The Eagle -- April 15, 2010

SPIN ZONE Members of Spinoza, AU’s music club, enclose their art in charity SCENE page 5

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the EAGLE WWW.THEEAGLEONLINE.COM

NEWS GO TO TOWN Kerwin, members of administration host question-and-answer session Monday page 2

EDITORIAL

NEW INEQUALITIES Parvez Khan examines the lack of eqaulity and tolerance in society page 3

SCENE TAKING NAMES ‘Kick-Ass’ introduces the superheros next door page 7

SPORTS OFF-PITCH Washington’s starting five may need to make many changes page 8

PLAYOFF TIME Caps start their quest for Stanley Cup glory against Montreal page 8

TODAY’S WEATHER

HI 75° LO 56° Sunny with west wind between 5 and 7 mph FRIDAY HI 80° n LO 53°

SATURDAY HI 68° n LO 45°

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APRIL 15, 2010 VOLUME 84 n ISSUE 47

Toxic chemicals unearthed near AU

By MITCH ELLMAUER and CHRISTOPHER COTTRELL Eagle Staff Writers The Army Corps of Engineers suspended its Pit 3 operations at 4825 Glenbrook Rd. indefinitely late last month after workers uncovered an underground cache of laboratory glassware, said Dan Noble, the Corps’ Spring Valley project manager.

The announcement was made during the monthly meeting of the Restoration Advisory Board Tuesday night.

This is not the first time the Corps has paused operations at the Pit 3 investigation. In August 2009, workers unearthed a flask of mustard agent, The Eagle previously reported.

On March 29, workers conducting a high-probability investigation — meaning extra safety precautions are used — discovered the remains of a rusty metal drum containing several glass bottles buried seven feet under the ground.

One intact bottle is confirmed to contain mustard agent, while another contains a liquid that is still under analysis.

In addition to laboratory glassware and contaminated soil, workers recovered a World War I-related munition containing tear gas.

After noticing that the soil around the drum was smoking and one of the bottles was emitting a white vapor, workers sealed off the area and covered the area in plastic, Noble said.

Workers immediately sent a sample to the Corps’ chemical center in Edgewood, Md., for analysis.

Initial tests confirmed it had traces of mustard. Tests also showed traces of arsenic trichloride, an “acutely hazardous” chemical not previously found in Spring Valley, according to Noble.

Arsenic trichloride reacts with moisture in the air to create hydrogen chloride, another highly toxic gas, explaining the white vapor that workers saw, Noble said.

Workers cannot be exposed to levels of the gas above 0.01 milligrams per cubic meter without experiencing adverse health effects, according to Emily Russell, a technical consultant for the Department of Defense.

It is currently unclear whether the arsenic trichloride in the air around the dig site exceeded these levels, as the Corps is still waiting on test results.

Both chemicals are on the list of compounds developed at the AU Experimental Station.

The Army used arsenic trichloride to make lewisite, another compound used in chemical warfare, according to Noble. Army scientists during World War I were also interested in mixing arsenic trichloride with mustard, and AUES reports indicate that scientists were developing a compound consisting of half mustard, half arsenic trichloride, Noble said.

“They were trying to make mustard [gas] worse,” Noble said.

Four barbecues for graduating seniors are scheduled to take place next week at the AU president’s house, located next door to the 4825 Glenbrook Rd. property.

When asked if AU students have

anything to worry about, Noble said the situation is under control.

“They basically took the one item that was smoking ... [and] they put it into plastic bags to contain it and then they immediately covered the excavation with plastic,” he said.

David Taylor, chief of staff to President Neil Kerwin, said the Corps has been provided with a list of planned activities.

“They are aware of the heavierthan-normal schedule, and would let us know of anything new or unusual,” he said in an e-mail.

The Corps continues to find glass bottlenecks at the property. Workers have unearthed 10 bottlenecks since resuming work in January, according to Noble.

4825 Glenbrook Rd. is thought to be the site of a long sought-after munitions cache, known as the “Sgt. Maurer burial pit,” The Eagle reported in February.

To date, the Corp has removed 500 pounds of laboratory glassware, 60 pounds of scrap metal and 238 barrels of contaminated soil from Pit 3.

Noble also reminded RAB members that once the Corps is finished with its high-probability work, it still has some low-probability work to finish at Pit 3, namely the completion of seven more test pits, a small amount of arsenic removal in the driveway, additional soil sampling in the backyard and geotechnical borings in the basement of the house.

You can reach these writers at news@theeagleonline.com.

Runners’ drive stands out from the track pack but his dad encouraged him to join the middle school track and field team to fill his open weekday afternoons.

However, it was not until his sophomore year of high school that Eustis began to take running more seriously and started getting better times, an accomplishment that sparked his desire to run in college.

A self-proclaimed “glorified walkon,” Eustis said he had a slow start as a recruit at AU. “I wasn’t a walk-on in the pure sense,” Eustis said. “I called, and I asked if I could be on the team. And [Centrowitz] said yes.”

Without seeing tape of Eustis or coming to a meet, Centrowitz let Eustis join the team, warning the young runner that he could not guarantee success, only improvement.

“Colin has been a slow work in progress,” said Centrowitz. “He has had steady growth.”

Eustis learned how to manage his time better under Centrowitz, opening up new windows for extra workouts. Eustis said Centrowtiz’s training method works well for him.

The method is based on five training principles, which include moderation — pushing yourself hard one day and resting the next; variation — running on different surfaces; callus and effect; and progression — pushing yourself harder each practice. Eustis follows each of them equally, believing that they are all important.

“I think they just work,” Eustis said.

Courtesy of AUeagles.com / THE EAGLE “They are very simple, they are very METER BY METER — Junior Colin Eustis rounds the bend during a track meet. basic. I guess everybody uses them Eustis recently won the 3,000 meter at March’s Maryland Invitational meet. but we just do them very well.”

Eustis enjoys running cross-counrow. To her dismay, Centrowitz tells try, which takes place in the fall, beBy KATE GREUBEL her to take it easy and rest up from the cause “it is a grind the whole way,” he Eagle Staff Writer day’s outdoor sprints. said. However, he has had his most reIt’s 4 p.m., and the blistering sun is The two are very different runners. cent success in the 3,000 meter, which just losing its sting over Reeves Field. Eustis has been on the men’s team he won at the Maryland Invitational The American University track and since his freshman year and has slow- in March. Also, at the 2010 Patriot field team is wrapping up practice for ly been improving his form and times. League Championship in February, the day as runners take their last laps On the other hand, Koch joined the Eustis placed second in the 5,000-mearound the track. team this semester and developed ter run with a time of 14:33.72. His Among those left are junior Colin overnight. time stands as the fourth fastest time Eustis and senior Erin Koch, the male But both share a love for running in school history. and female breakout runners of the and both have a competitive drive that With one more year left in his track year. pushes them across the finish line be- career after this season, Eustis has his Both just completed a grueling fore their competitions. eyes on more wins and time goals. practice in the sun, but Koch is alEustis began running because he “I really want to take back the ready asking Head Coach Matt Cen- “had enough time” for it, he said. In cross-country championship,” Eustis trowitz what she should run tomor- seventh grade Eustis played the violin n see TRACK on page 8

SOL LEE / THE EAGLE

LISTEN UP — D.C. all-female percussion band Batala plays in the amphitheatre to kick off Take Back the Night, an annual event in which students and community members march around campus to oppose sexual violence.

Campus community rallies against acts of sexual violence

By SARAH PARNASS Eagle Staff Writer A crowd of AU students and community members stormed campus Monday evening to make the night safer for women and men.

“We’ve got the power, we’ve got the might,” the marchers yelled above the sound of drumbeats and the rattling of maracas. “These streets are ours; take back the night!”

The group numbered about 400 people, according to Women’s Initiative Director Sarah Brown.

They gathered as part of Take Back the Night, an international event that started as impromptu rallies in communities frustrated by sexual assault, said Co-Director of the Stop Violence Against Women Department of Women’s Initiative and co-planner of the event Kyrie Bannar.

“The concept behind this event is that it’s a safe place for people,” Bannar said. “Yes, it’s a rally, and it’s loud,

and it’s fantastic, but after that we get together and we talk about some really serious things ... things that really impact our community and that are overlooked every other day of the year here.”

For the first time in the event’s history at AU, the all-female percussion band Batala led the procession.

They started the evening with a performance in the amphitheater that brought students out of their seats and up to the front to dance and play handheld instruments of their own.

Student Government Presidentelect Nate Bronstein joined the group of dancers when Batala took the stage.

Bronstein said he first came to Take Back the Night in 2009, three days after his close friends experienced “some terrible things.” He said he was there to support his friends.

“I don’t want to have to worry about my daughter many years from now,” Bronstein said. “I don’t want n

see NIGHT on page 2

New study raises questions on legality of unpaid internships

By MEG FOWLER and GEOFFREY BEEBE Eagle Staff Writer and Eagle Contributing Writer The U.S. Department of Labor has rules in place to regulate companies’ practices of hiring unpaid interns, but a study recently released by the Economic Policy Institute brought into question the clarity of the Department of Labor’s regulatory methods.

The EPI, a non-partisan think tank in D.C., released the study Friday with corrections and updates from a study previously released four days earlier.

The study, called “Not-So-Equal Protection — Reforming the Regulation of Student Internships,” stated that the rules regarding compensation and employment for interns are unclear and not enforced in some cases.

In January, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor released an advisory letter outlining lawful practices to distinguish a regular, paid employee from an unpaid intern or “trainee.”

This letter included a list of six factors that should be used to identify a worker as a “trainee” or an “employee,” as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. If the worker can be defined as a “trainee,” he or she is not covered by minimum wage provisions.

However, the EPI study claims the six factors are not enough and that students often go unprotected from employer abuses. (See www.theagleonline.com for a full list) “In various letters to employers, the Department of Labor found that it could not determine conclusively whether an unpaid internship program that offered college credit met the six-point test, given the blurred lines between student work and the educational experience of an intern-

ship,” the study said.

At least 524 AU students currently have for-credit internships, according to Director of Experimental Education at the AU Career Center Francine Blume.

The Career Center conducted a mid-semester survey of students doing internships for academic credit and found that 81 percent of respondents were not being paid for internships this semester. Most years, around 70 to 65 percent of AU students with for-credit internships are not paid, according to Blume.

In the 2009 spring semester, the number of AU students working at internships without pay was the highest it had been since Blume has been at the Career Center, she said. Ninetythree percent of AU students with for-credit internships were unpaid that semester.

The increase was likely a result of the economic recession, according to Blume. But that number recovered in the summer 2009 when 69 percent of AU for-credit internships were unpaid.

Many students across the country are taking unpaid internships, and a lot of students come to AU for the opportunity to intern in D.C. But finding paid internships can be generally difficult, Blume said.

“We’re one of the few schools that gives academic credit for internships, and we really encourage that,” Blume said. “When you’re doing it for credit, there are a lot more safeguards.”

Two of the Department of Labor’s six factors for unpaid interns are that “the training ... is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction” and “the training is for the benefit of the trainees.” n

see INTERNSHIP on page 2

the EAGLE

APRIL 15, 2010

news 2

Kerwin, Abramson address concerns at town hall

DAN ALT / THE EAGLE

STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY — President Neil Kerwin, right, answers a student’s question at Monday’s town hall-style event sponsored by the Board of Trustees. Board Chairman Gary Abramson sits to Kerwin’s right.

By STEFANIE DAZIO Eagle Staff Writer Senior Steve Dalton had a proposition for Board of Trustees Chairman

Gary Abramson and President Neil Kerwin at the town hall meeting Monday.

The request? The pleasure of their company at the College Republicans

shooting range trip on Saturday.

The target? Democrats, Dalton joked.

Kerwin, a former “urban Boy Scout,” declined the offer.

CAMPUS BRIEF

n

ZETA PSI CHARTERS AU fraternity colony Zeta Psi will receive a charter from its national organization this Saturday, according to Coordinator of Greek Life Curtis Burrill.

In spring 2009, the now-Zetes met with representatives from its International Headquarters to discuss forming an interest group, and they were soon given colony status, said Zete President Matt Carnovale.

A colony is an organization that has to fulfill its parent fraternity’s requirements in order to become an official campus chapter. Zeta Psi fulfilled these obligations, fulfilled participation requirements and obtained chartering approval from its national headquarters this semester, he said in an e-mail.

“Up until this point all the brothers in our chapter were considered pledges, but soon we will be learning the full traditions of Zeta Psi and become formal members of the Zeta Psi Fraternity,” Carnovale said.

The D.C. Elders, a regional organization for “elder” Zetes, will be holding a black tie event on Saturday as a chartering celebration.

“The banquet is a formal event held every year ... Before the formal banquet, brothers will engage in a leadership training seminar to help run our chapter into the future,” he said.

After receiving their charter, Zeta Psi brothers will become voting members of the Inter-fraternity Council this fall, according to Burrill.

-SARAH RUDNICK n

from INTERNSHIP on page 1

A senior in the School of Public Affairs, who did not wish to be named, said that his unpaid position in New Jersey was more like a paralegal position.

“I didn’t do anything important or crucial, but I certainly helped put together all the briefings and kept county officials updated,” the senior said in an e-mail.

The work was not difficult, he said.

“But if I messed up, it might’ve

“We lacked a number of woods-related skills,” he said of his troop.

Abramson said he would ask his son instead.

The Board of Trustees town hall meeting was an open-mic event where students had the chance to ask Kerwin, Abramson and other administrators a variety of questions.

The majority of questions from students centered on environmental issues.

EcoSense President Jennifer Jones asked about adding more science and sustainability courses to the General Education curriculum. Provost Scott Bass said the university is looking to add more of these courses.

Kerwin added that AU needs more work in the sciences, which would include a strong base in science, economics, political science and communication.

Nearly 10 members of EcoSense showed up at the meeting in support of the Clean Energy Revolving Fund, a recent Student Government initiative aimed to increase the amount of green energy AU uses. Kerwin said that it was “very significant” that the number of students who voted for CERF was larger than the number of students who voted in SG elections and called CERF “an extraordinary initiative.”

However, the Board must approve

been a big deal,” he said in the email.

There are warning signs that a potential intern can look for to avoid getting hired into a bad internship, Blume said.

“Students should be looking for a complete job description. Something like ‘working projects at the radio station’ is not a good job description,” Blume said. “Look at the selection process — is there a selective process or do they just take warm bodies? You want to make sure you are going to get something

out of the experience.”

No matter what kind of internship they have, AU students can come into the Career Center and ask questions, according to Blume.

Career Center personnel can also advocate for students at their workplaces, including when serious issues arise, according to Blume.

“No student should feel like they should stay on a site if they are being abused,” Blume said.

You can reach these writers at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.

from NIGHT on page 1

her to have to carry around a can of mace when she goes outside. That’s why [this event] is important, because we need to come together in one movement and take back the night.”

The group marched from the amphitheater, through the tunnel, through the Letts-Anderson quad, past Letts Hall and over the main quad to the Kay Spiritual Life Center. AU’s all-female a cappella group Treble in Paradise performed on the steps of Kay before participants went inside to hear testimonials from victims of sexual violence and their allies. The testimonials lasted until 2:30 a.m. so every voice could be heard, according to Brown.

One student who shared her story at the testimonials told The Eagle that the first time she spoke at Take Back the Night three years ago, she had never really talked about the experience before. She said she spent the first three hours of the night certain she would not join the other speakers but felt compelled to add her story.

“It doesn’t even feel like you’re an individual standing up there telling your story,” the speaker said. “It feels like everyone else is right up there

an increase in the fee first.

SG President-elect Nate Bronstein shifted the conversation to the environment outside of campus by asking about relations between AU students and the local community.

Kerwin said while neighbors rarely complain about off-campus parties, the university takes the surrounding community’s quality of life very seriously.

“I’m not naïve enough to think that this will end at some point,” he said of the parties.

Anabel Lee Genevitz of Solidarity, an AU student group, asked the administrators about the university’s role in the community investment campaign.

The campaign’s proposal encourages the administration to transfer 5 percent of the AU endowment’s cash assets into community banks and credit unions, The Eagle previously reported.

The proposal would call for approximately $4.3 million to be deposited into “Community Development Financial Institutions,” such as the City First Bank of D.C. These banks help develop small businesses and communities that do not have good access to financial services.

Kerwin said this was the first he had heard of this proposal, and asked with you.”

WI hosted the event, but many other individuals and groups sponsored Take Back the Night, including President Neil Kerwin, the Department of Public Safety, each of the five schools within the university, the Counseling Center and the GLBTA Resource Center.

This was the seventh consecutive year hat WI hosted the event.

The AU community has taken steps forward and steps back in addressing the issues of rape and violence against women since 2004, according to WI Director Sarah Brown.

Brown said she counted a recent column written by Eagle columnist Alex Knepper as one of those setbacks.

Jennifer Dorsey, co-director of the Stop Violence Against Women Department of Women’s Initiative with Bannar and co-planner of Take Back the Night, said she received mixed responses after the column was published. Some students were strengthened in their resolve to speak out at the event while others expressed fear.

Additionally, Brown said the Take Back the Night Facebook event received rape threats.

“There were people, AU students and non-AU students, threatening to rape participants in the rally, so that

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that a formal one be submitted.

Co-Director of Women’s Initiative Jenny Keating asked Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson about AU’s plans to hire a full-time sexual assault victim advocate.

The current budget allocates money to open the new Women’s Resource Center and train advisers, but a fulltime advocate is not on staff, Hanson said.

Besides Dalton’s invitation there were a few other lighter questions from the students.

One student was met with silence when he asked how the university would celebrate AU’s NCAA tournament win next year.

“When it becomes apparent that we’re heading that way, we will conduct emergency construction on the Nebraska parking lot and build a 30,000seat arena,” Kerwin said. “That’ll be a good start anyway.”

Other basketball topics included next year’s free throw competition between Kerwin and Bronstein.

Current SG President Andy MacCracken beat Kerwin this year, his first loss in four years.

“I’m still a little raw from the last one,” Kerwin said.

You can reach this staff writer at sdazio@theeagleonline.com. created this idea that Take Back the Night is not safe to go to, and that it’s not safe to tell your story at the testimonials,” Brown said. “We definitely considered that a setback.”

But Brown said AU is in the process of making advances in its sexual assault policy based on proposals put forward by a group of AU students, faculty and staff, including members of WI. “The new [proposed] policy is very clear,” Brown said.

It will define consent in more detail than the old policy and allow those reporting crimes to file under terms like harassment or assault based on what fits their situation, according to Brown.

“There’s words in our policy that say sexual assault is a crime of power and control and there’s words in our policy that say that rape is never the responsibility of the survivor,” Brown said. “And to put language like that in a policy is actually pretty transformative.”

Brown said she expects the new sexual assault policy codes to be approved and implemented in the fall.

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

Chris Pontius #13 – Forward

EDITORIAL

APRIL 15, 2010

JOE WENNER n Editorial Page Editor EdPage@TheEagleOnline.com

JEN CALANTONE n Editor in Chief Editor@TheEagleOnline.com

A modernized form of slavery KALEIDOSCOPE

PARVEZ KHAN Slavery is almost as old as human civilization itself. I was taught that one of the main reasons the Children of Israel were decreed to spend 40 years in the desert outside of the Holy Land was to wipe clear all notions of slavery in the generation that had been persecuted under Pharaoh. This allowed the former Hebrew slaves to combat one of the unfortunate consequences or phenomena of enslavement: that sometimes those who have been oppressed, once empowered, unconsciously tend to seek new victims to oppress — essentially, a form of traumatic re-enactment.

Of course, in the United States, we know we’ve suffered bravely through the 1950s into the 1970s in finally recognizing AfricanAmericans as full citizens. Let us not forget the tremendous learning curve that era was for this nation. Over these two decades, a black American went from not being disenfranchised politically, through Jim Crow Laws, eating and drinking in separate areas, never daring to look a white man in the eye, to being able to embrace full citizenship, legally and culturally. Yet, we still have serious issues to ponder.

Take the Hispanic population, for example. They are a longrooted group that accounts for around 20 percent of the population. Incredibly, a gargantuan number of Hispanics still live in or near sub-poverty levels.

Have we essentially created the slavery mentality here in the United States with this population, too? Do we honestly walk right past one of “them” without a second thought as to an equal sense of citizenship given to him or her? Or even worse, take aggressive action to debase and eliminate an entire people from our American landscape?

I think we might. Take a quick look at www.9500liberty.com for a contextual example of this from our neighbors in Prince William

County in Virginia. Some even use the term “illegal aliens” to refer to a multi-cultural and multisituation group of people, albeit that’s been euphemized recently with “undocumented workers” in lieu of “day laborers.”

And don’t forget the Arabs and those who “look” Arab that reside amongst us at home. Are those whose families have been here for longer than one generation considered fully American or given an exceptional hyphenated status? Remember those anger-filled days post-9/11. A Sikh man wearing a turban was gunned down in Arizona as an act of revenge, even though both his ethnicity and religion are quite different than any Arab.

Abroad, it’s somewhat easier to recognize this phenomenon. In the Persian Gulf, laborers mainly from South and Southeast Asia are imported to work in menial jobs and live in crummy conditions. The native Arab nationals there even admit that they don’t see the laborers equally as humans. It’s so starkly apparent this divide — whether it is ethnic, economic, cultural — between the 20 percent of nationals and the 80 percent labor force. Yes, the South Asians have jobs, and yes, they are getting paid better than the comparable position in their native land. But the point to make here is this: if we do not see an entire segment of the population, is that not ethnocentrism in its most vile form? Is this not the antecedent for more overt forms of segregation and even enslavement?

This may be beyond ethnocentrism. This may very well be the newest incarnation of what we used to call “slavery,” or the debasement of one race in favor of another. When this level of insular thinking becomes mainstream in a society and normalized in the behavioral patterns of an individual, it behooves our pluralistic society to scrutinize itself with a serious reality check.

Parvez Khan is a graduate student in the School of Public Affairs and the religion and international affairs columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@ theeagleonline.com.

EAGLE RANTS *@#!3*%!

-I’m not sure what makes me happier, Charlie running the Eagle, or Glee coming back...

-Hey Undergrads who I overheard talking about this weekend’s “riot” at JMU, and how it’s a “school for dumbasses”...you’re lucky I’m nice. From a “dumbass” JMU Alumnus who is now an AU Grad student. If JMU is a school for dumbasses, and I’m in Grad School where you do Undergrad, what does that make you?

-To the girl that works the Thursday afternoon shift at the gym: I can tell you’re bad news, but I’m asking you out soon anyway. I’ve been putting this off long enough.

You’re f****** hot.

-I didn’t want to date you anyway, you’re so pretentious and self-serving. Get over yourself.

-When I become nice and wealthy with my Kogod Degree I’m going to turn around and donate enough money to name the SIS school after George W. Bush.

Take that granola eaters!

-Great Men with Cats: Winston Churchill, Isaac Newton, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Charlie Szold, Abraham Lincoln -Eagle’s Nest--I don’t need a new ID card, your register needs a new swiper.

-You ever wonder how quadding ever became a verb? It’s kind of disgusting actually… laying outside all day just to be “seen” be everyone else, day drinking while attempting to show off your “great” body to your fellow peers. Get off your lazy ass and do something. We all know you’re not doing work.

-Jen was a great editor, she will be missed by this reader!

rassed by the horrendous turnout for the KPU event yesterday.

I mean seriously three former chairs of the joint chiefs and barely 100 people!!!!! What an embarrassment to the university. Also on the “distinguished panel” why were there no professors only a bunch of fake Greek foreign service club boys!!!

-I was decidedly neutral about Nate Bronstein until he stayed the entire time at Take Back The Night, participated in it, and offered rides to people off campus after it was over at 2:30 AM. I respect that hugely and he has my support in the future.

-I just found a toenail on the 2nd floor of the library... Seriously!

Who clips their toenails in the Library?!?!? And on the quiet floor of all places?

-What happened to the Police Blotter? Eagle Rants have been too short lately, and PB is the next best thing.

-Civitas still sounds like something I caught over spring break.

IT BURNS! -What is this incessant drumming outside my window?

STOP! -Looked out my window the other day... we have a club lacrosse team??? No one told me!

-So we know where guys can get some head (the arboretum) but what about girls?

Cheating doesn’t count if it’s with an ex. It’s law.

-I know we’re just friends and it would be a good idea to take things slow… But eff that.

School’s almost over. Let’s fast forward to the part where we make out.

-Go Greek or go home.

-This school should be embar-

Unpaid and undesired

Courtesy of MCT CAMPUS

A study by the Economic Policy Institute has called the legality of many unpaid internships into question. To avoid these positions, students should utilize on-campus resources.

Many students have noticed a change in the type of internships offered by AU’s CareerWeb. And while it may be subtle to some, it is a shift that affects the vast majority of AU students that hold an internship during their time on campus.

Before last year, of all of the students holding for-credit internships, usually 65 to 70 percent were unpaid. Last spring, however, that number jumped to 93 percent. This semester the number went down slightly to a still higher-than-normal 83 percent.

Most have assumed this is merely a symptom of the economic times in which we live. However, a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute suggests that many firms are not following established federal guidelines for unpaid internships, unlawfully using interns solely as menial laborers.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Tap Water: The Smart Choice I am deeply concerned by some of the false and misleading arguments used in the staff editorial opinion on bottled water. The main purpose of the anti bottled water petition is to spread awareness of the issues associated with bottled water and collect pledges from students that say they will drink tap water as much as possible.

EcoSense recognizes that we cannot force people to stop to buying bottled water, and we are not trying to do that. To my knowledge, no organization on campus is trying to stop the sale of bottled water in the Eagles’ Nest or Box Lunch etc.

What EcoSense is doing is trying to encourage people to drink safe, healthy, clean tap water.

Bottled water is such a huge problem not just because of the bottle. Water is a basic human need. Bottling water can deprive local communities of their basic

the EAGLE American University’s Independent Student Voice MISSION The Eagle, a student-run newspaper at the American University, serves the student readership by reporting news involving the campus community and surrounding areas. The Eagle strives to be impartial in its reporting and believes firmly in its First Amendment rights.

SUBMISSION AND EDITORIAL POLICIES • Send letters and guest columns to: Editorial Page Editor, The Eagle, 252 Mary Graydon Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C., 20016 or EdPage@TheEagleOnline.com. Letters and guest columns must be received by 7 p.m. on the Thursday before the Monday publication, should be typed and must include the writer's name, year, school and telephone number.

• All submissions become the property of The Eagle. Unsigned letters will not be published.

The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length and clarity. Letters will be limited to 300 words.

• The Staff Editorial represents the majority of the Editorial Board, which is composed of the Editor in Chief, the managing editors for content, a representative from the Campus News, Metro News and National News desks and at

We have all heard intern horror stories, but this study amounts to much more. The concept of illegally utilizing unpaid interns as simply free labor is disheartening, mainly because it infringes upon the traditional purpose of an internship: to give students an opportunity to test out an employment sector, while at the same time gaining on-the-job experience.

While some may contend that internships without pay attract only those truly dedicated to the position, they are ignoring the fiscal realities of many college students. In this respect, an abundance of unpaid internships might actually prevent firms from gaining the most skilled applicants, as few of us can afford to lose money in our attempts to pad the resume.

Experts say this abuse of unpaid interns is result of outdated, and therefore unclear labor regulations right to water. Unlike Coke or Gatorade, humans cannot live without water. We currently have water filtered and delivered directly to our kitchen for minimal environmental and monetary costs. Water on AU’s campus has been filtered at the tap, and it meets EPA standards. Also, by using bottled water we are costing the city money on recycling and trash disposal, while taking away money from maintaining water infrastructure.

I, along with EcoSense, have been working with the university to promote using filtered tap water instead of bottled water in university offices. These are locations where your tuition dollars are being spent needlessly on bottled water. Using water filters is currently saving AU money and providing water that is cleaner and better tasting than bottled water and tap water. In a capitalist economy, it makes sense to use the lowest-costing and highest-quality option.

— some left unaltered since 1947.

But until Congress decides to bring these regulations up to contemporary standards, AU students must take advantage of the many available on-campus resources to avoid unpaid internships with no value.

One such resource, AU’s Career Center, already offers an excellent interface for students to find internships. However, an additional tool that is not as known to students is their High Quality Internship Map, which clearly labels and shares employers with whom fellow students have had good experiences. According to the Web Site, High Quality Employers “have terrific projects through which interns contribute and learn about themselves.” Whether they are paid or unpaid, these internships offer the kind of experience that will serve students as an asset

in the future.

But along with the resources offered by the university, students should realize that we still have the ability to screen employers ourselves. We should have to not put up with an internship that amounts to nothing more than coffee duty. If we do, these positions will only continue to waste the time of students in search of a worthwhile experience.

In no way is this editorial meant to be a rant against all unpaid internships as they certainly can be valuable learning experiences. However, the study by the Economic Policy Institute merely reminds us all that AU students must use caution when screening potential internships. Perhaps this may be inconvenience, but with university institutions and fellow students, it should not be too difficult.

Want to be an Eagle columnist?

Be on the lookout for applications in Today@AU coming soon!

Jennifer Jones 2012, College of Arts and Sciences

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APRIL 15, 2010

news 4

Former Joint Chiefs discuss veterans’ issues

PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE

JOINTLY SPEAKING — Gen. Hugh Shelton speaks at a KPU event with, from left to right, Gens. Richard Myers and Peter Pace. KPU Director and Marine Reserve member Will Hubbard looks on from the right. The generals are all former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They spoke to students Monday about veterans and their post-war experiences.

By HOWIE PERLMAN Eagle Staff Writer Three former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gens. Hugh Shelton, Richard Myers and Peter Pace, came together for the first time on stage Monday night at a Kennedy Political Union event.

As chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the generals were the top military advisers to the president, the secretary of defense and the National Security

Council. They were also the highestranking military officers in the United States.

Gen. Shelton, of the U.S. Army, served as chairman from 1997 to 2001.

Gen. Myers, of the U.S. Air Force, served as chairman from 2001 to 2005 and Gen. Pace, of the U.S. Marine Corps, served as chairman from 2005 to 2007. Admiral Michael Mullen of the U.S. Navy has served as chairman since 2007.

Adam L’Episcopo, a senior in the

School of International Service who served in the U.S. Army from 2004 to 2007, asked the generals about the quality of veterans’ benefits.

“Do you believe that our current [Veterans’ Affairs] system is moving toward a better welfare, a system that allows veterans to achieve their educational desires regardless of social and economic status, or are more benefits needed, given sacrifices veterans have made in recent years?” L’Episcopo asked.

Shelton responded that he always thinks of Abraham Lincoln’s famous words about veterans. “’A nation that forgets its veterans will itself soon be forgotten,’” Shelton said, quoting Lincoln. “We give them educational benefits, medical benefits and preferential treatment when it comes to jobs, but there are things [that can still be done].”

Shelton went on to say that the “true casualties” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq include some of the soldiers he has visited in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Many of the soldiers there sustained serious physical injuries during their tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some suffered brain injuries; some lost limbs; some went blind.

Myers agreed with Shelton that traumatic brain injuries are a major health concern and added that posttraumatic stress disorder is also a concern.

“On that front, I don’t think we’re doing all that we can do,” Myers said.

“I think folks leak through the system, are discharged and may or may not be receiving the care they need to receive so they can better reintegrate back into society ... The good news is, most Americans are very understanding of [the need to help veterans] and are generally supportive.”

John Crown, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, who served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1997 to 2008, told the generals about an immigration issue involving his friend, a member of the armed forces. His friend had been constantly denied the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen because of his deployment schedule.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immi-

gration Services, then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service, would offer his friend, a medic in the U.S. Navy, an appointment only once a year in which he could take his oath of citizenship, Crown said. But his friend could not make those appointments because of his responsibilities as a member of the armed forces.

“The unit he was assigned to, my battalion, [was] deployed pretty much for six to seven months every year for about four years, and ... the military lawyers cannot make him a citizen,” Crown said in an interview with The Eagle after the event.

Crown said he is not sure if his friend eventually attained citizenship, but that he wanted to address the issue because it should not have been allowed to happen.

Pace said this was an issue that he would take action on as soon as possible.

“I did not know that we had that kind of a problem, and that kind of problem is exactly why there’s folks like the gentlemen on this stage,” Pace said.

“I’m going to take that, and get that to the folks who have the responsibility right now so we can track that down, because it is clearly not what our nation intends to happen.”

KPU Director Will Hubbard, a Marine Reserve after joining the Marine Corps in 2007, said that enabling the three generals to interact with an audience and with each other was beneficial.

“It’s definitely a historic moment for KPU and for the country, that these three men could come together and actually talk about these issues that are really pertinent to the future of the military and really to the future of the United States,” Hubbard told The Eagle.

The event was co-sponsored by a number of AU student organizations including AU Student Veterans, College Republicans, College Democrats, the Roosevelt Institute, the Student Government and The Eagle.

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

Munitions to be destroyed today near Sibley

By MITCH ELLMAUER and CHRISTOPHER COTTRELL Eagle Staff Writers The Army Corps of Engineers plans to destroy five chemical munitions today in its Explosive Destruction System behind Sibley Hospital.

The system has been used before at the Spring Valley federal property; in 2003, 15 munitions were successfully neutralized there, according to Todd Beckwith, the Corps’ Spring Valley project manager.

While the destruction process is dependent on favorable weather conditions, it is scheduled to run from today until April 23. The Corps is also planning to neutralize 20 liquid-filled items that do not contain chemical agents with the EDS by May 5, Beckwith said.

At a City Council hearing on March 29, the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency committed to implementing additional public protection measures for the destruction operations, according to Beckwith.

On April 10, HSEMA and the Corps’ outreach teams partnered to inform nearby residents their public safety plan was in place, which included instructions for shelter-in-place precautions. They distributed the plan to 19 nearby residences, according to Beckwith.

They spoke with and provided information to 12 residents and left materials and contact information at the remaining seven residences.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DD.C., said she was impressed with the safety measures when she was given a tour of the EDS site on April 13, according to Beckwith.

The Corps’ destruction plan has been approved by all necessary agencies except the District Department of the Environment, which is waiting for the HSEMA to establish a public protection plan. “[The DDOE] would not sign off on the EDS until a public protection plan was done. The public protection plan has not been done yet - that’s the only reason,” said James Sweeney, DDOE’s representative on the Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board. “Once

the public protection plan is done and we are satisfied with it, we will sign off on the EDS.” The Corps can still neutralize the munitions without DDOE’s approval.

Beckwith said it is HSEMA’s responsibility to ensure that residents are aware of the warning siren so they are aware if something goes wrong. Only the residents that are within the established safety boundary would need to be notified, he said.

HSEMA is also supposed to install a car-mounted siren that will notify residents if something goes awry, in which case residents are advised to remain indoors, close all windows and doors and shut off air conditioning.

Maya Courtney, a member of the Corps’ community outreach team for its Baltimore District, said a part of HSEMA’s job is to ask residents to sign up for e-mail, text and phone alerts.

AU residents will be alerted via text if there is an emergency.

The EDS has been used to destroy over 1,700 chemical munitions across the country without incident.

“We designed our destruction plan ... so we wouldn’t have to implement a

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safety plan outside of federal property,” Beckwith said.

One RAB member described the destruction process and the EDS as “basically a big fancy can opener.” He said workers are essentially splitting open a munition and washing out what is inside and neutralizing it.

He said he was skeptical going into a recent tour given to RAB members of the EDS structure but left convinced that the procedure will be safe.

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Educating Minds and Hearts to Change the World

APRIL 15, 2010

THE EAGLE'S ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

Hipsters: reject overthe-counter culture PUMPIN’ IRONY

KATRINA CASINO

Courtesy of HELEN WEST

GLASS CASE OF EMOTION — AU music club Spinoza does its best work in silence. The club, which is dedicated to practicing their individual instruments with one another, gives back to the community with a unique practice-a-thon.

AU music club plays in silence for charity

By MICHAEL W. RICHARDSON Eagle Staff Writer Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza said “virtue is its own reward,” and the students behind the AU club Spinoza have taken those words as their defining mantra.

While many music groups get together to play songs for one another in an attempt to prove who has the most skill, the players behind Spinoza have a much simpler idea behind their gettogethers. Practice is not just a means to an end but a reward in itself.

“It came out of an idea of music director Nancy Snyder,” Helen West, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and president-elect of Spinoza. “Practicing your instrument is a very solitary activity. This way, we get to meet once a week and learn how to practice and learn how to perfect our instruments.”

“The concept for the practice club grew out of a very special relationship that I had with one of my fellow music students in college, Jay Cooley,” Snyder told The Eagle in an e-mail.

“While [Cooley] and I were friendly enough, our deepest connection came from the fact that we practiced next to each other.”

The idea was to build a community around what is perhaps the loneliest part of the music-creation process.

Instead of locking themselves away in

their dorm rooms playing the same chords for hours on end, these musicians meet to share the experience.

Ultimately, the goal is a greater sense of solidarity for the musicians on campus.

“It’s kind of like a study group,” West said. “We all support each other so we don’t get disconnected.”

Learning to practice well is an integral part of learning an instrument, and the club has provided students with an incentive to keep at their instruments. Though the club is small, it allows members to have the tight-knit sense of community that the founders believe they need to foster these connections between students.

Spinoza has extended this sense of community beyond AU’s campus.

The group is currently preparing for a “Practice-a-thon” to benefit the Sitar Arts Center, an organization that provides arts education to underprivileged and at-risk youth.

“The Sitar Center has been our partner for several years,” West said.

“They bring the gift of music to kids who might not have it.”

Many of the volunteers at the Sitar Arts Center are AU students, so it’s connection to the school made it a very promising partnership. In order to provide the Sitar Center with as much help as possible, Spinoza has put on these practice-a-thons.

On Saturday, April 17, the club will

erect a soundproof glass module from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. outside of the Harris Teeter at 1631 Kalorama Rd. N.W., right across the street from the Sitar Arts Center. There will be a rotating set of students who occupy the module for the full eight hours, practicing continuously for others to watch (but not hear).

Tablers will hand out literature and discuss with visitors the importance of practice, not only for musicians but also for students who may not fully understand the need to study or dedicate themselves in other portions of their lives. Spinoza is seeking to make an impression on the people who see them.

“Part of practicing is getting connected to the community, and a lot of the students here [at AU] need to get connected more,” West said.

The students behind Spinoza believe more than practice makes perfect. They believe that practice is as much of what defines us, and that it applies to everyone, not just an aspiring instrumentalist. So if you’re looking to help support the D.C. arts community and chat about the value of studious practicing in a fast-paced world, join Spinoza at Harris Teeter this Saturday.

When the Three 6 Mafia told us that it was hard out there for a pimp, they had no idea what it was like being a hipster. And while it’s no longer safe to say that hipsters don’t have the benefit of sporting pimp things like gold chains, teeth or goblets of drank, we all have to admit one thing: it’s expensive to be a hipster.

This fact of hipster life is — you guessed it — ironic.

This whole semester, I’ve been discussing the commodification of cool, the way that companies and designers have appropriated the trends and styles of actual countercultures and sold them back to hip kids at outrageous prices. This kind of cycle is mostly what’s giving hipster culture a bad name. Critics fear that the hipster represents a shallowness and lack of originality that run rampant in our society, but at this point, what kind of fashion doesn’t? Hipsterdom just happens to catch the most flak by virtue of associating itself with DIY, artsyness and empty pockets while dropping $70+ buying the same imported, mass-manufactured plaid shirt in every color (a hipster’s gotta stay fly).

At ease, hipsters; it’s not your fault.

Hipsterdom is one of the first fashion subcultures to exist under the microscope of the advertising industry. We are less a subculture and more a consumer target market, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are four

ways to become a more environmentally aware and economically efficient hipster (this does not include trying to convince Metro workers to take EagleBucks instead of actual money) so that the haters can hate a little less, and you can save a little scratch.

WHEELS Don’t vintage fixed-gear bikes look cool? The answer is yes, unless you’ve just fallen off your fixed-gear bike after careening down the giant hill upon which AU is located. I know vintage is trendy, but in the case of bicycles, it’s probably best to pick function over form. I promise you can still be cool. It’s just that a fixed-gear bike isn’t worth the money you save if you’re going to 1) be spending extra money on a hospital bill or 2) be dropping cash to get brakes installed — because getting a mechanism installed on a product that’s defined by the lack therof is pretty ironic.

But don’t worry, you can still look trendy while helping the local economy! Instead of spending way too much money customizing your own hipster bike online, hit up a local bike store. City Bikes is a great shop located in Adams Morgan (see? trendy!), and the Bike Rack can be found in Logan Circle (next to a Whole Foods, no less). Save money and local businesses all at once. Remember, a bike is a terrible thing to waste, especially in a city as bike-friendly as D.C., so make good decisions when you’re out shopping for your set of wheels.

CLOTHES If you want the sensibility of thrifted clothes without the weird politics of the Salvation Army, D.C. has a bunch of locally-run thrift stores for you to choose from. Thrifting is not only a great way to save money on

clothes (they don’t just look old, they are old — how’s that for being genuine?), it’s also a great hipster activity that will score you a ton of street cred and introduce you to new locations around the District. Try Georgia Avenue Thrift Store or Meeps Vintage Fashionette in (where else?) Adams Morgan.

As an added incentive, thrifting is sometimes extremely lucrative. My friend once went into a Goodwill shop and bought a bunch of Shania Twain concert tees for 10 bucks. It turned out that they were extremely rare, classic pieces of Shania Twain memorabilia, and he was able to sell them on eBay for upwards of $50 each. Now you too can make a little bank off of “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”

CIGARETTES I know that only in hipster culture (or maybe also journalism culture) does the category of cigarettes ever come before food, and that the safest and most long-term way to save money on cigarettes is to quit. But for some of the smokers who aren’t yet ready to quit, there are more economical and environmental ways to consume tobacco without having to drop seven dollars a week on Parliaments.

Rolling your own cigarettes is cheaper — about $4-5 for a pack of tobacco that comes with papers and rolls about 40 cigarettes. It’s also (arguably) better for you, as packaged tobacco has fewer processed chemicals than pre-rolled cigarettes. The tradeoff of this is the lack of filter, which, although it makes the smoke harsher, is better for the environment. Filters take an unseemly amount of time to naturally decompose, while paper n

see HIPSTER on page 7

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

PHIL BRAY / SCREEN GEMS

ROCK BOTTOM — Comedians Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan star in 2010’s star-studded remake of the 2007 British comedy “Death At a Funeral.” The film is a dark comedy strictly based on the original but with a fresh slapstick twist.

Morgan, Rock resurrect ‘Funeral’ second coming

By YOHANA DESTA Eagle Staff Writer

Courtesy of PALADIN FILMS

GOOD GRIEF — “The Greatest,” written and directed by Shana Feste, is a heartbreaking look at the loss of a son and the impact it has on a family. The romantic drama stars a fresh-faced Carey Mulligan and Aaron Johnson.

Mulligan proves abilities in complex, deliberate ‘Greatest’

By LYDIA FIELD Eagle Contributing Writer THE GREATEST

B

The process of grieving is commonly broken down into five stages:

denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But what happens when your grief cannot be categorized into such clear-cut categories? The movie “The Greatest” shows us that loss is too personal to fit any formula. It is the story of a family trying to understand not only their own grief, but also how their dead son’s pregnant

girlfriend fits into their lives.

After spending only one night together, Rose (Carey Mulligan) was certain that Bennett was the love of her life. However, the innocence of young love quickly comes crashing down as Bennett dies in a car accident, and Rose soon learns she is pregnant n

see GREATEST on page 6

Loud-mouthed comedian Tracy Morgan and comedian/actor/producer Chris Rock prove that they are two birds of a feather in their latest comedic film, “Death At A Funeral.” The movie is a remake of a 2007 British film of the same name. While both scripts were written by Dean Craig, Neil LaBute (“Lakeview Terrace,” “The Wicker Man”) took the director’s chair this time around. Aside from Morgan and Rock, the film boasts an ensemble cast of talented actors and actresses like Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Danny Glover and Columbus Short.

In the film, a family comes together during a funeral to commemorate the life of a husband and father.

However, as the family and mourners get together, gossip is spread and confessions and secrets are revealed.

The original film has since become a comedic hit and seems likely to do so a second time around, especially considering the amount of star power.

It’s no doubt that the film is going to be different in many ways, especially considering the largely black cast, something that Rock acknowledges.

“The British are very mannered,” Rock said in an interview with The Eagle. “They’re very polite with their comedy. And this one, it’s not even a remake; it’s a remix. It’s a Timbaland

remix. It’s a lot more blunt and a lot more — maybe a little more over-thetop in places, so it’s a funkier version.

It’s like Aretha Franklin singing a Beatles song.”

And any film that contains the wild and hilarious Tracy Morgan is bound to be different. Morgan is quite possibly the furthest you could get from dry British humor. His characters are usually loud, outlandish and opinionated in the strangest ways, like his character on “30 Rock,” Tracy Jordan. In this film, Morgan plays Norman, a friend of the family who is also mourning.

“Norman, he’s a bit paranoid,” Morgan said in an interview with The Eagle. “He has a trace of schizophrenia in there and he’s crazy, but he’s a good dude at heart. He’s just a lovable loser.”

In his typical style, Morgan adds his own flavor to every film he does, and this remake was no exception.

“We did this movie, but we wanted to add our flavor to it,” Morgan said.

“We wanted to complement — I wanted to complement the role I saw.

And when I saw the cast that Chris and everybody had assembled, I was like ‘This is going to be the bomb, baby!’”

As the producer for the film, Rock picked Morgan out himself to join the star-studded cast.

The film was more enjoyable for Rock because of the ensemble cast of

comedians and actors, considering the last film he did was the animated “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.”

“When you start out, you see comedians all the time in the clubs, comedy clubs, delis, diners,” Rock said. “Then people get families, they get the careers, you don’t see nobody.

[But now] it’s like, I’m hanging out with Tracy. I’m hanging out with Martin [Lawrence]. Tommy Davidson and Will Smith came by the set, and it was hanging out. We were together, man.”

The ensemble nature of the film seems as though it will lend to the familial theme of the story, just like the original. But all differences from both films aside, Rock said this film is inclusive to anyone and everyone who loves comedy and has family troubles.

“I think that the audience for this movie — this is an American audience movie,” Rock said. “This is not soul play. This is for everybody. Me and Tracy are two guys that have worked for mass audiences for more than a decade, so I think the audience for this movie is a pretty big [one].”

It’s obvious that this film was a labor of love for both actors and a vehicle for a new kind of comedy. “Death at a Funeral” opens in theaters everywhere Friday.

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

the EAGLE

APRIL 15, 2010

the scene 6

Seven books to stand out on busy bookshelf FICTION DICTION

ERIN CRANDELL Since this is my last column of the semester, I decided to give you more insight into who I am through my personality as a reader. I believe that what we read — and enjoy — shapes our personalities and lets everyone know what kind of people we are.

Therefore, tada! These are some of my favorite books of all time. In no particular order, of course.

“Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey” by Chuck Palahniuk This is my favorite Chuck Palahniuk book, although “Invisible Monsters” is a very close second. The “oral biography” of a man who creates a rabies epidemic in a fictional world not too far from our own is told through personal testaments of people who knew him, loved him and were infected by him. This book is so weird, so twisted and so completely messed up that it almost makes no sense.

Palahniuk’s first look into science fiction, it is definitely more fiction than science and it really captures Palahniuk’s writing style to the tee.

Convoluted plot, almost unlikable characters and unbelievable events, yet I am still completely intrigued.

SCOTT SUCHMAN / SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY

LIAR LIAR — Shakespeare Theatre Company is putting on a production of Pierre Corneille’s “The Liar” that runs until May 23. Despite the fact that the play was written in 1644, David Ives’ adaptation breathes new life into an old plot.

17th century laughs modernized in ‘Liar’ ‘Translaptation’ gives new boost to old script

By STEPHAN CHO Eagle Staff Writer If you’re persuasive enough, you can get away with just about anything.

At least, that’s the credo that our anti-hero Dorante lives by in “The Liar,” a brilliant adaptation of the original 1644 comedy

by Pierre Corneille. Theater has never been more self-aware as it is in this hilarious piece of work abound with misunderstandings, iambic pentameter and convincing split personalities. Directed

by Michael Kahn of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, the play debuts at the Lansburgh Theatre and runs until May 23.

Starting with an introduction by a destitute named Cliton (Adam Green), the play couldn’t be what it is without its overthe-top yet endearing characters.

Cliton is cursed with the inability to tell a lie, a trait that perhaps drew him to the wayward law school graduate of Dorante (Christian Conn). Serving as the antithesis to Cliton, Dorante is downright beguiling when it comes to charm and wordplay, a skill he uses to exaggerate his accomplishments and get him out of trouble. To him, lying is the spice of life, a necessity if one wants to stand above the monotony of dull reality.

n

from GREATEST on page 5

with his child. She arrives at his parents’ house in the hopes that they will help her get to know Bennett. The father is quick to change the subject every time his son’s name is mentioned, but soon warms to Rose. Conversely, all the mother wants to do is talk about her son and learn about the last few minutes of his life, yet she refuses to get to know the one person who was with him at the end.

The way the parents deal with their grief is best encapsulated in a scene where the father, Allen (Pierce Brosnan) is sitting upright and wide-eyed in bed while his wife, Grace (Susan Sarandon) sleeps beside him. Grace wakes and, upon the realization that it was not a bad dream and her son really is dead, she bursts into tears. Allen refuses to dwell on Bennett, and yet Grace is overly attached to his memory. In the process of their conflicting sorrows, they alienate their younger son, Ryan (Johnny Simmons), who constantly feels overshadowed by his older brother, even in death. Ryan attends a support group for kids who have lost siblings because he thinks it’s what he’s supposed to do. Upon learning that Rose is pregnant he remarks, “It figures. The one bad thing my brother ever does and he’s not even around to get in trouble for it.”

Sarandon established her capabilities and range as an actress long ago. While she does an exceptional job portraying a mother paralyzed by the loss of her son, the acting seems somewhat repetitive given her role in “Moonlight Mile,” a 2002 film with a similar premise. It’s hard to see Brosnan playing a character that does not drive an Aston

The starting point of what becomes a network of fabrications is when Dorante meets Clarice (Erin Partin) and her quiet friend (Miriam Silverman) on his first day back in Paris since law school. Instantly enraptured

by Clarice’s beauty, he decides to win her over by waxing poetic about his recent return from a made-up war in Germany. Clarice, as cautious as she tries to be about this overzealous stranger, still finds herself charmed by his playful advances but doesn’t reveal her name. After she leaves, her maid Isabelle (Colleen Delany) tells Cliton that “the pretty one” is named Lucrece, which is actually the name of Clarice’s silent friend.

The rest of the play follows this pattern of mind-boggling wordplay and layer after layer of misconceptions, bolstered by Dorante’s instantaneous ability to spin the truth. The iambic pentameter delivery of the dialogue makes for some chuckle-worthy moments between the characters, as each utterance is almost like a punch line. The play is malleable to just about anyone’s sensibilities and the frenetic pacing is never cumbersome during notable scenes, such as when Dorante goes on a fantastical tirade about his romp with the fiancée of one of his closest friends.

“All the world’s a lie, and all the men and women merely liars,” chimes a dreamy Dorante in the second act. As each scene builds on the other, the play keeps you on tenterhooks at all times, making you wonder what will happen next as a result of Dorante’s trickery. We never once question

the morality of what he is doing because we are having so much fun. The play does not try to justify or analyze Dorante’s actions, but celebrate them. Perhaps, even for just a moment, we’re even agreeing with his life philosophy.

Whenever we see him on stage, we actually want him to lie in order to keep us entertained. This could only be made possible by an excellent playwright.

When David Ives was asked to translate the original play for the adaptation, he had never heard of it before in his life. But after spending several hours reading the script with a French dictionary in hand, he realized that he would soon partake in a gem of comedic theatre. He was particularly attracted to how the plot was so simplistic in its premise yet so profoundly rich in humor, characterization and social satire.

Calling his version of the play a “translaptation” — a translation with heavy dose of adaptation — he went about his work with the mindset of a playwright.

While the ending of the play is admittedly abrupt and unexpected — and not necessarily in a good way — it just works as a reminder that the entirety of the play is a farce. There may be very brief moments where the dialogue can be rather unflattering, which in turn makes the acting slightly off-key. Still, “The Liar” is another excellent production by the eminent Shakespeare Theatre Company, backed by a solid cast and an addictive story.

Martin or have a license to kill, but he reminds the audience that he has more depth than that and adequately depicts a father who does not want to admit that the death of his son has affected him.

The younger members of the cast, Carey Mulligan and Johnny Simmons, are the highlight of the movie. Simmons handles the complexities of his character’s role well. He wants to hate his brother for all the attention he gets even after he’s dead, but he admits that he truly misses him.

He also provides the fleeting moments of comic relief to an otherwise somber plot. Mulligan has quickly become one of the industry’s most recent talkedabout actresses. She was rela-

tively unknown until her recent role in “An Education” garnered her an Academy Award nomination. Mulligan acts with a grace and deliberation that is well beyond her years and qualities that are highlighted in this role as she strives to incorporate herself into a family that is falling apart.

This movie sends the message that one aspect of grief commonly goes overlooked — its ability to bring people together.

Screened last year at several film festivals, “The Greatest” opens in select D.C. theaters April 16.

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

Is Peace Corps service in your future?

Life is calling.

How far will you go?

800.424.8580 peacecorps.gov

“Atonement” by Ian McEwan This is a story of how one event of flawed human perception and jealousy can devastate two lives. Told through multiple perspectives, time seems to run together. It is beautifully written and it definitely made me cry several times. If you don’t feel like reading this book, which of course you should, the movie is an acceptable substitute. I usually don’t say that, but the soundtrack enhanced the whole tone of the book in a subtle but pointed way. Though I still appreciate the delicate imagery and powerful characterization in the novel, neither of which quite translates to the movie.

“100 Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I hadn’t really understood magical realism before discovering this book. It took me a while to read, but I was still completely engrossed in this novel. It weaves the culture of one town in secluded South America

[1984] is what we fear becoming true in places such as North Korea, and this warning scares me. with a tale of magic, incest, curses and family power. I really want to read this in Spanish, but I feel like it would take a lot of time and personal commitment to actually be able to understand it properly. The writing takes you directly to that town in South America that is so far from our own urban reality that it becomes unreal.

“Tomorrow When the War Began” by John Mardsen John Mardsen is actually Australian, so I wouldn’t be all that surprised if most people have never even heard of his books. But his “Tomorrow When the War Began” series is an extremely compelling story about a group of teens who wake up to find

“The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver This is a bonding book for my mom and me. I admire the strength of the main character Taylor Greer, driving away from everything that she knew at home and stopping when life told her to stop. It is the story of a girl who tries to escape the future that she would have at home in Tennessee and, instead, fate dropped her future in her car on the side of the road. It is a story about the courage of the human spirit, and about how a new home is not always bad. This relates directly to my mom and me because we move around so much and sometimes we have to be reminded about how good change can be.

“Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger Like every other ninth grade student in the world, I had to read this in English class. But, unlike “To Kill a Mockingbird,” I actually really enjoyed it. I know it would be completely cliché to say that I identified with Holden Caulfield, and I really think that he just amused me more than anything else. It fascinated me (as a self-described goody-goody) that one teen could hold that much anger, hurt and crudeness. He was not the first emo character in literature, but he has become one of the most memorable, especially for those of us who had to read about him moaning and bitching in ninth grade English class.

Again, these are only a part of my list, and it is only a matter of personal opinion. But summer is a long season, and I love having a multitude of thought-provoking books to read.

Next on my list is “Eating Animals”

by Jonathan Safran Foer.

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

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

Are you graduating in May?

Peace Corps.

“1984” by George Orwell When I left for college, this was the only book I bothered to bring with me from home. I voluntarily chose this as the topic for the sixteenpage paper that I had to write for my International Baccalaureate diploma.

I have read it at least six times, and every time it is equally powerful. It is such an epic dystopian novel, one that will never be surpassed in its cruel, manic, depressing view of human nature. The symbols of power in this novel have progressed to being referenced in everyday life (“Big Brother,” “doublethink”). This is what we fear becoming true in places such as North Korea, and this warning scares me. In my opinion, this should be required school reading along with classics such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Catcher in the Rye.”

their entire country overrun by an occupying force. Then they transform into BAMF-y guerilla fighters and try to overthrow the occupiers — you gotta grow up quick when you wake up in a war zone. They go through the trials of forming a community among themselves to the point where their bonds become those of a family. It is a multiple-book series, and I highly recommend you find them somehow.

Would you like to use your degree and experience to assist global development, peace and understanding?

Submit your application now for English teaching programs and other opportunities departing this year.

Juniors - submit your applications now for programs departing next summer.

Defense Intelligence Agency Invitation-Only Hiring Event May 18 – 20, 2010 • 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Washington, DC

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is hosting a three-day Invitation-Only Hiring Event in support of DIA’s global mission for the following occupational specialties: • Acquisition and Contracting

• Financial Services

• Administrative

• Human Capital

• Analysis (Intelligence Officers — all disciplines)

• Information Technology

• Counterintelligence

• Intelligence Operations

• Education

• Oversight and Compliance

• Engineering

• Science

• Facilities and Logistics

• Security

• Intelligence Collection

To be considered for employment, applicants must apply online before midnight EST April 25, 2010. To apply online, visit www.dia.mil and, under the Employment menu, choose Recruiting Events. For assistance with your online application, please call (202) 231-5500 or email recruiting@dia.mil. DIA Human Resources Specialists will contact all selectees to schedule their interview.

DIA hiring managers will be on site to conduct interviews for immediate and future positions located worldwide. Applicants possessing sought-after skills for positions targeted may receive conditional offers of employment! DIA encourages all professional applicants interested in a career with the nation’s premier provider of intelligence to apply online for this event. All applicants must be US citizens. DIA is an equal opportunity employer.

Bring your intelligence to DIA.

$ Your Intelligence Protecting America $

7

CLASSIFIEDS

APRIL 15, 2010

KUSHAN DOSHI n Business Manager 202.885.3593

CLASSIFIEDS GARDEN HELP WANTED Once a week for 2 hours at $15/hour. Call 202.363.5229.

SITTERS WANTED $12 or more per hour.

Register free for jobs near campus or home. http://www.student-sitters.com

DAN SMITH / LIONSGATE PUBLICITY

SUPER FLY — ‘Kick-Ass’ is director Matthew Vaughn’s fresh take on the summer superhero genre. The story centers on Dave Lizewski, who creates a super alter ego after being robbed at a comic book store.

Film ‘kicks’ superhero stereotypes to the curb

By NISA SANDERS Eagle Contributing Writer KICK-ASS

A-

A radioactive spider bit Peter Parker, Clark Kent was an alien and Dave Lizewski was robbed. Based on the comic book series by Mark Miller, “Kick-Ass” is one superhero film that provides a cynical but more realistic take on exactly what it takes for an average person to step up and be extraordinary.

Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is an average teenage boy who likes to hang with his boys, Marty and Todd, at the local comic book shop. After talking with Marty and Todd, he poses the question, “Why has no one ever tried to be a superhero?” His friends’ response? “Because they would get their ass kicked.” Soon after, Dave and Todd are robbed when leaving the shop and, even though someone witnesses it, nothing is done. Dave decides to take action by ordering a green wetsuit off the Internet and become a super alter ego: Kick-Ass. Johnson, a British actor who played John Lennon in the independent film “Nowhere Boy,” played his most recognizable role in the 2008 television movie “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.” But even though he may not have an extensive filmography, he will be well on his way, as his perfor-

mance in “Kick-Ass” is top notch.

Kick-Ass starts to train himself and get his ass kicked — a lot — but one night, he proves quite successful and saves a man from being killed.

His heroic deed ends up on YouTube and Kick-Ass becomes a media sensation. Meanwhile, big time gangster Frank D’Amico (whose geeky son Chris, played by Christopher MintzPlasse, best known as McLovin from “Superbad,” is trying to follow in his footsteps) runs into some problems, namely a caped crusader who messes with his drug deals and kills his men.

Mintz-Plasse’s performance is commendable; he is very funny, but does not get a lot of screen time.

Seeing Kick-Ass on the news and in the paper causes D’Amico to believe it is Kick-Ass interfering with his business, and he puts a hit out on him. Kick-Ass, not knowing D’Amico is after him, goes on a personal mission to protect his crush, Katie, from a criminal ex-boyfriend. Kick-Ass ends up outnumbered, and just when you think he has seen the last of his days, another superhero, Hit-Girl — played by 13-year-old Chloe Moretz and a badass in every sense of the word — comes to his rescue.

Hit-Girl is one eleven-year-old you do not want to mess with - she’s fast, great with knives and witty. She and her father, Big Daddy (played by Nicolas Cage with an Adam West in “Batman” accent), keep tabs on KickAss due to his recent popularity. Chris soon becomes Red Mist, with the in-

tent of capturing his father’s enemy, and befriends Kick-Ass. The entanglement of all these characters leads to an amazing climax riddled with fight sequences and hilarious one-liners.

“Kick-Ass” is a refreshing superhero flick that makes you laugh, cringe from violence and somehow wish it would never end. What makes the film so unique is that it pushes boundaries. It’s not your typical PG13 superhero movie with big names — it’s filled with no names and rated R. Director Matthew Vaughn (“Stardust,” “Layer Cake”) manages to display a new type of superhero that is wimpy, rather than tough and brooding, but also still makes you root for him. The film’s comedic timing allows it be graphically violent and pull from many typical themes found in superhero films like organized crime, police corruption and death in an original manner.

“Kick-Ass,” much like “Watchmen,” focuses on how superheroes are not all inherently good and can be just as flawed as villains. “Vigilante justice” is a term used in the film as a way to categorize what a superhero truly is.

If superhero movies are your thing, you like to laugh a lot and don’t mind graphic violence then “Kick-Ass” will certainly entertain you. The film opens this Friday.

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

n

from HIPSTER on page 5

filters used in hand-rolled cigarettes are recyclable. Plus there’s the added satisfaction of consuming your own product — now no one can say you’re not crafty.

FOOD Call it bougie if you must, but Whole Foods has the right idea. Quality ingredients and locally-grown products are the best way to support the local economy while taking care of yourself, but damn, that hummus is expensive.

So instead of hitting up chain grocery stores for all your needs (or rather, trying to turn CVS into a grocery store for your own peace of mind), try heading to a food co-op. The products are organic and the stores are usually run by volunteers. Unfortunately, the closest co-ops are in Maryland, but they’re all Metro-accessible. The Glut Food Coop in Mt. Rainer is a cheap, healthy, community-oriented store that’s been serving D.C.’s socially-aware since 1969. The University of Maryland at College Park also has one where you can not only shop, but also volunteer and trade in your hours for free food.

So cast off your hipster shame, cool kids. Finally, there’s a way to be trendy and not have to feel guilty about it. All the resources are there, it’s just a matter of searching for them, and with the summer coming up, it’s a perfect time to go looking. Trust me, the wait is worth it, and you’re sure to find something you love. In fact, soon enough you’ll be saying, damn, it feels good to be a hipster.

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

The Week in Fun: Know Your City THURS 15

FRI 16

SAT 17

Fiddler on the Roof 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. METRO: Metro Center (red, blue and orange lines) INFO: This famous play examines the relationship between tradition and happiness, forcing you to place your loyalties with a hopeful patriarch and the daughters he wishes to marry off, even if they have other wishes for themselves.

COST: $50-$95 CONTACT: For more information, call the National Theatre at 202628-6161.

Titus Andronicus 8 p.m.

WHERE: St. Stephen and the Incantation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St. N.W. METRO: Columbia Heights (green and yellow lines) INFO: Titus Andronicus may have set out to create a concept album about the Civil War with their new album “The Monitor,” but what they really achieved was a punk album about falling in love and growing up in New Jersey, just with the bravado of that great armed conflict.

COST: $7 CONTACT: For more information, call St. Stephen’s at 202-2320900.

Jedi Mind Tricks 8 p.m.

WHERE: 9:30 club, 815 V St. N.W. METRO: U Street/African-American War Memorial/Cardozo (green and yellow lines) INFO: Jedi Mind Tricks have courted controversy with their unapologetically aggressive style of rap, but their unique voice and sense of righteous indignation are what make them such a force to be reckoned with. Catch them at the 9:30 club for a taste of what people are talking about.

COST: $17 CONTACT: For more information, visit the 9:30 club’s Web site at www.930.com.

SUN 18 Jeff Caldwell 8 p.m.

WHERE: DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. N.W. METRO: Farragut North (red line) INFO: Though Jeff Caldwell brands himself as a “clean” comic, his observational humor could stand next to Jerry Seinfeld and the other greats of the genre. Caldwell has appeared on shows as diverse as Late Night with David Letterman and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

COST: $17 CONTACT: For more information, visit DC Improv’s Web site at www.dcimprov.com.

MON 19 Othello 7 p.m.

WHERE: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, Md. METRO: Silver Spring (red line) INFO: Though the image of Orson Welles in blackface may be distracting, it’s really the great liberties Welles has taken with the original Shakespeare play that has made this film a mustsee in the Shakespearean canon.

Its groundbreaking camera work contains all the dread of the work’s famous last act.

COST: $10 CONTACT: For more information, call the AFI Silver Theatre at 301-495-6720.

TUES 20 The Bad Plus 8 p.m.

WHERE: The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va. METRO: Vienna/Fairfax-GMU (orange line) INFO: The Bad Plus made a name for themselves with a freewheeling jazz cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (and made it on to NPR’s list of the best recording of the last decade), but their other covers are equally as notable, transforming each into a legitimate jazz creation.

COST: $25 CONTACT: For more information, visit the Wolf Trap’s Web site at www.wolftrap.com.

8

SPORTS

APRIL 15, 2010

SAM LINDAUER n Sports Editor 202.885.1404

Nationals’ pitching staff still taking shape NATS WATCH

SAM LINDAUER It is a widely held belief in baseball that pitching wins championships. Right now, the Nationals are not looking like they are ready to win any championships. A glance at the starting rotation can show they are lacking in true depth.

The sure things in the rotation for the time being are the number one and two starters, John Lannan and Jason Marquis. The only real sure thing about these two pitchers is that they are not going anywhere, but each has had his share of problems this year and in the past. In the young season, lefty John Lannan is 1-1. His record is not really indicative of any problems but looking at how much he has actually pitched points to some of the problems the Nationals have been having. In his first two starts of the season, Lannan has only gone 8.2 innings combined while walking six. Sure, it is still very early in the season, but no fan wants to see numbers like these at any point in the year.

In his first season with the Nationals, Marquis has looked even worse than Lannan. His ERA currently sits at 12.96 and he has only pitched 8.1 innings total this season. Marquis is a better pitcher than this and his ERA is obviously inflated because it is early. But one cannot overlook the fact that Marquis is on a team that is not as ef-

fective at producing runs as some of his former clubs like the Rockies and the Cubs. This may or may not be a source of pressure to Marquis.

It is difficult to pitch thinking that any bad inning will sink the team since runs are hard to come by for the Nats.

The Nationals added another veteran starter this season in Livan Hernandez. The Cuban righty provides the team with a pitcher that can eat innings, an ability younger players struggle with. Hernandez is known throughout baseball as a workhorse for how he gets through games. In his first and only start so far this season, Hernandez went seven shutout innings against the New York Mets. This is a welcoming sight when Lannan and Marquis have each only pitched about one more inning in total despite both having second starts.

If starters do not go deep into games, bullpens suffer. Starters who go only about five innings plus a tired bullpen leads to disasters, or in the Nationals case, 100 loss seasons.

But they have options. There are two players who can have a very big impact. The problem is that they are not yet available. The first is obviously Stephen Strasburg, who is currently pitching in the minor leagues. Strasburg impressed many in his first start of the season by allowing just one earned run and striking out eight in five innings of work. There is no real need to rush Strasburg as it cannot hurt to give him time to develop and get used to higher quality competition. But if Strasburg was to come up to the majors tomorrow the team would be instantly better; they still would

not be a playoff team. In all likelihood, Strasburg will make his debut with the team sometime this summer. But that day cannot come soon enough for many baseball fans. The only things fans can do is be patient and remember that good things come to those who wait.

Another pitcher who is waiting in the wings is righty Chien-Ming Wang. Wang is currently recovering from shoulder surgery that has kept him off the mound for the Nationals. He does not have a high strikeout rate meaning he may not be as flashy as Strasburg, but he can get players out. Before he suffered a foot injury that seemed to send his career into a downward spiral, Wang was one of the most effective starters in the American League.

In 2006 and 2007 he won 19 games with the Yankees — results the Nationals would not mind seeing from the 30-year-old Taiwan native.

So assuming Wang returns to the team healthy and in 2007 form and that Strasburg will be striking out hapless National League batters left and right this summer, the Nats rotation may not look so dire on paper. Behind Wang and Strasburg they will have Lannan (who realistically is a three or four starter) and Marquis. The fifth starter spot, as of now, would likely belong to Craig Stammen, Livan Hernandez or Scott Olsen. A team like the Nationals will not have as much of a locked in rotation as some of the elite teams in baseball, but they are not far off from having a respectable starting five.

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

Capitals’ outlook looks bright against Canadiens CAPITAL SPOTLIGHT

ANDREW TOMLINSON With the playoffs starting tonight, the questions on some Washingtonians’ minds are, “will this be the Capitals’ year and can they win 16 postseason games to capture the Stanley Cup?” The answer to these questions begins against the Montreal Canadiens. If it is indeed their year, they must get past the Canadiens and here is a look of how the teams matchup.

Forwards: On the surface, it seems that the Capitals have the automatic edge because they have Alex Ovechkin. In reality, it is the third and fourth line players who often have the biggest impact in a playoff series. Sure, Ovechkin will score his goals, but it is the role players who need to do well if the Caps or Canadiens hope to make it out of the first round.

When you talk about Washington and role players, the fourth line of Matt Bradley, David Steckel and Boyd Gordon comes to mind.

These three have provided the spark for the team the whole season.

They may not score the flashiest goals, but the trio scores some of the most important. It is hard to forget Game Five against the New York Rangers in last year’s playoffs.

Washington was on the brink of elimination, and Bradley propelled the team to a 4-0 win, scoring the game’s first two goals. Those two goals would propel Washington to win the series.

Montreal’s role players aren’t anything to laugh at. While they may not have the energy and pure motivation of the Caps’ fourth line, Montreal’s fourth line of Tom

Pyatt, Maxim Lapierre and MarcAndre Bergeron is experienced and physical.

The hockey world probably remembers Lapierre for his boarding hit on Scott Nichol in early March that netted him a four-game suspension. It is his physicality that makes him such a great player for Montreal. In the playoffs, it is all about driving the net and scoring dirty goals down low, Lapierre isn’t afraid to do that.

Perhaps the weakest link on Montreal’s fourth line is Marc-Andre Bergeron. He is a defenseman, but he double shifts on the fourth line, too. As a result, he isn’t the greatest forward and may be overly tired toward the end of a game.

Edge: Washington Defense: Unlike the forwards, good playoff defenders are all about pure skill and ability. Unfortunately for those rooting for Canada’s team, Montreal is completely outmatched compared to Washington. Where does one start with Washington’s defensive line up? Should it be with Norris Trophy candidate Mike Green, league +/- leader Jeff Shultz or rookie X-factor John Carlson?

For the sake of discussion, let’s start with Green, who has quietly put together the best year of his career. He has a laser-fast shot from the point, is fourth on the team in power play goals with 11 and has the nickname of “game over Green.” He has also improved his defensive play in the second half of the season.

Carlson has the ability to steal a game in the playoffs. His heavy shot and superior speed makes him the ideal type of playoff defenseman, since he can skate the length of the ice and score if asked too. If the Canadiens don’t pay attention to him, he could very well make them pay.

Unlike Washington, the Canadiens don’t have much going for them on the blue line. They

do have Hal Gill, Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek, but they add little more than a veteran presence.

Don’t look for too much offense out of the Montreal defensemen, as they are purely defensive minded.

Edge: Washington Goalies Everything couldn’t go Washington’s way and where the team falters is in net. Jose Theodore has been solid all season, but hasn’t turned any heads. On the other side of the ice is Jaroslav Halak, who has posted much better numbers but hasn’t gotten the goal support Theodore has.

If he were to take the Caps all the way, Theodore’s season would be the feel good story of the year.

After floundering for several years and losing his young son in August, Theodore turned in a 30win season. If he can get on a hot streak, Theodore will be a force to be reckoned with. On the other hand, if he reverts to the Theodore of old, don’t be surprised if there isn’t a switch between the pipes early in the series.

Halak has the numbers to back up why he could be great in the playoffs, but truth is we haven’t seen him in a high-pressure situation. He is technically sound and makes some flashy saves, but that was in the regular season. The Canadiens will ride him as far as he will take them, if he is on fire, the Canadiens will be as well.

Edge: Montreal When all is said and done, Washington’s offense should be able to overwhelm the Canadiens.

While Montreal will be able to steal a game or two, Ovechkin’s team is determined to win a Cup and won’t falter in the first round.

Prediction: Capitals in 5 You can reach this staff writer at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com

Courtesy of AUeagles.com

POWERING ON — Senior Erin Koch who walked-on this year has put up impressive numbers this season. This year, she clocked a time of 4:42.74 at the Maryland Invitational placing her ninth on AU’s all-time top-10 list in the 1,500 meter run. n

from TRACK on page 1

said. “I would also really like to win a couple of track championships ... this year and next year.”

Centrowitz sees a bright future for Eustis because he is innately competitive. For Eustis, crossing the finish line in any place but first is unacceptable.

When you click on Erin Koch’s name on the women’s track and field roster online you find statics about soccer. Koch played on

the AU women’s team all four years of college. However, she is leaving her mark on AU track as a competitive senior walk-on who joined the team in order to stay in shape at the end of the soccer season.

“I have always been very competitive since I was little,” Koch said. “I wanted to help the team out. I know the girls always need numbers.”

Koch ran track in high school

and rediscovered her competitive drive this season with the help of her boyfriend. A heavy off-season for soccer prevented Koch from joining the track team prior to this year.

Centrowitz calls Koch a “middle-distance standout” and has been impressed with her progress since December.

“She is just getting better each and every week, and each and every workout you can see her getting better,” Centrowitz said. “It’s very exciting to watch.”

In February, the math major won the 1,000 meter run on the final day of the Patriot League Championship. Her time on the 1,500 meter run at the Maryland Invitational the last month, 4:42.74, places her ninth on the school’s All-Time Top-10 list.

“It was awesome,” Koch said.

“It was my first Patriot League first place in anything, soccer or track.”

To allow Koch to continue to develop as a runner, Centrowtiz said he hopes to avoid overcoaching, an issue many coaches fall into at the college level.

“She is a natural competitor,” said Centrowitz. “The best you can do is stay out of the way ...

[I] don’t want to rob her of her enthusiasm.”

So far Centrowitz’s method is working and Koch has applied for a fifth year of eligibility, which she may be granted if she pursues a master’s degree at AU. For the time being, Koch has her eyes set on a more immediate prize: winning a second conference title. After accomplishing that goal, Koch does not know where she will end up. But one thing is for sure: she will be running along the way.

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

Roethlisberger’s indiscretions test the patience of Steelers fans

By MIKE DeFABO Eagle Contributing Writer The district attorney in Milledgeville, Ga., announced Monday that he didn’t find enough evidence to charge Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with sexual assault in a criminal case. The question in Pittsburgh, however, is if there is enough evidence to send the quarterback on his way.

Steeler Nation sure thinks so.

Since the nightclub incident became public, talk-radio phones have been ringing off the hook.

Die-hard black and gold supporters are chomping at the bit to call out their disgraced quarterback. Some of the fans who once adored him are now eager to take the witness stand to provide key testimony in the court of public opinion.

However, it will be up to the Rooney family — who owns the Pittsburgh Steelers — to decide Big Ben’s fate. The family has held their athletes to a higher standard for a long time. According to the formula that produced more Lombardi trophies than any other in NFL history, attitude is more important than athletic ability. It’s the Steelers’ way or the highway, and the black and gold have never been slow to part ways with problematic athletes like Plaxico Burress and most recently Santonio Holmes.

Since he is the quarterback and the face of the franchise, Roethlisberger has a special obligation to live the “Steeler way.”

Publicly, Ben has done that on a number of occasions. He signs autographs at training camp long after the others have retreated to the locker room, kissing babies and shaking hands like a politician. He appears at public fundraisers and generously donated a police dog to the Cleveland’s canine unit. He scribbles PFJ (play for Jesus) on his cleats and points to the heavens after each touch-

down pass.

But when he’s out of the spotlight — on a motorcycle or in a nightclub — Roethlisberger has given Pittsburgh a black eye time and time again.

Strike one happened in June 2006. Roethlisberger crashed his motorcycle at an intersection.

Big Ben broke his face, the law and Steelers regulations by riding without a helmet. Strike two was in July 2009. Andrea McNulty, an employee at the Harrah’s hotel in Lake Tahoe, accused Roethlisberger of sexual harassment. The case is still pending.

Steelers Nation chalked up the first offense to immaturit

It’s the Steelers’ way or the highway, and the black and gold have never been slow to part ways ... and breathed a sigh of relief that the play-caller escaped death and more importantly would still be able to step under center. The second case prompted a few more question marks, among them why the accuser would wait a year to file charges and choose a civil rather than criminal court.

In the latest case, the question marks point more directly toward Big Ben. What was he doing in a club with college kids? Why is he putting himself and his $100 million dollar contract at risk? And why does he continue to make the same mistakes?

The gruesome details that are getting Roethlisberger off the hook are the same ones that should be eating at us on the

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inside. The accuser suffered “bruising and slight bleeding in the genital area,” according to District Attorney Fred Bright.

However, it was largely because the accuser was so severely intoxicated and couldn’t precisely recall the events that no charges were filed.

“If he were my son, the best way I could answer it is, ‘Ben, grow up,’” Bright said during his statement. “’Come on. You’re supposed to stand for something.

You’re the leader. You should be a role model. You don’t need to put yourself in this position anymore.’”

To make matter worse, Roethlisberger clearly does not understand the severity of his offenses, and he showed that with his public apology on Monday. With his slicked back hair and five o’clock shadow he looked about as slimy as his actions prove him to be.

His statement was short - just 90 seconds long - and his words missed their mark.

“I absolutely want to be the leader this team deserves, valued in the community and a role model to kids,” Roethlisberger said in his public apology. “I have much work to do to earn this trust, and I’m committed to improving and showing everyone my true values.”

The time for Roethlisberger to be a leader, at least in Pittsburgh, may be over. His value in the community is fleeting. The city’s trust is diminished.

As claims only continue to build, maybe time is running out for Roethlisberger. It’s going to take one of Big Ben’s legendary last minute comebacks if he hopes to save face in Pittsburgh.

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