewrite" campus premiere Jacob Shamsian

director Marc Lawrence.

President Harvey Stenger introduced Lawrence and the movie itself, which On Sunday afternoon, the long- is about a washed-up screenwriter awaited Binghamton-set movie “The named Keith Michaels, played by Hugh Rewrite” finally premiered on campus, Grant, who accepts a teaching job at followed by a question-and-answer Binghamton University. At Binghamton, session with star Hugh Grant and writer- Michaels sleeps with one of his students Release Editor

and falls into the bad graces of a powerful professor, played by Allison Janney, who’s the chair of the University’s ethics committee. In redeeming himself, he falls in love with another student and single

See REWRITE Page 4

Dancers leap, spin from dawn 'til dusk At health fair, officials talk BU hosts five Northeastern colleges in dancing competition Zuzu Boomer-Knapp

Charles Drew Minority Pre-Health Society hosts sixth-annual gathering

Staff Writer

Beginning early Saturday morning and continuing late into the night, college dancers from around the Northeast moved their feet all day long in the Binghamton Dancesport Revolution.

Dancers from BU and five other colleges, including Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University and Yale University, attended the competition in the Mandela Room in the Old University Union. Participants competed in four different dance styles: rhythm, smooth, Latin and standard, which included the waltz, tango and foxtrot.

Divided into seven different skill levels for each type of dance, competitors performed to a variety of music, from

See DANCE Page 2

Emilie Leroy

Neil Seejoor/Contributing Photographer

Pictured: Dominica Wolinski and David McDonald, Binghamton’s Open Standard level couple. The University’s collegiate team placed first in nine individual events and came in second for the team match.

Accelerated degree programs cut costs, time to terminal degree Staff Writer

For most students, the hat toss at commencement signals the end of their time in Binghamton. But for some, holding on another year can pay big dividends with a graduate’s degree.

A typical master’s degree program takes two years to complete. Accelerated programs, which are available in many Binghamton University departments including education, arts and sciences, business administration and computer science, allow students to complete their degree in one additional year.

Students combine their first year of master’s courses with their fourth year of bachelor’s courses and complete the master’s degree during their fifth year.

“You’re essentially doing the first

be educated about those issues.”

Organizations such as Powerful United Ladies Striving to Elevate With food, music, a bouncy house (PULSE) gave out lollipops with facts and games, the Region IX Health Fair about heart health attached, since had a lively atmosphere that brought February is American Heart Month. over 150 people into Old Union Hall Brianna Infante, the publications in the Old University Union Saturday coordinator of PULSE and a sophomore afternoon. majoring in psychology, said that heart The fair, hosted by the Charles Drew disease is an issue of which college Minority Pre-Health Society, featured students should be aware. tabling from campus organizations “We’re hoping that women like Autism Speaks U, African Student maintain their health and … they Organization and the Hula Hoop Club make it a habit of getting themselves as well as community organizations checked out,” Infante said. like the Family Planning of South Other club tables incorporated Central New York and the Mental games and activities to engage and Health Association of the Southern Tier.

See FAIR Page 2 Students collected information on a range of health topics, from vaccinations and sexually transmitted diseases and infections to mental health and physical fitness.

This was the first time Binghamton University hosted the event, which has been ongoing for six years. Region IX, which is designated by parent organization Student National Medical Association, encompasses New York and New Jersey and in past years was hosted by medical schools in the area.

Members of Charles Drew, the first undergraduate chapter to host the regional fair, wanted to highlight health issues, like mental illnesses, that students did not know a lot about, said Fanta Magassouba, the president of the club and a senior majoring in Kevin Sussy/Contributing Photographer psychology.

Hosted by the Charles Drew Minority Pre“A lot of students walk around Health Society, several campus organizations campus and feel like a lot of stuff can’t gather in the Old University Union to spread happen to them,” Magassouba said. awareness at the Region IX Health Fair. Groups tried to get students to learn something new by “They don’t realize that health issues including many hands-on activities and games start at a young age and they need to to get them involved.

Pipe Dream News

In one extra year, a master's for less Haley Silverstein

vaccines, heart disease

year of your MBA program and sort of getting double credit for it, and as a bonus you pay undergraduate tuition,” said George Bobinski, the associate dean of the School of Management. “It’s a tremendous deal.”

The fast track program can save in-state residents roughly $4,000 of annual tuition. According to the University website, undergraduate tuition for New York state residents costs $6,470 annually and $10,370 annually for graduate studies. Out-ofstate undergraduates and graduates pay around $19,000 and $21,000 respectively.

According to Bobinski, the accelerated programs give students an advantage, allowing them to start their careers early. Especially for business and accounting jobs, he said, having a

master’s degree is an investment for the future.

“At some point the undergrad degree is not necessarily the terminal degree that you need,” Bobinski said.

Although a bachelor’s degree is sufficient to become a licensed, practicing engineer, said Timothy Singler, associate professor of mechanical engineering, there have been recent debates as to whether or not the master’s should be the terminal, or final, degree.

“Do you want engineers making the planes that you fly on with four years of engineering school?” Singler said. “It’s not illogical that people would consider making the terminal degree a master’s degree.”

See GRAD Page 2

2

NEWS

www.bupipedream.com | February 10, 2015

Campus hosts day-long dance-off DANCE continued from Page 1

Photo Provided

Pictured: The Recreation Park project being completed by PwC Scholars in the School of Management. Work on the Sheehan and Hallahan baseball fields was completed last May, and throughout the spring semester more work will be done to add a tree house and outdoor musical instruments.

Rec Park gets makeover by BU PwC Scholar's lead Downtown remodelling project Tania Rahman Staff Writer

School of Management (SOM) students are putting their books aside to manage a different kind of project: teaming up with organizations to give a local park a makeover.

“OurSpace at Rec Park” is a project aimed at revitalizing Recreation Park and helping make it accessible to those with disabilities. It began as an exchange of ideas in the fall of 2013, when SOM PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Scholars program adviser and finance professor Dina Layish contacted Jennifer O’Brien, executive director of Life is Washable Inc., a program for individuals with developmental disabilities, for ideas on how to expand on the scholars’ work with the community.

Layish, along with the thenPresident David Schwartz and the then-Vice President of Fundraising Jake Weiss, met with O’Brien to discuss possibilities for community projects.

“We suggested fixing up the baseball field in Rec Park, but Jen expanded on that idea and said, ‘Why not think bigger and work on the whole park?’” said Weiss, a junior majoring in finance who is now PwC Scholars president.

According to O’Brien, though Rec Park was once a place that welcomed local families and used as a set for an episode of “The

Twilight Zone,” it fell into disrepair in recent decades following IBM’s departure and an increase in crime in the city and was in need of rejuvenation.

O’Brien said nearly $1 million was raised over 20 months, with hundreds of renovations performed in the park thus far, though the construction is still incomplete.

“You can put a price tag on it, but it is truly priceless,” O’Brien said. “It does not have as much to do with the people who started it, it has everything to do with those who get involved.”

The park interested the students of SOM’s PwC Scholars program, which recruits students with a minimum 3.5 GPA for additional writing coursework and management practice. According to Sneha Mehta, a junior majoring in accounting, the program emphasizes volunteering as well as academic excellence.

“Community service is a huge part of the scholars program,” Mehta said. “We don’t just strive for professional development but also using all the manpower and diverse ideas we have and unite together to help the community.”

The project was split into two phases. Phase I consisted of the Scholars revitalizing Sheehan and Hallahan baseball fields. According to Weiss, the group raised nearly $20,000 to build fences, a dugout, scoreboard and a mural.

Money was obtained primarily

through charities such as Wendy Walk and grants from the city of Binghamton, as well as competitions, auctions and raffles by the Scholars. The Binghamton Breakfast Rotary Club, a charity organization, installed an electronic scoreboard. This section of the park was unveiled in May of 2014.

Phase II of the project enabled groups to work on a different “space,” or a section with a unique feature in the park. The PwC Scholars focused their efforts on the “tree deck” and “sound garden” spaces, a tree house and outdoor musical instruments.

The park also has a garden, playground, performance space and fitness space. These were completed by Nick Corcoran, the landscape designer for the park, with input from individuals with special needs.

During Phase II, which is expected to be completed in late spring, word spread through social media about the project.

In the process, more volunteers joined, including students from Binghamton High School, SUNY Broome, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, local companies, city council members and the BU Scholars program.

“This community as a whole has the unique ability to process, and is not afraid to be innovative,” O’Brien said. “For every time we hit a barrier, someone handed us a ladder at every turn.”

With extra year, a fast track to master's GRAD continued from Page 1 Eitan Cohen, a fifth-year student pursuing a master’s degree in electrical engineering, said he believed having an advanced degree would be beneficial when searching for jobs. Furthermore, the ability to take graduate courses his senior year drew him to the program.

“I was able to take higherlevel classes and at least in my field, that’s the fun stuff, getting into the nitty gritty,” Cohen said.

According to David

Campbell, chair and associate professor of the public administration department, pursuing a master’s in public administration at BU has significant advantages.

“Doing a master’s of public administration in Binghamton, compared to doing it in a big city, gives you the opportunity to work closely with people in senior leadership positions,” Campbell said. “You get a closer view of the qualities public service demands.”

Assistant Director of the MS/ MBA program Alesia WheelerWade said the fast track program

is competitive, requiring, on average, a 3.3 undergraduate grade point average.

Angela Franz, a fifth-year student pursuing a master’s in education, said that the decision to fast track had mixed results because ultimately she had less free time to enjoy her last years of college.

“Even though your senior year is not really your senior year,” Franz wrote in an email, “you get through it and feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that you utilized your time at school well and earned the degrees you wanted.”

classical to pop. Once the music began, each couple would make eye contact and silently count out the rhythm of the song. From there, each couple followed a specific pattern of steps while incorporating special moves like unique hand gestures and twirls.

The most experienced dancers competed in open matches, where every member of the six teams lined up around the dance floor without knowledge of which dance would be called.

The judge picked a dance and each team would spontaneously send out a couple to compete.

For each dance category, pairs would compete in a series of rounds, with the best couples moving on until only one was left.

After taking a break last year from the competition due to what they said were unfortunate circumstances, BU Ballroom competition coordinators

Emma Dondero and Katherine Leon-Molina began planning the ballroom competition six months ago.

According to Leon-Molina, a junior triple-majoring in political science, economics and Spanish, the event was hard to plan because last year’s seniors left no precedent to follow and the club wanted to incorporate new members into the contests.

“It took a lot of thinking ahead,” she said. “We have the ‘bible’ [which] pretty much lists suggestions from past competitions the team has hosted. But some of the ideas were outdated.”

According to Dondero, a junior double-majoring in French and sociology, the BU Ballroom Team raised almost $1,000 to put on this competition through a speedfriending event and donations from local businesses like USA Dance Inc. and Buffet Star.

Irina Frampolsky, a junior

majoring in psychology and a silver-ranked dancer for the BU Ballroom Team, said that her favorite dances were the Samba and the Viennese Waltz.

“Samba has a lot of fun hip movements and the Viennese Waltz is faster than a normal waltz,” Frampolsky said. “At these competitions, you can get to dance to really cool songs, like, there’s a Harry Potter waltz too.”

BU’s Ballroom Team had first-place winners in nine categories and placed in the top six in every event.

Helar Aricaya, a senior majoring in biochemistry, won second place with his partner in the open Latin portion of the competition. He said that dance was about passion.

“Ballroom’s not about showing off, it’s about expressing yourself,” Aricaya said. “It’s not about having all the talent in the world, as long as you can get your emotions out there.”

Snapchat filters feature campus SNAP continued from Page 1 Binghamton.

“Snapchat wasn’t really a thing when I lived on campus, but I think it’s cool that Snapchat added geotags to the campus communities,” Neira said. “I would like to see a geotag for Binghamton, but I don’t really care if they do. Binghamton isn’t a big city like NYC. There aren’t really many neighborhoods to make geotags out of.”

Allison Drexler, a senior double-majoring in art history and political science, said that the geotags are a great addition to campus.

“When I lived on campus, I loved living in the community that I was in,” Drexler said. “If I still lived on campus I would use it to show how proud I was to live there.”

Lee said she is enthusiastic about the process and hopes her designs for Hinman, Dickinson and Newing are approved soon so she can create more.

“I made all of the living community ones and I’m waiting for them to be approved,” Lee said. “If they’re not, I’ll try and maybe make more that are more interesting and unique. Also, it’d be cool to have one for State Street and Downtown Binghamton.”

Photo Provided

Pictured: A screenshot of Snapchat’s new location filter. Alejandra Lee decided to make geotags for the different residential communities to represent each one’s distinct attributes.

Health fair highlights HPV, safe sex FAIR continued from Page 1 inform students. Susan Blythe, a registered nurse for the Broome County Health Department, hosted trivia to test students’ knowledge on vaccines. The questions quizzed students on many topics, such as meningitis and whooping cough, but one point that Blythe stressed

was that students should consider receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, saying that it could prevent both cervical and penile cancer.

Real Education About College Health (REACH) challenged students to properly apply a condom to a wooden model while blindfolded. Tiara Hills, a REACH intern and a sophomore majoring in integrative

neuroscience, said that she hoped the game would help students feel more comfortable talking about sexual health topics.

“Instead of it being a taboo subject to discuss, it’s something we can have an open forum about,” she said. “So people feel comfortable discussing and know that there are people willing to help.”

Police Watch A lighter take on campus crime

Elevated Tensions THURSDAY, Feb. 5, 11:52 a.m. — Physical facilities contacted UPD about a report of vandalism in Bingham Hall in Newing College, said Investigator Patrick Reilly of Binghamton’s New York State University Police. One of the elevators in the hall had all of the white floor numbers ripped off so users could not see which floor was which. Otis Elevators was notified and has put in an order for replacements. There are no suspects or witnesses at this time.

At Least She Stayed Warm SUNDAY, Feb. 8, 1:31 a.m. — Officers responded to Endicott Hall in Newing College for reports of an intoxicated female, Reilly said. The suspect, a 19-year-old female, was identified and found on her bathroom floor being attended to by a friend. The victim said that she was drinking on campus and vomited. Harpur’s Ferry was contacted and they transported the victim to Binghamton General Hospital.

Aaron Berkowitz | Police Correspondent

You’ve Got Mail FRIDAY, Feb. 6, 9:45 a.m. — A 46-year-old male professor has been receiving unwanted mail since January from a 34-year-old female former student, Reilly said. The victim has received three different pieces of mail. UPD contacted the suspect and advised her to stop. The contents of the mailings are currently unknown.

Creep in Cayuga FRIDAY, Feb. 6, 2:35 p.m. — A 20-year-old female was the victim of aggravated harassment in Cayuga Hall in College-in-the-Woods, Reilly said. The victim said that while she was in her room she heard a person unlocking her door, and when the victim turned her head to see who it was, an unknown female suspect said, “Oh, someone’s in here,“ and left. The victim then heard the suspect running down the steps next to the victim’s room. This happened once more after a fire drill. The room has been re-keyed, but the RA staff was asked to keep the floor under surveillance just in case the suspect has a master key.

RELEASE Arts & Culture

Comics, classics and crosswords

Tamar Ashdot-Bari/Contributing Photographer

Michael Sharp teaches the most famous books in history, but he's interested in much more Odeya Pinkus| Assistant Release Editor If your idea of the typical professor is an old, out of touch, white-haired man, then it’s very safe to say that Michael Sharp is not your typical professor. For those who have taken any of his English classes, then you know what I’m talking about. For those who haven’t, plan better for next semester.

Professor Sharp began his own higher education at Pomona College, a small liberal arts school in Claremont, California. He slowly moved out East, getting his doctorate at the University of Michigan in 1999, before beginning to teach at our own Binghamton University. As of now he teaches 17th Century Literature, British Literature 1, Crime Fiction and, of course, a class on comics. Perhaps the whole appeal of his classes is that, for someone who teaches hundreds-years-old literature, he couldn’t be more culturally well

rounded.

Take one of his two blogs, for instance. Each post of Pop Sensation features the cover art of one of Sharp’s old paperback novels — of which he has over 3,000 — along with witty commentary of the campy-yet-wonderful covers.

“I love my books,” Sharp said.

“But I also make fun of my books.”

The approach is emblematic of Sharp’s overall style: He takes information seriously — and in mass quantities — and relays it in a humorous, modern way. Though he teaches some of the most revered works of Western literature — “The Aeneid,” “Inferno” — he doesn’t put them “behind glass.”

Everything should be subject to criticism.

This style reflects not only in his teaching, but in his hobbies as well.

This year, Sharp is embarking on a personal project to revisit the ’80s, when he grew up, attempting to view the era more objectively, and in more detail than just what his memory holds. Each week, Sharp

checks what was popular at this time in the year 1980. He then reads a book and watches a movie from that time, as well as takes in other parts of the time’s culture. To stay current, he also reads something contemporary in the same week.

So, two books every seven days.

Not an impossible feat, but surely one that requires dedication and a love for reading. And yes, professor Sharp does love to read.

“Reading a lot can turn on my brain in ways other things do not,” he said. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t require work. Sharp grew up playing tennis and video games, and while he liked the idea of reading, the effort to sit down and do it could often be daunting.

He described it like meditating.

One day, he realized that there is so much left to read, with a finite amount of time left to read it, and with that, his voracious reading habits really kicked in.

So what else does Michael Sharp read? Simply put, everything.

“I like books, and short stories,

and comics,” said Sharp. Which of course explains the background to his Comics class. With an extensive knowledge of comic books and graphic novels, his reading list for the class includes Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman, among others. This semester, almost every assigned reading features either a strong female protagonist, or a female creator.

His interest in comics didn’t start as a teenager, but rather in 2003, with Marvel’s release of the controversial comic, “Rawhide Kid,” where the main character is gay. After reading “Rawhide Kid,” Sharp kept returning to the comics section of the bookstore. Now, in his class, he imparts his knowledge of “sequential art” with those lucky enough to get a spot in the class.

If you haven’t heard of professor Sharp, then maybe you’ve heard of his crossword-solving alias, Rex Parker. With a following of roughly 20,000 people, Sharp, or should I say Parker, runs the blog, Rex Parker Does the New York Times.

Each evening, Sharp completes the next day’s Times crossword. He then posts the answers online, along with his thoughts on the puzzle, a word of the day and any other musings he might have. Like any internet celebrity, Sharp’s online presence was originally unknown, and then grew “exponentially.”

Those researching the crossword found his blog, and from then on, the persona of “Rex Parker” was born.

But why use a pseudonym? In 2006, the whole idea of a blog was embarrassing, Sharp said, so he published it under a fake name, and even began writing it with a fake voice “like I was some weird space emperor,” said Sharp. And while he eventually realized that he could not continue the fake voice, the name was how he was known, and it was there to stay. It originated from a vacation years ago, when he and his fellow travelers decided to come up with “’60s beach movie names,” his being Rex Parker.

Most recently, professor

Sharp was ranked as the 63rd best crossword solver as of the 2014 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, an annual competition directed by Will Shortz, the puzzle editor for the New York Times. The competition is the oldest and biggest of its kind in the country, and it ranks its contestants by their speed and correct number of answers. He’ll be competing in the Third Annual Finger Lakes Crossword Competition on March 7 in Ithaca, New York.

When asked if he uses pen or pencil when completing a crossword, Sharp replied that “pen is for someone who thinks they are cool,” but he completes his online anyway. For those looking to become better word sleuthers, he says that “it’s all practice.”

So there you have it folks. Your Brit Lit 1 classes are taught by a crossword-solving, comic-book reading, Sleater-Kinney listening, blogging professor. The best way to describe him is witty, smart and for a lack of a better word, sharp.

Director and star discuss film, Bing in Q&A REWRITE continued from Page 1 event, in the Osterhout Concert questions from the audience, woman asked Grant what his than shooting the film in New Clyde participated in a Q-and-A mother, played by Marisa Tomei.

Lawrence graduated from Binghamton University with a degree in English in 1981. He made the movie as “a love letter to Binghamton.” Tickets to the

Theater, were distributed on Monday and Tuesday last week, quickly selling out on each day.

After the movie was screened — to applause at every one of the numerous Binghamton references — Lawrence and Grant took the stage to answer

moderated by Stenger.

Students, faculty members and local residents flirted with Grant, asked Lawrence about his time as a student and asked them both about their careers.

They also asked what it was like to shoot the movie here. One

favorite place in Binghamton was.

“Well, it’s hard to choose,” Grant said to laughter and applause. “I think, in the end, it might be the Red Robin.”

Both said they would have liked to film the entire movie in Binghamton, but the budget wasn’t big enough, and they could be here for only a few days. They shot the rest of “The Rewrite” at LIU Post on Long Island.

“It’s a strange thing,” Lawrence said. When you film a movie on location, there are what are called ‘film hubs’ around the country. Atlanta is one, and New Orleans is one. Binghamton is not, for some reason.” Shooting outside of a film hub would - Hugh Grant, on Marc Lawrence's scripts mean finding housing for the entire film crew — in this case, around 150 people, for nearly two months. “That would cost more

His scripts always make me laugh

Franz Lino/Photo Editor

York City.”

Steven Kaplan, Emily Morden and Annie Q., all of whom played students in the movie, also attended the premiere. Kaplan went to New York University, but his two brothers are BU alumni.

“I have been here when I came to visit my older brothers, except I can’t tell you stories about what happened when I came to visit,” Kaplan said.

The night before the screening, The Clyde Lawrence Band, named after and fronted

by Marc Lawrence’s son, who also scored “The Rewrite,” played in The Undergrounds. Clyde’s a senior at Brown University, and his band plays a mixture of original, funk and jazz-inspired rock songs and covers pop songs in the same style.

Earlier that day, Marc and

session with a select group of students and University faculty members. “The Rewrite” was the first feature film Clyde scored — he’s done other films since then — and he said that working with his father was easy, compared to some of the other directors he’s worked with.

“Different directors have totally different approaches, and 60 percent of the job, when scoring, is figuring out what the director wants,” Clyde said.

After the screening, Grant told the audience how he feels about Lawrence’s movies.

“I didn’t want to do any of his movies, I just felt sorry for him,” Grant joked. “But no — for me, his scripts always make me laugh, and it’s impossible to resist.”

5

RELEASE

February 10, 2015 | www.bupipedream.com

Buongiorno, boker tov, ohayo

Prepare your liver

Wakie: an alarm clock that'll wake you up with a phone call James Sereno | Contributing Writer At 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, a phone call woke me up. I answered, and on the other end, a stranger yelled out a loud and long “good morning” in what I think was an English accent. The stranger then asked me if I was awake, which I replied to with muffled words and groans. Thanks, Wakie.

Wakie, the social alarm clock, is an app designed to replace your normal alarm clock and let strangers wake you up through a phone call. Designed like a normal alarm, each user sets a time to be woken up.

But instead of being woken up by an audio file from your phone, you’ll receive a phone call from someone around the world within five minutes of the desired time. Each phone

call lasts a maximum of one minute, and your cell phone number is anonymous.

Wakie also keeps a record of the amount of times you’ve been woken up, woken someone else up and your total call time, in minutes. It also features a message board for users, which seems to have a good deal of traffic throughout the day.

The app, available for free on Android, Windows Phone and iOS, has had 1.5 million users, who have had a total of over 30 million wake-up calls made.

To get the full Wakie experience, I had to try it for myself. Here’s my day-to-day experience.

Friday — My second morning using the app, I was woken up women’s voice saying “good morning” in a soft tone.

She took the time to ask me if I was waking up, and hung up

Comic relief, complicated

soon after. It was the calmest wake-up throughout my trial of the app.

Saturday — While setting up my alarm the night before, I had forgotten to turn my ringtone on which made me miss my wake-up call. One problem with the app is that the alarm is through a phone call, so you must have your volume on and cannot have your phone on “do not disturb.”

Sunday — I was surprised to have my second wake-up from a female voice this morning saying, “good morning, have a good day.” To be honest, I was disappointed that the call wasn’t someone playing Maroon 5’s “Sunday Morning.”

Monday — My last morning using the app, I answered the phone to someone speaking in loud, broken English. “Hello, are you awake?” he asked

If you’ve ever been afraid of a spinoff series ruining an original show, then you have nothing to worry about with “Better Call Saul.”

The “Breaking Bad” prequel, which premiered Sunday night with an additional new episode on Monday night, broke cable television ratings by being the highest-rated series debut ever with 6.9 million viewers.

And with good reason.

The premiere of “Better Call Saul” begins with a classic Vince Gilligan teaser. Similar to the season premieres of “Breaking Bad” that foreshadow future events, “Better Call Saul” begins with a solemn look at Saul Goodman’s future, postWalter White. Saul hides in plain sight, spending his days working at a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska, and his nights reliving his glory days through a VHS tape of Saul Goodman commercials. As part of the classic Gilligan teaser formula, the opening is shot in entirely black and white shots that keep your attention.

Saul hides in plain sight, spending his days working at a Cinnabon

The show jumps back to 2001 and introduces viewers to Jimmy McGill who, spoiler alert, eventually becomes Saul Goodman at some point during the show. For the time being, however, Jimmy is a young lawyer who works as a public defender in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and struggles between making ends meet and convincing anyone from potential clients to two teenagers to do what he wants.

Bob Odenkirk carries the show to great heights immediately in the first episode. Despite being a recurring character who serves as both comedic relief and a scapegoat for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on “Breaking Bad,” Saul has his own set of baggage, from his lackluster business to his mentally ill brother who won’t cash out of the shares of the major law firm he stopped working at. Although there are still humorous moments in the premiere, 2001 Saul has a ways to go in terms of character development, and it’s already showing.

Guest appearances from “Breaking Bad” characters Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) also make the premiere more enticing, but don’t lose the focus of the show. Instead, it furthers the allure of the show and leaves the viewers asking more questions. How do Mike and Saul get in cahoots with each other? Is 2001 Tuco just as crazy as he is in 2008? Will we see Hector Salamanca ring his bell in his wheelchair again?

Regular episodes of “Better Call Saul” will air Mondays at 10 p.m. on AMC.

2

Wonder exactly if students should still prepare? Yes.

several times, but didn’t bother to wait for me to reply.

My experience using Wakie was surprisingly a positive one. Despite missing one of the alarms, the app makes waking up a new experience every day. Since the app is free, and available for most platforms, there are not many reasons why you shouldn’t give it a try.

While you can set an alarm to be woken up, you can also choose to be the person waking someone up. I tried this for myself. When the stranger answered with a halfgroan, half-hello, I said “good morning.” He replied with the same. I then asked him what he planned for the day, and he said, “I don’t know, but I need some cereal.”

Whiskey always tastes better with your pinky up

Kathryn Shafsky | Staff Writer This is the second in a series of five articles.

Week Two — Culturally, an integral part of our favorite celebration is whiskey. Unlike the $10 vodka that ended up in your toilet during syllabus week, even cheap whiskey has an air of class to it. This is your week to get fancy (and bombed) while experimenting with classic drinks like a Whiskey Sour, an Old Fashioned or even a Manhattan if you’re a little bit bitter.

Remember that whiskey always tastes better with your pinky up and also after you’ve finished half of the bottle. Cheers!

Keeping Binghamton healthy

Karen Castoro looks after her patients and students

In 'Better Call Saul,' Bob Odenkirk takes center stage Tiffany Moustakas | Staff Writer

week

Duncan McInnes/Pipe Dream Staff Photographer

Tiffany Moustakas | Staff Writer When Karen Castoro gets ready every morning, she’s preparing for two jobs: nurse practitioner and aerobics instructor.

Castoro decided on her first career choice as a nurse practitioner at a young age.

Despite not having any family members in the medical field, she always said she wanted to be a nurse.

“In first grade, we had a little drawing we were supposed to do [called] ‘When I grow up I want to be’ and I wrote ‘a nurse,’ and I drew a picture of a nurse,” Castoro said. “My mom actually framed it and I’ve got it in my office.”

Originally from Carmel, New York, her family moved to Endicott when her father got a job at IBM. From then on, Castoro attended high school there and was part

of the cheerleading, swimming and track teams. Although she actively participated in sports, Castoro noticed she gained some weight her junior year.

“With all of the sports, I never really challenged my body,” she said. “I wasn’t really that into exercise as much as I was into team sports and being with my friends.”

All of that changed when she took a fitness class taught by a Binghamton University student. By the end of the class, the student was graduating and offered Castoro the teaching position. Without hesitation, she got her aerobics certification and took over the class shortly after graduating high school.

And she’s been doing it since.

Castoro ended up enrolling as a student at BU for both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing. Throughout her time as a student, she continued teaching and taking

WHAT I BE PROJECT MARCH 15 -20

Photographer Steve Rosenfield is coming to campus to feature YOU in his What I Be project Look out for a sign up form coming soon!

Questions? dlevin5@binghamton.edu or hbernst2@binghamton.edu

fitness classes, eventually turning it into another career.

By the time she completed both degrees, she was pregnant with her first child and was working in pediatrics. Then she was offered a position in gynecology at OB-GYN Associates in Johnson City and Endicott.

Today, Castoro works all over Binghamton with flexible hours to accommodate her four children, who range from 3 to 15 years old.

Aside from OB-GYN Associates, she teaches fitness classes at Court Jester Athletic Club in Johnson City. During the school year, Castoro teaches Wellness thru Aerobics and Contemporary Health Issues at Binghamton University, where she’s gained something of a following among students. In those two classes, she helps students evaluate how to stay healthy and fit in this day and age.

Castoro sees a connection between medicine and holistic

wellness.

“I think that both of my careers are intertwined,” she said. “I think that I’m doing a lot of teaching with my patients and I teach them a lot about nutrition and fitness, and that’s exactly what I’m doing with my college students.”

Her biggest tip for students, and sometimes for patients, is that they try different methods of exercise, “Whether it’s an intramural sport, running around campus [or] trying out a spinning class,” Castoro said, “because you need to have that exercise in your life, that fitness in your life and you’re not going to do it if you don’t like it. So by trying different things, you’ll be able to find something that you really enjoy doing.”

“She has motivated me to see the positive outlook on life and to better myself in all aspects of wellness, from physical wellness, to mental wellness, spiritual wellness and so on,” said Nicole Lebowitz, a senior majoring in psychology who took Castoro’s class last semester. “The lessons I learned in Karen’s class will stick with me after I graduate, and her enthusiastic attitude about life and wellness motivates me to find the same balance and well-being in my life.”

Looking ahead to her future, Castoro hopes to get her doctorate as a nurse practitioner with a focus on doing research in exercise, fitness and nutrition.

But for now, she’ll stick with what she has.

“Right now, I love both of my careers,” she said. “But my children are really my top priority and they’re keeping me extremely busy.”

Binghamton University

GIVE YOUR OWN TED TALK

START YOUR APPLICATION AT

http://bit.ly/1K0U1Bd DUE BY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15th at 11:59am

6

You’ve been away from Binghamton for a while, but after a couple of weeks you There are never snow days. If the school tells you it is a snow day, it’s a lie. Thr

should be careful about a few things. One: Don’t walk down hills. Too risky. Two: ree: State Street is a cold, unforgiving mistress. In the heart of winter, beware.

7 Dassie Hirschfield/Contributing Photographer

8

FUN

Unlimited Salvation Plan

Binghamton needs to respect the genius that is #Real2PlyOrDie RELEASE DATE– Thursday, March 26, 2009

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

ACROSS 1 Alp top 5 Sounding shocked 10 Looking shocked 14 A8 manufacturer 15 Decisive refusal 16 Double-click, maybe 17 In need of irrigation 18 Lacking skepticism 19 __ dixit 20 Ocean delicacy 21 Operational headquarters 23 She played Ulla in “The Producers” 25 Estrangement 26 Classy office door adornment 33 Lends a hand 34 “It’s so __!”

35 Make up (for) 37 Clavell’s “__Pan” 38 Ma, for one 41 Rx writers 42 1943 penny metal 44 “Proud Mary” band, for short 45 Pond problem 46 2006 political best-seller, with “The” 50 __ school 51 Corp. that once owned Hertz and Hilton 52 Beside one another 58 E-mail cackle 61 Masseur’s stock 62 Stag 63 Irish Free State successor 64 Prefix with tasse 65 Andes herd animal 66 Pesky biter 67 Part of WNBA: Abbr.

68 “Roots” Emmy winner 69 Capital south of Lillehammer DOWN 1 “I Kid You Not” author

2 100 cents 3 Part of “The Sound of Music” farewell song 4 Little butter?

5 Author Rice 6 Transmission component 7 Tel __-Yafo 8 Harsh 9 Rain, briefly 10 Indicate 11 PDA entry 12 __-majesty 13 Fed. power dept.

21 “Illmatic” rapper 22 Key of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 24 Submissions to eds.

26 Upside-down sleepers 27 It’s twirled in a rodeo 28 PBS’s science guy 29 IM offerer 30 Punish with a fine 31 Gin cocktail 32 Become, finally 36 Salinger dedicatee

38 Louisiana Territory explorer 39 Needing salt, perhaps 40 Sellout initials 43 Enters stealthily 45 ’50s oldies syllable 47 Secret doctrine 48 Tennyson works 49 Eye or ear ending 52 Musical conclusion

53 Hurries 54 Street liners 55 Rocker Jett 56 “My treat” 57 Deterioration 59 Like the Sabin vaccine 60 Jared of “American Psycho” 63 It sometimes needs a boost

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

By Bonnie L. Gentry (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

03/26/09

03/26/09

Classifieds DOWNTOWN HOUSES, LOFTS AND APARTMENTS. TWO TO EIGHTEEN BEDROOMS. ABUNDANT OFF-STREET PARKING. FREE WASHERS/DRYERS. NEAR DOWNTOWN CAMPUS, BUSES, RESTAURANTS AND NIGHTLIFE. CALL JOSH @ 607-316-3411 OR DAVE @ 607-343-2692 Safe Affordable Quality Smart As always 1 bedroom apts up to 5 bedrooms student housing. A BU alumni family Call or email Chad 19178818319 Chadfaro@yahoo.com Adoption. Devoted, loving couple looking to adopt newborn. Will provide happy home and unconditional love. Anna and Costas. Call/Text 917-773-8303 www.annaandcostasadopt.com

Peace Corps

at Binghamton University Spring Career Fair

Wednesday, February 11

11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Binghamton University Events Center

Choose where you want to go.

Apply in one hour.

Make a difference overseas as a Peace Corps Volunteer peacecorps.gov - 855.855.1961

www.bupipedream.com | February 10, 2015

Eitan Sheena

OPINION Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Address: University Union WB03 4400 Vestal Parkway E. Binghamton, N.Y. 13902 Phone: 607-777-2515 FAx: 607-777-2600 Web: www.bupipedream.com

Spring 2015 editor-in-ChieF* Rachel Bluth editor@bupipedream.com MAnAging editor* Tycho A. McManus manager@bupipedream.com

neWs editor* Nicolas Vega news@bupipedream.com Asst. neWs editors Joseph Hawthorne Carla Sinclair Alexandra Mackof oPinion editor* Molly McGrath opinion@bupipedream.com releAse editor* Jacob Shamsian release@bupipedream.com Asst. releAse editor Odeya Pinkus sPorts editor* Ashley Purdy sports@bupipedream.com

Once Upon a Time in Binghamton

I

t’s unfortunate that “The Rewrite” won’t be screening in Binghamton theaters this week, but the University did a good job of transforming the Anderson Center into the closest thing we’ll get to the Ziegfeld.

It would have been enough to get just Marc Lawrence here, but the University also landed Hugh Grant and a handful of other actors from the movie for the premiere. Our biggest complaint is that we didn’t get to see Oscarnominated J.K. Simmons, which isn’t such a big deal considering he was accepting a BAFTA (the British “Oscars”) at the time.

The movie will be on demand and on iTunes this weekend, and hopefully the movie’s distributor

will book some local theaters soon. But on Sunday, the screening of “The Rewrite” was a Binghamton-centric cultural event of the variety that hasn’t been seen here in many years.

Lawrence, who graduated from this school in 1981, has returned to campus several times to speak to students. But this time, he’s immersed himself in the place by writing a script about it. “The Rewrite” is partly about a failed screenwriter

falling in love with a character played by Marisa Tomei, but it’s also about Binghamton.

Binghamton, it can be said, is the third character in the movie.

Professors get spiedies for lunch, Grant and Tomei’s characters fall in love at the Rec Park carousel.

Lawrence clearly fell in love with this place, because he found something special in it. His love comes across onscreen. The school has changed a lot since 1981, but there’s a spirit here

that doesn’t.

That spirit has lingered because there is something special about this place. For students, it’s removed from the hubbub of the world, it’s away from New York City. It’s where people can transform themselves and discover what matters while looking forward to that one sunny day when the seemingly ceaseless rain and snow come to a halt. There’s a culture distinct to this place. It’s the birthplace

of the man who invented “The Twilight Zone” and of virtual reality; it’s where grilled cubes of meat can be put into an Italian roll and eaten as a delicacy.

Hugh Grant’s character’s experience in Binghamton isn’t so different from a lot of students’. He never really wanted to be here, but he had to come anyway because he didn’t have a lot of money. And then he found out that it’s a pretty cool place, after all.

Views expressed in the opinion pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece which represents the views of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial, above. The Editorial Board is composed of the Editor-in-Chief, News Editor, Opinion Editor, Sports Editor, and Release Editor.

Meteorologists deserve more credit from public

Weather prediction is difficult even with use of modern technology Science Columnist

Leave the meteorologists alone.

Contrary to popular opinion, predicating the weather is difficult in spite of the vast knowledge and computing power available to modern day forecasters.

After the predicted Snowpocalypse came and went in the tri-state area as a dud, the locals became restless and proclaimed meteorologists the latest village idiots. What was forecast as a storm of the century

turned out to be a run of the mill nor’easter.

The technical challenges faced by meteorologists are not well understood by the general public.

Predicting the weather is not a matter of insufficient information or, even to a lesser degree, a lack of computing power.

When it comes to understanding the physics principles governing our weather, from the behavior of a gas under different temperature and pressures to the largescale motion described by fluid mechanics, climate and weather scientists have a good handle on the short-term effects on weather.

While it may sound ridiculous, the meteorologist is successful

at telling you what the weather is right now, and that window of correctness has expanded to a few days.

But there are other factors that make the job of predicting daily weather far in advance essentially impossible.

The global weather pattern is a nonlinear system with strong chaos theory effects. In 1961, Edward Lorenz noticed that when he reran a weather prediction model with a rounded off value, it led to a completely different weather outcome. He later dubbed this phenomena “the butterfly effect” and it presents a daily challenge to weather forecasters.

This is where meteorologists

arrive at their percentage-based weather forecasts. They take the given conditions and slightly modify each parameter thousands of times. They pass these variations through their models and tally up what comes out.

The final step to check their work is to verify that on, let’s say, 20 percent of the days they said there would be a 20 percent chance it rained that in fact it did rain 20 percent of those days.

Now yes, some meteorologists take liberties with the weather. They become bombastic personalities and sometimes it does seem like The Weather Channel has become the Fox News of weather forecasts.

Weathermen will also lean toward

wetter forecasts because people would rather it didn’t rain when they said it would, rather than vice versa.

Meteorologists play an essential role in our daily lives and saves thousands of lives annually, but only if we heed their warnings and play it safe. Too often they are correct, as in the case of Superstorm Sandy, and people blow off the severity of the forecasts.

So, the next time you bash the weatherman and say that you could do a better job, take a step back and appreciate the difficulty of their profession.

— Derek Stampone is a PhD student in physics

Crosswalk strobe lights present danger to students Alternatives ensure pedestrian safety without causing harm or disruption Miriam Geiger

Contributing Columnist

A crosswalk is, ideally, a safe place for pedestrians to traverse roads.

There are several simple ways to make crosswalks safer.

At Binghamton University, signs remind drivers of their speed as they approach crosswalk stops. Speed bumps also make drivers slow down. Reflective paint makes crosswalks visible

in the dark. Listed thus far, these improvements to campus crosswalks are effective and fairly unobtrusive. But not all “safety” measures keep pedestrians out of harm’s way. The recent addition of motion-triggered strobe lights on two of the crosswalks poses a unique danger to students suffering from epilepsy.

The motion-triggered flashing light crosswalks are located near Newing College and Dickinson Community. When a person walks into the crosswalk, the lights are triggered and continue to flash for a few seconds after the person exits the crosswalk. According to

the Whitlock-Weinberger Report, the amber lights should emit a pulse pattern of one second at four to six pulses per second, below the photoconvulsive response frequency indicated by the epilepsy research branch of the National Institutes of Health. Even though the number of pulses falls below this threshold, these strobe lights still have the potential to cause epileptic seizures. A safety measure should not endanger students, faculty or anyone else who visits our campus.

A more minor issue presented by the strobe light crosswalks is the annoyance for students whose

rooms and study lounges face the road. The strobe lights are set off whenever someone crosses the road, whether at 1 p.m. or 1 a.m. The spastic flashing disrupts sleep patterns and pre-exam cram session focus.

The installation of the lights is well intentioned, but less harmful alternatives are possible.

The 2013-2014 Personal Safety Advisory Committee raised valid campus concerns over driver awareness and the tendency of pedestrians to cross roads at will.

Embedded reflectors could serve as an effective alternative to strobe lights, alerting walkers and drivers

Fun PAge editor* Ben Moosher fun@bupipedream.com

design MAnAger* Emma C Siegel design@bupipedream.com design Assts.

Corey Futterman John Linitz Photo editor* Franz Lino photo@bupipedream.com Asst. Photo editor Klara Rusinko editoriAl Artists Miriam Geiger Paige Gittelman CoPy desk ChieF* Emily Howard copy@bupipedream.com Asst. CoPy desk ChieF Paul Palumbo

Science Column

Derek Stampone

Asst. sPorts editors Jeff Twitty E.Jay Zarett

to the presence of sidewalks.

Unlike strobe lights, reflectors will not disrupt or harm students and faculty.

Pedestrian and driver safety is important. Binghamton University should do everything in its power to minimize danger and preventable accidents on its grounds. The decision to install strobe lights is a short-sighted one. The benefits of strobe lights can be achieved through alternative technologies that are safe for everyone.

— Miriam Geiger is a senior double majoring in English and Studio Art

leAd Web develoPer* William Sanders developer@bupipedream.com AssistAnt Web develoPer Zachary Feuerstein neWsrooM teChnology* William Sanders tech@bupipedream.com

business MAnAger* Erin Stolz business@bupipedream.com

Pipe Dream is published by the Pipe Dream Executive Board, which has sole and final discretion over the newspaper’s content and personnel. *Positions seated on the Executive Board are denoted by an asterisk.

Pipe Dream is published Tuesdays and Fridays while classes are in session during the fall and spring semesters, except during finals weeks and vacations.

Pipe Dream accepts stimulating, original guest columns from undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty. Submissions should be 400 to 500 words in length and be thus far unpublished.

Submissions must include the writer’s name and phone number, and year of graduation or expected year of graduation. Graduate students and faculty members should indicate their standing as such, as well as departmmental affiliation.

Organizational (i.e. student group) affiliations are to be disclosed and may be noted at Pipe Dream’s discretion.

Anonymous submissions are not accepted.

Any facts referenced must be properly cited from credible news sources. Pipe Dream reserves the right to edit submissions, and does not guarantee publication. All submissions become property of Pipe Dream.

Submissions may be e-mailed to the Opinion Editor at opinion@ bupipedream.com.

Grand Re opening Door prizes

Live First Class, Next to Class

Coming August 2015:

February 10, 2015 | www.bupipedream.com

11

SPORTS

Bearcats fall flat in weekend duals BEARCAT BRIEFS

No. 22 Deuel finds success, posts pair of wins over GW, American Jeff Twitty

Assistant Sports Editor

Women's tennis defeats Farleigh Dickinson, Siena over weekend

By Staff Reports

For the Binghamton wrestling team, the pieces seemed to be in order going into Friday. Despite a string of injuries, the Bearcats (6-10, 4-4 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) roster boasted the 22nd best heavyweight in the nation in senior Tyler Deuel, a strong upper-weight division, and a senior in the midst of a hot streak in 125-pound David White.

But stats don’t matter on the mat.

In a pair of dual meets against George Mason and American this weekend, BU found itself on the losing end twice, by scores of 22-16 and 20-15, respectively.

Sunday’s loss at American (7-10, 2-5 EIWA) marked Binghamton’s third consecutive loss by six points or fewer.

“It’s really coming down to critical execution areas in critical moments,” Binghamton head coach Matt Dernlan said. “Being the guy that finds a way to get that takedown.”

BU began Friday night against the Patriots (9-9, 3-3 Eastern Wrestling League) with an easy six points as White took an opening forfeit. But that was the easiest it would be for the Bearcats all night. BU dropped its next six matches to fall behind, 22-9. The team attempted to rally back from the deficit as 184-pound junior Jack McKeever and 197-pound senior Caleb Wallace pushed the meet score to 22-12, but the victory was already sealed for GMU. However, despite the Bearcats being all but out, the true headlining event of the match

Klara Rusinko/Assistant Photo Editor

Nationally ranked senior heavyweight Tyler Deuel collected his 20th victory of the season this weekend with wins against George Mason and American.

came at the meet’s finale as 22nd-ranked Deuel and George Mason’s 25th-ranked Jake Kettler met in the circle. Deuel thrashed the redshirt-senior to a tune of 14-0 with over five minutes of riding time, adding another notch to his stellar senior season.

“That was a big-time win for him,” Dernlan said.

Looking to rebound Sunday at American, the Bearcats began the match with their first opening dual loss since Nov. 29, as White fell, 11-5, to Eagle redshirt-sophomore David Terao.

BU lost three of its next four, two by major decision, to bolster the Eagles up at intermission, 14-3.

Of the Bearcats that lost in the opening half, two were true freshmen and one was a sophomore — representative of the youth of the team.

“With a young team, it comes with a lot of growing pains,”

Dernlan said. “And sometimes you just got to stay consistent to your patience and, ‘Hey, one day it will click with these guys.’

We hope it’s sooner rather than later.”

Out of the break, redshirtfreshman Zack Zupan and freshman Steve Schneider picked up wins in the 165 and 174 weight classes, respectively.

Only trailing by three, McKeever dropped a close would-be tying match, 1-0, as AU increased its advantage, 17-11. After another close loss came in the 197-class and American pushed Binghamton to 0-2 on the weekend despite another exciting win by Deuel to close the meet.

Thirteen total points was the difference on the weekend between the Bearcats going 2-0, instead of 0-2.

“The dual meet is in contention, and we seem to be

losing the matches by one point,” Dernlan said. “We got to really figure out how to step up in those critical situations.”

In the regular season’s final month, with only one remaining EIWA match on their schedule, the Bearcats will set their focus on non-conference opponent Buffalo, who BU will meet at home on Friday. But don’t look for any big changes on the mat from the Bearcats on Friday.

“It’s not about coming up with anything new or something different, you got to be consistent in your message,” Dernlan said.

“And this is something we’ve been preaching the entire year, starting with the summer. It’s getting to the point where the guys just have to buy in to those last critical areas.”

First match against Buffalo is set for 7 p.m. on Friday at the West Gym.

No. 10 OSU routs women's lacrosse, 18-5 Four score for BU in season opener, but Buckeyes dominate Ashley Purdy Sports Editor

Opening its season against No. 10/12 Ohio State, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team was confronted with quite the wake-up call.

The Bearcats (0-1) fell, 18-5, to the Buckeyes (2-0) on Saturday at Woody Hayes Athletic Center in Columbus, Ohio. While the loss was poignant, competing against a top-notch opponent allowed Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen to better assess her team’s early season progress.

“I think it was a good season opener for us to really gauge the things that we can work on and really help prepare us for a tough conference schedule,” the thirdyear head coach said. “Ohio State is a very strong team, very physical team, and I think we stepped up and competed with them on Saturday.”

Binghamton’s defense was especially active in the game.

Behind junior keeper Erin McNulty, the Bearcat backline stopped 10 shots and picked up 15 ground balls. They also finished 10-for-19 in clears.

On the offensive end, Binghamton couldn’t get much going until the second half. Ohio State came out dominant in the first, posting a 13-1 advantage heading into halftime.

But in the second, the Bearcats nearly kept pace with their hosts, scoring four while allowing just five more goals.

“I think second half we made a few adjustments in our clear, and then our draw control area, so they were able to give us a few more opportunities out on the field and give our defenders a little bit more of a break,” Allen said.

Four different Bearcats contributed to scoring in the game, including sophomore attack Brianne Arthur and senior midfielder Renee Kiviat.

Those two led BU in scoring in

2013 with 34 and 21 goals on the season, respectively.

“Our focus is on distributing the ball well across the entire offensive unit and it’s exciting to see a number of different individuals scoring out there and also coming up with the ball off of the draw control,” Allen said.

Arthur got things started for BU with a late goal in the first half, making the score 6-1 before the Buckeyes pulled out seven more in the half.

The Buckeyes came out hot again after the break, netting an unassisted goal in the first minute and adding another score three minutes later.

Binghamton pieced together a response with 24:27 left on the clock, when sophomore attack Samantha Karner passed to freshman midfielder Tiffany Ryan, who scored her first career goal in the green and white.

OSU notched another before Binghamton rallied for a 3-0

run in the middle of the second half. Karner incited the run with an unassisted goal, and Kiviat and Ryan finished out scoring for Binghamton to make the score 16-5. The Buckeyes weren’t done yet, though, and they scored two more to take a generous 18-5 victory.

Despite holding a heavy advantage in shots, 33-9, the Buckeyes only barely ousted Binghamton in draw controls, 13-12.

On OSU’s side, three Buckeyes recorded hat-tricks.

Sophomore attack Cian Dabrowski led with six points off three goals and three assists.

Junior attack Rainey Hodgson contributed five goals, and senior attack Katie Chase netted four.

The Bearcats have a long break until their next game, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 24 against Niagara University.

Face-off is set for 3 p.m. in Niagara Falls.

The Binghamton women’s tennis team captured a pair of victories this weekend, defeating Fairleigh Dickinson at home on Saturday and then Siena on the road Sunday.

The Bearcats dominated the doubles matches on Saturday against FDU. After earning a victory by forfeit from the third doubles position, the tandem of juniors Shea Brodsky and Alexis Tashiro opened up doubles play with a 7-6 (7-5) victory for BU. Junior Agatha Ambrozy and senior Katya Medianik followed with a 6-3 win for Binghamton. Ambrozy and Tashiro went on to earn singles victories and a forfeit from the sixth singles position by FDU secured a 4-3 overall victory for BU.

Brodsky continued her success on Sunday, capturing a 6-0 (6-4) singles victory. Then with partner Tashiro, Brodsky earned a 7-6 win in doubles play. Also securing victories for BU in its 4-1 win over Siena were sophomore Annie DiMuro and Medianik in singles play and the combination of Medianik and Ambrozy in doubles competition.

Binghamton is set to return to action this weekend with matchups at Temple on Friday, at home against Fordham on Saturday and on the road against St. Bonaventure on Sunday. First serve on Friday is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Temple University Tennis Pavilion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Men's tennis falls in first two MAC matches of 2015

By Staff Reports The Binghamton men’s tennis team lost its inaugural matches in the Mid-American Conference this weekend, falling to 2-2 on the season. Facing Northern Illinois and Western Michigan on the road, BU dropped both matchups by a score of 4-3 to start the conference season, 0-2.

In DeKalb, Illinois against the Huskies (42, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) on Friday, the Bearcats captured the doubles round as all three BU pairs took victories.

In the singles round, however, Binghamton fared differently. Despite wins from senior Robin Lesage and junior Eliott Hureau, the Bearcats dropped the other four singles matchups against NIU, falling for the first time this season, 4-3.

Two days later, in

Union Lobby

Friday

February 13

Kalamazoo, Michigan against Western Michigan (5-3, 1-0), BU struggled in the doubles round.

Lesage and Hureau earned Binghamton’s lone victory in the round, 6-2, as the Bearcats seeked to improve on Friday’s singles performance.

In the singles round, Hureau finished the weekend a winner, defeating his opponent in two by margins of 6-0 and 6-2. While senior Ismael Dinia and sophomore Thomas Caputo also took wins in the singles round to match WMU’s three singles wins, the Bearcats were done in from their doubles performance, and fell again, 4-3.

BU is set to return to action on Friday, traveling to Richmond, Virginia to face Virginia Commonwealth University.

First serve is set for 2 p.m.

SPORTS

WRESTLING

No. 22 Deuel defeats No. 25 Kettler over weekend see page 11

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

BU can't complete season sweep of Maine, falls, 67-64 Bearcats score 40 in second half, but come up short as Black Bears survive with late free throws Ashley Purdy Sports Editor

Michael Contegni/Pipe Dream Staff Photographer

Freshman forward Willie Rodriguez paced BU with 18 points and seven rebounds on Saturday. He shot 7 for 10 from the field and went 1 for 2 from deep.

Between the return of Maine’s leading scorer in freshman guard Kevin Little and making the arduous trek up to Bangor, the Binghamton men’s basketball team fell, 6764, at Cross Insurance Center on Saturday. Once again, time proved unyielding for the Bearcats, whose solid second-half performance came up short as the buzzer cemented their loss.

“Maine played better than us today … give them credit,” Binghamton head coach Tommy Dempsey said, according to a press release on bubearcats.com. “We were immature offensively in the first half (1-for-10 3-pointers) and you can’t dig that kind of hole on the road. We competed hard in the second half to get back into the game but it wasn’t enough.”

Even down to the wire, however, it looked like the Bearcats (4-22, 3-8 America East) would pull off their comeback. Though they relinquished an early lead in the first half and allowed Maine (3-21, 2-9 AE) to gain an advantage as large as 13 points by halftime, coming out of the locker rooms, Binghamton pulled together. The Bearcats shot 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep in the second half to post a 40-point performance over

Maine’s 30.

Freshman forward Willie Rodriguez, sophomore guard Marlon Beck II and freshman guard Romello Walker led the Bearcats during that stretch. The three combined for 38 of BU’s 40 points in the half. Beck shot 8 for 9 at the line and dished out five assists while Rodriguez and Walker converted 5 of 6 and 4 of 6 from the floor, respectively.

But all that efficacy was for naught when Maine sunk every one of its six free throws in the last 14 seconds. Binghamton had brought the game to within one, 57-56, with a jumper from Rodriguez with 2:34 to go, but Maine hung on tight.

Little hit a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game once more, 6157. By the time Rodriguez brought it back to a two-point margin with another layup, there were just 19 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Bearcats then set to fouling, and despite another 3-pointer from Rodriguez — who scored seven of the team’s last 10 points — Maine hit every last shot.

The Black Bears ultimately prevailed with a three-point victory after Rodriguez’s final attempt — a heave from half-court with one second on the clock — sailed over the backboard.

Just like that, the worst team in the America East took its third win

and Binghamton distanced itself just a bit more from its two-game winning streak.

Things actually started well for Binghamton. Beck scored the first points of the game with a 3-pointer, and in the first five minutes, it seemed that Binghamton would cruise over Maine for the second time this season.

But though Binghamton shot well from the floor in the first half, Maine shot better. The Black Bears converted 62 percent of their shots in the opening 15 minutes, and Binghamton’s 48 percent clip paled in comparison. The Bearcats’ ensuing 0-of-9 shooting from deep didn’t help much, either.

Maine used a 9-2 run to secure a 15-13 lead, capped off by a trey from Little with 11:19 left in the half.

Binghamton snuck back to tie the score at 22 with a spurt of its own, but that was the closest the Bearcats would get to their fifth win.

The Black Bears closed out the half on a 15-2 run to secure a 13-point lead, 37-24. That kept them in the green the rest of the way through.

Little led all scorers with 21 points and added six rebounds.

Maine junior guard Shaun Lawton followed up with 15 points and seven rebounds.

On BU’s side, Rodriguez led the team in rebounding with seven

boards, and freshman center Bobby Ahearn followed up with six points and five rebounds.

Freshman forward Justin McFadden, who led the Bearcats in scoring and rebounding against Hartford last week, played just six minutes due to illness.

Next up for the Bearcats is a home contest today against leagueleading Albany, who remains undefeated in conference play. The Great Danes (16-7, 11-0 AE) have been playing without their leading scorer in junior guard Peter Hooley — who returned to Australia for family matters — in the last seven contests. Despite the lack, Albany has outscored its opponents by an average of 10 points through the span.

Tip-off against Albany is set for 7 p.m. today at the Events Center.

BU VS. ALBANY DATE TODAY LOCATION EVENTS CENTER TIME 7:00 P.M.

Garn qualifies for NCAAs in 800 meter Track and field star clocks a time of 1:48.57 at weekend challenge E.Jay Zarett

Assistant Sports Editor Binghamton star middledistance runner Jesse Garn entered the Sykes and Sabock Challenge at Penn State with one of the most impressive resumes in BU history. On Saturday, the senior added to his list of accomplishments, setting the BU record in the 800 meter event with a time of 1:48.57 and outpacing his competition by a full second.

“The 800 meters has always been my strongest event, and what’s more is that I have consistency with performing well when I run it,” Garn wrote in an email. “Workouts have been going well, and I was confident going into the race that I had a shot to win.”

Garn entered the race coming off a disappointing finish in his previous event. Competing in the New York City Armory Invitational on Jan. 31 — against a field which included a former Olympic medalist— the senior finished the mile with a time of 4:05.84, six seconds shy of his personal record. Such a dominant performance on Saturday was a major confidence boost for Garn.

“Although the Armory Invitational did not go as hoped, I was still able to take positives away from it, and reflect on racing tactics for the next time around,” Garn wrote. “I think the ball is rolling in the right direction again [after the 800m victory], and I feel good going into my upcoming events.”

Garn’s finish of 1:48.57 currently qualifies as the 13th fastest time at the NCAA Division I level so far this season. The top 16

finishers will qualify to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships, held on March 13 and 14 at the University of Arkansas. If the current standings hold, Garn will be running the 800 meter for a national individual title.

“Qualifying for the NCAA Championships has always been the dream, and I have come exceptionally close on several occasions,” Garn wrote. “I believe that I belong at that level of competition, and can have a successful showing. For myself, it would be a massive achievement, and it would be a great reflection of the Binghamton track and field program, especially the coaching staff.”

Other Bearcat athletes found success at Penn State, as well. On the women’s side, junior Alexis Hatcher broke the women’s school record in the mile with a time of 5:00.37. She finished 10th overall in the race. Sophomore Keishorea Armstrong placed second in the 60 meter with a time of 7.62 seconds and fifth in the 200 meter. Overall, the BU women finished 11th out of 12 participating teams.

BU’s men’s team placed eighth in a field of 11 teams. Aside from Garn’s victory, senior Ethan Hausamann finished third in the 5,000 meter race with a time of 14:34.58, while junior Joe Miceli tied for seventh in the pole vault.

Sophomore Jon Alkins and junior Temi Bajulaiye each finished eighth in the 200 meter and 600 meter events, respectively.

Binghamton’s men’s and women’s track teams are scheduled to return to action on Sunday at the Ithaca Bombers Invitational, hosted by Cornell.

The first event is set for 10 a.m. at Barton Hall in Ithaca.

Emily Earl/Contributing Photographer

Freshman guard Jasmine Sina garnered her fifth AE Rookie of the Week award of the season after scoring 22 points against Vermont and 14 over Hartford.

Binghamton falls to Vermont, 72-66 Sina earns fifth AE Rookie of the Week award with 22-point outing Brett Malamud Pipe Dream Sports

The Binghamton women’s basketball team never held a lead against Vermont, suffering its eighth straight loss, 72-66. on Saturday afternoon. For the Catamounts (4-19, 1-10 America East), the win marked the first of the conference season and dropped the Bearcats (4-20, 2-9 AE) into eighth place in the league.

With her performance in the losing effort, freshman guard Jasmine Sina earned her second consecutive AE Rookie of the Week award, her fifth of the season.

Sina scored 14 points in BU’s loss to Hartford on Wednesday and followed that up with a 22-point performance against Vermont, in which she knocked down five 3-pointers. The 5-foot-5 Lake Hoptacong native leads the team in

scoring this season, averaging 14.9 points per game. She also ranks 11th in the nation in 3-pointers per game, currently pouring in an average of 2.96 per contest.

After the Catamounts jumped out to a 20-9 lead in the first half, it appeared that Vermont had the game in hand. But the Bearcats struck back, closing the gap to just two heading into halftime. BU shot 42 percent from the field in the first half.

In the second half, Binghamton managed to tie the score at 45 in the first five minutes, but the Catamounts pulled away quickly.

Propelled by three 3-pointers from freshman guard Sydney Smith, Vermont answered with a 20-6 run to make the score 65-51 with six minutes to go. A late Bearcat push — in which Sina scored seven points — cut Vermont’s lead to five. However, time ran out for

BU, and the Bearcats fell, 72-66.

Smith finished the game with 21 points and six rebounds, adding to the 43 points scored off of the Catamounts bench. Senior forward Kayla Burchill added 15 points and four rebounds. The Catamounts commanded the glass, pulling down 43 rebounds — including 15 on the offensive end, which led to 10 second-chance points. BU, on the other hand, managed to grab just 31.

Sina was joined in doublefigure scoring by senior forward Sherae Swinson, who recorded her sixth career double-double on 12 points and 10 rebounds. Swinson became just the seventh BU player to record at least six career doubledoubles during Binghamton’s Division I era. Freshman guard Imani Watkins also added 12 points.

The Bearcats continued their

prowess at the charity stripe, nailing 19 of their 22 attempts.

Next up for BU is a trip to Albany on Wednesday to take on the defending America East champions in hopes of avenging an 82-49 loss on Jan. 14. Tip-off against the Great Danes (17-7, 10-1 AE) is set for noon at the SEFCU Arena in Albany.

BU VS. ALBANY DATE WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11 LOCATION SEFCU ARENA TIME NOON.