The Hoya: The Guide: February 27. 2015

the guide FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015

Performing Against the Odds Despite setbacks, the department of performing arts is nationally praised

MICHAEL FIEDOROWICZ Hoya Staff Writer

Marking its 10th year in November, the Royden B. Davis Performing Arts Center has more to celebrate than an imminent milestone — over the past decade, it has served as the home for the nationally recognized and still-burgeoning department of performing arts.

Utilizing its capacity for interdisciplinary study and social justice activism, the department has claimed a unique and prominent position among other U.S. programs, consistently receiving high praise from the media for the staff’s work.

Yet given the relative novelty of a hub for performing arts programs, students are sometimes unaware of the important and longstanding role that the university plays in inspiring a passion for the arts on campus.

Georgetown was the first in United States history to give out an honorary music doctorate in 1849, with President Zachary Taylor in attendance at the ceremony to mark the occasion.

A century and a half later, this tradition continues to manifest in the form of meaningful student interest in the arts.

“We have over 1,500 students take classes in our academic classes every year,” Director of Theater and Performance Studies Maya Roth said.

Yet it seems that Georgetown’s vast student interest in the arts is expressed as a hobby or as a personal pursuit rather than as a potential career path — the Theater and Performing Arts Studies graduates on average 10 majors and nine minors per year, while music produces approximately six majors in American musical culture and eight minors per year. On a campus where a pre-professional, careeroriented culture is deeply entrenched in our daily lives, an enduring commitment to the arts and to performance studies remains undervalued despite its prominence in campus activities.

Since its founding in 2007, the DPA has also been wracked by a lack of monetary and spatial resources. While the Davis Center has helped alleviate some concerns about theater program space, faculty and students are continually forced to adapt to rigid constraints that affect their daily academics and the department as a whole. ♫♫♫ Performing arts generally fit into two primary categories: theater and performance, and music.

The DPA offers majors in American musical culture and theater and performance studies as well as minors in music, theater and performance studies, and performing arts. It also provides courses in dance and public speaking.

Additionally, 19 performing arts student groups are associated with the DPA through the Perform-

FILE PHOTO: JULIA ANASTOS FOR THE HOYA; FILE PHOTO: DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

Left: the female a cappella group Gracenotes performs at Gaston Hall. Right: Olivia Duff (COL ’16) Conor Ross (COL ’16) in Nomadic Theater’s “Sick.” These two groups receive funding from the Performing Arts Advisory Council, which is directly linked to the department of performing arts. ing Arts Advisory Council. These include all the campus theater groups and, aside from The Georgetown Chimes, all of Georgetown’s a cappella groups.

Membership in PAAC allows student groups to receive funding and programming directly from the academic department.

The DPA owes much of its recognition and praise to an interdisciplinary style that allows the department to draw on Georgetown’s other strong academic areas. This is consciously done to ensure greater, more fruitful interaction between the DPA and general campus life.

Derek Goldman, who serves as the artistic director of the Davis Performing Arts Center, sees the department’s interdisciplinary nature as something that was planned and valued by the DPA. “We’ve really designed the [theater and performance studies program] to be highly interdisciplinary and inclusive,” Goldman said.

At least one-third of the department’s courses are cross-listed with subjects from other departments. Some of the subjects listed on its website include American studies, culture and politics, African American studies, comparative literature, English, women’s and gender dtudies, gilm and media studies, and history. These courses fulfill class requirements across a wide spectrum for students with any level of interest in the arts.

There is a mutually reinforcing relationship that arises from interdisciplinary study, where each of the subjects studied is more comprehensive when understood in the context of other cultural angles.

The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics is the brainchild of the DPA and the School of Foreign Service. Through this joint effort, the lab

has been able to bring several projects such as the Myriad Voices Festival to fruition, drawing cultural figures and important policymakers into the campus arts sphere.

“Through the Davis Center, we are contributing to the intellectual life as well as the distinctive whole-person development,” Roth said. ♫♫♫ The DPA has rapidly risen to success and recognition in the past few years, with its achievements being featured in prominent publications such as U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, American Theatre and PBS. Its students have been honored to perform at the White House as well on international tours and have served as U.S. delegates at the UNESCO World Theater Conference in Peru.

Yet the academic portion of the department is still consistently faced with budgetary constraints and an overall lack of funding, even for things that appear to be basic and essential.

“There is no maintenance fund for equipment and replacement of specific lab needs. … For the Davis Center, that means no university or donor fund to defray costs for technology for theater spaces and classrooms [and] predictable repair of theatre-specific equipment, from fire curtains to lighting equipment to orchestra shells to painting for floors [or] walls to multimedia upgrades and replacements,” Roth said.

Because the DPA has outperformed its relatively low budget and produced at a very high level, there may be hope within the administration that it will find a way through its financial problems.

“One of our challenges is how successful we are because we are delivering more than really our resources would suggest is possible,” Roth said.

This lack of funding is far more prominent in the music program, which is not able to utilize the Davis Center to the same degree as the theater and performance studies program. The program also has an extremely small budget of $15,000 dollars, an amount that hasn’t changed since the DPA was officially established in 2008.

“We’ve been forced to basically have a lab fee.

When orchestra has its concerts, it’s either going to be in the Gonda Theatre or its going to be at Gaston [Hall],” Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music and Music Program Director Anna Celenza said.

“But, for us to use that space, we have to pay for it, so the lab fees are basically covering [that]. Because it’s weird, the university is charging us for these spaces basically to give the equivalent of a final exam. It would be as if an English class had to rent the room in which it would give the final exam,” she said.

Because of its lack of official performance space, the music program has been cornered into an unusual predicament.

“Many spaces on campus (like Gaston and Lohrfink) are maintained by [the Office of Planning and Facilities]. Others, like classrooms, are maintained by the registrar’s office. My understanding is that any group that uses OCAF spaces has to pay a fee. When we use a classroom space like McNeir Hall for a recital or the Friday Music See ARTS, B2

THIS WEEK ARTS FEATURE

LIFESTYLE

Diversity in Dance BMDT pulls its choreography from stories past and present KATHERINE PIETRO Special to The Hoya

Self-Taught Artist on Display

“Mingering Mike” is the alias used by a local artist, whose historical and emotional pieces examine life in D.C. B3

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Native Foods Takes to the East

The famous West Coast all-vegan, glutenfree food chain has finally expanded its reach to Washington, D.C. B5

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Saul Goodman Returns

“Better Call Saul,” the “Breaking Bad” spin-off, brings familiar faces back to AMC. B6

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s ideas of individual and social truths are the inspiration for the Black Movements Dance Theatre’s upcoming show, entitled “Truth Be Told.” Encompassing themes of love, sadness, resistance and oppression, the BMDT dancers and collaborators tell the stories of personal and collective truths.

“As dancers, as artists, we’re storytellers, so it’s about defining our truths. So the pieces in this show range from very personal things — like dealing with a breakup — to, we have a piece about Martin Luther King Jr.,” BMDT co-director Alexandra Ciejka (MSB ’15) said.

Assistant Director Raquel Rosenbloom (COL ’16) agreed that the new production will be expansive in its thematic exploration.

“We are working to expose the truth in different ways, and we have various pieces — civil rights pieces, a piece that is all about being in the truth and resisting the truth,” she said.

The pieces are more than a culmination of choreography; the performance is more than a recital or showcase — “Truth Be Told” is a theatrical experience. Balancing movement and drama, the BMDT dancers use

dance as a means to express themselves and their stories.

But this does not mean that the dancers aren’t also technically impressive.

Unlike any other dance company on campus, BMDT is difficult to define because the dancers are so diverse in background and experience, so their pieces consistently vary in style. There are sequences of very classical ballet and lyrical movements that are moments later contrasted with the sharp, strong and heavy modern-based movements. This juxtaposition is also experienced through the musical choices, which range from classical music to African drumbeats to contemporary, high-energy instrumental pieces.

Ciejka confirms that this is not particular to this show, but it is very characteristic of BMDT. “We’re definitely a technical dance company, but we are also a dance theatre, so it is really about expressing ourselves and having a clear, cohesive show with a theme. We do a lot of modern … but we also do African, we have dances in the show that are lyrical, and I’m choreographing a tap dance, so it’s a very wide variety, stylistically,” she said.

BMDT was established in 1981 in an effort to create a dance company that reflected the cultural and ethnic diversity of Georgetown and that focused

SOPHIE FAABORG-ANDERSEN/THE HOYA

The Black Movements Dance Theatre is inspired by historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr. to create powerful themes and emotions. largely on the African roots of modern and traditional dance styles. The group continues to see this mission through by utilizing the skills of each individual dancer, moving

through solo, small and large group sequences to allow the audience to connect with the personal experiences of the See SHOWCASE, B4

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friday, February 27, 2015

FEATURE

Budget, Space Constraints Mire Arts Department ARTS, from B1 Series, we do not have to pay a fee, because it is designated by the university as a classroom. But there are no ‘classrooms’ large enough to host an orchestra concert, so we are charged fees by OCAF every semester even though the performance is a required activity for the academic course,” Celenza said.

Conversely, PAAC-affiliated student organizations tend to run smoothly in terms of finances.

“If you can be a PAAC group, you will get pretty good funding. They’re good with special requests,” Andrew Walker (SFS ‘16), director of “Killer Joe,” the upcoming co-production from Nomadic Theatre and the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society, as well as co-founder and co-chairman of the Georgetown University Student Association Subcommittee on Creative Expression, said.

Alex Smith (COL ’17), who serves as musical director of the Georgetown GraceNotes and is an expected music minor, concurred, citing her own experiences in her a cappella group.

“In terms of travelling and performances, we’ve always been able to do the things we want to,” she said.

This trend of stable PAAC funding is influenced by the university’s distinct stress on student initiative. Yet, despite its needs and its excellent staff performance, the DPA itself is not receiving the same sort of funding. ♫♫♫ Coupled with this problematic budget is a lack of space for student endeavors. The music program, which already suffers from a small budget and from the added costs for using campus performance locations, has been most affected by this problem.

Even though Georgetown has a rich musical history, with over 100 years of student participation in ensembles and a strong a cappella culture, the academic music program lacks its own collective place for students and staff to gather on campus.

“The music faculty is divided up in four different buildings: Poulton, New North, subbasement of New North and Reynolds. So it’s hard to have a unified faculty when [they] are not in the same building” Celenza said.

According to Celenza, the fact that there is no unified, representative space for the music program creates misconceptions about the program.

“People from the outside come in and look around and say, ‘Oh, well there are no facilities, there must not really be a music program,’” she said.

The program does in fact offer a minor as well as major in American musical culture, which emphasizes the department’s interdisciplinary approach.

Courses analyze music from all angles, branching into topics of management, media, business and journalism. With an educational emphasis on careeroriented skills, the program has created an extensive network among art and media organizations throughout the District. Among these institutions are

CBS, the Kennedy Center, NBC, NPR, PBS and many other big names that offer internships to music students looking for hands-on experience.

The lack of space reveals another more glaring problem for the program — it simply does not have areas in which students can rehearse or record in a consistent fashion.

“Just about any place on campus, you will get sound leakage; either the people playing will interfere with other people or other stuff is going to bother the recording. It’s possibly the biggest problem the music program has,” Angelique Barbeau (COL ’16), a music major and treasurer of Hoya Breaksquad, a campus dance group, said.

Prior to attending Georgetown, many students were involved in some form of music. In fact, Georgetown’s class profiles list band/orchestra as one of the more popular high school activities among those whose choose to enroll.

Yet, the campus lacks the strong facilities that could foster these interests during college.

Space concerns are strongest within the music program, but they pervade the entire DPA to differing extents.

“Dance faculty [members] don’t have any office space, and the dance studios in the Healey Family Student Center — they’re beautiful — but they’re a third of the size and have to be shared by more groups. Although they look nicer, they’ve actually forced us to make the dance classes about five students smaller,” Celenza said.

Problems arise not only in the need for more physical space, but also in the allocation of existing areas. GUSA’s “Report on the State of the Arts and Creative Expression” reveals that most student performing arts groups are concerned with the limited amount of rehearsal space, and frustration is only exacerbated by the administration’s indirect responses with regard to this space shortage.

“PAAC does the best they can in terms of [space] allocation, but the place they can improve is in transparency with it. If I want to rehearse in this place at these times and they say no, there’s not really a strong connection of why not — it’s not, ‘No for x,y,z reasons and there are these times instead,’” Walker said.

The Davis Performing Arts Center’s was meant to alleviate this lack of space.

The $30.8 million project was funded entirely by donations, with the mission of becoming Georgetown’s first building dedicated solely to arts education.

Although it has indeed helped gather students of similar passions under one roof, for students and faculty current involved in the arts programs, there just doesn’t seem to be enough space to go around. ♫♫♫ There is a general assumption that establishing a stable career with a degree in the arts is difficult at best, but this does not hold true for those coming out of Georgetown’s DPA. As a result of the approaching anniversary of the Davis Center, an external evaluation of

File Photo: Julia Anastos For The Hoya

While a cappella groups like the Phantoms have less of a problem getting funds from PAAC, the academic music program has chronically struggled with a mere $15,000 budget and fees for performance spaces. the DPA was recently conducted.

In terms of alumni performance, the music program has had very impressive results as well, which goes largely unrecognized. Celenza discussed the results of the external review as it specifically pertains to the music program.

“They evaluated our classrooms, what we’re doing in our classrooms, what our students are doing and as part of that, we went back and tracked what all our music alumni are doing.

We have a 100 percent placement rate in jobs in music or graduate school,” she said. “We have people who have won Emmys for songwriting — one of the biggest songwriters, Jim McCormick [CAS ’90[, in Nashville right now, is a Georgetown grad. Bill Danoff [CAS ’68[ wrote “Afternoon Delight” — he’s a Georgetown grad.”

For a program with such success in its field to remain relatively unrecognized on campus is a vexing situation.

“When kids come to Georgetown and say that Georgetown doesn’t care about music, that gets a little frustrating,” Celenza said. ♫♫♫ The DPA has become nationally recognized for its unique approach to the arts, and its greatest achievement lies in its ability to create a small, loyal community surrounding its various projects.

This strong sense of community stems from the passion and love that the DPA’s faculty and dedicated students have for performing arts.

“I think the faculty is great, they’re really committed to their jobs, and they seem really invested in teaching and inspiring the students to get really into it. The other students are also really committed. To come to a school like Georgetown and do the arts means

that you have to be committed,” Barbeau said.

Few individuals pursue majors in the DPA, and this intimacy has created a very intimate group of individuals with a shared passion.

“The arts department is really closeknit. We’re not like exclusive, but we do really care about each other, so when we find someone who’s also a major, we just about know everyone else ’cause it’s small enough. We all get along; we enjoy spending time with each other,” Barbeau said.

Even though the faculty, classes and student groups are all vying for the same space and funds, there exists camaraderie among those in the performing arts. The department works from within to create interdisciplinary seminars and creatively address its shared hindrances, which requires the collaboration of students and faculty across the different programs.

Walker finds that faculty support from the DPA in the execution of his play “Killer Joe” has been extremely productive.

“All of the faculty, especially the cocurricular adviser, is heavily involved in the process, and so is our technical adviser; they’re both employed by the department, and we couldn’t do the play without them. They have been invaluable resources. The fact that they have made themselves available for a play that is not a department play is really something special,” he said.

This kind of internal coordination indicates that the DPA is a very a cohesive unit, regardless of its different branches and constrained resources.

“The relationships feel really constructive, positive, collaborative. There were tensions in early years because so much was unknown; the groups were worried about their autonomy. But, the more years that go by, I see very little of

that,” Goldman said. “There is an awareness of this ecosystem and that we are all interdependent and the success of one fuels the success of the other.” ♫♫♫ Despite Georgetown’s pre-professional mindset and the setbacks placed on the DPA, the high number of students who either enroll in courses in the department or participate in performing arts groups on campus indicates a continued, campus-wide desire for artsrelated outlets.

“The Department has a unique way of bringing together students from all different schools and grades, and in the process we are able to combine our many gifts to create something beautiful for both ourselves and the Georgetown community,” Daniel Frumento (COL ’18) said.

Frumento is planning to declare a double major in government and performance studies.

“I have passions for both, but theater can give you the confidence you need to work in government and teach you how to behave on the spot to in-the-moment situations,” he said.

The Davis Performing Arts Center’s upcoming 10-year anniversary marks both the continuing growth and struggles of the department of performing arts. Faced with a lack of funding and space, the DPA has been forced to come up with less-than-ideal alternatives to accommodate its programs. Yet, its positive media recognition, its exceedingly high alumni performance and its praised interdisciplinary community have developed despite these shortcomings. While it may not receive the most tangible benefits for its work, the DPA’s resilient and adaptive way of thinking remains one of Georgetown University’s most prized assets.

center stage

Tombs Employee Raises the Bar Jonathan Quigley’s time as a bartender is illustrated through a mix of personal and professional experiences hannah kaufman Hoya Staff Writer

Jonathan Quigley is a man of many talents. A lawyer by day, a bartender by night and a father to three children 24 hours a day, Quigley has somehow managed to balance the different aspects of his life in a way that is sure to make current college students envious. Since he began working at The Tombs Restaurant and Bar over a decade ago, “John Q” has become a dynamic and familiar face within the Georgetown community.

What first attracted you to a job as a bartender?

Well, like most bartenders, I didn’t start off tending bar. I waited tables — which is way harder. Working at the best college bar at one of the best colleges in the country is a dream job for any bartender. Unique to working at a college bar, though, I’m fortunate to get to know a new senior class each year.

How long have you been working at The Tombs, and what has your experience been like?

Isabel Binamira/The Hoya

Jonathan Quigley is a bartender who works at The Tombs. His quirky talents and jam-packed life have become well known among students.

I started in 2003 while a senior at Catholic University. My best friend from high school was working at The Tombs while getting his master’s at Georgetown and my college band had played there a couple times. It was a fun place, so getting a job at The Tombs was a nobrainer.

The last 12 years have been the best years of my life, and The Tombs/1789 has been a backdrop for so many of those memories. It’s where I met my wife, where we held our rehearsal dinner, where we celebrated after our children were baptized (My oldest child was baptized during “Snowmageddon.” In 2 feet of snow, William Watts, the General Manager at the time, shoveled a path from the front door of 1789 to the chapel steps at Holy Trinity so my friends and family had a place to go for dinner) and so many other special occasions. It’s also where all of my friends from up and down the East coast gathered after one of my best friends from college died tragically. It’s as much of a home to me as any place I’ve lived.

John and Ginger Laytham and Sally Davidson, who own Clyde’s Restaurant Group, have been very kind to my family and me over the years. I’ve had three extraordinary general managers, all of whom I’ve learned from, and countless Tombs managers that have been incredibly supportive of me. With little exception, the Tombs staff is intelligent, witty, engaged and extremely hardworking students, and it’s a privilege to be part of that team.

I’ve had three kids in four years while attending law school at night and bartending on the weekends and it would not have been possible without The Tombs.

What is it like transitioning from the

atmosphere and state of mind of being a lawyer to that of being a bartender at The Tombs?

Actually, transitioning from being a lawyer during the day to bartending on the weekends has been pretty easy. I’m lucky now. When I’m at the office, I’m only thinking about law. When I’m at The Tombs, I’m only thinking of taking care of guests, and when I’m home, my head is clear and I can focus on my family. When I was a student, I was taking care of at least one infant or toddler during the day while trying to study and then going to school at night. On the weekends, I was a slave to law review and then had to head to work at The Tombs. Law school is tough. After you survive it, you have a new appreciation for time management.

Could you say a little bit more about your family? How do you balance it all?

My wife Molly and I have three kids, Conor (5), Grace (3) and Finn (1). How to balance it all? Find a great partner.

Life is better when you can share it with someone. And when in doubt, put your faith in a working mom. They seem to have magic scheduling powers.

Sure, the weekends are still tough.

Bartending is a physical job and I get home at 4 a.m. or later. Kids don’t really have an appreciation for “sleeping in.” They do, however, have an appreciation for baseball, dolls and Legos, all of which I get to enjoy with them before I go to work.

How long do you intend to continue bartending?

I’ll continue to do it as long as I feel I can give my best to both jobs. Molly and I are dedicated to investing in the best education possible for our children.

Conor and Grace are currently thriving

at Catholic school. Working a second job is helping make that possible. Also, daughters are expensive.

Apparently you’re very good at open mic. Is performing at open mic a usual occurrence?

Sounds like you haven’t checked out Live Music at The Tombs yet. You really should. They have a great guy, Brent, who plays a lot of Sundays. He’s an impressive musician and has great originals. But yes, I do get to play at The Tombs occasionally. I’m a classically trained vocalist and have been playing guitar since I was 12 years old. Although my life is really full now, I don’t truly feel like myself unless I play music every once in a while. Music defined a big part of my life, and although it’s hard to find time for it now, it’s even harder not to.

Can you tell me about the most memorable story you’ve had while bartending?

Hate to sound like a Vegas commercial, but honestly, I think most bar stories should stay at the bar.

Do you have anything else to add?

I think having a place in the neighborhood where you can gather as companions — break bread together — is integral to being a part of a community. The Tombs strengthens friendships and nurtures relationships. I also think that, somewhat unconsciously, The Tombs embodies Jesuit values: they value education, they strive for excellence and they care for the whole person. They cared for and nurtured me, and countless other students and neighbors. It is much more than a restaurant, and much more than a college bar. It has become part of who I am.

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friday, FEBRUARY 27, 2015

Life Unlabelled

THE HOYA

B3

Arts FEATURE

DC Poverty in Art

Patrick Bylis

Finding Acceptance In Fitness I

have always been a skinny guy. My doctor once told me that I have the fastest metabolism he has ever seen.

I am incapable of counting the number of times I’ve been called “a twig” or “chicken legs.” I have yet to find a pair of pants that truly fits me (though that may be because I have a donk), and for me, “lanky” is not just an adjective, it is a way of life.

I most definitely have a love-hate relationship with my body. I am completely comfortable walking around in my underwear, no one can rock a pair of Jordans like I do and I walk into a club the only way I know how to — f lawlessly. Yet a part of me, the part that contains my insecurities, sees my body differently.

This part of my psyche is dissatisfied with my body; it demands that I change my figure. It is tired of being the skinny boy, an identity that has shaped and defined me for my entire life.

When I think about guys I am usually physically attracted to, I would say that I have a type. Though this type is not a hard rule, and though many who I find attractive do not fit into this mold, I frequently go for the more athletic, buff guys. As my friends can attest, muscular guys make me swoon (loudly) on a daily basis. In many ways, because of my sexuality, this attraction has a direct correlation to my body image.

Gay culture posits an enormous pressure to become attractive for other men.

Straight guys often have body image issues of their own; however, straight guys don’t necessarily ever feel this unique type of pressure. No matter how attractive he may find a woman, for the most part, a straight guy will not desire to emulate for himself or for his body those traits that make the woman attractive to him. Though not every man who is attracted to other men feels this pressure, the basic logic is pretty sound: If one is usually physically attracted to a certain type of person (i.e. muscular guy), and that type of person falls within one’s own gender identity, it makes sense that one would desire to emulate that body type.

Senior year of high school was the first time I stepped foot in a gym. I was terrified. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and as my friend Danielle took me around the gym and showed me different machines, I almost laughed at how ridiculous I felt. Although I went somewhat irregularly last year, it wasn’t until this past summer that I started going to the gym more frequently. I began to see the gym less as something alien and more as a real opportunity. I had never been extremely dissatisfied with my body image before; yet, the gym became a vehicle to mold my own body to what I find attractive and to fulfill the intense desire to become muscular that was lingering in my subconscious but had never fully emerged. The skinny identity that I thought would always remain with me did not seem as permanent and unchanging as it once did.

Reflecting on this process of molding my body, I have come to realize where much of my negative body image comes from. In my fervent quest to become muscular, I have seen the various ways in which I have not appreciated and still do not appreciate the skinny body that I already inhabit. In the face of a gay culture that celebrates men with washboard abs who live every free moment of their lives in the gym, it has been easy for me to succumb to insecurity and to see my body as wrong, negative and something that should not be celebrated. This tendency is apparent in the way in the guilt I often feel when I cannot make it to the gym. It is apparent when I put way too much pressure on myself to finish that one last bite of grilled chicken. It is apparent when I look in the mirror and feel that my body is inadequate.

Yet, by making the way in which I do not appreciate and love my body enough so blatantly obvious, this process has also allowed me to grow. There is nothing wrong with having fitness goals as the determination, commitment and ultimate satisfaction that I have learned from my fitness journey so far are invaluable. Yet, the place from which I come when going through this process of achieving “gains” is crucial: It must be from a love of self and a love of body. I must continually remind myself to appreciate and adore the body, my current body, that allows me to jump around and make a scene wherever I go, that aids me in expressing my thoughts and my emotions, that brings awkward, lanky dance moves to a whole new level entirely. Skinny, muscular or somewhere in between, my body rocks simply because it is mine. Regardless of anything, I am a stud muffin, and I will never allow myself to forget it.

Patrick Bylis is a sophomore in the College. Life unlabelled appears every other Friday.

Local artist’s work displayed at Smithsonian Emily Welch Hoya Staff Writer

For the very first time, the work of the selftaught Washington, D.C. artist known by his alter ego Mingering Mike is on public display.

This exhibit is the manifestation of a youthful fantasy coming true, an underdog story that is finally being told.

Mingering Mike grew up in poverty during the ’60s and ’70s, and long dreamed of being a soul singer and songwriter, regarding music as both a passion and an escape from the drug-infested neighborhood he lived in. In search of his dream, he began to draw record label covers on cardboard, fashioning discs with hand-drawn grooves to accompany his records. Sometimes he would sing his songs into a record player in his parent’s bathroom, producing his records for “Fake Label, Inc.” and “Capitol Records,” making the dream no longer truly imaginary.

Mike continued to create art. He manufactured LP albums made from painted cardboard, original album art, song lyrics, liner notes, selfrecorded 45 r.p.m. singles and other auxiliary material. His body of work tells the story of a would-be dream and the struggle of a timid outsider making sense of the discriminatory world around him through his drawings.

Just after Mike “released” his double album “The Mingering Mike Show: Live from the Howard Theatre,” he received a letter in the mail from the United States Army officially drafting him to fight in Vietnam. Terrified, Mike disappeared, going into hiding. Underground, he continued to make LPs, moved by fear and resignation.

When Carter pardoned draft dodgers in 1977, Mingering Mike was able to get a job as a security guard, so he locked away his art collection in a storage facility, where it remained for 11 years, until he missed a payment. The owner then auctioned all his work off to a local Washington flea market, where “record digger” and criminal investigator Dori Hadar happened to be in 2003.

Hadar found the albums and then made it his mission to find Mingering Mike. Both men agreed to let the Smithsonian American Art Museum restore and preserve his full body of work. The exhibit, “Mingering Mike’s Supersonic Greatest Hits,” opened today and will be on display until Aug. 2. There will be several programs including a curator-led gallery talk and a “Supersonic Rewind” dance party open to the public.

Leslie Umberger, the curator of folk and selftaught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, says the collection operates on many levels; not only does it speak to the AfricanAmerican culture in Washington during the civil rights movement, it also serves as evidence of a larger achievement.

“For Mike, it’s this dream and the embodiment of democratic ideals that you, too, could come from nothing and be regarded as a huge success. He never thought that was something that was going to happen, yet it really has happened,” Umberger said.

Mingering Mike’s diverse and vivid record cover illustrations trace the dual identity of

MINGERING MIKE

Mingering Mike is not only a D.C. native, but he is also a self-taught artist; much of his work relates to the impoverished conditions that he experienced while living in D.C. the Capitol, illuminating the idea of a divided Washington. His fake superstardom led him to sing at trendy D.C. music venues like the Howard Theatre. Countless other records make reference to his favorite music spots, radio stations and stores in the District, including Waxie Maxie’s, a local record store chain.

“It’s a large body of work with so many layers. The visual art is one thing but then you peel back and you realize he has written all of this stuff on every corner of the album, inside and out. It just takes you on a journey that is really enjoyable and enriching and it is kind of like a diary -- you end up feeling like you know him really well, even though he still is a total mystery,” Umberger said.

Mike’s work is undeniably exquisite, yet people have a tendency to approach self-taught art with skepticism, thinking that it does not hold the same significance as professional grade art.

“I think that the skepticism has a lot to do with people presuming skill and training is everything in art and that if it looks unprofessional or unpolished that it must not be very good or very important. I think what a body of work like this can do is help people bypass that and have an emotional encounter with the work where it takes you back to a time and a place and a person putting down his creative dream and having it -- regardless what level it’s executed at,” Umberger said.

Mingering Mike’s work is historic and inspiring. Although the process of restoring the work proved to be challenging, the record labels that were once musty and damp from sitting in a storage unit are now refined and encased in glass for the world to see, preserved by the country’s most skilled conservationists.

Tracks like “The Ghetto Prince” and “Darlene, Come on Back to our Side of the Track” illustrate the concerns Mingering Mike had about the “dark side” that he saw far too many friends and neighbors turn to, resorting to drug dealing and prostitution as a way out of poverty.

The “ghetto prince” drawn on the inside of the record appears to be handing drugs to members of the neighborhood while on horseback.

Tracks like “The First One’s Free” and “Confusion” reference the temptation of a dangerous lifestyle.

A handful of his other records echo the same message: Even if you might be struggling, keep your head up and stay on the right path. His record “Grooving with Mike” reads “Don’t be no fool/Get your thing together and go back to school.” Mingering Mike sought to lift himself and others up through his drawing and lyrics, though he never actually sought out fame or an audience.

Despite the fact that his work is now being displayed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Mingering Mike refuses to reveal his true name and identity, fearful and insecure about how this disclosure would affect the way the people in his daily life treat him. Even though many of his relatives and friends inspired the characters that appear throughout his work, he has yet to tell them about the Smithsonian’s acquisition.

Mingering Mike’s anonymity is no hindrance to his popularity. Since the resurrection of his work, Mike has gained a cult following and garnered praise from educated artists and music fans alike. “Mingering Mike’s Supersonic Greatest Hits” is not just an exhibit — it is a touching story that everyone should witness.

Arts Feature

Improv Festival Keeps Things Light Grace wydeven Special to The Hoya

‘M

y sweet prince!” “Grapefruit!” “Auurrghhh!” “Cross-country skiing!” shouted members of the audience.

These random and unrehearsed phrases were the foundation for the improv acts of students from SUNY-Binghamton, Columbia College and Georgetown this past Saturday. This followed Friday night’s routine, which featured groups from the University of Maryland, George Washington, George Mason and Ohio State. In the cozy Bulldog Alley auditorium, each act got the chance to perform its own unpredictably hilarious improv show.

This year marked the 19th annual Improv Festival at Georgetown, and it certainly did not

ISABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA

The 19th annual Georgetown Improv Festival included multiple different university acts.

disappoint. The acts followed the long improv form that typically casts the audience as the starting point and then takes on a life of its own as the groups allow the sketch to evolve in whatever direction pops into their heads — all in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds.

In more technical terms, the improv groups have three very standard techniques of long form improv called tap-outs, cuts and callbacks. After being given a topic or category, the groups may “tap out” a character, during which they take someone else’s place in the act, but the context remains the same. Cutting a scene is when a group member stops the scene, and a new skit ensues.

Employing callbacks is when a group member shouts something in the middle of the sketch to give the scene a new or different context.

But aside from defining these techniques, the improv shows themselves are far from formal. Often polling the audience for random shout-outs and relying on simple spontaneity, the groups manage to make seemingly ordinary concepts and ideas come to life in extraordinary, bizarre and hilarious ways.

With a core team of only seven members, Georgetown’s improv group has weekly practices led by director Thomas Moakley (COL ‘17) and executive producer Emlyn Crenshaw.

With such a small group, the team must be comfortable relying on each other not only for guidance, but also for spur-of-the-moment inspiration.

When one member has an idea in the middle of the sketch, that member can tap someone else out or cut the scene and move on to a new sketch. It is that reliance that gives each improv group its unique flair.

The SUNY-Binghamton team, new to the long-form show, impressed the audience with some quick and witty one-liners, while the Columbia College group “Droppin $cience” utilized quirky sound effects to get considerable laughs from the audience.

The nature of improv as an art form is inherently unpredictable. But for Cresnhaw, improv provides an outlet for performance.

“I joined the Georgetown Improv Association as a freshman. In high school, I did a lot

of theater, but I knew coming into college that I wanted to continue to do something performance related without such a big time commitment, and I found that with improv,” Creshaw said.

A perfect blend of theater, humor and wit, the art form makes for a unique kind of expression that requires a slightly different skill set from traditional acting or stand-up comedy.

Despite some inevitable slow points in each routine, the Improv Festival was overall a tremendous showing of talent not only for the Georgetown Improv Association, but also for all of the schools involved. One of the most difficult aspects of the art is taking care of oneself in order to maintain focus and being ready to act at (literally) a moment’s notice. These constant spurts of action that must attempt to be simultaneously comedic and spontaneous create inevitable lulls in the performance -- though overall, each had a unique sense of humor that ultimately prevailed as the “last laugh.”

Improv member Connor Rohan (COL ’16) captured the sentiment behind this impromptu humor.

“My favorite thing about improv is that it’s an amazing mental exercise. It keeps you sharp, alert and ready for any situation that may confront you. My least favorite thing about improv is that the word is similar to ‘improve,’ and autocorrect can’t accept that there’s a difference,” Rohan said.

Improv certainly has its rewards, especially in such a small group setting. Georgetown’s Improv Association only has seven members, but that, Crenshaw said, is part of what makes it so special. She went on to describe the group’s motto.

“My freshman year we won the ‘wild card’ award at our CIT competition. We thought it was so funny that it became sort of our battle cry. I think it describes us well. We’re very out of the box and unpredictable at times, but we’ve also got heart. And that’s important,” Crenshaw said.

The next Improv Show will be Saturday, March 21. Tickets are available for purchase online.

B4

the guide

THE HOYA

Friday, FEBRUARY 27, 2015

APPS Flipp Free Remember when one had to trawl the ads section of a newspaper to clip out coupons for those can’t-be-missed deals? Flipp eliminates the hassle (and mess) by combining circulars from the nearest major chains, like CVS, into one easily navigable app. A noteworthy feature has to be the discount slider, allowing one to quickly sift through bargains based on the size of the discount. With the ability to personalize your shopping list, make note of your favorite stores and search for bargains by item and store, Flipp is a must-have for any college student.

SOPHIE FAABORG-ANDERSON/THE HOYA

The Black Movements Dance Theatre is preparing for “Truth Be Told,” a showcase influenced by the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr. that will be held on Feb. 27 and 28.

Social Justice Inspires Dance Showcase SHOWCASE, from B1 individual or group of dancers. The structure of the dances is undoubtedly modern in its theatrical and storytelling patterns of movement, and this only serves to accentuate the meaning behind each piece.

The pure athleticism of the dancers alone is impressive, but when paired with their grace, it makes for clear, understandable and beautiful performances.

“BMDT is about expressing ourselves through our bodies. Our motto is ‘Dance with your body, move with your soul,’ so we try to incorporate that theater and soulful aspect into our performances,” Rosenbloom said.

There are pieces in “Truth Be Told” that are student-choreographed, some are created by professional guest choreographers, one piece is part of a collaboration by the entire company and some are choreographed by the company’s artistic director, Alfreda Davis. This diversity in sources of choreography is also a great advantage for the dancers.

“The guest choreographers coming in is an amazing opportunity for all of us to work with professional dancers, and we really love having them because they push

us as a company. They bring new, creative material to set on us, which is an honor, and it helps us grow and learn new ways of dancing and moving,” Rosenbloom said.

Indeed, it is a good opportunity. In rehearsals, the professionals push these dancers to their limits and challenge them to perform their best. Having a pair of knowledgeable and experienced eyes to pick apart each bit of choreography, only accepting the best from the BMDT dancers, has helped their execution tremendously.

This is a professional-level show at a cost that is friendly to a student budget. It really is a show for everyone — from the most experienced to the dance newbies.

“There are a wide variety of styles. There are very slow, sad pieces, and then there are a lot of really fun, upbeat pieces, and in pieces like that, we really want everyone to get up, celebrate with us and dance with us — and it’s really a celebration about dance and about expressing ourselves,” said Ciejka.

“Truth Be Told” will be running at the Gonda Theatre in the Davis Performing Arts Center on Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. Student tickets are $8 and can be purchased online, over the phone or at the Davis Center box office.

Political Digest

A Georgetown Tradition Of Terrapin and Martinis There’s the Oval Office, the conference turtle meat. The initial Google search yielded rooms of the State Department and then, of few results. However, after making some calls, we found a small grocery store in Maryland course, the Georgetown dinner party.

Back in the days of the Cold War, the influ- willing to sell us a wholesale snapping turtle to ential members of the Washington political be butchered as we chose.

Could we accomplish this feat on a Sunday scene gathered around the tables of notable Georgetown residents to discuss the issues of in the kitchen of a Burleith townhouse? The anthe day. While many of these parties began swer — after a couple particularly gruesome inas simple social gatherings, they quickly be- structional YouTube videos on the correct way came a common scene of political banter and to turn turtle into turtle soup — was a resoundheated argument. Many of the important deci- ing no. Apologies in advance to the reader for sions and connections of the Cold War were this pun, but we simply didn’t have the guts to butcher a turtle. formed at these parties.

Instead, we trekked for some takeout turtle In “The Georgetown Set,” by Gregg Herken, we caught a glimpse of what it may have been like soup from the Washington, D.C. eatery Acadito be invited to one of these parties. They were ana, hauling back copious Styrofoam takeout populated by Senators, administrative officials, containers and setting up our own dinner powforeign ambassadors, Supreme Court justices er party. We laid cutlery, lit candles and adjustand journalists, among other neighbors and ed Spotify to an appropriate, jazzy mix of lively friends of the hosts. The dress code was often and mellow. Guests trickled in around 7:30 to formal, and while the conversation frequently a reception of college-friendly hors d’oeuvres abandoned polite discourse for shouting match- and cocktails. When it came time for the main event, receptions to the soup were mixed. Seves, there was strict etiquette for each event.

Herken notes that the most prestigious invi- eral guests guzzled it down like a normal stew tations were those to the parties of a prominent while others expressed an inability to move past the origins of the little pieces syndicated columnist named of dark meat swirling in the Joe Alsop. Alsop’s parties bebroth. We were likewise digan with a “liberal pouring of vided. Katy couldn’t get over cocktails” — usually dry marthe odd tang and slimy textinis, upon which the host ture. David, however, happily could rely to fuel especially ate both his portion and hers. heated conversations (Alsop We wondered what made was known, however, for his such an exotic entree a staple ability to incite a high-decibel of these gloried dinner parconversation on his own if David Chardack ties of Georgetown’s past, the martinis weren’t doing Katy Berk and we found our answer in the trick). Following drinks, the cocktails that traditionguests were treated to two of Alsop’s signature dishes: leek pie and terrapin ally accompanied them. Martinis and Negronis soup. Making the soup, Herken describes, en- flowed freely in those living rooms of yore, as tailed cooking turtle parts in butter and broth, they did in Burleith last Sunday. The Negroni adding an eclectic mix of spices and letting — equal parts Campari, Vermouth and Gin, the whole mix stew for several hours. As Alsop garnished with an orange peel — has an aggreshimself said of the soup, “Although its aroma sive bitterness that stands up to the terrapin. Its reminded one a bit of the way feet sometimes playful ruby hue belies a strength that brings enough buzz to at least mask the unpleasantsmell, it was absolutely delicious.”

But despite the warnings, we saw in Alsop ness of the soup. Once again, David adored the an unusual ability to bring together the best Negroni, while Katy admitted she would need a of Washington to talk about solutions to the couple more gentle drinks before graduating to world’s most pressing problems. Perhaps this the Martini or Negroni.

Our dinner party had its ups and downs, but, pair of Georgetown-newspaper columnists, armed with hard liquor and turtle soup, could by the end, enough gin and Campari had been set out to recreate the famed parties of Joe Al- consumed to assuage any concerns about tersop. With this in mind, we set out to revive a rapin. While our conversation ranged from the Georgetown University Student Association to Georgetown dinner party of our own.

But, our own experience with terrapin and Rhino — rather than from Russia to the White martinis was slightly less glamorous. When we House — we nonetheless felt proud to carry on decided to replicate this hallowed Georgetown a hallowed Georgetown tradition. tradition, the logical first step in the process was making turtle soup. Never ones to shy away David Chardack and Katy Berk are jufrom unusual delicacies, from guinea pig to niors in the College. POLITICAL DIGEST blood sausage, we set out to find a purveyor of appears every other Friday.

Citymapper Free Citymapper is one of those apps you didn’t realize you needed until you downloaded it. Simply input the desired destination and the app churns out all the possible routes, timings and even calories burnt in travelling. Its level of detail extends to mapping out the exact walking routes needed to reach the destination. What elevates it beyond a mere navigation app, however, is how it has real-time updates on traffic conditions in your city. A quick tap on the ‘Near’ tab of the menu also lists all the transport options in the vicinity with predicted arrival times of the upcoming bus or metro. Getting lost is no longer a worry.

Darkroom Free, but with in-app purchases Like its name implies, Darkroom is a photo editing app. Conveniently, it immediately imports photos from your camera roll and also allows you to share the edited photos instantaneously to social media. With a number of filters to choose from and the ability to create your own filters, it is a useful app if one desires to do more fine editing on a phone than with what the phone’s inbuilt editing software allows. However, note that the most-hyped feature of Darkroom, the ‘Curves’ function, requires an in-app purchase of $2.99 to use.

Ultimately, while an adequate photoediting app, it boasts few functions that others do not already provide.

HOYA HISTORY

Healy Cancels Arab Students’ Celebration Friday, Feb. 26, 1982

This week in Georgetown history, the Georgetown Organization of Arab Students had planned a celebration to mark the anniversary of Palestinian resistance.

However, University President Timothy S. Healy, S.J., cancelled the celebration, stating in a letter that the OAS had invited the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that supported international terrorism.

OAS President Zaha Bustami said that no such invitations were sent.

Bustami made it clear to university administrators that the OAS’s intentions were purely to portray Arab and Palestinian cultures.

She also informed the president’s assistant that cancelling the event would have been in violation of the group’s freedom of speech, yet these considerations did not reverse the president’s decision.

SKODA 125 | BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA

NATE MOULTON/THE HOYA

the guide

friday, February 27, 2015

THE HOYA

B5

RESTAURANt review

Vegan Restaurant Brings West Coast Vibes East Native Foods



1150 Connecticut Ave. NW | Cuisine: Vegan | $$$$ Daria Etezadi

Special to The Hoya

Immediately walking through the front doors of Native Foods, the brightly colored hues splattered across the walls catch the eyes of patrons, blending together simplistic artwork with inspirational quotes. This storefront in Penn Quarter, overlooking the Navy Memorial, is one of two new locations nestled in the heart of Washington, D.C., with the other seated on the corner of M and 18th Streets.

Originally launched in Palm Springs, Calif. in 1994, Native Foods provides West Coast vibes with its all-vegan and gluten-free friendly menu, while catering to both college students and families alike — including meat lovers. With an extensive menu that ranges from gluten-free butternut polenta bites to the Greek gyro bowl, from the Oklahoma bacon cheeseburger to the ensalada Azteca salad made with the award-winning mango-lime vinaigrette, Native Foods takes vegan and even gluten-free foods to a new level.

Lining the far wall are half a dozen different iced teas and lemonades that are made daily using original recipes. The lavender lemonade ($2.75), a personal favorite, is cool and refreshing, infused with French lavender and lightly sweetened with unrefined organic sugar.

Based on a recommendation, I followed up with an order of the crispy Native chicken wings ($5.95), tossed in a sriracha-buffalo sauce and served with a side of vegan ranch dressing. By

far my favorite new dish, these moist vegan chicken wings are full of flavor, each bite finishing off with a bold kick.

Sealed with Native batter and marinated in a creamy sauce, the regular-sized batch comes with five pieces, infused with competing flavors between the spicy kick from the sriracha, the sweeter undertone of the coconut milk base from the Native batter and the dash of salt mixed in, all of which is mellowed out by the cool ranch. The wings could have been crispier, or at least somewhat crispy; a little misleading by name, there was surprisingly little to no difference in the texture or consistency in each piece. However, this was easily made up for by a bold flavor dynamic.

Rounding off with the gluten-free baja blackened tacos ($7.95), this entree serves up two corn tortillas pressed with traces of lime, stacked with strips of blackened Native tempeh, shredded cabbage, mild salsa fresca made with fresh tomatoes and a generous dollop of guacamole. Offered with a side of rich chipotle sauce, this dish is all about the sauces and add-ons. With minimal seasoning, the tacos are a little underwhelming, since they are largely made up of dry, mild and relatively bland flavors. In fact, without the guacamole or the chipotle sauce, there really isn’t much going on in the seasoning department. The spices used are too similar to offset each other, so instead they fade into the background. This dish’s consistency also lacked interest, and could have benefited from more ingredients of the crispy or tangy variety. Mexican food is hard to spin off, so their effort is

NATASHA THOMSON/THE HOYA

The West Coast classic Native Foods provides a variety of flavor, with vegan and gluten-free options to accommodate any dietary restrictions. A variety of dishes and flavors leave a strong impression for good prices. admirable, but still falls short.

The Bangkok curry ($9.95) — a platter of seared tofu steak and steamed vegetables, complete with kale and brown rice, drizzled with a lemongrass gingerinfused coconut milk curry — was also in need of more seasoning and contrasting spices, to counterbalance the more mellow, lackluster flavor combination of tofu, kale and brown rice.

An excellent dish to finish off the meal is the thinly cut sweet potato fries ($2.95), which were liberally seasoned with tarragon, organic sugar and sea salt. The ultimate comfort food, these juicy fries are served fresh and hot, and nicely balance the sweet and salty dynamic.

While it is certainly designed for health nuts, this particular location shattered my perception of the Native Foods earth-friendly design typical to California, specifically when all of the orders came out in disposable “to-go” plates and containers. The mountain of plastic and cardboard that we had to discard following our meal was a strange contradiction in light of the “Native to All Countries & Cultures/Native to the Earth/Native to Life/Native Foods” mantra.

To say that vegan food is a challenge would be a gross understatement — it can be wildly difficult to capture the flavors that make non-vegan, glutenfull foods so popular among those

who are able to enjoy them. Native Foods offers a much-needed taste of home for West Coast natives, presenting many options for those with either voluntary or medically necessitated dietary restrictions. However, in light of past experiences with the restaurant chain, this D.C. location could improve by striking a better balance with its seasoning and quality control to avoid whipping together flat dishes and by switching out its disposable containers for reusable dishware. With a few adjustments, this Native Foods will be well on its way to successfully serving dishes to fill this frequently neglected market and create a new niche for itself.

RECIPES

RESTAURANT review

NICK BIGGS-CHIROPOLOS/THE HOYA

The zesty spices, entertaining dishes and complementary flavors provide pleasant meals and a nice change of pace at Doi Moi, a restaurant whose title translates to “new changes.”

Cuisine Spices Up Logan Circle Doi Moi



1800 14th St. NW | Cuisine: Southeast Asian | $$$$ Nick Biggs-Chiropolos Hoya Staff Writer

The 14th St. district in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington is one of the fastest rising parts of the city in terms of new shops and restaurants. Doi Moi, a restaurant in Logan Circle, serves Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly from Thailand and Vietnam. Doi Moi is on a busy corner among many other restaurants and shops that have recently landed in this bustling district. The decor is modern — fairly simple with light colors and a clean look.

According to the restaurant’s website, the Vietnamese phrase “doi moi” translates as “new changes,” and was used to describe the open-door cultural and trading policies placed on Vietnam in 1986. Today, the name aptly applies to the rejuvenation of the Logan Circle neighborhood, as well as the restoration of the building in which Doi Moi is situated.

My group of three went on a Friday night when the restaurant was packed. It took us longer to get there than we had expected, so even though one of the three arrived on time to hold our 7 p.m. reservation, the table had unfortunately been given away by the time my friend and I arrived 15 minutes late. We instead resorted to sitting at the bar, which was a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, the food and service of Doi Moi made up for that experience.

At the recommendation of our waiter, we decided to start off by splitting a few starters so each of us could sample as many different dishes as possible. Each of us chosing one, we settled on the gui chai (steamed garlic chive and mushroom dumplings, $11), muc rang muoi (fried salt and pepper squid, $11) and phla hoi chell (sliced raw scallops, $15).

Each of us tried one of the dumplings which came with a sweet soyvinegar dipping sauce. They were tasty overall, but rather tricky to eat, being too large to eat in one bite and falling apart into a messy pile. The sauce was a fairly typical soy dipping sauce although it mostly drowned out the mushroom and garlic flavor. The dumplings tasted good both with the sauce on their own.

The squid was the largest of the three starters, giving us a nice little mound of calamari pieces. It came doused in spices: black pepper, ginger, chilies, cilantro, scallions, garlic and lime. We generously squeezed our limes dry over all of them, achieving the best flavor. The calamari was very nicely fried — neither too greasy nor too chewy. The dish was quite spicy (as the menu had indicated) so the citrus of the lime and cool cilantro flavors were the best complements to the spice and seafood flavors. Dipping a few of the squid pieces into the dumpling’s salty soy sauce also provided a nice flavor variation.

Finally, the sliced raw scallops, served with chilies, lime, lemongrass, crispy garlic and cilantro, were probably the highlight of the meal. They were somewhat spicy from the chilies, but the lemongrass and lime flavors were the dominant notes. Nevertheless, the thin slices of fresh scallops probably would have been delicious without any flavor. Raw fish can be a risk, as over-aged or chilled varieties simply don’t taste good. However, at Doi Moi, the kitchen executed well, serving us tasty samples of the scallops, garnishing to add even more to their appeal.

Without any consultation, all three of us ordered the gaeng ped yang (duck breast in fragrant red curry, $16) for our main course.

Luckily, we all made a good choice.

The dish was several slices of duck breast topped with lime leaf, served alongside pineapple, and chayote (a tropical member of the gourd family) in a bowl of curry sauce. Like the rest of the meat, the duck meat itself tasted fresh, was cooked very smoothly and probably would have been delicious on its own.

Nevertheless, the curry, pineapple and chayote complemented the meat.

The curry was very spicy and would not be a good choice for those sensitive to hot flavors. However, the less flavorful chayote pieces balanced the spice and the sweet pineapple provided welcome relief while simultaneously complementing the saltier duck meat flavor.

Luckily, one of my friends decided to order a bowl of white rice on the side, which I would recommend. The rice helped to somewhat mitigate the spice of the curry, and also was tasty with the remaining curry sauce in the bottom of the bowl once we had finished the duck.

The main course was not particularly large, but the three appetizers had been slightly larger than my group expected. Since we had already spent quite a bit of money on this fairly pricey dinner, we decided not to order dessert. Some of the appetizing options available included chestnut custard with caramelized coconut, and coconut milk with white chocolate bark and egg noodles.

Getting off campus is always nice and 14th Street is clearly a rising part of town. Most dishes are spicy, but not overwhelmingly so, and this flavor can be avoided as the menu clearly displays which are mild and which are very hot. The restaurant is on the expensive side, but not outrageously so. If ever in that area, Doi Moi is a nice venue for a consistently good Southeast Asian meal.

Bacon Pot Noodle

www.bbcgoodfood.com Pot noodle is definitely a staple snack for college students, but sometimes a twist on the classic recipe is refreshing. This particular version adds bacon to give it a smoky flavor, making it even more irresistible. The recipe also uses all-natural ingredients and is a great snack to get you through midterms or simply to provide a warm break from the winter cold. The best part is that it can be made in less than 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

1 slice of smoked Canadian bacon 2 spring onions 2 oz. frozen peas 1/4 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. cornstarch 7 oz. vegetable stock 5 oz. wheat noodles a splash of Worcestershire sauce

Fry the bacon for a few minutes in a small non-stick pan. Add the spring onions, peas and paprika. Stir for one minute.

Mix the cornstarch with a little of the stock until it makes a paste.

Stir this into the pan and then add the rest of the stock, the noodles and the Worcestershire sauce.

Simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens and finally, scatter the green parts of the spring onion over the top.

Lemon Drop Cocktail

www.savethestudent.org The lemon component of this refreshing drink makes it tangy and sweet.

With only four ingredients, it is also quick and inexpensive, yet it never fails to deliver. The lemon drop cocktail is a light and fresh drink to remind you that despite the weather, spring is really just around the corner.

INGREDIENTS

4 tbsp. of vodka 4 tbsp. of lemon juice 1 tbsp. of sugar lemonade

Shake up all the ingredients together.

Once you pour them into the glass, top it up with lemonade to make the drink as sweet as you wish

Woodbridge By Sweet White 2011

Robert

Mondavi

smooth.com This wine gives a true taste of Spain by blending four Tempranillos from the Castilla-La Mancha region of the country. The wine bursts with vast, fruitful flavors and hints of vanilla and spice. Better yet, it packs this punch for under $20 a bottle. For such a price, this wine is a worthy one for those who want to try the tastes of Spain.

B6

the guide

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015

MOVIE REVIEW

Focus

FACE THE MUSIC

 Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie Directed by: Glenn Ficarra ELSA GIVAN

Special to The Hoya

Most good films will incorporate at least one or two plot twists to keep audiences on their toes. “Focus” contains such a litany of them that it warrants a second and perhaps even a third and fourth watch so that audiences can grasp every planned nuance in retrospect.

Starring Will Smith as Nicky, a seasoned con man with an extensive moneymaking operation, the film’s plot quickly spins a complicated web of lies from the start.

It begins benignly enough — Nicky encounters a beautiful young woman named Jess (Margot Robbie) in a restaurant. Although it seems as though they are two casual strangers flirting over dinner, Nicky and Jess have already begun manipulating each other.

Jess seeks Nicky’s mentorship because she is a novice to the world of con artistry. After some back and forth, he agrees to teach her his trade in New Orleans during the Super Bowl. Once there, Jess becomes familiar with Nicky’s operation and meets his team, including the perpetually entertaining Farhad (Adrian Martinez).

BD Wong gives a creepy, yet excellent, performance as Liyuan, a rich gambler at the Super Bowl who bets millions of dollars against Nicky and Jess.

His character in “Focus” presents an interesting contrast to his well-known role

as a calm and collected psychiatrist on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”

After the Super Bowl is over, Nicky and Jess part ways and meet again in Buenos Aires three years later. Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro), a wealthy racecar titan, contracts Nicky to rig an important race. Jess claims to be dating Garriga. Nicky and Jess reignite their complicated relationship, bouncing back and forth between one based on romance and extortion.

Toward the end of the film, the plot twists are so frequent that it is difficult to keep track of what’s real and what’s not. This uncertainty makes the culminating scene even more enthralling and truly keeps the audience’s attention focused.

Smith and Robbie are surprisingly electrifying on screen together, and each delivers a powerful performance. Smith especially gives an emotional portrayal of Nicky as a man with many layers. His character constantly oscillates between a lovelorn, sensitive lone wolf and a cold, calculating criminal.

Jess, however, proves to be his equal in terms of manipulative prowess, which may just be why the two seem like such a perfect match.

Throughout the film, their relationship seems like the shadow of a real love story -- similar, but not quite one.

Although most of “Focus” is characterized by tension, the film has many genuinely funny scenes. Both Nicky and Farhad contribute hilarious one-liners and

WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES

lighten the seriousness of the movie in a refreshing and necessary way.

The cinematography augments the defining theme of the movie -- focus. Whenever Nicky loses control of a situation because he can’t maintain his concentration, the shot becomes fuzzy. As a result, when Nicky loses focus, the audience loses focus. Even so, the viewers are always a step behind throughout the film.

Each time the viewer adjusts to a suspected trajectory of the movie, their perception is forced to change when the plot abruptly shifts. This style of film is certainly thrilling and suspenseful, but can also feel disconcerting. In all honesty, it’s not for everyone, but it’s probably appealing for most.

Ultimately, “Focus” is a movie about lying. It truly makes the viewer realize how willing we are to believe what we are told. Even until the very end of the film, “Focus” delivers plot twist after plot twist and conditions the viewer to doubt every assumption.

The film is simultaneously unsettling and fascinating because it has all the plot points of a typical thriller movie but many of them are falsely created.

Even if you enter “Focus” with a high degree of suspicion, you won’t be able to predict half of the plot twists -- and that makes for a great film experience.

TV REVIEW

Better Call Saul Starring: Bob Odenkirk Created by: Vince Gilligan GRACE WYDEVEN Special to The Hoya

Just when fans thought AMC had completely exhausted the world of chemistry teachers turned meth cooks and high school dropouts with a tendency to overuse vulgarities, the hopes of fans across the country, were answered. The infamous “Breaking Bad” series may be over, but that is not to say there isn’t more to be seen. AMC has quite literally, done it again: “Better Call Saul” brings back some of the same characters, and, so far, it has delivered an intrigue like the one that captured the hearts and minds of so many “Breaking Bad” fans.

“Better Call Saul,” the prequel to the popular AMC show “Breaking Bad,” (also on Netflix in its entirety, ready for binge watching) premiered on Feb. 8, and though only four episodes have aired: I’m hooked.

The show chronicles the humble, rocky beginnings of the slick and sleazy Saul Goodman: “criminal lawyer,” in the words of “Breaking Bad”’s Jessie Pinkman. And to say his start in the practice of law was humble might be an overstatement.

In the opening scene of episode 1 (highly reminiscent of “Breaking Bad”), old-time music plays and a black and white flash-forward ensues. Audiences see Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), who is known to “Breaking Bad” fans as Saul Goodman, working at a Cinnabon in a mall. With a perfectly groomed handle-bar mustache and long sideburns, Jimmy works diligently but seems paranoid. The eerie music playing in the background combined with the black and white scene is nothing less than nerve-racking, and for a moment it was though the audience was back at “Los Pollos Hermanos.” Vince Gilligan, the

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show’s creator, certainly hasn’t lost his careful eye for the piece-by-piece, scrambled plot revelations that made “Breaking Bad” addicting in more ways than one.

But “Better Call Saul” isn’t only notable for its cinematographic techniques, which include long clips of subtle inaction combined with short bursts of intense, often frightening action that illuminate the nuanced meaning of the inaction. The show also features the dry, dark and sometimes heartbreaking sense of humor that makes the unbelievable aspects of the storyline that much more believable.

Jimmy McGill is a poor, struggling public defender with a crooked past that we learn eventually leads him to his brother, mentor and former lawyer Chuck McGill, who now insists that Jimmy do “good work first, and then the clients will come.” But having a shoebox for an office/house in the back of a Chinese nail salon sheds light on Jimmy’s dire financial situation. Just as Walter White couldn’t resist the idea of cold, hard cash, the sense that Walter’s road from “White to Heisenberg” may mirror Jimmy’s transition from McGill to Goodman permeates the show. His future corruption is brought about by past circumstances.

And to make it all the more exciting, in addition to Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy, Gilligan has also brought back some other characters from “Breaking Bad,”(though I won’t reveal them here).

In that respect, the show is intriguing and exciting, but also potentially predictable. Gilligan recognizes that “Better Call Saul” has to be its own show; but, the ability to distinctly discern between the two will definitely be a conscious struggle for Gilligan and his writers as it must be tempting to re-do

AMC

what garnered “Breaking Bad” its success. And the similarities thus far are striking not simply in characters reappearing, but also the style of the filmmaking and acting. However, with only four episodes out so far it already is safe to say that “Better Call Saul” will continue to pull in its audience despite its relationship to “Breaking Bad,” because of its own unique perspective with a new main character who proves to be worlds away from Walter White in many ways, while freakishly similar in others. It will be the pointed differences between the shows that will capture audiences. The places where “Better Call Saul” diverges from “Breaking Bad” may be what ultimately will allow the show to enter a league of its own.

But one aspect the audience surely hopes will remain constant is the uncannily realistic portrayal of humanity.

A chemistry teacher’s transformation into a meth cook is as unbelievable as a criminal turned lawyer, and yet through superb writing and thoughtful acting such a realm of reality isn’t so far out of reach. So as long as “Better Call Saul” keeps raising important questions about the human experience, its audience will stay intrigued, and most importantly, wanting more.

“Better Call Saul” airs Mondays at 10/9c on AMC. Episode 5, “Jello,” is set to air March 2.

BEST BETS

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA: ISLAM BELONGS TO GERMANY?!

In BMW Center’s “Islam Belongs to Germany?!,” FAMILY CONCERT

Cabaret Reveals School Music Scene F

rom the perspective of someone who cannot match a pitch to save her life and who is completely outside of the elusive Georgetown music scene, Georgetown Cabaret was nothing short of a musical revelation.

The name, idea and concept of Cabaret — I’m a junior and had only heard whispers of it before — was put into my head 3,500 miles away from the Hilltop in a tiny flat in Scotland. There, Dan McCusker (COL ’16), a tall boy with ombre glasses who had just bought a ukulele from a corner store, sold me on the rock show he was organizing back at Georgetown. Cabaret, Dan said, was an eclectic rock concert featuring musicians from all corners of Georgetown’s musical world, hadn’t I heard of it before? I shook my head and promised to buy a ticket when we got back to the States. Crossing the checkered floor of the Black Cat in the U Street corridor last Friday night, I’m sure glad I did.

Over the course of a rollicking two-and-a-half hour set, Cabaret revealed the sheer level of talent and diversity of Georgetown’s musicians to a nearly full house of screaming undergraduates.

The Black Cat’s atmosphere was exhilarating — it seemed as if the very walls of the venue were pulsating in tune with the band — and the excitement of the sweaty, bouncing audience was palpaMargie Fuchs the cliches ble. All of of a crowd gone wild, people screaming and girls throwing their bras on stage applied. Cabaret checked off all of the boxes for performing a successful rock concert without becoming a parody (that would have been much too easy). No, Cabaret succeeded as a rock concert because it embraced spontaneity and the messiness of rock ‘n’ roll. Cabaret succeeded because it was real.

Stepping on stage, the Cabaret performers transformed from the peers we pass in Red Square and bump into at parties into full-fledged rock ‘n’ roll stars. These were not kids playing dress up; these were professional artists, trained but not jaded from endless days of rehearsal. Even though Cabaret is officially independent of the university, its 18 members are a patchwork of individuals from Georgetown’s a cappella groups, jazz and pep bands, and other theatrical and musical outlets, showing a breadth of music on campus of which I for one was entirely unaware.

Open auditions for Cabaret were held this past fall and many of the accepted students were already involved in the Hilltop’s insular music world. Rather than being glued to the mic stand, the vocalists brought various genres, from classic rock to rap to country, to life with their performativity. Yes, you can argue that much of Cabaret is built on the mainstream music scene at Georgetown — the overly visible a cappella groups — but, the beauty of Cabaret was that it shined a light on the fact that Georgetown’s music scene is much more than the a cappella ensembles that sing in Leo’s during NSO. Cabaret was the golden intersection of all parts of Georgetown music; it brought together various pieces of the school’s musical puzzle — musicians, drummers, guitarists, saxophone players — seamlessly into a high-energy rock ‘n’ roll act.

Like the performers, the set list was dynamically diverse within the expansive realm of pop music. The works of Jason Derulo, Janis Joplin and Taylor Swift all echoed through the Black Cat accompanied by the off-key screams of the audience.

Some songs, such as Cabaret’s rendition of Joplin’s “Piece of my Heart,” sent chills down my spine while others had me and all of the other kids who managed to push up to the front row reliving our teen angst with throwbacks to Avril Lavigne and Evanescence.

The huge, varied audience crowding into the Black Cat reflected the diversity of Cabaret’s talents and set list. Having performers from all different circles at Georgetown inevitably meant that all of these circles would collide on the dance floor. Seeing students from all different parts of the Hilltop — the boy from my literature class, the girl from Vital Vittles, the kids from the latest campus play — come together made me simultaneously realize how music draws people together and rarely have heard of such grand, all-inclusive Cabaret-esque experiences at Georgetown. The dynamism of the music scene at Georgetown is definitely present, but before Cabaret it was much harder to see. For showing me and restoring my faith that there is truly a beating arts and music scene at Georgetown, I can never thank Cabaret enough. This leaves me with one question: Why, in my three years at Georgetown, have I never heard of this or gone to anything like this before?

Margie Fuchs is a junior in the College. FACE THE MUSIC appears every other Friday.

ON CAMPUS BLACK MOVEMENTS DANCE THEATRE

Georgetown’s University Orchestra will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in this family-oriented concert. This concert is geared to adults and children alike. It will surely be a show that everyone can enjoy, whether to truly dissect the classical music or to just have a good time.

the reputed Dr. Heinrich Kreft will present an expose on the place of Islam in German economic and political relations. This qualified lecturer promises a novel outlook on economic relations in the Arab world and on German foreign policy.

In a commemoration of Black History Month, the Black Movements Dance Theatre will showcase its diversity of style through this new modern work. Under the leadership of Alfreda Davis, renowned dancers from throughout the world will unite to present the audience with thought-provoking pieces.

WHERE: Gaston Hall WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 28, 3 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free

WHERE: ICC Auditorium WHEN: Monday, March 2, 12 p.m.

INFO: cges.georgetown.edu/events/ PRICE: Free

WHERE: Davis Performing Arts Center WHEN: Friday-Saturday, Feb. 27-28, 8 p.m.

INFO: (202) 687-2787 PRICE: General Admission $10, Student $8

EDUCATION IS NOT A CRIME

If human rights and freedom of religion interest you, this event is one to check out: a discussion on the presence of education in the Middle East.

First, the documentary “To Light a Candle” will screen, followed by an educated discussion of social injustice and inequality.

WHERE: ICC Auditorium WHEN: Friday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu/ PRICE: Free

the guide

friday, february 27, 2015

THE HOYA

album Review

Smoke and Mirrors Imagine Dragons Brian Davia

Hoya Staff Writer

After its debut studio album release of “Night Visions” in 2012, Imagine Dragons immediately became a sensation. As an alternative rock band with upbeat songs, its appeal spans across many different music tastes. The great success of its first album not only made the extended wait for its second album that much more difficult, but it also raised the expectations of listeners.

It’s safe to say that the new album, “Smoke and Mirrors,” was nearly overdue.

The first track on the album, “Shots,” is tasked with setting the tone. It does so with a combination of rhythmic tones and well-crafted lyrics. The song manages to be catchy in a novel way. Rather than adhering to a typical pop beat, the

unique electronic sounds pair well with hard-hitting lyrics like “I shot, shot, shot a hole through everything I loved.” This non-traditional manner of production is a theme for the album as a whole.

As the album progresses, each song continues to have its own unique sound. This is in large part achieved by the use of various instruments and devices. For example, the song “Gold” utilizes a mixture of whistling and clapping. Although this is unusual, it manages to all come together congruently.

Common within Imagine Dragons’ songs are heavy drum and guitar tracks. The percussion provides the underlying beat of the song that is then built upon, and the drumming is noticeably different in each song. These percussion differences explain the interplay between sub-

CHUFF MEDIA

Alternative rock band Imagine Dragons is back with their second album, showing they have what it takes to make it in the industry.

MUSIC

New Releases

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tle drumbeats, more intense drums and synthesizer beats, depending on the song. Regardless, the drums still take a back seat to the husky and idiosyncratic vocals of lead vocalist Dan Reynolds.

Reynolds’ deceptively gruff sound is one with a vast range and distinct tone, and it is this musical flexibility that is vital in producing the band’s particular sound. His talent enables the music to adopt an array of personalities and emotions.

“Friction” stands out on the album for its distinguishable, but not necessarily welcome, characteristics. The prominent bass immediately shakes up the mood, but this isn’t necessarily a positive development. The sporadic rhythm evokes a feeling of disjointedness.

To make matters worse, the vocals are overly loud in comparison to the background, which is actually well produced, but which fails to ever assert its presence in the song. In this case, the constructed melody fails to reach expectations.

That being said, the rhythms and styles intertwined within the album are more often successful than not. The ninth track of the album, “Dream,” is an example of such a feat. Its piano introduction and transition into vocals illustrates create the more sensitive nature of the song. The lyrics contribute to this as well. For example, the chorus boasts the intense lyrics “We all are living in a dream/ But life ain’t what it seems/ Oh everything’s a mess.” Every component of the track ties together to help it build up to its intense climax before softly fading out. Even with the presence of so many disparate melodies, the record still carries a sense of cohesion.

The beauty of Imagine Dragons

“I Want You to Know”

by Zedd (ft. Selena Gomez)  INTERSCOPE RECORDS

in “Smoke and Mirrors” is that it is able to embrace its distinct stylistic preferences while still producing an album that does not feel fragmented. The songs all flow together as a whole, with each track almost leading into the next.

Together, they tell a story that, although hidden behind smoke and mirrors, illustrates a profound emotional depth. This journey culminates with the final track of the album, titled “The Fall.” The narrative of the songs has concluded by this point, allowing for this number to serve as a transition out of the auditory tale.

With the release of its second album, Imagine Dragons now stands at an intriguing place in its career.

With this collection of songs being as worthy of accolades as the last, its transition from an unfamiliar alternative rock band into one of the faces of the music industry will soon be complete. Imagine Dragons should have the power to carry on against the tide of the industry.

“Smoke and Mirrors” ultimately shows that Imagine Dragons is improving its already stellar alternative rock. The music both harbors and evokes emotion while dabbling in an assortment of melodic strategies. The songs resonate with the listener, which is the key to successful music.

Whether you are a die-hard Imagine Dragons fan or someone new to the band altogether, “Smoke and Mirrors” is well worth the listen.

Album Review

Dope Machines

The Airborne Toxic Event Anna Shuster

Special to The Hoya

The Airborne Toxic Event’s “Dope Machines” is by far the band’s best album to date. In this latest release, the band managed to pull off a paradigmatic style shift from the angstriddled indie of its early years to a mature, electronic-influenced sound that’s at once refreshing and somehow familiar.

When the first few singles were released, critics worried that the band was selling out, sacrificing its signature orchestral sound to fit into the indie-pop mainstream. In particular, they criticized the synth-heavy “Wrong,” released late last year, for throwing away the band’s usual preference for complex arrangements and real instruments.

Those criticisms fall flat when a closer listen reveals just how many layers and textures the band has managed to produce with this new, more electronic style. Yes, it’s borrowing

from some newer techniques and using synthesized instruments, but it doesn’t feel like just another indiepop album — it feels unmistakably Airborne.

Even if “Wrong” feels iffy in isolation, it makes complete sense as part of the album as a whole. As the opening track, it announces right away that this album is going to be different than any that The Airborne Toxic Event has released before. Gone are the rough edges of the band’s first two albums, replaced by a highgloss, polished-to-perfection sound that outshines even its penultimate release, “Such Hot Blood.” The synth riffs that open and close the song are fun and almost danceable, but the vocals preserve the trademark scratchy heartbreak of lead singer/lyricist Mikel Jollett. It’s a musical leap forward into the digitized future for a band that’s still deeply grounded in its indie roots.

The band clearly hasn’t thrown away its guitars either. The distortion-heavy electric guitar that blasts

SHORE FIRE MEDIA

Indie-pop group The Airborne Toxic Event is well worth the listen, with various instruments and chilling lyrics that demonstrate its talent.

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“Nothing Without Love” by Nate Ruess  Lead singer of the alternative band “Fun,” Nate Ruess takes a turn with his solo track “Nothing Without Love,” and possibly, it is his recognizable voice that gives the track such a unique sound. In the same way that he does with “Fun,” Ruess utilizes meaningful lyrics and a variety of sounds that go in line with what the band usually produces. This track proves that Ruess will likely have what it takes to make it as a solo act, with his first album coming out this summer.

“First Kiss”

by Kid Rock 

 through the title track and the acoustic chords that sneak into the very end of the sunny “California” offer hints at what came before.

Plus, for those fans that miss the good old days of real instruments and raw-edged rock ‘n’ roll, The Airborne Toxic Event had a surprise. On the same day they released “Dope Machines,” they also released a fulllength folk album, “Songs of God and Whiskey.” The songs were written throughout the past 10 years while the band has been touring, recording and promoting their earlier albums, and they call back to the old alternative edge of Airborne’s earlier work with rugged live guitars and intense, almost aggressive lyrics.

Even on their primary album “Dope Machines,” where the band swapped real strings for synthesizers, tracks like “Time to be a Man” still manage to preserve the orchestral grandeur of the band’s earlier work, which occasionally featured full string arrangements.

This song is clearly the musical climax of the album, with multiple electronic layers building up to an explosive chorus. It takes everything that’s good about the indie-pop genre — the fun of Matt & Kim, the intense drums of Bleachers — and infuses these elements with the unique literary gravity that frontman Jollett’s emotionally invested voice and lyrics offer.

Jollett has never been one to go in halfway, and this album is no exception. His poetic, emotionally charged lyrical images give us stunning lines like “We lean into the wind / riding our nerves and choking engines / built for a time not 50 years old,” and his passionate vocal performances feel like desperate pleas shouted from high-rise rooftops. These vocal and lyrical highlights are a large part of the

The popular dance, electronica tracks typical of Zedd are back, p a i r e d with the a u to - t u n e infused vocals of pop sensation Selena Gomez. As expected for a dance track, most of the song is composed of synth-heavy house beats and repetition of a few key lines, with a beat dropping twice.

While Zedd and Gomez make a harmonious pair, the track lacks anything novel in the realm of electronica and will likely be forgotten — after being overplayed on the radio, of course.

EPIC RECORDS

reason that The Airborne Toxic Event didn’t lose its essence in the transition to a more electronic focus, and his honesty and ragged openness will forever be part of Airborne’s signature style.

The band also continues to acknowledge its Los Angeles background. It got its start in Eagle Rock, an LA suburb, and the unfailingly chill vibe of the second half of the album speaks to those origins. “California,” the album’s obvious homage to their hometown, paints a vivid picture of the Los Angeles they knew as young musicians: a city filled with idealistic artists and actors “stuck in the same scene / of nightmares and daydreams.” The Springsteen-esque vocals pair with the sunny pop beats and occasional harmonies to give the song the feel of a summer anthem, contrasting brilliantly with the uncertainty and hints of darkness in the lyrics.

“Chains” is the final ribbon on this perfect package of an album. Anna Bulbrook’s viola, which had a prominent voice throughout the band’s early albums, makes a sweet return in the bridge, reminding fans that the band hasn’t completely abandoned its musical past, only added on to it. The lyrics are rich with Jollett’s characteristic cinematic brilliance, offering moments of catharsis and closing with something poetic to ponder: “Does anyone remember where we came from, where we came to? A place with no center and no end.”

The Airborne Toxic Event certainly remembers where it came from, and hopefully the road ahead of it has no end in sight.

The countryinfused rock sound that Kid Rock fans have come to know makes its return in this track, with happy-go-lucky lyrics, revolving around girls, trucks and true love. This song can be expected to pour out of radios when summer rolls around, especially with lyrics describing driving through a small town with the windows rolled down. Kid Rock sticks with its typical sound, leaving an overall catchy yet empty impression that you will undoubtedly sing along to.

“Roll Up Your Sleeves”

by Meg Mac  A newcomer to the music scene, Meg Mac makes her debut with this catchy single that combines her strong vocals with the use of piano tracks that create a cabaretfeel and prove she has what it takes to stick around. Her melodic voice sounds like it came straight off the stage of American Idol, definitely stealing the show from the lyrics and instrumental tracks.

Big things are to be expected from Meg Mac, so this track is definitely one to check out.

AROUND TOWN West Coast Swing Dance

For those fascinated with swing dancing but not able to dance gracefully, now is the chance to learn. West Coast swing workshops will precede the swing dance, guaranteed to provide laughter, friendships and one or two stubbed toes at this delightful rendezvous.

Where: Hollywood Ballroom Dance Center 2126 Industrial Pwy., Silver Spring, Md. When: Friday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.

Info: www.dancejamproductions.com Price: $15

The Prince & Michael Jackson Experience

Washington D.C. Independent Film Festival

“Grand Illusion: The Art of Theatrical Design”

Where: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 620 T St. NW, Washington, D.C. When: Saturday, Feb. 28, 11 p.m.

Info: (202) 803-2899 Price: $12 or $15 the day of

Where: U.S. Navy Memorial and Naval Heritage Center, Burke Theatre When: Feb. 25 to March 1 Info: www.dciff-indie.org Price: $45-140

Where: Library of Congress, James Madison Building When: Feb. 12 to July 25 Info: (202) 707-9779 Price: Free

For those reminiscing about the days of Michael Jackson and Prince, have no fear. This is a dance party for those ready to finally break out those dance moves and bring it back a few decades.

Washington D.C.’s long-standing film festival will come back yet again for a week of movies from the far corners of the world. This festival has something in store for everyone.

“Grand Illusion: The Art of Theatrical Design” answers the wishes of all theater lovers in this exhibition of costumes, props and stage lighting from many of Broadway’s infamous productions. Articles from ballets, operas and classic musical theater alike can be expected.

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Sports

THE HOYA

Friday, February 27, 2015

WOMEN’S Basketball

Hoyas Look to End 12-Game Skid in Final Home Game Molly O’Connell Hoya Staff Writer

Though the Georgetown women’s basketball team (4-24, 2-14 Big East) has struggled throughout the season, it has been able to find success on its home court — all four of the team’s wins have taken place at McDonough Arena.

Tonight, the Hoyas will attempt to add a fifth victory to this category when they take on conference rival Creighton (16-11, 9-7 Big East) in their final home game of the season.

“It would be great to win this last home game,” junior forward Logan Battle said. “Creighton is going to be a hard game to play, but we know we can win.”

Georgetown faced off against Creighton on Dec. 30, but a slow start doomed the Hoyas in that first matchup with the Blue Jays. Creighton dominated early, starting the game with a 10-2 run and extending its lead to a double-digit margin with more than 10 minutes remaining in the first period.

The Blue Jays went into the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 15-point lead. Creighton was paced by junior guard Marissa Janning, who exploded for 16 points in the first half.

Freshman guard Sydney Lamberty also chipped in 12 points for the Blue Jays in the opening 20 minutes of the game. At the close of the first half, the Hoyas did not have any players scoring in double digits.

Georgetown came out of the locker room firing. The Hoyas scored 10 unanswered points to open the second period, pulling within five points of Creighton. With 13:29 remaining in the game, Battle hit a jump shot to give Georgetown its first lead of the contest.

The Hoyas were able to extend that lead to three points, but were unable to maintain their edge.

“We didn’t have that focus down the stretch,” Head Coach Natasha Adair said. “We didn’t have the maturity to hold on to that lead and not panic.”

The Blue Jays went on 10-0 run, re-

claiming their lead and extending it to 11 points with just over five minutes left in the contest. Creighton’s advantage did not dip below double-digits for the remainder of the game. When the final buzzer sounded, Georgetown trailed by 15 points.

Despite the loss, there were bright spots for the Hoyas on both the offensive and defensive end.

Georgetown’s defense did a far better job of handling Janning and Lamberty in the second half, holding them to five and seven points, respectively.

The Hoyas will need to focus on containing Creighton’s scoring threats in order to come out of Friday’s game with a win.

“Janning is one of the top players in our league. She is a scorer,” Adair said.

“For those types of players, we try to contain them, we try to make it hard for them. The focus is to make her earn it and limit the performances of the supporting cast. Defense is going to be big for us.”

Offensively, the Hoyas were led by Battle, who scored a team-high 14 points, 12 of which came in the more competitive second half. Freshman guard Dorothy Adomako added 13 points and junior guard Katie McCormick sank three three-pointers for Georgetown.

Freshman center Yazmine Belk also shined against Creighton. Belk finished the game with a double-double, scoring 10-points and pulling down a career-high 19 rebounds. Belk also had a game-high four blocks. “[Yazmine Belk] was one of the bright spots,” Adair said. “I expect her to be a dominant force inside. We are challenging her to crash the boards and get second and third opportunities around the rim.”

The Hoyas will need a full team effort against Creighton to ensure that their last home game is a victory.

“We have to active on offense and defense,” Belk said. “Coach always wants us to hustle and to make that extra effort. That’s what we need to do.”

If the Hoyas can pull off a win on

FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

freshman center Yazmine Belk had a double-double in Georgetown’s Dec. 30 game against Creighton, scoring 10 points and grabbing a career-high 19 rebounds. Belk also had four blocks in the 76-61 loss.

Friday, they will snap their current 12-game losing streak and will leave McDonough Arena on a high note as they hit the road for the final stretch

mEN’S lACROSSE

of the season.

“The win would be awesome,” Adair said. “It would be awesome for our kids and for our morale. It would be a

statement to our fans, who have been supportive all year, to show that we are still fighting.”

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

indoor Track & field

Spring Season GU Bound for Big East Championship Begins in South Carolina Andrew May Hoya Staff Writer

HOFSTRA, from B10

so we come out at practice a little bit faster,” Warne said. “I think that’s been a concern for the coaching staff. Our first two games just didn’t get off to a quick start … we’re starting some tempo drills, so that’s helping us carry that momentum throughout practice.”

Building quick momentum starts at the faceoffs — graduate student midfielder Gabriel Mendola, the faceoff specialist on the team this year, is a key component in generating offense.

“He’s one of our hardest workers,” Warne said.

“He does everything that he needs to do to be really successful at that position. And it’s a unique position to be in — [being] the faceoff guy is very technical, yet you’ve got to have that fighter mentality, and I think he has that.”

With the NCAA rule changes that restructure the faceoff into a three-on-three matchup, Mendola’s fighter mentality needs to extend to the players on the wings that are battling alongside him for possession. The new faceoff setup, which requires significant effort and speed, factors significantly into the overall dynamic and progression of the game.

“At the end of the day, when you play the wings and the faceoff game is a three-on-three game, it’s about effort and heart going after the ground ball … a lot of that is about what’s inside your chest,” Warne said.

So far this season, Mendola has won 27-of-47 faceoff attempts. Against Towson, Mendola won 12-of-18 at the faceoff X, and submitted a particularly strong performance in the second half when his 10 of 11 faceoff wins slowed Towson’s early momentum.

Saturday’s matchup against Hofstra will be a battle for possession. The Pride also boast an impressive 48-76 cumulative faceoff record this season. Sophomore midfielder Kris Clarke, who has taken all but seven faceoffs for the Pride, will square up against Mendola during the game.

The Colonial Athletic Association team will be coming into Saturday’s game fresh off of its first win of the season, in which Hofstra shut out Manhattan (0-4) in an 18-0 contest. The Pride went 20-22 at the faceoff X and outshot the Jaspers 54-13.

Warne knows that Hofstra will have the same determination and athleticism that Towson brought to the field last weekend and will make Georgetown work hard on both offense and defense.

“Hofstra is very similar to Towson — they’re a scrappy bunch, and they have some really talented kids at both ends of the field,” Warne said.

“They face off really well, and they’re scoring at an unbelievable rate right now, so we know we have a huge challenge to get ready for the Pride.”

Last year, Georgetown dropped a 9-8 overtime comeback attempt to Hofstra. At this point in the season Georgetown is more preoccupied with its own team goals than its opponent, but Saturday is still a chance at redemption for a tough 2014 loss.

“We’re looking forward to having those guys down here,” Warne said. “And not that we’re harping on it at all, but I don’t think we’ve forgotten about last year.”

Most track and field programs would consider their season a success if they had accomplished all that Georgetown has this year. Sub-four-minute miles and recordbreaking performances have highlighted an indoor campaign that Director of Track and Field Pat Henner and his athletes are proud of.

“I think the key is, more than ever, both the men’s and women’s teams, everybody’s focused on the team, and team running,” Henner said.

Nevertheless, the Hoyas will seek a championship and more accolades for its runners when they head to the Big East Championship this weekend. Held in New York, the meet brings together programs from across the conference on Feb. 28 and March 1 in the first postseason test for the Hoyas.

Both the No. 20 men’s and No. 10 women’s teams finished second to rival Villanova at last season’s championship meet.

Junior Ahmed Bile, then a sophomore, led a group of four Georgetown athletes who finished in the top six of the 800-meter race.

The men’s team will look to continue its top finishes and push some of its top runners in other events during the meet.

Bile ran sub-four-minute miles twice this season, the first of which marked the first time that Bile ran a mile competitively.

In addition, last weekend in the Penn State Tune-Up, two Georgetown runners — sophomore All-Americans Ryan Manahan and Sabrina Southerland — broke records in the 800m event.

“I was thrilled. I was happy that, one, that time would get me into nationals, and two, that I could drop the school record a little bit in the 800,” Manahan said.

Georgetown is the favorite by a large margin entering the weekend, as the men are the only ranked Big East team, and the only other women’s team in the top 25 is No. 19 Providence. Defending champion Villanova sits at 37th on the men’s side and 36th on the women’s.

“The team’s mindset will change in that we’re throwing time out the window and just focusing on really competing against the other people, competing against the bodies around us and trying to beat people,” junior Samantha Nadel said.

For the men, Bile, Manahan and graduate student and former All-American Billy Ledder will seek to help their team redeem last year’s 32.5 point loss to Villanova. All three are top competitors in the 800m event, and the Hoyas anticipate that they will field an elite team for the 4x800 event.

“I think we (Manahan, Ledder and freshman Joe White) will all go to nationals. I think that one of us might compete in the DMR instead of the open 100, but I think there’s a 100 percent chance that we’ll all be going,” Manahan said, mentioning

three of Georgetown’s best 800m runners.

Southerland and fellow All-Americans senior Katrina Coogan and Nadel will lead the women. Nadel set a personal best time of 16:04.71 at the Valentine Invitational on Feb. 13. Coogan was named the Big East Athlete of the Week after the Penn State National Invitational on Jan. 31, where she anchored a distance medley relay team that was the first in the NCAA this season to break the 11-minute mark.

Outstanding performances from the Hoyas’ runners throughout this season provide a source of encouragement and pride for Henner, who is expecting his team to earn more NCAA qualifying times this weekend.

“Right now, Sabrina Southerland is ranked fourth in the country, [graduate student] Becca DeLoache is ranked eighth, and so those two will definitely get in.

[Freshman] Piper Donaghu ranked twelfth right now, so she’ll probably get in as well … Ryan Manahan will definitely get in, but I think it’s going to work out well either way, because if Joe and Billy don’t get in, then that just means that they can go on that Distance Medley Relay and be fresh, and that’s just going to make that relay a lot better,” Henner said, discussing the team’s impressive stable of 800m runners.

Hoya Staff Writers Kara Avanceña, Jimmy McLaughlin and Tyler Park contributed to reporting.

SAXA SYNERGY

Underrated Westbrook Carries OKC SANTAMARIA, from B10

six rebounds per game. Since the All-Star break, Westbrook is averaging an absurd 29 points, 12 assists and six rebounds per game, all during games in which he played 36 minutes or fewer, out of a possible 48.

Pundits have often critiqued Westbrook’s game, arguing that he shoots too much — and they’re right, to an extent. But Westbrook’s style of play dictates that he needs to shoot; he is a scoring point guard, and on nights when he doesn’t shoot well, Oklahoma City loses its edge over every other team in the NBA. In Thunder wins, Westbrook has converted 48 percent of his field-goal attempts, compared with his 37 percent accuracy in the team’s losses.

When Westbrook’s shots are falling, everything goes right for the Thunder. When he shoots the ball well, defenses have no choice but to respect every facet of his offensive game by double-teaming or pressuring him.

When his opponents attempt to trap him, Westbrook’s point guard skills emerge and he regularly tallies 10 or more assists in a game.

Perhaps Westbrook is unconventional.

But the NBA is no longer a conventional league, and a point guard who uses scoring as a means to make himself a better distributor is brilliant.

While Westbrook does not have the crafty, flashing passing skills of Stephen Curry, or the ability to make seemingly impossible dishes like John Wall, he is still a top point guard in terms of assist numbers, ranking fifth in the NBA with 8.0 assists per game.

Moreover, Westbrook has no need for flashy passes; with a player like Kevin Durant on the court, just getting him the ball in his favorite spots is more than enough to help his team.

Many fans will still argue that Westbrook is hot-tempered, reckless and selfish. These words are often used to either minimize Westbrook’s value to OKC or suggest that he belongs on another team.

All of those adjectives are misleading. Yes, Westbrook does try to take on the entire opposing team by himself at times, but with his strength, speed and athleticism, who wouldn’t?

Since his college basketball days at UCLA, Westbrook developed an offensive game built around his athleticism and speed.

There are very few, if any, players who can sprint up the court and stop mid-stride to pull up for a jump shot — Westbrook’s signature move.

His supposed selfishness with the ball is largely exaggerated, because, more than anything, Westbrook wants to win. In a recent interview with Dan Patrick, Westbrook said that he didn’t mind sharing the

spotlight with Durant and that he would rather be part of a star duo than lead a team on his own.

Durant does not resent the Thunder’s formula either. He and Westbrook treat each other like brothers; they win together and they lose together. Durant directed some of his most heartfelt words to his star running mate during his MVP acceptance speech last year. Westbrook deserved every word.

There will only be one Kevin Durant in league history. He is efficient, skilled and versatile in a way that the average NBA player is not. Nevertheless, despite his flaws, of which there are many, Westbrook deserves some credit for helping Durant become the player he has become, and, most importantly, for leading OKC when Durant cannot. He deserves more credit than many people will ever be willing to admit. Even with his rushed jumpers, his high total of shot attempts and his occasionally erratic on-court decision making, Westbrook is an indispensable asset to the Thunder and their playoff hopes, and is a source of inspiration to all those striving to prove the pundits wrong.

Keep executing, Russell.

Paolo Santamaria is a freshman in the College. Saxa Synergy appears every Friday.

sports

FRIDAY, February 27, 2015

THE HOYA

B9

Men’s basketball

The Water Cooler

Raiders, Rams Are Copeland Shines as a Starter LA’s Best Options STORM, from B10

Since the city council of Ingle- a new stadium does not solve one wood, a suburb of Los Angeles, ap- of the key problems of each franproved a stadium plan submitted chise, as a new arena will not make by the St. Louis Rams on Feb. 24, either the Raiders and Chargers Los Angeles’ dream of luring an better teams.

Both teams’ lack of success is NFL franchise increasingly seems not because their stadiums are old; like an impending reality.

Ever since the Raiders and the the franchises are unsuccessful Rams packed up and moved to because the management, coachOakland and St. Louis after 1994 ing and overall talent are inferior and 1995, respectively, Los Angeles relative to the rest of the league. has yearned for at least one NFL Instead of developing their teams into top contenders in the league, team.

In many instances, the threat owners pursue new stadiums beof departing for Los Angeles has cause they want to profit from personal seat been the prelicenses, mier bargainluxury boxing chip for es and lucrafranchises that tive sponsorwish to extract ships. concessions For this from their curreason, the rent cities and Raiders may local taxpayers. find it adAs the Rams vantageous have all but givto relocate en up in trying to Southern to extract conMichael Ippolito California, as cessions from the Raiders the city of St. would likely Louis, spurred NFL stadium plans in lose a competby Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s Los Angeles should not itive battle for resources if it purchase of 60 include the Chargers. were to erect acres of land in a stadium in Inglewood in early January, the Raiders and the Northern California to compete with Chargers are the latest teams try- the recently built Levi’s Stadium for ing to use Los Angeles as leverage the San Francisco 49ers.

Finally, the proposal also ignores to extract increased funding from the actual problem that cities of their respective cities.

It is extremely unlikely that the San Diego and Oakland are facNFL will allow all three teams to re- ing: decaying stadiums. Even if the locate to Los Angeles — two seems Chargers and Raiders move, there to be the most likely option. At the will still be two massive stadiums point when the league must de- that are a drain on public funds cide which two teams are allowed because they require maintenance to move to Los Angeles, the Char- or are still not completely paid off.

In the case of Oakland, the Oakgers should be the excluded team, and the Raiders should split a sta- land Athletics, which share the O.co Coliseum with the Raiders, dium with St. Louis.

Last week, the Chargers and the would ensure that the city and Raiders announced their willing- county still face the same probness to share a reported $1.7 billion lems of a decrepit stadium that stadium that would be located in costs taxpayers millions.

However, the problems the Carson, Calif., another suburb of Los Angeles. Even if the stadium does city of Oakland would face are not use a dime of taxpayer money, less troublesome than what San as supporters allege, the construc- Diego would face, as the O.co tion of a second stadium on top of Colisuem would still be used for the Rams’ expected new arena in something; if the Chargers leave the greater Los Angeles area is not San Diego, there will be no use for ideal for either the teams involved the Qualcomm Stadium.

If a new stadium will be built or the residents of the area.

Both of these teams will face stiff and two teams are destined for competition for a limited number Los Angeles, perhaps sharing a of resources and fans and will also single stadium is the best option have to split the revenues gener- that will minimize any inevitable ated by naming rights and spon- problems — the right two teams sorships, making it unwise for the just need to be involved. owners of all three teams to allow Michael Ippolito is a sophomore two stadiums to go forward.

In addition to the limits on re- in the College. THE WATER COOLER sources that teams face, building appears every Friday.

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right now, they’re playing very unselfish basketball. They put pressure on you at both ends of the court and you have to play well to beat them.”

Georgetown’s offense produced its most well-balanced offensive performance of the season in its game against St. John’s. All five starters and Hopkins finished in double-digits in scoring, but none had more than 12 points.

Red Storm senior guard D’Angelo Harrison is second in the Big East with an average of 18.4 points per game, but the Hoyas held him in check in their previous game against

St. John’s, limiting him to just five points on 0-of-9 shooting from the field.

St. John’s 79-57 loss to the Hoyas was the second time all season that Harrison scored single-digit points.

Georgetown will look to limit Harrison and the rest of the St. John’s squad once more when the team tips off against St. John’s at noon.

“Georgetown-St. John’s Saturday afternoon in the Garden is special; we’re excited about coming up to New York,” Thompson said.

Hoya Staff Writer Tom Schnoor contributed to reporting.

GU Looks to Earn 1st Victory PRINCETON, from B10

said. “So how we practiced the last two weeks has been different, in the intensity level that we expect as coaches. Fitness was emphasized more, so we did a lot more running.

And we did a lot more competitive drills … How we play the game isn’t going to be changed that much, but how we practice had to be adjusted.”

Senior midfielder Mollie Caputo noted the emphasis on defensive communication as well as energy and intensity in practice.

“Practices have been way more intense and faster paced,” Caputo said.

“We’ve been doing a lot of running, trying to get in better shape because it was kind of evident in the Delaware game that we need to be in better shape. … The energy throughout practice this week so far has been really great, so if we can maintain that,

I think we’re going to be in good shape.”

Defensive communication will be vital against a potent Princeton attack, which is led by senior midfielder Erin Slifer, who notched five goals in the win over Loyola Maryland.

In addition to its attack, Fried praised Princeton for its possession style and noted its strength on draw controls because of the intensity of outside players.

“They play really hard,” Fried said.

“They’re really aggressive, they go after loose 50-50 balls and they play together really well. On the offensive end, they have a couple people they rely on. But at the end of the day, they dictate tempo; they slow things down and possess the ball.”

Georgetown’s last warm-up before the Princeton game came in heavy snow against the Scotland international team, but Caputo said the

team’s heads were in the right place this time, which led to a good performance.

“We had a really good warm-up. I think everyone decided that we can’t control the weather, and whether it’s snowing or not, we’re going to be playing,” Caputo said. “It was definitely interesting. I wouldn’t say it was fun, but we got through it …

You can’t control the weather, but going out there and giving our best through the bad weather was pretty good, and we did a good job.”

However, Fried also said that they have not quite yet found the right combinations of players on the field.

With six freshmen in midfield, the coaching staff will continue to make lineup changes.

“I would say we’ll continue to do that until there’s a consistency level on the field both in effort, decisionmaking and execution,” Fried said.

baseball

Offense Falters Against GWU Hoya Staff Writer

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MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

Senior forward Mikael Hopkins has averaged 13 minutes and 6.3 points per game off of the bench in the Hoyas’ three-game winning streak.

women’s lacrosse

Nadav Senensieb

Last issue’s solutions

1 4 9 6

opened the season, and the second was in January, during the team’s best stretch of the season that included home wins over Butler and No. 6 Villanova (26-2, 13-2 Big East).

Since Georgetown struggled in a 69-53 loss at Villanova on Feb. 7, Thompson has removed senior forward Mikael Hopkins from the starting lineup and replaced him with freshman forward Isaac Copeland.

The change is a testament to how far Copeland has come as a defender since the start of the season and has given the Hoyas more speed in transition. “[Copeland is] getting better every game; he’s consistently, not just scoring, but putting up rebounds and playing well defensively,” Head Thompson said. “I said at the beginning of the year that one day the clouds are going to open up for him and we’re in the midst of watching that happen.”

Since the move to the bench, Hopkins has averaged just over 13 minutes per contest, compared with the 23 minutes per game he was playing before the Hoyas’ most recent win streak.

Copeland, meanwhile, has played just over 18 minutes per game for the season, but has seen 31 minutes per game over the last three games.

He set a new career high for minutes played in a game that ended in regulation with 33 minutes against St. John’s, then eclipsed that number when he played 36 minutes against DePaul last Saturday.

While Georgetown looks to push for second place in the Big East, St. John’s, which is currently sitting at fifth place in the Big East, is clinging to the unforgiving fringes of the NCAA tournament bubble.

The Hoyas will look to build off of its 22-point win over the Red Storm at Verizon Center on Feb. 17.

“They were winning leading up to our game, they just happened to have a bad night that day,” Thompson said. “They’re playing very well

Senior pitcher Jack Vander Linden returned from Tommy John surgery on Wednesday to pitch three scoreless innings, but the Georgetown baseball team’s offense fell short as the team ultimately lost 3-0 to its crosstown rival George Washington.

The Hoyas (1-3) gave up two runs in the seventh inning and one in the eighth to the Colonials (2-1) and could not muster any offense of their own. Playing in Arlington, Va., where GWU plays, Georgetown was shut out for the second time in four games.

Despite the loss, the team considers the game to be a positive sign overall, as Vander Linden was slated to be the ace of the team last season before getting injured in his first start. Now, coming back from injury, he has the potential to make a big impact on Georgetown’s season.

“He looked alright,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said. “I mean his arm strength isn’t where it once was yet.

He’s not even a year out of the surgery and we understand that. He competed, he made pitches when he had to and he gave his team a chance to win. He’s going to get better and I’ll take this as a first outing, knowing the whole picture.”

For the time being, Vander Linden will be monitored closely and limited to short starts until his arm strength gets back to what it was pre-injury.

Wilk think it will be a long process before Vander Linden can return to

form, but he is confident in his pitcher’s future. “[Vander Linden is] going to build his arm strength, watch his pitch count rise and get back to where he once was,” Wilk said. “He’s not there yet and I didn’t expect him to be, but I do think he’s going to be back to his old self. He needs another month or so, but I was encouraged.”

While Vander Linden has been recovering from his Tommy John procedure, the Georgetown offense has suffered from an early-season slump. The Hoyas have been held to three runs or less in three of their four games and managed only seven singles and a walk in Wednesday’s game.

Georgetown had scoring opportunities in the third and fourth innings, but it failed to capitalize on them. In the third, sophomore center fielder Beau Hall led off the third inning with an infield single and advanced to second base on an error.

With two outs, freshman left fielder Austin Shirley singled to right field and Hall attempted to score but was thrown out at the plate.

In the fourth inning, senior first baseman AC Carter singled with one out and advanced to third base before junior designated hitter Curtiss Pomeroy flew out to end the potential rally.

Outside of those two innings, the Hoya bats were mostly quiet.

“We watched too many good pitches go by and we got ourselves in defensive counts,” Wilk said. “We need to be more aggressive, especially on the fastball.”

The Hoyas managed to keep the

game tied until junior pitcher Tim Davis was brought in to preserve the scoreless tie in the seventh inning.

Davis gave up two runs on three hits in his lone inning of work, which was enough for the Colonials to leave Arlington with the win.

Now Georgetown turns its attention to Davidson College (3-2), who Georgetown will play in a three-game series in Davidson, N.C. Due to weather conditions, it remains to be seen whether the games will be played, but Wilk hopes that the games go forward so his team can get more preparation in before conference play.

“We just have to keep playing the game,” Wilk said. “We’ve been on a baseball field now five times, including four games. I don’t mean to start making excuses in any stretch, but we just need to keep playing. We’ve got a good baseball team and we need to get into our rhythm and I don’t know if that’s going to be in Florida [for the Snowbird Baseball Classic from March 7-14] or what.”

Junior Matt Smith, senior Matt Hollenbeck and freshman Kevin Superko will be the Hoyas’ starting pitchers against Davidson, in that order. Because the pitching staff has had a great start to the season, Wilk knows that the key to beating Davidson and having continued success is the team’s hitting.

“We’re a high-quality defensive team right now and I expect us to continue that,” Wilk said. “We’ve pitched well enough to be 4-0 and we’re sitting at 1-3 basically because we haven’t hit up to our expectations.”

SPORTS

Women’s Basketball Georgetown (4-24, 2-14) vs. Creighton (16-11, 9-7) Friday, 7 p.m.

McDonough Arena

FRIDAY, FEBR UARY 27, 2015

TALKING POINTS

MEN’S TENNIS Georgetown will host its first of two home meets when it faces DePaul today.

See thehoya.com

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NUMBERS GAME

The key is, more than ever, both the men’s and women’s teams ... [are] focused on the team.

DIRECTOR OF TRACK & FIELD PAT HENNER

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S LACROSSE

2nd Matchup Set With St. John’s DILLON MULLAN Hoya Staff Writer

From the Bahamas to the Big East, Georgetown’s men’s basketball team (18-8,10-5 Big East) has soundly navigated the challenges it has faced on the court this season.

Georgetown will need to continue its success on the court if the team aims to leave Madison Square Garden with a win against St. John’s (19-9, 8-7 Big East).

A victory Saturday night would allow the Hoyas to hit their stride ahead of a crucial game at Butler (20-

MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

Freshman forward Isaac Copeland scored 12 points and notched nine rebounds in Georgetown’s 79-57 victory over St. John’s on Feb. 17.

SAXA SYNERGY

8, 9-5 Big East) next Tuesday. Butler is currently in second place in the Big East, just one place ahead of thirdplace Georgetown. The Hoyas’ trip to Indianapolis will likely decide the second overall seed in the Big East tournament.

“At this stage of the year, each game has significance because you’re coming down the home stretch and want to play your best basketball late in the year,” St. John’s Head Coach Steve Lavin said.

Despite the Hoyas’ current threegame winning streak, they have been unable to claim a place in college basketball’s highest echelon. A few narrow losses during the non-conference schedule and its inability to establish a prolonged winning streak during league play have hampered Georgetown’s efforts to stay ranked among the top 25 teams in the country.

Luckily for Head Coach John Thompson III and his players, statements in this sport are made in March, and his team has managed to stay the course until now. Georgetown is in a strong position as the calendar flips to college basketball’s most crucial month. “[This is] the time of the year that you want to play best, and I think this is a year that we have the depth and the quality of play in the Big East that there are going to be multiple teams playing that second weekend of the NCAA tournament,” Lavin said.

As the Hoyas make their final preparations for the postseason, they appear armed and dangerous as they ride a three-game winning streak.

The Hoyas have won four games in a row twice this season. The first such streak, between Nov. 15 and 26, See STORM, B9

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Paolo Santamaria

Vindicate Russell Westbrook A

lthough many pundits dislike his style of play and argue that his success is greatly aided by superstar teammate Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook is a legitimate contender for the NBA MVP Award this season.

Early in the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder struggled after Durant sustained a right-foot fracture and Westbrook suffered a fracture in his right hand. When Westbrook returned on Dec. 28, the team had a dismal record of 4-12.

Russell Westbrook should be seriously considered as an MVP Candidate.

Comparatively, the Thunder have a 28-15 record when Westbrook is on the court and a 10-7 record when Westbrook is forced to carry the team without Durant. As a result, although the Thunder are currently the eighth seed in the West at 31-25, the team is surging toward the playoffs, and Westbrook’s role in the team’s rise is undeniable. If they make the playoffs as sixth seed or higher, Russell Westbrook deserves the MVP trophy.

This season, the superstar point guard is averaging 26 points, eight assists and See SANTAMARIA, B8

FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

Senior Sophie Panarese and junior Liselot Koenen, not pictured, won the first doubles spot over Navy on Feb. 26. Read more on thehoya.com.

The number of days since the Georgetown women’s golf team played its last tournament.

STANLEY DAI/THE HOYA

Graduate student midfielder Gabriel Mendola has won 27-of-47 faceoffs so far this season, including 12-of-18 against Towson.

Hoyas Face Hofstra In Hunt for 1st Win ELIZABETH CAVACOS

Charlie McCormick said. “This past week … we’ve been doing everything very positively, and After two unsuccessful bids, everybody has been working tothe Georgetown men’s lacrosse gether at all levels of the game.” team (0-2) will look to record its Looking ahead, the Hoyas are first win of the season this Satur- placing more of an emphasis on day when it takes on Hofstra (1-2) setting the tempo. at MultiSport Facility.

“We felt like we could have The Hoyas’ inability to estab- came out and played a lot faster lish the pace and quicker from the openthan we did,” ing whistle “We felt like we could senior dedoomed them fender Bryson in their first two have come out and Greene said. games. George- played a lot faster and “But as far as town was down practice is go4-1 at the end of quicker than we did.” ing this week, the first quarter it’s been pretagainst Notre ty positive.

BRYSON GREENE Dame (2-0) on Senior defender D e f e n s i v e l y, Feb. 14, and it we’ve been fowas at the bottom of a 6-0 hole cusing on communicating more at the end of the first quarter and getting out to the ball quickagainst Towson (2-1) on Feb. 22. er and having better approaches Although the Hoyas rallied in on the men we’re covering.” each game to overcome the large By designing practices this deficits and fought back to re- week around improving poise gain control, they were unable to and strong focus, Head Coach seal a victory in either case.

Kevin Warne believes the team “It’s always tough coming off will see great improvements in two losses like that, especially setting an early pace in its games. having such high hopes coming “We’re trying to set the tempo into the season,” senior midfielder and co-captain See HOFSTRA, B8

Hoya Staff Writer

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Hilltop Hosts Princeton in Home Opener CHRIS BALTHAZARD Hoya Staff Writer

After a snowy exhibition match against Scotland’s international team, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (0-1) heads into an important game Saturday against No. 11 Princeton (2-0).

Georgetown is looking to bounce back from a disappointing performance in its season opener, when it fell to Delaware (2-1) 17-5 on Feb. 14.

As a result of the loss, the Hoyas fell out of the NCAA rankings after entering the season at No. 16.

A run of difficult games gives the Blue and Gray an opportunity to jump back into the rankings with a couple wins, and the first opportunity comes against a tough Princeton team on Saturday.

Against Delaware, the Hoyas committed 19 turnovers compared to the Blue Hens’ 10,

which gave the momentum to Delaware early.

“The biggest thing for us is going to be execution,” Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “We had 19 turnovers, and that led to us not getting possession, and that led to them getting goals. So, it was a downward spiral, a perfect storm, in the wrong way from our perspective. So, it’ll be a lot more awareness on our end, making sure that we’re possessing the ball.”

In its first game, Princeton controlled then-No. 9 Loyola (0-1) in a 10-8 victory, winning 16-of-20 draws to dominate possession.

Fried said that practice has been more intense since the Delaware loss, as the team will focus on attaining a high energy level on game day. “[Delaware was] more prepared than we were; they See PRINCETON, B9

FILE PHOTO: DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

Senior defender Adrianne Devine picked up one ground ball and had two ground controls in Georgetown’s season opener against Delaware.

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