Sept. 18, 2014 by The Pitt News

Vol. 105 Issue 32

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Thursday, September 18 , 2014

JOBS

GETTING FRESH AIR

Campus reps gain experience Sarah Police Staff Writer

Shantanu Vyas, a freshman computer science major, practices his skateboarding in the plaza. Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer

CAMPUS

From such great heights: Grads honor Pitt in video Emma Solak Staff Writer

Before Jingjing Xu and Othman Alshehri put Pitt in their rearview mirrors, they spent their last semester trying to capture the campus from a much higher angle. After three months of filming, international students Xu and Alshehri uploaded their commemorative “Farewell video to Pitt” to YouTube last week. The three-min-

ute-and-27-second video, set to the sentimental song “Hold Onto the Memories” by Corey Tynan, features both still photos and videos of Pitt’s campus. The duo took pictures and videos around campus using Alshehri’s drone, according to Xu, who graduated last spring with a math and finance degree. “This was shortly after my graduation and soon before Othman was leaving, so he came up with the idea of making a video

of our time here. I thought, ‘Why not?’” Xu said. Alshehri, who attended Pitt’s English Language Institute from 2013-2014, attached a GoPro camera — a brand of camera often used in extreme action video photography — to his drone and flew it over Pitt’s campus. Alshehri purchased the equipment from

GoPro

Perri Ripps used to spend a lot of her time on campus telling people about scarves. Ripps is a former campus representative for Donni Charm, a high-end scarf line created by former University of Arizona student Alyssa Wasko. Ripps’ position is one that has become a growing presence on college campuses — word of mouth has expanded its reach, usually spreading between friends. Students are taking advantage of working as campus representatives for many different companies to help them pursue their individual fields of study. “As a marketing major who is interested in learning about the fashion industry, I thought it would be a great fit,” Ripps said. According to Ripps, a senior, she found out about the position at Donni Charm through a member of her sorority, who was a campus representative at the time. After Ripps left campus to study abroad last year, she, too, passed along the position. Ripps said her duties as a campus representative included spreading the word about Donni Charm around campus through social media and other efforts, hosting trunk shows and staying up to date on all of the latest merchandise. According to Donni Charm’s website, the company is named after Wasko’s late father,

Campus Reps

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

LANGUAGE

Community partners work together to improve language skills Ariel Berkowitz For The Pitt News

Sometimes, the best way to improve something is to just sit down and talk about it. That ’s the idea behind the American Culture and Language Exchange , a program from Pitt’s English Language Institute. The exchange matches native English speakers with international students and members of the community who want to improve their English speaking skills. Through the roughly decade-old program, partners learn from one another in a casual, conversational matter. Those interested can sign up for the program through a Google form. Brianne Harrison, an ELI faculty member and community outreach coordinator, matches an English speaker with an international stu-

dent. According to Harrison, there were 66 participants in the program this summer. On average, Harrison said roughly 75 international students request a partner, equating to an estimated 150 partner groups. Native speakers can also choose to “double-up” and take on more than one conversation partner. “I have always believed in an outside of the classroom, beyond the four walls type of learning experience,” Harrison said. Harrison emails each partner the other’s contact information. Then, the speaker and student must arrange a day and time to meet and get together for at least one hour each week throughout the term. Melanie Marino volunteers with ELI and had a conversational partner from Taiwan during her freshman year.

Marino, a junior business major, and her partner, Pei Wu, would meet at the Cathedral of Learning roughly once a week to talk about “whatever popped into our heads,” she said, or topics from ELI textbooks. Marino studies Chinese and Japanese and found out about the program after her Japanese professor, Sachiko Takabatake, posted about ELI on Courseweb. “Studying in class and interacting with other students is nice and all, but this definitely helps you to get a sense of why you are learning the language in the first place,” Marino said. Harrison said it’s challenging for the American Culture and Language Exchange to get its name out to the Pitt community and others in the

Language

ELI connects conversation partners. MCT Campus

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 1

CAMPUS REPS Donny, who Wasko revered as her own “lucky charm.” “It is the heart and soul of a young woman who lost her father and found a positive means of linking both her love for family and fashion to her healing process,” the website says. Ripps made commission on the 15 scarves that Donni Charm required she sell each month. She said there was a lot of incentive, because the campus representative who sold the most scarves by the end of the month would receive a free one. According to the company’s online store, the scarves are in the $100 range. Now an intern at Tommy Hilfiger, Ripps said her work with Donni Charm taught her the innerworkings of a company and what working in the fashion industry might be like. Like Ripps, Leanne Clark was also was a campus representative, but for Krass and Co., a high-end athletic clothing company, for roughly one year. Clark, a senior psychology major, was responsible for the marketing and advertising of the company’s merchandise, which includes run-

ning shorts and T-shirts that can also be embroidered with sorority and fraternity Greek letters. Similar to Ripps, Clark was introduced to Krass and Co. through a friend who was a current campus representative. Instead of receiving payment for her work, Clark got a 20 percent discount on the company’s products. According to Clark, Campus representatives typically receive a discount or some form of compensation as payment for their work. Emily Toal, a junior biology major, was a hometown representative for Serengetee, a streetwear company, during summer 2013. Toal, a transfer student, found out about the opportunity to be a representative through a friend at her previous school, Louisiana State University. Toal said she enjoyed being a representative for Serengetee because it’s different from other companies. For every purchase through Serengetee, Toal said, a percentage goes back into the country from which the materials came. “It was a really cool experience because every time someone buys a product, 5 percent of the cost goes directly back to the area where the fabric is from and benefits a local cause in that country,” Toal said.

FROM PAGE 2

LANGUAGE Pittsburgh area who would be interested in the program. “I’m always thinking of new ways to reach the community and Pitt campus, as well as outside volunteers,” Harrison said. “I reach out anywhere and to anyone that I think I am going to find people who are interested in this sort of thing,” Last week, the Culture and Language Exchange participated in Pitt’s volunteer fair, through which they recruited native English speakers to pass out flyers and spread the word about the exchange on campus. Every semester, the program also hosts a “speed friending” session between native speakers and international students. It is the same concept as speed dating, without the romantic aspect, and the students can choose to exchange contact information after any of the rounds. Stacy Ranson, ELI student services

3 supervisor, works with Harrison on student pairing and availability. According to Harrison, ELI is often hit with a higher demand from ELI students for native English speakers than they can supply during the summer terms, when many Pitt students have gone home for break. “For the future, this is something that we definitely would like to improve, so we’re always looking for opportunities to expand our connections and visibility here, within the Pitt community,” Ranson said. “The fact that our students continue, term after term, to show such enthusiasm for the program speaks to its success.” Despite the American Culture and Language Exchange’s smaller size, Ranson said she really enjoys being able to witness such positive interactions among people with distant backgrounds. “We really do believe that this type of exchange is such a valuable experience

Language

4 FROM PAGE 1

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

The Pitt News Crossword, 9/18/2014

appropriate weather to shoot both film and stills. They filmed most of the video in the mornings when the wind speed was low to avoid any damage to the drone. Pittsburgh’s Amazon for roughly $1,650. With his drone, notoriously inconsistent weather became nicknamed Wanderer, he was able to capa challenge, as they only wanted to feature ture high-definition aerial footage that sunny or partly cloudy days. shows sprawling shots of Pitt’s campus. The last clip of the video, a time lapse For Xu, the nature of the University gave shot from Schenley Park, features a scenic landscape of campus under a changing cloudy sky. The shot, Alshehri said, took a month to film because of weather issues. According to Xu, the video serves as a reminder of the brief, but memorable, time Xu and Alshehri spent at Pitt. “The video was designed to be a memento of our time at Pitt, and we are hoping that it also brings back Using a GoPro and a drone, two Pitt grads film tribute video. Photo courtesy of Othman Alshehri some of the beautiful

GOPRO

the montage its deeper meaning. “The University itself is full of contradictions — historical but young, relaxing but energetic. And that’s what makes it so fascinating,” Xu said. Xu and Alshehri collaborated on the still photos used in the video. They agreed that one of the biggest challenges with the video was finding times with

ACROSS 1 Scavenging seabird 4 “You gotta be kidding me!” 9 “Cast Away” star 14 With 12-Down, Rodin sculpture 15 “__ the big deal?” 16 Bustling 17 Sound that may be averted by holding one’s breath 18 “Take your time” 20 Machu Picchu dweller 22 Mashed taro, mostly 23 Promising words 24 1993 film loosely based on the Jamaican bobsled team 27 Cry 28 Graphic beginning? 29 Sass 32 Watch carefully 34 Equipped 36 __ wave 37 Beginning auspiciously ... like 18-, 24-, 46and 55-Across? 40 Works on, as homework 41 Vocalist Vannelli 42 Heavy reading? 43 Ukr., once 44 Disney World visitor’s airport, on bag tags 45 Bluish hue 46 NCAA regional semifinals, familiarly 51 Acadia National Park locale 53 Word with game or room 54 Like lingerie models 55 Green-skinned movie villain 58 __City: computer game 59 Bull on a glue container 60 Beaufort __ 61 World Cup cheer 62 Anoint 63 Celebrated 2014 sports retiree

memories of those who have spent some of their days at Pitt,” Xu said. Dr. Kevin Binning, an assistant professor of psychology at Pitt, said the struggle students go through creates a certain attachment to the University. “There’s a lot that goes on,” Binning said. “Self-discovery, effort and struggle, meeting new people, being away from home for the first time — they’re all difficult things. The totality of these things add up to something pretty profound.” The struggle to succeed, particularly, resonates among students. “If Pitt was easy, if you could just show up and get an A, there wouldn’t be this attachment,” Binning said. “The struggle of becoming an alum will contribute to people feeling committed and attached to their University.” Feeling a sense of what you have gone through — including applying for and getting into the University, the late nights spent studying and writing term papers, involvement in campus activities, a particular impact on a student by a faculty

GoPro

9/18/14

By Julian Lim

64 Site site DOWN 1 Moral code 2 Safari sight 3 Colorful candy since 1847 4 Grass bristle 5 Throw together 6 Georgia’s __Bibb County 7 Enjoyed some home cooking 8 Codebreaker’s org. 9 Tried one’s hand 10 Provides inside information for, say 11 2014 Russell Crowe title role 12 See 14-Across 13 Foxy 19 “You don’t have to” 21 They may be red 25 More than modify 26 Dome-shaped abode 29 “Love Actually” co-star 30 Memo words 31 Chinchillas, at times

Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved

32 “American __”: Neil Gaiman novel 33 Sci-fi staples 34 Like acrobats 35 “__ appétit!” 36 Weasel kin 38 “It’s a deal!” 39 Charon’s river 44 Title holders 45 Group with a common bond 46 “Oliver Twist” bad guy

9/18/14

47 Double 48 Grabbed a stool next to 49 Banishment 50 Queens athlete, for short 51 Flour producer 52 Peak 55 Site site 56 Paper with NYSE news 57 Part of HRH

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 4

GOPRO member and sports game rituals — can create an attachment to the place where such experiences took place, Binning said. Alshehri found Binning’s comments to be true. “Not only have I enjoyed the camaraderie of my teachers and classmates, but I also had the chance to attend some of the events at Pitt, such as homecoming and

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T P N S U D O K U

commencements. Those events made me feel totally immersed in Pitt,” Alshehri said. The video offers a different, humble perspective, Alshehri said, and was created as a way of showing the pair’s appreciation about how pleased they were to have been students at the University. “Both of us are international students, and, because of Pitt, we haven’t been homesick,” Alshehri said. “If Pitt attracts international students and makes them feel like they are home — like in our cases — then what’s it like for domestic students?”

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

Mahita Gajanan, Managing Editor manager@pittnews.com

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Copy Staff

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FROM PAGE 2

to be able to communicate with native speakers, not just get a good grade,” Marino said. “Sometimes in class, you can forget that.”

LANGUAGE for both partners, and we hope that we can continue to increase the number of people we are able to bring together,” Ranson said. Speaking with Wu has improved Marino’s Chinese conversational skills, and it was rewarding to see her personal progress. “In the end you are taking the class

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EDITORIAL

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

OPINIONS SIMON SAYS

School safety should be left to districts, not state The debate over whether everyday people should have more or fewer guns continues to ignite concerns on both sides of the argument. But, regardless of stance, when it comes to schools, it’s not the role of the state to mandate even a single policy about whether school districts have the right to secure schools as they wish. State Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, agrees. On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee held a hearing for his proposed bill, which would allow teachers to carry firearms in school buildings and on school grounds. But the policy has sparked controversy over how to protect students in the event of a crisis. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, an Advisory Committee on Violence Prevention formed by the Senate has said it supports schools hiring security officers, but it “strongly opposes arming school administrators, teachers or other non-law enforcement personnel.” The committee’s stance is not entirely unfounded. If a school district can afford measurements to protect students through non-violent means, the district should pursue them. For example, USA Today reported Wednesday on a device called Bearacade, which is a door block made of sturdy metal that makes a room practically impenetrable. It was invented by an Ohio-based company after the 2012 shootings at Chardon High School, which left three students dead and three injured. Without question, bringing in such devices is advantageous to student safety. The problem with adopting a strict statewide policy is that school districts don’t have uniform budgets

or access to additional resources. Many school districts cannot afford to hire a significant number of enforcement officials or buy devices to protect the site. As a result, school districts should have the right to adopt the measures they deem most appropriate and possess the sovereignty to do so. As White has said, many rural schools “would be a minimum of 25 to 40 minutes away from getting state police help, minimum, unless they just happened to be luckily on patrol in that area.” Pennsylvania schools come from areas with diverse socioeconomic conditions, so a uniform policy wouldn’t be efficient. Over recent years, education centralization — most notably through standardized testing — has already infringed on the sovereignty of individual districts. The democratic process should allow citizens of a district to elect board members to make hard choices. Perhaps no harder choice can be made than one regarding students’ security. But that choice must be left to school boards and administrations, not state committees or departments. For Pennsylvania, sweeping policy simply wouldn’t work the same way for a rural school as it would for a city or suburban one. The makeups are too spread apart. Policymaking should be focused on school board decisions, rather than statewide mandates. White’s proposal is fair, and it’s time for the state to acknowledge it as such.

Use college to begin adulthood, not finish adolescence Simon Brown Columnist

In the opening of “Moby Dick,” the narrator, Ishmael, recounts how he spent the years from adolescence to adulthood: “A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.” The reader knows, generally, what he means by this. The whale ship, its responsibilities and its crew defined young Ishmael’s life. In the process, he learned to “ascribe all the honor and glory to whaling.” This moment in a definitive Great American Novel takes its place in a long tradition of our country’s literature — a fascination and anxiety toward the ways we mature into adulthood. This tradition and its manifestation in contemporary television and film recently came under the lens of film critic A.O. Scott, who last week wrote the provocative article “The Death of Adulthood in American Culture.” Scott summons quotes from Mark Twain to Judd Apatow to make his point that American culture has long struggled to seriously address adulthood and has always elevated adolescent heroes and their rebellions above their mean parents. Now, to Scott, the same youth worship plays across the big screen and small screen alike. The American college has always represented the location of that terrifying leap from adolescence to adulthood, from self-absorbed rebellion to societal commitment, as Ishmael reminds us. Our cultural fixation on youth has lifted the experience of college to nostalgic heights. The mantra

that “college is the best four years of your life,” however, distorts the experience for young people, who are anxious not to “waste” those precious years. We ought to reconsider our cultural expectation that college be the last gasp of adolescence, and we should, instead, consider it the entrance to a redefined adulthood. From the movie “The Freshman” in the 1920s, to “Animal House” in the ’70s, to “Neighbors” and “22 Jump Street” this year, the most popular films about college life have always depicted the ideal student as an overgrown teenager still rebelling against societal expectations — usually through copious drinking and sexual conquests. He (it seems to be overwhelmingly “hes” in these depictions) progresses through the same rites of passage he did in high school: He asserts his masculinity through sexual experience and his independence by ignoring authorities — whether it’s parents, professors or police. These recurring images speak to our cultural expectations for the college experience. They emerge from the memories of our parents’ generation, the first to attend college en masse, which often recalls college’s high points as the last episodes of carefree self-discovery before the stress of adult commitment. We have recycled that episodic memory into the ubiquitous ‘list of things to do before you graduate,’ which invariably repeats the same moments to be checked off: Drink alcohol. Have sexual relations with someone you don’t know. Go to sporting events. Etc. Even the admirable items are

listed as singular episodes. “Hey, do you remember that time I ‘Forced myself to think critically about race, religion, money, family and sex?’” “Yeah, that was a pretty cool time.” These lists express the common anxiety on the part of the readers and writers alike. When you are exposed to a culture that continually tells you that the last four (or five, or six) years of adolescence before graduation are fleeting, you welcome anyone else’s words of advice for how to take advantage of that time. Students will always feel anxious about the developmental changes that come with college, but we ought to rethink what the important changes are. What matters in college aren’t the hazily-remembered moments of adolescent self-indulgence against society, but, rather, the gradual process of altering the way you view yourself within society. In short, it’s the long stint on the whale ship that leaves you with admiration and commitment to your community, not to yourself. Herein lies the missing piece in Scott’s “Death of Adulthood.” Scott applauds how our society views with approval the TV shows depicting the downfall of “patriarchs,” whether Tony Soprano, Don Draper or even Walter White. But he laments that no model of adulthood has taken the place of the outdated, misogynistic father figure. A reconsidered college experience could supply young adults with replacements for

Simon Says

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC

Oakland house shows offer cheaper, intimate live music

Clockwise from top left Hagendorf, poet Jacob Mays with Boytim, Onward Progress, concertgoers. Photo courtesy of Jacob Patalive

Shawn Cooke and Lucy Clabby A&E Staff Forty kids, bobbing their heads together in a narrow North Oakland basement — it might sound like the awkward early hours of a college house party, but there isn’t any Avicii or “Turn Down For What” blaring over the speakers. Instead, Onward Progress, an experimental post-hardcore band from Cranberry Township, rips through its loud combination of screamed vocals and melodic, finger-tapped guitar licks in front of “The Simpsons” cutouts along the basement’s back wall. They’re playing at a house show — one of the many local, DIY, tight-knit concert events that are staged right in

Pitt’s backyard. This particular show, which took place last Saturday at a house dubbed “Moron Mountain” on Morewood Avenue, featured five artists. They included nationally touring band Fluffer, three local bands and a poet from The Night Gallery in Lawrenceville. The crowd, which primarily included college students from Pitt and Carnegie Mellon, was polite and responsive to every shift in performance. They sat cross-legged on the floor and listened intently to Dan Hagendorf, a solo acoustic performer. In between sets, almost everyone moved outside to catch some air and congregate while the next band set up its gear. The show on Saturday doubled as a

birthday party for one of the Mountain’s residents, Jordan Sucher, a junior dramaturgy and decision science major at Carnegie Mellon. Even though Sucher’s birthday show was only the second at his house, he knew for a while that he would end up hosting live music in Pittsburgh. “I always wanted to do shows, since before I even came to school, ’cause I went to DIY shows in New York that I loved,” Sucher said. Pittsburgh is not likely to keep pace with the number of shows New York has to offer, yet there is strong enough demand to keep promoters busy. Jackson Boytim, a 23-year-old Xavier graduate who booked Sucher’s birthday show, has been organizing house shows in Pittsburgh under the name Fine, I’ll

Do It Booking for almost two years. He estimates that he’s booked more than 50 local shows in that time. According to Boytim, booking the artists is only part of the job. Getting the word out is just as important for a successful show. “You gotta use a variety of social media, you gotta tell your friends — you have to yell at the bands to tell their friends,” he said. House shows have been a part of the hardcore-punk scene since the 1970s, and their history in Pittsburgh remains hazy and mostly undocumented. The community is as strong as it’s ever been in Pittsburgh, with a show almost every week. To regular showgoers, DIY music

House Shows

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 7

HOUSE SHOW provides a low-cost, intimate alternative to the city’s big promoting companies. There are several elements that have to come together to stage a house show, also known as a “basement show.” It generally requires a house with residents willing to host, a booker and a slate of bands. A community of regulars to fill up the house and pay back the costs of touring is also crucial. A majority of house shows in Oakland are donation-based, with a suggested contribution usually ranging from $510, to support the costs associated with touring. The average number of attendees ranges from 20 to 25, but some of Boytim’s most successful shows have drawn in as many as 70 people. “I try to get people to come in and pay money to see them so that band can have gas money,” Boytim said. “Maybe, if we’re all crazy lucky and a bunch of stuff

House Show

REVIEW

Interpol’s latest an uneven, bland release Stephanie Roman Staff Writer

Interpol El Pintor Grade: C+

“El pintor” translates from Spanish to English as “the painter.” Interpol takes this title literally by brushing only a few broad strokes of sound across the record’s 40 minutes. Interpol starts its fifth studio album off with a phenomenally charged start. “All the Rage Back Home” embellishes enough positivity and subsumes enough poppy jives that it sounds like something from the radio. Unfortunately, that’s where Interpol slacks off and the fun ends. Formed in 1997, Interpol sailed on the wave crested by post-punk, alt-rock bands such as Joy Division, The Strokes and Sonic Youth. They have a methodic, contem10 plative approach to music, punctuated

frequently by guitar arpeggios and basic drum fills. Despite overt fine-tuning, Interpol can be nominally dependable on a certain degree of catchy melancholia. This time, they’ve dipped a bit too far in the jar of melancholia and have managed to smear it all over the painting, obscuring all of Interpol’s fifth record is just more of the same. Photo via Interthe finer details. It’s pol’s Facebook page a little too blasé and manufactured, and it lacks the subdued and writing. To an unpracticed ear, there’s grit of earlier albums, such as Turn on the scant variance, as the song forms, lyrics, Bright Lights. tones and chords barely change from one “My Desire,” “Anywhere” and “Same song to the next. There’s a sense of numbTown, New Story” might as well be one Interpol 9 long track because of their uninspired riffs

Dear Kelly

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

Dear Kelly, It’s only been a month, and I’m already starting to become annoyed with my roommates. What should I do? Sincerely, Bad Roommate Selector Dear Bad Roommate Selector, Living with people is hard — especially when they eat the last slice of the pizza you went through all that trouble to microwave or drink all but the last half-glass of milk so that there’s not even enough for a bowl of cereal left. These are petty examples, but, often, these are the things that get blown out of proportion and lead to fights. Remember, if you’re not a freshman, you most likely chose to live with these people — and there’s a reason for that. Just think of what living without them

would be like. Not with other people, just living without whomever just used up the last of the hot water. You may regret not being that one upperclassman in Tower C or getting a place to yourself, but now think about having a bad day or being super hyper and not having anyone to have a stimulating conversation with. Hiding in your room can only work for so long, and, if you stay in the house, your thoughts will remain there, too. It’ll be harder to convince yourself that living with these people was a good idea. The trick with roommates is to stay busy. If you’re home all the time with roommates who are there just as often as you are, it’s easier for little things to irk you. Instead of going right home after class, do your reading outside (while you still can). Join clubs, go swing dancing or take an urban autumn stroll. Whatever you do, get out of the house. Your roommates probably aren’t going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with them. Kelly

FROM PAGE 8

INTERPOL ing strums and vague melody carried on by the guitars, but, for the most part, it’s a solid wall of monotonous sound lacking emotion. El Pintor picks back up again on “Everything Is Wrong,” which alludes to a sense of despair and inner turmoil typical of the genre, and it couples these emotions with some faintly atmospheric work and suffocatingly sweet riffs. For as satisfying as “All the Rage Back Home” and “Everything is Wrong” are, they’re met and disassembled quickly by the penultimate track, “Tidal Wave.” True to its namesake, the song mimics and mechanically rocks like the ocean. The phrase “a tidal wave,” repeats 12 times in less than a minute as the music fades slowly into the finale,

9 “Twice as Hard,” which fails to get any more interesting by rehashing the same riffs, tones and structures found on eight of the preceding tracks. A majority of the album’s middle and end disintegrate into fairly indistinguishable noise. It’s to be expected of the territory: Punk and, by virtue, postpunk, consist of only a couple of instruments and a couple of chords. Similarly, Ian Curtis of Joy Division possessed a characteristically deadpan singing voice, one that Interpol’s vocalist, Paul Banks, emulates with some added silkiness. Interpol — although largely understated throughout its entire discography — shines a couple of spotlights on standout tracks, but the rest of the album is washed out with moodiness and blandness. It’s like a standard landscape painting, but the smudges on El Pintor are evident.

10 FROM PAGE 8

HOUSE SHOW goes right, they can have food money in addition to their gas money.” A number of fairly high-profile artists have played in Oakland basements during the past couple years, including The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, The Hotelier and Modern Baseball. Even though each of those artists has been properly, or im-

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com properly, tagged as “emo” at some point, the house show circuit by no means restricts itself to any one genre — Moron Mountain’s next scheduled event is an avant-garde noise show on Oct. 25. But once the booking and promotion are taken care of, Boytim ultimately focuses on fostering an accepting and welcoming environment when it’s time for the show. “A thing I’ve [been] striving more towards is spaces where everyone can come and feel at least a modicum of

safety and that they are able to express themselves,” Boytim said. “And to have representation for people who might not normally fit into a lot of the stuff that goes on — not just in Pittsburgh, but in music all around the place.” No matter how accepting a performance space is, entering an unfamiliar home to watch or perform a show initially can be a slightly intimidating or uncomfortable situation. But, eventually, complete strangers spark conversation or approach the kid who’s

standing alone at his first house show. For Chris Taylor, the bassist and vocalist in Onward Progress, the adjustment is worth it. “At first, it starts off awkward cause you’re at someone’s house. You don’t really know whose house it is — you just kind of have to meet people on the fly,” Taylor said. “But that’s what kind of brings people together. You force yourself to do that — you’re in a stranger’s home. You’ve got to respect that. It’s just how people meet.”

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

SOCCER

SPORTS

Listless performance by Panthers results in 0-0 tie Mark Powell Staff Writer

Pitt men’s soccer disappointed tonight, looking sloppy and unaware at times, and were unable to score during 110 minutes in a 0-0 draw against Lafayette. Wednesday night’s game was the first meeting ever between the two schools, despite playing in the same state. The result was disappointing for the Panthers, who went into the game expecting to add to their impressive non-conference record this season. “The big thing is we’re not getting the combination we need in the midfield,” coach Joe Luxbacher said. “We’re a bit too slow with the ball.” Neither team got off to an especially hot start, as the Panthers and Leopards shared the ball for most of the first half. Lafayette forward Greg Biggiani had the best chance of the half in the 20th minute, when he split the Pitt defense down the middle. FortuJunior goalie Dan Lynd made a season-high seven saves on nately for the Panthers (2-2-1), he missed his Wednesday night against Lafayette. Bobby Mizia | Visual Editor target, shooting over the crossbar because of a

late challenge. Pitt made two changes in the first half, hoping to insert offense and experience into the lineup. Kevin Murray and Dan Prete made their respective entrances into the game just eight minutes apart, but their impact was not felt in the first 45 minutes. The Panthers possessed the ball in the offensive half but could not connect in the final third, leading to only a couple modest attempts at goal. At the end of the half, Lafayette had outshot the Panthers 7-4, and there was little doubt that the Leopards had not made the trip from Easton to roll over for Pitt’s third win of the year. Lafayette (1-3-2) used its size to its advantage in the first half, the physicality taking Pitt out of its offensive rhythm and making players appear stagnant at times. “They were definitely a physical team, they were definitely big,” forward Cory Werth said. “Winning the ball in the air is a big part of the

Soccer

COLUMN

Transformation of Pirates remains a sight to behold Jeremy Tepper Staff Writer

It occurred to me about three weeks ago. I was watching the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Cincinnati Reds in front of a sellout crowd at PNC Park. The fans were loud, passionate and raucous, and, much to their delight, the Pirates were winning, moving their way up the wild card standings and seemingly bound for the playoffs. This type of crowd is now normal for the Pirates. This type of team — currently second in the wild card and 2 1/2 games out of first place in the division — is now normal for the Pirates. After 20 consecutive losing seasons, winning is finally expected. For years, that standard seemed an unattainable goal. The teams and management were bad — really bad — and, as a result, despite playing in one of the best parks in baseball for more than half of the streak, attendance was among the lowest in baseball. The game I attended stood in stark con-

trast to how it used to be. A yearly contender and two-time World Series champion in the 1970s, the Pirates used to expect to win. My dad — a Pittsburgh native — would tell me of the days of Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. Meanwhile, I grew up watching the likes of Ian Snell and Randall Simon. Someday, I’ll tell my children of the great Pirates moments of my childhood, like Simon hitting a person in a sausage costume with a bat in the Milwaukee Brewers’ Sausage Race, or Jason Bay putting up a goose egg in the 2005 Home Run Derby. The good times. For the majority of the 20-year streak, the team seemed to be going nowhere. It was hopeless, working toward the insurmountable goal of making the playoffs. With their poor drafting, narrow-minded trades and lack of spending, winning never even seemed a legitimate possibility. For some reason, though, I kept watching. I imagined how awesome a packed PNC Park would look and how Pittsburgh would

be if baseball was revitalized. It would be glorious. I grasped onto every Pirates team. “This will be the year,” I’d say every season. “This will be the player to lead them out of the rubble.” Until 2011, making those statements seemed like a fool’s errand, but, after Neal Huntington was hired as general manager in 2007, the Pirates started to do things the right way. In the succeeding years, Huntington began to run the team the way a small-market team needs to be run, building up the farm system through the draft and trading away aging veterans for prospects. By 2011, these moves were starting to pay off. The Pirates were above .500 entering the All-Star break for the first time since 1992. Leading the way were former prospects Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata. The record was built on tenuous ground, Andrew McCutchen has become

Pirates

the face of the Pirates’ renais-

14 sance.

MCT Campus

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com COLUMN

Lasting change will result from a collective boycott of the NFL Mark Powell Staff Writer I grew up a die-hard NFL fan. I knew every statistic, and I collected football cards from the age of six until I was 12. I had Pittsburgh Steelers posters all over my room. As young fans, we all notice the bright lights and hard-hitting action. As we get older, we drop everything to watch “our team” from “our city” with players chosen for “us.” We cheer big hits that cause injury, scrutinize victims of domestic violence and cheer convicted felons like they’re soldiers returning home from war. Most of us buy into the perceived utopia of sports, while they enforce a 15-yard penalty on our ability to think cognitively. As Dr. Waldman told Henry in the film adaptation of “Frankenstein,” “You’ve created a monster, and he will destroy you.” The only difference is this monster can’t be killed by burning an old mill. After the NFL’s poor handling of the situation with former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, I no longer wear the league’s merchandise, and, outside of the Steelers-Ravens game on Thursday that I watched for this column, I no longer tune in for games. Why am I boycotting the NFL? Because I can’t help but feel partially responsible for supporting murders, drug abuse, fatal head injuries, domestic violence and the build-up of an entity that cannot be destroyed. And while it’s a bit reactionary, try and stick with me. The league has taken some missteps this season, as it has in the past, but there’s a key difference now. As these indiscretions have come to light, it seems like we — the public — have begun to take notice of the league’s culture. There are two events that have truly tested the NFL’s moral high ground in the public eye. First, the negligence and stupidity

League commissioner Roger Goodell has a mess on his hands. MCT Campus

shown by commissioner Roger Goodell in his initial two-game suspension of Rice set off public outrage. Goodell has been quick to hand out harsh suspensions and fines for marijuana possession and wardrobe malfunctions, but, when it came to the star running back, he flinched. When TMZ released the second Rice video, media giants, such as ESPN, began to turn on the NFL. It was clear that someone had lied about who in the league’s office had seen the video. One week later, another star was in the news, as Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings was indicted for physically abusing his 4-year-old son. As a result, Peterson sat out for the Vikings’ game last Sunday. The Vikings announced on Wednesday that they placed the running back on the exempt list, which means he is banned from all team activities but will still be paid. In 2011, Vikings cornerback Chris Cook was charged with domestic violence. In reaction, the team suspended

Boycott

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 11

SOCCER game today, and we lost a lot of balls in the air.” Lafayette picked up where it left off early in the second half, as an early opportunity left Pitt’s defense scrambling to get the ball out of their own half. Pitt responded with a chance of its own in the 55th minute on a header by Andrew Wright, which was deflected out of play just to the left of the post. Minutes later, Pitt appeared to suffer a setback when defender Stephane Pierre fell to the ground with an apparent upper body injury after a collision, but he came back a short while later. The injury would have put increased pressure on junior goalkeeper Dan Lynd and left Pitt without both of its starting center backs. The Panthers’ best opportunity of the game came in the 70th minute when Werth missed wide from inside the box. In the 78th minute, Hamish Law

entered the game for Kevin Murray, hoping to replicate his performance against Longwood, in which he played the role of hero by scoring the lone goal of the match to give Pitt a 1-0 victory. In the end, neither team could break the tie in regulation, so the game went to extra time. The statistics were fairly even at the end of regulation, the Leopards outshooting the Panthers 14-11. In college soccer, if a game is not decided in the first 90 minutes, the teams must play two 10-minute sudden-death periods to try and decide a winner. If neither team scores, the contest ends in a tie. Pitt won the possession battle in the first overtime, producing several chances. Near the end of the period, Panther defender Andrew Wright misplayed a ball in the air, allowing a Lafayette attacker a clear path to the goal. However, Pierre came to Pitt’s rescue, as he quickly cut off the lane and cleared the ball to the midfield.

Soccer

FROM PAGE 12

BOYCOTT him without pay for the rest of the season. Similarly, in 2012, Vikings running back Caleb King was arrested on assault charges and released from the team. Even as recently as December 2013, the team cut cornerback A.J. Jefferson after he was linked to domestic violence. So why the double standard? We needn’t look any further than the money trail. The NFL has an annual revenue of $10 billion, $1 billion of which comes from its corporate sponsors. So, while Vikings management may disagree with the way Peterson disciplines his children, their primary focus is on the team’s financial prosperity. Under normal circumstances, the NFL on Fox, which broadcasts games between NFC teams, averages 20.3 million viewers per week. That’s 20.3 million commercial targets for the Vikings’ sponsors, who have almost as much

13 to do with the team’s success as the coaches and general manager. But there’s something the Vikings didn’t take into account, and it’s a lesson the NFL may soon learn as well: Corporate sponsors hate negative publicity. Anheuser-Busch, which contributes $1.2 billion to the NFL as a sponsor, issued a statement regarding the league’s direction. “We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season. We are not yet satisfied with the league’s behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code,” the company said. Regardless of what you think of the “moral code” of a beer company, the league is in trouble. Radisson, a corporate sponsor of the Vikings, has broken ties with the team entirely. Nike has suspended its endorsement deal with Peterson. While most companies still

Boycott

14 FROM PAGE 13

September 18, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 11

BOYCOTT

PIRATES

stand by the NFL, they could fall like dominoes if events keep transpiring like they have the last few weeks. So, why boycott? Because, despite all its controversies, the NFL is still averaging just as many viewers as they had last year. The day after Baltimore released Rice, with the league embroiled in controversy, the Ravens played the Steelers on Thursday Night Football. The game attracted over 20 million viewers. If we can make a slight dent in that mark, if only for a few weeks, the pressure from sponsors will hopefully force the league to make sufficient changes in leadership — an action that’s long overdue.

winning close games but getting blown out in losses. Regression seemed likely, and it came down hard, with the team dropping below .500 to 72-90. The collapse hurt, but the first-half play foretold of winning times. Finally, 2012 would be the year they’d break the streak, I thought. And, for most of the season, it looked that way. On Aug. 19, the Pirates sat at 67-54. .500 wasn’t a goal anymore — that was inevitable. The playoffs were the goal now. In the next 41 games, the Pirates experienced another epic collapse, going 12-29 and finishing 79-83. No single adjective could do it justice. Heartbreaking? Yeah, it was. Dispiriting? It was extremely dispiriting. Piratey? Yes, it was very, very Piratey. As a fan, it was difficult to get excited for the next season. There was improvement, but downgrading from playoff expectations to finishing below .500

was hard to take. The team seemed like it would improve, but I was skeptical. As the Pirates collected wins and moved several games above .500 before the AllStar break, I remained cynical. As they continued to do the same in the second half, my cynicism slowly faded away. It was finally real. On the season, they finished 94-68, losing in five games to the St. Louis Cardinals after beating the Reds in a one-game playoff. And the atmosphere? Unreal. I’ve been to Steelers’ playoff games. I’ve been seen the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final. Just watching the Pirates playoff games on TV was better than either of those. The electricity, the enthusiasm of the crowd. It finally happened. 2014 has been more of the same. After winning MVP last season, McCutchen has continued his studly ways, batting .307 with a .932 OPS while running the bases and playing defense exceptionally. That’s expected, though. He’s the face of Pittsburgh sports now. Walker has remained one of the best second basemen in the league, sporting FROM PAGE 6

the third best OPS at the position. That’s expected, too. Starling Marte has posted better offensive numbers than his standout 2013 season, all while wreaking havoc on the basepaths and using his speed to play top-notch defense. That’s expected. Russell Martin has played better offense and defense than nearly every other catcher in baseball. That, too, is now expected. And Josh Harrison? Well, no sane person would have predicted him competing for a batting title and becoming one of the best third baseman in the league. As he’s proven that he wasn’t just the product of a hot streak, though, his play has become expected, as well. Because of these performances, the Pirates, in all likelihood, will make the playoffs again this season. With their young offensive firepower and bullpen coming into form, that’s become a given. With the MLB wide open this season, they might even contend for the World Series. And, if the team’s arc is any indication, reaching that level could soon become expected as well. FROM PAGE 13

SIMON SAYS

SOCCER

-those figures. The defining flaw of the old-school patriarch is his warped view of adulthood defined by accomplishments and possessions. An adult makes his own paycheck, tells other people what to do, has a wife and children (and tells them what to do) and owns his property. That list, however, is not within everyone’s reach — nor does everyone want to reach it. In the same way, contemporary culture defines a successful college experience by a narrow and arbitrary range of accomplishments. The ideal experience, however, lies in the learned ability to discard those lists and realize that everyone makes his or her own list and that different goals can be equally fulfilling. The students who choose to not only follow their list, but to explore and appreciate the lists of others, can also learn to respect myriad ways of expressing adulthood.

The second period of extra time was far different from the first, as Lafayette possessed the ball nearly the entire 10 minutes and recorded several shots on goal. Still, neither team could score, and the game ended in a tie. Lynd had a season-high seven saves on the night, as he recorded his fifth shutout as a Panther. Despite facing 20 shots on goal, Lynd was not concerned about the back four’s performance. “I think that number’s pretty deceptive, because the chances they got weren’t all that dangerous,” Lynd said. “I thought we had two guys in spots that they haven’t been at all season, so I think they performed well.” Pitt hopes to end its 225-minute scoreless streak when it resumes ACC play against N.C. State this Saturday at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

Write to Simon at spb40@pitt.edu.