News 1-3

STUDENT LIFE

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Our swimming and diving and basketball Bears rocked the house this weekend. Find out more inside Sports. Page 5.

This week, Scene staffers go thrift-store Can exes remain friends? Our new Scene shopping. See the back page to read all about romance columnist Laura Alexander answers the best bargains in town. Page 8. that question and more inside. Page 6.

VOLUME 127, NO. 43

Yo iPod ears! Forum editor Jeff Stepp has the lowdown on one of WU students’ most annoying habits. Page 4.

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2006

WWW.STUDLIFE.COM

End in sight for MetroLink construction

By Troy Rumans Staff Reporter For many students at Washington University, construction of the MetroLink station near the Millbrook apartments and housing on University Drive has become a common part of the University landscape—making the thought of actually using Forest Park Parkway seem a bit absurd after its prolonged closure.

That’s all soon to change, though. Ten months overdue and $172,000 more costly than originally planned, the opening of the MetroLink station has been confirmed for between Sept. and Oct. 2006.

“At this point, there is nothing that’s going to interfere with opening at this time,” said Cathie Farroll, MetroLink’s Project Communications Manager.

The reason for such delays stems from a number of complicating factors that have come up throughout the construction process.

“At the end of preliminary engineering, when we were

DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE

A now empty length of MetroLink track in the final stages of construction. After 10 months of delay, Washington University’s campus will become a stop on the MetroLink between Sept. and Oct. 2006.

30 percent [finished with the] design, we believed we would be able to complete the project at $500 million,” said Farroll. “Unfortunately,

Career Center sees surge in student interest

By Josh Hantz Associate Reporter The Washington University Career Center’s 2006 Internship Book is bigger than ever, with more than 550 listed employers in the United States and abroad.

Yet this book, which is sent out to roughly 4,000 freshmen, sophomores and juniors for free, doesn’t come cheap.

“There are the costs of production, mailing, staff time of converting it to a book and trying to fi nd new internships,” said Director of Career Planning and Placement Mark Smith.

The book, the third one of its kind, is based on the Career Center’s Web site, where more opportunities are posted and more specific methods of searching for them are provided, including searches by job function, city and keyword.

Only one book will be published per year from now on, rather than two.

“The books are used more for marketing than anything else,” said Smith. “They’re already out of date once they have been published. We would rather [students] go online for better searches, since it is more up-to-date.”

Although the Career Center’s Web site is more up-todate, students might also fi nd an actual book useful, said Smith.

“There’s a chance that students toss them,” Smith said.

“But it’s the same thing as the course-listing catalog. All the courses are online but students still use it. The internship book is more like that.”

Sending the books over winter break also gives students more time to fi nd a job before they return to campus, said Smith.

“Fliers are possible, but we get a lot more traffic going with the books,” Smith said. “I have heard stories over winter break about students using the book and already fi nding a job. It’s a wise use of money.”

Freshman Matt Nordman has found the book useful.

“It’s a great resource,” said Nordman. “It connects students to job opportunities and makes it a lot easier. It’s money

well spent. It’s easier to bring home, and you can look over it with other people.”

In addition to fi nding opportunities through the Career Center’s internship books, students are also visiting the Career Center itself in increasing numbers.

Two years ago, 1,499 students made advising appointments, while last year’s count reached 1,802. This year, students have made 1,776 appointments through December alone.

“We’ve been very aggressive getting to students, and we’re having results,” said Smith.

In addition to seeing more advising appointments scheduled, the Center has also planned seven networking road show trips, an increase from three trips last year and one trip two years ago. Yet these trips haven’t necessarily come about due to increased demand.

“We’ve got to put them out and sell them to students,” said Smith. “They are more for education, and it’s a nice way to sell the University to employers. We also combine mock interviews. We try to be efficient.”

These trips send 10-15 students to a certain part of the country to look at future job opportunities. Although the trips have been successful, Smith said not everything is perfect.

“We’re going to try a lot of new things,” he said. “Some will work and some won’t.”

The main goal of the Career Center is to get students to start early and get ahead, said Smith.

“The hardest part is getting students to work on their job search,” said Smith. “It’s very different from applying to school, and it can be more frustrating.”

Partly due to the heightened interest in the Career Center, it will become a major part of the new University Center with more conference rooms and better accessibility.

“We want to make it easy for students to come by and fi nd us,” said Smith.

For more information, students can visit the Career Center in Umrath Hall or careers. wustl.edu.

we have had a vast array of delays, some due to utility relocations, many due to incomplete designs or design flaws that have delayed con-

struction…and there’s been some additional things that communities have required us to do that are not in the original budget.”

Additional challenges involved in the project also sometimes stymied the production schedule.

“When you go from 30 percent design to almost done, there’s a lot of things that come up. We’ve got a mile of this underground and when you stick a shovel underground, there’s a lot of unknown things that can come up,” said Farroll. “The Forest Park area is the oldest utility area [in the city]. We’ve had to complete close to a thousand utility relocations on the project in the course of the eight miles.”

An incremental fare increase is planned this coming July in anticipation of the new opening.

What is likely to change when the University is better connected with the rest of St. Louis? For one, the omnipresent signs of construction near the Millbrook apartments will disappear.

“They were doing jackhammering at night for a good week...Otherwise, it hasn’t been too bad,” said senior Julia Desmond, who has lived in Millbrook for two

and a half years.

“They’ve been having a lot of bright lights shining into windows,” she added, “but not mine personally.”

Connectivity with the entire city could also change the University in important ways.

“I think it’s the most amazing thing that they put Metro up here. Right now, if people want to go downtown or west, they drive. But now, it will connect the downtown area to Wash. U. and really change the atmosphere,” said Desmond. “It will make it so much easier to do things…It could even change the culture of the University.”

Yet residents of areas surrounding the new station are becoming concerned about the possibility of increased crime. Washington University Chief of Police Donald Strom, however, has assured students that the utmost precautions will be taken to ensure safety.

“Metro is just like any form of transportation,” said Strom. “For people to use it,

See METROLINK, page 2

CAR CRASHES INTO POLE AT BIG BEND AND WYDOWN

DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE

Residents of the South 40 may have noticed the sirens and flashing lights just next door at the intersection of Big Bend Blvd. and Wydown Blvd. on Thursday night when the driver of a Chevy Blazer ran into an electric pole. According to Sergeant Ron Middleton of the Clayton police department, the accident occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. when the driver, a 21-year-old male who was “probably exceeding the speed limit,” lost control of his vehicle while traveling northbound on Big Bend. The electric pole has since been replaced, and the driver, who was “slightly injured,” was taken to the hospital, said Middleton.

Wash. U. soldiers’ stories, Part II:

Trucking across the desert Over the past few months, Student Life has corresponded with several Washington University graduates who have served or are serving in the military in Iraq. Some of these soldiers wrote first-hand accounts of their experiences in the Iraq War, as well as the transition from college to the military. These articles will run as a multi-part series over the course of the spring semester.

Past articles can be found on our Web site at www.studlife.com.

Today’s story, the second installment of the series, comes from Capt. Jenny Pittam, 70th Transportation Company, 28th Transportation Battalion. Pittam graduated from the Art School in 2002 with a concentration in graphic design and illustration. She was an ROTC scholar who agreed to join the Army in order to pay for college. “The Army is fantastic for benefits….They pay for everything,” she said. Pittam was deployed to Iraq in March 2003 as a 2nd lieutenant in charge of a transportation platoon, serving there until Oct. 2003.

She is now stationed in Germany. She plans to leave the Army in June, and hopes to pursue a career in graphic design.

-David Brody

By Jenny Pittam Special to Student Life As we sat there eating lunch at rows of tables in an overly large tent, we tried to keep our sweat to a minimum in the March mid-day heat. All of a sudden, someone cut to the front of the line of people waiting to get in the tent and shouted, “Gas! Gas! Gas! Scud alert!” and ran back out. Everyone lazily turned around and looked at each other, silently

COURTESY OF JENNY PITTAM

Jenny Pittam poses in front of her truck alongside an Iraqi highway. Pittam’s driver, SPC Southern, sits in the cab.

agreed that it must be a joke, and continued eating.

Not twenty seconds later, someone else ran in and yelled, “Scud alert! Everyone get outside!” At that point, we hesitated for only a moment more before grabbing our weapons, our gas masks and our green bags with all of the chemical gear that we carried with us everywhere.

By the time we got outside, we heard the scud alarms blaring from the main camp about a mile in front of us. The sea of people began to disappear into the closest holes in the sand they could fi nd.

I ran with a few dozen other people to a 20-foot container buried underground about 50 feet away. As more and more people crammed in, those of us pressed up against the back of the container propped up our weapons and started to do what we’d practiced countless times— putting on our NBC (nuclear, biological & chemical) suits. I pulled on my gas mask fi rst, followed by my pants, shirt, gloves and boots and as I looked up and saw 35 people doing the same, I thought, “Well damn, I didn’t come all the way to Kuwait to die cooped up in a 20 foot container buried in the sand.”

And so began the war in Iraq for thousands of American soldiers. Not even

See WASH. U. SOLDIER, page 3

2 STUDENT LIFE | NEWS

Senior News Editors / Kristin McGrath and Liz Neukirch / news@studlife.com

STUDENT LIFE

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

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Missouri state senator seeks to ban sale of cold beer

Copyright 2005 Editor in Chief: Margaret Bauer Associate Editor: Liz Neukirch Managing Editor: David Tabor Senior News Editors: Kristin McGrath and Liz Neukirch Senior Forum Editor: Molly Antos Senior Cadenza Editor: Laura Vilines Senior Scene Editor: Sarah Baicker Senior Sports Editor: Justin Davidson Senior Photo Editor: David Brody News Editors: Mandy Silver, Caroline Wekselbaum Contributing Editor: Brad Nelson Forum Editors: Daniel Milstein, Jeff Stepp, Matt Shapiro, Joshua Trein Cadenza Editors: Adam Summerville, Jordan Deam, Robbie Gross Scene Editors: Erin Fults, Sarah Klein Sports Editor: Joe Ciolli Photo Editors: David Hartstein, Pam Buzzetta, Oliver Hulland Online Editor: Dan Daranciang Design Chief: Laura McLean Copy Editors: Allie McKay, Nina Perlman, Kelly Donahue, Erin Fults, Rebecca Emshwiller, hannah draper, Julian Beattie, Mallory Wilder Designers: Ellen Lo, Anna Dinndorf, Andy Gavinski, Jamie Reed, Elizabeth Kaufman General Manager: Andrew O’Dell Advertising Manager: Sara Judd Copyright 2005 Washington University Student Media, Inc. (WUSMI). Student Life is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper serving the Washington University community. First copy of each publication is free; all additional copies are 50 cents. Subscriptions may be purchased for $80.00 by calling (314) 935-6713.

Student Life is a publication of WUSMI and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of the Washington University administration, faculty or students. All Student Life articles, photos and graphics are the property of WUSMI and may not be reproduced or published without the express written consent of the General Manager. Pictures and graphics printed in Student Life are available for purchase; e-mail editor@ studlife.com for more information. Student Life reserves the right to edit all submissions for style, grammar, length and accuracy. The intent of submissions will not be altered. Student Life reserves the right not to publish all submissions.

If you’d like to place an ad, please contact the Advertising Department at (314) 935-6713.

If you wish to report an error or request a clarification, e-mail editor@studlife.com.

w w w . s t u d l i f e . c o m

CAMPUS A sip of George Washington According to calculations

by Bob Criss, an Earth and Planetary Sciences professor at Washington University, everyone on the planet during the year 2005 is expected to drink about three of every billion of the planet’s water molecules.

This number is enough to ensure that a person who

drinks water from city water supplies will consume at least 100 billion billion water molecules that have been in someone else’s body. In fact, every human being has molecules that were in every other living creature weighing at least one milligram that lived up to the year 1005.

Cell phones do not add to cancer risk 1,716 healthy volunteers how long they had been cell phone users, what model of cell phone they had used and how often they made calls on their cell phones.

No link was found between long-term cell phone use and glioma brain tumors.

Protein found that triggers death in cells overloaded with fat Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine have identified the protein, called EF1A-1, which causes death in mammalian cells saturated with excess amounts of palmitate, a saturated fat abundant in Western diets. When

the production of EF1A-1 was halted for the study, cells were able to thrive in large amounts of palmitate.

Cells still producing EF1A1, however, rapidly died at the same concentration of fat.

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drunken driving by making the beer less appealing for consumption on the way home from the liquor store.

Although Alter proposed the bill, the original idea came from a ďŹ fth-grader from Jef-

Stores selling cold beer will risk losing their liquor licenses if Senator Bill Alter has his way. A law prohibiting stores from selling beer chilled to below 60 degrees, Alter hopes, would help curb

ferson County, who submitted it as part of a program to teach elementary students about state government. The student will be a witness in the bill’s hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Largest known prime number found

WORLD

Using a cell phone does not increase one’s risk for cancer, say the results of a four-year survey performed by researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research in London. The researchers asked 966 people with glioma brain tumors and

SXC.HU

With the help of 700 computers left running for years, researchers at Central Missouri State University have identiďŹ ed the largest known

prime number. The team, led by associate dean Steven Boone and mathematics professor Curtis Cooper, found the 9 million digit num-

ber in mid-December. It is known in Mersenne form as M30402457, which is 2 to the 30,402,457th power minus one.

NATIONAL It may pay to listen to professors’ lectures Students who provide evidence of professors expressing extreme left-wing political views in their lectures will get $100 per class from the Bruin Alumni Association, an alumni group at the

University of California, Los Angeles. By accepting tapes and notes from students documenting professors’ allegedly extreme views, the group hopes to expose professors who use lecture time

to advance their criticisms of President Bush and the military. UCLA officials have informed the group that selling such evidence would violate campus rules.

METROLINK v FROM PAGE 1 they want to feel safe on it.

If they don’t feel safe, they don’t use it. I think it’s in the University’s and Metro’s best interest to ensure passenger safety. Metro has been very good about safe-

ty in the past. Given their track record, we expect them to continue providing a safe transportation environment.�

Currently, track is being laid for the new station,

and final preparations are being made to demolish the north platform at the Forest Park station before the new elevator platform can open.

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Senior News Editors / Kristin McGrath and Liz Neukirch / news@studlife.com

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

STUDENT LIFE | NEWS

3

WASH. U. SOLDIER v FROM PAGE 1 one year before, I had graduated from the School of Art at Wash. U. and had my parents pin me at my Army commissioning ceremony. Little did I know then that I would be an active participant in the U.S.’s next war. By the time the fi rst anniversary of graduation rolled around, my transportation company had moved up into Iraq and set up camp in the middle of nowhere in the desert. There was one road leading from Kuwait into Iraq, and we were on it.

By May 2003, we were well established and we had run dozens of convoys into and around Baghdad.

COURTESY OF JENNY PITTAM Ironically enough, we watched much of the war unJenny Pittam does laundry at a makeshift bathroom in the desert. Camps fold on CNN and Fox News. It generally do not have running water or electricity. was odd trying to resolve what we saw on the screen with what was actually happening just north of us. It seemed like two different worlds.

As a transportation company, our mission was predominately to haul food and water to our camps all over Iraq. At fi rst, we carried strapped-down pallets of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) and boxes of water openly visible on our 40-foot trailers. We frequently encountered problems in small towns, where traffic would become congested and Iraqis would swarm our trucks, begging for food and water, and try to cut the cargo straps holding down the pallets.

They would also M A T Y PIT F JENN try and get into TESY O R U O C the cabs of the trucks looking for something to eat.

The Army quickly wised up and realized they needed to containerize our supplies and began shipping everything in Safwan, a town on the border of Iraq and Kuwait, became 20-foot containers. However, if a truck ever broke down the site of the first humanitarian relief effort in Iraq. on the side of the road and Pittam’s convoy rolled through as residents and the media we were forced to leave it, it converged on Red Crescent vans bringing food and supwould be a matter of minutes plies. before Iraqis would appear out of nowhere, slice into the side

of a metal container like it was a tin can and seize everything inside.

When we weren’t hauling rations, we would transport ammunition (everything from bullets to bombs), unit equipment, goods to sell in our onpost stores, military clothing and anything and everything that needed to go north. We attempted to maintain platoon integrity when we went out on missions, and, as third platoon leader, I liked it that way. My platoon was great. I knew them well and they knew how I operated, what made the mission go smoothly, how to work as a team, what made me tick and what they called my “bunny hop” when I was mad at something that went wrong on the mission.

Our fi rst mission into Iraq (and my fi rst opportunity as a convoy commander), kicked off on March 25, 2003 and included 60 trucks in addition to outside units and reporters that requested to tag along once we got to the border-crossing into Iraq. We took truckloads of food and water to the newly established camps with the guys who had crossed the berm into Iraq a few days before. Only a few tents existed in that vast expanse of desert at that time.

Our convoy downloaded our pallets into the cargo-holding area, defi ned by orange cones in the sand, and then moved across the road to line up our trucks for the night.

On the way back into Kuwait the next day, our convoy got held up in the border town of Safwan. As our trucks approached, we saw the villagers crowding the streets and sidewalks and surrounding Kuwaiti Red Crescent vans (the equivalent of our Red Cross). TV cameras and reporters were everywhere, fi lming what turned out to be the

first internaCOUR tional relief mission TESY O F JENN Y PIT T into Iraq.

AM Not even two weeks later, we moved up to occupy and live in that same camp that we’d Sgt. Richardson, a member of fi rst delivered to. The camp was extremely primitive and Jenny Pittam’s unit, ties down consisted of us claiming our a load of ammunition onto a spot in the sand and setting flatbed truck for transport up tents. We had no electricity, across the Iraqi desert. no running water, no floors, but we had food, bottled water and our trucks and got by counter out by a sand berm with what we had. We put our for people to brush their teeth cots on pallets in the tent so and for guys to shave (with they weren’t in the sand. One bottled water). We had metal platoon set up a “shower” in a buckets to go to the bathroom 20-foot container with a buck- in and one lucky person was et, a bottle of water and a pon- in charge of burning the comcho hung up to block anyone pany’s feces once a day. from view; we set up a wooden

COURTESY OF JENNY PITTAM

Jenny Pittam’s convoy group, part of the 70th Transportation Company, 28th Transportation Battalion. Pittam is at front right, kneeling.

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4 STUDENT LIFE | FORUM

Senior Forum Editor / Molly Antos / forum@studlife.com

FORUM

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

Our daily Forum editors: Monday: Jeff Stepp jsstepp@wustl.edu

Wednesday: Daniel Milstein Friday: Joshua Trein daniel.milstein@wustl.edu jctrein@wustl.edu

To ensure that we have time to fully evaluate your submissions, guest columns should be e-mailed to the next issue’s editor or forwarded to forum@studlife.com by no later than 5 p.m. two days before publication.

Late pieces will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

We welcome your submissions, and thank you for your consideration.

Hey you!

New uses for the shapes iPod Ears!

S H STAFF EDITORIAL

ince there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the surprising atrocities left by the underpass in pyramid and sphere form, we have compiled a list of uses for these structures—or at least possible explanations for their existence. There really are no right or wrong answers. Who knows what the hell they were thinking?

1. The shapes could be turned into an adult-sized jungle gym complete with monkey bars and a tire swing.

2. We could use running water and a still pool to accentuate the fountain...er, shapes.

3. We could hold American Gladiator-like events on top of the shapes.

4. Boring mascot? I think not, Emory. Here comes the biggest Jack in the Box mascot ever.

5. Geometry class for Wydown Middle School could be held there.

6. It could always be a graffiti wall.

7. It could be part of the largest Playstation controller ever.

8. Perhaps it serves as a tribute to “Hollywood Squares,” given a little miscommunication.

9. They’re great hiding places for Chancellor Wrighton and David Ader’s escape vehicles if/when Emory attacks.

10. At least they serve as proof that there are worse ways to spend money than plasma TVs in the library.

11. It looks like that guy from Jack in the Box lost his nose. (Similar to No. 4, but not quite the same.)

12. If you lie on the sidewalk, it looks like a spilled ice cream cone.

13. It could be our very own rolling ball of death, should the sphere come loose.

14. We want to know:

where’s the cube? Cube discrimination!

15. The shapes look like a new and interesting place to have sex on campus.

16. At least the shapes are clearly a gathering place for all the intellectual discussions that arise naturally among such an academically focused student body. Just ignore the penis-vandalism and we’re set.

17. It could be an advertising wall, like the underpass.

(Actually, this is what it appears to have become, anyway.)

18. The shapes would make a great party location. Bauhaus 2006, anyone?

Lost white cards swipe our money For the record, I would like it to be clear that even before the events described in this column took place, I was opposed to the “white card” system set up in Millbrook and other residential buildings around campus. Having to swipe into both your suite and your room using a card other than your Matt student ID has always Shapiro seemed both inconvenient and poorly conceived to me; add on the fact that all suite and room doors automatically lock, thanks to the expensive electronic gadgets inside, and in my opinion, you’ve got a pretty stupid system set up. My war against the white cards continued throughout fi rst semester, as it would frequently take me six or seven swipes just to get into my suite, and then another four or five to get into my room. However, toward the end of fi rst semester, I began to overcome my white card induced idiocy and got the hang of how to actually enter my apartment.

Sadly, my joy at being able to access my room in less than two minutes was short-lived.

Over winter break, I received a bill from the University for $50. Why $50? I asked myself, just as you’re surely asking yourself now. Upon further review, it turned out to be because I locked myself out of my room. Twice. Now, some of you out there may think, “Those Forum editors must be perfect people. I bet they never, ever make mistakes.”

By and large, of course, this is true, but even editors are real people, people who sometimes make mistakes. As you can tell, I made two last semester, and unfortunately, the cost for each is $25.

As I later found out, the real problem was not why I locked myself out, but when I locked myself out. If I had locked myself out during business hours, to re-enter my room would have cost merely $5, as opposed to the $25 demanded on nights and weekends. And so for one mistake on a Saturday and one on a Sunday, I’m down $50 to the house, even though each time I was locked out, all I had to do was call the campus police, who alerted the RA on duty at the time, who then let me

into my room. While this may be an extensive and exhausting process, I’m still confused about why it should cost $25 a pop. Shouldn’t I get some sort of “fi rst one free” deal? How about a “two for the price of one” agreement? Slapping on that $25 fee right away seems a little bit harsh, and needlessly so. It’s not like I was trying to lock myself out of my room, that I’m maliciously leaving my white card on my desk so that I can detract from the leisure time of the Milbrook RAs. I understand that $50 isn’t the end of the world. But really, who needs this money more, the school that’s already making $40,000 off me every year, or me, a student, who could do more with $50 than our administration could probably do with $500? Here’s a short list of what I (or any student) could do with $50: -Go out on a nice date.

-Go out on two cheap dates.

-Go out on three really, re ally cheap dates.

-Buy beer.

This is just a short list of the many, many things I could be doing with this money. Yet because of the long walks the RA on duty had to make to let me in my room, this money is

being confiscated by the administration, so that in the future we can have more plasma screen TVs in the library and ugly sculptures set up around campus, in order to raise our ugly-sculptures to buildingsthat-all-look-the-same ratio.

This, of course, is a key component of the U.S. News and World Report rankings.

The truth of the matter is that I have no choice. As I’m hoping to graduate in May, it would be awfully embarrassing to have my whole family fly down to see me in all my cap and gown fi nery, only to be denied a diploma because of a moral stand against yet another goofy University policy. I will pay my $50, but I’ll make sure to learn from my two inadvertent lock-outs this past semester. If I forget my card in my room at night or over the weekend, I just won’t go back to my room until the Village Office is open again.

I’m sure I can fi nd a couch or a street corner somewhere, and I’ll save $20! That must be the solution the school had in mind when they instituted this policy, right?

Matt is a senior in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail at forum@studlife.com.

ello? Can you hear me? Nope. You can’t.

Why? Because you’ve got your earbuds crammed into your inner ear.

MP3 players, especially the iPod, have become almost ubiquitous on our campus, and no doubt on many other campuses around the country.

Not a day passes when I don’t see at least 10 people walking to and from class with those little white cords dangling awkwardly down their faces. It’s the chic, cross-campus travel companion, this ever-present iPod. It allows us to take our hours (often days, even years) worth of music wherever we roam. Portable music makes the time pass more quickly, makes the walk seem faster, and gets us pumped up to study. What a great new-fangled toy, this iPod! Or is it? Having iPod Ears can also be a crutch. Remember walking to class and having to pass that person you don’t know on the walkway…and it’s only you two…and you can’t walk to another path because that would make it obvious you’re avoiding him…and you might have met him drunk at a party…so you just look down, or casually mumble, “Hey.” That brief possibility for real human interaction is erased when you’ve got your iPod Ears.

No need to pay attention to the other person; you’ve got your music to listen to. And there’s no reason to discern if he even says hi, because you wouldn’t be able to hear him!

I love watching people who do know each other (and both have iPod Ears) try to converse.

Here’s a little snippet of a meeting: Guy 1: “Hey! What’s up?” Guy 2: “What?” Guy 1: “I said ‘Hey! What’s up?’” Guy 2: “Hang on, lemme remove a single earbud, because removing two would be wasteful and un-chic!” He does so. Guy 1: “Yeah, I’ll do the same.” Guy 2: “Okay, so what’s up?” Guy 1: “I dunno, I asked you.” Guy 2: “I’m listening to 50 Cent.” Guy 1: “Great. I would talk longer, but I’ve wasted all

this time fiddling with my iPod Ears.” Guy 2: “Yeah, see you later.” Guy 1: “What?”

You ever see these people in Subway? People who listen to their music up until it’s their turn to order, and even then they don’t hear the worker ask them? What about the people who Jeff don’t even Stepp try to remove their earbuds and instead have a conversation at 10 times the necessary volume? Or how about the people who listen to their music so loud that others can actually hear it? Go to the library and see what I mean.

Sometimes I have to slam on my brakes in order to avoid a stray pedestrian sporting iPod Ears walking out into the road.

Hey, doofus! Maybe you want to take those out while playing in traffic. Sorry if I’ve disturbed your “Bohemian Rhapsody.” iPods allow us to block out the surrounding world and focus only on the music in our ears. We see, hear and think no evil but our own. This has its time and place, as I, someone who finds sporadic joy in Emerson’s idea of solitude, can understand. But walking around campus isn’t one of those times. In an age where we meet and interact via increasingly impersonal means (Instant Messenger, e-mail, etc.), can we not spare a few minutes of our time to perhaps catch the ear, and maybe eye, of another living person?

Not all who have iPod Ears exploit them so unnecessarily.

But some do, and I see them every day. If you are one of the guilty parties, give us non-iPod owners a chance. I’d like to meet you. We might just have something interesting to say to each other.

Jeff is a senior in Arts & Sciences.

He can be reached via e-mail at forum@studlife.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Christian music appropriate at MLK celebration Dear Editor: I also attended the MLK celebration and noticed the strong Christian slant to the gospel performance in question.

I must disclaim that I am a white Christian; however, I mean no offense and hopefully am not perceived as just jumping on an anti-secular bandwagon. While it certainly did not meet politicalcorrectness guidelines, I feel that it was justified in the context. Dr. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister in addition to being an activist. The whole night, in addition to being about civil rights, was a celebration of his life and culture. The Visions Gospel Choir sings gospel music. This is almost certainly similar to the type of celebratory music that may have accompanied services led by MLK. Strictly speaking, the singing of the “Black National Anthem” was also counter to inclusiveness; however, I feel that it was perfectly suited to the night since it can be taken as an important part of Dr. King’s culture. As a (hypothetical) analogy, if Ariel Sharon passed away there would be a well-

deserved memorial service, no doubt. What if a student group was selected to perform songs in Hebrew or works otherwise tied to Sharon’s culture? It would fit, and I believe it would not be counter to inclusiveness.

-Pehr Hovey Class of 2008

Student Life is a racist publication Dear Editor: Kanye West started a huge controversy when he said, “George Bush doesn’t like black people.” Unfortunately, the same seems to be true for Student Life.

I am shocked and appalled by the repeated blatant disrespect for African Americans shown

by Student Life newspaper. The quality of this publication must be called into question when the front page of the paper contains THREE separate stories about drug abuse on campus, but the Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration ceremony gets nothing

but a picture. What does that say about the values of this paper and this university? Clearly, nothing positive. And this is not the first time that StudLife has insulted the black race. In the Spring 2005 issue directly following the production of Black Anthology, the AfricanAmerican cultural show on campus, Black Anthology itself got a picture that had nothing to do with the play itself and a caption that conveyed no relevant information whatsoever to the reader. To add insult to injury, this storyless picture was placed right underneath a huge picture of an ex-student who committed a heinous crime. Not surprisingly, this man was of African descent. When the Negroes commit morally reprehensible deeds like murdering people or mugging students, they magically make front-page news. But when they do something good, like attempting to put on a cultural show or give honor to a man who changed all of our lives for the better, we get a picture—and we’re lucky to have that. All this is interesting in light of the long speech Chancellor Wrighton

gave about how this university is attempting to be progressive and antiracist in its practices.

Clearly, StudLife hasn’t gotten that message yet. Student Life is a RACIST PUBLICATION that speaks ill of the values of this community and this university.

And if StudLife is as morally bankrupt as it has shown itself to be, I won’t be surprised if this letter is not even printed.

Step it up, StudLife.

-Jessica McLean Class of 2008

The editor responds Dear Readers: In light of the previous letter, I’d like to take a moment to clarify our News policy.

First of all, when deciding what to cover, our chief concern is that stories are both timely and newsworthy. This year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, while certainly an admirable production, and one which the University community clearly put a great deal of effort

into organizing, is an annual event. More specifically, it is an event that has taken place on campus every year for nearly two decades.

Such recurring events, regardless of whether they are cultural events or general University functions, do not normally merit News coverage. We have no policy that mandates covering all “major cultural events” on campus, nor will we ever adopt such a policy.

As a news organization with limited personnel and resources, we have to prioritize our coverage—and that means, again, covering issues that are timely and newsworthy. The University’s decision to terminate SAE’s housing contract is newsworthy.

Alcohol-related incidents on campus nearly tripling over the past semester is newsworthy.

The University’s defense of its social norming program in the face of criticism is newsworthy.

A celebration that has taken place every year for the past two decades is certainly not as newsworthy as the above stories.

I must say that personally, I’m surprised that a student who

espouses respectful, progressive dialogue between groups and individuals on campus would resort to labeling and name-calling as a means of making her voice heard. While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, Ms. McLean, regardless of its basis in fact, I think you undermine yourself by making unfounded claims about the intent behind our coverage.

But that aside, as far as the questions raised about Black Anthology and our coverage of former University football player Bobby Collins’ sentencing are concerned, those were addressed in great detail approximately one year ago by then-editor in chief Jonathan Greenberger. I will not go into all of that here; Greenberger’s explanation, along with a further clarification of our News policies, can easily be found on our Web site, www. studlife.com, in the Feb. 9, 2005 Letters to the Editor section.

Thank you for reading, and keep those letters coming.

-Margaret Bauer Editor in Chief Student Life

YOUR VOICE: LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS

OUR VOICE: EDITORIAL BOARD

OUR WEB POLICY

Student Life welcomes letters to the editor and op-ed submissions from readers.

Editorials are written by the forum editors and reflect the consensus of the editorial board. The editorial board operates independently of the newsroom.

Once an article has been published on www.studlife.com, our Web site, it will remain there permanently. We do not remove articles from the site, nor do we remove authors’ names from articles already published on the Web, unless an agreement was reached prior to July 1, 2005.

Letters to the Editor One Brookings Drive #1039 Saint Louis, MO 63130-4899

News: (314) 935-5995 Fax: (314) 935-5938 e-mail: letters@studlife.com

All submissions must include the writer’s name, class, address and phone number for verification. Student Life reserves the right to edit all letters for style, length, libel considerations and grammar. Letters should be no longer than 350 words in length. Readers may also submit longer articles of up to 750 words as guest columns. Student Life reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column.

Editor in Chief: Margaret Bauer Associate Editor: Liz Neukirch Managing Editor: David Tabor Senior News Editor: Kristin McGrath

Senior Forum Editor: Molly Antos Forum Editors: Daniel Milstein, Jeff Stepp, Matt Shapiro, Joshua Trein

Why do we do this? Because Google and other search engines cache our Web site on a regular basis. Our thought is this: once an article has been published online, it’s too late to take back. It is irrevocably part of the public sphere. As such, removing an article from our site would serve no purpose.

Senior Sports Editor / Justin Davidson / sports@studlife.com

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

SPORTS

STUDENT LIFE | SPORTS

5

IN BRIEF: The women’s swimming and diving team won the Washington University Invitational this past weekend while the men’s squad placed second. Men’s basketball pulled off a pair of upsets as they knocked off No. 24 NYU and Brandeis University, improving their season record to 12-4.

Bear women swim ahead in University Invitational; men reach second place

By Allie Wieczorek Staff Reporter Washington University’s swimming and diving squads hosted the Washington University Invitational at Millstone Pool on Friday and Saturday. Home-pool advantage certainly played a part as the women fi nished fi rst and the men second overall.

The women’s squad won 19 of the 20 individual women’s events, scoring a total of 947 points, more than 200 points above second-place Lindenwood University, who fi nished with 706 points.

Sophomore Priya Srikanth dominated the diving competition and won both the one- and three-meter diving events with her best scores of the season.

Three University women—sophomore standout Meredith Nordbrock, junior Monica Jones and senior Jenny Scott—took home three individual titles each.

Nordbrock won the 400yard individual medley

with a school-record time of 4:32.97. In the same race, sophomore Jennifer Yu, freshman Alyssa Pagliere and freshman Stephanie Wake took second, third and fourth place, respectively.

Nordbrock also fi nished fi rst in the women’s 200-yard IM and the 200-yard backstroke competitions.

In the 200-yard freestyle event—another event in which the Lady Bears took the top four places—Jenny Scott fi nished fi rst, followed by freshman Kelly Kono, sophomore Katie Hodges and freshman Nicole Keller. Scott also won the 50- and 100yard freestyle events.

The University also captured the fi rst three places in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke relays, both of which Monica Jones won.

Junior Kelly MacArthur and freshman Kim Jenkins took second and third in the 100yard and Jennifer Yu and Kelly MacArthur took second and third in the 200-yard.

Jones also fi nished fi rst in

COURTESY OF JOHN TRIEBE

Freshman Stephanie Wake pulls ahead of an opponent. Wake participated in six different events at the University’s Invitational this past weekend, placing fourth, sixth and eighth in her individual events. the 200-yard butterfly event.

Kelly Kono took fi rst in both the 500- and 1,650yard freestyle competitions

and sophomore Tina Rae Deneweth won the 100-yard butterfly event.

The Bear domination con-

Men’s basketball soars to 12-4 record with UAA weekend upsets

By Andrei Berman Sports Reporter Before a raucous crowd, the Washington University men’s basketball team defeated visiting and nationally-ranked No. 24 New York University Friday night at the Washington University Field House.

The thrilling, come-frombehind upset victory kept the Bears atop the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings.

The game began inauspiciously for the University, as the visiting Violets jumped out to what seemed to be a comfortable 37-22 halftime lead. NYU extended its lead to 17 points early in the second frame, but the University went on a 13-0 run to claw its way back into the game.

Using a combination of three-pointers, offensive rebounds and put-backs and solid ball movement, the University narrowed the score to 44-40.

After NYU extended its lead to nine points, the Bears rallied again. Back-to-back treys by junior Nick Nikitas and senior Scott Stone, then four straight points from sophomore forward Troy Ruths, gave the hosts a 52-51 advantage.

Ruths later cemented the lead as he threw down a tremendous two-handed dunk off of a beautiful feed from freshman point guard Sean Wallis.

This unlikely second-half comeback was sparked by the Bears’ five-for-nine shooting from beyond the three-point arch. The University also held a 45-35 advantage in rebounding

and the dominant inside-outside duo of Ruths (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Stone (19 points, three three-pointers) proved too much for the overextended Violet defense.

In addition to the strong performances by Ruths and Stone, Wallis dished out seven assists along with just one turnover.

On Sunday, the University continued its trend of comeback victories, this time coming from behind to defeat the visiting Brandeis Judges, 61-52.

The guests jumped out to a 36-27 halftime edge, as Brandeis shooting guard Steve DeLuca torched the Bears for 15 fi rst half points. The Judges also owned the glass, out-rebounding the University 26-8 in the early-going.

Fortunately for the Bears, the second half looked entirely different than the fi rst. Much like Friday night’s contest, the University went on a 13-0 run in the second half. After DeLuca opened the second stanza with a basket, the Bears rattled off 13 in a row and took a 40-38 lead.

The score fluctuated throughout the second half, but strong foul shooting down the stretch propelled the Bears to a nine-point victory, a total which belied the closeness of the score in this key league contest.

Ruths (11 points), Stone (12 points), and freshman Tyler Nadling (12 points) all cracked double figures for the University. The Bears moved to 12-4 overall with the win. They remain tied atop the UAA league standings with Carnegie Mellon at 4-1.

The University returns to action next Friday when it hosts defending league champion and national championship finalist University of Rochester

at 8 p.m. at home.

The team will then continue UAA play when they host Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday, Jan. 29 at noon.

tinued through the weekend as the women found success in the relay events; the squad combined forces to form fi ve fi rst-place relay teams. Nordbrock, MacArthur, Deneweth and Scott took the 200-yard medley relay title. Hodges, Jones, Jenkins and junior Katelyn Bryll won the 400yard medley event.

The team of Nordbrock, Jenkins, Kono and Scott fi nished fi rst in both the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays. To top off their successful weekend, the 800yard freestyle title went to Nordbrock, Kono, Hodges and Scott.

While the men’s team didn’t quite dominate the competition with fi rst-place titles the way the women’s team did, they certainly performed with consistent excellence and pulled off a second-place overall fi nish.

On an individual basis, seniors Michael Slavik and Eric Triebe were especially successful. Triebe won the 100yard freestyle event, where

Slavik came in second. Slavik, however, took fi rst place in the 200-yard freestyle event.

Triebe also fi nished the 50yard freestyle competition in second place. Slavik and Triebe also contributed to three team relay titles. They won the 200-yard medley relay with the help of freshman Kevin Leckey and sophomore Geoff Hart-Cooper, the 800yard freestyle relay with the help of sophomore Ross Vimr and senior Cory Zimmerman, and the 400-yard freestyle relay with Leckey and senior Alex Antilla. The last team of four also fi nished second in the 200-yard freestyle relay event.

The Bears will compete next in their most important meet of the season as they travel to Atlanta, Ga., for the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships on Feb. 9-11. It will prove to be a good warm-up and indicator of things to work on for the National Championships, which will be held in Minneapolis, Minn., in March.

WINTER SPORTS UPDATE MEN’S BASKETBALL W STANDINGS Carnegie Mellon 4 Washington U. 4 New York University 3 Rochester 3 Case Western Reserve 2 U. Chicago 2 Brandeis 1 Emory University 1

UAA L 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4

Pct. .800 .800 .600 .600 .400 .400 .200 .200

OVERALL W L Pct. 14 2 .875 12 4 .750 14 2 .875 12 4 .750 10 6 .625 9 7 .563 8 7 .533 8 8 .500

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL W STANDINGS Washington U. 4 New York University 3 Rochester 3 Brandeis 3 Case Western Reserve 2 U. Chicago 2 Carnegie Mellon 0 Emory University 0

UAA L 1 1 1 2 2 2 4 4

Pct. .800 .750 .750 .600 .500 .500 .000 .000

W 14 14 12 12 9 13 5 10

OVERALL L Pct. 2 .875 1 .933 3 .800 2 .857 6 .600 2 .867 10 .333 5 .667

SWIMMING & DIVING WOMEN

MEN VERSUS Lindenwood U. Wabash College WU Invitational

W/L W W 2nd

VERSUS Lindenwood U. WU Invitational

W/L W 1st

PAM BUZZETTA | STUDENT LIFE

Senior captain Mike Grunst lifts the ball into the basket while taking an elbow to the abs. The men played a close game against Brandeis, but pulled ahead at the end for a 61-52 win.

Are you a chess champion?

An extreme sports enthusiast?

An award-winning video gamer?

Or something else entirely?

Let us know! We’d love to report on your offbeat sports achievements.

Send us your story at sports@studlife.com.

6 STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

Senior Scene Editor / Sarah Baicker / scene@studlife.com

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

Romance 101:

Friendship with an ex: the verdict?

They become legends.

The ones who turn out to be so horrible that girls enlist their entire army of friends to make their lives a living hell. Or the ones who bring guys so close to crying that the only solution is to get drunk and scream, “I hate that bitch!” from the fourthfloor balcony. Exes make us scream, cry and desperately attempt to remember when we received the head injury that must have been responsible for us feeling attracted to them. Well, those are the ones who become legends.

But what about those who become our friends?

Freshman year, I sat on my boyfriend’s bed preparing my carefully worded speech in my head. I ended with the obligatory though truthful statement, “I would really like it if we could still be friends.” With an angry snort he replied, “I’ve never been friends with an

ex. It’s not possible.” I was shocked. In the past, dating a guy had always brought us closer together. Slowly, I began to think about other people’s relationships with their exes and question: is it really so difficult to be friends with an ex? Have I just been lucky?

Like any good pre-law student knows, we must look at the entire case to determine whether the ex is guilty or not guilty, or rather, enemy- or friendworthy. The cheating boyfriend who is “too busy with school work” to come to his girlfriend’s a cappella show? Motion for friendship denied! The boyfriend who hugs his ex as she cries because their once perfect relationship is over, though she agrees that long-distance is too hard? The jury finds the defendant friendship-worthy.

The conclusion I have

other girl’s bra was hidden drawn from an examinaunder the covers at the foot tion of many of these cases, of his bed. Akman never enis that the probability of countered these unfortunate post-breakup friendship is circumstances. determinative upon three The outcome? circumstances: the qual“[Now] we talk on the ity of the relationship, the phone about once or twice cause for the breakup and a week and my the nature of the boyfriend is totally breakup. Let us okay with it,” she review a few cases to says. support this concluAkman joins the sion. lucky group who go Senior Sara Akout for an occasionman told me about al catch-up lunch her ex, whom she with their ex rather dated for three than the group who and a half years.

Laura sneaks into the ex’s When asked about Alexander dorm room to ranthe quality of the sack it when they relationship, she are out of town for a basketreplied, “It was good, but it ball tournament. wasn’t exciting. Everyone in Yet there are those who high school thought of us as are not so lucky. For inthe perfect couple.” Please stance, the people who have note there was no mention to sit on the couches in the of him lying about everyWomen’s Building for an thing from why he could not meet her at Bear’s Den for extra few minutes to avoid dinner to the reason anan awkward confrontation

with the ex who has class in LabSci 300. One of these girls described her breakup as, “horrible. It was very sudden. It was like ‘I love you’ one day and then, ‘Oh, sorry, I need to be by myself’ the next day. I got the whole ‘Oh, it’s not you, it’s me.’” The verdict? I won’t even bother to state the obvious.

The stories could go on forever, but the pattern stays the same. Beginning a relationship is always a gamble because you never know what the verdict on your ex will be someday. A great love can be completely ruined by an unfortunate surprise visit to bring good luck cookies to the boyfriend who is “spending all day studying for his chemistry exam.” But sometimes you hit the jackpot and find someone who will still bring you coffee for your all-nighter long after the

breakup.

Would we be good friends with our exes if we had never dated them? Sophomore Charlie Bond does not think so. He explains, “There are just some things you get out of being in an intimate relationship with someone. We are more comfortable with each other than with anyone else.”

Friendships with an ex are not as difficult and rare as pulling off an “A” in organic chemistry. Though the story of the ex who slept with the boyfriend’s roommate a day after their breakup may be more talked about on the freshman floor, there are the exes who sit in Whispers sipping hot tea, much like myself and my once-disbelieving ex, while discussing their weeks.

Is it possible to be friends with an ex? The verdict: absolutely. This trial is over.

LEMON GRASS

Lemon Grass

STEPPING OUT

3216 S. Grand Blvd.

Price Range: $7-$12

By Ryan Jacobson and Matthew Kaufman Scene Reporters

We ventured out to Lemon Grass on a chilly Saturday night, and we knew the evening was going to be a good one when we found a parking space just feet from the entrance.

Lemon Grass, a familyowned Vietnamese restaurant, is located on Grand Avenue not far from Saint Louis University. It lies in the eclectic South Grand neighborhood, where young students brush shoulders with longtime St. Louis residents and where pawnshops share alleys with swanky restaurants.

The first thing that caught our eyes was the large crowd at Lemon Grass, eating and chatting at their tables. We were lucky enough to get one of the few remaining vacant tables. Our initial impression of Lemon Grass was one of cleanliness. We did not see a single insect flying around nor any speck of dirt. The only bugs to be found were the dynamic artnouveau arthropods adorning the walls. They were one integral element in cultivating a modern yet traditional feel at Lemon Grass.

Although English was not our server’s first language, she was quick to greet us and did her best to guide us through the menu. The menu

was huge. For appetizers, we settled on the spring rolls and the Vietnamese chicken salad and were pleased with both. The spring rolls were tasty, but did not roam too far from standard Asian fare. We did detect hints of basil and cilantro, which are commonly employed in Vietnamese cooking. What really made these spring rolls special was the spectrum of sauces found on the table, ranging from spicy to sweet. The chicken salad (Goi Ga) was very different from what was expected.

It was composed of cabbage, fried onion, shredded chicken, carrot and mint.

Most astounding was the aggressive presence of citrus in the dish. Goi Ga is an appetizer in the truest sense: it primed our appetites and imaginations for the entrées to come.

We did not have to wait long before those dishes arrived; we may have even liked a little more time to finish our appetizers. We ultimately sampled a total of four dishes, two chicken and two beef. To start, we tasted their interpretation of General Tso’s Chicken, an old mainstay of ours. The breading was crispy and flavorful and the chicken was succulent yet lean. We

also sampled Chicken with Black Mushrooms (Ga Xao Nam Dong Co). This turned out to be our least favorite dish of the evening.

The meat was equally as tender, but the sauce was uninspiring and its flavor seemed held back. The vegetables in the dish were not especially well presented and we would have liked to see more vegetables native to Asia incorporated. In sum, the chicken dishes were satisfying, but not worth celebration.

The stars of the production were the two beef dishes. First, we delved into a traditional Beef with Broccoli. The broccoli was everything that broccoli could and should be. Its partner in crime, the beef, was brimming with energetic flavor. Then we moved on to a dish unique to the nation of Vietnam, Bun Bo Nuong. It featured thin slices of char-grilled beef and an unusual array of vegetables in a citrus sauce, tossed over vermicelli noodles. The sauce possessed an exotic but enlightening Asian flair. The beef itself was well-done yet maintained the essence of a medium-rare steak. The thinness of the meat made for an interesting dish, but

RYAN JACOBSON AND MATTHEW KAUFMAN I STUDENT LIFE

Ryan and Matthew enjoyed Lemon Grass so much, they’ve vowed to go again soon. it also seemed to let the beef cool quickly, leaving it lukewarm and without its original impact by the time we finished our meal.

We already had our eyes on a few items to order on

our next visit. The menu features several kinds of pho, an entrée-sized portion of soup. Our server also recommended we try rice flour crepes: pockets filled with pork and vegetables. We were

overwhelmingly impressed by the restaurant’s service.

Our glasses of water were refilled promptly and the staff tried to make our Vietnamese dining experience a memorable one.

Spirituality on campus

By Mike Duncan Scene Columnist What was it like growing up in a Jewish home?

I was largely influenced by my father, who was a cantor, or a Jewish minister of music. I grew up going to synagogue every Saturday and taking an active role in the services. My family observed the Sabbath by not using electronics or writing or other things helpful for doing homework other than reading. So that was a hassle at times.

Also, we didn’t drive, except to and from synagogue; that was something that was perhaps more conservative about my upbringing. Not to say that there are good and bad ways to be a Jew, but this is how my family chose to practice. So I wasn’t able to go to dances on Friday nights. We also had fairly strict dietary laws because I grew up in a town a with small Jewish population: Chattanooga, Tennessee.

We had to eat kosher-equivalent so that we wouldn’t starve.

When did your Jewish faith become important to you personally?

I guess it has always been because I

have never known anything else. It has always been a huge part of my life. I guess it has been strengthened by my high school classmates that told me I was going to hell, [since I was] growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt.

So, Christians at school weren’t afraid to tell you that you were going to hell?

Well, they were very kind about it and would try to save me and do what they thought was best for me. They were very concerned for my salvation.

There weren’t many Jews in your hometown. Did you feel marginalized because of your faith?

I defi nitely felt different. There would be times that I would have to explain why I never ate meat from the cafeteria but I wasn’t a vegetarian. I felt left out sometimes when my friends talked about going to the weekend revivals in neighboring towns, but other than those things, it wasn’t that bad.

What keeps you doing the Jewish practices now that you are on your own?

I guess it is the fact that Judaism seems like the most logical religion

to me. Because religion is such a large part of my life, it makes the most sense for me to be Jewish. I get a lot of meaning out of it.

Has Judaism taken on new meaning now that you are on your own?

Yes, because at college, because I am cast adrift from what I knew about observing and doing with my family, I feel more connected vertically and horizontally to other students—horizontally through space and vertically through time. Also, I have been able to encounter other people’s ways of observing Judaism that I had not encountered previously.

When God looks down on you what does he see?

I would like to think he sees a mensch. A mensch is a good person who tries to do the right thing. Judaism is a religion that emphasizes doing the right thing more so than what you believe.

When do you feel closest to God? When I make another person smile.

Did you ever question your beliefs?

I questioned my beliefs as a Conservative Jew while in college, but emerged stronger in them for it. I had some doubts about Judaism in high school, though.

What were some of the doubts that you had in high school?

Living in the buckle of the Bible Belt, at one point I questioned whether Judaism was the right religion for me. I ended up deciding that it was.

What were the differences between your beliefs and the beliefs of your Christian friends?

They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and I felt that, based on using context, the textual evidence did not support that claim. I also felt that a messiah should be able to bring peace the fi rst time around.

If I were interested in becoming a Jew, what would you tell me?

Following tradition, I would try to dissuade you, in order to test your sincerity. Then I would try to share with you the beauty and meaning that I fi nd in Judaism, and refer you to a rabbi if you were still committed to converting.

MIKE DUNCAN I STUDENT LIFE

David Schwartz - Sophomore - Conservative Jew

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

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HELP CHILDREN TO learn Kumon Math and Reading.

Winter Break and Spring Semester.

Kumon Ladue/ Florissant Center. $10$15/hour. Email resume to tdk@cse. wustl.edu or call (314) 993- 9192.

MAD SCIENCE INSTRUCTORS: Enthusiastic instructors needed to teach part-time (after school, 1 to 5 days per week), fun, hands-on science programs in elementary schools. Must have transportation. $25.00 - $27.50 per 1 hour class. Call 314991-8000.

PART-TIME WORK $12 BASE/ APPT. Flex. sched., customer sales/service, scholarship opportunities, all ages 18+, 314-997-7873.

Sudoku

PLAY SPORTS! HAVE Fun! Save Money! Maine camp needs fun loving counselors to teach All land, adventure & water sports. Great summer! Call 888-844-8080, apply: campcedar.com SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER NEEDED. Student Life is looking for a reliable student to manage and maintain our database of of parent/alumni subscriptions. Duties also include sending out weekly mailing. 4-6 hours per week.

Flexible schedule.

Email lcuber@studlife. com.

1 & 2 BEDROOM APARTEMENTS AND houses close to campus. Call Efthim Company Realtors for student specials 314-781-0010.

FOR RENT 1240 HAWTHORNE 63117 1 Bedroom C/ A, gas and hot water included $35/mo. Call for move in specials Efthim Company Realtors. 314-781-0010.

2 pm Thurs.

2 pm Mon. 2 pm Tues.

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WU Student Media, Inc.

Fax: 314.935.5938

FOR RENT 6244 OAKLAND 63139 2 bedroom. Window air conditioner, heat and hot water included. Call to learn more about our move in specials. Efthim Company Realtors Please contact us by calling 314-781-0010.

FOR RENT 7204 SOUTHWEST 63143 2 bedroom central air conditioning.

Unit in very nice condition MUST SEE. Call to find out about our Student Specials.

Efthim Company Realtors Please contact by calling 314-781-0010.

FOR RENT 7552 OXFORD 63105 2 bedroom central air conditioning. One parking space $710 per month. Call to find out about our Student Specials! Efthim Company Realtors. Please contact us by calling 314-781-0010.

FOR RENT: LUXERY one and two bedroom apartment homes located in the Central West End, The Residences at Forest Park. Contact us today by calling (314) 367-3300 for your personal tour!

BRAND NEW DELL 720 color printer in retail box for sale. $49 plus tax on dell.com. Asking only $20 Email huilulu2@yahoo.com.

CHEMISTRY 151/152 LAB MANUAL: $15. Only used for 1st semester. Good condition. henryleesd@gmail.com if interested. (Chem 151/152 textbook also available.)

TWIN MATTRESS, BOX springs and frame in good condition. $20 OBO. Annabelle: 496-7662 or email alburnum@wustl.edu

AUTOS 2004 NISSAN 350Z SILVER, 6-SPEED manual with only 6000 miles. Bose sound system that is loaded.

Car has all the extras features.

List price was over $35,000 and all new owner has to do is assume a low lease payment with an option to buy. Derek at 314-494-0962 or dwin-ters@wustl.edu for more info.

By Michael Mepham Level: Gentle Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk.

Solution to Friday’s puzzle

© 2006 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

Mon. edition: Wed. edition: Fri. edition:

Don’t forget to include a contact number so we can confirm pricing & payment!

AUTOS BABYSITTER WANTED. ONE night per week. Wednesdays from 5:30 - 9pm. Maybe occasional weekend hours as well (once a month).

Interview and references requested. If interested, please call Denise at 862-7584. Job begins ASAP.

7

1/23/06

rent. buy. sell. free.

WU students, faculty & staff may place free classified ads in most categories.

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classifieds

314.935.6713 • classifieds@studlife.com

FOR SALE: ‘01 SENTRA GXE: Auto, A/C, cruise, CD, dual airbags, keyless entry, power, 20xxx miles, extended warranty and roadside assistance until 10/2007. Asking $7800. Call 378-0969 if interested.

FEEL GOOD LATELY? Therapeutic Bodywork.

Revive. Relax. Feel better!

Experienced, professional, licensed.

Jennifer S. Peters, LMT. 314-805-0972. jenspeters @ netzero.net.

Convenient UCity location.

Need a great gift? Gift certificates available!

TYPING AND TRANSCRIPTION services (www.worki nprogressllc.com). Exprtise in all academic formats.

Specializing in qualitative research transcription. Over 30 years experience. Rush jobs welcome! Contact Karen (314-732-0000 or karen@wo rkinprogressllc.com). Conveniently located in CWE.

Advertise for free!

EGG DONORS NEEDED Washington UniverHealthy Women between the ages of 21 and 33 sity students, staff Help Infertile Couples!

Please call 314-286-2425 if and faculty can interested or for more information. The Infertility & place free clasReproductive Medicine Center. Barnes Jewish Hospital sified advertiseand Washington University School of Medicine. ments under most WANTED: USED ROAD bike classifications in good condition. Will pay straight cash. Please contact in Student Life. via email: ckkubatz@artsci. wustl.edu.

Simply email us your ad from your ANNOUNCING Washington UniverPROVEN SYSTEM! EARN $17,000 in 90 days. sity email account.

Learn more. View our presentation: www.whyresidualinc The advertisement ome.com/givemefreedom will run for up to READ STUDENT LIFE online!

Find all of your 6 issues free of favorite sections online at www.studlife.com. Read the charge. Thirty latest news, Forum, sports, Cadenza 24/7. It’s only a click word limit. away!

8 STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

Senior Scene Editor / Sarah Baicker / scene@studlife.com

MONDAY | JANUARY 23, 2006

s e ! o g G n SCENE thrift-shoppi

St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store

SARAH KLEIN | STUDENT LIFE

By Jake Levitas

By Sarah Klein

By Archana Varma

Scene Reporter

Scene Regular Features Editor

Scene Reporter

After depending on Rag-O-Rama for the past year and a half to meet my ridiculous and/or cheap clothing needs, I am thankful to fi nally have a new and even cheaper place to turn: St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. The moment I walked in the front door, I knew it was going to be a place I’d come to frequent. With such a large selection, it is difficult not to fi nd something you like. I quickly wound my way over to the suits and jackets, where I found a vintage powder blue sports jacket—a perfect fit—for just two dollars. Full suits were available for $4, along with $3 jeans and khakis.

In the middle of these racks was an even better surprise for me: an array of used couches and chairs begging to be tested out.

It just so happened that my suite was in the market for an extra couch and a large, extremely comfortable sofa caught my eye. The price? A mere $30!

In addition to the furniture and clothing, there are old tapes, records, books and various trinkets available—all incredibly affordable. For the car ride home, I picked up two cassettes (Fresh Prince & Jazzy Jeff and Ice-T) for 25 cents apiece. At a place like this, you can easily stock up on whatever you need without burning a hole in your pocket.

Forget the claustrophobia-inducing thrift shops of your past, because walking into the huge warehouse of the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store is a breath of, well, slightly stale, air. Not only will your eyes bug at the sheer amount of stuff for sale, but you have never seen lower prices.

For those with a fondness for literature describing lovers in various states of sanity and undress or outdated psychological practices, a myriad of paperback novels selling for 50 cents to $1 fit onto shelves in the back of the store. Intellectuals should not despair—dictionaries and books of famous quotations can be found on the packed shelves too.

The clothing at St. Vincent de Paul is fantastic costume party material, especially if you want to imitate a middle-aged mom with a penchant for beaded vests from the ‘80s. Then again, there are classier rewards for those with the fortitude to dig.

While St. Vincent de Paul is dirt-cheap, it is definitely not sketchy. Both the staff and the customers are very friendly. A kind woman told me where the dressing room was as I started to try on a sparkly shirt over my sweater behind the mattresses. And who wouldn’t be friendly when you can buy furniture for the price of shirt at Banana Republic? For students with the spirit of adventure and at least an hour of time on their hands, St. Vincent de Paul is defi nitely worth a visit.

Banners hanging on the walls explain that St. Vincent de Paul has been listed as St. Louis’ Best Thrift Store by the Riverfront Times, which is most likely due to the store’s wide range of stocked items.

St. Vincent de Paul is not the average thrift store; it sells not only an eclectic assortment of clothing and shoes, but also offers the thrifty consumer discount furniture, books, purses, old-school cassettes and vinyl records.

If you’re looking to furnish an apartment without blowing a hole in your wallet, you can fi nd comfortable sofas and easy chairs for as low as $25. The furniture is the store’s best offer, as a good amount of the clothing is gaudy and tasteless. You might fi nd a decent outfit if you dig around for a while, but probably only if you’re looking for career-wear.

Oh, and a word of warning: the dressing room is hard to fi nd, but it’s there, so make sure you ask about its whereabouts before you start pulling on clothes over your own clothes in the middle of the store.

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Jake Levitas shows off his snazzy new blue jacket and favorite chair at St. Vincent de Paul.

Goodwill

4127 Forest Park Avenue, Mon.-Sat.: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sun.

4140 Forest Park Blvd., Mon.-Sat.: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun.: 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

By Amanda Ogus

By Erin Fults

By Kristin McGrath

Scene Reporter

Scene Special Features Editor

Senior News Editor

Upon walking into the Goodwill thrift shop, shoppers will be struck by the plethora of clothing racks scattered throughout the large warehouse. Divided into sections of children’s clothes, sweaters, jeans and more, the store attempts to create one’s entire wardrobe for extremely low prices (think a few dollars for a shirt). When we sought to scour the store for inexpensive outfits fit for the college student, however, most of the clothing items we found were novelty items to supplement a flashy wardrobe rather than the calm, trendy look that most students wear. From a huge wedding dress, to a gaudy lime green sports jacket and classic early ‘90s high top sneakers, we came up with many fun pieces of clothing for a new twist on a boring look. There were miscellaneous pieces of St. Louis apparel that differentiate this thrift store from chain stores, including an antique oversized St. Louis University sweater. For the shopper looking to inflate her wardrobe with inexpensive, slightly used pieces, or for the shopper needing cheaper pieces for theme days, Goodwill is the perfect place.

Customers walking down the entrance ramp and into the Goodwill thrift store are entering a valley of bargains and potential sartorial pleasures. While the fashions mined from the rows of relatively sizeand style-organized racks may not be on the cutting edge of fashion, there is still a multitude of clothing options. From $3 shirts and garish sweaters to suit jackets and retro skirts, the Goodwill thrift store has something for anyone looking for a bargain, or anyone working on bringing back the old trends or their own trends. Even wedding dresses can be found at prices that might constitute the tax on a regular gown. There is a small section of shoes, but fi nding the right size might prove difficult.

The store is moderately well organized with both men’s and women’s clothing and a small section of household items and collectibles in the back. There is a diverse stock but perhaps not the greatest variety and quantity I have seen in a thrift store. It is hard, though, to resist the often eclectic items. And at these cheap prices, when in doubt, hit the check-out.

It’s almost impossible to fi nd a good set of shoulder pads these days. Fortunately, Goodwill offers racks of torsoenhancing tops to help the Murphy Brown in all of us achieve that elegant triangular shape.

Upon entering the store, shoppers can’t miss the radiation of Day-Glo that emanates from Goodwill’s business attire section. A vibrant spectrum of possibilities for the shoulder pad lover, this section contains shirts, suits and blazers in lime green, electric blue, fuchsia and even in patterns that incorporate all three of these colors.

For the more conservative dresser, a chic mustard-colored skirt and a matching blazer with shoulder pads that the cast of “Dynasty” would envy cost only $8 as a set. The right accessories for your outfit are only steps away, just past the wedding gowns (if you reach the garden gnomes and nativity sets, you’ve gone too far). Throw in a shiny white purse with a gold metal strap ($4) and a pair of white heels with gold buckles ($6) and your ensemble is complete.

ERIN FULTS | STUDENT LIFE

h

ScholarShop

SARAH BAICKER | STUDENT LIFE

Jessica Sommer and Felicia Baskin found outfits that words just can’t explain at ScholarShop.

Scene reporter Amanda Ogus models some of the neon items found at Goodwill.

8211 Clayton Rd., Mon.-Thurs.: 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Fri.-Sat.: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Sun.

By Jessica Sommer

By Felicia Baskin

By Sarah Baicker

Scene Reporter

Scene Reporter

Senior Scene Editor

For the perfect combination of philanthropy and frugality, ScholarShop is the place to go. Lying just behind the Galleria Mall, ScholarShop offers a mix of bizarre track suits from the mid-1980s, dresses from every era and for any occasion and an eclectic mix of accessories. Although lacking a thorough collection of typical thrift store T-shirts, the store proffers cute vintage jewelry and even shoes for those brave enough to try them on.

Standout features of the store included an ornate wedding gown perfectly suited for any bead and lace-loving bride, a metallic dress inspired by the American flag and bras reminiscent of an age before Victoria’s Secret.

Aside from some outlandish pieces of clothing, the truly striking feature of the store is its never ending philanthropic efforts. The store is an outlet for the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis and profits go toward helping students in St. Louis realize their goals of attending college. Through the foundation students can receive interest-free loans and special grants for nursing students.

Whether looking for a Halloween costume or a cheap new outfit, ScholarShop is great place to fi nd new, old clothes while supporting the local community.

The wares at ScholarShop range from dazzling dresses to dinky dishes. The store’s exterior is rather unassuming, as is the collection of goods available inside the store.

The store is divided into sections of different types of clothing and household items. A lot of the clothing found at the shop was actually quite practical and could easily be added to someone’s everyday wardrobe. The designer section even included clothing from designers like St. John’s Knits and Ralph Lauren. The housewares section, however, was really just a hodgepodge of random pieces from different collections of china and bizarre household accents.

On a typical rack of about 50 items of clothing, probably 10 of the items were worthy of a costume party. We found track suits in all shades and sizes and outfits made out of incredibly stretchy and probably incredibly unflattering materials that changed colors in the light. We also found a lot of clothing that looked appropriate for infants, but was made to fit a grown woman. Particularly noteworthy were sweaters so heavily covered with beads and appliqués they were probably heavier than the people who would fit inside them.

In fact, excessive beading was a characteristic that tied together much of the clothing at ScholarShop. The formalwear section was fi lled with dresses and suits that sparkled in the store’s yellowy lighting. Racks were completely crowded with sequins and lace. We found several wedding dresses, a few of which were slightly decent. We also found dresses that were anything but decent—short, tight and pretty much see-through. Though most of the clothing in the formalwear section looked like it was in style decades ago, the arrival dates of the items were all fairly recent.

The store has some choice pieces for wacky outfits, but overall, its best function is to fi ll out a conservative wardrobe, not a collection of stylish or fun clothing.

I’ll be honest—I wasn’t expecting a lot from ScholarShop. I assumed from its name that it was a thrift store with a noble cause, but never thought about actually going inside before working on this story. I’ve passed it probably hundreds of times, as we all have en route to and from the Galleria, but now I might just consider going back—even if it’s just to show my friends that crazy, almost military-like, beaded wedding gown that Jessica tried on.

ScholarShop is a typical thrift store in that it has that unmistakable musk and its floor is fi lled with racks of randomly organized clothing. But unfortunately for me, ScholarShop is not the kind of place to pick up the vintage, child-size soccer jerseys that make up most of my wardrobe. Instead, the store is fi lled with a lot of ‘80s-era business attire, shapeless suits and dresses from who-knows-when and a considerable collection of formal gowns.

If you search hard enough, though, you might be able to fi nd something you saw at Nordstrom’s a few years ago but couldn’t afford. And ScholarShop’s prices are nothing to argue about—while they might be just a tad pricier than Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul’s, they’re still far below what you’d expect, and all their proceeds go to the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis.