2-19-15

Vol. 105 Issue 117

@thepittnews

Pittnews.com

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Maternity and millennials

BOOM CLAP

Aubrey Cofield For The Pitt News

David Throckmorton, drummer for the Thoth Trio, jams out in Nordy’s Place. Christine Lim | Staff Photographer

Board makes progress on new website, students react Abbey Reighard and Marjorie Tolsdorf The Pitt News Staff The Student Government Board is rolling out their new website, which they say will have less virtual clutter and more room for comment.

SGB President Graeme Meyer said he expects to finish the new website this weekend. Meyer started thinking about many of the ideas for the new site when he was a Board member last term, but added that the website content has been a collaborative effort between all of the current Board members. The new site will be more clear

and student-friendly than the previous SGB site, according to Meyer.

“It has the same features in terms of [listing] office hours, but we kind of broke it up and made it easier to find tabs for students,” Meyer said.

One of the additions to the new website is a feature Meyer called the “What To Fix” page, where students can leave questions, comments or concerns for Board members.

Meyer said he saw “WTF” pages on other Student Government sites from other universities, such as Penn State.

Cody Siegfried, a senior majoring in finance and marketing, said he doesn’t think he’ll be visiting the website. Sieg-

fried said that, in theory, the comments section is an important addition, but in practice, he doubts many Pitt students will utilize it, because he said it seems unlikely a student comment will have the power to cause change.

“I would probably not use it. In my four years here, I have never heard of one thing [SGB] has done that has directly affected my life,” Siegfried said.

Meyer also said he intends to include an online breakdown of the Student Activities Fund, so students can see where the money they pay in the Student Activities Fee goes.

SGB

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As a senior, the last thing on Natalie Marfisi’s mind is whether or not she should have a kid — rather, she’s worrying about finding a job post-graduation.

She’s not alone in her line of concerns, and millennials across the board are foregoing childbirth in favor of their education and careers. According to a 2009 study on delayed childbearing by the NCHS, the national average age of women at the time of their first birth increased from 21.4 years in 1970 to 25 years in 2009. Birth rates decline as the battle for new mothers to keep their jobs serves as a deterrent from childbirth.

According to a 2013 study commissioned by Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management, more than 80 percent of women fear that having a child will harm their careers.

Marfisi, a 21-year-old senior majoring in political science, decided to wait to have kids in order to pursue her career goals.

“I want to wait, I have career ambitions and things I would like to do with my life before I’m lugging around some kid,” Marfisi said. “Also, kids are mad expensive.”

For women, the cost of having a kid cuts deeper into their wallet’s than it would for the father. Michelle Budig, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts, found in a 2013 study that the earnings of American women decrease by four percent for each child she has. In contrast, for each child a man has, their earnings increase by six percent.

Hefty childcare costs also play a role in family planning. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2013, roughly 63 percent

Kids

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 1

KIDS of mothers with children under the age of six were in the workforce. Additionally, in 40 percent of families, women are now the sole or primary breadwinner.

Pitt alumna Dr. Kizzie Johnson, a family therapist at Mind, Body and Solutions located in Pittsburgh, gave insight into the generational trends she’s noticed among her clients.

“Some women have decided to start families earlier and focus on careers after raising their children, and younger women, those in their twenties and early thirties have decided to wait to have children,” Johnson said. “The decision generally depends on where someone is in their life at the time.”

PITT

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SGB

This will also break down how the Board distributes a portion of the money collected from the student activities fee.. The current Board has allocated $126,735.31 so far this semester, according to the website, which the Board updated after a public meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Other additional features on the website will include tabs for current projects and project initiatives, a Frequently Asked

For Marfisi, this “time” comes after she pursues her career goals.

Marfisi said the work she plans on doing post-graduation could take place abroad, which would only complicate any scenario involving having children.

“I want to do work with refugee populations either in the U.S. or abroad. It’s hard to imagine just getting into that field and having young kids at the same time.

I think it would be impossible to juggle,” Marfisi said.

Marfisi said this decision is her own, and choosing to have kids at a younger age could be the right thing for other people.

“I think it’s up to the woman, what they want to do with their bodies. It’s good that now there’s less societal pressure on women to have kids so young, but at the same time there’s a sharp turn toward a negative view of women who have kids younger,” Marfisi said.

Marfisi referenced the “why don’t you have a career?” mentality as a part of the reason many women feel pressure to hold off having a child.

“I think it takes away choice feminism, which is about having that option to do what you want based on your personal beliefs,” she said. “It’s nice that nothing is forced on you, but the negative of that is so many women feel you have to wait, you have to have a career first.”

Maurice Dickerson, a 25-year-old senior majoring in philosophy and economics, said he is not too worried about when it’s the right time to have kids.

“I’ll have kids when I have kids. I don’t look at it in terms of whether or not I need to wait,” Dickerson said. “When it happens is when it happens.”

Dickerson acknowledged certain ben-

efits of waiting to have children, but he ultimately feels it might not make a difference.

“I don’t think a career is a reason to wait, because that’s never going to change. You have to be willing to sacrifice something, no matter where you are in life,” Dickerson said.

Marfisi sees the decline in conceiving a first-born at a younger age as the result of women’s prevalence increasing in education and the workforce.

“I think it’s education. More women [are getting] a higher education past high school. There are also more women in different higher-level professional settings then there were in say the ’40s, ’50s or ’60s,” Marfisi said.

According to a Pew Research Center study from March 2014, females are currently outpacing males in college enrollment by a considerable margin in most races, including Hispanic, black, white and Asian.

“Now more women are in college than men, so more women are not having kids in order to focus on their career,” Marfisi said.

While Marfisi feels that for women, balancing both a career and raising children is possible, she admits it would be increasingly more difficult.

The difficulty is driving some college students to leave children out of the plan entirely. Stewart Friedman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, completed a cross-generational study of Wharton students in both 1992 and 2012, and she found that the rate of graduates who plan to have children has dropped by nearly half over the past 20 years.

“At the same time, men and women are now more aligned in their attitudes about dual-career relationships, and they are opting out of parenthood in equal proportions,” the website reads.

For those who take on the challenge, some other life facets may give away to pressure. Marfisi recalls friends who have had to quit college due to the mere expense of having a child.

“I have friends who were in college and didn’t continue because they have kids. They can’t afford to be paying for an education while raising a couple of kids,” Marfisi said.

“It’s also tough to go to graduate school and take care of your child at the same time.”

Money is a clear deterrent from having

Questions page, financial reports and every Student Government Bill dated back to 2009.

Meyer said he organizes and updates the website, but all the Board members and Committee Chairs will contribute content about their initiatives and other campus events.

Some students were not aware of the changes, such as the “WTF” page, that SGB is planning for the new website.

Thomas Behan, a sophomore majoring in information science, said the suggestions portion of the website is important

because if students have a school-related issue, their individual voices are more likely to be heard.

“But it all depends on how likely the [Board] is to listen to the suggestions,” he said.

Every Board member will be responsible for checking the “WTF” page, reviewing the suggestions and responding to comments, ideally within 48 hours, Meyer said. Meyer added that he will assign a Board member to respond to the comments, depending on which Board member has the most availability at the time of the submission.

Board member Lia Petrose said that, because the website is still under construction, the Board hasn’t begun advertising the website “fully to the student body.”

Meyer said the Board will create a Branding Task Force, open to any students who want to join, and a social media campaign to promote the website.

Petrose added that the Board aims for the website to be “an all-in-one location for services offered to the student body.”

“It will be more interactive, more descriptive and will include more content than its predecessor,” Petrose said.

“I think it takes away choice feminism, which is about having that option to do what you want based on your personal beliefs.”

Natalie Marfisi

Kids

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 2

KIDS children, too.

According to a United States Department of Agriculture report from 2013 on the expenditures on children by families, the average cost of raising a child is $245,340 total. In the urban northeast region, that number increases to $282,480. Until a child is two years old, he or she costs families $12,940 annually. Raising a 15- to 17-year-old costs $14,970 annually.

The cost of higher education for children is also a factor. According to the study, the average annual cost of college for a student at a public institution is $18,390, while, at private schools, the cost is $40,920.

The expenses can be daunting, but Johnson has found that deciding to have a child doesn’t complicate things how we might imagine.

“I think most people acknowledge that there are financial obligations associated with raising children, but I have not heard many people address the expense directly,” Johnson said.

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WPTS-FM nominated for Woodie Award Dale Shoemaker Assistant News Editor After a yearlong lull, WPTS, Pitt’s radio station, has been nominated for an mtvU Woodie Award for Best College Radio Station.

The Woodie Awards, which recognize “the music voted the best by college students,” includes awards for best music video, breakout artists and college radio station, the last of which WPTS was nominated for. MtvU debuted the Woodies in 2004 and will present this year’s awards as part of the South

by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas on Friday, March 20.

WPTS previously received a Woodie nomination two years ago and didn’t win. The station was not nominated last year. Now that they’ve been nominated again, Ali L’Esperance, promotions director, said everyone on staff is “really excited.”WPTS is among 10 college radio stations nominated this year.

“There was kind of a lull, but we’ve been working hard and it’s paying off,” she said. “Last year, there wasn’t as much momentum.”

L’Esperance said they’ve picked up the pace by giving their disc jockeys “as much freedom as they want” and interviewing the artists they play most frequently, including Future Islands and Alex G. For a college radio station to be nominated by mtvU, they must excel in “three tiers,” according to station manager Rachel Mauer.

For the first tier, mtvU examines a station’s presence in reporting which songs they play the most to the College Music Journal, which compiles charts of songs and artists, and The Princeton Review, which ranks universities, according to Mauer.

A station’s “social media footprint” is examined in the second tier, Mauer said, which includes “how active a radio

T P N S U D O K U

station is on social media and how often social media users mention a radio station.”

The third tier examines a station’s presence on RateMyProfessors.com, a Viacom property. Viacom also owns MTV. MtvU nominated WPTS for their excellence in these areas.

To win, Pitt students, faculty and staff must vote for WPTS on MTV’s website. MtvU will recognize winners at the SxSW Music Festival and promote them on their website.

“We really hope to get the support of the University behind us,” Mauer said.

Today’s difficulty level: Very Hard Puzzles by Dailysudoku.com

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EDITORIAL

February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

OPINIONS

Sobering effects of belittling DUI checkpoints You’re on your way to a movie or a sporting event, when you realize you must stop and allow a police officer to screen you at a DUI checkpoint. Most people roll down their windows and speak with the officer. A Florida attorney, however, thinks you can legally do otherwise.

Warren Redlich created controversy last month when a YouTube video of him offering advice to sidestep police orders went viral. The Boca Raton attorney says that, if police force you to roll down your window, this action may violate your Fourth Amendment right, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

While law enforcement should never use excessive force, responsibly enforced DUI checkpoints are not a violation of Fourth Amendment rights. Redlich’s message may be well-meaning, but it is detrimental to the public good, as this could give drivers the wrong idea. DUI checkpoints are designed to protect all drivers, rather than be a burden or intrusion. Redlich’s message may misconstrue the actual intentions of such traffic stops, prompting negative reactions to the stops.

Legal precedent agrees that DUI checkpoints are in fact legal and not excessive. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of DUI checkpoints in Michigan Dept. of State Police v.

Sitz. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice William Rehnquist touched upon the severity of drunken driving in society, saying, “No one can

seriously dispute the magnitude of the drunken driving problem or the states’ interest in eradicating it.” Citizen compliance with officers at DUI checkpoints was in the public interest in 1990, and it remains so today.

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, 32 percent of fatal car crashes involve an intoxicated driver or pedestrian, and nearly 13,000 individuals are killed each year in alcohol-related accidents. Aside from the priceless loss of life, crashes resulting from drunken driving are extremely expensive as well, costing taxpayers more than $100 billion per year.

We can clearly see that drunken driving is a problem all too prevalent in our society. Although checkpoints may seem inconvenient at the time, an extra five minutes of your day is worth it if it leads to saved lives.

With all of this said, citizens should certainly have the right to speak up if they believe a checkpoint search is intrusive. If you feel you’ve properly complied with the officer’s instructions and deserve to be released, ask the officer, “Am I being detained, or can I go now?” Respectful communication when working with law enforcement is key for both parties involved.

By respectfully cooperating with officers at DUI checkpoints, you may be helping to save lives.

So know your rights, ask questions if need be and try your best to comply — it’s worth the trouble.

TNS

COLUMN

Religion should not be a prerequisite for public office

Andrew Boschert Columnist Earlier this month, President Obama engaged in the expected yearly ritual known as the National Prayer Breakfast, calling for Americans to come together and solve crises through the grace of God. Despite some fine words and seemingly innocent motivation behind the breakfast, I wondered, “Why even bother?”

According to a recent YouGov poll, more than 50 percent of Americans consider the religious persuasion of the President to be very or somewhat important. This isn’t terribly

surprising, considering every president to date has been a Christian, and only in the last 50 years has that list included (gasp!) Catholics.

Why do we expect such vigorous religiosity from the leaders of our secular government?

Although the government cannot make any law “respecting an establishment of religion,” our president must, at least on paper, follow the word of Christ.

If personal religious opinion legally cannot dictate legislation, why should we care whether our president is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist or something else?

The National Prayer Breakfast, though well meaning, only enforces the mistaken belief that only the religious can be moral or upstanding. After all, isn’t a Christian moral code necessary to keep peace and order? Unless you fear divine punishment, why not act however you like?

As an atheist, I’ve encountered this line of thinking more frequently than I care to mention, though one particular example from my high school days sticks out.

Upon learning my religious persuasion one day, a class-

Boschert

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 4

BOSCHERT mate proceeded to ask me, “Well if you don’t believe in the Bible, then why don’t you just rape and murder people as much as you want?”

To steal an answer from avowed atheist Penn Jillette, “I do rape and murder as much as I want. That number is zero.”

While this is only an unfortunate misunderstanding of morality, it spills into

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the real world. For example, there are seven U.S. states that legally bar atheists from holding elected office, including Texas, Maryland, Mississippi and both Carolinas. Atheists can hold elected office in Pennsylvania but no atheist has ever served as Pennsylvania’s Governor.

As Democratic strategist Dan Newman notes, professing atheism at any level of government is considered “political suicide.”

President Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast gives us more of

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the same religion-is-necessary-to-dogood motif.

Obama wrapped up his speech at the breakfast with a particularly telling passage: “As children of God, let’s work to end injustice — injustice of poverty and hunger. No one should ever suffer from such want amidst such plenty. As children of God, let’s work to eliminate the scourge of homelessness, because, as Sister Mary says, ‘None of us are home until all of us are home.’”

Would this message be any less reso-

nant if we removed any mention of God? Are attempts to fix inequities in our society not worthwhile for their own sake?

Of course they are. While peaceful religion is not a problem, neither is atheism. Our electorate should not think of it as one.

Andrew Boschert writes about a variety of topics, including pop culture and college, for The Pitt News.

Write Andy Boschert at amb306@ pitt.edu

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT sells wooden Greek letters covered with prints — mostly to sororities — as well as custom dry erase boards and laptop decals.

Bracken said that opening her Etsy shop GSSLove last summer was a simple, guided process.

“If you follow the prompts they give you, you can have your shop running in minutes,” Bracken said.

Bracken’s Greek letters cost about $3 to purchase individually, along with $5 for each bottle of adhesive, which she purchases from Michaels. .

Profit varies for each student merchant, both based on the items they’re selling and how many they sell per year.

Bracken has made $546 so far this year, which is roughly 50 percent in profits after the cost of each letter and Etsy’s commission. Since November, Allison Stevens, a senior applied developmental psychology and marketing major, has earned $172 from her canvas paintings, which individually net $7.47 after selling for $15 each. Beth Curtis, a junior social work major, earned about $100 in profits in 2014.

As far as profit goes, Etsy takes 3.5 percent of the listing price of the item for sale.

So, depending on the cost of materials used to make their goods, these students’ profit was anywhere between 25 percent to 80 percent Curt i s , w h o sells handknitted baby h a t s among a few other items in n her shop String of

Pitt students sell handmade goods on Etsy Meghan Bray For The Pitt News

There’ss something s inherently old-fashioned about bout knitting k and craftsmanship, but that hasn’t st stopped students from selling their own handmade nd goods on the web.

Anyone ne can easily sell their handmade goods on Etsy, E an online marketplace for creative entrepreneurs n that was founded in Brooklyn, y New York City in June 2005 and has since n accumulated approximately 43.9 million l members and 1.2 million active shops. op Some Pitt students create their own products for Etsy stores while the television’s s on or in-between classes, and they later a turn them around for profit on the web. b Etsy sort of operates like eBay, if eBay gave ga its sellers far more room for customization. iz Etsy founder Rob Kalin, also a painter, pa carpenter and photographer, needed ed a feasible online marketplace to sell his ha handmade wooden computers. When thatt appeared to be unavailable, he built it with h co-founders c Chris Maguire and Haim Shoppik. oppi Each store’s page is identical in terms Eac off layout. Each contains a list of products, varying from houseware to custom clothva ing, with their pictures and descriptions, in a little blurb about the shop owner, shop iinformation and room for a custom banner oof the shop name along the top of the page.

Etsy sellers are a global community of crafters, ra curators and manufacturers who needed ede a place to easily sell their items.

Steph ph Bracken Bracken,, a senior biology major,

Purls, felt that it was an easy process to get started in high school. Yet, now in college, it’s become more difficult to stay afloat. She doesn’t have as much time to knit as she did in high school, but Curtis often multitasks while watching television.

Although Bracken and Curtis said the shop is easy to get started, keeping it running and generating revenue is hard work for some Etsy shopkeepers.

Eliza Gilpin, a junior Natural Sciences major, had a hard time keeping her spraypainted T-shirt shop running when she ran into problems keeping up with inventory, banking and getting items shipped out on time. She also had trouble getting her inventory together due to weather — she couldn’t spray-paint the shirts while it snowed— and a general lack of free time.

Similarly, Stevens felt that the process, while not necessarily difficult, was timeconsuming. Stevens sells a variety of handcrafted home decor in her shop, SpreadSomeSun, which she opened this past November.

Gilpin understands what went wrong with her shop.

“A huge mistake I made was only offering one item. First of all, having multiple items with different tags gets your shop that many more chances to be s e e n ,”

Gilpin said. “But more importantly, your chances of having a product that appeals to each potential customer are much better if you have more than one product to offer them.”

Stevens also stressed the importance of diversity for a new Etsy shop.

“You have to have a good amount of items to post on your shop to start, otherwise your shop loses validity. It is best to start with about 10 products,” Stevens said.

“Having those products is a great first step,

Etsy

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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FROM PAGE 6

ETSY

but then you have to take pictures of each one so that it showcases the product attractively.”

In order to start a successful store, it is important to have a variety and relatively high volume of items to sell in your store.

In order for this to happen, the students had to accumulate some inventory.

For Curtis, this was easier because she had a lot of items already pre-made. She keeps about 50 items consistently listed. Stevens also had some items already crafted but thinks it probably took her a week or two to get everything together.

Bracken, on the other hand, makes an item once an order is placed, so she only buys supplies on a need basis.

Although all the girls agree that running an Etsy store is a great deal of hard work and not necessarily something they want to do professionally, they think it is a great experience and good for some extra cash on the side.

“It’s difficult to run a small business when you are a full-time college student, but it’s super fun and rewarding,” Bracken said.

Drake takes on Cash Money, hints at major leap forward on new mixtape Dale Shoemaker Assistant News Editor

Drake If You’re Reading, It’s Too Late Grade: AScene: Inside the Cash Money Records main office, Young Money floor. Standard office layout with rows of cubicles.

Tour posters for Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga line the walls. In the back corner is Lil Wayne’s desk, cleaned out. Only piles of lawsuit papers remain. Drake’s desk, beside Wayne’s, is also empty and cleaned out. On the corner of Drake’s desk is a hand-scrawled note that reads only, “If you’re reading this, it’s too late.”

At this point, it can be assumed that the title of Drake’s mixtape is a shot fired directly at Cash Money, and him taking a firm stance with Lil Wayne. The short story is that Drake and Lil Wayne both want to leave Cash Money.

The long story is a tale of a carefully plotted scheme. Lil Wayne tweeted in December that he wanted to leave Cash Money and that he wanted to take Drake and Nicki Minaj with him; he is also currently suing Cash Money for $51 million. Earlier this year, Drake’s camp floated out rumors that Drake was planning to drop a mixtape before his much anticipated fourth release, Views from the 6. He’s fulfilled the former promise, but in an unusual way. Mixtapes are supposed to be free and albums are supposed to be for

sale, but It’s Too Late was released exclusively on iTunes for $12.99.

Why? According to Drake’s contract with Cash Money Records, which was released as part of a 2012 lawsuit filed by James “Jas” Prince, he is free from his contract with Cash Money after he releases four, for-sale albums and at least one video accompanying each one. Drake’s surprise short film “Jungle,” released early last Thursday, and the midnight drop of It’s Too Late fulfill both of those requirements. Suddenly, Drake is free.

Freedom, however, does not ring on It’s Too Late. Drake takes a few shots at Cash Money on the tape (“Brand new Beretta, can’t wait to let it go/Walk up in my label like, where the check though?” he fires on “Star 67”), but the shots are sparse and delivered without anger. Rather, they come as disgusted quips from a man who knows he is better than a petty conflict over some unpaid money.

Make no mistake, Drake takes a firm stance on the issue at hand and keeps his real friends close—Lil Wayne is one of only four features on the 17-track tape. However, he has other things to worry about besides leaving his label, which he hasn’t name-dropped on a song for quite some time now.

Instead, It’s Too Late sees Drake soul-searching and looking within himself from high atop his throne. Where Take Care was Drake ascending to his throne as a new king and Nothing Was The Same was him standing up and taking a look around at the state of his life, It’s Too

Drake

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Students tone their craft Visual Editor

for Etsy cash. Theo Schwarz |

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 7

DRAKE

The Pitt News Crossword, 2/19/2015

Late is Drake realizing his power (“Oh my god, if I die, I’m a legend” he sings on “Legend”).

Here, he locks himself and his throne in his castle, only leaving to meet with his closest comrades and allies before retreating back into his darkened chambers.

On NWTS, Drake told us he’s “just been scheming on the low/plotting on the low,” but on It’s Too Late, he shows us that he wasn’t lying. On “10 Bands,” for example, Drake croons, “I been in the crib with the phones off/I been at the house taking no calls ... Drapes closed, I don’t know what time it is/I’m still awake, I gotta shine this year.” It’s lonely at the top, and the eerie, pitched-down bells and scit-scat hi hats of “10 Bands” structure a frame for Drake’s musings that enunciate his loneliness.

Lines like these, however lonely, do not result from a lack of confidence. Drake has many enemies, as he claims on “Energy” amidst dewy, melancholy piano riffs and a menacing bass line, and he addresses them head-on with a brooding resentment. Though ACROSS 1 With 69-Across, subject of this puzzle 7 Portrayer of 1-/69-Across in “Sherlock Holmes” (2009) 14 Not straying from the subject 16 Satan 17 “The Diary of Anne Frank” police 18 Muscle-to-bone connectors 19 Audio jack label 20 Took charge of 21 Wise folk 22 Rewrite for the screen 24 Set a price of 26 Northern California town that once had a palindromic bakery 29 Mentally sound 30 Live, in the studio 32 Kool-Aid instruction 33 Ostrich kin 35 “I __ Fine”: Beatles hit 37 Antlered beast 38 Portrayer of 1-/69-Across in the BBC’s “Sherlock” 42 World games org.

43 A bit open 44 “C’est la __” 45 Cry for seconds 47 Battery end 49 Rise dramatically 53 Sticking point 55 Game won by discarding all your cards 56 Iditarod jacket 57 Wood finish 59 DKNY rival 61 Press __ 62 Dannon yogurt brand 64 Natives of Tibet’s capital 66 Unlisted candidate 67 Erode, as savings 68 Portrayer of 1-/69-Across in CBS’ “Elementary” 69 See 1-Across

Drake’s longtime producer and best friend Noah “40” Shebib takes a backseat to Drake’s other key producer, Boi1da, 40’s influence is heard throughout. Known for alternating bass lines with hi hats and snares, giving Drake’s voice room it needs to roam and explore, 40’s style has seeped into Boi1da’s and together they produce Drake’s iciest tracks yet. At the tape’s early peak, “Know Yourself,” Drake states, amidst an airy synth and a rumbling bass, “I’ve always been me/I guess I know myself.” Here, he opposes his enemies, insinuating that they do not “know themselves,” and the haunting pluck of a lullaby that underlies this line, as if it is emitting from an evil music box, shows Drake is steadfast in his words.

At other moments on the tape, Drake stunts his bravado, steps out of his castle to address his subjects and asserts his dominance over the rap game. On “6 God” and “Used To,” for example, he makes it clear that he knows he is the best in the game and has no worthy challengers. He rules over Toronto and the entirety of rap, and his brooding lyrics about locking himself up in his mansion hint that he has something much bigger, something much more sinister planned than a just mixtape.

3/3/15

By Mike Buckley

DOWN 1 Rigid beliefs 2 Tableware company named for a New York town 3 ER diagnostic tool 4 Day care attendee 5 Eyeball-bending gallery display 6 TV host Kelly 7 Watercraft rider 8 Eye layer containing the iris 9 Dull-colored 10 Senior officials 11 It’s brewed in infusers 12 Political writer Coulter 13 Director Anderson 15 With 48-Down, 1-/69-Across creator Arthur 23 Jury member 25 Paella spice 27 Ceramics oven 28 Noah’s flood insurance 30 Message-spelling board 31 Superman player Christopher 34 Former Boston commuter org.

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 “Welcome to Hawaii” gift 38 Secure in a harbor 39 Quotation puzzle 40 Mork’s sign-off 41 Southwestern tableland 42 Tough kid to handle 46 Thing 48 See 15-Down 50 Mork’s people

3/3/15

51 Quite like 52 Gives away to the cops 54 “Sold!” punctuator 56 Spanish silver 58 Four, on some sundials 60 “Major Barbara” playwright 62 Hole-making tool 63 French wine word 65 “Grab a chair”

Oscar’s rejects: The best movies without an awards invite Dan Sostek and Shawn Cooke The Pitt News Staff “Birdman” or “Boyhood?” This question will likely be repeated 1,000 times before Sunday, when we’ll finally know who takes home Best Picture at the Oscars.

The big award, Best Director and Best Actor stand to be the only real contentious major awards, with nearly all the major acting categories just about locked up (winners to be: Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette and J.K. Simmons). So if there’s no suspense in the awards, why bother watching?

Instead of tuning in for the Oscars’ methodical first two hours (which we’ll probably still do), try watching one of these great 2014 movies that the Academy wrongfully overlooked.

“Force Majeure” Mirroring a great scene from his black-as-coal comedy “Force Majeure,” Ruben Östlund broke down when his name wasn’t called during the Best Foreign Language Oscar nominees.

Prognosticators considered his film about a literal mid-life avalanche to be a near-lock before the nominations were announced, and his possibly selfaware reaction video was a candid look into what most Academy rejects could go through off-camera. Perhaps Östlund’s tale of crumbling masculinity (a father abandons his family during an avalanche on their ski trip getaway, setting off tense ripples throughout the rest of their vacation ) was a little too dark for the Academy’s taste. Shawn Cooke

Oscar

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 8

OSCAR “The Skeleton Twins” When searching for the top acting performances of the year, it’s easy to get sucked in by the grandiose and gritty.

While many will take their Bradley Coopers and Benedict Cumberbatches of the world, showings like Bill Hader in Craig Johnson’s Baumbachian dramedy “The Skeleton Twins” continue to go overlooked. Hader shapes the suicidal Milo masterfully, toeing the line carefully between sympathetic and snarky.

Perhaps even more refreshing is that the former SNL star manages not to turn the gay Milo into a caricature, forgoing flamboyance and instead forming a stand-alone personality. Hader’s performance — as well as his rapport with co-star Kristen Wiig — fuels the film, but unfortunately the subtlety of the movie as a whole unsurprisingly left Hader virtually ignored for almost all awards consideration. Dan Sostek “Edge of Tomorrow” Tom Cruise’s crackling return-toform was one of the year’s best movies, and it’s far from the type to score Oscar nominations. Or is it? In 2008, “The Bourne Ultimatum” — far from standard awards fare — took home the Oscars for Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. It was the Academy’s nod to a technically distinct action series, and “Edge of Tomorrow” (or, as it’s been renamed on home video, “Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow”) pulled off a similarly impressive editing feat. Editors James Herbert and Laura Jennings make the time jumps seem effortless, and sharp transitions after Cruise’s sudden deaths made “Edge” funnier than it had any right to be. SC “The Fault in Our Stars” “The Fault in Our Stars” may not be a great movie, but it features one of the finest, most humanized moviestar performances in recent memory — and it’s not Ansel Elgort, the only cancer patient I’ve seen with such a

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loathsome, smug grin plastered on his face. Shailene Woodley is mesmerizing as terminal cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster, and, back in the ’80s when movies like “Terms of Endearment” cleaned house, she might have been a feasible Best Actress nominee. Laura Dern also turns in comparable work to her Oscar-nominated performance in “Wild,” but she’s given more screentime for sincere, heartbreaking interactions in “Fault.” We don’t take teen weepies like this seriously anymore, but if nothing else, “Fault” stands as a statement that J. Law might have to watch the throne. SC “Life Itself ” Documentarian Steve James can’t “Force Majeure” was one of the best films the Oscars overlooked. Magnolia Pictures seem to catch a break. Twenty years af- out. This time, James’ snub was “Life witnessing the filmmaking process first ter voters shockingly passed over his ac- Itself,” a touching and poignant work hand. The result was an unflinching claimed documentary “Hoop Dreams,” detailing the life of the late legendary celebration of Ebert, warts and all, and a gripping account of the lives of two film critic Roger Ebert. Ebert, perhaps of the love of movies that dominated his inner city Chicago high school basket- “Hoop Dreams’” biggest proponent in life. While Laura Poitras’ “Citizenfour” ball players, for a Best Documentary 1994, gave James unparalleled access is likely to take home the Oscar regardOscar nomination, James once again to Ebert during his last days battling less, the “Life Itself ” omission is a hard found himself the surprising odd man thyroid cancer, the critic reveling in one to fathom. DS

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

SPORTS

Pitt hosts Virginia to continue NCAA tournament push Jeremy Tepper Staff Writer

the three, which they lost 65-56. They also happened to be without their leading scorer, junior guard Faith Randolph, who sat out with plantar fasciitis. Randolph’s status is up in the air for today’s game, but McConnell-Serio has had her team practice as if Randolph will play.

“We’ll plan for her and we’ll prepare

of which Randolph just happens to be a primary part.

“For me, I’m more dissecting how we want to defend what they’re running,” McConnell-Serio said.

Besides scouting plays and sets, Pitt’s coach also focuses on learning a player’s tendencies both offensively

In a conference as tough as the ACC, some talented teams are bound to fall to the strength of the league. Virginia appears to fit that prognosis, as, despite its talent, it sits at 15-10 and on the outside looking in for the NCAA TourAfter dropping 22 points Brianna Kiesel is... nament. against Wake Forest Today, Virginia Sunday, Brianna Kiesel (15-10, 5-7 ACC) will (right) is seventh all time host the Pitt (17-8, in Women’s Basketball 7-5 ACC) women’s basket ball team career scoring. Here’s with hopes of enda look at who’s ahead of ing the Cavaliers’ (2011-present) her. three-game losing streak.

“So much in this league is who you play and when (1990-94) you play them, and they just played three top-25 teams in a row. So they’re probably excited to (2004-08) get a little breather and play Pitt,” head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said.

In its last three (1978-82) games, Virginia has played Notre Dame, Duke and Florida State, who (2005-09) are ranked No. 4, No. 10 and No. 9, respectively. McConnell-Serio points to this tough schedule as reasoning for for the other players just as we do for and defensively. the Cavaliers’ record, though senior every other scout,” McConnell-Serio “We watch player personnel, so we have clips of what their strengths are. guard Brianna Kiesel pointed to their said. youth as well. Eight of the 12 players The decision to do so isn’t neces- So our players have an understandon Virginia’s roster are freshmen or sarily made based on medical opin- ing of when they’re guarding a certain sophomores. ion, but rather out of habit. In Pitt’s player, they know how to guard them,” The Cavaliers’ last game against case, McConnell-Serio places a heavy she said.

Florida State was their closest defeat of focus on scouting an opponent’s sets, In scouting Virginia, McConnell-

Moving on up

7.

Jonna Huemrich, 1,807 6.

Marcedes Walker, 1,870 5.

Debbie Lewis, 1,941 4.

Shavonte Zellous, 2,251 3.

Kiesel, 1,801

Serio noted that its individual talent stuck out. Besides Randolph, who averages 17 points a game, Virginia’s senior center Sarah Imovbioh averages 12.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game — along with other talented guards and forwards, such as freshman guard Mikayla Venson, who notches 11.4 points per game. “ They ’re very talented. They have a great post game.

They play four post players and they can all score. They have guards on the perimeter who are quick and very skilled with dribble penetration, stepback, pull up jumpers,” McConnellSerio said.

Kiesel added that she believes Virginia’s record is deceiving and not reflective of its talent level. “ Their record doesn’t show how good they are,” Kiesel said. “They were in a lot of good games, a lot of close ones , they just didn’t pull them out.”

Kiesel, along with Pitt ’s other guards, will face a challenge in guarding Randolph, who has transitioned from the ACC Women’s Sixth Player of the Year last year into one of the top scoring guards in the conference. Her success partly stems from her pull up jumper, which Kiesel

Kiesel

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February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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COLUMN

Gibbs learned his lesson in face of two-game suspension Alex Wise Staff Writer

Everybody knows how it feels to be frustrated. We all handle that frustration in different ways, and it often doesn’t represent who we actually are. Some curse. Some give up.

Seton Hall junior guard Sterling Gibbs, younger brother of former Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs, handled it with violence.

With less than five minutes left in Monday night’s game and Seton Hall trailing Villanova by 26 points, a scrap for a loose ball broke out on the floor. It ended with Gibbs executing a near-perfect Randy Savage elbow drop across the face of Nova’s junior point guard Ryan Arcidiacono. The results: a Flagrant 2, meaning an ejection, and a social media explosion that could make someone who hadn’t been watching the game think a player had been beheaded on the court.

“People tweeting at me that Sterling Gibbs should not play a game again this season. No protest from my end.” - @ MattNorlander (Matt Norlander, writer for CBS Sports) “Sterling Gibbs should not be allowed to play the rest of the season for that strike to the face. It was intentional & Violent.” - @RealJayWilliams ( Jay Williams, ESPN college basketball analyst) “Arrived after 12-hour travel day to get to North Carolina and saw @RealJayWilliams on Sterling Gibbs. Totally agree.” - @ESPNAndyKatz (Andy Katz, senior ESPN writer) Suspending him for the rest of the year? Banning him from the NCAA? Ruining the reputation and future of a kid because he made a mistake in the heat of the moment?

Forget about all the Twitter nobodies with their hot take opinions, or even the above media personalities. These are writers and analysts whom we as fans count on for reliable insight, and even they couldn’t see this issue clearly. I’m not defending Gibbs’ actions, which were egregious and fully out-of-bounds. But, just because Jay Williams said I should,

SETON HALL GUARD STERLING GIBBS RECEIVED A TWO-GAME ELBOWING VILLANOVA’S RYAN ARCIDIACONO. | TNS

SUSPENSION FOR

I’m not willing to grab a pitchfork and join in the witch hunt of a college kid who let his frustration and emotions get the better of him.

Interestingly, sports media treated this incident much differently than the University of Louisville’s situation in December, when referees ejected AllAmerican forward Montrezl Harrell for throwing a full-on haymaker at a Western Kentucky player. NCAA rules dictate that any ejection results in an automatic, non-appealable one-game suspension.

But Harrell’s punch missed its intended target – a face – and got all air instead, so he wasn’t banned further.

There’s both a lesson to be learned and a bright side to look at here.

The lesson: when you’re mad and you want to make-believe that you’re wrestler John Cena, stop yourself, say, “I can’t be John Cena,” and be boxer Floyd Mayweather instead. Except only Floyd Mayweather is Floyd Mayweather, and you can’t do what he does, so when you try, you’ll punch air and only be suspended for one game instead of two. Because everybody knows that intending to crack open somebody’s skull and missing is fine, but actually connecting is bad.

The bright side: other kids who were called “punks” and “thugs” by objective, non-judgmental members of the media have succeeded in life. Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu nearly killed a Kansas State player on a punt play when he was in college (Google search “Troy Polamalu is a thug, and a sh*t human being”). Now he makes funny shampoo commercials and gives his luscious hair to less fortunate teammates. Barely anybody remembers that he almost ripped a guy’s torso off of his legs once.

In the more recent incident, Gibbs profoundly apologized after the game, and Arcidiacono forgave him in a Twitter exchange. On Tuesday, Seton Hall announced that it had suspended Gibbs for two games: a punishment worthy of the crime.

At the end of the day, Sterling Gibbs is a kid who made a mistake. Let’s leave it at that.

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KIESEL

said is her go-to move.

Preventing a pull up jumper can be difficult, as playing up to block the shot can lead to easier drives to the hoop.

Kiesel, however, said the solution is simple.

“Not backing off and trying to make every shot she takes contested,” Kiesel said.

Virginia employs an overall offen-

February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com sive strategy that relies heavily on ball screens, as well as clearing space for its star players, Randolph and Imovbioh.

“They’ll push it in transition when the have the opportunity.

They run a lot of side pick and rolls, double high

“[Virginia] is probably excited to get a little breather and play Pitt.”

Suzie McConnell-Serio

screens, double staggers for the guards. They ’ll iso their guards, they’ll iso their post players,” McConnell-Serio said.

D e f e n s i v e l y, Virginia primarily employs a manto-man scheme, though it’ll also mix in a 2-3 zone

and a 3-quarter court press to disrupt opponents.

Relaxing and playing soundly against this defense will be important, as Virginia will be anxious to get off to a quick start and end its losing streak.

Kiesel, though, isn’t as concerned about Virginia’s mindset, as she’s only focused on her team’s intentions.

“We just have to play our game and not necessarily worry about what they’re trying to do,” Kiesel said. “They want to win, but we want to win just as much.”

February 19, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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