The Hoya: The Guide: April 17, 2015

the guide FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015

An Animal’s Hilltop Home

Students and staff balance the responsibilities of animal ownership with its many health benefits GIANNA PISANO Hoya Staff Writer

The walk to and from class is often fraught with furry creatures. Jack the Bulldog will make a photoopportunity appearance, while neighbors frolic with their dogs on the front lawns.

But what about the college students walking dogs, forbidden from campus residential spaces? And the myriad, rumored pets kept in dorm rooms?

While some students are able to obtain animals for health reasons, others clandestinely keep pets without informing the administration. Both groups of students, however, have encountered and overcome obstacles in obtaining these animals. Regardless, these students agree that the animals have enriched their Georgetown experiences.

 Obtaining approval for an animal is a complex process involving numerous departments as well as countless medical forms and documents. Although pets are strictly forbidden for students, service or emotional support animals are allowed on a case-by-case basis.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a “service animal” as “any animal that is trained to do, work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.”

Pets are not allowed on campus, but, by definition, service animals are not pets.

“Service animals are dogs or miniature horses that are trained to perform a specific task,” Associate Director of the Academic Resource Center Annie Tulkin said. “Some examples of tasks these animals may provide are guiding a blind or visually impaired person, sensing when a person may have a seizure and getting them out of harm’s way, and bringing the person items and assisting them with tasks.”

Since service animals are rigorously trained to perform specific physical tasks that their owners rely on to complete their day-to-day routines, they are permitted in most places on campus.

The “emotional support animal,” which provides mentally therapeutic relief for students, is also often requested. This application process is focused less on the physical capabilities of students and more on mental and emotional aid.

Tulkin must distinguish between the two types of animals when she receives requests from students.

“Emotional support animals, or therapy animals, are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are covered under the Fair Housing Act. These animals are not allowed in public spaces, but rather they are allowed under this federal legislation to reside on campus,” Tulkin said.

The decision is usually based on less tangible medical factors than those required for traditional service animals, so properly See PETS, B2 ISABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA

THIS WEEK ARTS FEATURE

LIFESTYLE

The Art of War Work of Japanese-American reveals his experiences in WWII NICK BIGGS-CHIROPOLOS Hoya Staff Writer

A Hoya Takes on Hollywood

Georgetown graduate Steve Wolsh gave up a stable career to pursue his lifelong dream of directing film. B3

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The Tale of Monkey Royalty

Disney’s nature documentary “Monkey Kingdom” shows the complex hierarchy of the animal world. B5

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Indie Duo Back on Stage Matt & Kim’s latest album “New Glow” starts off slow but gradually proves itself. B6

THEHOYA.COM/ GUIDE @thehoyaguide

In a dark era of national history, the U.S. government placed West Coast residents of Japanese descent into internment camps during World War II, simply because of their heritage. This chapter of World War II history may be closed, but one of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s newest exhibits, “The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi,” features artwork from a man who lived through that experience.

Kuniyoshi was an artist born in Japan who experienced similar profiling in his home state of New York and subsequently faced controversy when American museums featured his work, as many people deemed him non-American. The exhibit chronicles the progression of Kuniyoshi’s art, from the 1920s to his death in 1953. His pieces contain American subject matters with strong, dark influences from his own personal hardships as a Japanese man in the United States during World War II. The exhibit showcases the broadness and complexity of the art that Kuniyoshi produced, which ranges from black and white pen or pencil sketches to elaborate large paintings. The subject matter ranges from Maine landscapes

COURTESY SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

Yasuo Kuniyoshi faced discrimination in the United States because of his Japanese heritage. His work reveals the hardships that he and other Japanese-Americans underwent on United States soil. to Parisian prostitutes to World War II themes, with much in between. His style is not traditionally Japanese but is instead bold and modern, which provides a unique spin on the contemporary art movement.

The pieces themselves are not the most aesthetically pleasing.

However, examination of the

content matter in almost all of his drawings and paintings can be thought-provoking and reflects the complicated life of Kuniyoshi. It is divided into early years of bright and bold cartoonlike paintings, the World War II phase, which feature paintings and sketches of dimmer colors, and the postwar phase, which

includes downright haunting paintings and extremely dark, black-and-white paintings and drawings.

Pictures from his early life include detailed and colorful paintings of fairly traditional American subject matter, such See KUNIYOSHI, B4

B2

the guide

THE HOYA

friday, APRIL 17, 2015

FEATURE

Pets and Medical Animals Affect Campus Life PETS, from B1 documented emotional support animals are harder to find.

“Students seeking these types of animals must follow the Academic Resource Center and Residential Living process for having an emotional support animal on campus,” Tulkin said.

“This includes documentation from the student’s health care provider. These animals are prescribed by a person’s health care provider and typically provide support for anxiety, depression and/or stress.

They may or may not have specific training.”

Since emotional support animals are not required to have training in a specific task, most creatures can be considered as emotional support animals as long as they are deemed helpful by a medical professional.

VOM

Students seeking a service or emotional support animal as a viable medical option are welcome to apply for one, but it is a lengthy and complex process. Once approved, the student becomes liable for any incidents that occur.

Service animals are allowed to accompany students in most places on campus, including libraries, the cafeteria, classrooms and performance halls. Thus, the university goes through necessary precautions to ensure that the animal can safely interact with others in these highactivity environments. Because of the inherent risks involved, the application process is arduous and highly selective.

Dolly Moorhead (COL ’16) underwent this process to prove that her current service animal, a dog named Demon, was properly qualified.

“I had to submit letters from my doctors indicating I required a service animal in order to attend Georgetown, letters from the trainer to prove he had been trained, letters from the vet verifying his vaccinations and medicine, and proof of a ridiculous amount of bite insurance,” Moorhead said.

The inclusion of bite insurance comes after Jack Jr., the dog chosen to succeed Jack Sr. as the university’s official bulldog, bit a child in fall 2012. The child did not suffer any critical injuries, but the parents pressed charges, and a settlement was reached in summer 2013.

Once the application is approved, the student works with the ARC to find proper housing. Since the animal is considered an accommodation for a disability, no additional costs besides general care and maintenance are required.

However, finding the right on-campus living space for a service animal is not without its caveats.

“Last year, I lived in the fall in a triple with one roommate, who then dropped out, so me and Demon had a triple. We couldn’t get a new roommate because the roommate had to sign agreements to live with a service dog. This year, we live in Henle with four people total plus Demon. I have to put down 1000 dollars in deposit in case of damages,” Moorhead said.

Additionally, the busy schedules of

Georgetown students often prohibit them from properly caring for their animals. Moorhead has developed a routine for taking care of her dog Demon, but it is a time-consuming one.

“On top of class, I walk [him] three to four times a day, feed him once in the morning and once at night, and play with him probably twice a day,” Moorhead said. “Having a service animal has in part shaped my Georgetown experience. I have to be conscious about returning to my dorm during the day in order to take Demon out for walks, which means, unlike other students, I can’t do straight marathon Lau sessions.”

Julia Abernathy (MSB ’18), who had an unregistered hedgehog in her dorm last semester, quickly realized just how much work caring for a pet entails.

“She was a baby hedgehog named Fig that we got from a dealer from West Virginia, who sold her to us out of the back of his car. We got the hedgehog because we had been obsessed with them for a while and I decided it would be my birthday present, but she was too much work,” Abernathy said. “She pooped a lot. It was too much to take care of in such a small space.”

After one semester taking care of her pet hedgehog, Abernathy chose to give it away to a nearby family.

Dylan (COL ’17), whose name has been changed for the sake of anonymity, has an unregistered dog living with him on campus. He chose to get the pet because of his love for dogs and his familiarity raising two of them in his family’s home. Since he had no medically valid reason for obtaining the pet, he and his friends have done their best not to advertise its existence to the university.

Although Dylan also has a packed student schedule, he and his friends manage to take care of the dog by splitting up the duties.

“It is not difficult at all to balance the responsibilities of taking care of our dog … and schoolwork. We have it on a feeding and walking schedule and make sure that someone’s always around it,” Dylan said.

Despite the risks associated with having an unregistered dog as well as its inherent caretaking duties, Dylan and his friends are willing to make the effort.

“I think [the dog] has definitely helped my college experience by boosting the morale of everyone in our house,” Dylan said. “Even though it can be tough waking up early to walk it, [the dog] is definitely worth the trouble to have it around us.”

Moorhead also attested to the benefits that her service animal has brought to her college experience.

“Demon has been amazing for helping to maintain my health and making my college experience much less stressful,” Moorhead said.

Health Communications Specialist of Health Education Services Laura Marcucci sees the general health benefits of domestic animals. HES hosts several events throughout the school year inviting pets to campus to spend time with students.

The most popular event is Puppy Playtime, which takes place on the front lawn. Local puppies and their owners are invited to stop by to meet students and run around with them, providing students with a therapeutic dose of comfort.

“Research has shown that pets improve wellbeing and decrease stress.

Through the Hoya Health Hut and Thrive Week, HES has held over four Puppy Playtime events over the past few years,” Marcucci said. “At these events, volunteers bring their trained therapy dogs for an afternoon so that students can pet and play with them. The programs are widely popular; students leave happy and relaxed, and we’ve gotten great feedback that they’re always looking forward to more events.”

ZUG

No account of the presence of animals on campus could be complete COURTESY VICTORIA SOMERVILLE without looking at the Puppy Playtime, an event hosted by Health Education Services, brings local dog iconic Georgetown pet: Jack the Bulldog. Jack is owners and student dog lovers together for a day of stress-free animal fun. arguably the most popular furry friend on campus, strutting residence, has a new puppy named this may not be an option.

According to the service animal guidearound like a local celebrity, complete Finnegan, who has attracted a lot of atlines supplied by Georgetown University, with his own entourage of student care- tention from students.

“I am so grateful to the university for services animals have a right to be present takers.

Jack currently resides in a townhouse allowing live-in staff to have pets. I know regardless of allergies or fear of the service on 36th Street, cared for by six students that Finnegan has added a lot of joy to animal since they are considered neceswho form the “Jack Crew.” His retired my life, as well as to the lives of more stu- sary to that student’s basic way of life. predecessor, of the same name, re- dents than I’ll ever be able to count,” she Cases involving allergies can be brought up individually to the Office of Disability mains a part of campus life through his said.

Since Chappell is such an accessible figSupport Services to weigh the needs of home on the fourth floor of New South.

He is cared for by Fr. Christopher Steck, ure, her pet provides students with some both students and come to a solution. equally accessible rest and relaxation.

S.J., the chaplain-in-residence.

“Finn’s presence has been extremely MRZ The students living on his floor have helpful in our residence hall.

Students mixed opinions on being in such close stop by my apartment or email to ask if The complex paperwork, proof of proximity to an old canine celeb.

“I enjoy seeing Jack every day because they can pet him or play with him be- necessity and financial obligations init reminds me how proud I am to be a cause they are stressed out. We walked volved in the animal application process Hoya. I think on-campus pets could alle- by one student whose face was tight with makes students with service or emotionviate stress if they were more accessible, stress — he saw Finn and then stopped to al support animals a rare find.

Those not eligible under these medibut Jack doesn’t hold office hours,” Mi- say that seeing him was the best part of his day,” Chappell said. cal guidelines sometimes bypass the chael Martinez (MSB ’18) said.

While Chappell sees the immense ben- administration altogether and hide pets Martinez’ jest does have a seed of efits of having any kind of animal pres- in their dorm rooms or apartments. In truth in it. In order to spend time with the current Jack the Bulldog — apart ence among students, she must also take both cases, the issue of caring for pets in a small space on a busy campus is raised. from chance encounters during his into account opposite student reactions.

“There is one student who is not fond Although students work around those walk from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. — it is necessary to fill out a form to have him appear of having an animal approach him, so problems, concerns still arise when planat an event. University-sponsored events that student texts me when he is coming ning how those pets can be sustained on are prioritized, and because Jack cannot over so I can hold Finn and the student a long-term basis and what happens if physically walk great distances, eligible can feel comfortable. I recognize the fact things go wrong.

For the most part, animals — both functions are usually limited to on-cam- that some people have had bad experiences in their history, and it is extremely registered and unregistered — have posipus events.

These bulldogs are not the only pets important to me that students feel com- tively added to the experiences of many being cared for by live-in staff or volun- fortable in their hall and in my home,” Hoyas. From fostering school spirit to providing emotional support to offering teer students. Unlike regular students, Chappell said.

General student discomfort can be a help with physical tasks, animals of all some community members can directly own pets without them being medically reason to restrain pets, but for students species, shapes and sizes have lent helpwith disabilities who require the con- ing hands — or paws, fins, quills — to the necessary.

Stefanie Chappell, a chaplain-in- stant company of their service animals, lives of Georgetown students.

center stage

Vegetarian Tacos Burst With Business Potential Washington, D.C. duo Suzanne Simon and Bettina Stern plan to open a restaurant for local farm-to-table cuisine katherine Pietro Hoya Staff Writer

Suzanne Simon, along with friend and business partner Bettina Stern, has co-founded one of the most popular stands at Washington, D.C. farmers markets, including Georgetown’s own, and is currently in the process of opening up an inaugural restaurant in Georgetown.

Chaia’s fresh, farm-to-table vegetar-

ian tacos have become so popular with the community that a transition from temporary market stand to permanent restaurant is not surprising.

Can you talk about how everything got started? How did you and Bettina meet and then get to the point where you decided to start Chaia?

Bettina and I met at a cocktail party, having a conversation about the food

on the table, of course. We both were home cooks, and were in a cookbook club together. We had an idea for a blog where we worked with farmers markets and we did food writing for the markets.

We became very interested in farmers and what they were growing locally. We also just started to notice that the quality of the vegetables that we could get at these markets was just so superior compared to grocery stores. We found that it was easier to cook with these fresh ingredients than it was to try to create something out of a vegetable that’s not in season because then you have to work harder to make it taste good.

We worked with the farmers markets as bloggers and writers for a while.

I went to cooking school in Mexico and learned how to make corn tortillas from scratch and just thought they were the best thing. We just had this idea for combining fresh vegetables we love with the tortillas and creating tacos. We first did this through cooking classes that we taught, and all the students loved them so much, we decided to try it as a business model.

Where does the name Chaia come from?

Chaia is a mix between the word chaya, which is a Mayan leafy green, and the name chaia, which is a word that means “life.” So, we tried to blend these two concepts together because we wanted something that represented the vegetables we use, but also something that means life and good health.

COURTESY BETTINA STERN

Suzanne Simon and Bettina Stern have become popular farmers market vendors. The two plan to open up a vegetarian restaurant this summer.

Why is having good vegetarian alternatives important?

I think having a vegetarian option is important because I think people are actually very interested in eating more vegetables, and there are a lot of people

out there who are not even necessarily vegetarian or vegan, but they just don’t want to eat meat for every single meal.

So it’s an option that certainly fills a void in the food landscape, where it’s either you eat something with meat or you have a salad. And so, we’ve come up with something else.

What would you say to people who think vegetables or vegetarian options aren’t flavorful?

If the food is boring, or it’s not flavorful, I would say that they’re doing it wrong. If you’re using fresh vegetables, you can’t go wrong. Of course, olive oil, salt, herbs, our sauces — they’re all key ingredients in our products. But the other thing with vegetarian food is a lot of it depends on soy or fake meat products, and our concept isn’t that.

Can you talk about exactly what farm-to-table is, and why it’s important in your food?

Farm-to-table is definitely a growing trend, and I think what people are realizing is that it’s so much easier to buy something when it’s fresh, when it’s at its peak, and cook with it because you have to do so little to it. So, there’s a flavor component to farm-to-table, and also a push for local farming, rather than industrial farms where they’re only producing one crop. This has enabled small famers to grow their businesses. As part of farm-to-table, the importance of it is working with your local farmers to build up your community and to build up your economy because that’s what it does. The big farms that grow only one crop do not help with building the community or local economy like small farmers do.

Which is your favorite taco that you’ve created?

I’m really liking the taco that we just created with a local blogger. It’s a fivegreen taco, so it has turnip greens, spinach, kale, collards and mustard greens.

And then we mix that with a smoky paprika and red pepper, so it’s kind of spicy and just delicious.

How did you make the decision to actually start your own restaurant and what advice would you give to others in your position?

Actually, the transition between farmers markets and restaurant was not a difficult transition for us. We started at the farmers market and we really have outgrown our operation, so we wanted our own space. To us it seems like a very natural progression.

I would say to people who are interested in doing a food concept — find a way to test your market, and not just as a pop-up here and there because you won’t really get a sense of it, but really as an ongoing business as much as you can on a daily basis because then you really start to understand just how much work it is. You learn how to source ingredients, who your customers are and how you want to treat your customers, what attention to details you want to make — so, by giving yourself a fair amount of time to test that, the easier and less risky your transition will be to a more permanent business.

When will your new restaurant be opening and what can Georgetown students in particular have to look forward to?

Our new store is opening summer 2015, so ready for when all of the students come back in the fall. We’ll give our students the same happy hour special, so we hope everyone will come!

the guide

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015

’BAMA ROGUE

Jasmine White

Accepting The Past As Past I

t is hard to believe that my freshman year of college is almost over.

It feels like just yesterday I was back in Alabama packing up my things, excited to be going out and living on my own for the first time.

As I have stated in many of my previous columns, college was absolutely nothing like how I expected it to be.

And for me, this was an incredibly difficult hurdle to overcome. Because college was nothing like I expected, I found myself unwilling to fully let go of my high school days and memories.

They were safe, familiar, and yet they were no longer a part of my world. It was one of the most difficult goodbyes I have ever had to do deal with. And it took an entire semester for me to accept that it was time for me to move on.

Once I did that, my college experience became so much easier and so much better. Instead of reflecting on the past, I was looking forward. What did I want to do? Who did I want to be?

Where did I want to go? Finally, I was asking the important questions, the right questions. Finally, I began to feel the great elation that comes when you first begin to experience independence.

Of course, I was also scared. Once I realized that I had complete control over my own future, I was exhilarated but also incredibly burdened. And sometimes I still am, but that’s okay because at least I’m concerned with something that involves endless possibilities.

At least I am now able to imagine, to dream about my destiny and fate. All of this sounds very cliche. But I am being completely honest, as I always try to be in anything I write.

I regret so much of the time I wasted “reflecting” over my past during first semester. When I think about it now, I can laugh, but before it was a very serious matter.

College, to me, had begun to appear almost like a death sentence. I wanted no part in adulthood. Suddenly, I was longing to be little girl again, with no knowledge or concept of time, where only the present mattered and the only thing I had to worry about was what color hair ties I would wear to school the next day. Now I see how silly I was being. I was only 18, and yet there I was being all nostalgic as if my life were near its end.

So my advice to any future freshmen, or perhaps just anyone getting ready to make a huge life transition, would be to go in without particular expectations, because things rarely happen that way. And the disappointment that comes with not having your expectations met can definitely ruin an experience that has the potential to be amazing. In fact, you may find that some things that you never even thought about are possible. You may find things about yourself that you never knew until you stepped onto that new campus, or into that new house, or that new city.

I am saying that sometimes it is okay to let things happen without knowing what awaits. Sometimes it is okay to be uncomfortable, and sometimes it is perhaps even necessary. Also, do not worry about things back at home or at your old school or workplace changing without you. At the same time, do not try to delude yourself into thinking that things aren’t changing, because they are.

And so are you.

For me, this was my biggest problem. I had grown so used to things and people being a certain way that when this familiarity was disrupted, I felt like my whole world was being destroyed. Thankfully, I later realized it wasn’t. Things were definitely shifting and transforming, but in reality they were just like they had always been, even though I was not aware of it.

I don’t mean I was transforming in a way where was I losing myself. It was more like growing to discover parts of myself that I never knew existed. And this, of course, was so scary that instead I tried to push it away instead of embracing it.

If only I had let myself be surprised, and fully appreciated all the new happenings around me, my first-semester experience would have probably been so much better. But I can no longer dwell on that fact. Instead I will just be grateful that I am past that point.

I am grateful that I can appreciate that I am now at a time in my life where anything goes. And because I know this moment in my life won’t last forever, I want to make the most of it. So I will.

Jasmine White is a freshman in the College. This is the final appearance of ’BAMA ROGUE this semester.

THE HOYA

B3

ARTS FEATURE

Horror on a Budget

Thriller sparks Georgetown grad’s film career BRYAN YUEN

Hoya Staff Writer

“I would never be someone who would grow up and forget their dreams,” Georgetown alumnus Steve Wolsh (MSB ’03) said.

Most people would not expect being a director of a low-budget horror film starring a former Playboy playmate of the year to be a step in an artist’s inspirational journey. But with the release of Wolsh’s directorial debut “Muck,” the gradually rising film director is ready to prove them wrong.

Wolsh began college with aspirations similar to those of many Georgetown students; he was looking to pursue lucrative careers right after school. However, he never lost sight of his more artistic dreams, and his recent directorial debut with the horror film “Muck” shows just how far this Georgetown graduate has come.

Set on a planned-out academic and career track, Wolsh didn’t foresee filmmaking as a viable career option. “I had this idea that I had this path that I was going to go Georgetown, then Harvard Law School,” Wolsh said.

Wolsh had talked with his grandfather about going to Georgetown since the age of six and was determined to make this goal a reality. Georgetown was Wolsh’s dream school, yet he began his college experience at Sacramento State on a track scholarship. After two years, he decided to transfer, having been accepted to Stanford University, Harvard University and Georgetown. He turned down Stanford and Harvard because he believed Georgetown was the right path for his future.

At Georgetown, Steve thrived in many aspects of student life. While making friends and enjoying the college atmosphere, Steve rowed for the crew team, served as Georgetown University Student Association treasurer and worked part-time jobs, such as a bouncer at Rhino, to pay for the tuition that his scholarship did not cover.

While some may fall victim to the stress of Georgetown’s competitive atmosphere and the intimidating academic strength of their peers, Wolsh relished being in a position where he was surrounded by talented and driven people. He viewed it as a positive force in his development that helped motivate him to want to be the best he could be. In fact, it was this environment that helped him realize that he did not want to settle down and have the monotonous, though stable, life as a lawyer that he had planned.

Instead, he longed for a life doing what he loved and continuing to push himself. Wolsh came to the realization that he wanted to change his carefully laid out career plan on his own. “I realized that some of the things I wanted were not the path I wanted to do. What I always wanted to do is what I am doing now,” Wolsh said.

After graduating, Wolsh’s dreams were put on hold due to numerous financial commitments.

He worked for seven years at a “regular” job in order to help his siblings pay their own tuitions, including law school tuition at Georgetown for his brother and undergraduate tuition at UCLA for his sister. Afterwards, Wolsh quit his job and sold everything he owned in order to follow his dream of making movies.

At age 29, Wolsh took an incredible risk leaving behind a stable job in finance with a six-figure

ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT

Steve Wolsh (MSB ’03) has chosen to leave a high-paying job to start following his dreams of film. To begin from a place of financial security, he is producing horrors. salary. This was not the only major risk he took to launch his filmmaking career. Rather than make movies for a company that would supply its own vision for the product, Steve started his own production company, giving himself the creative freedom to produce movies not censored or controlled by a large corporate production conglomerate.

While he emphasized the power of such artistic freedom, noting that the decision will allow him to be the director he wants to be, it also means he has to generate all the funding for his movies. As a result, Steve has integrated his knowledge of business to make sure he stays on track. His films are low-budget and have to be made to profit heavily off of his target audience.

Wolsh has started with horror films both because they interest him and because, as an aspiring filmmaker, horror movies make sense as a career starting point.

“Doing horror, you have a better shot. Horror fans are more forgiving -- there are fans that like terrible movies and the chances of somebody seeing it and making some money go up if you make a horror film,” Wolsh said. “‘Muck’ is a business model for what we can do as a production company in making a low-budget film that is technologically sound.”

While Wolsh is proud of “Muck” as a product, he acknowledges that it is a mere stepping stone in making sure he gets the chance to make more movies in the future.

Despite the fact that “Muck” is only a small part of the bigger picture, difficult artistic work still went into the seemingly cliched horror film.

Wolsh’s work ethic back at Georgetown and in his early career has certainly translated into his movie-making, having shot the entire movie over

a 25-day period.

“Muck” is also a movie that uses no computergenerated imagery. Wolsh commented that this was a strategic decision, allowing for real stunts that are integral to his creative process.

“To me, it is one of the greatest challenges of being a filmmaker: how do I make it look real without actually doing it?” Wolsh said. In making actors participate in the process, they are put in a position where they can feel the genuine emotion of the situation of the stunt.

Speaking of the gratuitous shots of women throughout the movie, Wolsh believes it comes with the territory. “It is part of our industry and part of every industry,” Wolsh said.

In addition to scantily clad females being a reality of the genre that is necessary to sell a movie, many non-horror films are also as guilty but not held to the same standard. Yet, Wolsh does not believe that this necessarily objectifies women. “The girls were super intelligent and completely knew what they were doing. That’s how they make their living. They don’t look at it like, ‘Oh I’m being taken advantage of,’” Wolsh said. “A lot of them see it as a blessing that they can use that to get ahead.”

While “Muck” itself may not be a masterpiece that will be enshrined next to the works of Kubrick and Coppola, Steve Wolsh’s journey is a tale of hard work and dedication without the sugar coating. In addition to valuing work ethic, having chosen to follow his passions rather than be financially sound, he has learned to value what he took for granted in his youth.

“Your ability to live cheap and try new things, your endurance for being humbled and challenged is a commodity that people do not realize they have, and diminishes as you get older,” Wolsh said.

ARTS FEATURE

AI Arouses Philosophical Questions HANNAH KAUFMAN Hoya Staff Writer

It is not an easy feat, grappling with the philosophical issues that lie at the heart of human thought: what constitutes our sense of morality, and what makes us truly human? Screenwriter Alex Garland’s directorial debut “Ex Machina” attempts to unpack these questions and provide an answer that may not be as morally clear-cut as one would hope. Packed to the brim with scenes of skin-peeling robots and reality-warping twists, Garland’s film carves him an even bigger place in the niche world of cinema science fiction.

The tale begins with Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a savvy programmer who has won the chance to visit his genius boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac) at his luxurious private estate. Once there, Caleb quickly finds out that Nathan has an ulterior motive: to have Caleb fulfill the role of the individual in the Turing test, a psychological experiment designed to see if Nathan’s creation, a robot named Ava, can be considered truly human. Over the course of one week, Caleb’s interactions with Ava turn from awestruck curiosity to infatuation to dismayed foreboding, culminating in a coordinated plan to escape from Nathan’s isolated home.

Part of the film’s shock value lies in its complex use of simplicity. Featuring only four characters and taking place in only one location (Nathan’s

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

The blurred lines between humanity and machinery raise questions in “Ex Machina.”

estate), the story embeds into these aspects a subtle message about natural versus artificial life that becomes more prominent as the movie progresses. Nathan’s home implicitly combines the two concepts in its careful balance of architecture, incorporating cutting-edge technologies with a modern style while keeping the property’s unique rock formations and verdant landscape intact.

Even this single location is immensely nuanced, but that did not stop the bills from adding up. Garland said, “When I wrote this, I actually figured we’d be making it for about 4 million dollars or something like that. … But once I got to the point of writing the script and showing it to the producers, everybody felt [that] to do this properly you can’t do it for 4 million: you need 15. If you took the video effects out, it’s four people in a single location in a contained environment. You can actually shoot that very quickly and cheaply and easily. It’s always the cheapest way to make a film — except for the fact that one of them is a machine.”

There is not much in the way of computergenerated imagery apart from the uncannily realistic body of Ava (Alicia Vikander), Nathan’s robotic creation. Garland is not set out to mold an entirely new world from CGI, which would have raised the budget immensely. Instead, his method is more strategic than that, focusing on visually crafting Ava and bringing her character to life in a location not weighed down by excess visual props.

Being that Ava is central to the plot of the movie (Garland notes that she takes on the role of the protagonist by the end), it was vital that her computer-generated body add rather than detract from the message of the story. A heavy amount of planning went into her design, and the final product is both visually stunning and thought-provoking.

“It had to be the case that the first time you saw her, there was no doubt she was a machine.

Missing sections of the body was the best way to do that. It’s almost like the magician’s trick where you cut someone in half and pull them apart. It just demonstrates something impossible in terms of it being a human,” Garland said.

Ava has a perfectly sculpted face with the round brown eyes and light skin tone of a Caucasian woman, and the outline of her body is the

epitome of feminine beauty. Yet bits and pieces of this body are wrapped in high-tech mesh or are transparent enough to reveal the galaxy of electrical wires and gears churning below the surface, serving as a constant reminder of her mechanical nature.

“The breakthrough idea was this mesh, which was kind of like a spider web inasmuch as you can see it in some lighting conditions but not under others. What it meant was you could see her as a machine, and then if the light glanced off her midriff in a certain way, you could see in a fleeting way an impression of a torso, something more organic or something more humanlike, and then it would be gone again as the light changed,” Garland said. “It meant you immediately establish her as a machine and then equally immediately start drifting away, start slightly subverting that sense of her being a machine.”

The movie plays on this well-worn notion of artificial intelligence with a psychologically thrilling buildup on par with that of “Black Swan.”

Tension between the characters, keeping audiences on edge for the film’s duration. This subtle intensity bubbles to the surface in the escalating clashes between Caleb, who begins to fall in love with Ava, and Nathan, who seeks to dismantle her and move on to a more promising model. Caleb’s conceptions of reality and morality become increasingly picked apart by Ava’s existence, as well as by a mysterious server girl named Kyoto (Sonoya Mizuno), who turns out to be a submissive machine inhumanely tampered with by Nathan. When at last Caleb and Ava’s escape plan is put into action, the startling and fatal results crack the film’s already fragile moral compass and leave audiences wondering exactly who they should have rooted for.

“Ex Machina” is the kind of movie that raises more questions than it answers. Set in a near future where genuine machine consciousness is possible, the film completely subverts our own ideas of what is right and wrong by presenting Caleb and Nathan’s behavior alongside Ava’s forced imprisonment. While at first the film’s premise may seem to set itself down the well-trodden path of recent robot sci-fi flicks, Garland’s expert techniques as both a philosophical screenplay writer and a meticulous new director sets “Ex Machina” above its less imaginative peers.

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the guide

THE HOYA

Wartime Art Exhibit Reveals Hardships on the Homefront KUNIYOSHI, from B1 as a self-portrait of Kuniyoshi golfing in Maine, where he had a summer house (“Self Portrait of a Golf Player”), and a young boy leading a large cow (“Little Joe with Cow”). However, this phase also hints at darkness, most notably with a pen and black ink sketch of a lonely and forlorn lady, entitled “The Widow.”

This section also shows a series of pictures influenced

by Kuniyoshi’s visit to Paris, such as “Circus Girl Resting” and “Strong Woman with Child.” These paintings show voluptuously shaped women holding seductive poses and were actually criticized by President Harry Truman for misrepresenting female proportions.

The WWII images generally stand out less within the exhibit due to their more monotone colors and more intricate subjects, which reflect many of Kuniyoshi’s life hardships at that point.

However, one interesting piece is a painting called “Juanita.” Using opaque blocks of color, the painting shows a cluttered wooden table with a pitcher prominently in the middle. Interestingly, the pitcher is actually cracked around the middle. In real life, Kuniyoshi bought the pitcher on a honeymoon in Mexico with his second wife and painted the picture of its real-life crack during their separation, thus using subject matter to represent his own life.

The most powerful picture of this era is “Torture,” which is a black and white pencil drawing of the back of a shackled man struggling to remove his handcuffs.

However, it also has red streaks of pencil across the man’s back, representing lashings. Needless to say, these

COURTESY SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

20th-century artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi used visual mediums to portray his hard life during World War II.

single lines of red stand out from the black and white to make this already powerful image even more noticeable.

Next, the postwar imagery era of the exhibit is even more ominous but is also the most memorable. The exhibit has a wall of drawings and paintings that are almost pure black, with titles such as “Fish Head,” representing a dead fish’s head on a plate, and “Old Tree,” which is just that.

Notably, a few of the images from this period terrifyingly depict clowns, which struck me as foreboding for the present day since many children now grow up with a fear of clowns. “Fakirs” is a painting comprised of extremely bright, almost neon colors that depicts a ferocious looking clown with an extensive, pointy, red carrot nose. A miniature clown with gouged out eyes hangs from his arm while another blue-faced clown peeps out from behind him.

“Mr. Ace” shows a blue and creepy looking circus performer wearing very strange clothes and holding a hand to his head, both as a farewell gesture but also in a manner that looks like the popular modern gesture of mimicking a gun. Interestingly, Kuniyoshi painted these pictures, with their lethal connotations, just a year before he died of stomach cancer, giving them an eerie sense of foreboding.

Finally, one of the largest and most prominent pictures in the exhibit, “Festivals Ended,” is also from this final era. It is of a lone carousel horse that is upside down with its pole sticking up into nothingness. The horse hangs by a string in front of a billboard saying “Hygiene,” and a girl and a boy lie on the ground in the background aimlessly staring towards the sky. Kuniyoshi described the painting in 1948 by saying, “The world is chaotic today, but we must go on.”

The Kuniyoshi exhibit is comprised of very American subject matter, such as Maine landscapes, World War II and clowns, but it also contains this dark perspective that emphasizes the hardships of being a Japanese man in a country that fought Japan, even though Kunoyishi firmly stood completely loyal to the American way of life and army.

It must again be noted that the pieces are not the prettiest at which to look; casual museumgoers may not enjoy them as much as something more classical. However, the fascinating subject matter and complexities of the paintings are able to provide a new look into Kunoyishi’s life and an era of U.S. history that we commonly glorify as a victorious one. The artwork serves as a reminder of the incredible hardships undergone by Japanese-Americans on the home front and will certainly cause viewers to rethink their perspectives.

GRADUALLY GETTING THERE

A Narrowed Grad Program Within a Broadened Culture

S

eemingly out of nowhere, here we are: the end of the semester.

I am left dumbstruck by the realization that I am halfway through my graduate program and thus that much closer to “the real world,” where phone bills, a salary and car payments await. This past year has been a whirlwind, one that has stretched and matured me in ways I never expected, and I feel it is only fair to take some time to reflect on each aspect of my graduate experience (D.C., Georgetown and graduate school in general) and what I have learned from them.

I hail from southern Florida and completed my undergraduate career in north-central Florida — aka the “almost South.” I never thought much about how my environment affected my view on life, but after moving here it became abundantly clear that it had.

I found D.C. to be cold and aloof, full of people rushing from forced activity to forced activity in order to move an inch ahead of all of the other pawns on the chessboard. It seemed the only break from this Rebecca madness involved “going out,” which again to me felt contrived and over the top.

This “work hard play hard” mentality was something I had heard, but I never truly saw it in action until I moved here. I yearned for the slower speed of my past life, where holding the door for a person ten feet behind you wasn’t viewed as strangely polite, but as almost expected. I missed being greeted by strangers as “sweetheart,” in a charming Southern twang. I dreamed of the lazy beach days that are somewhat of a norm for a Floridian — even in January. Although there is no “correct” way of life, I do believe there is something to be said about moderation, a word that seems sadly unheard of in this city.

That said, I have started to embrace D.C. I do love the bustle of the city. I like seeing men in suits and women in heels, and there is no doubt that people here have big dreams and work hard to accomplish them. D.C. runs endlessly with opportunities that only stop when you do. Making a difference in society seems like an actual possibility when you are surrounded by people who do this on a daily basis.

By this, I am profoundly inspired.

I also found Georgetown itself to be incredibly different than my past institution. First of all, it was small; I attended a large state school that was home to about 50,000 students in total. My graduating class was about the same size as the entire undergraduate population at Georgetown, and thus many of the facilities and organizations seemed somewhat limited to me. However, this smaller size does seem to create a more close-knit community and allow for a more personalized classroom experience.

Most discomforting about my new school was the lack of diversity I perceived. Again, coming from both south Florida and a large state school, I feel I experienced a much greater range of social and ethnic diversity than any student would at Georgetown.

Frankly, on the surface, many of the students here seem like rather cookie-cutter J. Crew models: privileged and white. And honestly, the factual breakdown supports this: nearly 60 percent of Georgetown students are white. However, what

takes time to notice is that Georgetown houses diversity in different ways. For example, there are many international students, which adds to the classroom experience.

Furthermore, unlike my undergraduate institution, students hail from every corner of the U.S., which, again ,helps bring new perspectives to campus. Religious and LGBTQ diversity abound and finally, not every student is as well off as they might appear due to Georgetown’s financial aid packages.

I would not say that I am completely satisfied with the level of diversity at Georgetown, but I will admit it is better than I originally believed. Most importantly, I have found that most of the students here are aware of their more privileged status and feel strongly about helping those less fortunate.

Finally, graduate school itself is not quite what I expected. I suppose I viewed grad school as an extension of undergrad with perhaps slightly harder courses — but it is much more than this. The classes are indeed harder, but the experience itself differs Childress greatly. In undergrad, you feel like part of the larger university community, whereas in graduate school the community is mostly limited to your respective department.

You are also encouraged to focus your time and energy on events specific to your program, rather than branching out and experiencing many facets of university life. Depending on your personal goals, this may or may not be a good thing, but that is for you to decide and act upon with little help from outside resources — yet another difference from undergrad, where counselors abound.

I suppose this could all be summed up by saying that what I expected and what I actually found clashed a lot. But with time, I have accepted or even grown fond of these quirks. I am finally able to say that I am glad I made the decision to come here and am looking forward to what next year brings.

The academic year might be drawing to a close, but in this moment, I feel suspended in time: undergrad somehow seems like just yesterday, but also like it occurred eons ago; this past year both flew by and lasted a lifetime; and the summer beckons like an old friend, but D.C. refuses to let me go quietly. This feeling parallels the one I’ve become quite accustomed to: the feeling of being midway between — well, I don’t know what exactly, but like something has just finished, and something else is about to start.

Maybe this feeling is part of graduate school, as graduate school itself is sort of a prolonged midway point between adolescence and adulthood. But regardless of what you think, feel or want, time will continue to pass you by, often much faster than you realize. So, while I may feel like I am on hold, my life surely is not, so I’d better be present every step of the way to help dictate its route. And that is my ultimate takeaway from my graduate experience thus far: my race is my own, and I’m allowed to move at whatever pace and direction I so choose, if only I have the courage to pursue it.

Rebecca Childress is a master’s candidate in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. This is the final appearance of GRADUALLY GETTING THERE this semester.

friday, april 17, 2015

APPS Product hunt Free For the entrepreneur in all of us, Product Hunt is here to give us the inside scoop on the latest technological trends, from games to retail goods to smartphone apps. Users can submit original ideas and startup thoughts, or vote on those of other users. For the techie in all of us, this app gives the first look at the latest product launches, and allows users to vote on them and ask questions to the creators and other users. Product Hunt has been featured as one of the best new apps, bringing an exciting and innovative look at the latest in tech products.

tandem — language exchange Free Whether you are going abroad next semester or just love the intrigue of learning the ins and outs of different oral traditions, this app brings the fun back to practicing and learning a new language.

The intensive courses offered at Georgetown can cause students to forget why they wanted to learn a language in the first place — to speak it. Users can connect with other users, list a language in which they want to speak and a topic they want to discuss, and they are connected with someone across the globe who will partake in the discussion. This app lets users practice a language at any time, in any place.

highball Free When the Recipes section of The Guide is just not satisfying your cocktail desires, the new app Highball provides countless recipes from contributing users, available at the tap of a button.

A simple interface and easily accessible features makes this app a must for any cocktail party or bartending gig, from a classy party to Georgetown Day. Users can collect recipes and create a repertoire, so the best cocktail recipes are easy to find and share. The ability to share the recipes on a variety of social networks creates a fun, interactive experience, bringing “social drinking” to a new level.

HOYA HISTORY

“Students Distribute Condoms on Campus” April 3, 1992

Six days after former Dean of Students, and current University President John J. DeGioia reaffirmed his decision to ban the sale of condoms on campus, volunteers gathered at Red Square to respond by handing out condoms, free of charge. In conjunction with their distribution efforts, they also received nearly 700 signatures for a petition to reverse his decision. While volunteers were not officially associated with any on-campus organizations, most of the frustrated students that came to help were from Georgetown University Student Association and a group called GU Choice. GUSA President Paul Pomeroy (GSB ’92) mentioned that GUSA would keep pushing the university on this issue. “You’ll see people coming to life — there will be constant activity. GUSA will really be working with the actual issue and not just sending memos back and forth to DeGioia,” Pomeroy said.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS | WASHINGTON, D.C.

NATE MOULTON/THE HOYA

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the guide

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015

MOVIE REVIEW

THE CINEMA FILES

Monkey Kingdom

Iranian Film Shows Life’s Uncertainty

 Starring: Tina Fey (narrator) Directed by: Mark Linfield, Alastair Fothergill JASMINE WHITE Hoya Staff Writer

Is a Disney movie really a Disney movie without a princess storyline? Apparently not. Even the new nature documentary “Monkey Kingdom” comes complete with a princess-to-be, a prince — or alpha male, to be more precise — and three annoying antagonists simply referred to as “the sisters,” bringing the hierarchy of animal life in animated movies like “The Lion King” to life.

The film follows a troop of monkeys who live in a place befittingly called “Rock Castle” in Sri Lanka. The heroine of our story is Maya, a blond-headed, toque macaque monkey who ranks lowly in the troop’s hierarchical structure. Because of her social status, Maya has the slimmest pickings when it comes to food, but after giving birth to her son Kip, she is forced to find a way to overcome the class system in order to feed her newborn child.

Anyone who writes off “Monkey Kingdom” as something solely meant for kids is doing a great injustice to themselves. In fact, it might even might be questioned whether or not children can fully understand or appreciate some of the dark undertones this film has to offer. All throughout the film, the audience is faced with the issue of class, which may be a surprise for many, since monkeys are typically viewed as barbaric. However, these animals have a highly organized arrangement, one that can never be disrupted without very severe consequences.

Monkeys are born into their social positions, and it’s almost impossible to move up. The highest-ranked monkeys get to eat from the top of the trees, where the ripest and freshest fruit is. Those lower have to eat from the bottom, where there is barely anything. Anyone who tries to change this system or offends one of the higher-ups, if not killed, could be exiled. And for a petite toque macaque monkey whose predators range from cheetahs to pythons, being alone can pose great danger. So they are forced to stay, forever locked in the lowly seat into which they were just unlucky enough to be born.

The genius of this film lies in how subtly and cleverly it begins to suggest that our idea of a social hierarchy is not one born of man’s ever-evolving intelligence, but is in fact a primitive instinct. From camera angles highlighting the animals’ empathetic expressions down to the way the film captures actions such as how they take care of the sick or mourn the death of a community member, the parallels are endless.

This forces the viewer to question just how much we as humans are different from animals and in what that means.

The biggest flaw of this documentary is that there is a question of authenticity. At times, certain aspects of the plot seemed a little bit too convenient as to have not been scripted. One must also wonder if the monkeys’ attitudes and behavior were influenced by the fact that their environment was probably encroached upon by numerous cameramen, directors and pro-

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

ducers. And because of this, the audience may find themselves a little less emotionally invested or sympathetic because of this skepticism.

Aside from this factor, the film is wellcrafted in that it tells the story of these monkeys in a way that is very nontraditional for nature documentaries. Because of how skillfully each of these monkeys is showcased with different personalities and temperaments, the fact that they are animals becomes irrelevant. Instead, the focus is solely on their way of life in such a tumultuous setting. While it may seem strange to say such things about a film whose main characters happen to be animals, it is true. Perhaps, for this reason, the film is successful.

Maya, our heroine, will have you rooting for her the way you root for any other protagonist in your favorite book or show.

Blame it on the persuasive voice-overs or well-chosen music that really plays upon the dramatics, but “Monkey Kingdom” is a bit like your favorite Disney fairytale, and Maya is the destined princess. While she does meet a prince, she’s no damsel in distress waiting to be saved -- she does the saving. And for this reason, observers may come to love the story even more because it is a story of overcoming, a story of survival, and a story of how it is possible, even out of some the most unexpected places, to beat the system.

MOVIE REVIEW

True Story Starring: James Franco Directed by: Rupert Goold ANNA SHUSTER Hoya Staff Writer

With the suspense of a murder mystery and the thematic depth of a work of literature, “True Story” packs a lot into 100 minutes. Although it features familiar comedy co-stars Jonah Hill and James Franco, it would be inaccurate to write this off as just two comedy goofs trying to star in a serious film. “True Story” has weight and nuance, and Franco delivers a truly brilliant performance.

Based on Michael Finkel’s memoir “True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa,” the story begins when Finkel (Jonah Hill), a recently fired New York Times reporter, discovers that a murder suspect (James Franco) has assumed his identity. What follows is a twisting narrative that brings up questions of integrity, the self and the possibility of never knowing the absolute truth.

Throughout the film, viewers are constantly forced to ask questions: Did Franco’s character really kill his wife and three children, seemingly for no reason?

Franco’s expertly nuanced performance makes this question nearly impossible to answer. He plays suspected killer Chris Longo with a subdued calm that could either belong to a grieving, innocent man or a manipulative, calculating murderer.

He never shows his hand or gives himself away, which is both frustrating and extremely compelling.

At one point during one of the murder trial scenes, Franco delivers a long, stirring monologue that throws any remaining associations with his usual role as the amusing deliverer of slapstick humor out the window. His emotions -- guilt, detachment, confusion, regret -- are intricately balanced in a very human, real way, and his testimony feels completely organic.

Still, the more you hear his low, almost

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whispered voice and see his dead eyes, the more sinister Franco’s character appears.

By the end, just seeing him is enough to make viewers feel physically unsettled and even a bit ill. The fact that his character is so well-developed makes it even creepier: He could easily be your neighbor or the man sitting behind you, and you might never know.

The rest of the characters are developed, but not to the same extent. Jonah Hill does an admirable job portraying the moral struggles and frustrations Finkel encounters, but he doesn’t have any breakout memorable moments. Felicity Jones, fresh off her success in “The Theory of Everything,” delivers a spectacular monologue in her supporting role, but the metaphorical tie-in introduced by her character seems a little bit forced.

In terms of plot, the murder mystery aspect creates a very delicate suspense that becomes more and more urgent as the film progresses. The story drops just the right number of clues to allow the viewer a glimpse at the truth, but not enough to give anything away until the very end. When the answer finally comes together, suddenly each piece makes sense, and viewers almost feel like they can solve it.

The multiple interlocking themes allow for levels of interpretation and analysis usually only found in books. Its meditations on truth -- journalistic truth versus dramatic truth, painful truth versus harmless lie -- and how we can ever know what’s really true are poignant and timely. The characters deal with love, loyalty and integrity as well, though those themes are less integral to the plot.

Visually, the film shows nothing very stylistically impressive. It is a little heavy on dramatic, moodily lit profile shots of Franco’s face and schmaltzy flashbacks of his once happy family life. Though

FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

alternating between shots of Hill’s character and Franco’s sometimes provides interesting parallels between the lives of their characters, the technique gets old very quickly and seems like it is trying too hard to demonstrate the obvious similarities between the two men. That being said, the camera angles take a variety of human details into account, paying attention to even the smallest nervous hand gesture, and some of the close-up shots of Franco were necessary to convey his fantastic face acting.

What the film lacks visually, though, it more than makes up for with its music.

One of the highlights of the film is the subtle and effective score -- no surprise, since it’s coming from Academy Awardnominated composer Marco Beltrami. The reliance on strings and use of dissonance expertly build tension as the storyline progresses, and you can clearly see Beltrami’s background in horror films coming into play here. As the suspense in the movie ramps up, so does the score.

The movie closes with an epilogue that gives a few real-life details about the case and its aftermath. This common device seems a little unnecessary, but it makes the film feel a lot more complete and offers a sense of closure.

“True Story” is suspenseful and generally very well-done -- memorable since it’s grounded in true events. This engaging storyline was a predictably easy success.

Apart from the plot, it is Franco’s atypically serious performance that makes this movie worth watching.

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GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CONCERT CHOIR THE CHALLENGES OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE Listen to a variety of on-campus talent with this IN THE UNITED STATES

French director Jean Renoir has a bold statement in his 1939 film “The Rules of the Game,” and it goes: “The awful thing about life is this: everyone has their reasons.” That same principle holds true some 70 years later when transposed to present-day Iran in Asghar Farhadi’s spectacularly scripted and handsomely rewarded Oscar winner, “A Separation.”

I will be the first to admit that many of the films I’ve highlighted in this column have been esoteric even by movie lovers’ standards. “A Separation” is not such a movie. If you bother to watch even one movie I’ve written about in the past year, this is the one. It’s timely, it’s easy to follow (so long as your subtitle reading is up to par) and it packs a hefty emotional wallop unlike anything else you’ll likely get from films currently playing in theaters.

“A Separation,” like many of Farhadi’s films, is built around a moral dilemma without a simple solution. The film opens in a divorce office, where Simin (Leila Hatami) and her husband Nader (Peyman Moadi), are in the midst of pleading their respective cases to an offscreen judge. Simin wants to leave Iran to give their 11-year-old daughter a chance at a better and safer life, and while Nader shares her wishes, he also insists that the family must stay put longer so he can continue to care and provide for his aging father who is currently in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. This first shot positions the viewer in the place of Tim Markatos judge with the divorce Simin and Nader seated side-by-side pleading their cases to the audience. Farhadi’s intention is clear — we’re the ones meant to figure out who to support in this tangled web of responsibility.

There’s no easy solution to Simin and Nader’s drama to begin with, but when Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a woman of a lower class and much stronger religious convictions, to clean the house and look after his father during the day, the story takes a left turn into an even deeper swamp. Nader’s frustration with his wife leads him to blow a fuse one day with Razieh, who makes a threatening accusation against him that ends up embroiling their families in a boiling-hot conflict with seemingly no resolution.

The apparent cause of the film’s many moral quandaries is the lack of villains to blame. Whereas conflicts in other films can usually be reduced to a black-and-white vision of the wronged and the wrongdoers, the problems that arise between characters in Farhadi’s universe occupy a gray space where the distinctions between good and evil are nonexistent. Here, everyone’s motives are admirable, but the results of acting on them in the face of everyone else’s motives are lamentable. Farhadi has commented on the nature of his melodrama with an aphorism that echoes Renoir’s own observation about human nature, “Classical tragedy was the war between good and evil. We wanted evil to be defeated and good to be victorious. But the battle in modern tragedy is between good and good. And no matter which side wins, we’ll still be heartbroken.”

If you think the film as I’ve described it so far sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen, you’d be right, but it’s the variety of train wreck from which it’s impossible to tear your eyes away. Several factors contribute the film’s imminent watchability, first and foremost being Farhadi’s storytelling. Not a second of the film’s two hours goes to waste, with every scene adding a new layer of complexity to the characters and their situations. We learn more about the class differences separating Simin and Nader from Razieh and her husband, as well as how the former’s more liberal political and religious preferences play a role in the ensuing conflict between the families. In addition to fully realized characterizations of the actors in this drama, Farhadi’s screenplay boasts an expert pileup of tiny details introduced without fanfare early on in the story only to return with a vengeance as the plot thickens.

Of equal importance to the film’s success is the ensemble cast’s mesmerizing work. I say this not in the sense of a film critic strapped for attention-grabbing language, but in the sense of a moviegoer who was transfixed by Farhadi’s characters the first time I saw the film in theaters (trapped in the front row, no less), and even upon subsequent viewings. Hatami, Moadi and Bayat so fully inhabit their characters that it becomes impossible to separate performance from reality. Nothing rings false about the way these people behave given their circumstances, and consequently we end up projecting our own lives onto the drama portrayed onscreen.

Which is entirely the point of Farhadi’s game. “A Separation” works equally effectively on macrocosmic and microcosmic levels -- as a parable about the world’s misunderstanding of Iran and its people in the 21st century and as a mirror reflecting the misunderstandings and miscommunications that arise in our own communities on a daily basis. Farhadi doesn’t give his viewers a clean and tidy ending, and while this may be frustrating to many, it ultimately hews to reality. Life doesn’t come with credits affixed to the end; there’s always more to the story, whether we make the effort to seek it out or not.

Tim Markatos is a senior in the College. This is the final appearance of THE CINEMA FILES this semester.

ON CAMPUS WOMEN AND THE NEW RELIGIOUS GU JAZZ ENSEMBLE SPRING CONCERT Celebrate the hard work of the Georgetown Jazz POLITICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

unique selection sponsored by the Georgetown Music Program. The sheer talent present at this event will bring classical music to a whole new level. Enjoy the sounds of organs, orchestras and professional soloists in the peaceful environment of Dahlgren Chapel.

Join Reverend Edward Braxton as he comments on the current conditions of the racial divide in the United States. Co-sponsored by the Office of Campus Ministry and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought, this event will provide interesting insight on the turbulent current events.

Join an intellectual conversation on the effect of modernization of religious institutions. There will be a panel about the role of modern feminism and today’s tensions. The issues of gender roles and religion often intersect, and this talk aims bring new insight.

WHERE: Dahlgren Chapel WHEN: April 19 at 3 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free

WHERE: ICC Auditorium WHEN: April 20 at 5 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free

WHERE: Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs WHEN: April 22 at 5 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free

Band at this special musical score. Prepared by musical director and professor Aaron Broadus, this concert is expected to provide an entertaining show that includes a series of instruments across a variety of genres. Support performing arts, and particularly jazz music, at Georgetown with this show.

WHERE: Gonda Theater WHEN: April 23 at 8 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: $5, free for students

the guide

friday, APRIL 17, 2015

THE HOYA

album Review

Future Hearts All Time Low Isobella Goonetillake Special to The Hoya

Although All Time Low seems to have been putting out new albums since you were in elementary school, the rock-pop four-piece is back with the release of the bombastic “Future Hearts,” its sixth studio album. Unexpectedly, the success of band members Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson and Zack Merrick shows no signs of waning: their latest album has already brought them their first U.K. number-one album, while their first single, “Something’s Gotta Give,” performed well on the U.S. Rock Songs chart.

“Future Hearts” is a move toward a more clear-cut arena rock sound: Gaskarth, the lead singer, even sings, “I’m chasing after rock and roll.” But the band’s change isn’t fully convincing.

Many of the songs on the new album harken back to music from albums as old as “The Party Scene” in 2003, and All Time Low can’t seem to stray away from its reused teen pop-punk formula. The lyrics, as well, are unimaginative and cli-

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ched, and although there are some high points on the album, for the most part it flops.

That being said, the fact that All Time Low deviates away from a more mature sound plays to their advantage. The band’s target audience has always been teens, and its lyrics and sound definitely still have an inherent appeal for a younger market. Many songs have a selfdeprecating tone to them, like the slower ballad “Tidal Waves.” Here, the lead singer muses, “Falling on my face again / So I know I’m right on track,” adding some welcome humor to the album.

The band goes a step further in catering to their audience on the track “Missing You.” Despite the sweet title, in the first line of the song, Gaskarth casually sings, “I’ve heard that you’ve been self-medicating in the quiet of your room.”

“Missing You” quickly turns into a potential anthem for downcast, misfit teens, and finishes with the cheesy albeit encouraging line: “You’ll be missing out and we’ll be missing you.”

WORDPRESS

Punk-rock band All Time Low fails to live up to its past five studio albums with the angsty, teenage-esque sounds of “Future Hearts.”

MUSIC

New Releases

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Although All Time Low should be praised for its recognition of who its main fan base is, after twelve years on the music scene, the band could have taken the opportunity to develop its sound and maybe attempt to engage an older market.

The most frustrating aspect of “Future Hearts” is the repetitiveness in the melodies and lyrics. Many of the songs are interchangeable, eventually merging into one another.

The group also has a tendency to use anarchic, punk-rock buzzwords that don’t have much meaning or impact. For instance, on the angstfilled “Kids in the Dark,” the band sings repeatedly “We’ll never surrender / ‘Cos we’re the kids in the dark.” The track is a poor attempt to convey a rebellious, youthful energy and message that seems, at this point, a little tired.

Tracks like “Runaways” are similarly anarchic in their lyrics: the listener hears the band shout, “They won’t catch us!” Even by looking at the track listing, you can predict what the sound and message of the album will be, with song titles like “Kicking & Screaming,” “Cinderblock Garden” and “Something’s Gotta Give.”

Another downside of “Future Hearts” is that it reflects the musical tendencies of contemporary rock bands that are actually better than All Time Low. The group chanting and strong drums at the beginning of “Cinderblock Garden” are reminiscent of Bastille’s debut album, while the slow guitar-strumming style of “Bail Me Out” sounds similar to “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day. In general, you could easily draw comparisons between All Time Low and other American rock-punk, angst-y bands. The bad news for All Time Low is that it lacks the pa-

HOPELESS RECORDS

nache of Imagine Dragons and the intelligent lyrics of Fall Out Boy. “Future Hearts” is not an entirely weak album. Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Good Charlotte’s Joel Maddon are featured on “Tidal Waves” and “Bail Me Out,” respectively. To an extent these collaborations show the band’s progression. All Time Low started out covering Blink-182 when the four members were still in high school, and cite both Good Charlotte and Blink-182 as musical inspirations.

The music also has a certain nostalgic, ’90s boy-band charm, with its natural spunk and the impossibly catchy guitar-driven riffs that we hear on tracks like “Kicking and Screaming.” Songs such as “Cinderblock Garden,” although predictable, are energetic enough to sound like they would fit in well on a ’90s or ’00s teen movie soundtrack, like “Freaky Friday” or “10 Things I Hate About You.” All Time Low is the same band that we are all familiar with, and the group certainly knows how to play to its strengths.

If you’re a follower of the band, you will appreciate “Future Hearts”: it is the old formula with a slightly more evident rock edge, and so it will surely please die-hard fans. However, in the contemporary music scene, All Time Low simply doesn’t match up to the big players in the rock and pop-punk arena. It would not be able to contend with younger newcomers like 5 Seconds of Summer. To ensure its future, the band needs to provide its audience with something new, original, and distinctly “All Time Low.”

Matt & Kim Madison Stingray Hoya Staff Writer

The April 7 release of Matt & Kim’s new album, “New Glow,” coincided almost perfectly with their performance at Georgetown’s spring concert last weekend. Although the album starts off as a one-level generic collection of similar techno beats and repeated lyrics, the sound evolves as the album progresses into deeply entertaining and sincere tracks that that reveal the Brooklyn duo’s musical maturity.

The first half of the album sounds uncannily familiar, with each song using the same beats and lyrics that

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tell the same story over and over again. The first song, “Hey Now,” introduces the listener to Matt & Kim’s free-spirited world of parties and romance, relying on cymbals and a fluttering butterfly beat that make it sound almost like a high school marching band’s love song. While the energy is there, the song feels forced, and the instrumental combination is not able to add much.

A later track titled “Can You Blame Me,” colorful and full of life, is definitely liable to get stuck in your head, but it is just too similar to the others preceding it to make it especially memorable. There is a great overall theme of enjoying life and

SOPHIE FAABORG-ANDERSEN/THE HOYA

Indie group Matt & Kim’s latest album gets better as it progresses into meaningful lyrics, being overall worth the purchase and listen.

letting yourself experience every moment, an idea most Georgetown students should be inspired by every once in a while, but the sincerity of the music is confined in a superficial dance music genre that doesn’t translate well over lyrics.

“Hoodie On” is much more techno and out of the box, and for the first time Matt’s voice perfectly harnesses the amused mood behind the lyrics.

While it still isn’t a moving enough track to propel the rest of the album out of mediocrity, it is a nice change in beat and carries on the message of living life how you want to.

The track is followed by “Make a Mess,” an incredibly short yet powerful anthem about letting go and partying it up, which focuses on the idea of deviating from the confines of society and enjoying yourself. As with most of the prior songs, there is still very little emotional depth featured in the writing.

“Killin’ Me” is strangely upbeat for its title as it too relies on a strong dance music impulse to carry it forward. While the lyrics are trying to switch it up from the almost kitschy party songs that make up the first half of the album, it still lacks emotional complexity or richness.

The album does a 180-degree turn with “The World Is Ending.” This song is enchanting and haunting, and the synth beat and auto-tuned voices add to this sense of urgency.

The music is just as catchy, and it is able to keep its pumping beat while still coming off as matured and evolved. There is a musical vibe to this song that the others lack, and its lyrics are beautiful with lines such as, “There are so many fish in the sea / But only a few that really know me now.”

“darker than blood” by steve aoki (ft. linkin park)  Steve Aoki is a mainstay in the EDM world, but his latest collaboration with Linkin Park is underwhelming. The repetitive synth doesn’t build to the fantastic heights that really good electronic songs can reach, and Chester Bennington’s whiney voice drags the track into angsty, dull territory.

“so many pros” by snoop dogg  Now that Snoop Dogg has shed his temporar y name change — but let’s face it, was Snoop Lion going to last?

— he’s released another single.

It’s smooth, with an old-school feel and funky guitar. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a solid song if you ignore the awkward bridge.

“still want you” by brandon flowers  The Killers frontman has struck out on his own once more, taking his distinctive voice and morbid-butsweet lyrics with him. The track sounds sunny and tropical, with a happy chorus that’s easy to sing along to. The bridge has flashes of Killers-style synth and showcases Flowers’s capacity for emotional vocals.

Album Review

New Glow

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HARVEST RECORDS

This song takes the previously restricted message of the album to an entirely new height, and the picture it paints of running away together from this world is both liberating and inspiring.

Similarly, “Not Alone” finally taps into an emotional depth that makes it possible for the listener to feel more personally connected to the duo, which other tracks failed to do. A sweet and touching song with lighter upbeat notes, it surpasses the previous party anthems and becomes both comforting and empowering, putting faith in human relationships and elevating the entire album to a new and more focused level.

The closing track on the album, “I See Ya,” ends on a high note. It starts out differently than the rest of the album, slower and more subdued, with an almost ballad-like quality to it. The music makes it feel old-world, like watching a homemade love story on a Super 8 camera, and it comes off as the most genuine in a line of songs that stick to the usual indie dance rhythms. After the fun and loud push of the rest of the album, it closes on an intimate note with a message that while life is not always a party, it can always be sweet.

There is definitely redemption to be found on Matt and Kim’s album “New Glow” as it transitions from just another dance party playlist to an inspiring and motivating story of hope, growth and potential. Slow at the start but going out with a bang, the album is worth its price.

“feeling ok” by best coast  Best Coast maintains its signature beach sound as it anticipates releasing its fourth studio album, “California Nights.” “Feeling Ok” conjures up the California coast with sunny guitar overtones throughout the bridge, but its soaring chorus tones down the beach vibes in favor of power chords and strong drums.

“see you again” by wiz khalifa (ft. charlie puth)  In the new release accompanying “Furious 7,” Charlie Puth impresses with his soft Sam Smithlike voice.

Puth’s style contrasts strongly with Wiz Khalifa’s lower, calmer flow.

Wiz does nothing new in this track and it lacks strong instrumentals.

Despite the track’s popularity, the contrast between the rapper and Puth makes for a poorly-constructed and discombobulated song.

AROUND TOWN Comedy in the Garden

Join some of the most talented comedians in the area for a night of laughter and entertainment. The antique garden setting and comfortable arena will provide a relaxing environment where the night’s joy will certainly resonate. Popular D.C. food trucks will also be present to wrap up an awesome evening.

Where: 925 Rhode Island Avenue NW When: April 18 at 7 p.m.

Info: Washington.org Price: $15 at the door

Shakespeare’s Birthday Open House

Celebrate the anniversary of playwright and poet William Shakespeare at this Renaissancethemed festival in his honor. Read his most famed work, experience food from his time period and take a tour of special reading rooms that are only open at this unique event.

Where: Folger Shakespeare Library When: April 19 at 12 p.m.

Info: folger.edu Price: Free

The Brain Health Fair

Mary Jane Appel

Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center When: April 18 at 10 a.m.

Info: patients.aan.com Price: Free

Where: National Museum of Women in the Arts When: April 17 at 1 p.m.

Info: nmwa.org Price: $10

Science enthusiasts unite at this informative information fair, spreading information about ]brain diseases and conditions from stroke to epilepsy to Alzheimer’s. Families, caregivers, students and more can attend and learn about the health of the brain while partaking in interactive activities.

Hear photographer and historian Mary Jane Appel discuss Doris Lee, a painter, and her husband Russell Lee, the famed photographer.

The couple’s success in the 1930s garnered significant recognition, and Appel is set to discuss their contributions to the world of arts and history.

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Sports

THE HOYA

Friday, APRIL 17, 2015

softball

Bulldogs Battle for Spots in the Big East Tournament Molly O’Connell Hoya Staff Writer

After dropping the lead in games against St. John’s (18-13, 9-0 Big East) and Towson (24-16, 5-7 CAA), the Georgetown women’s softball team (13-24, 3-7 Big East) is looking to straighten out its issues with consis-

tency. Georgetown will get the opportunity to prove that it can play seven innings of quality softball when the team travels to Indianapolis this Saturday to face off against conference rival Butler (16-22, 4-8 Big East) this Saturday in what is expected to be an evenly-matched three-game series.

More than halfway through con-

ference play, the two teams are in similar positions in the Big East standings. Butler’s 4-8 conference record ranks fifth among the eight Big East teams, whereas the Hoyas’ 3-7 record leaves them tied for sixth place, just behind the Bulldogs.

“I believe that we can beat anybody, and Butler is indeed extremely beat-

FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA

Senior first baseman Sophia Gargicevich-Almeida has a team-high four home runs and leads the Hoyas with 21 RBIs this season. Gargicevich-Almeida is batting .219 and has played in every game this season.

able,” senior first baseman Sophia Gargicevich-Almeida said. “However, we are going to have to step up in all aspects of our game if we plan to beat them.”

Last season’s series between Georgetown and Butler suggests that this weekend’s contests will likely be close.

The Bulldogs won the series last year, but no game was decided by more than two runs. Georgetown took the first contest, edging Butler 6-5 in extra innings. The Bulldogs won the final two contests with scores of 4-2 and 2-0, respectively. “[Butler is] returning almost everyone from [last year’s] team and we are returning quite a few players on our roster,” Head Coach Pat Conlan said.

“We only won one of three games on our home field last year, so I am looking forward to getting back out on the field against them and showing them a better Hoya team.”

To beat Butler, the Hoyas will need senior pitcher Megan Hyson to continue her impressive performance on the mound. Hyson, who ranks second in the Big East in strikeouts, has pitched 132 2/3 innings this season, more than twice as many as any other Georgetown pitcher.

Hyson has complemented her outstanding pitching performances with consistent offensive contributions for the Hoyas. The senior ranks second on the team in on base percentage and runs scored, third in hits and fourth in RBIs and batting average.

“Megan is not only a senior captain and a four-year starter for us, but she is also the most athletic and strongest player on our team,” Conlan said. “We look for her to be involved in everything. When Meg’s rolling, we’re rolling, and that has been the case for the last four years.”

In addition to Hyson, Georgetown has received outstanding offensive production from sophomore center fielder Hannah Ramsey, freshman left fielder Theresa Kane and Gargicevich-Almeida. Ramsey’s .333 batting average and .349 on base percentage lead the team.

Kane takes top honors in hits and runs

scored, tallying 33 hits and 25 runs.

Gargicevich-Almeida has a team-high four home runs and leads the Hoyas with 21 RBIs so far this season.

“I strive to… maintain my positive and relentless attitude and give all my effort,” Gargicevich-Almeida said. “[I am] just doing my best to make adjustments as quickly as possible.

Working hard in preparation and controlling what I can control makes room for success.”

Georgetown will have no choice but to be strong in the batter’s box this weekend, as the Hoyas’ lineup will undoubtedly face Butler’s junior left-handed pitcher Kristin Gutierrez.

Gutierrez has pitched 114 innings for the Bulldogs this season, recording 61 strikeouts and only 27 walks. Her 3.25 earned run average is the sixth lowest in the Big East. “[Gutierrez] has really done very well for [Butler] this year,” Conlan said. “We faced her last year and we struggled with her. We need to focus on getting to her.”

The Hoyas will also have to be prepared for the offensive threats in the heart of Butler’s batting order. Junior first baseman Alex Kotter bats third for the Bulldogs. Kotter ranks second in the Big East, with 44 hits this season. In the fourth slot for Butler’s team is sophomore center fielder Brandyce Sallee. She is tied for the top spot in the Big East, with 11 doubles this season.

“We need to make sure we are facing [Butler’s] three and four hitters without other people on base,” Conlan said. “When we have done that this year we have been very successful. We have isolated team’s best hitters so they don’t have opportunities to score or to drive in runs.”

Winning the Butler series is vital for the Hoyas if they are going to make a run at qualifying for the Big East postseason tournament.

“Winning every series that we play from here on out is an absolute necessity. We have to take two games this weekend no matter what,” Conlan said.

club Boxing

WATER COOLER

Curry, Green Lead Women Tie for 2nd at Nationals Well-Rounded Team CHAMPIONSHIPS, from B10

IPPOLITO, from B10

reasons. First among them is the Warriors’ frenetic pace; the Warriors top the league at 98.2 possessions per game, nearly three more possessions per game than the Phoenix Suns during the height of the “seven seconds or less” era. Like the Suns, the Warriors lead the NBA in points per game, at just under 110, and in offensive rating. The deadly combination of high efficiency and quantity is why no team in the West can expect to hang with Golden State for 48 minutes per game in a seven-game series.

Of course, offensive numbers tend to look like that when you have the best shooting backcourt in the NBA, which the Warriors do in Curry and Thompson. They are both deadly from threepoint range and make 44 and 43 percent of their threepoint attempts, respectively. If a team wants to have a shot at defeating Golden State, it will have to force Curry and Thompson off the three-point line and limit Curry’s production off the dribble because he has one of quickest releases in the league and shoots off the dribble better than anyone else.

The Warriors love to shoot threes and take just over 27 per game, good for fourth-most among all teams, but unlike similar teams that have an affinity for deep shots, Golden State is also an efficient threepoint shooting team, leading the league in three-point percentages at 39.6 percent. Inside the arc, the Warriors convert 51 percent of their shots, the second-most in the NBA, so they have the ability to score from anywhere on the floor.

Even with their hot shooting, the key to the Warriors’ resurgence has not been the shots that Curry makes on a nightly basis, but rather his ability to pass and set up other shooters.

Golden State leads the NBA in assists, averaging 27.4 assists per game, and this no doubt stems from the mindset of its rookie head coach, Steve Kerr.

Stylistically, Kerr seems to have

emulated Spurs coach Greg Popovich, under whom Kerr played for four seasons. The emphasis on ball movement, spacing and getting open looks has never dominated the NBA like it does currently, and the Warriors do these better than any team.

As phenomenal as the Warriors are offensively, they might be even better defensively. Their defensive rating is the second best in the league, and they allow fewer than 100 points per game, despite their fast-paced offense.

Warriors’ small forward Draymond Green is second in the league with 5.2 defensive win shares, and that is particularly noteworthy because Green is not a major shot blocker, nor has he evolved into an elite rebounder. Instead, Green excels in altering shots and making it difficult for opponents to get easy looks.

Additionally, his toughness resonates with the rest of the Warriors and allows them to play with attitude and without fear of being labeled as soft.

All of these factors have contributed to a great deal of winning, allowing Golden State to earn the top seed in the West.

That is accompanied by home court advantage throughout the playoffs, and this could not be worse news for the rest of the West. When playing at home in Oracle Arena this year, the Golden State Warriors are 39-2, and they have not lost at home since Jan. 27. To beat Golden State in a best-of-seven series, a team is going to have to beat the Warriors at least once and probably twice on their home floor, and that simply is not likely to happen, even if that team is San Antonio.

Unlike Frankenstein’s actual monster, it does not seem like the Warriors can be stopped, especially four times in seven games — the rest of the league should enjoy the privilege of finishing second.

From the offensively savvy Stephen Curry to the defensive stalwart Draymond Green, the Golden State Warriors have several players who can carry the team.

Michael Ippolito is a sophomore in the College. THE WATER COOLER appears every Friday.

ing. After that first day, I knew that if I fought OK, I could win,” Minahan said.

Minahan fought in the 165-pound beginner division in his first full year as a member of the team after previously running track and field for Georgetown for three semesters. Both of his bouts went the full three rounds, but the final match ended with a victory granted by judges’ decision.

Entering college, Schenk had no idea that she would be holding a title belt by her sophomore year. She began boxing her freshman year after accidentally taking a boxing class at Yates Field House instead of the kickboxing class she intended to join.

“I saw [the boxing coach] later at Safeway and he said, ‘You should keep doing this. You’re really good,’” Schenk said. “My friend on my floor was in the boxing club and told me about it, so I joined.”

After winning her matchup against a boxer from the United States Military Academy at the Blue and Gray Gloves event in October, Schenk’s teammates had plenty of confidence in her heading into the national championships. Schenk,

who fought in the 125-pound novice division, was a little more cautious.

“I wanted to win the whole thing, but I wasn’t sure if I would,” Schenk said. “[The team] really wanted me to win. … They really thought I could, so they wanted me to. It was a lot of pressure.”

In her first fight, Schenk faced Jamie Kosberg, a boxer from Michigan who beat her in last year’s event. Schenk avenged that loss in this year’s rematch, outfighting Kosberg in the first two rounds, though disaster nearly struck in the third.

“The third round she hit me with an eight-count, which is when the ref pauses [the fight] because you’ve been hit too hard. … I was really upset because I had worked so hard and really wanted to get my vengeance.”

In spite of the brief setback, Schenk was able to rebound and eventually came out on top.

“When they announced [that I won] it was the best feeling,” Schenk said.

With only three girls in her bracket, Schenk had to face an opponent coming off of a first-round bye in the championship fight. Her opponent, Cristi Farwick of Cincinatti, had seven wins in eight matches, while Schenk had only fought

four times in her career. Despite the mismatch on paper, the result was clear by the end of the match.

“She wasn’t as hard of a fighter. She did keep up a good fight, but I knew I had won at the end,” Schenk said.

That victory, combined with the title earned by DiPirro, propelled the Georgetown women into second place tie with University of Miami. Michigan took home first place honors as a team, but also entered nine fighters into the women’s fighters compared to three for Georgetown. First place honors for the men went to the Virginia Military Institute.

Under the USIBA system, boxers move up in classification from beginner to novice to open after runs of good results. After improving to 4-0, Minahan will make the jump from beginner to novice. His breakdown of his feelings looking forward to next year also describes what could await Georgetown Boxing as a whole after its strong showing this year.

“There will be more of a target on your back when you have that record. When you get matched up, it’s people trying to beat you,” Minahan said. “So it’s going to be harder next year, but I look forward to that challenge.”

DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

Three members of the Georgetown University club boxing team earned individual title belts at the USIBA National Championships, including sophomores Sinead Schenk and Corinna Di Pirro, pictured at the bottom of the steps.

sports

FRIDAY, april 17, 2015

THE HOYA

B9

women’s lacrosse

saxa synergy

Tie Complicates the UConn Defeated in Close Match Champions League HUSKIES, from B10

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very team has its kryp- of the match.

Atletico once again slowed tonite, and for Real Madrid, it’s rival club Atletico Ma- down Ronaldo, with his only drid. Since dismantling Atletico scoring opportunity coming in 4-1 to win the 2014 UEFA Cham- the form of an errant 30-yard pions League, Europe’s premier free kick.

Despite the lack of advantage interleague tournament, last May, Real had yet to win against on away goals for Real, Head its crosstown counterpart in six Coach Carlo Ancelotti was proud of the way his team played for at matches prior to Tuesday.

True to form, Real failed to win least one half of the game and Tuesday’s match as the game hopes to replicate those 45 minended deadlocked at 0-0. Grant- utes for the whole 90 on April ed, superstar forward Cristiano 20. Real remains optimistic, as Ronaldo and company avoided a the second and deciding leg will loss, but the team blew a chance be played in front of some of its to gain a definite advantage be- most vivacious supporters.

Ronaldo and fore two teams’ the rest of the April 20 reReal squad match. must find a In the Chamway to break pions League through Attour nament, letico’s elite winners are defense if they determined hope to adbased on the vance to the aggregate score semifinals, over the course Paolo Santamaria which would of two games, be their third with the tieappearance in breaker awardReal Madrid will risk the semifinals ed to the team that scored the its legacy if it fails to of the ChampiLeague in most goals as beat Atletico Madrid. ons as many years. the away team.

It is without Given that Real was the away team Tuesday, question that Real has dominated it appears that it has surren- teams this year, but it is also withdered any advantage it may have out question that its attack sets had going into the second leg. the tone for any sort of victory.

Oblak was playing on a level Now, Real must avoid a loss if it beyond world class Tuesday, so hopes to advance.

Still, with Ronaldo on the there are no guarantees that he pitch, as well as forwards Ga- can replicate that performance, reth Bale, James Rodriguez and especially on Real’s home turf.

Karim Benzema, and midfielders Atletico may have bested Real Luka Modric and Tony Kroos, Re- in four matches this season and drew against them in three, but al’s odds to advance look good.

However, there are some con- there would be no sweeter recerns as to whether Real’s pro- venge than knocking its rivals lific offense can penetrate the out of the tournament, just as it overwhelming Atletico defense did one year ago.

For Real, a legacy of absolute that includes Miranda, Diego Godin and goalkeeper Jan Oblak, dominance is at stake, and many who performed extraordinarily fans of the sport around the well in Tuesday’s match, mak- world would love to see Ronaldo ing a string of spectacular saves not just advance to another semiagainst world-class attackers. final but also have the chance to One such save came in the third break FC Barcelona forward Liominute when Bale broke free nel Messi’s record of 75 goals in for what was Real’s best shot on the Champions League.

The eyes of soccer fans around goal, but Oblak saved it.

Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas the world will be watching to see and the rest of the defense, an- what next week has in store. Givchored by superstar defender en the unlikelihood of Atletico Sergio Ramos, performed well being on the cusp of a semifinal against Atletico’s attack. Star At- berth after losing star forward letico forward Mario Mandzukic Diego Costa to a hamstring intook an elbow to the face from jury, and eventually to Chelsea Real defender Sergio Ramos, and F.C., anything can happen. though it appeared inadvertent, the elbow drew blood and raised Paolo Santamaria is a freshman tension between the two rivals in the College. SAXA SYNERGY apas they battled evenly for the rest pears every Friday.

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the match, but UConn responded quickly, scoring five of the next six goals in the match to even the game at nine.

The teams traded goals for the remainder of the game, including another goal from Bandos, and the Huskies took an 11-10 lead with 6:34 left in regulation.

The Hoyas responded quickly, as Devine scored 29 seconds later for her third goal of the game to tie the score.

Giordano found the net with 4:09 left to play to give the Hoyas a 12-11 lead.

After a Hoya turnover around the 8 meter, UConn junior midfielder Alexandra Crofts brought the Huskies even after scoring on a free position attempt.

The Hoyas had 1:47 left in regula-

“The biggest thing for us is not to focus on who we are playing, not the score, not the opponent.” ricky fried Head Coach

tion to make the final shot of the game to earn the victory. Bandos’ gamewinning goal clinched the victory for Georgetown.

Fried said that the team did not play its best, but prepared a lot in practice to take on the tough Big East opponent.

“It didn’t show a lot today, but we’ve been working a lot on stick work, shooting and one-versus-one defense,” Fried said. “There are some small things, like making sure we are in the right places and doing the right things. We need to be doing a lot of these things on a consistent basis in order for us to be successful.”

Georgetown will travel to Milwaukee to play Marquette (4-11, 0-5 Big East) on Saturday and will end the season with a home game against Temple (9-5, 1-4 Big East) the following weekend.

“The biggest thing for us is not to focus on who we are playing, not the score, not the opponent,” Fried said.

“We have the ability to be very good, but we can’t just turn it on and off. We have to come in with a certain mentality and play with that mentality for 60 minutes.”

CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

Sophomore attack Colleen Lovett, top, and senior attack Caroline Tarzian each scored one goal in Georgetown’s 13-12 victory over UConn.

Men’s lacrosse

GU Aims for Consistent Offense VIRGINIA, from B10

“Obviously we played very efficiently offensively [against Villanova] — I thought we did a really good job,” Warne said. “Hopefully the guys have some confidence and feel good about the game plan going in, so we’ll be able to execute that on Saturday against Virginia. We have some things we need to work on as well: We’ll tighten up our defense and some of the faceoff aspects at the middle of the field.”

The Hoyas have struggled at the faceoff X recently, coming up with just 13of-75 faceoffs in their past three games.

This is due in part to injuries; faceoff specialist and graduate student midfielder Gabriel Mendola has seen limited action in recent weeks while he recuperates from the repercussions of physical play at the X. But Warne looks at the issue from a three-on-three perspective instead of one-on-one.

“I think the first thing … is trying to get guys healthy,” Warne said. “The second part is making sure that we compete on the ground, especially with the wings. I think our wing play has to improve — I think the guys understand that, and they’re willing to put in effort and do the things they have to so we can have some more success.”

Senior attack and co-captain Reilly O’Connor attributes problems at the faceoff X to a broader trend: Georgetown’s lack of consistency on game day.

“I think we need to be able to put a full 60 minutes together,” O’Connor said. “I don’t think we’ve done that yet this year, so there’s [many] areas that we can focus on, from defense to faceoffs to offense.”

Virginia will take the field Saturday looking to break a two-game losing streak to No. 2 North Carolina (12-1, 3-0 ACC) and No. 6 Duke (8-4, 1-3 ACC). Like Georgetown, Virginia has faced its fair share of ranked competition this season.

In conference play alone, Virginia has faced off against four teams currently ranked in the top 10: No. 4 Syracuse (9-2, 2-2 ACC), No. 1 Notre Dame (8-1, 3-0 ACC), North Carolina and Duke.

Though the Cavaliers are winless so far this season in the ACC, Warne knows that the Hoyas have their work cut out for them. “[Virginia is] always good,” Warne said.

“It’s a perennial NCAA team. They’ve won national championships. … We just need to get better because we have different goals as we move forward, but the next game is a great opportunity for our guys to play an ACC team that will, more likely than not, be in the playoffs, so we’re looking forward to it.”

After Saturday’s game, Georgetown has only one regular season game left, against St. John’s (3-9, 1-2 Big East), before heading to the Big East tournament.

Warne says at this point during the season, Georgetown is keeping its game-day goals relatively simple.

“As we get later into the season, I think we really want to stress the fundamentals,” Warne said. “I think that’s been a big thing for us, just making sure we do all the right things. We have to stay true to what we do and who we are, and I think we’re doing that now. We’re just making sure that we’re fine-tuning everything and making sure the guys understand the tempo and urgency of this time.”

Looking ahead, the team has some larger ambitions.

“For us, it’s all about winning,” O’Connor said. “Right now, we’re looking at finishing up the Big East, winning the Big East Championship, and making it to the NCAA tournament. … just going as far as we can and riding this thing out and finish as best we can.”

Opening faceoff against Virginia is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Charlottesville, Va. Hoya Staff Writer Tyler Park contributed to reporting.

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FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

Faceoff specialist and graduate student midfielder Gabriel Mendola has a .490 percentage at the faceoff X this season. Mendola has seen limited minutes in recent games due to the repercussions of physical play at the X.

SPORTS

Baseball Georgetown (16-15, 9-2) vs. Stony Brook (17-11, 9-7) Saturday, 1 p.m.

Shirley Povich Field

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015

WOMEN’S GOLF Georgetown will look to cap off its successful season with a win at the Big East tournament.

See thehoya.com

TALKING POINTS

“

NUMBERS GAME

Winning every series that we play from here on out is an absolute necessity.”

SOFTBALL HEAD COACH PAT CONLAN

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CLUB BOXING

MEN’S LACROSSE

Three Hoyas Earn National Titles ANDREW MAY Hoya Staff Writer

When the Georgetown University club boxing team returned from the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association National Championships last season, the team was content to take home one individual title belt.

After all, the club in its entirety consisted of 40 members, of whom 20 were regularly at practices and only 10 were on the competitive team.

Fast forward one year later, and the number of people on the club boxing team has more than doubled. The

team boasts an 80-member mailing list with 40 athletes who show for practice and 25 boxers who compete on Georgetown’s behalf. Coupled with a deeper commitment of individual members, the team was encouraged to dream bigger.

“This year we really changed. It has felt a lot more serious, and a lot more people could be in contention,” Mike Minahan (COL ’16) said. “The goals were to win more this year than had ever been in the past.”

Thus, when this year’s club boxing team competed at the USIBA National event, which was held in Ann Arbor,

The number of consecutive years that the women’s lacrosse team has clinched a spot in the Big East tournament.

Mich., and ended on April 11, the team found more success than it ever had. Three boxers, including Minahan, won their divisions and brought home title belts. Sinead Schenk (COL ’17) and Corrina Di Pirro (COL ’17) earned belts on the women’s side.

The team’s confidence was mirrored by the drive of the individual boxers. Minahan entered the event with a 2-0 career record and knew that he wanted to finish first.

“I got a bye … so I got to see all the people who I could possibly be fightSee CHAMPIONSHIPS, B8

FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

Senior attack Reilly O’Connor will look to continue his dominant offensive performances when Georgetown faces Virginia this Saturday.

GU to Face Virginia After 9-Year Gap ELIZABETH CAVACOS Hoya Staff Writer

DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

Sophomore Corrina Di Pirro, left, junior Mike Minahan, center, and sophomore Sinead Schenk each earned an individual title belt at the USIBA National Championships to lead Georgetown’s club boxing team.

THE WATER COOLER

Bandos Nets Winning Goal in Final Seconds Hoya Staff Writer

Warriors Highlight Playoffs I

f Doctor Frankenstein were an NBA general manager, this year’s Golden State Warriors would be his monster.

Golden State has dominated the rest of the league since the beginning of the season. With 67 wins, the Warriors are by far the best team in the best Western Conference in recent memory; they have had the top seed locked down since St.

The Golden State Warriors are the team to beat in the NBA Playoffs.

Patrick’s Day and have had the luxury of being able to rest their two star players, guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. In short, the Western Conference playoffs and even this year’s NBA Championship are Golden State’s to lose.

Stopping the Warriors on offense is essentially impossible for a multitude of See IPPOLITO, B8

See VIRGINIA, B9

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

CLAIRE SCHANSINGER

Michael Ippolito

Having recorded two upsets against ranked opponents so far this season, the No. 13 Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (8-4, 3-1 Big East) has the opportunity to earn a third.

Wins over then-No. 14 Loyola Maryland (7-6, 5-2 Patriot League) and then-No. 9 Marquette (10-3, 3-1 Big East) in late March propelled Georgetown into the national polls for the first time since 2013, ranking No. 14. Since then, Georgetown has remained in the top 20, climbing up to No. 13 this past week after dom-

inant performances in wins over Providence (4-8, 0-3 Big East) and Villanova (5-6, 0-3 Big East).

Georgetown’s recent nationally recognized success makes it well positioned for an out-of-conference game against No. 10 Virginia (8-4, 0-4 ACC) on Saturday in the teams’ first meeting since 2006.

Though Georgetown is still working to improve certain areas of its game, Head Coach Kevin Warne believes that the team’s strong performance in its victory over Villanova last Saturday will give the team confidence against Virginia.

With 36 seconds left on the clock and the scored tied at 12, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse looked to take the lead over University of Connecticut and earn its fourth Big East victory of the season. Georgetown senior attack Sammy Giordano had missed a shot 16 seconds earlier, prompting Head Coach Ricky Fried to call a timeout to draw up a play for his team.

“Coach actually set up the play — give an assist to coach,” junior midfielder Kristen Bandos said. “We had a play set up when we came in [from the timeout]. I got pulled up to the outside, and the point was to get two people in the middle so the defender had to pick one. The defender picked the other girl, so I cut through and there was no one on me for a while. It worked out exactly how we planned.”

With 15 seconds left in the match, Fried’s play came to fruition as Bandos scored for her team, earning Georgetown (5-9, 4-1 Big East) a 13-12 victory over UConn (8-6, 3-2 Big East).

The win at MultiSport Facility secured a spot for Georgetown in the Big East tournament for the ninth consecutive year. The Hoyas have appeared at the conference tournament every year since 2007, when the Big East first instituted the postseason contest.

Head Coach Ricky Fried was satisfied with the victory and enthusiastic that the team would continue into the postseason.

“This game was huge for the team,” Fried said. “This clinches us a spot in the Big East tournament, which is our only way to continue on into the postseason, so this was

a huge victory for us. I thought we showed a lot of resilience, and although we did not play very well, we showed a lot of toughness.”

Bandos, who scored five goals including the game winner, agreed on the importance of this game for the team.

“We knew this was one of the biggest games we’ve had all season, since UConn has always been a big rival,” Bandos said. “We knew this

could clinch the Big East with a victory, so we put a lot of effort in this one and knew we had to fight. This was the one day where we put everything out there and going into the weekend we can relax and focus on the Big East once we beat Temple.”

Bandos scored the first goal of the game three minutes into the first half, followed by two goals from Husky freshman attack Kelsey Catalando. The Hoyas responded with

two goals from senior defender Adrianne Devine and sophomore attack Corinne Etchinson.

The Huskies scored twice more to even the score, but the Hoyas ended the first half on a 3-0 run, giving them a 7-4 lead entering the second half.

Bandos scored another goal 16 seconds into the second period of See HUSKIES, B9

CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

Junior midfielder Kristen Bandos scored a game-high five goals in Wednesday night’s game against UConn. Her final goal came in the last 15 seconds of the match and secured Georgetown’s victory.

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