The Eagle — Nov. 16, 2009

THE LONG RUN ‘Shear Madness,’ D.C.’s longest-running play, gets the audience involved SCENE page 5

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the EAGLE WWW.THEEAGLEONLINE.COM

NOVEMBER 16, 2009 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 24

NEWS *COUGH, COUGH* More AU students are choosing to visit the Student Health Center page 2

EDITORIAL

WASTE OF MONEY A new Women’s Resource Center is an unnecessary and costly project page 3

SCENE IRISH SAINTS ‘Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day’ brings our favorite bad boys back page 5

SPORTS TOP IS TOO MUCH Field hockey falls to No. 1 seed in first round of the NCAA Tournament page 8

FRUSTRATION Men’s soccer player ejected in PL championship loss page 8

TODAY’S WEATHER

KELSEY DICKEY / THE EAGLE

NO PARKING — As part of AU’s 2001 “Good Neighbor Policy,” Public Safety can give members of the AU community $75 tickets for parking on residential streets near AU when going to campus.

Reflecting complaints of residents living near campus of excessive student parking, AU mandated that students, faculty and visitors must park in AU lots for campus-related business.

DPS tickets cars off campus AU community faces fine for street parking

By MARISA KENDALL Eagle Staff Writer One AU student knew the risks of parking on the street but decided to chance it anyway. Another thought

he was in the clear after purchasing a residential parking permit from the city, and a third was parked in front of her own house. However, these students all received tickets from AU’s Department of Public Safety.

All individuals affiliated with AU, including students, faculty and staff, are prohibited from leaving their cars on residential streets when coming to campus, according to Public Safety Chief Michael McNair.

The punishment for violating this policy is a $75 ticket.

These regulations came about as

Study tallies college Twitters

By SARAH RUDNICK Eagle Staff Writer Twitter is more commonly used

by AU’s administration than indicated in a recent study evaluating how colleges use the site, ranking AU 65th out of 100.

An educational resource Web site titled UniversitiesAndColleges. org conducted a study evaluating the colleges listed on the U.S. News and World Report 2010 College Rankings and how they used Twitter. The study reported that the administration only uses six Twitter accounts. An unofficial count by

the The Eagle proved this report incorrect. There are at least 18, including the Career Center, the Kogod School of Business, ATV, AU Athletics, AU Admissions, Student Government, the College of Arts and Science Undergraduate Advising and more.

Twitter is a free micro-blogging and social networking service that has recently exploded on the Internet.

The data was collected from Twitter.com in September 2009 in conjunction with TweetStats, n

see TWITTER on page 2

a result of a 2001 D.C. Zoning Commission order, according to McNair.

When the commission approved the university’s 10-year plan, which included proposals to build the Katzen Arts Center and an addition to the Mary Graydon Center, one condition was that AU begin regulating university-affiliated, off-campus parking.

According to Condition 7 of the order dubbed the “Good Neighbor Policy” by Public Safety staff, AU must prohibit students, faculty, staff and vendors from parking on streets

surrounding campus. To enforce this practice, AU must have in place a system of administrative actions, penalties and fines.

The Good Neighbor Policy is necessary because of the large concentration of people traveling to and from the university each day, McNair said.

“That’s a lot of people in one place,” he said. “And to have those people infringe upon the neighborhood is a problem for the neighborhood and people who live in the neighborhood.”

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see PARKING on page 4

SG officers update Web site infrequently

By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer Parts of the AU Student Government Web site, AUSG.org, have not been consistently updated because of issues with the site, according to SG President Andy MacCracken and Secretary Colin Meiselman.

Each executive and SG organization, such as the Kennedy Political Union, update their sections of the site, and some pages have not been updated for months.

SG is working to make the site more user-friendly for students and

SG members, Meiselman said.

While the homepage is regularly updated with a slideshow of SG events, there was only one update on the executive pages in November. Meiselman — who is in charge of updating the site — posted the update Nov. 14 about an upcoming Student Health Center town hall. The previous update was a month earlier, Oct. 14, by MacCracken. Vice President Alex Prescott and neither of SG’s 2009-2010 comptrollers, Matt Handverger and Alan Chang, have ever posted on the Web site. MacCracken has updated his

page most often, about once a month.

No attendance or legislation records for the Fifth Undergraduate Senate, which began in October, have been posted. The Judiciary’s Web site includes applications for the Judicial Board, fall election results and pros and cons of a referendum that was going to appear on the fall ballot, not student-elected, positions.

The SG Facebook and Twitter pages, on the other hand, were last updated Nov. 10, advertising the Student n

see SG WEB SITE on page 6

Prescott to face SG committee

NIGHT AT THE FOUNTAIN

HI 65° LO 43° Continuing unseasonably warm temperatures

By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer

TUESDAY HI 56° n LO 47°

WEDNESDAY HI 58° n LO 48°

the EAGLE 252 Mary Graydon Center 4400 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 Newsroom: 202-885-1402 Advertising: 202-885-1414, x3 Fax: 202-885-1428 E-mail: editor@theeagleonline.com Classifieds: adbox@theeagleonline.com

Commissioner Thomas Smith of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D02 said he recognizes the necessity of restricting students’ off-campus parking. Most local residents do not have garages or driveways and excessive student parking can prevent them from finding a parking spot near their house, he said.

“Residents have long been unhappy that there is so much parking on the streets by folks who are associated with the university,” he said.

MIKE LOCK/ THE EAGLE

Columns at the World War II Memorial shine on the National Mall the week of Veterans Day. The memorial was completed in 2004 and sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

Former Student Government Comptroller Matt Handverger opened the Nov. 15 Undergraduate Senate meeting by raising concerns during Public Comment that Artemas Ward Week was not adequately prepared for and advertised — concerns that Vice President Alex Prescott later disputed.

Prescott, whose office oversees the annual event, said Student Activities numbers showed as many students attended Artemas Ward Week events as in past years. The numbers are based on how much food is eaten, he said. So “either kids were hungrier or there were as many people as in years before,” Prescott said.

Handverger said he never saw advertising for the event, which is the “first way SG gets its name out there,” or any activities on the Main Quad. He expressed concern that Founders’ Week in the spring would end up similarly.

SG Secretary Colin Meiselman said he thought SG “got one Today@AU in” advertising the event.

“I remember this being very put together last second,” he said, when senators asked him about Handverger’s concerns.

Natalie Kirkpatrick from the SG design department and an Eagle Staff Writer, said requests for Artemas Ward Week posters came in two weeks in advance, but the schedule that was to be printed on the poster arrived three or four n

see PRESCOTT on page 2

the EAGLE

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

news 2

MON 16

TUES 17 THU 27

WED 18

THURS 19

FRI 20

SAT 21

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. 6:30 - 8 p.m.

WHERE: Mary Graydon Center University Club INFO: College Democrats present Sen. Arlen Specter, who will speak about his experiences as a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania.

CONTACT: For more information, e-mail College Democrats at activities@american.edu.

SUB Cinema: “Inglourious Basterds” 11 p.m - 1:30 a.m.

WHERE: Ward Circle 1 INFO: SUB Cinema presents Quentin Tarantino’s movie about a band of Jewish-American soldiers who hunt and kill Nazis during World War II. CONTACT: For more information, email Matt Gohn at sub@ausg.org.

A Discussion with the Log Cabin Republicans 8 - 10 p.m.

WHERE: Mary Graydon Center 4 INFO: Christian A. Berle, the director of the Washington Office of the Log Cabin Republicans, and Jimmy LaSalvia, the executive director of GOProud, will discuss their opinions on the future of the Republican Party.

CONTACT: For more information, email College Republicans at aucollegerepublican@gmail.com.

Panel: The True Face of Homelessness 8 - 10 p.m.

WHERE: Mary Graydon Center 203 INFO: Zeta Phi Beta hosts a forum to educate the community about the causes and effects of homelessness in the United States, specifically in D.C. CONTACT: For more information email Zeta Phi Beta at sigmapichapter@gmail.com.

Garba Night 8:30 p.m. - 12 a.m.

WHERE: McDowell Formal Lounge INFO: The South Asian Student Association hosts Garba, a celebration of the Indian holiday Diwali.

CONTACT: For more information, email Matt Bulger at mb5959a@student.american.edu.

WVAU Presents Capitol Punishment VIII 7 - 10 p.m.

WHERE: Kay Spiritual Center Basement INFO: WVAU will be hosting a free concert featuring Tim Fite, Jason Anderson and Man and Dog. CONTACT: For more information, email WVAU at wvaupromo@gmail. com.

SHC sees increase in visits

By MEG FOWLER Eagle Staff Writer Schools across the country are seeing increases in both student enrollment in university-provided health insurance plans and student use of university health centers.

The AU Student Health Center has experienced this trend as well, according to SHC Director Dan Bruey, who said more students have visited the health center so far this year than last year. The SHC has seen approximately 300 to 400 more patients than at the same time last year, according to Bruey.

The SHC received a total of 13,702 visits last year, according to Bruey. The fact that it has already seen more patients than it did at the same time last year “is a good indicator of how the end of this year is going to look,” Bruey said.

Reasons for students to choose the SHC over other care providers vary, but Bruey cites the center’s low costs and this year’s concern over the H1N1 virus as reasons for the increase in visits.

“If students are using us because of different economic situations with their parents, I think students see us as a low-cost, quality option,” Bruey said.

A routine visit to the SHC costs $20, and a physical exam and wom-

en’s gynecological exam are both $30, according to the SHC Web site.

A visit with a psychiatrist costs $75 for the first visit and $35 for a follow-up visit.

Improvements to the health center’s facilities and staff are also reasons that could have contributed to the continual increase in student use that Bruey has noticed over the years that he has been here.

Since 2004, the SHC facility has moved from Nebraska Hall to McCabe Hall and increased and stabilized its staff. In the period of time that followed, student trips to the health center have fluctuated between 12,000 and 15,000 visits per year, Bruey said.

The number of students who enroll in the student health insurance plan at AU has also fluctuated since the 2005-2006 academic year, but there was a marked increase of 217 students around the time when the recession began. The number of students enrolled rose from 3,032 in the 2007-2008 academic year to 3,249 in the 2008-2009 academic year, according to the SHC’s annual report.

This year, there are 3,144 students enrolled in the insurance plan, but this does not include the numbers of students that will enroll in the spring semester, which is usually around 100 to 200 each year,

Bruey said.

Compared to other schools in D.C., AU’s health insurance is among the cheapest.

While an annual premium for an unmarried student with no dependents is $1,550 at AU for the 20092010 year, at George Washington University, the premium is $1,614, and at Georgetown University, the premium is $1,700, according to each school’s health center Web sites.

On average, less than one-third of the AU population takes the uni-

versity-provided health insurance, even though AU’s insurance can be less expensive than employment plans that students’ parents may have, according to Bruey.

“People do the cost/benefit analysis ... and our plan is usually less expensive,” he said. “For most of the students who enroll in this plan, it is their only option, cost-wise.”

You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.

MEG FOWLER / THE EAGLE

UPS AND DOWNS — In 2008-2009 academic year enrollment in the SHC’s health insurance plan increased by 217 students from the previous year.

AU administrators tweet, too n

from TWITTER on page 1

taking into account the numbers of accounts and the number of followers, according to UniversitiesAndColleges.org.

“As the data was collected in the past, follower counts and user statistics have since changed. We believe these findings still provide an accurate picture of Twitter usage at top educational facilities,” the Web site reads. It also said its findings lead it to conclude that more prestigious and famous universities use Twitter more frequently than lesser-known schools.

The study — which counted accounts of departments officially affiliated with a university — ranked the University of Florida as the “top” Twitter school, with 24 administrative accounts. George Washington University ranked fourth with 17 Twitter accounts and Georgetown 43rd with nine accounts. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the University of Denver tied for last place with only one account.

AU recently created its official Twitter account last week under the

username AmericanU, according to manager of Web Communications Jonathan Hussey. The account’s goal is to share the work of AU students, faculty and alumni to the general public.

“We want to give anybody who follows AU the idea of what we do,” Hussey said.

AU Media Relations, as a department, is working on developing social media strategies, and he believes the trend will continue to expand on campus.

“I think university-wide, everyone is realizing Twitter isn’t just a flash in the pan — that it’s a valuable tool,” Hussey said.

AU’s Twitter use could be helpful if it provided additional information students wouldn’t normally have access to, said Sydney Schwartz, a senior in the School of International Service. “[O]ne of the main reasons I don’t have Twitter [is] because I feel it just duplicates information,” she said. “If AU Today is tweet[ed out], it wouldn’t be that beneficial. I think a lot of students would find it silly.”

However, she said she understands why AU is beginning to im-

merse itself in social technology.

The AU Career Center began tweeting over the summer, according to Geoff Silverstein, assistant director of marketing for the Career Center. Its purpose is to share information about career development, not only with the AU community, but with other career experts as well.

Silverstein estimated about 50 percent of its over 400 followers are AU students. The Career Center seeks to pass along information on Twitter because its staff members are aware of its growing student body presence, he said.

“I think it’s a convenient way to convey information that students are increasingly comfortable with,” Silverstein said.

AU’s community can expect to see its administrators tweeting more in the future, he said.

“It’s definitely happening — we’re seeing more and more Twitter accounts,” he said. “[AU] is doing a great job embracing these tools.”

You can reach this staff writer at srudnick@theeagleonline.com.

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from PRESCOTT on page 1

days in advance.

Prescott said the office was waiting on the University Event Service to approve the schedule and the posters could not be printed without room information.

Prescott said he heard complaints through Eagle Rants and constituents wondering where Artemas Ward Week was.

There was difficulty with two of the week’s events, and one event was canceled, he said.

An event with Caribbean Circle was canceled hours before the event since the event was in a Bon Appetit venue and was going to supply an entire meal, which would compete with Bon Appetit. Thus, the catering proposal was rejected.

Another event, a barbeque before the men’s soccer game against Army, also encountered an obstacle. Prescott and everyone who checked the contract with the company catering the barbeque missed a mistake in the contract. The contract said the barbeque was on a Saturday when it was supposed to be on a Sunday. Prescott said he received a phone call from the caterers on Saturday saying they were here. The event was pushed to its intended date for a fee which the SG paid for with funds leftover from the Artemas Ward Week budget.

Anthony Dunham, former Speaker of the Senate who is

representing Sen. Elijah Mercer, requested a Senate committee, the Committee on Campus Life, examine the “alleged malfeasance.”

Sen. for the Class of 2010 Steve Dalton also questioned when Prescott had last presented a written report to the Senate. According to SG bylaws, executives must present biweekly reports to the Senate.

Prescott said he thought written reports were an optional addition to the oral report.

He found out about a week and a half ago that the reports were required, he said. He did not submit a report to the Senate this week since he was working on his written final report, he said.

Handverger told The Eagle he thought a Senate committee was the appropriate way to address Prescott not completing written reports and to investigate this year’s Artemas Ward Week. “[Senators] should make a committee to investigate like they didn’t with me,” he said.

Handverger said he has wanted to express concerns to the Senate for awhile, but was waiting for the excitement regarding his impeachment proceedings at the beginning of the year to cease.

You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.

Megabytes Café SCHOOLS WITH MOST ACCOUNTS

1. U of Florida 2. U of Georgia 3. Carnegie Mellon U 4. GWU 5. U of Mich. * AU

24 22 17 17 16 6

MOST-FOLLOWED SCHOOLS

1. Harvard U 18,955 2. Stanford U 10,873 3. Yale U 10,756 4. Indiana U 9,877 5. Johns Hopkins U 9,537 * AU 1,688

Now Introducing….!!!

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TOP TWEETING NUMBERS

1. GWU 2. U of Washington 3. U of Florida 4. UCLA 5. USC * AU

57.7 49.8 45.8 44.3 44.1 10.2

-NUMBERS AND RANKINGS FROM UNIVERSITIESANDCOLLEGES.ORG

Comes With: Tzatziki Sauce, Onion, Tomato, Parsley

HAPPY FEET

President Neil Kerwin and Board of Trustees Chairman Gary Abramson invite you to attend a question-and-answer session on

YIPIN LU / THE EAGLE

AU students perform a traditional dance at the Asian Night Market in the Tavern Nov. 13. The dancers jumped in and out of clapping bamboo poles. No dancers were injured.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:30pm – 6:30pm Ward 1

EDITORIAL

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

GRAHAM VYSE n Editorial Page Editor EdPage@TheEagleOnline.com

JEN CALANTONE n Editor in Chief Editor@TheEagleOnline.com

Feminist — err, women’s center wastes money ON THE OTHER HAND

ALEX KNEPPER Why are we installing a Feminist Resource Center? Oops! I mean — Women’s Resource Center?

In 2006, the New York Times declared that female dominance of men in universities was “the new gender divide.” About 60 percent of U.S. college students are female, and that number is even more staggering at AU, where about twothirds of our students are women.

Women’s Initiative is arguably the most powerful organization on campus. As a ratio, more women than men successfully obtain Bachelor’s degrees.

So there’s not an academic need for a Women’s Resource Center.

As an alternative justification, several commenters on The Eagle’s Web site have pointed to the feminist myth of the “pay gap.” Women, these activists claim, only make 75 cents for every dollar men make.

This figure is obtained through the eyebrow-raising methodology of averaging the annual income of all women and stacking it against the average annual income of all men. This is a really, really dumb way of measuring income disparity. Women have different lifestyle choices than men: they are more likely to take part-time jobs and stay home with children and less likely to relocate for work or engage in physically dangerous jobs that pay a lot of money. Using a similar methodology — that is, one that does not account for lifestyle choices rooted in biology — one would have to say that lightning is sexist because men are struck by it five more times than women are.

Indeed, according to CNN’s Jeanna Sahadi, women actually make more money than men in about 40 professions, including some — like sales engineers, statisticians, and transportation workers — in which women make a staggering thirty

percent more. The “pay gap” myth is feminist religious dogma, not an economic reality.

So there’s not an economic need.

As a last-ditch argument, some point to the fact that women have special health needs. Women might get raped, or sexually assaulted. I suppose I’ll have to concede this: women, often and tragically, get raped. But a room filled with feminist buttons and books by Andrea Dworkin is not exactly what women need after being raped or assaulted.

Memo to feminists: there are these things called “hospitals.” We also already have a sexual assault hotline and the Student Health Center. A “resource center” is political in nature and has nothing to do with rape or assault. (Here is where proponents of the center point to the need to combat something that they call the “rape culture” — which only underscores my point that it’s going to be a Feminist Resource Center.)

So there’s not a health-based need.

We already know that the Women’s Initiative is a Feminist Initiative: it is vocally pro-abortion rights, allies itself with left-wing campus crusades and annually performs a play by feminist icon Eve Ensler.

Why should we expect something different from a Women’s Resource Center?

When the center opens, here’s what students can expect: it could be hostile to Republicans, Libertarians, capitalism and conservatism.

Books by strong women in politics like Sarah Palin will probably not be featured. The center will be vocally pro-abortion rights. It will promote feminist interpretations of economics. Feminists will work the front desk. It will ally itself with left-wing “social justice” causes on campus. And it will be paid for with your tuition money.

Alex Knepper is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and a classical liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.

Courtesy of MCT CAMPUS

Parking policy causes concern This university’s parking policies are unclear, unfair and unacceptable. Students should understand the myriad of problems and start thinking about solutions soon.

This university’s parking policy is preposterous. The rules are ridiculous and vague.

It’s especially unfortunate, considering the consequences for breaking the rules are serious and appealing these consequences is challenging.

Something must be done — and the first step is for everyone to understand the lunacy of the status quo.

As Public Safety Chief Michael McNair recently told The Eagle, all individuals affiliated with AU, including students, faculty and staff are prohibited from leaving cars on residential streets when coming to campus. Anyone who violates this rule risks getting a $75 ticket. The thinking behind this rule is that students should not be taking the parking spots of local residents, because many of them do not have garages or driveways.

Certainly, students should

be required to respect local residents when it comes to parking. But there are several problems with the current policy. First of all, nowhere has the university specified the streets where students cannot park. Is parking offlimits a mile away from AU? Two miles? Are there certain streets that are exceptions to the rule? While The Eagle was told that this includes “walking distance” from AU, who determines what that means?

Students need to know. Maybe there should be a map.

The second major issue with this policy involves the $338 Zone 3 parking permits, which can be purchased at the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles. These are meant for students who actually live in the area and they give these students the legal right to park near their homes. The problem is that Public Safety

officers have been ticketing vehicles that belong to these students.

There is an appeal process for those who feel they have been unfairly ticketed, but it’s dubious at best. Public Safety has written 923 tickets to AU community members since the beginning of the calendar year. About 800 of those have been appealed, but only about 100 appeals were granted, according to McNair.

Oh, and how are ticketworth vehicles being identified, you wonder? That’s the worst part. Public Safety targets students who leave their cars parked around AU while going to class, because policy dictates that students have to park on campus or take public transportation. This policy is questionable to begin with, but what’s really egregious is how it is enforced. According to McNair, officers literally go

around looking for cars with AU stickers on them or textbooks inside them. They just go hunting. There is no policy in place to determine which vehicles are parked in front of students’ homes. But, in a twisted bit of irony, there is a part of this “Good Neighbor Policy” that creates an incentive for neighbors to phone Public Safety and rat out students parked on the street.

Parking policies at this university needs to be clarified immediately so that students can follow the rules. But in the long term, these policies probably should be changed.

Perhaps AU should work with the Advisory Neighborhood Commission to create sensible solutions to these problems. Other options should be brought to the table. But the issues here are obvious. Our current policies are unclear, unfair and unacceptable.

Obama critics v. Bush critics: SG should update site regularly a comparison With the exception of President Andy MacCracken, SG officials basically don’t update LEFT TURN HERE

NICK FIELD Many of us have had a good laugh listening to the ravings of talk show hosts Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. Their zany crusades against President Barack Obama have constituted nothing more than rumors and innuendo. The more extreme opponents of Barack Obama have also made themselves open to ridicule, accusing the president of being a foreign-born Nazi, communist and Islamic terrorist who seeks to destroy freedom, liberty and America itself.

The vast majority of Americans find these people to be an insane fringe group of the population. The coverage and characterization of these groups, however, has angered Republicans who feel they are being unfairly labeled and attacked. They think George W. Bush’s critics are guilty of the same extremism but escaped the media assault. Their memory of history, however, is not exactly perfect.

This view that the media hounded George W. Bush and his critics were widely praised, leaves out some very important details, namely the first six years of the Bush presidency. After the Sept. 11 attacks, a prohibition on public criticism of President Bush was an unwritten rule. And anyone who criticized Bush or America’s policies was deemed a traitor.

Remember, Bill Maher criticized America’s foreign policy tactics after 9/11 and received universal media

condemnation. Those who have become upset at White House Communications Director Anita Dunn’s critique of Fox News would do well to remember Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer’s words after Maher’s statement. “They’re reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do.

This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is,” he said. If Robert Gibbs said that about Glenn Beck, conservatives would, rightly, lose their minds.

Public criticism of President Bush didn’t really begin until 2006. It was justified in the aftermath of the twin disaster of Iraq and Katrina, not to mention all the other more minor scandals in the administration. The media works much like a weathervane. Instead of investigating the Bush Administration, they merely began to castigate them after public opinion already had turned, and media figures that had sought ratings by defending Bush now sought them by attacking him (see: Matthews, Chris).

Even though the circumstances are different, those who are in the majority now should remember their past and not treat Republican critics as unpatriotic, for the mere fact that they disagree with the President.

Free speech is a delicate balance, critics of Obama need to resist extremist language, which some like Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachmann have sometimes failed to do, and supporters of Obama should not begin to squash reasonable dissent in the name of patriotism.

Nick Field is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.

You can reach him at edpage@ theeagleonline.com.

their Web site. More regular postings might increase student engagement.

A recent look at the AUSG Web site has revealed its content and updates to be neglected. While current SG President Andy MacCracken posts informative updates somewhat regularly — about once a month — those filling other positions rarely, if ever, follow suit. The vice president has never posted; nor has the comptroller. There are no minutes from the Fifth Undergraduate Senate, which has been in session since October. This is unacceptable.

the EAGLE

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An accurate and frequently updated Web site should be a foundational component of this outreach.

The SG may object by pointing out they use other forms of communication to reach out to the students of AU. It is true that both Twitter and Facebook are wellutilized to this capacity, but student funds contribute to the continued maintenance of least three elected staff members. All members of the Editorial Board have the same weight during Editorial Board meetings each Sunday and Wednesday. Letters and guest columns are the opinion of the writer.

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the EAGLE

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

news 4

Prof. brings field experience to AU

By SARAH PARNASS Eagle Staff Writer Adjunct School of Communication and School of Public Affairs Professor Richard Benedetto, with his neatlycoiffed white hair and tweed sports jackets, looks to be the perfect stereotype of a professor, but, in reality, he has another claim to fame.

In 1982, he became part of the founding team of the weekday newspaper, USA Today. He worked there for 24 years as a political correspondent before retiring in 2006. In addition to teaching, Benedetto now writes for Politico, a political news publication and Web site based in D.C. Before the beginning of Benedetto’s success, he was first introduced to newspapers during his childhood in Utica, N.Y. “The newspaper was a staple in my house, in my grandfather’s house. We always had newspapers,” Benedetto said. “It was a ritual — my father would come home from work at 5 p.m. and the first thing he would do was read the paper.”

In high school, Benedetto wrote for his school’s publication and discovered a love of politics.

“I was very fascinated by a debate that was taking place at the city council meeting - whether or not to put a traffic light or a stop sign at a particular corner,” Benedetto said.

Despite his early exposure to print, Benedetto did not always want to be in the newspaper business.

“I didn’t think I was going to be a journalist right off the bat,” he said. “I was basically a liberal arts student.”

He graduated from Syracuse University in 1965 and went to work for the Buffalo Evening News, where he was not a reporter but a public relations writer in the promotion department.

Soon, Benedetto decided to go back to school - this time for journalism.

After finishing his graduate degree at SU, Benedetto returned to Utica in search of a job.

“I went back to my home town,”

Benedetto said. “[I] got a job as a city hall reporter there and did that for five years.”

In 1976, Benedetto left city hall for the state capital. He worked for the Gannett News Service, now the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., according to the company’s Web site.

While working in N.Y., Benedetto said he won a prize for a piece in which he exposed the deplorable conditions of halfway homes housing mentalhealth patients who had been released from state institutions.

In 1982, Gannett approached him about being a part of a new paper they were working on that would be based in D.C. and have a national focus.

“They asked me to be on the team, so I worked with them — with USA Today — to get it started,” Benedetto said.

At the time, that meant living in D.C. for six months and flying back to Albany on weekends to visit his wife and four daughters, including a set of triplets.

The triplets, who were 3-years-old at the time, would greet their father at the airport every Friday and see him off again every Sunday.

“At one point there, they thought I was living at the airport,” Benedetto said. “All through my career, the challenge was traveling ... You have to have a wife who’s willing to pick up a lot of the slack, which [my wife] was, and at the same time you try to maximize your time with the children as much as you can.”

At USA Today, Benedetto furthered his work as a political correspondent: he covered four U.S. presidents, at times riding with them on Air Force One. He said it was very different from the investigative work he had done in Albany.

“When you get to Washington, and you cover the White House, it’s not that kind of beat,” Benedetto said. “You can’t do the watchdog journalism ...

What you do at the White House beat is you try to keep the president honest by being skeptical of everything they say.”

Now in retirement, Benedetto thinks fondly of his career, but he said he is happier now that he has time to teach and to relax.

“I don’t miss the day-to-day rat race anymore,” he said. “It was a long grind.”

Benedetto said the average workday was at least 10 hours long.

During his last days at USA Today, Benedetto wrote a memoir about his career called, “Politicians are People, Too.” University Press of America published it in 2006.

These days, Benedetto said he has one ambition left in life - “to write a novel.”

For those students at AU seeking to go into journalism - and more specifically, into coverage of the politics during this time of tumult for the field, Benedetto had one piece of advice: “Study history as well as journalism,” he said.

Benedetto said the challenges of teaching were, in fact, very similar to the challenges of journalism.

“To be a good journalist you have to study, to be a good teacher you have to study,” Benedetto said. “Each has its own difficulties. I think that physically reporting is harder. Intellectually, teaching is probably harder. You have to know even more, and you have to be able to defend what you’re saying in class ... But a lot of it is similar ...

Basically what you’re doing in reporting and you’re doing in teaching is the same thing. You’re teaching people.

You’re giving them information, and they’re learning something from your story or from your teaching.”

You can reach this staff writer at sparnass@theeagleonline.com.

Courtesy of RICHARD BENEDETTO

AU TODAY — Professor Richard Benedetto was on the founding team of USA Today. He is pictured above with founder Al Neuharth.

During his 26-year-long career, Benedetto covered four U.S. presidents’ administrations and now teaches at AU’s SOC and SPA.

Public Safety will not define off-campus jurisdiction n

from PARKING on page 1

Students who live in these houses and have purchased residential parking permits from the city can be ticketed by AU as well, according to Lt. Dale Booth, Public Safety’s coordinator of parking and records management.

The D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles provides a Reciprocity Permit for Temporary Residents, available to students who can prove D.C. residency and enrollment in a D.C. university, according to the DMV Web site. These permits are $338 per calendar year, compared with $936 per academic year for a campus permit.

Students who live near Main Campus are eligible for a Zone 3 permit, which gives them the right to park legally on residential streets where they would otherwise only be able to park for two or three hours

or between specific times.

Jay Klein, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, thought since there was a Zone 3 sticker on his girlfriend’s car, he was allowed to park it in the Zone 3 area. However, a Public Safety staff member gave him a ticket on Rockwood Street.

“I thought, once you get [the sticker] why should you have to pay more money for a ticket?” Klein said.

AU tickets only apply to members of the university community who are using residential streets to park when going to campus. However, Public Safety has no policy for determining whether a student has parked for class or has parked legally in front of his or her home, McNair said.

“We use information from neighbors, personal observations and look at where the vehicle is parked

to make those decisions,” he said in an e-mail.

In order to enforce the Good Neighbor Policy, Public Safety staff must also be able to tell which cars parked on residential streets belong to AU community members. If the car in question has an AU sticker on it, the staff member assumes the owner is a student who is violating the policy, McNair said.

“Sometimes you can see inside the car and see that there are books, AU books and stuff like that,” he said. “That’s not as clean.”

Local residents also often call Public Safety when they see a young person parking who looks like a student.

Public Safety has a “do not ticket” list stored in its hand-held computerized ticketing devices designed to prevent staff from ticketing non-AU affiliated residents.

Smith said he wonders why Public Safety does not have a similar list of students registered with AU. According to McNair, compiling a list of students’ license plate numbers is not only infeasible, it is also an invasion of privacy.

Anyone who is mistakenly given a ticket under Public Safety’s policy can appeal to their office within 30 days and have the ticket voided, McNair said. Everyone’s first neighborhood parking citation may also be voided as a warning, according to the parking policy listed on AU’s Web site.

Public Safety has written 923 tickets to AU community members for parking on off-campus residential streets since November of 2008.

Approximately 800 of those tickets were appealed, and 100 appeals were granted, McNair said in an e-mail.

This compares to the 10,686 on-campus parking citations Public Safety wrote during roughly the same period of time.

Unpaid or “open” tickets will double in cost 30 days after they are first issued, according to the AU Web site. After 30 days, the citations will be referred to a collection agency. A vehicle that accumulates three open tickets can be subjected to a vehicle immobilization device, or a “boot,” if it parks on campus, according to the Web site.

Andrea Vachmann, a senior in

the School of International Service, appealed a ticket Public Safety gave her for parking in front of her 44th Street home. She said she was “pretty upset” about it, but Public Safety voided the ticket after comparing the address of her house with the address on her ticket and requiring pay stubs as proof of residency.

“It was kind of annoying, and it was a hassle, but they did take it off,” Vachmann said.

Though Smith said he appreciates and understands AU’s off-campus ticketing policy, there are some aspects he feels Public Safety and the administration could handle better.

For instance, it would be beneficial to the community if the university established geographic boundaries for ticketing, he said.

Currently, the definition Public Safety officers use to judge what is within the Good Neighbor Policy’s jurisdiction is “if it’s walk-able” to campus, according to Booth.

McNair said defining exact boundaries is not necessary because the university parking rules state that a student must park on campus when going to campus; they do not state specifically where a student cannot park.

“Under those rules, there is no reason to provide members of the community with boundaries for which they can violate the policy,” he said.

Ben Pessler, a resident of Westover Place, a gated community next to the Nebraska Parking lot, said his community had to ask their security guard to stay extra hours in an attempt to prevent AU students from taking up residents’ parking spaces.

“A lot of neighbors complain about the fact that there’s a lot of student parking in the different neighborhoods,” Pessler said.

The fact that parking is still a problem means the university is not going far enough, he said.

Josh Loigman, a senior in SPA who has received two residential parking tickets from Public Safety, said he feels the off-campus parking policy negates the rights of the AU community.

“The policy is a disheartening way to treat the patrons of the institution, particularly those who proudly display their membership,” he said.

McNair said he does not understand why students would complain about the university parking policy.

“It’s very simple,” he said. “If you’re a student, staff or faculty member, you’ll park on the campus or you’ll take public transportation. There goes your two options you have. Nothing else; nothing else works.”

You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.

Alum leaves Post.com to start local news site

By JULIA RYAN Eagle Staff Writer The former editor of washingtonpost.com and AU alumnus Jim Brady will be launching a new local D.C. news Web site in spring 2010.

In an e-mail, Brady said his new site will cover subjects that “affect people’s daily lives in the Washington region,” such as crime, transportation, sports, entertainment, schools, development, weather and traffic.

The Web site will feature up-to-theminute information about a variety of topics and events in D.C., Brady said.

“It’s very much focused on news of the moment and getting it to people who live or work in those areas,” Brady said.

Brady also said he would be willing to collaborate with AU students on many aspects of the Web site.

“We haven’t worked out whether we’ll have an internship program right off the bat, though I’m relatively sure we’ll eventually have one,” Brady said.

“We would [also] consider taking stories written by college students, or by

anyone else in the [D.C.] area for that matter.”

Brady left his job at The Washington Post in December 2008 to work on the new Web site with Allbritton Communications, which also owns Politico and local television news stations WJLA-TV and Channel 8, according to the Post. Allbritton Communications will be merging the Web sites of these two news stations to give content to the new site.

Larry Kirkman, dean of the School of Communication, praised Brady as a self-starter and said he looks forward to working with Brady in the future.

“As head of washingtonpost.com, Jim was a pioneer and innovator in online journalism, creating new multimedia approaches to news and information production and using interactive technologies to engage, involve and empower users,” he said. “In his new venture, Jim will build on his successes at the Post with a commitment to community information and community building.”

Kirkman also said Brady has kept

an active connection to AU since he graduated with a Bachelors’ degree in 1988. Brady is active in SOC’s alumnistudent mentoring program and has helped many students get internships and jobs at the Post. Brady will also be teaching a graduate course for SOC in the spring about new models in the journalism field.

Luana Perez, a sophomore in SOC, said she is interested to see Brady’s new Web site and what job opportunities it would offer AU students.

“If this Web site was offering internships, I’d definitely want one,” Perez said.

Perez said she would want this new site to cover the gaps she has found in content in other D.C.-area newspapers.

“I’d like to see them cover arts and culture,” Perez said. “Maybe they could have a style section. I’d like to see the Web site really cover what’s happening in D.C.” You can reach this staff writer at jryan@theeagleonline.com.

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

THE EAGLE'S ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

‘Shear’ fun at Kennedy Who-dun-it comedy makes D.C. history

‘Boondock II’ holds true to indie original

By YOHANA DESTA

By AMRITA KHALID

Eagle Staff Writer

Eagle Contributing Writer “Shear Madness” is the longest running show at the Kennedy Center. Put on eight times a week since 1987, it also happens to be the second longest-running play in the history of American theater. A comedy who-dun-it murder mystery where the audience gets to solve the crime, “Shear Madness” is best for a first date, or to drag one’s parents to when they visit D.C. All of “Shear Madness’” action takes place in a Georgetown hair salon, owned by predictably flamboyant Tony Whitcomb (Brad Letson), who is assisted

by Barbara DeMarco (Tiernan Madorno), his flirty shampoo girl. Also in the mix are the customers: Nick Rossetti (Aaron Shields), Eddie Lawrence (Rahmein Mostafavi), Mike Thomas (Matthew R. Wilson) and Mrs. Schubert (Brigid Cleary).

The play runs in the Kennedy Center’s tiny Theatre Lab cabaret, where most of the seats are long benches, and one is close enough to see every little detail on stage — which, as one later finds out, is for a good reason. The premise is rather simple: the hair salon goes about a typical day of tending to customers, when all of the sudden they discover that the upstairs neighbor, a famous piano player, has been murdered.

After it is revealed that two of the customers are actually secret detectives, the audience is then asked to help interrogate the remaining customers as they re-enact everything that went on during the first 15 minutes of the play. As each character goes through their actions, audience members shout out their mistakes or inaccuracies.

Many tidbits in the play get updated year by year. During Thursday night’s performance, you could catch references to Paris Hilton, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin and an Avril Lavigne song. Also, if groups attend, the play will incorporate their names somehow.

That night, students from an allboys school, a group from a high

BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY

Courtesy of SCOTT SUCHMAN

CUTTHROAT — “Shear Madness,” a D.C. institution, continues its legacy as the second longest-running play in American theater. The story follows the workers of a Georgetown hair salon who discover that their neighbor has been killed. The show is interactive and uses the audience to help solve the murder. school in Miami and students from Trinity Washington University were all in attendance.

Whether “Shear Madness” is a good show or not tends to really depend on the type of crowd that is attendance that night because much of the show is dependent on audience participation. The actors feed off the energy and humor of the participants. If attending on a slow Thursday night with a large percentage of the

seats unoccupied or occupied by older people, don’t be surprised if the show feels a bit forced and dry. While some of the jokes definitely cause one to crack a smile, most of the humor borders on cringe-worthy.

A certain mood is required to truly enjoy “Shear Madness.”

The show is corny, and definitely not anything worth seeing more than once, but as a D.C. institution, “Shear Madness” is truly a

Move Me,” “Lay It Off ” and “I’m Losing You.” Although the Swedish trio put on a decent set of music, the crowd was not receptive — at times even yawning. There was not much banter in between songs, a quality that engages the crowd and allows for comic relief, which is hard to do in a venue that fits 1,200 people. One of the few times they spoke is when Peter Moren (guitars/vocals) admitted to the crowd that he used to take guitar lessons but stopped, explaining why he still has problems playing, something one wouldn’t really want to admit to a full house of over a thousand people.

It seems like the crowd was expecting a more pop/indie feel, the sort of songs you’d hear in an Old Navy commercial, but PB&J instead went for a more experimental/new wave feel, at one point even playing with Connecticut folk band the Hat City Intuitive during an interlude halfway through the set entitled “Needles and Pins.” This clearly pushed away many of the avid listeners, even though this was the first time they had played material from their 2008 album “Seaside Rock.” “Nothing to Worry About” and “Lay It Off ” got a good reaction from the crowd, who even sang along to the lines “Hey shut the fuck up boy/You’re starting to piss me off/Take your hands off that girl/You’ve already had enough.”

The “ehh”-ness that ensued during the set quickly turned around when they asked the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” while they tuned and then went on to amaze the crowd with the

powerful “Objects of my Affection” and “Paris 2004,” a song that wasn’t even on their set list but a fan had called out for — and which they were up for playing.

It was clear, however, that they really did love playing in D.C. and loved their fans, explaining how this was the first town they played in America, and even at one point exclaiming that “the District of Columbia is the best place in the world!” After finishing the encore, they proved their loyalty by literally jumping off stage and causing a ruckus while they hustled toward the merch table to go greet fans.

Overall, it seems that Peter Bjorn and John had great intentions of having an absolutely amazing show, but were not able to bring all that energy and flavor out to the crowd, who at many times seemed like they wanted to be somewhere else. Had this exact same setlist been played somewhere in Europe where experimental music is more progressive, the reaction would have been different. Next time, if they take into more consideration that D.C. is not Sweden, the show will be a more pleasant experience.

must-see. Much like wandering through the Natural History Museum or peering over C&O Canal for the hundredth time, it’s only something one would do if they were showing their visitors the necessary stops of the city. “Shear Madness” is one of those shows that truly display a unique side of the District to outsiders.

You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.

A-

When Troy Duffy first wrote the script for “The Boondock Saints” back in 1996, he probably had no idea that girls and boys across America would come to idolize the cult film for years to come. After its minimal indie theater release in 1999, its popularity surged through word of mouth. Now, in 2009, the Saints are back with a new movie, a new mission and a new sidekick. But don’t worry, they still go on the same relentless killing streaks and recite the same classic family prayer.

In “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” fraternal twins Connor and Murphy MacManus, (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) are hidden deep in Ireland with their father (Billy Connolly), having narrowly escaped capture in the last movie.

But when a murderer in Boston kills a priest and frames the Saints, they cut their hair and beards and leave the sheep farm to clear their name in Boston. On the way they meet Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.), who seems like a dangerous fighter with a flowing black mohawk, huge, crazy eyes and a deep pride in his Mexican heritage.

But after the Saints take him on as their new sidekick, he has to earn his stripes, proving that he’s more than just a foolhardy tagalong.

As the Saints go on their search to find out who is framing them, they pile up bodies on the way and meet their new FBI opponent, Special Agent Eunice Bloom, played by a ginger-haired Julie Benz. Bloom is a genius, trained specially by Agent Paul Smecker (portrayed by the fantastic Willem Dafoe from the first “Boondock Saints”). With her brains and body, she gets exactly what she wants and is soon hot on the trails of the Saints. She is accompanied by three foolish detectives, Greenly, Duffy and Dolly — some fans may recognize them from the first film as the detectives who helped the Saints in the courtroom scene.

“Boondock Saints II” takes a closer look at their father’s past. How did he become a killing machine? Many questions that fans had and many that

they didn’t think of are answered in this film. In this way, it adds a depth to the storyline that the first film did not have.

In comparison to the first, “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” is bigger, badder and certainly funnier.

With Romeo cracking jokes and often being the butt of the majority of them, the film had the audience rolling with laughter. Bob Marley is hilarious as the dimwitted but ever-persistent Detective Greenley. One of the funnier scenes involves Romeo trying to come up with his own catchphrase after being a tad jealous of the Saints and their family prayer. “Maybe, who ordered the whoop-ass fajitas!” shouts Romeo, with an ever-present crazy glint in his eyes.

But it’s not just Romeo; everyone has a moment of perfect comedy. Often, even the Saints crack jokes, from making fun of Romeo to messing around with Doc, the McGinty’s bartender with Tourette Syndrome, another familiar face from the first film.

But be warned — if you don’t have a dirty sense of humor, you might not find the film all that funny.

In “Boondock Saints” fashion, despite humorous undertones, the film is dark and dangerous all the way through. With the killer on the loose and the Yakavetta mob on high alert for the return of the Saints, there are twists, turns and surprises throughout the film. There is, as Murphy puts it, “a gratuitous amount of violence” in this movie. There are the classic slow motion gun scenes and vomit-inducing puddles of blood. One of the more heart racing gun fights in the film is a chilling game of Russian roulette that had the audience holding their breath.

If you haven’t seen the first film, you might not get the a few parts of the new one. However, the film has many flashbacks to the first film to help freshen the audience’s memory.

This film is certainly not the dark indie flick that the first one was, but it still has the spirit, violence and storyline that the fans love. If you like action, comedy or drama, this film presents each of these attributes in spades.

“Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” is out now in select theaters.

You can reach this staff writer at ydesta@theeagleonline.com.

Peter Bjorn and John keep crowd quiet Despite D.C. love, tour lacks energy

By CLAUDIA NUÑEZ-CESPEDES Eagle Contributing Writer Peter Bjorn and John kicked off the start of their United States headline tour Nov. 7 at the 9:30 club. The tour, which is appropriately named the “10th Year U.S. Birthday Tour,” is celebrating a whole decade of making music together, which in today’s industry is quite a feat to conquer. The Swedish trio are known for their hipster indie hit “Young Folks,” a song that came onto the scene almost two years after the release of their record of the same title in 2006.

Fellow Swedish comrade El Perro del Mar, or “the Dog of the Sea,” was the opener of the night, a name the crowd clearly wasn’t familiar with, but was quick to embrace as they received the spunky musician with open arms.

Once taking the stage, PB&J gave listeners in D.C. 90 minutes worth of quirky pop/indie music, showing how 10 years has done them well with each motion on stage. This will be the last time they tour before going into the studio for their next record.

The crowd went crazy when they played hits like “Paris 2004” and “Young Folks,” but also managed to bring in songs from their last full-length record, “Living Thing,” with songs like “It Don’t

You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.

Courtesy of JOHAN BERGMARK

SWEDISH FISH — Peter Bjorn and John, a trio of Swedish rockers, busted out the new wave to fans on Nov. 7 at the 9:30 club. The three are currently on their “10th Year U.S. Birthday Tour” to celebrate a decade of music-making.

the EAGLE

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

the scene 6

Palmer goes beyond boundaries on tour

By KATRINA CASINO Eagle Staff Writer Amanda Palmer is today’s traveling muse. Over a decade into her multi-project career, the alternativepunk-cabaret songwriter best known for being one-half of the Dresden Dolls is done releasing music.

Rather than dealing with the lengthy and tedious recording process and the constant demands of record companies, Palmer is doing it all her own way, traveling the country and spreading her art.

With the rise of digital downloads, both legal and illegal, the CD release is beginning to become anachronistic. Why wait to process and package all her work, asks Palmer, when she can release it as she goes?

“I don’t believe in releases anymore,” Palmer told The Eagle. “My theory is that I make art, and I put it out and I wander around and tell people about it. I really like the idea of creating art, making it available and then capitalizing in creative ways.”

The singer, whose latest release is

the Ben Folds-produced 2008 album “Who Killed Amanda Palmer?” has spent the greater part of her career smirking in the face of industry standards of operation and relying on the support of her fans to keep her music successful. Often relying on highly interactive stage tactics, Palmer never fails to engage her fans. Whether it be through an “Ask Amanda” portion of her show or sitting in a bathroom stall before the show taking confessions from strangers, Palmer has strived to create an intimately close connection with her audience.

While this tour will still have a personal feel, Palmer excitedly stated that this set would be headed in a different direction from the one-woman show that marked her last tour.

“The band is pretty much on stage with me for the whole show, so it’s a really loud, raucous party tour,” she said. “We’re going to be having a lot of fun. It’s going to be the opposite of the long, introspective, Amandatalks-to-the-audience-for-half-anhour.”

And yes, she will be taking bathroom confessionals on selected

nights, but fans will have to subscribe to her Twitter (@amandapalmer) to find out when and where.

Palmer’s unconventional and raucous nature extends past the stage.

The songwriter, whose tour motto is “Do it ‘til you get caught,” has been wreaking havoc upon New York, where she and the band have been practicing. After recounting stories of singing Tegan and Sara songs to New York’s Finest and paying people in Union Square to accompany her to bodegas, Palmer admitted her motto is one she practices.

“We try to be respectful of some boundaries, but mostly we just do shit ‘til we get caught,” Palmer said.

“Then we stop.”

Although her on-stage persona may be rowdy and boisterous, Palmer’s work itself tends to take on a darker edge. “Runs in the Family” — a track off “Who Killed Amanda Palmer?” — is a swelling and receding, maniacally bouncing song tying the modern-day addictions and depressions of her friends to the family that has come before them, proving that mania is inescapable. Despite

the dissonance among her real-life personality, her on-stage persona and the content of her lyrics, Palmer insists that her almost-macabre style of songwriting is to the benefit of her well-being.

“If you’re not willing to let yourself go through dark, scary, fuckedup places and deal with those things through your art, you won’t need to do it in real life,” she said.

When it comes to her future with the Dresden Dolls, Palmer is uncertain. With band mate Brian Viglione (formerly of World/Inferno Friendship Society) now drumming for the Cliks and Palmer touring solo, she admits that playing with Viglione is one of the things she misses most.

As of now, though, Palmer’s got her priorities straight. Always adventurous and never afraid to speak her mind, she’s not touring to promote an album or an agenda. Her message is much simpler than just that.

“I am touring to promote Amanda-fucking-Palmer,” she said.

You can reach this writer at kcasino@theeagleonline.com.

Courtesy of AMANDA PALMER

DOLL FACE — Amanda Palmer, formerly of the Dresden Dolls, will be playing at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Va., on Nov. 19. Palmer is known for her active audience participation, often having a question-and-answer portion of her show, as well as bathroom confessionals.

Found Footage Festival Stereotypes a problem best served with booze for lesbian community

By BRYAN KOENIG Eagle Staff Writer

The Found Footage Festival is right at home in the Arlington Cinema ‘N’ Drafthouse, where the smell of beer is present but not pungent. It has a warm atmosphere that facilitates the humor in poking fun at some truly bizarre videos that co-curators Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett have collected and edited down to the bare bones over the years.

In its fourth volume, the festival contains 16 different segments, each approximately four minutes long. The curators announce each segment and then provide snark and commentary, similar to “Mystery Science Theater 3000.”

Many of the videos speak for themselves, full of people and situations and products so strange they are very nearly inconceivable — which probn

from SG WEB SITE on page 1

Veterans Reception.

The social networking pages are not replacing AUSG.org, Meiselman said in an e-mail.

“We are in a transition at the moment and we’ve found that we are able to get a lot of information across via Facebook and Twitter,” he said.

Toward the end of the fall semester and the beginning of the spring semester, an improved site will “go hand in hand” with an SG marketing campaign, Meiselman said.

“Because of the issues we currently have with the site, we’ve been using different forms of communication on the Internet to reach the

ably means they are real.

The festival is very much a trip through time to the pit of strangeness that the segments make the ‘80s out to be. It is a glimpse into the mindscape of people who put out dating videos, produce homemade exercise tapes that consist largely of jumping up and down and even make instructional videos for male and female masturbation machines.

The tapes are absurd and at times funny in their stupidity, but others push the limits of reason enough that the booze at the Drafthouse definitely facilitates laughter and a stable psyche.

The 90-minute show is like a long collage of stupid human tricks, despite the fact that the people from across the country who made them intended for them to be taken completely seriously.

The fact that such people exist — let alone the fact that they had the audacity or thickness to ever envision that the student body,” Meiselman said.

MacCracken said he personally had difficulty updating his part of the Web site because of the new layout and organization of the site.

The executives have had several meetings about the site and how to mesh the previous Web site with the current site, he said.

They want the site to be “as userfriendly as possible for new people coming to the site and a resource for Student Government people to utilize and update,” MacCracken said.

Other areas of the site have gone unused by executives and students as well. All four of the topics on SG’s new “Active Forum” were posted in

videos they made could ever possibly be a good idea — is the driving force behind the festival’s comedy.

Not for the more conservative of thought, as the segments often push the boundaries of sanity and rarely evoke anything resembling normalcy.

When the videos are genuinely funny, it is nearly entirely based on how strange and absurd they are.

There is nothing wrong with the festival. It is strange, amusing and funny at times, but rarely is it uproarious.

It is instead a reminder of the people who inhabit the world, the videos they make and the things they do under the influence of stupidity, alcohol or mindaltering substances — including their own egos.

You can reach this staff writer at bkoenig@theeagleonline.com.

August by SG IT Director Jake Paul or Meiselman. The forum is an online conversation board where SG members post topics so the AU community can respond. In one topic, Meiselman asks, “What do you want to see from your Student Government?”

One responder replied on Oct. 1 saying “the whole site is out of date” and requested that students be able to track the progress of a bill in the Undergraduate Senate and be able “to find AUSG’s accomplishments, goals, and current projects.”

You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.

AU THREESOME

BUSTER DARKHOLE MAXWELL HILLCREST and AMBER SPARKLES There’s a topic that we have been avoiding because, quite frankly, we don’t understand it at all — which is why we recruited a guest columnist, Beaver McRugmuncher, for help.

That is the phenomena of lesbians.

During a recent party, we had lesbian sex described to us. It’s like a Jell-O shot: first, you get your finger in to loosen it up, then place your mouth around it to get at the goods.

But lesbians are more than just Jell-O shots at parties. We have all heard about the myths surrounding lesbians, so we are here to separate fact from fiction. One such myth surrounding lesbians is the common assumption of their relationships.

First date: discuss marriage — where, when, how? Second date: children’s names, raise gender-neutral or not? By the third date, they may as well be on their third anniversary. The next step is when one gets a U-Haul to bring all of their processions over to live with the other, generally around the fifth date.

But to be serious for once, on a

STUDENT N I G H T CHARACTER

COMMITMENT

CONNECTION

small campus like AU, stereotyping is abundant — from the halls of Anderson to the classrooms in Ward.

But, while the stereotypes may be funny, they are rarely 100 percent true.

In our last article for the semester, we will impart our wisdom of what we have learned. Rule number one: don’t piss off a lesbian. They are naturally born with the ability to kick your ass.

So what do you do when you actually encounter a lesbian? Many try and divulge the deep mystery that is lesbian sex. However, this is often met with much difficulty. Lesbians, being quite secretive, rarely give out the methods they use for sex, but we have done the research for you and found out some interesting facts.

Everyone inevitably thinks of scissoring when they think of lesbians. However, from what we have heard, lesbians do not actually do this. Number one reason: they don’t want their lover’s feet in their faces.

This is assuming that the lesbians we are speaking to do not share in the world’s most popular fetish, the foot and shoe fetish.

One of the hardest choices for a lesbian to make is which kind of protection to use. While dental dams seem like an obvious choice, they present serious impediments — namely a bad taste and choking hazard.

For people who want to be safe while having good sex, contact the Wellness Center, the Student Health Center, Women’s Initiative or the

GLBTA Resource Center. They can help you find your way to sexual health, but we are students who are assuming our audience is educated enough to make a good choice regarding their bodies. As another resource, The Eagle does have a health column where you can send questions!

The one thing that the AU Threesome wishes to impart on its readers is to maintain an aspect of individualism. Don’t make sexual choices because they are pushed on you or because your friends are doing it. You don’t have to fit yourself into a category chosen by others.

No matter your shape, size, gender, race, ethnicity or orientation, sex is better when you do it for yourself.

You’re in college, and breaking rules is what our age group is best at.

So instead of going with the same old stereotypes, step out of your comfort zone, learn what turns you on and talk with your partners.

Whether this is your first semester or your last at AU, you all have a chance to be better sexual beings.

Don’t blow it (or do).

You can reach these columnists at authreesome@theeagleonline.com. *EDITORS NOTE: In an attempt to prevent misinterpretation, we would like to acknowledge our sex columnists are of varying sexual orientations and genders.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS VS. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WED., NOV. 18TH AT 7PM Every Wednesday home game is Student Night! $10 upper level ticket with valid student ID. To purchase your Student Night ticket, visit Verizon Center box ofce or a local Ticketmaster outlet on Wed., Nov. 18th.

1 ticket per ID. Offer good while supplies last.

Text “student” to 71855 to receive reminders about upcoming Student Nights.

For accessible seating, call 202.661.5065 TTY 202.661.5066

F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , v i s i t W W W. WA S H I N G T O N W I Z A R D S . C O M

the EAGLE

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

the scene 7

Courtesy of RICHARD SCHULTZ

YOUNG MONEY — In a documentary following a nationwide competition, underprivileged youths strive to create a winning business plan for the grand prize of $10,000. “Ten9Eight” chronicles the stories of participants in the annual Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s business plan competition, with entries ranging from custom guitars to organic body products to programs for teaching sign lanugage.

Competition makes youths count Documentary follows teen entrepreneurs

By KATY PITKIN Eagle Contributing Writer

Ten9Eight

C

Creating an original film about underprivileged youths pulling themselves up by their bootstraps would obviously prove to be a challenge. Then add a national business plan competition with a first place prize of $10,000. Now there is a recipe for something fresh.

Still, “Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon” missed the mark and ended up “too good to be true.” What could have been a glimpse into the lives of these courageous, smart and interestingly dynamic youths was formed into a “one-size-fitsall” glorification of the program.

For six months, director Mary Mazzio documented the lives of a handful of money-minded youths from around the country as they prepared for a business entrepreneurship program. From Chicago to Atlanta, Los Angeles to Boston and locations in between, these students revealed their ingenious small business ideas and the adversity they overcame to get to where they are.

The program featured is the annual Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s (NTFE) business plan competition, which is meant to inspire young men and

women to create a product or service along with a full business plan and presentation. The students had to present their product or service as if they were vying for investors.

Individuals had to employ various skills including math, critical thinking and clear and effective writing in answering tough questions after their presentations from a panel of judges.

The film begins with staggering nationwide high school dropout rates and segues into the NTFE program that keeps potential dropouts in school, while engaging them in an opportunity that can push them toward success later in life.

Throughout the film, various youths who have won their regional competitions and are preparing to move onto the national level are introduced. Their ideas ranged from original guitars to organic

body products to custom cheerleading uniforms.

Each business venture seems to be completely different from the next, yet all the interviews seem vaguely familiar. Most of the contestants and their parents are answering the same questions, which

“...Students revealed their ingenious small business ideas and the adversity they overcame...” may have made editing easier, but doesn’t help to make the final

product any more interesting.

In what seems like an effort to create inspirational, “can-do” advertising for free enterprise, Mazzio neglects to highlight the differences between contenders.

The young man who ingeniously incorporated technology used for polarized sunglasses into football helmets was beat out by the vegetarian doggie treats, yet Mazzio still presents it as “everyone wins” — but this is not the case.

This film would’ve been great had Mazzio carried over the truthful and dynamic qualities that were such a big part of each youth’s background story. Anne — the young woman who was molested by her grandfather — created a dance company; Robbie Martin — the hysterical young deaf boy — created a program for teaching sign language; and Shan Shan — an immigrant’s daughter whose

father passed away — brilliantly developed a three-minute cell phone battery charger.

Mazzio did highlight an important similarity: that these young people overcame obstacles in their past and have achieved greatness.

Even if they didn’t win the competition, these youths are heroic and are continuing to prove certain people (and statistics) wrong.

“Ten9Eight” ends by concluding that everyone is a winner. While not every contestant was able to take home $10,000, they did manage to take away a few valuable life lessons — not to mention their business is now spotlighted in a feature-length film. With that going for them, what reason would they have not to continue living their dreams?

You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.

‘Change’ gives partisan advice Get saucy with

pasta addition

By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK Eagle Staff Writer GENERATION CHANGE

B

You’re young, politically-inspired, electronically-savvy tweeters ready to change the world. According to Jayan Kalathil and Melissa Bolton-Klinger, the authors of “Generation Change: 150 Ways We Can Change Ourselves, Our Country and Our World,” you are “Generation Change.”

The authors joined forces while working together at VH1, Kalathil in public affairs and Bolton-Klinger, a writer-director with a film background, on the creative side.

“We were both inspired by President Obama’s election, but more so we were inspired by the movement that it created with young people,” Kalathil said. “Watching him connect with younger voters and young Americans in general and watching them get involved in the political process — it showed that with the right message and technology, people can really be galvanized and get on board with a political campaign and causes in general.”

Bolton-Klinger was hoping that the book could jump off of the “change” platform that was touted during the campaign.

“We were bombarded with change, change, change […] We’re hearing this message but when he gets elected — well, now what?”

Bolton-Klinger said. “Maybe we can pick up the baton and not make change become another slogan, but write something so it can feel tangible.”

The book reads like a guide of 100 tips — its very own SparkNotes.

“The way we write it is very casual; the ideas are pretty universal to everyone,” Kalathil said.

The book is broken into categories including mind, body and soul; neighborhood issues; the nation; fighting poverty; human rights and the environment. The book reads like a conversation, suggesting places for information dealing with whatever issue one may be interested in.

The book is littered with quotes from President Barack Obama. The authors explain their inclusion that “peppered throughout we’ve added quotes from the president to keep

CHEF SECRETS

WILL KOPER I used to keep a jar of spaghetti sauce in my refrigerator until a friend of mine taught me how to make my own. A good tomato sauce takes a bit of time, but it’s easy, it keeps well and you can also double the recipe and freeze some for later in the month when you’re buried in projects and final exams. The sauce is excellent by itself and can be used with some or ziti or as the base for a bunch of other recipes.

The sauce: 1 large Vidalia onion 4 cloves garlic 1 carrot 3 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil 1 tsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. red chile flakes 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cz. red wine (optional) 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

Courtesy of MARCOS PAMIAS

ALL SMILES — “Generation Change: 150 Ways We Can Change Ourselves, Our Country and Our World,” written by Jayan Kalathil (above) and Melissa Bolton-Klinger, gives tips on ways to get inspired. you inspired.” Some tips cross the line between helping to change the world and becoming an Obama follower.

While tips like learning how to cook, knowing what’s going on in the government and laughing and smiling more are tips we can all agree with, numbers 23, “Obamify Yourself,” and 85, “Send President Obama a ThankYou Note” seem preachy. Though this may alienate some conservative or apolitical readers, the goal of the book is bipartisanship. The authors wanted the book to be something everyone can take away from.

“Granted we use the president a lot, but I think the ideas and issues we bring up don’t really fall under

political partisanship,” Kalathil said.

Bolton-Klinger noted that the tips are mostly accessible to everyone.

“You should still read our book because [advice like] flossing is definitely bipartisan and we should be doing more of that,” she said. “I think change is something for everybody, not just liberals.”

The best tip for college students is using their voice, according to Bolton-Klinger.

“You have something you need to say more than anyone because this is a time in your life when you’re exposed to new things and have new thoughts and you can take advantage of that voice, and they should do that

as much as they can,” she said.

“Generation Change” outlines some great ways on how to become sustainable and how to research things one has always wanted to do.

The boasting of President Obama can be overbearing, but if one can get past it, the tips and resources will help one achieve goals and connect with others on issues they care about.

“We’re at a place in history where we can connect to each other and it has never been easier to get involved in a cause that interests you,” Kalathil said.

You can reach this staff writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.

Slice the onion in half, peel it and grate it on the largest side of a box grater. Peel the carrot and grate it on the next smallest side. Grate the garlic on the same side.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on high heat. When it’s good and hot, add all of the other ingredients — except the red wine and tomatoes — and turn the heat down to low. You want to cook the onions all the way through without browning them. You’ll have to keep stirring them and it’s going to take about 15 to 20 minutes. There should be little or no crunch left in the vegetables; you want the mixture to almost melt in your mouth. Add a little bit of water if it starts to dry out.

Once the vegetables are “sweated,” add the red wine and simmer for about five minutes. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat up to bring the sauce to a boil then and then turn it down to let it simmer.

Keep simmering for at least an hour, stirring every 10 to 15 min-

utes. After an hour, season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another hour or so. You can use this sauce right away, but I find that it’s much better after it refrigerates overnight. Personally, I like my tomato sauce chunky, but you can also puree it in a blender if you prefer a smoother consistency.

Like I said, the sauce is great on its own, but here are a few of my favorite variations: Spinach and Ricotta When you’re boiling the pasta, add a few handfuls of frozen spinach to the water about 1 1/2 minutes before it’s done. Drain the pasta and spinach together and add about a cup of sauce, a bunch of red chili flakes and 1/2 cup ricotta cheese.

Sausage and Peppers Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a cast iron skillet. Brown two or three Italian sausages, slice up a quarter of a large onion and a large bell pepper, add them to the skillet and roast the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring the peppers and turning the sausages every five minutes or so. When the peppers and onions are soft and tender, slice the sausages and put them back in the pan with about a cup of sauce.

When the mixture comes to a boil, mix it with your favorite pasta or refrigerate it. This sauce will also be just as good or better the next day.

Bolognese Cook a pound of ground meat (any combination of beef, pork, lamb or veal) in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan until it’s dark brown. Add half of a large onion (finely diced) and two or three cloves of chopped garlic. Sautée for about five minutes, add a good splash of red wine, simmer for five minutes and add a quart of sauce.

Simmer like the original sauce and then serve or refrigerate overnight.

This sauce also freezes well.

You can reach this columnist at thescene@theeagleonline.com.

8

SPORTS

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

ANDREW TOMLINSON n Sports Editor 202.885.1404

Men drop first game

By TYLER TOMEA Eagle Contributing Writer The AU men’s basketball team let an 11 point halftime lead slip away as they lost to St. Francis University in Pennsylvania, while the women used a strong second half to defeat Howard in the regular season openers for both teams.

Everything was going smoothly for the men’s squad as they ended the first half with a 31-20 lead. Sophomore forward Riley Grafft led the Eagles in the first half, as he scored 12 points and pulled down four rebounds.

AU’s offense as a whole was efficient in the first half. They shot just over 54 percent from the field and were perfect from the free throw line.

Their defense was even better. The Eagles limited the Red Flash to 25 percent from the field and under 20 percent from three point range.

But everything fell apart for the Eagles in the second half. St. Francis hit the AU defense for 45 points en route to their 65-61 victory. After trailing by as many as 13, a 14-4 run by the Red Flash cut the Eagles lead to three with just under 12 minutes remaining. A layup by freshman forward Will Felder gave St. Francis its second lead of the game, 44-43, with 7 minutes, 37 seconds remaining.

Just over a minute later, junior guard Nick Hendra regained the lead for AU as his 3-pointer made the score 48-47.

The Red Flash scored the next six points, but the Eagles came storming back as Stephen Lumpkins’ free throw with 2:46 remaining knotted the game at 53.

With the score tied at 57, Felder sank a clutch 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining to put St. Francis ahead for good.

AU freshman guard Daniel Munoz and Red Flash senior wing Devin Sweetney then matched each other’s two free throws before Blake Jolivette would hit a layup to pull the Eagles to

within one point.

A St. Francis turnover gave AU the ball with 21 seconds remaining, but Hendra misfired on a 3-point attempt. Sweetney was fouled and hit his two free throws, but it was still a one-possession game as the Eagles trailed 64-61.

AU again turned to Hendra, but his second consecutive 3-pointer was off the mark. Freshman guard Chris Johnson made one of his two free throws to seal the 65-61 win for the Red Flash.

Grafft led AU with 14 points, while Hendra and Lumpkins both chipped in 10 in the defeat. Lumpkins grabbed eight rebounds while Munoz dished out four assists.

“There were a lot of good things that we did tonight, and I think we got better,” Men’s Head Coach Jeff Jones told AU Athletics. “As the game progressed we had a chance to win, but it came down to St. Francis making the plays.”

It was a more enjoyable night for the women’s basketball team. They used a strong, 38-25 second half to defeat Howard 71-59.

The Bison took a slim 34-33 lead into the locker room at halftime as they closed the first half on an 11-3 run. Howard did most of its damage from the free throw line, hitting 11 free throws to AU’s four. Both teams shot under 40 percent in the first half.

Halftime adjustments were key as the Eagles opened the second half with a 13-4 run to take a 46-38 lead.

The Eagles would extend the lead to 17 after junior Michelle Kirk made a steal and layup for two of her 17 second half points. A subsequent layup by junior guard Ashley Yencho stretched the AU lead to 71-52. The Bison would make the final score respectable as they scored the game’s final seven points.

One half can make all the difference, as the Eagles shot 55 percent in the second half while Howard shot just 28 percent. AU also shot the ball well from deep, as they were 6-15

Volleyball fails to claim PL regular season

By SCOTT ECKL Eagle Contributing Writer

PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE

LESS THAN STELLAR— Freshman Daniel Munoz takes the ball up the court in a game this year. AU blew an 11-point halftime lead and went on to lose 65-61. This year’s squad is much differnet than the one that won two straight PL Championships. AU lost its three star players to graduation. from three while Howard was a dismal 2-14.

Leading the Eagles was Kirk, who finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with seven rebounds, two steals and three assists. Junior forward Liz Leer connected for 18 points while corralling eight rebounds.

“It was a good team effort tonight,” said Women’s Head Coach

Matt Corkery. “We made some adjustments at the half that were good for us.”

The men will next host Albany in their home opener on Monday, Nov. 16, while the women will travel to taken on Princeton the same night.

You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.

Though AU volleyball had the opportunity to claim home court advantage for the Patriot League Championship by winning both of their games over the weekend, Army still claimed the regular season title.

The Eagles had two tough road games against conference opponents over the weekend. They needed to win both games and the Black Knights to lose in order for AU to claim the PL regular season.

With a 15-11 record, the volleyball team needed a win at Colgate on Friday. They lost their previous game to Colgate 3-1 on Oct. 3 in Bender Arena. AU got the better of Colgate this time, winning 3-1 and notching their seventhstraight win. After starting the season 0-5, AU had put itself in position to host the tournament.

Senior Claire Recht had a match-high 16 kills with 20 points and junior Magdalena Tekiel had her third triple-double of the season, notching 13 kills, 13 digs and 13 points for the Eagles. The team had a total of 53 kills, four aces and 11 blocks in the road victory.

AU won in four sets, 25-13, 25-23, 20-25, 25-16.

With the win, AU improved to 16-11 record overall, 10-3 in the conference and an impressive 6-4 on the road. The Eagles were tied with Colgate after Friday’s game for the second seed in the conference, with both teams having a 103 record in PL play.

After playing in upstate New York, the team traveled to Lewis-

burg, Pa., to play the Bucknell Bison. On Oct. 2, AU beat the Bison 3-0, but this time it was not so easy for the Eagles.

After a tough first set, where the Eagles came back from being down 20-15 to win the set, the Bison cruised in the second set 25-15. AU needed to gain some momentum if they wanted any chance to win the match.

They got that momentum back from senior Cynammon Burns, who opened up the third set with back-to-back service aces, giving AU a 4-0 lead. AU went on to win that set 25-17 and then they carried that momentum into the fourth, winning 25-18. The Eagles had a total of 49 kills, seven aces and 12 blocks in their final regular season game. Tekiel led the team with 12 kills and freshman Krysta Cicala led the team with 41 assists and eight digs.

Bucknell finished its season with an 8-18 record and 4-10 in the conference. With their eighth victory in a row, AU finished 1711 and 11-3 in conference play.

Despite that, they did not win the regular season championship.

Army took the championship after beating Lehigh University.

Although AU failed to claim top honors in the regular season, they can redeem themselves with two victories in the Patriot League Tournament. Two wins at West Point would earn them the right to play in the NCAA tournament.

AU will play Colgate in the first round, while Army will play Lehigh.

You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.

Rookies make big impact in the NBA SIDELINE SCHOLAR ELLIOT JEFFORDS Once a rookie is drafted, he must participate in preseason workouts and is generally expected to fade into obscurity on the bench during the regular season.

The life of a rookie is a difficult one that rarely reaps any sort of benefits until at least their sophomore year if not later. This year, however, the NBA has been graced by an exceptional rookie class that is making huge contributions each and every night. Hours are filled with studying film, listening to veterans’ tips, lifting weights and getting in shape for the more physical and demanding professional level.

This year, the surprise has come from the sheer mass of rookies that are

playing a major part in the league.

The top picks are not making any noise in the league — at least not yet.

Number one overall draft pick, Blake Griffin, averaged an impressive 13 points and eight rebounds per game in exhibition play and was said to have the potential to be considered an elite player in the game. Some think Griffin might be the key in turning around the disaster that is the LA Clippers.

Then, in true Clipper fashion, Griffin broke his kneecap. Griffin was initially ruled out indefinitely, though since his initial prognoses, it looks like the former college player of the year will be out for at least six weeks.

Then there was the fifth overall pick in Ricky Rubio. Rubio was a highly touted point guard out of Spain who, when drafted, was deemed as the starting point guard for a rebuild-

ing Minnesota Timberwolves team.

Rubio, however, decided the NBA was not for him and packed his suitcases back to Spain.

Out of the first five draft picks, Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden, Tyreke Evans and Rubio, only Evans is having a significant impact for his team. Evans is averaging 17 points a game in about 33 minutes of playtime.

Everyone except those in the top five have had the biggest impact and look like they are going to be the determining factors in how well teams will do down the stretch.

The biggest surprise has been Brandon Jennings who was picked tenth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Jennings signed with an Italian team where he played one year after high school, then became automatically eligible for the draft despite not play-

ing in college. The point guard is averaging 26 points per game in just about 33 minutes of action. His most impressive performance this season was when he scored 55 points against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night.

There always seems to be one player that has people worried about whether their college skills will translate to the more competitive NBA. This year, that player is Stephen Curry. During his three-year tenure at Davidson, Curry made a habit of drawing double-teams and still burning them for an average of 27 points per game.

Many feared Curry’s string-bean stature and loose style would not make for a good NBA player. Those critics have been proven wrong. Curry is averaging nine points a game, shooting 50 percent from behind the

arc and contributing two steals and four assists per game.

The biggest question for this season had to be how the former Tar Heels would fare in the NBA. Four ‘Heels were selected during the draft and many questioned if they could handle a slower, more methodical half-court game after playing in a fast paced full-court Roy Williams offense for the previous few years.

Each player thought he was ready to compete. Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington were each selected in the first round and Danny Green was selected in the second round.

Lawson has been the most impressive thus far serving as the back up to Chauncey Billups. In just about 21 minutes of action per game, Lawson is averaging ten points. He also is offering a big spark off the bench

for the Nuggets. Lawson’s most impressive moment probably came on Friday night when he drove the lane and went up and dunked over the LA Lakers 7-foot D.J. Mbenga.

Hansbrough suffered an injury in preseason but has played on a limited basis in the last three games. He is already averaging 11 points per game.

That number is sure to rise as the season continues.

Of course, there will be bumps along the road and stretches where the rookies will have to go through learning curves. This year’s rookie class looks to be one of the best in NBA history and that is going to become even more evident over their careers.

You can reach this columnist at sports@theeagleonline.com.

Men’s soccer falls 1-0 in PL championship

Field hockey loses in first round of NCAA’s

Early goal enough for Bucknell win

Maryland dominates Eagles 6-1

By ANDREW TOMLINSON Eagle Staff Writer After a strong 9-6-3 season, the AU men’s soccer team lost to the Bucknell University Bison 10 in the Patriot League Championship game.

The Bison got on the board early, with just over 15 minutes in the first half. Bucknell’s CK Kumah passed to Brendan Burgdorf off of a corner, who headed it past AU goalie Matt Makowski to take a 1-0 lead.

While there would be a total of 30 shots in the game, the one goal was enough for the Bison to claim an NCAA Tournament

birth. Bucknell held a shot advantage over AU with 16, while the Eagles had 14.

Defense proved to be key and it kept the game close. Of AU’s 14 shots, the Bucknell goal keeper blocked five of them. The Eagles’ defense kept the game within reach, blocking seven shots and only forcing Makowski to save four balls.

The close game led to a physical game. There were a total of 27 fouls in the game. Of those five of the were yellow cards and there was one red card. AU junior Jamie Davin and senior Dor Yasur were both issued yellow cards.

With 10 seconds left in the match, red shirt senior Cooper Bryant was issued the game’s only red card, resulting in an ejection. Bryant was removed from the game after spitting in an official’s face.

The Eagles made an attempt to tie the game in the final minutes. They had five of the last six shots on goal and only allowed

three shots in the last 20 minutes.

Head Coach Todd West also attempted to get something going by switching up the personnel on the field. He had five substitutions in the final 20 minutes.

AU drops to 9-7-3 on the season and 3-3-1 in conference play. It is an improvement over last year’s team, who had a 6-9-3 overall record. This season is the second time in four years that the Eagles captured a part the Patriot League Regular Season Title.

The Patriot League All-Tournament Team was announced immediately following the game.

Seniors Cameron Petty, Colin Zizzi and Bryant were the only members to receive the honor.

AU’s loss marks its final game of their season. The team will have no more games on the schedule until their spring scrimmages during second semester.

You can reach this staff writer at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com.

www.theeagleonline.com

By ANDREW TOMLINSON Eagle Staff Writer AU field hockey’s season ended in defeat Saturday, falling to top seeded University of Maryland 6-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland wasted no time by scoring in the first eight minutes of the game off of a penalty corner. Amellet Rischen put the ball in play, passing to Megan Frazer who buried it for her 13th goal of the season. The Terrapins never looked back going on to score two more goals in the first half and three unanswered in the second half.

Despite the 3-0 deficit, the Eagles continued to fight. Their persistence paid off with three minutes to go in the half. Senior Anne-Meike De Wiljes snuck a ball past the UMD goalkeeper to give the Eagles some momen-

tum going into the half. It was her eighth on the season. Juniors Kristin Gebhart and Anne van Erp had the assists.

While AU was able get some offense to going at the end of the half, Maryland looked unaffected and scored their fourth goal nine minutes into the half.

They would go on to have eight more shots and two more penalty corners, capitalizing on AU miscues.

AU Head Coach Steve Jennings wasted no time, making personnel changes early and often. He made 21 changes total in the game, compared to Maryland’s 16. Despite the mixing and matching of players, the team only managed seven total shots and five on goal.

Saturday’s contest was one of AU’s most physical games of the year. There were six total Player Cards in the match. Two AU players had cards, while four different Maryland players were disciplined. Despite UMD’s big lead, they seemed be playing in a more physical style and earned one green and two yellow cards in the last 15 minutes.

The loss drops AU to 12-9 on the season and 3-3 away from Jacobs Field. This is the third time

AU has played the Terps in three years and has gone 0-3. Saturday’s game was the only one that AU was never in position to win, losing the other two by scores of 2-1 and 3-0.

It was the team’s seventhstraight Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament bid. AU has never had a doubledigit loss season since 2001 and has never lost more than one conference game since 2002.

AU will lose six members of this squad to graduation. They include two-time Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year De Wiljes, three-time Second Team All-Patriot Leaguer Savannah Graybill and three-time Second Team All-Patriot League goaltender Alyssa Poorman.

The win keeps UMD a perfect 21-0 on the season. They advanced to the second round where they played No. 10 seeded Drexel University Sunday. Drexel was the only upset of the first round, defeating No. 5 seeded University of Connecticut 3-2.

You can reach this staff writer at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com.