The Eagle — Oct. 22, 2009

BLACK WATER Director Joe Berlinger exposes the corruption behind Chevron oil in Ecuador SCENE page 5

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NEWS

VIGILANTE JUSTICE Student chases down a pickpocket and more in the Police Blotter. page 4

EDITORIAL

TOO OPINIONATED Cable news prime time should be more objective page 3

SCENE CLEAN TEAM Janitors take the spotlight in “The Philosopher Kings”

Katzen closing for event Temporary closure angers some students

By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer Katzen Arts Center, including practice rooms, studios and classrooms, will be closed today, Oct. 22, from 2 p.m. to about 10:30 p.m. for an annual university black tie event, leading some students to express frustration with the university’s priorities.

The Katzen parking garage will also close at 2:30 p.m.

Some Thursday classes in Katzen will be relocated and practice rooms will be closed during set-up for the dinner and during the event. Both Katzen Arts Center and the garage will be open as usual Friday, in time for Family and Alumni Weekend.

The building will close to accommodate the annual President’s Circle Dinner, an event to thank and recognize the university’s major donors, said David Taylor, President Neil Kerwin’s chief of staff.

“This is one of the very few times the building has been closed for such a period of time — mainly because the logistics [and] substantial set up that is required for a reception, din-

By CHARLIE SZOLD

page 5

COMING UP SHORT AU women’s soccer falls in double overtime thriller page 8

SEIZING VICTORY USA Men’s Soccer Team looks to take 2010 World Cup page 8

ner for 400, parking, caterers, facilities crews,” Taylor said in an e-mail to The Eagle.

The event will end around 10 p.m.

Taylor estimated students with cardkey access to Katzen would be able to enter the building by 10:30 p.m.

Senior in the College of Arts and Sciences Tessa Raden’s Thursday class in Katzen was moved to Tenley campus. Getting to Tenley is a hassle, Raden said.

“I could understand why they want to hold their event in Katzen — it’s easily the most beautiful building on campus,” Raden said. “But it shouldn’t be at the expense of students. They should have planned this better so that no one would be inconvenienced.”

Signs hanging on Katzen studio and practice room doors warn students the spaces will be closed today.

On one sign someone wrote, “This is total bullshit.”

Someone else replied, “Agreed.”

Kyle Encinas, a senior theater major in CAS, said there is no space to rehearse other than Katzen.

“This is the arts building, and the fact that the arts have to suffer because the president wants somewhere nice to hold his event is ridiculous,” Encinas said. “This is a big hassle for us. It’s hard not to feel slighted.”

Alex Mensing, a saxophone player for the jazz band and a senior in CAS, said his two rehearsals were cancelled as a result of the event.

Mensing will not be able to work his

usual hours in the Katzen music library, he said.

“I don’t like that they are shutting people out of Katzen,” he said. “Closing the building discourages students from practicing their instruments or rehearsing for plays ... The closing makes me feel like they are being elitists. It’s like they are saying that this is not really a building for students.”

Taylor said holding the event on AU’s campus is a more personal experience and less expensive than moving the event to a downtown hotel.

“We regret if taking the building ‘off line’ for approximately 8 hours will inconvenience anyone,” Taylor said. “[B]ut my understanding is it was known and communicated as early as June that the event was going to happen there, and follow-ups were done in September and beyond.”

At the event, AU Gospel Choir will perform and two AU alumni, Jack Cassell and Esther Benjamin, will be honored for their efforts to assist AU and the larger community.

Kerwin will also pay tribute to Dr. Cyrus Katzen, one of the building’s namesakes, who died this year. About 400 guests will attend the event, Taylor said.

Staff writer Julia Ryan contributed to this report.

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

A car traveling 15 to 20 miles per hour struck an AU student crossing Massachusetts Avenue walking towards campus — raising concerns about pedestrian safety on Ward Circle crosswalks.

The student, who did not wish to be identified or comment for this article, was crossing the southern crosswalk of Massachusetts Avenue — where there are no traffic lights — when a car, driven by an elderly man from out of town, struck him. The impact rolled him over the car hood and onto the street. The Department

of Public Safety and the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene. An ambulance also responded but did not transport the student to the hospital after it was clear his injuries were not serious.

The driver, who said he was inexperienced and unconfident on D.C. roads, was trying to change to the middle lane so that he could turn left into the Berkshire Apartment Complex further down Massachusetts Avenue.

When asked what had happened, the man responded simply, “Well, I hit a young man with my car.”

He said his unfamiliarity with traffic circles contributed to his confusion

while driving.

“Drivers weren’t letting me in and they were honking their horns, and when I finally was able to change lanes my wife yelled ‘stop!’” the driver said.

The accident, while minor, has raised questions about the safety of AU students crossing the busy intersections around Ward Circle. Fifteen pedestrians in D.C. were killed last year in traffic accidents, accounting for 38 percent of traffic fatalities in the district, according to the MPD Web site.

And while an MPD officer at the scene of the accident said there are rarely any pedestrian accidents on Ward Circle, Student Government

HI 76° LO 54° Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm.

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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

ACCESS DENIED — Katzen classes, studios and practice rooms will be off-limits today from 2-10 p.m. for a annual university event. Students expressed their frustration by writing on the sign in Katzen. The annual dinner honors major donors to the university.

President Andy MacCracken is still concerned.

“The increased foot traffic sparked by the extra AU students at the Berks has been a safety concern all semester,” he said. “It could be beneficial to make sure there is an officer at the Ward Circle stops between classes, when the highest volume of students are going between campus and the Berks.”

MacCracken also suggested that the university lobby D.C. to install flashing yellow lights to alert drivers to the increases foot traffic around Ward Circle between classes.

“I’d just recommend that students be aware of their surroundings when

crossing Ward Circle intersections and be courteous to the drivers,” he said. “Rushing might present a danger to everyone involved.”

David Taylor, President Neil Kerwin’s chief of staff, said AU is concerned whenever a student at AU is injured.

“While incidents such as what happened on Tuesday are rare — all issues involving student/pedestrian safety are taken seriously,” he said in e-mail to The Eagle.

AU is working on a campus facilities plan that will address traffic and transportation issues, according to Taylor. n

see ACCIDENT on page 4

Speaker shares pain of More students drunken-driving crash touring AU

By JULIA RYAN

TODAY’S WEATHER

LINDSEY ANDERSON / THE EAGLE

Student hit by car on Ward Circle Eagle Staff Writer

SPORTS

OCTOBER 22, 2009 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 17

throughout ‘09

By LINDSEY ANDERSON Eagle Staff Writer The trains of prospective students touring campus have grown this year, according to Acting Director of Admissions Greg Grauman.

More prospective students have visited AU between January and October 2009 than during the same period in 2008, he said.

This year, the university switched from the typical Friday preview day event to Saturday Preview Day, aiming to increase attendance.

“We are always seeking ways to encourage students to visit campus,” Grauman said in an e-mail. “Students who visit campus are more likely to apply for admission, and if they are admitted, are more likely to enroll than a student who has not visited.”

Preview day participants have responded positively to the change in day, he said. In a postevent survey, 98 percent of attendees said they would be will-

ing to attend a similar event if it were held on a Saturday, Grauman said.

Usually about 2,500 prospective students visit AU between September and November, and the university is expecting a similar number of students to visit this fall, he said.

Bridget Weisenreder, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, took a campus tour and attended an Honors Program overnight and a weekend preview day. Weisenreder said she went on general college tours before deciding which colleges to apply to and attend.

“If I didn’t like [AU] in person, I wouldn’t have applied,” she said.

Sara Norton, a freshman in CAS, attended preview day and an Honors Program overnight and took a campus tour. The tours and events helped her to decide which college to attend, she said. She especially recomn

see PROSPECTIVE on page 4

Eagle Staff Writer When Mark Sterner took his first drink on the last night of spring break in 1994, all that he expected was to have a few drunken mishaps and good times with his best friends.

He had not anticipated that by the end of the night, three of his friends would be dead, and he would be fighting for his life in the hospital.

Sterner spoke to a crowd largely comprised of AU athletes on Monday, Oct. 19, about the night when he made the decision to drink and drive while on spring break in Florida, a decision that ruined his life.

Sterner, who was judged to be the “least drunk” of the five men after they visited a bar, was driving to another bar with his friends when he struck a tree, killing three of his passengers.

Sterner showed the audience a video that he had taped that night of him and his friends drinking and going to the bar.

“This video was never made to be shown to an audience,” Sterner said. “It was supposed to be something we’d look back on years later and laugh about how stupid we were in college. But because of what happened that night I would never get to watch this video with my

friends.”

The video shows four men doing shots of Jagermeister and whiskey and driving 100 miles per hour in a 35 mile-per-hour zone on the way to the bar. Once at the bar, the four friends did more shots and danced to live music in a nearly empty bar.

About 15 minutes after Sterner stopped videotaping, the men headed off to the next bar in Sterner’s rented Lincoln Towncar. As he was driving, his right wheel veered slightly off the road. Sterner steered hard to the left to get back on the road, crossed over to the right side of the road, and hit a tree at 65 miles per hour. He and his friends were thrown 40 yards from the car. His friends Aaron, Jim and Pete were instantly killed.

Sterner’s friend Darren sustained minor injuries, but Sterner was so badly wounded that the paramedics who responded to the scene were surprised he was still alive.

“The paramedic said he checked my pulse more to confirm that I was dead than to see if I was alive,” Sterner said.

Sterner was rushed to the hospital and did not regain full consciousness for two weeks. Not long after he regained consciousness, he was visited by two police officers.

They formally charged Sterner with three counts of DUI manslaughter. n

see DUI on page 4

PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE

PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE

CAUTIONARY TALE — Mark Sterner’s life changed in 1994 after he swerved into a tree while driving drunkenly. The accident killed three of his friends and seriously injured Sterner. He hopes his story will help others make better choices.

the EAGLE

OCTOBER 22, 2009

news 2

THURS 22

FRI 23

SAT 24

SUN 25

MON 26

TUES 27

“Comedy: Bentzen Ball Opening Night” 7 p.m.

WHERE: Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. N.W. METRO: U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo (Yellow and Green Lines) INFO: The comedy festival kicks off with some of the best underground comics around, including Patton Oswalt, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Todd Barry and Kyle Kinane. Admission is $30.

CONTACT: For more information, visit www.bentzenball.com.

Markoff’s Haunted Forest 7 p.m.

WHERE: Calleva Farm, 19120 Martinsburg Rd., Dickerson, Md. METRO: J9 Bus to Montgomery Village Ave. from Bethesda (Red Line) INFO: Get into the Halloween spirit with the D.C. area’s best haunted walking trail. Admission is $25.

CONTACT: For more information, visit www.markoffshauntedforest. com.

Author Event: Haleh Esfandiari 6 p.m.

WHERE: Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. N.W. METRO: L1 or L2 bus from Van Ness-UDC (Red Line) INFO: Haleh Esfandiari discusses her new book, “My Prison, My Home,” about her experience as a political prisoner in Iran. Admission is free.

CONTACT: For more information, call 202-364-1919.

Play: “Much Ado About Nothing” 7 p.m.

WHERE: Folger Theatre, 201 E. Capitol St S.E. METRO: Capitol South (Blue and Orange Lines) INFO: Folger Theatre opens their 2009-2010 season with Shakespeare’s comedic tale about romance and mistaken identities. Admission is $30.

CONTACT: For more information, call 202-544-7077.

Exhibit: Storefront Churches 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

WHERE: National Building Museum, 401 F St. N.W. METRO: Judiciary Square (Red Line) INFO: Camilo Jose Veraga presents his photography collection of churches and their surrounding urban neighborhoods. Admission is free.

CONTACT: For more information, call 202-272-2448.

Hockey: Washington Capitals vs.

Philadelphia Flyers 7 p.m.

WHERE: Verizon Center, 601 F St N.W. METRO: Gallery Place-Chinatown (Red, Yellow and Green Lines) INFO: Come out and cheer for the Caps as they take on the Philadelphia Flyers. Admission is $50.

CONTACT: For more information, call 202-266-2277.

Funk: Girls too stressed

By TRAVIS MITCHELL Eagle Contributing Writer Students should prioritize their commitments and create a work-life balance that avoids overachieving and perfectionism, said Liz Funk, a nationally recognized author and recent college graduate.

Funk, a New York-based freelance writer and author of “Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls,” (Simon and Schuster, $15) spoke for over an hour to a group of students gathered in the Ward Circle Building last Wednesday evening.

Funk drew from her own experiences, as well as from cases she studied while writing her book to highlight the problems associated with trying to do too much.

Funk was inspired to speak at AU because friends of hers at George Washington University had suffered the effects of overachieving and perfectionism. AU fit the same mold of the urban, high-level institutions where students are most at

risk, Funk said.

Staff members at the AU Wellness Center agreed that her experiences would be valuable to students.

“Almost all students at AU are perfectionists at some level,” said Wellness Center Director Alan Duffy. He added that the problems of perfectionism and overachieving affect both male and female students.

Too often girls are brought up feeling pressures to overexert themselves, both academically and socially, Funk said. She said her experiences in high school led to extreme exhaustion and insecurity — traits that are all too typical of girls these days.

“It was understood that if you were a good kid, you joined the band and chorus and if you didn’t, you had a good excuse for it,” she said, adding that it was also expected that students at her school join multiple clubs, participate in athletics and even have a job.

The media pressure young college women to be perfect and do

everything, Funk said.

“Things have changed very quickly,” she said. “The female ideal is no longer simply to be beautiful. There are far fewer possibilities for girls to explore their roles and explore variations of the female ideal.”

“On MTV, every detail is obsessed over and even the reality TV shows aren’t that real,” Funk said.

“They pay beautiful people ... to sit around and pretend that it’s real. So we can’t take anything that we see in the media at face value.”

But according to Funk, these pressures did not always exist.

“In the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s it was cool to be edgy and to be a little rebellious and to be creative and maybe even to be a little crazy,” Funk said.

It is not surprising that urban students are especially vulnerable to feeling these affects, she said.

Compared to rural campuses, it is easy for urban students to feel thrown into city life and the adult world as soon as orientation is over, which makes it harder to find bal-

ance in life, Funk said. Urban students are also more likely to take advantage of their location by holding internships outside of class.

“I think that urban students can become so preoccupied with becoming successful and important, and perhaps even famous tomorrow, that they lose track of now,” Funk said. “They will relax when they’ve achieved something.”

Although Funk said it is important to prioritize commitments and obligations, she said it is also OK to spend time to feel good about your appearance and how others perceive you — if it is for the right reasons.

“Most young women today ... feel as though they need to be constantly improving themselves to be as perfect as all the women they see around them,” she said. “Unfortunately, we’re living in a culture right now that rewards constant self-improvement.”

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

MPD gay liaison unit expands

By MEG FOWLER Eagle Staff Writer The Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit is expanding this November, when 20 new officers from Patrol Districts will be trained to respond to calls from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community while on patrol.

Currently, the unit includes four officers, plus a sergeant who heads both the GLLU and the Latino Liaison Unit.

The GLLU and LLU are two of six liaison units in the Metropolitan Police Department, all of which D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier plans to expand through training of regular patrol officers, according to MPD spokesperson Traci Hughes.

“Having the additional officers out working in the District with this training will greatly enhance our efforts to forge positive relationships with the GLBT commu-

POLICE

BLOTTER

Oct. 15 A student reported his roommate showed him several pieces of paper containing the student’s Social Security number and bank account information. The roommate told the student that he would have to pay him to get it back or the roommate would sell it to someone. The student demanded the paper from the roommate. The roommate gave it to him.

Near midnight, an officer from the

nity,” Hughes said in an e-mail.

Founded in 2000, the GLLU is one of 33 specialty units in the MPD, and its members are openly gay and lesbian officers who provide 24-hour police response to people in the GLBT community, according to the GLLU Web site.

The same year the GLLU was established, it received the “Innovations in American Government Award,” winning $100,000 from Harvard University’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation for “reaching out to an underserved community and creating a model for community policing,” according to the GLLU Web site.

Now people in the D.C. gay community are worried that the addition of 20 officers will diminish the unit’s effectiveness by diminishing the personal connection they had built with the unit, according to The Washington Post.

Many AU students have used the resources of the GLLU, accordMetropolitan Police Department came to DPS to acquire information on a student. The officer advised that a male AU student was arrested for a theft, which occurred at a store located in the 4500 block of Wisconsin Avenue N.W. the day before. A resident director was contacted. The information was provided to the MPD officer.

Oct. 16 A resident in Letts reported someone entering her room through an unlocked door and awakening her. Believing it to be her roommate, the resident never looked at the person. The resident heard the person rummaging through her roommate’s drawers and closet and noticed a flashlight be-

ing to Sara Bendoraitis, Director of AU’s GLBTA Resource Center. In addition, the GLLU has collaborated with the GLBTA Resource Center to provide information and workshops at AU, she said.

“The GLLU serves an important role for the GLBTA community here in the D.C. area and also is a public show of recognition by MPD that this community is supported and important,” Bendoraitis said.

However, Bendoraitis thinks it would be good for all officers to be trained to understand the specific needs of those they serve.

“Each specific community has very distinct needs and fears that the officers should be trained to deal with,” she said.

Many in the gay community are concerned that the GLLU staff is being diluted at a time when hate crime is rising, according to the Post.

The number of hate crime cases has fluctuated since 2005. Howing used. The resident heard the person leave the room. The next day, the resident asked her roommate about the flashlight and incident and discovered it was not the roommate that had entered the room. The roommate checked her belongings and did not notice anything missing.

Oct. 17 DPS approached an individual walking with two bicycles in the Letts-Anderson Quad. Upon asking the individual where he was going with the bikes, the individual released the bikes and attempted to flee. DPS detained the individual. A severed bike lock was recovered from the individual. The individual was issued a barring notice. MPD took custody of the individual, lock and bicycles and transported the individual for processing.

Oct. 18 An RD gave a “marijuana grinder” to DPS. The RD indicated she entered an Anderson room due to a suspicious smell and a student gave the grinder to her. Residue in the grinder tested positive for marijuana. Housing and Dining will be handling the incident.

Oct. 19 A student reported his bicycle had been taken from a bike rack outside Hughes Hall. The bike had been recovered in a previous case where a suspect was apprehended.

The student was advised to con-

ever, the instances of reported sexual orientation hate crimes each year consistently constitute more than the number of reported hate crimes based on ethnicity, race, religion and disability combined.

In 2007, 26 out of 37 hate crimes were based on sexual orientation; in 2008, the ratio was 30 out of 37; and in January through August of 2009, it was 24 out of 28, according to MPD’s Web site.

At AU, the rate of hate crimes are comparatively low, according to Bendoraitis.

“This does not mean, though, that our students do not experience violence and discrimination off campus and in the greater D.C. area,” Bendoraitis said. “We have had a number of students involved incidents off campus that ranged from derogatory language to physical violence.”

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

tact MPD to claim his bike.

Oct. 20 A victim spoke to DPS via telephone and reported the following: As he was about to get onto an AU shuttle near the Tenley Metro Station, a suspect bumped him from behind and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. The suspect ran.

The victim chased him. After taking the cash, the suspect dropped the wallet. The victim recovered it.

The victim caught the suspect near Wisconsin Avenue. Very soon thereafter, an MPD officer arrived on scene and took control of the suspect. The suspect handed the cash to the victim. The MPD officer asked if the victim wanted to press charges. The victim replied, “No.” The victim left the area and is not sure if the MPD officer released the suspect or took him into custody.

DPS noticed a student standing in an open window with her back towards the LA Quad. DPS advised her to remove herself from the window immediately. A resident director was notified. DPS made contact with the student in the window and three friends inside the room. The student in the window told DPS she was using the window to cross over from her bed to access her dresser.

She was advised of the hazardous nature of the incident. The RD spoke with her.

MORE OF THE POLICE BLOTTER ONLINE

KELLY BARRETT / THE EAGLE

AROUND THE NATION IN 50 HEADLINES — Passers-by check out the Newseum’s outdoor display of front pages from newspapers around the country. The Newseum opened its D.C. location in April 2008.

Newseum recreates Tim Russert’s office

By MARISA KENDALL Eagle Staff Writer The Newseum’s newest exhibit will feature a re-creation of deceased “Meet the Press” Moderator Tim Russert’s office.

The exhibit will open to the public on Nov. 20 and will run through 2010.

Russert, who died in June 2008, exerted an influence that went beyond “Meet the Press,” according to Cathy Trost, director of exhibit development at the Newseum.

He was also the face of political news for NBC News and MSNBC, a moderator for many 2008 presidential election debates and a fixture on NBC’s election night coverage, Trost said.

“Clearly Tim Russert was one of the country’s most respected journalists,” she said. “He made ‘Meet the Press’ the most-watched Sunday morning talk show and he had a big impact on both politics and journalism.”

The Newseum assembled its collection of personal and professional Russert mementoes through donations and loans from NBC and Russert’s family, Trost said.

The office re-creation will show how Russert was always surrounded by his favorite books, family photos and sports memorabilia, she said.

“It really also showcases the fact that he had a wide array of interests, including religion and family, music, sports — beyond journalism and politics, so I think people will find it very interesting,” Trost said.

Out of the hundreds of artifacts collected for the reconstruction, Trost said one of her favorites is a sign that reads “Thou Shalt Not Whine.”

“I think it’s an interesting look at how his colleagues have said he didn’t like people who complained and [it’s] an interesting object that he kept in his office.”

Though the upcoming exhibit

has not yet received much publicity, several people so far have written or called to say how excited they are about it, according to Trost.

“I think people are going to be very drawn to the exhibit,” she said.

“It’s an intimate look at the office.

It’s a very unpretentious office.”

Dylan Parker, a freshman in the School of Communication, said he likes the idea of the new Russert exhibit.

“It would be something that I would want to see,” Parker said. “I didn’t personally like Tim Russert; I wasn’t a huge fan of the way he presented news but he was definitely an iconic journalist and he definitely deserves a tribute, so I would definitely see it.”

Parker said while he enjoyed the Newseum when he went, the $20 admission fee would deter him from making too many trips back.

“I think it’s really interesting,” he said. “It’s in-depth; it kind of just shows more how the media affected the world, as opposed to just the media itself.”

Perri Haynes, another freshman in SOC, said she was a Russert fan and is glad the Newseum is commemorating his career.

“I really liked him,” Haynes said.

“I thought when he died it was really sad; it was a really big loss in the news world. He was a really beloved character. He had such a big heart when it came to the news especially, and I don’t think he really projected any sort of major biases towards the news so much.”

In addition to the upcoming Russert exhibit, the Newseum is currently showing several other temporary exhibits. These include a showing of Sports Illustrated photographs, an exhibit about American presidents and their pets, an exhibit about the search for Abraham Lincoln’s killer and a display examining how Woodstock transformed journalism.

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

EDITORIAL

OCTOBER 22, 2009

GRAHAM VYSE n Editorial Page Editor EdPage@TheEagleOnline.com

JEN CALANTONE n Editor in Chief Editor@TheEagleOnline.com

Will primetime TV news lose all of its objectivity?

MODERATELY AMUSED

JOE WENNER Remember when MTV actually played music?

Of course we don’t. That’s an obscure moment in time that few at AU could even imagine — think early 1980s. Now, 15-second splices of music videos in between “The Hills” and “Jackass” programming blocks suffice as “Music Television.”

This column isn’t meant to be pop culture commentary. Rather, the evolution of MTV serves as a (hopefully) precautionary analogy — for we soon may find that the question “remember when CNN, Fox and MSNBC reported the news?” will be met with equally quizzical and perplexed stares.

Some may balk at this proposition.

How could a 24-hour news networks broadcast anything but, well, news?

Admittedly, it sounds far-fetched. To the average viewer, it sure seems like they report the news. Of course, the occasional biased remark exists, but the right or left leaning tendencies are largely harmless, say the reporters. Network executives still refute the cry that a political bias had poisoned their ability to produce a “fair and balanced” news report.

Yet an analysis of three networks’ prime time programming coupled with their Nielsen ratings reveals a disturbing trend — one that counters this claim of impartiality.

Prime time is when most people watch television — an obvious statement, perhaps, but important in this argument nonetheless. One would hope that during times with the most viewers, networks would provide unbiased coverage of the facts. Think Cronkite, Tom Brokaw or even Peter Jennings. These anchors featured programs that attempted to deliver the news — the unbiased, straight-faced, boring news. True, there are cable anchors that strive for this. But they report midday, attracting merely half the viewers of the 8 to 11 p.m. slot.

During prime time however, cable news networks have consistently produced shows that focus on the

inflammatory rather than the facts.

Even CNN has Lou Dobbs. His foray into the realm of the “birther” conspiracy was bizarre — hardly passable as news. Yet Dobbs’ show garners the highest ratings of CNN prime time compared to competing networks.

Campbell Brown (another CNN program), while more level in its reporting, ranks a dismal last behind the competition.

Consider MSNBC’s prime time lineup. At 8 and 10 p.m., there’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”

The Daily Telegraph noted that Olbermann uses his show to promote “a strident liberal agenda.” Following him at 9 p.m. is Rachel Maddow, who made the switch to television after a lengthy career with the liberal radio network Air America. As MSNBC added Maddow and Olberman, its Nielsen ratings bypassed CNN, garnering the second highest amount of viewers.

As for Fox News, it remains atop the rankings among cable news networks. When it comes to the programming — well, enough said.

The trend in modern media seems to be this: replace traditional news with TV personalities with biased political agendas and receive better ratings. But even though the public may seem to approve of this development, it will surely harm the political atmosphere and civility of politics. If cable news networks continue respond to the ratings — gradually supplanting news with opinion based content — independent and nonpartisan ideas will meet a sheer and abrupt end.

Where is the room for compromise when all information comes with a partisan bias?

Of course, this future would not be completely without news. In between the regular programming of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, producers might decide to show ten second news clips as the credits role.

Think it’s impossible for a news network to show mere seconds of actual news? Ask yourself how much music MTV plays?

Joe Wenner is a sophomore in the School of International Service and the College of Arts and Sciences and a moderate columnist for The Eagle.

You can reach him at edpage@ theeagleonline.com.

Courtesy of MCT CAMPUS

Addressing AU’s traffic troubles This week, an AU student crossing the street off Ward Circle was struck by a car.

The accident was minor, but it raises new and troubling safety questions.

AU students shouldn’t fear crossing the street, especially on our campus. Still, they should be aware of an incident that occurred Tuesday on Massachusetts Avenue’s southern crosswalk. A car struck an AU student who was walking from the Berkshire Apartments toward the Nebraska Avenue parking lot. The driver was going around 15 to 20 miles per hour. The student rolled over the hood of the car and landed on the street. He was not seriously injured.

This particular incident was

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Knepper off base on social justice

Congress is totally sold to corporate interests.

Let’s hope Obama isn’t.

LEFT TURN HERE

NICK FIELD Despite what you may think, the economy has recovered. On Oct. 14, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the best barometer of the stock market, hit 10,000. There has been much criticism that while the Dow has passed 10,000, unemployment will likely soon reach 10 percent. Many have heaped scorn on Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s recent statement that the recession is “very likely over.”

These critics contend that we are experiencing a jobless recovery; that only Wall Street is benefitting from the recovery and not the economy as a whole. These people, while well intentioned, have missed something fundamental, which has occurred in America. Wall Street and big corporations aren’t simply a part, or even the leaders, of our economy; they are the economy.

America’s major corporations: Exxon, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart and Bank of America are what really comprise are economy. And what’s worse: they own this country. They have bought and own the Congress and the judges. They own the media, all the TV networks, newspapers, magazines and radio stations. This country has been bought and paid for.

It was a smart buy, too. The best way to run a corporation is to recklessly make the most profit with no consequences.

But how do you protect yourself from failure? You become the economy.

You ship jobs out of the country, you consolidate all the money, you merge into fewer and fewer companies, you control so much money the country integrally depends on you. You become, simply, too big to fail.

How did we get here? Well, this country has experienced two major economic collapses in the last hundred years: the Great Depression and today’s crisis, which you might call the Great Recession. One of the least noted common links between the two are what happened to the top tax rates before each collapse. From 1921 to 1925, the top marginal tax rate was cut from 73 percent to 25 percent. From 1980 to 1988, the rate was cut from 70 percent to 28 percent. Both of these moves made for one large re-distribution of wealth. Each led to a cratering of the economy, with only the rich staying afloat. In the 1930s, workers were able to win rights; because rich industrialists couldn’t rebuild the economy without workers in the 1930s. Sadly, that’s no longer the case.

And now we come to the most distressing aspect of our economy today: in every sector, corporations make employees work harder for less pay and are constantly firing thousands upon thousands.

Last spring, Americans were shocked at the audacity of bailed out firms, like AIG, sponsoring elaborate retreats, and now we’re outraged about the spat of lavish executive bonuses.

The public seems to wonder whether these people have any shame. They do not. They believe they deserve those bonuses, by the way, because they believe they deserve it more than you.

They think they’re better than you; they have to live with themselves.

They don’t care about you or anybody else, they just want more money, and Congress is never going to stop them.

Our only hope is that our president happens to be one of the few politicians not bought and paid for.

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.

Last Thursday’s column by Alex Knepper berated the entire social justice movement as “self-serving,” but such a label can just as easily be applied to Knepper himself, who has once again written another piece rife with tired tactics. He accuses leftists who criticize bigoted initiatives like Prop 8 of somehow trying to avoid debating the merits of an argument without providing any merits himself.

Knepper demonstrates that he is not a student of history when he makes the (sadly too widespread) argument that it was somehow Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “conciliatory outreach” that helped end desegregation and not Malcolm X’s militancy.

This is a gross simplification of history. Blacks continued to struggle even after King’s successes (see for example the Watts Riots, which followed the Civil Rights act and helped spark the Black Power movement).

Knepper whitewashes MLK, whose strongest criticism was reserved for white moderates who felt that the Civil Rights movement was “too radical.” Hardly a conciliatory figure, King was a fighter to the end. Knepper reserves a bit of distaste for those activists who proclaim themselves as “Queer,” “Chicano” and “radical feminist” (in other words, people

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minor, but it raises new and troubling safety questions. Pedestrian accidents are serious business. There were 15 of them in D.C. in 2008. Often, the people involved in these incidents do not walk away unscathed.

So, as AU readies its next campus facilities plan, which will cover traffic and transportation issues, the university should think about how it can work with the D.C. Department of Transportation to reduce these accidents.

There are some common sense solutions that should be who advocate for the causes of their own groups). It’s amazing that he has enough supernatural insight as to be able to see inside the mindsets of these individuals and tar them as self-absorbed. Having provided no evidence, this could be the only other explanation. Still, even if they were to disappear tomorrow as Knepper so wishes, there would still be homophobic attacks on gays, there would still be racist and xenophobic attacks on Mexicans and Mexican-Americans and there would still be domestic violence and abuse of women.

Like them or not, these activists serve a purpose in bringing these important issues to light.

On the point of the struggles of the “advocates for Israel” on campus: AU is a remarkably robust place for debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the fine organizations AU Students for Israel, Students for Justice in Palestine and OneVoice AU have collaborated and done programming together for the sake of advancing the common goal of peace with justice.

Nonetheless, Knepper seems rather unaware of the strain in the pro-Israel movement that would dismiss even Jews who advocate for justice for Palestinians as simply motivated by anti-Semitism, and would do anything to avoid dialogue with them.

Before the pot lambasts the kettle for its color, it should take a long look at itself.

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considered. Ward Circle is a disaster and needs some sort of redesign. Drivers and pedestrians find it a nightmare to navigate. Someone should deal with that before anyone else gets hurt.

It may be that our streets need more signs. Maybe they need flashing yellow lights to warn drivers of an upcoming crosswalk, as Student Government President Andy MacCracken believes. He has called on the university to lobby D.C. to install flashing yellow lights during classes. This certainly the entire social justice movement as a whole. Even if one disagrees with those who are motivated by resentment (an understandable consequence of being victimized), the movement is much larger than that.

Social justice is about fair housing, sustainable wages and salaries, universal access to a (good) health care system, a just and non-predatory financial system and so much more.

In fact, there are those in the movement who oppose illegal immigration because it is detrimental to poor American citizens who would otherwise have more jobs! Activists in the movement are incredibly diverse, and one cannot say that they are all motivated by resentment, truly altruistic, or otherwise. The common vision is a society that is fair to all its citizens, rich, poor and those in between. It is hardly the “me-first club” that Knepper wants to paint it as.

Barnaby Yeh Senior, SPA Cardarella wrong on Columbus Phil Cardarella is totally off base in his article about Christopher Columbus. In my view, there is no “Columbus controversy.” Columbus Day is a national holiday, one that doesn’t pretend to romanticize the man, but rather seeks to commemorate the birth of Western Civilization. In an article last year, Thomas

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Bowden of the Ayn Rand Institute wrote, “Columbus Day is, at root, a celebration of the worldwide spread of Western civilization ... Those who attack Columbus Day are attacking the distinctive values of Western civilization that America so proudly embraces -reason, science, individual rights, and capitalism.”

Bowden admits — as I do — that Columbus had faults. “We need not evade or excuse Columbus’s flaws to recognize that he made history by finding new territory for a civilization that would soon show mankind how to overcome the age-old scourges of slavery, war and forced religious conversion.”

So, can we give the guy a break?

Please. As the future presents enough actual challenges to combat, I think we can leave this faux Columbus controversy where it belongs — alongside other wingnut theories like the 9/11 “truthers,” and the Obama “birthers.”

If we abolish Columbus Day for the atrocities to “native people” (Dare anybody drop the “I” word these days?), shouldn’t we then abolish Independence Day since many of the people who led this nation to its independence owned slaves and caused them undue and unjust harm?

When does this madness end?

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There are other problems that could be fixed, too. Little things. For instance, there is a small tree located off Ward Circle that impairs students’ vision as they watch for cars coming down the street. It sounds silly, but this actually makes a different — especially late at night.

Everyone understands that traffic is difficult to negotiate.

But there must be action that AU administration and D.C. officials can take together to insure that students can get safely from sidewalk to sidewalk.

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OCTOBER 22, 2009

Students use grants to continue service

By SARAH PARNASS Eagle Staff Writer After receiving a record number of proposals, the Eagle Endowment awarded Freshman Service Experience Grants to seven student groups in a ceremony Oct. 14.

The FSE program at AU enables students to volunteer on community improvement projects in the D.C. area before the start of fall semester. This year’s FSE Grants consisted of $500 in funding for the seven selected groups, enabling them to continue the work they started this summer, according to Sasha Bloch, the coordinator of the Eagle Endowment and senior in the School of International Service.

This year, 650 students participated in FSE, up from almost 600 in 2008. Last year only three groups received funding to continue their endeavors, according to the Eagle Endowment. Bloch attributed the increase in participation and applicants for the grants to the “enthusiasm of the class of 2013.”

“These students took the initiative to apply for the grant to add on to [services they provided],” Bloch said.

The Eagle Endowment began its FSE Grant program in 2006.

The Eagle Endowment Council selects the grant recipients from a pool of both individual and student group applications. This

year, the council was made up of three undergraduate students, one graduate student and two staff or faculty members with experience in outreach, social media and event planning, according to Bloch.

Three of the grant recipients will focus on gardening projects, but each uses this approach “in different capacities for different reasons,” Bloch said.

At Damien Ministries, students will use their grant money to cultivate a vegetable garden.

Growing their own produce will alleviate the cost of feeding community members at the organization’s food bank, Bloch said.

At Bancroft Elementary School, FSE students will use their funds to engage younger students (3 to 17 years old) in an educational gardening experience.

Volunteers at the Emergence Community Arts Collective, a community-building organization in the Pleasant Plains neighborhood, will create a butterfly garden at the Collective in order to beautify the property, according to the Eagle Endowment.

Sara Stahlberg, leader of the ECAC FSE group and senior in the School of Communication, said Sylvia Robinson, founder of ECAC, inspired her group to further their support for the organization. “[Robinson] grew up in Pleasant Plains, attended American University and has now returned

More students from Vietnam come to U.S.

By JULIA RYAN Eagle Staff Writer In response to the rising number of Vietnamese students coming to study in America, colleges have begun sending more recruiters to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

According to Director of International Admissions Evelyn Levinson, AU has increased its own efforts to bring in international students in order to expose foreign students to American culture and to give AU more of an international flair.

Vietnam places 13th on the list of countries sending the most students to U.S. colleges, with 8,769 students sent for the 2007-2008 academic year. This represents a jump from 20th place on the list for 2006-2007, and a 45 percent increase in the Vietnamese student population for that year, according to the Institute for International Education.

Twenty-three schools participated in last year’s Asian recruitment tour, according to USA Today.

Most of the participating schools, like Sheridan College in Wyoming, were community colleges or other two-year institutions.

Director of International Admissions Evelyn Levinson praised international student recruitment as a way to connect AU to the global community. n

from ACCIDENT on page 1

“Ward Circle will be part of that conversation with the city and community, as will other areas where pedestrians and cars come and go from AU main and Tenley campus areas,” he said.

MacCracken said that the crossing between the Ward Circle Building and the Nebraska Parking Lot is also dangerous. The walk signal is given at the same time cars coming from Massachusetts Avenue are given a green light to make right turns. This can lead to impatient drivers edging closer to pedestrians and sometimes trying to slip between groups of students crossing.

“This isn’t safe,” he said. “It might be better to either shorten the pedestrian crossing time, or extend the vehicle’s green light exclusively so they have an opportunity to go through the circle without presenting a danger to students walking to class.”

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

n

from DUI on page 1

He was sentenced to three years in a Florida prison.

Sterner said being in prison was a frightening experience because he was forced to live with men who had been convicted of violent crimes.

Many of the men in prison had sentences ranging from 15 years to life without parole, so Sterner’s threen

from PROSPECTIVE on page 1

mended prospective students attend a preview day, even though all the events helped her decide to attend AU. “At some schools, the tours were really boring and if people droned on and on about how good their school was, it was a bit of a turn-off,” Norton said.

A campus tour or preview day was

EQUAL BOUNCE FOR ALL

to her old neighborhood with the mission of uplifting its residents and strengthening their sense of community,” Stahlberg said. “She embodies this year’s FSE theme of taking ownership and responsibility for our home, our D.C.” Even without the grant money, her group would have continued their involvement with the organization because of Robinson, Stahlberg said.

Other grant recipients plan to expand upon their work with the Latino Federation, Facilitating Leadership in Youth, Citygate, and Lifepieces to Masterpieces, Bloch said.

At the Latino Federation, the group’s main goal will be to slow or stop gentrification in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, according to Bloch. Bloch said the project is especially important because it demonstrates AU’s involvement with the Latino community.

“The Latino community is not on their own,” she said.

In addition to the first-year volunteers, each winning group included an FSE leader — a sophomore, junior or senior at AU who led the group in August.

This shows that it is “not just freshmen who have the excitement,” Bloch said. “It’s all of AU.” You can reach this staff writer at sparnass@theeagleonline.com.

Southeast Asian student presence increases at AU “We’re bringing quality and diversity from the international community to AU,” Levinson said.

“We are a very international campus.”

AU’s Vietnamese student population has risen in recent years.

The total Vietnamese population of graduate and undergraduate students jumped from seven in the 2007-2008 academic year to 10 in 2008-2009, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

The total Vietnamese student population at AU for 2009-2010 is 11 students, according to Levinson. This is comprised of two undergraduate students and nine graduate students, four of whom are affiliated with their embassy or non-governmental organizations in the D.C. area.

Levinson said that Jia Jiang, Assistant Director for International Graduate Admissions in the School of International Science, will be traveling to Vietnam as well as a few other Asian countries later this semester to recruit students Hong Hang Dinh, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business and the President of AU’s Vietnamese Student Association, said she thinks Vietnamese students are coming over to American schools in large numbers because of the rigor of the Vietnamese school system.

“My cousin took the [entrance] exam for Ho Chi Minh University, Vietnam’s equivalent to Harvard, and he did not pass even though he was the valedictorian every year [of high school] until he graduated,” Dinh said.

Dinh said studying in America could give Vietnamese students a chance to learn about capitalism and the American government.

news 4

However, Dinh also said that Vietnamese students should be given a better school system if they choose to stay in Vietnam.

“I am not saying that the Vietnamese education system should make it ‘easier’ for students, but it is losing many good potential students that could prove to make a difference for their nation,” Dinh said.

Pek Koon Heng, an assistant professor and the director of AU’s ASEAN Studies Center, said many of the Vietnamese students coming to AU are coming for the School of International Service. She feels these students want to learn more about the ties between the United States and Vietnam and how relations between these two countries can be improved.

The Vietnamese government is excited about sending students to America, according to Heng, but on one condition: the government gives preference for education visas to students who will return to Vietnam once they are done with school. Vietnam has had a problem in the past where students would go to school in America and choose to stay there once they finished school, Heng said.

Heng said she is interested to see what Vietnamese students will do with their American educations and with the experiences they will get from living in this country.

“These students could go back to Vietnam and help the country make better economic and foreign policies based on what they learned in America,” Heng said.

“These students could bring about a new Vietnam.”

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

KELSEY DICKEY / THE EAGLE

Several students used the “Diversival” as an opportunity to hop around in the “Moonbounce for Equality” Oct. 21 on the Quad. Many groups also set up tables, selling everything from bracelets to pumpkins.

Commentary

Your mom ... friended me on Facebook. Weird.

By SARAH RUDNICK Eagle Staff Writer We all know the tinge of excitement we get when we log into Facebook and have a friend request waiting for our approval. Recently, after eagerly clicking to reveal the person who loves me enough to want to stalk my photographs, I was horrified to discover it was my mom. I accepted, albeit reluctantly — how do you reject a friend request from your mother, of all people?

However, the floodgates were opened, and I am now officially Facebook friends with two of my aunts, a couple of my professors, my cousins in high school and a handful of random people I probably met drunkenly freshman year and can no longer identify in my social domain. The question is begging to be answered: is Facebook escalating to the point of unhealthy saturation? It seems the more people get on it, the more we need it.

Some people don’t think so, and have refused to join Facebook altogether, affectionately coined “Refuseniks” by the Washington Post. The Refuseniks are a breed of people in their 20s or early 30s who refuse to join social networking sites — not just Facebook, but Twitter and MySpace, too.

Zach Greene, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, said he believes not having a Facebook is admi-

rable. “I am impressed when I hear that someone doesn’t have a Facebook account,” Greene said. “The fact that they don’t conform to social pressures is something that should be respected. Someone shouldn’t be ostracized just because he or she doesn’t have an updated status or play ‘What movie star do I look like?’”

The 2009 iStrategylabs’ numbers state that there has been a 513 percent increase in users who are 55 and older with a 20 percent decrease among high school and college students. The Facebook Web site indicates that the fastest growing demographic is people aged 35 and up.

With the numbers of users growing, are the Facebook abstainers wise or just cavemen? The Facebook Web site says worldwide, 6 billion minutes are spent on its site each day. Perhaps these people — who have decided to live in a world without event invitations or status updates — are doing more productive things. But where are they?

One day, while walking in Tenleytown, I overheard one young woman speaking to her friend saying, “I don’t have a Facebook. Everyone keeps bugging me to get one, but I think it’s weird.” Good for her! I thought.

“I mean, I don’t even have an email address,” she continued. Woah.

Pause. Never mind. No e-mail address? This woman is clearly a freak.

To live without e-mail is to live in the Twilight Zone.

Mollie Jo Holman, a senior in the School of Communication, said she would be surprised to discover someone without a Facebook account.

“In our generation it’s uncommon, but if I did meet someone without a Facebook I would ask what they do on their computer and don’t they feel like they’re missing out?”

She also said she has thought about deactivating her account but would not want to get rid of it entirely.

“I have never considered deleting my Facebook altogether, though. I have so many pictures on there and it would take forever to save them all, and it’s a great way for me to stay in touch with my friends and family,” Holman said.

The number of Facebook users increased by 50 million between July and September 2009, according to its Web site, making it more and more common to have an account. As of last month, the number reached 300 million active users. With these kinds of numbers, the already endangered Refuseniks may become obsolete — because let’s be honest, if you’re reading this story, you probably already have a Facebook. Actually, no — let’s really be honest — you probably stopped reading it three minutes ago to log into Facebook.

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

year sentence made him an easy target for prison violence.

“I don’t care how tough you are, or how tough you think you are — when you’re dealing with people who have nothing to lose, nothing to care about but their reputation, they’re not going to lose a fight to a college kid,” Sterner said. “I woke up every day not knowing if I would

live to see the next day.”

Sterner was released from prison in 1997. Since then, he has tried numerous times to reconnect to his friend Darren, the only other survivor of the accident. However, Darren refuses to talk to Sterner because it “brings up too many bad memories, too many things he’d rather forget.”

Sterner told the audience that even though he cannot force them to make the right decisions, he hopes the speech will help students learn and make wise decisions about drinking.

“I’m not coming here to tell anyone what to do,” Sterner said. “I’m just coming to tell you about what happened one night to me and my

friends. My friends are dead because of me, and I would give up my life in a heartbeat if I could bring them back. I relive the worst night of my life over and over so that no one else ever has to live with what I live with.”

not important to Gianluca la Manno, a sophomore in the School of International Service. He first visited AU during summer orientation because he was coming to AU for the SIS program. But tours could be helpful for applicants on the fence who need something else to help them make their college decision, he said.

Student applicant numbers this

year are similar to last year, Grauman said, despite the addition of a $60 application fee.

Fall enrollments for freshman, transfer graduate and law school students are above the targets AU set during last year’s planning process, President Neil Kerwin said in a memo e-mailed to the campus community.

Washington Semester and non-degree

student enrollments are below the expected number. However, the combination of summer and fall enrollments indicates the university will meet the year’s revenue budget, Kerwin said.

The university’s retention for freshman and sophomore year has risen to 90.5 percent, the highest in AU history, Kerwin also said in the memo.

Sophomore and junior year retention

rose to 82 percent, the second highest in the university’s history, from 78.6 percent.

The university’s six-year graduation rate now stands at 77 percent, also an AU high.

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

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

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OCTOBER 22, 2009

THE EAGLE'S ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

Chen washes away stereotypes

By AMRITA KHALID Eagle Contributing Writer PHILOSOPHER KINGS

B+

“The Philosopher Kings,” a leading entry in this year’s D.C. Labor Film Fest, is a documentary capturing the lives of janitors in some of the country’s most prestigious colleges. From a young aspiring artist hauling cardboard in a Seattle art school to a Haitian family man who clocks out from his daily shift at Princeton at 3 a.m., the film gives us an intimate look at the people who work to clean the messes we leave behind every day.

In a question and answer session with the audience at the film’s screening at Georgetown University, director Patrick Chen discussed how he found his inspiration for the film. For a previous documentary, Chen interviewed a doctor often mistaken for a homeless man. During the interview, the man remarked how some of the wisest people in schools were in the more humble occupations.

With that, Chen began to wonder, “How much wisdom isn’t exclusive to classrooms and universities?”

He then began the strenuous search process of calling the custodial departments of schools ranging from Ivy Leagues to small liberal arts colleges and huge state universities. After numerous interviews, Chen finally narrowed it down to eight subjects.

“I think people’s perception of a custodian is like, they are there because they don’t have another choice,” said Melinda Augustus, a University of Florida custodian interviewed in the film. “People will ask what do you do, and if I say

Courtesy of SCOTT SHAMANSKY

MR. CLEAN — Patrick Chen’s new documentary, “The Philosopher Kings,” sheds light on custodians working in colleges in America, from Ivy League schools like Duke to small liberal arts colleges. The film, a leading entry in this year’s D.C. Labor Film Fest, played recently at Georgetown.

‘I work at the university,’ they ask ‘OK, what do you do out there?’

And I say, ‘Custodian’ — and it goes no further. I’m just a custodian.”

Corby Baker, a young 20-something custodian at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts, said that he finds happiness between being both an artist and a janitor at an acclaimed art school.

“It’s not so much being a custodian or janitor ... but about be-

ing in an element, I’m at home...

I’m excited about art again,” Baker said. “Life should be about doing what you love. Even if it’s very difficult to do that.”

Chen shows tremendous talent in retracting anecdotes from his subjects that are incredibly personal, emotion-laden and, unsurprisingly, philosophical. The eight custodians discuss failed relationships, life-threatening accidents and other personal tragedies. Two

of the film’s subjects served in Vietnam; one man describes the process of opening a trash bag after losing his arm in a brutal drunk driving accident.

Oscar Dantzler, one of the film’s most lovable subjects, is the custodian of Duke University’s incredibly regal Duke Chapel.

“There’s a mystique about [the chapel], every time I walk in here... just something comes over me,” Dantzler said. “There’s an old

saying from my family, if you can’t keep the house of God clean, you can’t keep no house clean.”

The weakness in Chen’s effort lies in the messes that the audience can’t see — namely, the lack of focus the film puts on the day-to-day harshness of the custodial lifestyle.

In an interview with the audience, Chen discussed how requests to interview custodial staff were met with downright refusals from schools like Harvard and M.I.T.

Many schools that have historically mistreated their custodial staff in the past were reluctant to participate in the film. Such events make us realize how little of the custodial profession we really see through the film’s rosy lens. Not every custodian is a Corby Baker, whose art school workplace serves as his muse, or an Oscar Dantzler, who is a well-liked figure and mentor on the Duke University campus.

Past the weighty anecdotes and well-worn bits of wisdom, much of the film rides on the novelty of following the people who clean our floors and chronicling the wise things they have to say. The film’s subjects have all led hard lives, like many adults, and to commend them too extremely for what most adults do — work hard, make mistakes and endure life’s bad luck — seems to be a tad bit condescending.

Luckily, Chen doesn’t labor too much on self-congratulation or being some sort of custodial anthropologist. The central message of “The Philosopher Kings” is portrayed in a clip of Bill Clinton’s address at a University of California graduation ceremony.

“When you leave here today, do you have any idea what a job we’re leaving for the people who come here and have to clean this up and pick up after us?” Clinton asks. “Do you have any idea what they make, or how they support themselves or their children or whether they believe anyone ever sees them?”

Though the film offers only a disjointed and at times overly-sentimental view of eight incredible people, it at least allows us to finally see them.

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

Thrifty student hitches rides for free in Turkey CROSS-CULTURAL DISPATCH

Courtesy of SEBASTIAN POSINGIS

OIL SPILL — Joe Berlinger’s eye-opening new documentary focuses on the miserable conditions for the Cofán people of Ecuador caused by water pollution. The film will come out for one week only in D.C. at the Landmark E Street theater, starting Oct. 23.

Film exposes ‘crude’ truth

By ASHLEY DEJEAN Eagle Contributing Writer The documentary “CRUDE” follows the lawsuit 30,000 Cofán people of Ecuador have brought against Chevron for polluting their communities with oil.

The polluted area, about the size of Rhode Island, is so pervasive that the people are literally drinking and breathing oil.

“I think the worst thing that I saw was these rashes on babies,” director Joe Berlinger said in an interview with The Eagle. “Fifteen or 16 out of every 20 babies have these terrible skin rashes. There’s no fresh drinking water there.”

Berlinger hoped the documentary would introduce Americans to a different lifestyle.

“We take for granted that we can go to our taps and get a glass of water,” he said. “They drink from the rivers and streams of the areas, and there’s just no fresh drinking water.”

When water samples were being taken for testing from a well, one man said that it smelled like gasoline.

The images of pollution are enough to make stomachs turn on their own, but these descriptive details bring the viewer closer to the devastation.

This polluted water is causing cancer. In one of the most painful mo-

ments of the film, a mother explains that her young daughter has cancer because they have unknowingly been living on top of an old oil pit, and that the family does not have the money to pay for her treatment. The mother explains that she tried to raise chickens to pay for her daughter’s treatment, but the pollution killed them before they were of any use.

After seeing the heinous effect the pollution had on his community, Pablo Fajardo decided to do something about it. “[Fajardo] was poor, worked in the oil fields [and] saw all the injustice around him, saw the environmental destruction, but unlike many of us who would just shrug our shoulders and say ‘What can I do?’ he decided to do something about it,” Berlinger said. “[He] got himself educated, became a lawyer and his very first law case as a lawyer is against the fifth largest company in the world ... He was a hero to me, and I wanted to make a film about him.”

Berlinger wasn’t planning on filming “CRUDE.” The plaintiffs’ attorney, a fan of Berlinger’s previous film about Metallica, approached him about the situation and suggested it as a documentary.

“It didn’t jump out at me as an obvious film I would be making, but he was convinced that if I saw the pollution I would have a change of heart,”

Berlinger said. “I agreed to take a trip down there and once I saw the pollution ... I decided it was something I had to tell people about.”

While the lawsuit creates the narrative that holds the story together, the documentary has just as much to do with the indigenous people being exploited.

“The lawsuit’s an excuse to make the film,” Berlinger said. “You walk around these indigenous villages [and see] innocent people who have lived in harmony with nature and you see what the impact has been on them through our consumption habits and the way oil companies behave in that region.”

Berlinger and his team even braved dangerous conditions for the documentary, such as the prevalent malaria, but that was only one of the dangers in making the film.

“We were, at times, very close to the Columbian border because Ecuador and Columbia have a border dispute because of the oil,” Berlinger said. “That border area is very dangerous. [There are] anti-government guerillas that roam the region, and they kidnap Americans sometimes. There [are] drug runners [and] a lot of drug activity ... Just the fact that this film got made at all under those conditions is pretty miraculous.”

As of now, it looks as though the lawsuit will take another 10 years. But,

while it continues, the pollution continues to contaminate these communities and no one cleans up the mess.

“Unfortunately, nobody is actually cleaning up the pollution because that’s what the lawsuit’s about,” Berlinger said. “Trudie [Styler]’s freshwater project is really the only tangible thing that has been brought to these people.”

Styler has started a project to provide drinking water to the people of Ecuador by providing large tanks that store purified rainwater. While this isn’t cleaning up the pollution, it is giving some people fresh water that they would not have access to otherwise.

During the time the Cofán people are receiving some help, the pollution will affect three generations before the case is brought to an end, and the process of cleaning up will take even more time.

“I think the ideal outcome is for Americans to develop a greater sensitivity to our unbridled consumption, [which] has a deep impact on other people around the world,” Berlinger said.

The film will only be playing for one week in D.C. at the Landmark E Street theater, starting Friday, Oct. 23.

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

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

By WILLIAM F. ZEMAN Eagle Staff Writer ISTANBUL — “How did you get to Istanbul?”

For most people, it’s an easy question: by airplane — usually from JFK, with a stopover in Munich or Frankfort, but sometimes the plane’s from elsewhere. For instance, Joecelyn Kartes, a student from Carleton University, came to Istanbul from Indonesia after wandering across Southeast Asia with her life on her back.

Others take the bus, as I did from Ankara. A frugal traveler (or, more accurately, a poor student), I took the cheapest bus available: one that dropped me off on the side of a highway on Istanbul’s outskirts. I then wandered into the city, rucksack slung over my shoulder, with a whole smattering of tired, disoriented and irritated Turks.

I liked my journey from Istanbul. It had everything I admire in a story: adventure, uncertainty, interesting characters. And it involved very little money. But Andrzej Maslowski’s story beats mine by spades.

Maslowski, a psychology student at the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities, hails from Poland. With his blond hair, blue eyes, clean, button-down shirts and freshly-shaven chin, Maslowski struck me as just a typical but friendly Erasmus student, until he explained how he got to Istanbul.

Maslowski hitchhiked to Istan-

bul. From Warsaw.

The travel guide “Lonely Planet” — that omnipresent, Erasmus student bible — has a few words to say about hitchhiking in Turkey. Very few words.

“We don’t recommend it...

Travelers who decide to hitchhike should understand they are taking a potentially serious risk,” it reads.

Maslowski doesn’t agree. He’s been hitching since he was 18 years old and has never had any problems, he said. Motivated by a “lack of money and a will to travel,” he refuses to adventure any other way.

So, as students around him pack their knapsacks for an organized four-day group trip to Cappadocia, Maslowski sat down with me to explain some guidelines for students interested in starting on a new adventure.

Hitchhiking might seem a tad unusual for the typical AU student, but it’s even cheaper than the Chinatown bus.

ANDRZEJ MASLOWSKI’S TEN STEPS FOR PRACTICAL HITCHHIKING 1) Go with somebody experienced the first time. “You can learn very fast,” Maslowski said (and a lot of these other rules won’t make sense until you’ve picked them up on the ground).

2) Prepare for your trip. “You need to know the road,” Maslowski advised. “You have to recognize ... the important places on the road.

You need to know the good starting places ... the places you can stay. If you meet someone who’s going to the middle of somewhere... you need to know if that’s a good place for you, if it will help you get where you’re going.”

3) Prepare yourself. Appearance is essential for the practical hitchhiker. “Take a shower, brush your teeth, shave ... you need to look trustable,” Maslowski said.

“Look like a nice, poor student — it works. Try not to look like a serial n

see HITCHHIKING on page 7

the EAGLE

OCTOBER 22, 2009

the scene 6

Directors lose love for ‘New York’

By KELLY HOLLIDAY

Eagle Contributing Writer

NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU

B-

Unlike the gem that was “Paris, Je T’aime,” “New York, I Love You” is an inconsistent compilation of love-sparse vignettes, directed and mostly penned by several of today’s up-and-coming directors. Continuing his “Cities of Love” series, Emmanuel Benbihy’s latest film recycles the same formula used in 2006’s “Paris, Je T’aime.” Casting either underused or overrated actors, Benbihy loosely connects characters and drops them into one of the world’s largest and most charismatic cities.

The directors, among them Mira Nair (“The Namesake”), Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour”) and Natalie Portman (making her directorial debut), were given specific criteria: only 24 hours to film, a week to edit, and the short must give a sense of a certain neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the time constraints fall short of showing the directors’ creativity and instead shed light on the flaws.

In director Shunji Iwai’s spot, Orlando Bloom is a musician with a serious case of writer’s block who relies on Christina Ricci’s voice to encourage him through his strict deadline. The short is easily forgettable as Bloom disappointingly fails to charm the au-

Courtesy of VIVENDI ENTERTAINMENT

TOGETHER FOREVER — Based on Emmanuel Benbihy’s creatively successful “I Love You” city series, “New York, I Love You” features vignettes by various directors, both up-and-coming and established. The film opened in theaters this past Friday, Oct. 16. dience and his phone companion by saying things like “wake-a-pedia” and lamenting John Lennon’s brilliance during a short visit to Strawberry Fields.

Shekhar Kapur’s segment, by far the oddest of them all, stars Julie Christie as an opera singer no longer in her prime. She checks into an elegant hotel to kill herself and in the process is intrigued

by Shia LaBeouf ’s handicapped, Russian bellhop. The starkness

of the set and LaBeouf ’s face are nice to look at. Unfortunately, the overall concept struggles to work with the film’s theme, and the late Anthony Minghella’s dialogue is a tad pretentious.

Some vignettes are enjoyable, including Mira Nair’s story of a Hasidic woman (Natalie Portman) and a Jain gem handler (Irrfan Khan) who cross cultural and racial barriers for a brief, yet sentimental moment in the Dia-

mond District.

Surprisingly, Brett Ratner refrains from contrived dialogue and blowing buildings up during his spot about a recently dumped teenager (Anton Yelchin) who’s pressured into taking his pharmacist’s (James Caan) wheelchairbound daughter (Olivia Thirlby) to the prom. As the night unfolds in Central Park, so does a young, comedic romance.

The most poignant short is the

bittersweet story of a painter and his muse, set in Chinatown and directed by Faith Akin. Shu Qi’s subdued beauty and Ugur Yucel’s lonely artist make the melancholy, unrequited love tone work, but the short seems to be in a different league compared to the other segments, furthering the film’s inconsistency.

By the end of the movie, we are treated with the only short not set in Manhattan and the film’s

sole treasure: director Joshua Marston’s sweet story of a Brighton Beach couple celebrating their 63rd anniversary on Coney Island. Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman, who play the couple to comedic perfection, bicker harmlessly yet lovingly about troubled youth and each other’s walking pace as they stroll the Coney Island boardwalk. Out of the 11 stories, it’s the only segment that truly glimpses at a New York love story.

Despite its title, halfway into “New York, I Love You,” the audience will start wondering, “Where is the New York City we all love?” In its effort to be New York’s valentine, the film forgets about the city entirely. The absence of diversity is blindingly obvious, and each director’s primary focus on relationships shifts attention away from Manhattan’s grittiness, variety of cultures and beauty. Even footage of the city’s skyline is treated as B-roll left on the cutting room floor, used as transitions between shorts in an uninspired way of “connecting” the stories and characters. Only Natalie Portman’s tale of a young girl and her nanny’s walk through Central Park addresses the city’s multiplicity by subtly touching on racial stereotypes. Otherwise, the audience is left watching white heterosexuals banter about love, completely left without anything other than the ordinary.

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

Second ‘Ong’ movie takes series a step ‘Bak’

By BRYAN KOENIG Eagle Contributing Writer ONG BAK 2: THE BEGINNING

D+

“Ong Bak 2: The Beginning” is as much a cautionary tale as it is a movie. Completely plotless, it is a lesson in clichés, at best; at worst, it is replete with seizure-inducing visuals. Utterly indecipherable on its own, it is doubtful even SparkNotes could adequately explain it.

By all accounts, the first “Ong Bak” was an incredible Thai movie stuffed full of superb fight scenes in the search for the missing head of a sacred Buddha in modern-day Thailand. Somehow, someway, “Ong Bak 2: The Beginning” acts as a prequel to the first film — although exactly how, one would be hard-pressed to say, especially considering the head in question appears only in the final scene of the film with absolutely no context to it whatsoever.

Nothing about “Ong Bak 2” has any context: it is inextricable and utterly opaque from start to end.

Not only was the little dialogue the film had spoken in Thai with English subtitles, but the subtitles are also often extremely difficult to read.

Set in ancient Thailand, the plot vaguely appears to be about a young boy raised by a group of bandits to be some kind of melancholic hero/warrior/savior. However, the main character is merely a guy with a handful of subtitled lines who grunts and screams while throwing some mean punches and high-flying kicks.

Otherwise, the plot consists of a chase scene, a fight, a training montage, a series of fights, a flashback, some more fights, something between dancing and plot meandering, a fight, another fight and then finally, blissfully, it stops.

The film does not end, mind you. A film would need to have a climax proceeded by falling action and something that legitimately wraps up the plot to truly

end. Instead, “Ong Bak 2” just stops, leaving the audience as ignorant as it was in the opening credits and quite possibly dizzier, considering the many visual elements that wobble and never quite focus. The resulting film is more likely to deliver headaches than adrenaline rushes.

In all likelihood, audiences will spend approximately the first 70or-so minutes bewildered, slightly dizzy and more than a little exasperated with a plot that seems allergic to sense. Then, without any kind of build-up whatsoever, what you think is the climax gets underway as you hear a voice in your head elated at the prospect of the film’s end.

Unfortunately, you eventually realize it’s not, although to call this disappointment a plot point would be overly generous. Almost immediately, another potential climax begins and you are too fearful of further treachery to actually believe the befuddlement is soon to end. The film finds a small measure of redemption as this actual climax builds, and this time,

Students find home is where the art is RANDOM RULES

BALKIS AWAN Fall break (one extra day off, woo!) is over. For some, it was a chance to see family after being separated for about two months; for others who chose to stay on campus, it was no different than any other weekend in the District.

Hopefully for those of you who went back home, you all got a chance to do the things you missed. This could have included going to a favorite restaurant, visiting a friend or perhaps just going shopping at a familiar (and cheap) grocery store. And maybe you didn’t get a chance to do all that you wanted to do. But no matter, there will be other breaks ahead.

I’m sure that many of you already have activities planned for the next time you visit back home. Checking out a local art gallery may not be among these plans, but you may be surprised at what treasures lie closer to you than expected.

Like a lot of you, I come from a small town. There are maybe one or two art galleries in close proximity, but nothing that could compare to the many contained here in Washington. However, I am always pleasantly surprised when I find out that these galler-

ies are having an opening, or perhaps temporarily housing an exhibit. Aside from the usual modes of artistic expression (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.), there is always something happening in my town, whether it be a play, a dance recital or a musical performance.

For many of you, this will be true of your town as well. Obviously, those from larger cities such as Chicago or New York have endless possibilities when it comes to entertaining a weekend or even just a night with art. For those of us from places more off the map, looking for these sorts of events can itself occupy a whole evening.

I recently thought to myself, “Where can I find information on what’s going on in my dingy, small town?” I did think of a few.

They seem to work for me, so hopefully they will prove useful to you as well.

Go to a coffee shop. It may seem like a cliché pairing: coffee and art. And yeah, it definitely is.

But hey, I’m willing to bet that a great majority of you here at AU drink coffee (we have what, like six places here on our small campus that sell coffee, and they’re always busy).

Coffee shops usually have bulletin boards where local artists, gallery owners and performance artists post fliers for events coming up. Some of you may overlook these boards, thinking that they are filled with business cards and ads for washed up pre-school teachers looking for tutoring jobs.

Even though this may be the

case, you may be able to spot a good event worth attending.

Check out your local newspaper. This one seems pretty obvious, but I know that with the Internet and 24-hour news feeds, I myself tend to forget about my town’s newspaper. My local paper has a section dedicated solely to what events and activities are going on in my town. Dig through yours to see if you have anything similar.

When none of these “real world” techniques work, use the Internet! Who here isn’t an avid Googler? Most of us are, and now’s a great time to put that “talent” to the test. I suppose you could use Facebook as well, but I don’t have one, so I’m not sure how that mumbo-jumbo works.

Either way, the Internet is just teeming with information waiting for you to discover. Search your town’s name, followed by “events” or perhaps “art.” This should yield lots of results, and hopefully some pertaining to what you are looking for.

There is a small possibility that your town is so small that it really wouldn’t have any sort of art events. If that’s the case, sucks for you — that’s what a car is for. However, don’t fret. There are plenty of events happening in D.C. Case in point, whether you’re here or back at home, you should always make an effort to support the arts and find your way to an event.

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

it really is climactic — a virtually endless fight scene rarely matched in martial arts films.

Understand that overall, “Ong Bak 2” is terrible, utterly without sense or reason and so full of clichés that it never even crosses your mind to take it seriously.

But strange as it sounds, the last 10 minutes almost, but not quite, make up for the first 80.

The end fight scene goes on and on and on with hoards of fighters bearing every weapon and style swarming the protagonist, the supposedly mysterious Tien.

Played to physical perfection by Tony Jaa, who performs all of his own stunts, Tien is consequently a fantastic martial artist and the core of a world-class fight scene that stretches seemingly forever.

The scene is often ridiculous, but always full of the energy and violence that characterize only the best melees.

But at the end of the day, even this final fight can’t make up for the 80 minutes of confusion that precede these 10 minutes of mindless bliss. The film is far

Courtesy of MAGNET RELEASING

SMACKDOWN — While the original film in the “Ong Bak” series was entertaining, the second film, meant to be a prequel, has little correlation with the events of the first. Despite lacking in plot, the fight scenes are quite impressive and show the physicality of lead actor, Tony Jaa. more headache than it’s worth. If you’re intrigued, by all means, see it — but do yourself a favor and watch the movie in the only way its plot could possibly make sense: wait until the film has come out

on DVD, rent it and skip ahead to the fight scenes.

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

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from HITCHHIKING on page 5

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5) Start small. “You need to conquer the fear,” Maslowski says.

His first trip was only 200 kilometers across his native Poland. “I knew the route... I knew I could stop,” he said. “But I needed to

know I could do this.”

6) Never approach the car. “If you approach the car, you’re invading their space,” he said. He recommended scoping out cars ahead of time, checking to see who’s going where (license plates are good for this), and if they have space for an extra traveler.

“I ask three questions,” Maslowski said. “‘Are you going to such-andsuch?’ I already know they are.

‘Do you have an extra seat in your car?’ I already know they do. ‘Can I grab a ride from you?’ They’ve already said ‘Yes’ twice. What’s one more?”

7) Know your phrases. “I can hitchhike in six or seven languages at least,” Maslowski says. Maslowski knows how to ask “Where are you going?” in English, German, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian. “They’re only hitchhiking phrases... but they help.” He recommends www.hitchbase.com to get started.

8) “Take a very good map. You need to know where you’re going.”

9) Be patient. “Don’t leave the track,” Maslowski said. “Stay at the

good places.” In other words, don’t accept a ride in a direction that doesn’t get you closer to your destination just because you haven’t found another ride yet. The right ride will come eventually, he said.

Hitchhiking is not a speed sport.

10) Above all, trust your feelings everywhere. “You can just feel it,” Maslowski explains. “Whether its a group of guys or a lonely woman, you can always tell if it’s someone you can trust.”

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

Inspiration for anime flies into theaters

By STEPHAN CHO Eagle Contributing Writer ASTRO BOY

B+

If America has Mickey Mouse, then Japan has Astro Boy. The iconic super-powered, speedo-wearing child hero with Betty Boop eyes takes the spotlight in the new CGIanimated film hitting theaters this Friday, Oct. 23. While it does little to maintain most of the original story of the black and white ‘60s classic aside from its main premise and a few characters, it’s sure to be an enjoyable movie for both old fans and newcomers alike.

Set in the futuristic, floating haven known as Metro City, “Astro Boy” is technological escapism at its best. In this pristine microcosm made up of the opulent and the social elite, humans have long mastered robotic engineering, assigning menial chores like scrubbing windows and picking up discarded trash to their mechanical servants. Some of the more advanced robots even maintain positions in the corporate world.

At the center of this industrial crescendo is Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), a brilliant member of the

Courtesy of SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT

ASTRONOMICAL — “Astro Boy,” tells the story of Japan’s youngest superhero and spins a heartwarming tale of friendship, family values and heroicism. The film comes out in theatres on Friday, Oct. 23.

Ministry of Science. He has a son named Toby (Freddie Highmore), a happy-go-lucky child prodigy who is constantly vying for his dad’s affection. When Toby decides to visit his dad at work, things go horribly awry, and Toby is vaporized by a large robot on the warpath.

Unable to cope with the sudden loss of his son, Dr. Tenma builds a new Toby, implanted with all of his son’s memories and equipped with advanced gadgetry to ensure his

safety. However, the doctor soon realizes that his son — his real son — is dead, and no high-tech replica will ever replace him. He half-heartedly disowns the new Toby within days of its creation.

Toby then finds himself on a quest for acceptance as a boy on the periphery of robot and human. He meets a bevy of eccentric characters, including a group of junkyard orphans, a kooky repairman and a trio of robot revolutionaries, and be-

comes known as “Astro Boy.” While there are enough over-the-top fight sequences to keep the kids entertained — including a free-for-all battle in a Colosseum-like arena — some of the darker themes of alienation, classism and cloning are sure to zoom past their heads like the contrails of an airborne superhero.

In a time when purists cry foul at the dehumanizing effect of technology, “Astro Boy” can be seen as the lone voice of opposition with its ad-

dition of one element to the robotic world: emotion. The robots of the movie are not your garden-variety brand of stoic Terminators and RoboCops: they make us laugh, they act against orders and they empathize with others. There’s an almost communal feeling of guilt in being told to trash something that wears the face of a loved one.

The tragic appeal of Toby’s story stems from the realization that while he has all of the characteristics of Dr. Tenma’s son in both countenance and personality, he’s nothing more than a half-empty vessel of his original self at best. Blinded by grief, Dr. Tenma hastily uses the tools at his disposal to craft a new son without once pondering its moral implications, only to find himself even more sorrowful upon its creation. In turn, Toby, who only wanted his father’s attention, begins to question the importance of family.

Traditionalists of the original series might not agree with the following sentiment, but the 3-D animation and character designs are beautiful. The amazing attention to detail during some of the exhilarating fight sequence can even distract the viewer from what’s going on as they pause to gawk at the screen. The glossy quality really pulls through during some of the overhead shots

of Metro City and when Astro Boy is inadvertently causing mayhem when trying to shake off his enemies.

The “Astro Boy” franchise has quite the storied history in Japan, where animation is not just a booming industry, but a staple of modern culture. He single-handedly captured the hearts of the baby boomer generation, eventually lending his influence to the popular subculture known colloquially as “anime.”

There’s even a whole museum for him on the south side of the country that pays tribute to the original creator, Osamu Tezuka, a man who has been hailed as the godfather of Japanese comics.

It goes without saying that this film adaptation had to be thoroughly sanitized for its North American release, a far cry from the less than idyllic happenings of Tezuka’s creation. Let’s just say “Astro Boy” becomes anime’s first environmental martyr in the original series. Sure, the film takes certain liberties, and there may be times when the sap is just so overwhelming that you’ll have to wipe the treacle from your eyelids in disbelief. But it’s sure to be a satisfying ride for all ages and a nostalgic treat for those who are older.

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

Raveonettes get ‘out of control’ at 9:30 club

By EMILY LAGG Eagle Contributing Writer Though it was nearly 10:30, the Raveonettes weren’t on stage. The crowd could guess what they were in for as the group hit the 9:30 club, though: two huge amps decorated with stencils and black spray paint sat on the stage. One, on the left, said RAVE, while the other said ON. While waiting, the audience was also treated to several consecutive jams from late ‘70s noise-punk pioneers Suicide, a clear influence on the Swedish garage rockers’ reverb-obsessed sound. Several low-intensity smoke machines simultaneously let off an atmospheric complement to so much aural buzz and imprecision.

The band took the stage Oct. 16 without much pomp, eschewing even a quick “thank you” or “hi” to delve directly into spacey jamming. The Raveonettes, usually just Sune Rose Wagner and Sharon Foo, were joined by a drummer at a tiny kit and some additional help on bass.

Foo, by the way, does nothing to abate any stereotypes you might have of Swedish women as being beautiful, tall, and blonde; in a black pencil skirt and kitten heels, she appeared practically Hitchcock-ian. Wagner was laid back and artfully unkempt, wearing a loose, striped T-shirt, tight black jeans, and what might have possibly been faint traces of smudged black eyeliner.

Of course, it would only make sense for a band with such a smoky, retro

sound to look so film noir.

The band rolled out a set of mostly new tunes off “In and Out of Control,” an album released on Oct. 6.

Like most of their fuzzily ferocious oeuvre, “Control” features twangy surf guitars, healthy doses of reverb and gracefully somnambulatory bass lines, which translate into a live setting as a massive, plush wave of sound that practically thunderclaps through the listener.

Songs that don’t seem to have much bite on the record, like the chanty and febrile “D.R.U.G.S.,” became raucous waves of buzz and havoc once performed live, all the better for missing their studio production and sheen.

Live percussion and sheer mass of noise amped the band’s tunes from

relatively tame to ear-ringingly raw.

What remained the same, remarkably, was the lushness of Wagner and Foo’s harmonized vocals. Some perfect voodoo band chemistry kept them on pitch and in line during even the most complex bends of melody, a feat of remarkable ethereality and beauty.

Most notable among the new numbers was the anthemic “Boys Who Rape Should Be Destroyed,” almost certainly the only song about sexual assault you could get away with listening to with your mother (it would probably remind her enough of the Ronettes to miss lines like “Those fuckers stay in your head”).

The difference between content and delivery here reveal Wagner and Foo’s

deliciously black sense of humor, and also work as a wink towards critics who bemoan the band’s dependence on retro sounds.

The show reached a fevered (and punishingly loud) climax when the band soloed in “Aly Walk With Me,” the first single from 2008’s critically acclaimed “Lust Lust Lust.” Wagner and Foo palmed and scratched the pickups of their guitars, simultaneously making them screech and moan into a frenzied cloud of noise while the Rockabilly-flavored bass continued to slink forward and the drums clapped ominously. The moment distilled everything great about the Raveonettes — there was something old, something new, something borrowed and, perhaps most importantly, something

crude.

The band ended their encore with “That Great Love Sound,” a song that bizarrely made an appearance in a JC Penney back-to-school ad a few years ago, when all but the band’s most fervent fans probably thought the Raveonettes would recede into obscurity like most of the “rock revival” acts that rode the same initial wave to hipsterdom (it was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it, The Vines?). But The Raveonettes continue to keep on keeping on, and this show was a very decided and loud affirmation that much isn’t going to change about that anytime soon.

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

The Week in Fun: Know Your City THURS 22

FRI 23 THU 27

SUN 25

MON 26

TUES 27

WED 28

Long View Gallery Grand Opening 6:30-10 p.m.

WHERE: Long View Gallery, 1234 9th St. N.W. METRO: Mt. Vernon Square-7th St.-Convention Center (yellow and green lines) INFO: Long View Gallery will be hosting a celebration for the opening of their new art space. Featured artists will include Steve Pyke, Scott Brooks, Anna Davis and Drew Ernst.

COST: Free CONTACT: For more information, call Suzi Molak at 202-716-9636.

Dance: Keigwin and Company 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F St. N.W. METRO: Foggy Bottom (blue and orange lines) INFO: The modern dance company performs their witty, theatrical dances that represent the four elements.

COST: $36 CONTACT: For more information, call the Kennedy Center at 202-4674600.

Evil Dead: The Musical 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: D.C. Arts Center, 2438 18th St. N.W. METRO: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan (red line) INFO: The Landless Theater performs a musical rendition of the cult classic zombie movie.

COST: $25 CONTACT: For more information, call the theatre at 202-462-7833.

Comedy: Sarah Silverman 7 p.m.

WHERE: 9:30 club, 815 V St. N.W. METRO: U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo (yellow and green lines) INFO: The foul-mouthed comedian performs with cast members from her Comedy Central show.

COST: $30 CONTACT: For more information, call the 9:30 club at 202-265-0930.

Exhibit: Raymond Uhlir 12-6 p.m.

WHERE: Project 4 Gallery, 1353 U St. N.W., 3rd floor METRO: U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo (yellow and green lines) INFO: Raymond Uhlir’s strange, cartoon-inspired artwork depicts religious zealotry, existential angst and family discord.

COST: Free CONTACT: For more information, call Project 4 at 202-232-4340.

Music: Ernie Halter and Andrew Hoover 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Jammin’ Java, 227 Maple Ave. East, Vienna, Va. METRO: Vienna (orange line) INFO: Ernie Halter and Andrew Hoover perform acoustic soul blues music.

COST: $10 CONTACT: For more information, call Jammin’ Java at 703-255-1566.

E V E R Y O N E ’ S

G O T

A N

E V E R Y O N E ’ S

O P I N I O N

G O T

A N

O P I N I O N

-THE ART GALLERY OWNER

Harmony was a capitalist plot to sell ” pianos!

-

U N T I T L E D - T H E M O V I E . C O M • I N T H E AT E R S N O V E M B E R 6

U N T I T L E D - T H E M O V I E . C O M • I N T H E AT E R S N O V E M B E R 6

Is art the thing itself, or the idea of the thing?”

“

“

THE COMPOSER

8

SPORTS

OCTOBER 22, 2009

ANDREW TOMLINSON n Sports Editor 202.885.1404

Strong start propels AU to 3-1 victory

By SAM LINDAUER Eagle Staff Writer The AU volleyball team rebounded from a loss to Army by taking down Holy Cross 3-1, improving their Patriot League record to 4-3.

Coming into the match, the Eagles were in danger of stretching their losing streak to three games. Another loss would be painful, especially since it was within the conference. Fortunately for the Eagles, they showed up Saturday to have one of their strongest matches of the season.

AU continued to improve their focus by reducing their errors and playing a cleaner game.

The team had a season-high .403 hitting percentage, meaning they were able to keep the number of errors down while still recording a lot of kills.

AU, who fought for a strong first game victory over the Crusaders, set the tone early. It started out as a tight game with the score tied at 11, but AU pulled away when middle blocker Claire Recht put the team up. With this momentum, the team did not look back and they finished the first game with a 4-0 run, which included kills from Recht and junior outside hitters Angelina Waterman and Magdalena Tekiel.

Another run of kills from the Eagles gave them a dominant 25-16 win.

The second game of the match proved much of the same as the first, when an early tie was bro-

ken. Again, the run was led by Recht and gave AU the lead they would hold onto for the rest of the game. AU’s capitalization on Holy Cross’ errors was the main reason for their set win. After a service error that gave AU an 18-13 lead, Angelina Waterman would collect two of her game-high 19 kills to bury the Crusaders. The lead was more than enough, as AU rolled to a 25-18 set win.

After a strong start from AU, the Crusaders answered by taking a close third set, 25-23. The third set clearly demonstrated why keeping errors down is the key to victory. AU had its most errors in the third set with five, while Holy Cross had just three.

AU would hit for a .324 hitting percentage in the third set, their lowest of the match.

Despite the loss, AU returned to close out the match. AU had control nearly the entire fourth set as they held the lead after Angelina Waterman’s kill put them up 6-5. American would dominate the game as Magdalena Tekiel topped off her strong match with the winning kill. Tekiel finished the game with her second straight double-double, recording 18 kills and 17 digs.

AU returns home to Bender Arena for a matchup against Lehigh, who beat AU earlier this season, on Friday night at 7 p.m.

USA builds to success Team’s goal: win 2010 World Cup SIDELINE SCHOLAR ELLIOT JEFFORDS The U.S. men’s national soccer team set a list of goals two years ago, as they began the long journey that they hope will end with them holding a small golden trophy on July 11, 2010, in South Africa.

After last week, they can cross off steps one and two of their list of goals. By beating Honduras 32 and fighting their way to a 2-2 draw with Costa Rica, the U.S. was able to hold off Mexico and claim the top spot in CONCACAF World Cup, qualifying for next summer in South Africa. That said, this was the easy part of their climb to the top.

A process that started two years ago came down to two games, with the U.S. team having to claim at least one win. The U.S. made short work of this task, accomplishing what no other team in the region had been able to do: beat Honduras on the road, thanks to the stellar play of Conor Casey and

Landon Donovan.

The team returned to the States on an emotional high, knowing they were in position to claim the CONCACAF qualifying title and celebrate their success with home fans. However, that was when the cruel winds of fate began to blow; up-and-coming star forward Charlie Davies was involved in a horrific car accident 48 hours prior to the team’s tilt with Costa Rica. One passenger in the car was killed at the scene, while Davies and the other passenger were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Davies had extensive surgery and is scheduled for even more to repair a broken femur, left elbow, lacerated bladder and facial fractures. The accident all but rules him out for the World Cup next summer. If that was not enough injury trouble for the U.S., who had already also lost defender Jay DeMerit for two months due to eye surgery, in the final minutes of the Costa Rica game, backline rock and AC Milan defender Oguchi Onyewu slipped on the wet turf and tore his left patellar tendon.

One positive is that the team has qualified for next summer’s World Cup. There are still 18 countries worldwide trying to secure one of the last nine spots still available. Unfortunately, the U.S. team doesn’t have many other

places to hang their hats.

The loss of Onyewu has only magnified the lack of depth that the national team can pull from for the backline. Even if Onyewu and DeMerit have recovered from their respective injuries by the time Bradley must name his roster, it is unknown what type of condition they will be in and what training they will be able to do.

Chad Marshall, the backup for Onyewu during a qualifying yellow-card suspension, is recovering from an injury of his own as and most likely won’t be called up to play. It will be up to Bradley to sift through the numerous youngsters, with little to no international experience, and find the right man to hold down one of the most important positions on the world’s largest stage.

As for replacing Davies, the U.S. team has a few more options; however, they are still lacking. One of, if not the biggest, criticisms of the Americans is their lack of scoring and inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities. During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the United States recorded one goal in the entire tournament and that was an own goal scored

by Italy. Davies and fellow international newcomer Jozy Altidore seemed like they were forming a good chemistry, and were the solution to the USA’s goal scoring

problems. Now it looks like national team veterans Conor Casey and Brian Ching will be asked to step up their play and start next to Altidore.

One of the biggest problems for the Americans will be staying sharp, being game fit and remaining able to compete with teams from across the world. The best way for the players to get prepared is obviously by playing with club teams in world competition. However, many players in Europe and other world leagues ride the bench and see little play. It is going to be up to the U.S. players to fight their way into their respective team’s starting line-ups and stay sharp for next summer.

Our national team qualified, and yes, soccer fans are ecstatic about the possibilities that lie ahead in the next nine months.

As the team prepares for competing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the team must still overcome major challenges before they will be able to compete with the big dogs, in what is already shaping up to be one of the most competitive and exciting group of 32 nations the tournament has seen in a long time.

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

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

AU women lose 1-0 thriller

By JIMMY HASCUP Eagle Contributing Writer AU women’s soccer team came out on the short end of a 1-0 double-overtime contest against Colgate University on Oct. 17.

The loss is AU’s first of Patriot League play.

With time waning in the second overtime period, Colgate utilized a corner kick to set-up their game-winning goal. Avery Atkins headed the ball off of a perfectly placed cross to beat AU goalie Arianna Efstathiou, with less than four minutes remaining in the match.

Despite temperatures in the 30s and the Raiders’ home field advantage, all of their wins have come at home. The Eagles matched Colgate’s intensity throughout the game.

Both teams had limited scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes of the contest. American had two shots on goal and Colgate, who had the half ’s only corner kick, had three. Just as the half was expiring, Efstathiou made a clutch save to preserve the 0-0 tie. Each team also picked up a yellow card in the half.

AU outplayed the Raiders in the second half, yet they were unable to convert on any of their 11 shots in the period. Sloppy play by AU stifled the momentum they had generated; they had nine fouls and four offside calls in the period.

Despite only three shots on goal, Colgate received one of the better scoring chances in the half.

It happened after they launched a free kick that landed behind the AU defenders and evaded a diving Efstathiou. While it beat the AU goalie, it ultimately hit the post.

AU looked hungry to finish

the game in regulation, as they netted three shots on goal with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The Colgate defense and their goalie, Ashley Walsh, stood tall throughout AU’s last minute shot barrage, pushing the game into extra frames.

Walsh was solid in the game, with 10 saves in total. That said however, a little luck was needed in the first overtime period to preserve the tie. With 34 seconds remaining, Kelsey Brasher went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and fired a shot that sailed inches wide of the net.

It would be the last scoring chance of the game for the Eagles, as the Raiders were able to capitalize on their only opportunity in the second overtime period.

Seven of the Eagles’ players had two or more shots in the contest, leading AU to an 18-12 shot advantage. Efstathiou, who has a 7-8 record despite allowing just 14 goals in 15 games, made six saves in the match.

The red, white and blue have struggled away from Reeves Field this year, posting a 1-6 on the road. Bucknell and AU, with records of 3-1, now share the top spot in the Patriot League standings.

The Eagles have three more games left on the season and play two away games this weekend, against Lafayette on Friday night and Lehigh on Sunday afternoon.

Junior midfielder Brooke Sheppard received the AU student-athlete of the week honors on Monday. Her four points led AU to two conference victories in the last two games.

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

FILE PHOTO / THE EAGLE

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER — Two-time All-Patriot League Second Teamer Cameron Petty scored his first goal of the season against the Midshipmen. It was the only goal of the game, as AU won 1-0. The game keeps them perfect in the Patriot League with 12 points. They are three points in front of Bucknell.

Soccer tramples Navy

By SCOTT ECKL Eagle Contributing Writer Despite the pouring rain and chilling temperatures, AU men’s soccer team remained undefeated in the Patriot League, beating Navy 1-0 on Oct. 17.

Senior Cameron Petty scored his first goal of the season in the 17th minute of the first half. During his career at American, Petty has three goals and has been named to the All-Patriot League Second Team twice, in 2007 and 2008. Petty’s unassisted goal was the difference in a game dominated by defense.

There were only six total shots on goal between the two teams.

The shot by Petty went past Navy’s starting goalie, Tyler Bristol, into the corner of the net. The

goal gave the Eagles a lead that they would not relinquish.

The team improved to 8-3-1 on the season, and 4-0 in their conference. They also improved to 4-1-1 on the road. With the win, they are now on a four game winning streak and have six wins and one tie in their last seven matches.

AU has four shutouts this season, three of which goalie Matt Makowski is responsible for. The sophomore goalie was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year last season, leading the conference’s goalkeepers with six shutouts. In 11 starts this year, Makowski has three shutouts with five games remaining. Makowski made three saves against Navy on Saturday.

AU’s Mike Worden and Colin Zizzi had the other two shots on

goal against Navy. The Midshipmen held the advantage in shots 9-7, but each team had three shots on goal in the match.

The Eagles’ 4-0 record in the Patriot League is their best start in the conference since 2004. After starting 2-3 on this season, the Eagles have come on strong, with the help of tough defense and clutch goals. Their two previous wins, which came in double overtime, were over Lafayette University and the University of Pennsylvania by a score of 2-1.

Their season continues this Saturday at the “Phil Reeves” game for Alumni Weekend against Lehigh University at 3 p.m. All nine seniors on the team will be honored prior to the match during Senior Day activities. The team looks to improve its perfect re-

cord in the conference to 5-0, as Lehigh visits the Eagles. Lehigh is 7-5-2 on the season and 2-2 in the conference. The Eagles have the home field advantage, with a 3-2 home record.

AU’s late push has given them 12 points in the season, which is good enough for first place in the league. They are three points ahead of second place, Bucknell University.

As a result of his strong game against Navy, as well as his consistent play all season, Makowski was named Patriot League Goalie of the week. This is not the sophomore’s first award, as he was named PL Rookie of the Year last season.

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

AU field hockey too much for crosstown rival

By KATE GREUBEL Eagle Contributing Writer Unseasonable heat did not faze the AU Field Hockey team Wednesday, when they picked up a 4-0 shutout victory over crosstown visitor, Georgetown University.

“All the team brought a lot of energy and sustained pressure,” AU Assistant Head Coach Sarah Thorn Krombolz said. “It is really

hard when you’re sustaining pressure over long periods of time for other teams to bounce back. We did a really good job with that.”

The Eagles dominated the field, rarely allowing the Hoyas to bring the ball past midfield.

Senior forward Savannah Graybill’s crisp goal off a centering pass from Tatum Dyer gave AU the lead in the third minute.

Capitalizing on the momentum generated by Graybill’s goal, the

team rounded out the half with 11 shots on goal and two assisted goals by senior defender AnneMeike De Wiljes and junior midfielder Kirstin Gebhart.

An unassisted goal by Graybill in the final 10 minutes of play served as a final reward for the Eagles’ relentless attack in the second half, during which AU took another eleven shots on goal. Although Hoya freshman goalkeeper Clodagh Coghlan

made seven saves, the team’s offense was unable to respond on the attack. Krombolz credits a solid AU defensive line that was able to shutdown any threatening attacks.

Stand-out player of the game, Savannah Graybill, now ranks ninth in career points at American with 84 and sixth in career goals with 37. Graybill praises her teammates for her success in the match and this season.

“I think we are all really good at feeding off each other and today I happened to have the best game,” Graybill said. “We really work together.”

The team views non-conference play, like Wednesday’s game versus Georgetown, as an opportunity to compete against teams they are not familiar with and teams they may meet in the future.

“Our out-of-conference sched-

ule is really strong, and that helps prepare us for the toughest opponents possible,” Krombolz said.

AU returns to conference play on Saturday, Oct. 24, with an away match at Lafayette College.

The team hopes to extend its twogame winning streak.

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