The Pitt News 10-2-14 by The Pitt News

Vol. 105 Issue 42

@thepittnews HEALTH

Thursday,October 2, 2014

Pittnews.com

Pitt lacks resources to develop Ebola vaccine Jess Muslin Staff Writer

As Ebola continues to spread through African countries, and now, with one case confirmed in the United States, many people have expressed worry that the virus will find its way to their cities and towns. But, according to experts, it’s unlikely the disease will have similar effects in the United States. While Pitt has historically contributed developments to vaccines, the University does not have the proper biosafety level clearance to work on Ebola, which is a level-4 disease. One of Pitt’s most famous accolades is the development of the polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk and his team. The vaccine began widespread use in 1955 and eradicated the disease in the United States. More recently, researchers at Pitt have been working to develop a vaccine for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Dr. Amy Hartman, research manager of

CITY

the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory and assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, has done extensive work with the Ebola virus during her career. Hartman conducted her post-doctoral research with the CDC in Atlanta from 2003 to 2007. During her time there, she worked on curing the Ebola virus. In 2005, she worked in Africa in a post-diagnostic lab that tested patient samples for Ebola. “I think it [Ebola] is very serious in Africa in general,” Hartman said. “But there is no huge risk to the U.S. or other developed countries.” According to Hartman, the United States and other first-world countries have such strong health systems that, if someone brought Ebola into the country, it would not cause an epidemic like the one in Africa. “If someone came here who was infected, it would be stopped pretty quickly,” Hart-

Ebola

Dash for doughnuts: CMU fraternity hosts ALS fundraiser Kathy Zhao Staff Writer

For those who can stomach it, try running two miles after eating six sweet, glazed, iced, creamfilled and jelly doughnuts. The Donut Dash 2014 is a race on Oct. 5 sponsored by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Carnegie Mellon University. Participants, in-

cluding Pitt students, will run a mile-long route along Forbes Avenue twice. The event, which will raise money for the Pittsburgh-based ALS foundation LiveLikeLou.org, begins at the parking lot at the intersection of Morewood and Forbes avenues. Those in the competitive division have to run the two miles, stopping between the miles at the race’s starting point

where they will eat the doughnuts. “There’s a casual division of the race where you don’t have to eat the doughnuts, you can just run the two miles,” said Peter Pacent, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the dash’s event manager. “In the competitive division, though, you get disqualified if you don’t eat all six before starting the second mile.”

Sigma Alpha Epsilon expects roughly 100 people to participate in the competitive division. The fraternity has raised more than $50,000 so far from registration money — approximately double last year’s number, Pacent said.

Donut Dash

2 FROM PAGE 1

DONUT DASH The race is open to the public, but contestants must pay a registration fee, with student discounts in both the casual and competitive individual categories, as well as student teams of two to six members per team. The studentdiscounted prices are $15 for individuals or $13 per team member. “We’re expecting a total of about 700 participants this year,” Pacent said. When Donut Dash began in 2008, the fundraising goal was $2,000 for Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh — more like a doughnut hole than a full-sized fry cake. This year, Sigma Alpha Epsilon redirected its philanthropy because of a more personal reason. Robert Dax, a CMU graduate and recipient of CMU’s Distinguished Alumni Award, was diagnosed with ALS last spring. The choice of charity is a tribute to Dax, the fraternity’s alumni adviser. Pacent said they researched the ALS Association, the organization behind this summer’s popular Ice Bucket Challenge, and LiveLikeLou. org. Neil and Suzanne Alexander founded Live-

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com LikeLou.org in 2011 donated prizes: a after Neil was diagMicrosoft tablet nosed with ALS. for first place and Pacent met with doughnut-shaped the couple in the medals for three months leading to individual comthe race to discuss petitors and the the race’s tie to their top team. There fund. will also be a raffle, “When you whose winners think about somewill receive bags of one with a debilisigned Pittsburgh tating disease, you Pirates merchanexpect them to be dise. broken down, but Although the Neil isn’t like that,” Illustration by Aby Briner ratio of Pitt to CMU Pacent said. “He has a really positive attitude participants is usually low, Pacent said there about life, this event, the entire Pittsburgh are a handful of runners from Pitt every year. community. It comes from a very pure place Eric Kochinsky will be at the starting line in his heart.” on Sunday. People’s Natural Gas donated $15,000 for “There’s a run called the Krispy Kreme Chalthe event managers to spend on advertising, lenge in North Carolina that I’ve been wanting such as large banners on Port Authority buses. to do for years,” Kochinsky, a senior majorThe Pittsburgh Foundation provided practi- ing in finance and accounting, said. “When I cal help: closing Forbes Avenue for the race, found there was a similar event in Pittsburgh, consulting pointers and helping with public I jumped at the opportunity.” relations. Kochinsky said this is the first time he’ll be Other local and national companies also running the Donut Dash, but he’s confident in

his abilities to both eat and run. “In high school, when I ran cross country, we would sneak off to Rita’s [Italian Ice] during practice, so I have some experience eating mid-run,” he said. Every race needs spectators, who sometimes need something more to do than just cheer and hold signs. Jake Correa, philanthropy chair of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said there will be room to watch the doughnut feeding frenzy at the Morewood Avenue parking lot. Food trucks selling refreshments from Mac & Gold, a macaroni and cheese to-go truck, and Franktuary, a hot dog and sausage restaurant, will also be stationed in the area. Spectators can also buy doughnuts in the spirit of the race — and pay with money instead of sweat. Those who don’t enjoy their cardio with a heaping side of carbohydrates are probably wondering, how many runners have thrown up their doughnuts at the end of the race? “That’s probably our No. 1 most-asked question,” Correa said. “But we haven’t had anyone throw up. [But] some people feel really terrible when they finish.” “But no one has had doughnut-induced vomiting,” Pacent said.

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 1

EBOLA man said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest in history and also the first epidemic of the disease. As of Oct. 1, there were 6,574 reported cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and one confirmed case in the United States. The disease has killed 3,091 people so far in the West African countries. The CDC confirmed on Sept. 30 that an unidentified person in Dallas has Ebola. Their website says health officials in Dallas are “taking precautions to identify people who have had close personal contact with the ill person.” So far, the CDC hasn’t yet identified any other cases in the U.S. Pitt is not currently able to work on a vaccine for Ebola, Hartman said, but is working on other important vaccines and therapeutics for other ailments. “[Pitt] doesn’t have the biosafety level 4 to work with the live virus, but we do have level 3 for other viruses equally as important

as Ebola,” Hartman said. Some of these other viruses are yellow fever, H5N1 avian influenza and Rift Valley fever virus. According to Hartman, the only way Pitt would be able to work on a vaccine for Ebola is in a “collaborative sense” with other universities and places that do have level-4 biosafety clearance. They are not currently doing that, but Hartman said that there has already been work done by other places prior to this epidemic. Janet Truebig, a first-year student in the Graduate School of Public Health in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, said she doesn’t think that Pitt should start work on an Ebola vaccine. “Pitt has been really involved in the past, but I think we should leave Ebola to the higher-ups like the CDC and WHO [World Health Organization],” Truebig said, referring to the highly lethal nature of the disease and Pitt’s facilities, which aren’t properly equipped. But, Truebig said she does think that there are ways to help Ebola patients in Africa. “The big problem is people in Africa are

scared of hospitals and medical workers,” Truebig said. “To educate on safety and good intentions is the biggest way to help. There is a low doctor-to-public ratio. They need help getting medical people down there to help with treatment units.” As a student working with infectious diseases, Truebig said that she wouldn’t choose to work on or around an Ebola vaccine. “You can stick a monkey, and it flinches and waves its arm, and the needle goes flying and it sticks you in the thigh, and it’s as easy as that to contract Ebola,” Truebig said. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior associate at the UPMC Center for Health Security, agrees that there are risks involved with making all vaccines but says that, if you follow the proper biosafety precautions, exposure should be prevented. “The risk is very small, but never going to be zero,” Adalja said. Adalja said he does not believe Pitt needs to start working or collaborating on a vaccine for Ebola, since the Ebola vaccine process is already on human trials in other places. He would not, however, rule out Pitt helping other schools work on “wider human

3 trial testing.” “Pitt is no stranger to vaccine trials, since the polio vaccine was done here,” Adalja said. In a Sept. 30 death-toll prediction released by the CDC, the death toll from Ebola was estimated to reach from 550,000 to 1.4 million people before this epidemic ends. As terrifying as these numbers are, Adalja said they are not to be taken literally as a prediction. “If you read the CDC paper closely, they back away from that number. It’s based on a model assuming nothing is being done,” Adalja said. According to Adalja, Ebola is only spread through blood and bodily fluids, and, if the burial practices in these areas change, it would help stop the disease from spreading. Ebola can spread through contact with corpses as well. But, Adalja said, people often underestimate how difficult changing practices in Africa could be. “Sociocultural factors impede the ability of this message to get through to this population [there],” Adalja said. “There is a severe distrust of public health authorities [in Africa].”

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

OPINIONS

American history: How should we teach it?

This fall, the College Board introduced a new framework for its AP U.S. History course that has recently come under fire. According to the Washington Post, Ben Carson, a prominent pediatric neurosurgeon and potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said, “Most people, when they finish that course, they’d be ready to sign up for ISIS.” Of course, Carson was more than likely using hyperbole to get his point across. However, his opposition to the framework was shared by many, including the Republican National Committee, saying that it “emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history, while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.” Because of this uproar, the College Board has since revised its framework to include more positive figures, such as Benjamin Franklin and Martin Luther King Jr., who it previously either omitted

or briefly mentioned. Regardless, this controversy highlights an important lesson. United States history is filled with great success and achievement. We should be proud of our enduring national constitution, our leadership in the world wars, our scientific innovation and our diverse makeup. But, like any nation’s history comprised of imperfect men and women, it is also filled with failure and disgrace. From slavery, to forced American Indian removal, to harsh imperialism, the United States has had dark moments. But, when teaching history, teachers at all levels, from kindergarten through college, must be balanced in their assessment and presentation of our past. History is an extraordinarily complex subject. Those who have only viewed American history through rosecolored glasses will be hit hard by the

harsh realities of our past. Alternatively, only dwelling on the bad can lead to an overly cynical generation that ignores the innumerable achievements for which its predecessors bravely fought. Therefore, a balance must be sought. From an early age, schools should present students with both sides of history — not only the good or not only the bad. Students must realize that historical figures were human, just as they are, sharing in the same struggles we continue to deal with today. Instead of primarily focusing on names and dates, students should learn through literature, letters, photos, archival footage and interviews to better understand and relate to the figures and events that came before them. History is nothing more than the story of us, not merely our past. As historian David McCullough said in his

2003 Jefferson lecture, “The Course of Human Events,” “If you think about it, no one ever lived in the past. Washington, Jefferson, John Adams and their contemporaries didn’t walk about saying, ‘Isn’t this fascinating living in the past! Aren’t we picturesque in our funny clothes!’ They lived in the present.” We continue to do so today. As our nation responds to growing threats in the Middle East and around the world, as we recover from harsh economic times, are we thinking about history, or are we simply acting as humans trying our best? The truth is, sometimes our best will come up short. Does that make us inherently bad? No. It makes us human, no different than our predecessors. If more schools took this approach, perhaps more students would be excited to take a course like AP U.S. History.

SIMON SAYS

Celebrity activism: Examining its ethics and effects Simon Brown Columnist

Usually when I encounter trending articles, videos and stories on social media sites, I need not ponder long before I can take a stance on them. They either deserve attention or they do not. Similarly, the standard editorial thinkpiece takes definitive stances. It supports or it objects. It answers yay or nay to most any situation. But the recent viral video of Emma Watson’s United Nations speech on feminism and men’s role within the movement has given me consistent pause all week. Something about it does not sit well with me, but I’m not sure what. I’m not the only one with feelings about the speech, as it has sparked a dialogue among news and social media. However, I may very well be the only one without a decided position on it, which

has ranged from near-religious panegyric to stern critique. It has been variously described as “game-changing” and “30 or 40 years behind the times.” My uneasiness certainly does not lie in the content of the speech. Watson delivered a concise call for men’s participation and acceptance within the feminist campaign for gender equality — a call that I enthusiastically embrace and for which I have previously advocated. I understand the well-placed critique of the gender binary implicit in her call for “men and boys to support women and girls.” But not everyone can be easily identified in one of those two camps, nor does everyone ask to be. Nevertheless, I can also understand that identities such as transgender and genderqueer may not carry much purchase for policymakers and even feminist activists in many — if not most — of the countries represented at the UN. One

can justly militate for those identities’ inclusion, but possibly at the expense of alienating allies for women’s rights in many regions of the developing world. If it wasn’t the speech that I can’t easily digest, perhaps it’s the speaker. I first considered my discomfort with the speech’s popularity in the person of Emma Watson. Besides, I thought, no one is paying attention to Emma Watson, the UN Goodwill Ambassador, but to Hermione Granger, Gryffindor’s star pupil. There are people across the globe dedicating their lives to combating sex trafficking, gendered wage discrimination and female genital mutilation. Would any of them receive the attention that one starlet garnered just by her name? Evidently not. I had to spend an inordinate amount of time looking for the identity, let alone the speech, of the speaker who preceded Emma Watson. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka — former

deputy president of South Africa and current executive director of UN Women, who has spent much of her life advocating for gender-equal education and for the rights of black South African squatter women — has not appeared in any of the articles lauding Watson for her courageous speech. But it isn’t that simple. As soon as I had identified that this arbitrary hero worship obscured the work of dedicated feminist activists, I realized that I didn’t have a very good idea of what a dedicated feminist activist should be in the first place. Watson is not the most accomplished or committed feminist advocate, but not everyone has to be. Although the feminist community certainly needs more advocates to dedicate their lives to challenging systematic gender inequity in industry

Simon Says

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 4

SIMON SAYS and politics, we need even more people from all backgrounds to address the everyday sexism in language and culture. One need not be a full-time teacher at a girls’ school or a full-time labor organizer for female workers to be a full-time feminist. What is more, Emma Watson does commit herself to global gender equality

THE PITT NEWS Natalie Daher Editor-in-Chief editor@pittnews.com

Cristina Holtzer, News Editor news@pittnews.com

Nick Voutsinos, Opinions Editor letters@pittnews.com

Shawn Cooke, A&E Editor

aande@pittnews.com Chris Puzia, Sports Editor sports@pittnews.com

Theo Schwarz, Visual Editor photos@pittnews.com

Ellie Petrosky, Copy Chief tpncopydesk@gmail.com

Stephen Caruso, Layout Editor tpnlayout@gmail.com

beyond the podium. She has travelled to Bangladesh, Zambia and Uruguay within the past year to spread her message. To dismiss her as merely a celebrity advocate disregards the proactive work she continues to do. At this point, I was hopeless. How could I not know my opinion about this popular, important issue? Why did I have this lingering unease about an accomplished woman’s admirable message of gender equity? And then it struck me: I had no ob-

E S T A B L I S HE D 1 9 1 0

Mahita Gajanan, Managing Editor manager@pittnews.com

Danielle Fox, Assistant News Editor Harrison Kaminsky, Assistant News Editor Matt Barnes, Assistant Opinions Editor Dan Sostek, Assistant Sports Editor Jeff Ahearn, Assistant Visual Editor Zheru Liu, Multimedia Editor Joelle Smith, Social Media Editor Becca Nagy, Assistant Copy Chief Emily Hower, Assistant Layout Editor

Copy Staff

Sarah Choflet Anjuli Das Kinley Gillette Johanna Helba Emily Maccia Sam McGinley

Bridget Montgomery Sarah Mejia Shivani Pandit Michelle Reagle Michael Wilson Megan Zagorski

jection to the speech or the speaker. I certainly don’t have any objection to my Facebook feed aglow with commentary on women’s rights. My only complaint is that there isn’t more. When gender equality becomes a Facebook trend initiated by big-name actors, the everyday person needs to do more. I’m not opposed to Emma Watson’s popularity, but I am opposed to the lack of recognition for Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. I found it difficult to articulate this dissatisfaction because most editorial

Editorial Policies Single copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns,- car toons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter - in tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University affiliation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to letters@pittnews.com. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left. The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is-pub lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer. Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations -Com mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260. The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University staff, - fac ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito rial offices of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

T P N Today’s difficulty level: Very Hard S U D Puzzles by Dailysodoku.com O K U

5 columns express firm opinions. Watson’s speech had little to do with my opinion, but the fleeting attention to it allows me a moment to address a gathered audience attentive to further commentary on gender equality. Cultural critique isn’t about supporting or opposing isolated instances. It’s about using an instance to speak to much broader social goals. It doesn’t begin with a definite opinion. It begins with a feeling of unease. Write to Simon at spb40@pitt.edu. advertising@pittnews.com

Kevin Vanover, Business Manager Advertising@pittnews.com

Kelsey McConville, Inside Sales Manager

David Barr, Sales Manager

advertising@pittnews.com

Account Executives Maxwell Hine Jordan Bullock Robert Capone Rosalyn Nye Antonio Blundo Joe Leone Joe Kloecker Mackenzie Walsh Sean Leone Jordyn Aungst

Matt Reilly

Inside Sales Nicole Barrett Victoria Hetrick Julia McKay

Digital Manager Stephen Ellis

Marketing Manager Kristine Aprile

Senior Universal Account Executive

Marketing Assistant

Ad Designer Mark Janavel

Rachael Hoge

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT PREVIEW

Clabby and Baker star as the accidental lovers of “Stop Kiss.” Photo credit to Vincent Noe

‘Stop Kiss’ portrays a ‘stumble into love,’ mirrors the headlines Shawn Cooke A&E Editor

“Stop Kiss,” unfortunately, has turned out to be a timeless play. The off-Broadway production, which debuted in 1998 at The Public Theater in New York, focuses on two women who unintentionally fall in love, despite their existing relationships with other men. It’s a complicated situation, but it only gets more involved on the night of their first kiss, when they’re brutally assaulted, leaving one of them comatose. Just last month, when rehearsals for Pitt’s production of “Stop Kiss” were underway, life started to mirror art. In Philadelphia, a gay couple was walking to get pizza just before 11 p.m. They were interrupted by a group of nearly a dozen attackers who allegedly shouted homophobic

slurs before beating them. One of the men came away with an orbital fracture and a laceration from his nose to his lip. Brittany Coyne, the play’s director and a senior theatre arts major, wishes that there could be an alternate universe that presented “Stop Kiss” as a historical play, documenting events that no longer happened, instead of one that parallels current headlines. “I wish that we would be able to do this play as a period piece,” Coyne said. The play, which runs Oct. 2-12 at the Henry Heymann Theatre in the Stephen Foster Memorial, will be the first Mainstage production directed by an undergraduate. Six undergraduate performers comprise the small cast of “Stop Kiss.” This degree of undergraduate participation in a Mainstage production is highly uncommon, since graduate students or faculty

usually have more active roles in direction and oversight. Pitt’s Student Lab performances are where undergraduates usually gain experience behind the scenes, but on a slimmer budget. Coyne directed a Student Lab last year called “Matt & Ben,” and she has another Lab, “Urinetown,” planned for February. Sara (Leenie Baker), who falls into a coma after the couple is beaten on the street, and Callie (Lucy Clabby, who has written for The Pitt News) form the central relationship. Their former love interests, Peter (Ben McClymont) and George (Kieran Peleaux), are mostly supportive of the new romance, but Peter still holds out hope for winning Sara back during her recovery period. Despite the major roadblock, Callie and Sara remain committed to each other. Bri Wagner and Chris Bennett also star as Mrs. Winsley/Nurse

and Detective Cole, respectively. In many ways, “Stop Kiss” is two stories in one — scenes slalom back and forth between the present-day effects of the assault and Callie’s memories from before her first kiss with Sara, but they maintain their chronology within each storyline. Despite its tremendous ripple effect, the assault isn’t shown onstage. Jessica Hecht and Sandra Oh starred as Callie and Sara during the original run of “Stop Kiss” five years before the actresses appeared in Alexander Payne’s “Sideways.” “Stop Kiss” was extended only three times in New York, but it has since taken on new life with small theater troupes and college groups all over the country. Bennett thinks the play has more resonance now than when it first hit the stage.

Stop Kiss

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

MUSIC

Pitt musician spotlight: The Brothers Craig score first big gig opening for Hoodie Allen Britnee Meiser Staff Writer After winning Pitt’s most recent round of Battle of the Bands, acoustic trio The Brothers Craig will make their live debut opening for Hoodie Allen at Fall Fest. Roommates Stephen Kraus, Paul Carey and Jack Loeffler started the band after months of playing for fun in their apartment. “After a while, we decided to get serious and start trying to play some gigs that didn’t involve our neighbors yelling at us for being too loud,” Kraus said. Fall Fest will be The Brothers Craig’s first large performance. Besides Battle

of the Bands, the only other public show they’ve done is an open mic night in the William Pitt Union last year. The band describes its sound as “high-energy acoustic,” which makes for interactive performances. “What makes [our sound] unique is the completely different musical backgrounds all three of us come from,” Carey said. “Because of that, we draw inspiration from nearly every genre of music.” The Brothers Craig opens for Hoodie Allen and Chiddy Bang 1 p.m. this Sunday at Fall Fest. Each band member had a different opinion for most of the questions on our standardized Pitt musician survey.

The Brothers Craig performing at Battle of the Bands. Photo courtesy of Stephen Kraus

Favorite Oakland pizza shop: Little Nippers II

Favorite Pittsburgh venue: If we had to pick one we would want to play the most, it would be Stage AE.

Biggest musical inspiration: Paul: Brantley Gilbert; Stephen: Tie between Guster and Arcade Fire; Jack: Noel Gallagher from Oasis

Favorite place to go for inspiration: Paul: Yosemite Valley, Calif.; Stephen: Narnia; Jack: Downtown, although most of our ideas end up coming from our living room

Favorite movie with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: Paul: “Race to Witch Mountain;” Stephen and Jack: “The Other Guys”

Academic building you’d hold a concert in: Paul: David Lawrence lecture hall; Stephen: Hillman Library, on any of the quiet floors; Jack: Loeffler Building, for obvious reasons

FROM PAGE 6

STOP KISS “I think there’s definitely still a view on gays that [they’re] obviously not widely accepted,” Bennett said. “And, personally, this play [resonates] with me a lot — just the fear of it all.” For Pitt’s production of “Stop Kiss,” Coyne made some minor updates to the script — such as replacing answering machines with cell phones and changing the names of closed restaurants — to modernize it and remind the audience that “this is something that could have happened while we were watching this play.” Nearly everyone involved with the play emphasizes that its social implications aren’t necessarily the centerpiece of the story. At its core, “Stop Kiss” is very much an unconventional and organic love story, albeit one that’s interrupted by a particularly horrific event. “If the phrase is ‘falling in love,’ they really kind of stumble into it. They kind of ‘trip in love,’” Baker said. “It isn’t intended at all. It’s not a romantic love story in the stereotypical sense.”

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com Coyne also acknowledged how difficult it is to define the progression of the relationship, since they’re a bit reluctant to fall in love. She was also critical of an instinctual desire to put a label on Callie and Sara’s situation. “There’s just no hint that [they’re falling in love],” Coyne said. “They’re just two people who like to spend time together. It doesn’t have to be anything.” Despite its brisk running time of 95 minutes, “Stop Kiss” covers a lot of spatial ground — despite the smaller Henry Heymann Theatre. “Every single scene happens in a different place. Scene one’s in an apartment, scene two’s in an interrogation room, scene three’s back to the apartment — so every scene switches places, which is very hard,” Coyne said. “We had to create an entire hospital in 10 square feet.” The play’s intimacy has forced the cast to adjust to sharing a limited physical space, but they’ve also grown closer off the stage, finding common ground on the play’s central themes. “Because of all the issues that surround the work we’re doing, we all feel like we’re on the same page, and that kind of brings us together,” Peleaux said.

The Pitt News Crossword, 10/2/2014

ACROSS 1 Dangler on a dog 6 D-Day city 10 “A likely story!” 14 19th-century English novelist Charles 15 Greenish-blue 16 Gear teeth 17 *Programs that generate hardware sales 19 Religious offshoot 20 Paperless publication 21 “Ditto!” 23 Having “but one life to give for my country,” to Hale 26 *Certain repair site 28 “__ you finished?” 29 Feel sorry about 31 Gael or Druid 32 Retin-A target 33 Greenish-blue 35 __ Martin: flashy car 39 LAX listing 40 *Brings up to speed 42 “Surfin’ __” 43 Like painter Jan Steen 45 Assents at sea 46 Capture 47 Extremely attentive 49 Big laugh 51 It may need boosting 52 *Bargain for less jail time 56 Capital on the Sava River 58 José’s “Moulin Rouge” co-star 59 Salvage crew acronym 61 Literary bell town 62 Climactic announcement suggested by the starts of the answers to starred clues 67 Shed tool 68 Quaint oath 69 Antipasto ingredient 70 Span. ladies 71 Feature of some stadiums 72 Green

10/16/14

By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

DOWN 1 Aggravate 2 Agnus __ 3 Latvian chess champ of 1960-’61 4 Only woman to outwit Holmes 5 Eccentric sort 6 Reading at the checkout counter 7 Laid-back sort 8 Indy circuit 9 Kind of surprise kick 10 Confronts rudely 11 Word in two state names 12 White house? 13 Lens setting 18 Ceremony 22 “Lay Lady Lay” singer 23 Knocked down 24 “Un Ballo in Maschera” aria 25 Imply 27 Dublin-born playwright 30 Consider identical 34 Chase scene maneuver, slangily 36 One working on pitches

Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved

37 Missouri river or county 38 Mover and shaker 40 Blokes 41 Troopers, e.g. 44 Extreme jitters, with “the” 48 Put 50 Explosive sound 52 Business magnates

10/16/14

53 Very hot celestial orb 54 Arctic garb 55 Tea-producing Indian state 57 Big name in wine 60 Give up 63 Earlier 64 Rouge or blanc 65 Eden dweller 66 “L.A. Law” actress

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

SPORTS

FEATURE

After four years away, Wignot returns to basketball

Dan Sostek Assistant Sports Editor Last fall, Suzie McConnell-Serio was browsing Pitt’s athletic website and found an article about the Panthers volleyball team. While reading the article, something caught the then first-year Pitt women’s basketball coach’s eye: a name. “I knew it wasn’t a common name,” McConnell-Serio said. “I remember thinking, ‘There cannot be two Monica Wignots’”. During her senior year of high school at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., it seemed to everyone that Monica Wignot was poised to begin a promising collegiate basketball career after graduation. A star all throughout high school, the 6-foot-3-inch Wignot tallied 1,000 points during her high school career. She was a two-time conference MVP and a three-time all-state team selection. But much to the surprise — and perhaps chagrin — of her family, friends and coaches, Wignot had a different sport with a net in mind: volleyball. Wignot was a skilled volleyball player in high school despite never having played

before her freshman year, earning all-state honors three times and leading her team to the state semi-finals twice. She received countless offers from colleges, including one from McConnell-Serio, the then head coach at Duquesne University. Wignot even verbally committed to the University of Delaware to play basketball earlier in her senior year. It was an unprecedented move for a basketball player of her caliber to throw the sport to the wayside. “I had tried to recruit her at Duquesne six years ago,” McConnell-Serio said. “Then I found out she wanted to play volleyball, so I stopped recruiting her. I didn’t know where she ended up.” Eventually, Wignot would garner a grand total of one volleyball scholarship offer, coming from the University of Pittsburgh. And that was something that Wignot decided to jump on. “Personally, I felt like I was burnt out,” Wignot said. “I had been playing basketball since I was five or six, and volleyball was fresh and new. And once I was presented the opportunity to play in college, I knew it was time to switch it up.” Wignot said she felt a little bit of guilt,

Monica Wignot works on getting back into basketball shape. Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics

remembering that her parents had driven her to countless AAU games and practices, while coaches helped her sort out her recruitment offers. “In a sense, I kind of felt bad because I didn’t want to make it seem like all of their hard work was for nothing,” Wignot said.

“I really did appreciate everything that all my coaches and my parents did for me. But, overall, they were still happy and supportive, because it was what I wanted.” Wignot appeared to have made the right

Wignot

COLUMN

Frustrations of a first-time fantasy football player Alex Wise Staff Writer

Fantasy football is the worst. And I’m not just saying that because I lost this week — which I did. I’m saying that because fantasy football, together with Yik Yak and inserting lines from 2 Chainz songs into everyday conversation, is slowly taking over my life. I’ve become what I thought I’d never allow myself to become: a Sunday bum, with my butt glued firmly to the couch, my hands glued firmly to a bag of potato chips and my eyes darting uncontrollably between the television and my phone (in actuality, this is what I’ve done every Sunday since college began. It’s just become more intense). I’m obsessed. But I hate myself for being obsessed be-

cause now I get angry at players whose only fault was being available on the draft board when I made my selections. I benched Frank Gore after he went a full game with just 10 yards on six touches. I cursed his name and considered dropping him. Apparently, Frank didn’t like that I punished him with the fantasy football equivalent of “go to your room,” so he decided to rebel by rushing for 120 yards and catching a touchdown pass, tormenting me in the process. Real mature, Frank. I thought I had a sure pick in Drew Brees. He’s been a consistently great quarterback for years now, even cracking 5,000 yards in a single season. But Brees hasn’t come anywhere close to my expectations. He’s been mediocre. And what’s worse, he hasn’t been throwing to his rookie wide receiver

Brandin Cooks, who I drafted in hopes of having a deadly one-two punch. In a way, I was right. It is deadly. Because it’s killing my team. But the biggest disappointment so far has been my first-round pick, my shining star, the one I thought I would be able to count on, even if all else fell apart. Calvin Johnson has given me nothing. He tallied 12 receiving yards last week. Twelve! How am I supposed to win fantasy games when the best wide receiver in the game can’t get the ball? But Johnson isn’t my only wideout who’s struggling. Andre Johnson has been atrocious. The Eagles’ offense went stagnant on Sunday, meaning Jeremy Maclin gave me nothing. I already talked about the Brandin Cooks problem. He’s been my flex player

each week since his great debut (when he was, naturally, on my bench). After some serious thought, I’ve come up with a few conclusions about fantasy football. First, I’ve reached the conclusion that my players don’t care about me. And that hurts. If nobody else in this world, I thought my fantasy football team would have my back. I thought they’d always be there to bring me that little bit of joy for the week, working as hard as they could to ensure my happiness for an afternoon. But I guess I overestimated my guys. They don’t love me. The second conclusion I’ve reached is that fantasy football is really no different

Fantasy

10 FROM PAGE 9

WIGNOT decision, as she ended up producing a stellar four-year career as a key member of the Panthers volleyball team, even making second-team all-Big East in 2012 and finishing with 822 kills in 93 matches. Her career as a Panther appeared to be over — that is until McConnell-Serio decided to make a phone call. The coach decided to reach out to Pitt’s head volleyball coach Dan Fisher to make some inquiries. “I remember telling [McConnell-Serio], ‘I don’t know if she can shoot or dribble,” Fisher said, now in his second year at Pitt, “but I know that she’s 6-foot-3 and can touch the rim. How many players do you have on your team that can do that?’” Still, it wasn’t a quick decision, Fisher said, as Wignot was apprehensive about her lack of basketball experience over the past four years. “I don’t think at the time Mo was totally ready to say yes,” Fisher said. “It took a bit of convincing.”

October 2, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com Eventually, the two sides realized that the partnership could be mutually beneficial. “The one thing she wanted to do was go to grad school, and she wanted to stay here at Pitt to do it,” McConnell-Serio said, “so it ended up being an opportunity for the both of us.” Wignot needed to get basketball-ready over the summer after not having stepped on a court competitively in four years, going through countless basketball workouts, playing in a summer league and scrimmaging against the Panthers team. “She spent some time getting back into basketball skills,” McConnell-Serio said. “She’s had some time to work on her skills, and we’re happy with her progress ... She hasn’t skipped a beat.” Despite the lack of recent experience, the Panthers will rely heavily on Wignot this season. The second-tallest player on the roster, Wignot’s versatility is lauded by McConnellSerio, who cited Wignot’s ability to play both along the perimeter and in the post as one of her most important skills. “She will be a major contributor for us, I can already see it,” McConnell-Serio said. “She’s going to play a lot.”

FROM PAGE 9

FANTASY from playing roulette at the casino. If you play roulette the way I play roulette, you stick to the outside of the table. There’s no need to play the numbers when you’ve got red and black right in front of you. Simply choosing a color makes it easy to tell whether or not you’ve won: if you have chips on black and the ball lands on a black space, you win. If you have chips on red and the ball lands on black, you lose. It’s a 50/50 chance. You have no idea what the outcome will be when you put your chips down. There’s no skill, gameplay or strategy involved. You just guess and wait and hope. Maybe it’ll work out, maybe it won’t. Based on my luck, it typically doesn’t. And that’s what fantasy football is to me. Guess, wait and hope. Maybe it’ll work out, maybe it won’t. When I look at my roster before each week, I have no idea what’s going to happen. I don’t choose which of my running backs will play based on the strength of the run defense of their opponents. I don’t have a clue which teams have good run defenses and which don’t, and I’m too lazy to Google it. Instead, I look at Alfred Morris, Frank

Gore, Fred Jackson and Pierre Thomas and think to myself, “Which of these guys do I have a good feeling about this week?” And, since my good feelings at the roulette table are almost always wrong, I play the other two. If Morris and Jackson are red, and I have a good feeling about red, Gore and Thomas are starting. It’s a highly unscientific and ineffective way to run my team, but I don’t really have much of a choice. I’m as good at fantasy football as I am at winning money at the casino: not good at all. If you’ve learned nothing from this, I’ll summarize: don’t use the Alex Wise Method at the casino. And definitely don’t use it for fantasy football. I’ve given this league the old college try. I’ve paid attention on Sundays. I think I’ve watched more games in the first four weeks of this season than I watched all of last year combined. I even remember to update my lineup. But my frustration is mounting with each passing weekend, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll last. Fantasy football is killing me. If I die, bury me inside the Gucci store.