The Spectrum Volume 61 Issue 60

Vol. 61 NO. 60

ubspectrum.com

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Bulls take on Akron Wednesday

Week in Ink Issue 46

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Campus Dining $300,000 in Student Money Trades Cash for Credit Suddenly Appears to SA Senate SARA DINATALE Asst. News Editor On Feb. 12, a new line containing $300,000 popped up in the Student Association’s budget.

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum Campus Dining and Shops, along with the Student Association, announced this past Monday that CDS dining centers are now credit-card friendly.

REBECCA BRATEK News Editor Get ready to trade trips to the ATM for an easy card swipe at Campus Dining and Shops locations. Students can now use their credit cards instead of fussing with cash or worrying about having to purchase a meal plan to buy food in the food centers around campus.

On Monday, CDS – along with the Student Association – unveiled their latest announcement in the Student Union, welcoming students to come swipe their credit cards as an alternative to using campus meal plans or cash.

Students can now use credit cards at all CDS retail shops, including Moe’s and Jamba Juice in the Student Union. Tim Horton’s, Soma Sushi, and the resident dining halls will be accepting credit cards in the future, according to Adam Coats, the assistant director for CDS. Many UB students have been waiting for CDS locations to become credit card-friendly.

“There’s been a desire for it for a number of years, obviously,” Coats said. “This group with SA kind of put a lot more pressure on us and was a little more vocal [about credit cards].”

SA President JoAnna Datz credits this newest payment choice to work done by past SA administrations. Nischal Vasant, Shervin Stoney, and Tony Roman – last year’s SA executive board – started to push communication about the initiative.

When Datz and her executive board ran on the VOICE party ticket last spring, their platform included plans to “advocate for pilot use of credit/debit cards at food service locations via

In a 13-2-0 vote at a Feb. 12 meeting, the SA Senate approved moving $300,000 from a budgetary line named “Cash and Investments” to a new line entitled “Projects.” Before the move, the “Cash and Investments” reserve had about $650,000 in it, according to SA treasurer Sikander Kahn. The fund exists as a rollover of the mandatory student activity fee. The “Cash and Investments” fund now contains $350,000.

Before Kahn motioned to move part of the fund – which he referred to as a “cushion” or “rainy day fund” – to a new line, the Senate had no idea it existed.

“I felt a responsibility that I should take an extra step to tell the Senate we have this money and budget some of it in the operating budget, so we can make the best effort to spend it,” Kahn said.

The SA must keep at least 5 percent of the total money it received last year in the reserve, but the amount also cannot exceed the current year’s operational costs, according to SUNY

The play in question is Fen, penned by noted English playwright and feminist Caryl Churchill. Jerry Finnegan, associate professor of acting and longtime member of the UB faculty, directs the incarnation of the play that will grace the Black Box stage starting on Wednesday night.

Fen, at its core, is a character drama.

The play centers on Val and Frank – the former is a farm laborer, wife, and mother, the latter is the former’s lover – and their affair, which is spurred on in part by the dehumanizing conditions the two live in. The two are “trapped” by their situation, according to Finnegan.

“Aspirations don’t even exist, they feel almost ridiculous in this [context]…it’s about the frustrations of

Weather for the Weekend:

This fiscal year, the SA collected $3.5 million, but it spent $3.64 million, so the organization tapped into its investments, according to Kahn.

The SA is currently in a $140,000 deficit. In other words, the organization is spending more

Matt Hogan hopes to make his name at the Olympic trials JON GAGNON Staff Writer Matt Hogan was once a bludgeoning force on the rugby pitch in Australia. He dodged swarms of defenders attempting to lay a devastating blows.

Rugby is a team sport with 15 players on each side with no padding, going head to head in hopes of pounding the ball past the opponents for a score. All of those opponents are eager to physically punish the ball carrier for coming in their direction.

Today, Hogan is far from the vicious pitch, in the docile waters of the natatorium Alumni Arena.

Swimming is more of an art form – there is no defense, and no contact. The swimmer’s competition isn’t against a vicious foe, but against the environment itself. The swimmer’s quest is to find the perfect stroke, to glide through the water smoothly.

It’s hard to imagine how someone could make the transition from the bruising rugby field to the much tamer pool deck – but this move was

Allen Lin /// The Spectrum Matt Hogan finds himself far from the place he used to call home. Despite the change of venue, Hogan is still an athletic freak who’s dominating the competition and everything that comes his way.

made out of necessity by Hogan.

This past fall, Hogan’s swim career reached the highest level as he qualified for the Olympic

life not lived well,” Finnegan said.

trials, an accomplishment that most swimmers will never reach. But Hogan still has lingering memories of his glory days as a rugby player in Australia.

Continued on page 4

New Financial Aid Program Offers Student Guidance LISA EPSTEIN Staff Writer

The struggle of those with no agency to find and exercise some makes up much of the play’s drama. The story of Val and Frank is interspersed with short vignettes – like “brushstrokes,” according to Finnegan – that give glimpses into the lives of others who inhabit the titular fen.

Starting this week, UB students will be able to have individual questions answered about their financial aid through the use of new personal advisers.

Jennifer Pollard, UB’s interim director of financial aid since May 2011, put the new program in place to assist and advise students and parents on any questions they have about financial aid applications and decisions. In a press release to UB, Pollard said that she has spearheaded these same financial aid programs at major universities like Northeastern, Columbia, and Jacksonville University.

The fen itself – a “fen” being a type of wetland with mineral-rich soil ideal for farming, for those who don’t know – is more than just the play’s setting.

Indeed, it’s practically a character in its own right, as its condition through history mirrors that of its characters.

Like Val, Frank, and their cohorts, the fen is the subject of capitalistic exploitation, from its transformation into farmland in the late feudal period (covered in some of the play’s vignettes) to its purchase by Japanese venture capitalists in the early 1980s, the work’s present.

“It’s almost like fate,” Finnegan said.

“Fate is the land, it’s never being given anything.”

Wednesday: Wintery Mix to Rain- H: 39, L: 38 Thursday: Showers- H: 39, L: 33 Friday: Partly Cloudy/Wind- H: 56, L: 40

That’s why Kahn motioned to move money from the reserve fund to the new “Projects” line.

From Australia to Buffalo, and Hopefully London

Finnegan and Fen Look to Impress The hard work, long hours, and dedication of 11 talented students and one very devoted director will culminate onstage at CFA’s Black Box Theater Wednesday night.

“Technically, I cannot collect 100 percent of our budget and put it in our investment,” Kahn said. “I should be spending it.”

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

EDWARD BENOIT Managing Editor

Mandatory Student Activity Fee guidelines.

Pollard was unavailable for comment at the time of press.

UB spokesman John Della Contrada said that, in general, there will be about 1,000 to 1,200 students per adviser. Students are divided by academic program in some cases, and by alphabet in others. There are about 12 advisers plus support staff.

“Jennifer Pollard successfully implemented similar programs at other universities.” Della Contrada said in an email. “She feels strongly that this approach will better meet the needs of students and their families because it will enable advisers to build a stronger relationship with students and more efficiently understand and respond to their needs.”

I N S I D E

Continued on page 8

Meg Kinsley /// The Spectrum Fen Director Jerry Finnegan salutes the hard work of his cast and crew the day before opening night.

Continued on page 2

Opinion * 3 Arts * 5,7,8 Life* 9,10 Classifieds / Daily Delights * 13 Sports * 14

ubspectrum.com

Page 2

Continued from page 1:

$300,000 in Student Money Suddenly Appears to SA Senate on students than what was collected from them this year.

Kahn said the senators have always had access to the audit reports, and they can ask the e-board and Sub-Board questions.

Because the money in the reserve was previously not budgeted, the SA had not designated a place for they money to go. Therefore, it was not a part of the Senate’s visible, operating paperwork.

“We should make our best effort to spend this money on students, and [the reserve is] available for the Senate to see,” Kahn said.

“Everything is available for the Senate to see, anyway, but [senators] would have to ask more questions. But this way it is available for the Senate to see in front [of them].”

In 2007, the Student Activity Fee was raised from $80 to $94.75. In that period of time, the reserve accumulated to be over $500,000. That’s because there weren’t plans to spend the additional money during those years, and it went into savings, according to Kahn.

The “Cash and Investments” reserve exists as a precautionary measure. It can be used if the SA is sued, since the SA has no budget for lawsuits, according to Kahn. It also exists in case the total number of students at UB decreases. In that case, it could compensate for the expected amount of the activity fee that would have come in.

“In the past, and this is not to tarnish the reputation of the SA at all, because it has been very widespread…but the money put in reserves was used for events such as Spring Fest and Fall Fest,” said James Gibbons, an on-campus SA senator.

Kahn said that last year, money was taken from the reserve fund to help pay for Spring Fest, because it was held in the stadium – a venue that caused the concert to cost more than previously budgeted for.

Now, Kahn has set up guidelines of how he believes the new “Projects” line should be spent.

Kahn addresses three points in his suggested guidelines. He suggests the money spent have long-term benefit to the undergraduate student population, the project the money is spent on must benefit students for a period of at least five calendar years, and the project must have the potential to provide services to at least more than half of the undergraduate population.

Senate Chair Darwinson Valdez was one of the senators to sign Kahn’s guideline proposal. He only signed it because, as Senate chair, he has to go along with the majority of Senate.

“I agree with some of the guidelines,” Valdez said. “I would like for it to be used in that way, but it’s almost an unrealistic way to do it. Only 30 to 40 percent of students get their service from SA…so to find a project that would target around 50 percent of students, I’d say is almost impossible.”

In the Feb. 12 Senate meeting, Valdez wasn’t in favor of moving the line because he didn’t feel the senators had enough knowledge about it. Valdez said that there was difference of opinion between Kahn and SA President JoAnna Datz at the Senate meeting; Datz was not in favor of Kahn’s motion.

According to the unapproved Senate minutes from Feb. 12, Datz said the money is tied up in certificates of deposit, and “we might wind up paying a fee for accessing [it].”

When asked to provide details about the specifics of those possible fees, Datz said she would have to speak with the SA accountant first, and she was unavailable to make a comment by press time.

“My opinion is we move money that was earning interest into a line that is now is just sitting there, so I don’t see the benefit that we have done,” Valdez said.

In the Senate minutes, Kahn said “there was no reason to keep so much money in savings because SA is a non-for-profit organization.”

“My aim is that people understand [the reserve fund], but with enough regulations and precaution that the mandatory activity fee can’t be abused,” Kahn said. “Most importantly, so people understand how the Student Association works, how the budget works, and how finances work. [And for] a normal undergraduate student to understand what’s happening right now – we’re giving back more [to the students] than they give us.”

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Continued from page 1: New Financial Aid Program Offers Student Guidance Advisers will be assigned to students and become familiar with their students’ cases, instead of the previous rotating first-come first-serve procedure.

Students will start receiving introductory emails from their assigned advisers throughout the weeks following Feb. 20, explaining what students can expect from them, and what advisers will expect from students to make sure financial aid advisement will be received and handled in an efficient way. Students will then be able to view their adviser’s name and contact information in the HUB Student Center.

members handle the roughly 29,000 students at UB. In the fall semester, because financial aid was disbursed roughly three weeks late, students were scrambling to find money to pay for things like rent, books, tuition, and food. In the same article that ran in The Spectrum on Aug. 31, 2011, the financial aid office suggested that students go out and find parttime jobs to pay for their student expenses while waiting for their financial aid checks.

Pollard said in the press release that the new program is modeled after financial aid services and best practices offered at other major universities. She believes that there will be a period of transtition as students and advisers “learn to interact in this new way,” but she thinks students and parents will be happy with this new approach to advisement.

Advisers will start reminding students of important deadlines and help them through the financial aid process. There will be a coordinated approach to handling advisement, which will be done in a more organized and personal way. The HUB Student Center enables the university to assign advisers to all aid recipients and process the information.

“The Office of Financial Aid has been developing this new way to advise students over the past several months,” Pollard said in a press release. “With a university of UB’s size, it is very important that students have a personal point of contact for their financial aid needs and that they feel the service and information they receive is efficient and accurate.”

The Spectrum reported on Aug. 31, 2011 that financial aid disbursement, including loans, were being distributed approximately three weeks later than in previous years. The Student Response Center had employed 21 staff members in the financial aid department during the Fall 2011 semester. These staff

Next semester, the financial aid office hopes to offer additional programs to students – this includes programs on managing finances while in school and best practices for paying off student loans after graduation.

“The Office of Financial Aid is very excited to provide students with better service, better communication and an overall financial aid experience,” Pollard said in the press release.

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

Continued from page 1: Campus Dining Trades Cash for Credit Companion Credit Card Terminals.” Datz continued to push for this addition when she took office in the fall.

“We worked really closely with Jeff Brady [the director of CDS],” Datz said. “I talked to Jeff probably several times throughout each month that we’ve been in office. It’s been a long road, but we’re finally here, and we’re excited.”

The addition of credit cards was a major investment for CDS, according to Datz. In order to be able to accept credit cards on campus, UB needed to become Payment Card Industry (PCI) certified.

All CDS employees had to go through extensive training and take several tests to ensure they understood regulations for handling credit cards and keeping patrons’ information secure.

“The worst thing you could do is make the announcement and a glitch happens, so it’s slowly, but surely been rolling out,” Datz said. “But now is the official announcement, and we’re ready for people to use it.”

The minimum for credit card purchases is $5, pretax, and signatures are only required for purchases above $10. CDS is also unable to accept debit cards that require a pin number, and if a card is unable to be swiped, the information cannot be manually entered. These practices are standard across the service industry, according to Coats.

Students are excited to have the ability to choose their method of payment and not be constrained to cash or a meal plan. Many who are commuters like that their options are not limited to the Commons, the only place on campus that previously accepted credit cards.

The entire process to become PCI compliant cost CDS about $60,000, according to Coats.

“It’s easier for commuters because it gives them more of a choice of where they want to eat,” said Kayleigh Bemisderfer, a sophomore exercise science major. “I’m not going to live on campus next year, so I’m not going to have a meal plan. But knowing that everything accepts credit cards, it helps out.”

The credit card system had been live for about two weeks at the time of the announcement – a safety precaution, according to Datz. The system first went live on South Campus and now is live across all campuses.

Coats added that CDS moved forward with this project because of how vocal Datz and her executive board have been since taking office.

He noted that people expect to be able to use credit cards wherever they go this day and age, and CDS wanted to make sure every payment option was available to students.

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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR IN CHIEF Matthew Parrino SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR James Twigg MANAGING EDITOR Edward Benoit EDITORIAL EDITOR James Bowe NEWS EDITORS Luke Hammill, senior Rebecca Bratek Sara DiNatale, asst.

Lisa Khoury, asst.

ARTS EDITORS Nick Pino, senior Vanessa Frith, senior Brian Josephs Elva Aguilar, asst.

Vilona Tranchtenberg, asst.

LIFE EDITORS Aaron Mansfield, senior Keren Baruch Lyzi White Rachel Kramer, asst.

SPORTS EDITORS Tyler Cady, senior Bryan Feiler Nathaniel Smith PHOTO EDITORS Meg Kinsley, senior Alexa Strudler Satsuki Aoi WEB EDITOR Matthew Parrino James Twigg GRAPHICS DESIGNER Haider Alidina

PROFESSIONAL STAFF OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Helene Polley

Opinion ubspectrum.com

Make a Decision

SA Senate needs to decide to revoke IVCF charter, not delay It’s been a month since the SA Senate determined that the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was violating university and SA rules by requiring its leadership to sign a “basis of faith.”

This piece of IVCF’s constitution forced those elected to sign a document that affirms the entire “trustworthiness and authority of” the Bible.

Just in case you’ve missed the entire “gay marriage” debate that’s been raging the past few years, there’s a line in the bible that reads “thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is an abomination.” Apparently, gay Christians don’t exactly agree with that line.

You can’t really blame them for cherry picking the Bible, really. They all do it.

Let’s take some other quotes from Leviticus, and see how many Christians follow them to the letter.

Leviticus 21:16-23 plainly states that the handicapped should not participate in religious ceremonies, including the blind, the lame, and dwarves. 21:9 tells believers to burn the daughters of priests if they have been unchaste.

ADVERTISING DESIGNER Aline Kobayashi Liam Gangloff, asst.

The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ ubspectrum.com. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.

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For a moment, however, we will ignore the inherent hypocrisy in still choosing to discriminate against gay people based on an ancient text that has innumerable hateful messages.

The “basis of faith” blatantly clashes with SA guidelines that don’t allow clubs to discriminate based on sex, race, or religion. The IVCF might argue that a Christian can’t become the leader of the Muslim SA, but the truth is that he or she can.

So why is the SA Senate waiting to make a decision? The story broke all the way back in early December. The SA Senate said it knew that there was a violation back then, and the IVCF has made it perfectly clear that it refuses to remove the basis of faith.

That’s fine, the IVCF doesn’t have to change anything in its constitution, but don’t expect the students of this school to pay for your club. Then you

can ostracize gay people from your community all you want, the same people you insist on denigrating are no longer footing the bill.

Either way you look at it, continuing to delay the decision is unfair to all parties involved.

For the IVCF, it now has to wait another month to see if the money that it believes is due to it can be used. Steven Jackson, the person central to this whole issue, has to wait to be vindicated after being pressured to resign.

In its letter to us, the IVCF made the appeal that in keeping with its constitution it is protecting diversity on campus by ensuring its leadership holds to the values of the group. The IVCF wants to think that it’s entitled to the money because of religious liberty, which our country was founded on.

Yet religious liberty is not in question here. Nobody is arguing that the IVCF doesn’t have the right to be a religious group that discriminates; you can do that in America. Just don’t think that we have to pay for it.

An Appeal to Reason Racism is alive and well

ADVERTISING MANAGER Mark Kurtz CREATIVE DESIGNERS Nicole Manzo Aline Kobayashi

Passage 25:44-46 outlines rules for buying slaves. In fact, many biblical arguments were made leading up to the Civil War defending the institution of slavery, but nobody would blame Christians for ignoring those passages. Such passages are from a different time.

Most of the crap we witness on the Internet we just write off. Stupid videos of people dancing crazily, or silly clips of dogs taking a dump are flashed in front of our eyes, digested, and immediately forgotten.

Occasionally, a video strikes the perfect balance between idiocy and offensiveness that catches the nation’s collective imagination and turns “viral.”

Two Florida teens found that equilibrium when a video of their racist tirade made it to YouTube under the title “Racist White Teen Girls Goes On A Rant About Blacks.” During the 14-minute clip, they spread hate by saying black people waste their money, and by making fun of speech habits.

What’s surprising isn’t the gigantic backlash against the kids, that’s pretty much expected at this point, but the amount of support they’ve received on the video. Racially charged comments dominate the commenting section of the video, and roughly a quarter of the ratings were positive.

Anyone who has experienced the Internet in any significant amount knows that the freedom that anonymity offers

also displays people’s true colors up to the world. It’s much easier to express your hateful and offensive views when nobody knows who you really are.

Yet the two teens decided not to remain anonymous and posted their image in the public. They were expelled from their predominately black high school, and received death threats.

Watching the video, we were left with a bizarre feeling: What century is this?

How are human beings still wasting their time with this garbage even after it seems we’ve solved this problem?

Rhetoric like this shows, however, that the problem isn’t solved. Racism still breeds, and a new generation of hate is coming through the works.

Even old titans of hate that were once all but killed are experiencing something of a revival. Hate crimes are at the highest level in five years around Los Angeles, and the KKK has been surging in numbers in Colorado.

Huge and blatant racism on par with the Klan might not be as common, but small acts of racism are entirely com-

mon in our lives, even at a campus as racially diverse as UB. Think about how often you’ve heard jokes about Asian people here. At the time, the interaction might seem harmless enough: making fun of a bad driver by saying they’re probably Asian, or joking about how all Asians are “good at math.”

Maybe when it’s going on you’re not thinking it’s as bad as two girls going on a racist tirade that is blatantly offensive, but it’s just that wide base of casual racism that supports the largescale racism.

Also, remember you’re not Chris Rock.

When you say the nearly cliché phrase “I don’t hate black people, I hate n******,” you’re about to say something racist. There are annoying and obnoxious people of all races. All you’re doing by saying that word is giving a view into how racist you are.

Don’t tolerate racism in any aspect of your life. The sooner we get over this as a society the faster we can keep ourselves on track to solving real issues.

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LYZI WHITE Life Editor

Three wins for Rick Santorum is three too many.

How and why people are continually voting ‘yes’ for Santorum is beyond me, but maybe it’s just my uterus talking.

I don’t hunt, so I don’t care much for his stance on the Second Amendment.

I believe that whoever wants to get married should have the right to, so I disagree with his stance on that matter as well.

There are many things Santorum promotes that I completely, wholeheartedly disagree with. But again, it could just be that pesky uterus talking.

Recently, Santorum attacked President John F. Kennedy and his stance on separation of church and state by saying: “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”

Santorum did not just say that he disagreed with President John F. Kennedy’s stance on a separation of religion and state – he went so far to say the idea of it made him want to throw up.

Is that a joke? Am I being punk’d?

Ashton Kutcher, you can come out now.

If religion is important to you, that’s your prerogative. If you want to believe in something and if you want religion to influence your life, that’s completely fine with me. But when you’re proposing to enforce your religion and your beliefs onto the “land of the free,” that’s when there starts to be a problem.

Rick Santorum is 100 percent pro-life.

He thinks that Planned Parenthood should not get federal funding, and that there should be no abortions – no matter the circumstance – and that the Supreme Court was silly when they gave married Americans the right to use contraceptives if they so chose.

If you’re trying to lose the majority of women voters, you’re doing a fine job Mr. Santorum. It seems ironic that a man is trying to tell women how they can – and in Santorum’s case – cannot have control over their own bodies.

Santorum – unless he’s keeping a tremendous secret from his voters – cannot have a baby. He’s never been through the pain of childbirth; he’s never had to face the issue of abortion, and he’s never had to worry about taking birth control or the morning after pill. You do not have a vagina so these issues should be none of your concern.

Maybe if he had to push an eightpound baby out of his reproductive organs he’d be singing a different tune.

If a woman decides that she is going to have an abortion, there should not be a man in her way impeding on her freedom of choice. These beliefs are simply archaic and repressive.

Santorum, in his book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, suggests that women who have jobs do not care for their children.

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Rick Santorum President? I’m Going to Canada.

You wouldn’t want a car mechanic subbing in for your gynecologist, would you? I wouldn’t recommend a politician either.

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A Cycle You’ll Never Forget: Having Sex While She’s Menstruating KEREN BARUCH Life Editor It’s that time of the month for your girl and that means many unfortunate things: complaints about excruciating cramps, an attitude that makes you wish you could lock her in a room and throw away the key, dealing with her desire to eat everything in sight, and more emotions than Rachel McAdams had in The Notebook.

What it doesn’t have to mean, though, is no sexual pleasure.

I know that the thought of your hot dog anywhere near the ketchup oozing out of her sounds nauseating, but there are people that continue to take a quick ride even during menstruation, so there must be some positives to it.

“Having sex during your period may help provide pain relief for menstrual cramps by providing feel-good endorphins that are released during orgasm,” according to www.everydayhealth.com. “Sex during your period could also help to shorten your period by a few days.”

In addition, if your girl has trouble getting wet on a normal night, you won’t have trouble getting her soaking if you have sex while Aunt Flow is visiting town. The blood is a natural lubricant and it will make the intercourse better for both of you.

If you’re the type with the girl that has

yet to experience an orgasm, maybe having sex while she’s on her period is just what you need. When girls are excreting blood from their baby makers, their hormones are as wild as ever and they tend to be incredibly horny.

If you choose to take this slippery slope into her, just know you’re about to make her more wet than the toilet bowl ride at Splish Splash – get ready for the ride of your life.

There are things to take into consideration before doing the dirty while she’s “dirty” down there.

“When a woman is bleeding, the chances of spreading STDs, especially AIDS, increase immensely. So always wear a condom if you’re going to jump in when her vagina is not user-friendly,” according to www.askmen.com.

Furthermore, if her flow is heavier than the leaking pipe in your bathroom sink, then be sure to put a towel underneath her unless you’re looking to dye your sheets red. If the flow is too heavy, I recommend waiting until the last few days of her cycle to avoid excessive leakage.

As fun as it is to have her be your cowgirl for the night, refrain from begging her to get on top of you for this one week each month. The greatest position to avoid so much mess is missionary because when a girl is lying on her back, her flow tends to be lighter. Keep some wet cloths on hand for an easy

clean up, keeping her and your little friend guck and smell-free.

Girls – I know this isn’t how you’d like to spend your first moments post-sex, but if you care about this guy judging you for the rest of eternity, then take the condom off for him. This way he can avoid making hand-to-blood contact and you don’t have to live with the embarrassment if for some reason the smell of your vagina resembles that of a sushi restaurant kitchen.

If blood makes you light-headed and causes you to faint, then do not try this at home. This column is solely directed toward those who aren’t afraid of a little mess that Bounty and Tide-to-Go could easily fix, and to those looking to spice up their sex lives with some natural ingredients.

A girl’s menstruation cycle is a beautiful thing. Without it she wouldn’t be able to have the children that you will someday appreciate, so don’t look down upon it. Waiting one week to have sex isn’t so difficult, and if you’re really not into the downsides of sex while she’s on her period, there are other ways you can pleasure each other.

Whatever you choose to do, just be safe, be smart, and be sexual.

Email: keren.baruch@ubspectrum.com

“He described it as a sad situation created by ‘radical feminists’ who undermined the traditional family by ‘convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness,’” according to HuffingtonPost. com.

If you want, I guess all us women could throw on some “Kiss the Cook” aprons, make some meatloaf, and stare at the door until our manly man husbands get home from work – because you know, that’s what we’re good for, right? Cooking and opening our legs, right?

Oh wait, I forgot that we live in the 21st century. Scratch that. Santorum and his followers are toeing a thin line between being conservative and being regressive.

Let’s talk about how women shouldn’t fight for their country anymore.

“He says he worries that fighting men will be distracted by their ‘natural instinct’ to protect women. He also says the differences in physical abilities between men and women aren’t being taken into account,” according to HuffingtonPost.com.

Men can’t control themselves, so we should just stick women back in the bedroom so they can spew out children?

Of course Rick isn’t all bad, but it’s scary to think that a man who believes that global warming is nothing but a “leftish scheme” might one day be the leader of our country.

Pick Rick? I’d rather pick out my own eyeballs with a plastic fork.

There’s only one logical course to take if Rick Santorum becomes the next President of the United States: pack your bags and get the hell out of the country before he starts handing out mandatory chastity belts.

Email: lyzi.white@ubspectrum.com

ubspectrum.com

Page 4

Continued from page 1: From Australia to Buffalo, and Hopefully London His childhood was swayed by the sport, and a future career in swimming was far from his mind then.

Rugby is widely considered to be the most popular sport in Australia, and Hogan was admittedly good at it. But his career abruptly came to an end after the divorce of his parents.

Hogan’s mother, Denise, originally from Michigan, relocated to Australia with her husband and Hogan’s father. But the end of her marriage forced Denise to move back to the U.S. with Hogan and his brother, Alex.

“It was very tough on me for the first couple of months,” Hogan said.

“It was definitely a culture shock and a change for me, there was a lot of adjusting.”

Although Hogan is having success in America he misses the natural lifestyle of down under. He has fond childhood memories of growing up in Australia, both on and off the pitch.

“Back when I was a kid my dad and I would go hunting for kangaroo down at his farm,” Hogan said. “It was a pretty eye-opening and fun experience especially when it came to picking them up so we could have them for dinner the next day.

Definitely something you don’t get to do every day.”

Hogan’s first year in the U.S. was the toughest, as he was completely clueless how things worked in his new country. The laid-back lifestyle of Sydney, Australia was nonexistent, as was the sport that Hogan had such passion for.

Hogan was forced to quit, as the skill level of rugby in America was not up to Australia’s standards.

“There just weren’t as many options for rugby [in the U.S.],” Hogan said.

“I tried it out for a little bit, but it just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same competition involved.”

He couldn’t get rugby off of his mind.

Hogan tried to replace his passion for the sport with American football. His attempt to keep his desire for rugby through football

was short lived – he quit after just two practices.

“I couldn’t deal with all the pads I had to wear, I just hated it,” Hogan said. “I was just too used to putting a jersey on and going out there.”

This left one option left on the table for him – albeit one that was not at all similar.

Swimming.

In Australia everyone is forced to take swim classes. Hogan’s interest in the sport was minimal even though he would consistently come in first place in the class competitions. He saw it as more of a recreational hobby.

While other kids were swimming all summer for club teams, he was playing rugby.

In fact, it wasn’t until he was stateside that he competed in an actual competition.

Hogan’s move to the U.S. was what ultimately molded him into the swimmer he is today. When he first arrived to Michigan his sophomore year of high school, his swim coaches acknowledged the natural talent he had.

Hogan developed recognition from some of the top Division-1 schools after breaking a few high school swimming records, but the junior chose to come to Buffalo instead of the more prestigious institutions.

“I was choosing between University of Michigan and [UB],” Hogan said.

“I basically decided if I went to U of M instead of here, it would’ve taken me two years to become a huge player on the team. I didn’t like that idea, I wanted to affect the scoring and know that I was contributing to the team right away.”

Michigan is known for being a swimming powerhouse; no team has won more National Championships than the Wolverines. Fourteentime gold medalist Michael Phelps, the most high-profile swimmer in the world, trained there before his Olympic runs with the former Michigan head coach – but that wasn’t for Hogan.

All Vegetarian Jain & Vegan Menu

But in swimming the accolades come on the individual level, as opposed to those shared by the team in rugby, so Hogan has had to find someone to help with his motivation to fully utilize that raw ability he possessed.

Fellow teammate and best friend, junior captain Matt Schwippert, has been a large contributor to Hogan’s success. Schwippert is also one of the Bulls’ top swimmers, having qualified for Olympic trials each of the past two years.

Schwippert saw the potential Hogan had halfway through their freshman season together. He had come to the realization that others had already acknowledged – that Hogan’s talent was just a matter of him realizing it and committing himself to swimming.

“It’s really nice for him and I, it goes both ways, he motivates me as much as I motivate him,” Schwippert said. “We both have very similar goals in the sport of swimming.

It’s useful to have a training partner like him, that way in practice every day we can train next to each other and push each other as hard as we can go.”

The mutual motivation between the two swimmers has helped them qualify for this year’s London summer Olympic trials.

Although swimming might not have been his preferred path, his determination to be a successful athlete overpowered his original mindset.

Buffalo swim coach Andy Bashor still thinks Hogan has not reached his full potential.

“He’s going to be a force to be reckoned in these next couple of years,” Bashor said.

Buffalo Man Killed by Train A Tonawanda man was hit by a train and killed Tuesday morning while rabbit hunting in the Town of Portland in Chautauqua County.

Faso was with shouted to him to move farther away from the tracks. Faso was hit by the train and announced dead at the scene.

Giovani Faso, 67, among a group of five hunters, was along the side of the East Forest Avenue with another hunter.

When a freight train approached from the east and honked its horn, the hunter

Investigations continue, but deputies believe Faso thought he was far enough from the tracks that the train would not hit him, according to The Buffalo News.

Second Student Dies as Result of Ohio Shooting A second student has died as result of the of Chardon, Ohio school shooting.

Russell King Jr., 17, was wounded on Monday, when sophomore, T.J. Lane opened fire in his high school’s cafeteria.

King was pronounced brain dead on Monday.

King was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center with 16-year-old Daniel Parmetor, who died on Monday. A 17-year-old boy is currently in a serious condition, and a 16-year-old girl is in a stable condition.

Chardon’s local police have had Lane in custody since Monday afternoon. Lane’s family issued a statement on WKYCTV, saying they wanted “to extend their heartfelt and sincere condolences” to those affected.

The Lane family is not speaking to the media as of Tuesday morning, according to The New York Times.

Lane attended an alternative high school for troubled students, but Robert Farinacci described Lane as a “fairly quiet and good kid” who had never been in trouble before, according to The Times.

United Nations Denounces Syria Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva left the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday. He was frustrated that countries are causing division and providing arms to opposing forces within the country.

The U.N. council met to issue the fourth condemnation of Syria and the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar drafted a resolution that reprimands Syria for “the use of heavy artillery and tanks to attack residential areas…that have led to the death of thousands of innocent civilians,” according to Reuters.

Some of the worst reported cases have occurred around the city of Homs. There, combatants and civilians have been through weeks of fighting.

Last Wednesday, Western journalists Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochlik died as a result of an artillery strike in Homs.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Syrian cabinet ministers, and has moved to attempt forcing President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

It’s a different type of force for Hogan now. He may not be physically punishing his competitors, but his athletic ambitions remain the same: to be the best at his craft.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Hogan’s lengthy 6-foot-5 frame – that was once used to level his opposition – would propel him to

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success at the college level. He won the 200-meter freestyle at the Mid-American Championships last season.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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The UB Music Department and the Ramsi P. Tick Concert Series present: Grammy award-winning pianist

Richard Goode in the music of Chopin, Schumann, Brahms.

Friday, March 2, 2012 7:30pm at Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, located at UB’s Amherst campus.

Tickets/info: (716) 645-2921 or www.slee.buffalo.edu

Interested in studying abroad?

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Group Advising Session with

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Arts ubspectrum.com

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Page 5

What Money Can’t Buy: The Ujima Company Unpredictably Odd Future

BRIAN JOSEPHS Arts Editor For the past few weekends, seven women have gathered on stage in Elmwood’s TheatreLoft studios to perform Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, a classic play in African-American history.

BRIAN JOSEPHS Arts Editor

The Ujima Company, a not-for-profit theatre organization, started performing the play in Buffalo on Feb. 17. It would be easy to mistake the play as a tribute to Black History Month because of its cultural significance. However, Lorna Hill, the company’s founder and artistic director, stressed that wasn’t the case.

“We don’t do Black History Month,” Hill said.

“This is every day for us.”

The Ujima Company has been the only theater company in Buffalo to specialize in Afro-American/Caribbean arts for the past 33 years. Hill has served as the company’s director throughout its run and, although she’s seen changes throughout the decades, many of her creation’s trademarks remain – both the good and bad.

The Ujima Company was founded on Dec.15, 1978 when Hill invited 30 actors to attend workshops in hopes of creating a professional production company. That goal eventually came to fruition when Ujima established itself as an independent entity in 1981.

“We were a group of actresses who wanted to act,” Hill said. “The only way to do that was to seize the means of production.”

That passion is symbolized in the stairway that leads up to the TheaterLoft’s performing stage.

The flight is lined with multiple posters of the company’s past works, some of which are critically acclaimed.

Yalla Bitch!, a play written by Hill herself, was the only African-American written play in the first International Women Playwrights Conference in 1986. The company also presented the world premiere of Dr. Endesha Ida Mae Holland’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated From The Mississippi Delta.

The play went on to be performed throughout the country soon after. Ujima’s other productions in-

Courtesy of Odd Future Records

Courtesy of Rahwa Ghirmatzion The Ujima Company’s rendition of For Colored Girls… is just one of the many performances it has put on in its 33 years of existence.

clude Pulitzer Prize winners Topdog, Underdog, and Glengarry Glen Ross.

Hill believes that her company’s main accomplishment is its ability to reach audiences from varying backgrounds. Sunday’s performance of For Colored Girls… had a very diverse audience. A mixed crowd has always attended Ujima performances and Hill believes that her company has done its job as long it stays that way.

“It tells me we’re doing the right thing,” Hill said.

“It tells me what I already know to be true – that people are people, and if you do work of quality they’ll come and see it. You could do work that resonates with them and they don’t have to be [African-American].”

That reassurance comes despite seeing her company constantly on the verge of shutting down almost every year.

The element of surprise has been a theme for hip-hop these past few months.

The Ujima Company has struggled to survive in Buffalo’s retail district. The box office sales are barely enough to maintain the company because of the Elmwood district’s scarce interest in the cultural arts, according to Hill.

Hill made numerous attempts to move out of the area, but they’ve all failed due to lack of funding and support from local banks. She’s particularly perturbed by the lack of bank backing, as other businesses in the area have received support.

“They have no confidence that we can do it,” Hill said. “I’ve been paying rent on Elmwood Avenue for 30 years. You know how much rent costs on Elmwood Avenue…Can you find another blackrun business in Elmwood?”

Hill also noted that the decision to build UB’s North Campus in Amherst was detrimental to her company. She reasons that the location alienates what could’ve been a huge boost to the comContinued on page 8

Bloody, Brutal Asiatic Beat-’em-Up NICOLAS PINO Senior Arts Editor

Wrath’s anime-inspired art style has an unworldly beauty too impressive to ignore. Players that spent their youths watching saiyans and shurikens should feel right at home in the land of the rising sun.

Game: Asura’s Wrath Developer: CyberConnect2 Publisher: Capcom Release Date: Feb. 21 Grade: B+

Though the game starts by default with an English voice track and matching subtitles, Wrath does allow players to switch to the original Japanese audio but keep text in their native language, a cool feature for those unafraid to venture into the realm of the multilingual.

Glowing red gorillas spew neon orange blood across the screen as your wife is killed before your eyes, and your only daughter taken away by the deity and universal sovereign known only as Deus. Rage becomes your only weapon in CyberConnect2’s latest cultural crossover, Asura’s Wrath.

With a plot as expansive and dense as the demi-god giants that inhabit its world, Asura’s Wrath certainly can’t appease every import gamer’s palette, but for those Japanese-savvy gamers willing to stray into the world of the weird, wild, and angry, the game is one of the must-buys of the virtual offseason.

Courtesy of CyberConnect2 Third-person brawler Asura’s Wrath has players taking the fight to the gods.

Like Liam Neeson’s Taken, players control Asura in his quest to reclaim his title and rescue the only family he has left.

Wrath starts off with what has to be one of gaming’s wildest Quick-Time Event sequences ever made, having Asura – one of the world’s Eight Guardian Generals – squaring off against the gohma, a race of semi-animalistic evil monsters that are out to consume all that is holy on Deus’ green Earth.

Gameplay, fluid and frenetic, falls into one of two categories: players either fight other elder gods in closecombat quick-time events, or mash and thrash their way through everything in their paths in a third-person perspective in a style very akin to Sony’s much acclaimed God of War series. Unfortunately, the latter takes up a much larger portion of the game than the former.

Asura, successful in fending off a gohma the size of a planet, is to be rewarded by the god-emperor himself. Though celebrations don’t last long for the Asiatic god of war, as the emperor is found slain on his throne, a death unfairly placed square on the broad shoulders of the hero himself.

While third-person combat players can feel the freedom to dish out the damage, the game can break down into repetitive button-frenzies with little to do but punch a hole in everything that moves. Where the game shines as a story-telling art is when rage is accumulated and the intui-

Album: Untitled EP Artist: Hodgy Beats Label: Odd Future Records Release Date: Feb. 24 Grade: B

tive, hyper-violent burst mode is activated.

Burst mode has players time blows and match control patterns as Asura ravages foes 20 to 40 times larger than himself, a feat that would make Kratos himself green with rage-inspired envy.

The plot, divided into 18 episodes, is deep and dense – an import player’s dream. The characters are fleshed out appropriately and, while Asura often resorts to over-the-edge tactics to achieve his means, players can understandably relate to a demi-god pushed to the precipice.

Intermittent cut scenes keep the game moving forward, and while they will most certainly serve as many players’ major reservations from investing in the title are just as much part of the game’s action as the combat is.

Asura’s Wrath, though short in length (about six and a half hours), is a frenzied mythic monster ride filled with rage, sorrow, and anguish. And while the game is great in the short six hours, the game’s severely linear content will keep players from returning to Asura’s brand of bloody, brutal melee.

In this regard, the game is almost a better rental than it is a full $60 title, as a weekend spent spilling gohma blood, saving forlorn daughters, and reclaiming Asura’s rightful place among the gods won’t soon be forgotten.

Players that can make it past Asura’s intense art, slightly less-action oriented gameplay, and the game’s absolutely insane plot may find Asura’s Wrath worthy of its place among the (imported) gods.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

There’s Juicy J’s random, but great, appearance on The Weeknd’s Echoes of Silence, the unlikely pairing of the partly-conscientious Kendrick Lamar with the relatively unknown Gunplay in 2012 standout “Cartoon & Cereal,” and Young Money’s apparent war against all things sane (think Nicki Minaj’s Grammy performance).

It’s only fitting then, that Odd Future, a hip-hop collective that revels in shock, would find its way back into the spotlight. The unannounced single, “Rella,” was already enough to try to soak in, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise to come from the camp.

Hodgy Beats, one of Odd Future’s more recognized artists, said on Twitter that he would be releasing the Untitled EP the Friday after “Rella” was released. The announcement seemed too nonchalant to be true, but Friday came and so did the EP. The nine-song set clocks in at just under 25 minutes, but it’s up there with Odd Future’s better releases.

The element that immediately stands out about the release is the production credits. Hodgy Beats looked past the typical help of his group mates and recruited some upper-echelon talent for the instrumentals. They include electronic extraordinaire Flying Lotus, Juicy J, The Alchemist, and Thelonious Martin.

The producers didn’t treat the release as just a meager EP. The artists bring their A-game for each of their respective tracks, with the exception of the amateur sample usage on the un-credited closer “Higashi Loves You.” Flying Lotus’ spaced-out, groove makes “Lately” and “Lamented” must-hears just for beats alone.

Juicy J’s hazed instrumental in “Bulls***in’” gives Hodgy Beats room to flex his lyrical muscle, while The Alchemist’s work “Cookie Coma” and “In A Dream” is nearly everything that’d be expected from one of the best producers in the business.

The fact that Hodgy Beats doesn’t sound awkward on any of the tracks pushes this EP another step further, even though it’s worth listening for the production alone. He normally plays the role of Tyler’s aggressive sidekick, spouting aimed vulgarities to complement his leader’s devilish verses. But on the Untitled EP, Hodgy Beats sounds alleviated in his new stream-of-consciousness flow.

Hodgy Beats hook-less lyricism and great production come together perfectly in “Ave.” Thelonious Martin’s Vince Guaraldi-esque instrumental work and Hodgy Beats lyricism waltzes with each other, and for a little under two minutes, the listener is on cloud nine.

The Odd Future secondary has noticeably improved for the Untitled EP, but it’s apparent he still has a way to go. The flow and the production are purely aesthetic, as the lyrics provide nothing of substance. They’re fun verses, but they don’t offer much beyond the typical hip-hop tropes.

The lack of depth could be because this is only a side project. The Odd Future Tape Vol. 2 is due March 20th. If this is just a teaser, it’s frightening to think what Hodgy Beats will have in store for the upcoming release.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Page 6

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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Valorous Actions, Dry Acting

Page 7

Parents Know Best The music of that era is so much more than just songs, love ballads, and heartthrobs with bowl haircuts attracting star-struck teens. It spurred a revolution, and so many people were involved in the conversation about music.

VILONA TRACHTENBERG Asst. Arts Editor

Top-heavy with Hollywood-styled explosions and battles, Act of Valor has been diminished from a potential masterpiece to a cluttered mess.

Courtesy of Relativity Media

skill in technological warfare and diligent experience in weaponry that would have made for an extraordinary modern war movie.

JAKE KNOTT Staff Writer Movie: Act of Valor Release Date: Feb. 24 Studio: Relativity Media Grade: C Back in 2007, directors Mike McCoy (Hot Wheels: Fearless at the 500) and Scott Waugh (Navy SWCC) teamed up to craft a documentary which would have followed real life U.S. Navy SEALs embarking on perilous missions. The goal was to help find new Navy recruits.

However, the duo felt that the pending flick wouldn’t get much attention because of the general public’s lack of interest in documentaries and decided to abandon the idea. In its place, the team decided to film Act of Valor – a shoot-’em-up, commercialized action flick that’s high on battle scenes but short on characterization.

The starring active duty SEALs place more emphasis on their veteran fighting techniques than their ability to portray emotion. Throughout the struggle, audience members will find themselves watching rigorous battle scenes without knowing who is participating. The events in the film are more memorable than the characters involved in them.

The identities of the soldiers acting in the film remain anonymous for security reasons. They are better off not having their names affiliated with this unstable film, anyway.

Lieutenant Rorke and Chief Dave are the ranking officers of the SEALs. The beginning of the film shows the team at home with their families and hastily provides a character background that the audience soon forgets. These men don’t have distinguishable personalities or plausible dialogue to set themselves apart from each other.

Rorke is a soon-to-be father, a fact that the film ineptly reminds its audience of every other scene.

Dave is a father of five and is determined to get his Lieutenant home, which he restates more times than he – or the audience – can count.

Rorke and Dave lead their platoon to recover a captured CIA operative, Lisa Morales (Roselyn Sanchez, Venus & Vegas). The “actors” show effortless

However, big guns and flaring explosions don’t make films great; distinctive characters with personalities do, and Act of Valor’s are all duds. It would have been minimally refreshing to see a face besides the two main protagonists every now and again. But Lt. Rorke and Chief Dave are the only names given more than a couple mentions throughout the movie.

The battle scenes are depicted well, but remain short of the realism that is desperately needed in a film like this. War scenes must be handled with delicate care, because a poorly executed one can make or break the finished product.

The heart-wrenching climax in Oliver Stone’s Platoon, and the epic helicopter raid in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now are ideal instances of how far realism in a war film can reach. Conversely, the battles in Act of Valor almost resemble the action in a video game, with its troops running around in undefined locations and successfully spotting the enemy from ridiculous distances. No wonder, since the film is sponsored by Battlefield 3.

The SEALs cannot be entirely blamed for their dry acting. The screenplay by Kurt Johnstad (300) gives his characters almost no recognition, and spoils his action scenes with more attention. Perhaps hiring the screenwriter of a comic-based Spartan war movie wasn’t the best decision by the studio.

Act of Valor is heartfelt in its intentions. Patriotism gushes from every second of its nearly two-hour runtime. Moviegoers will attend this film in search for a sense of nationalism, and that is exactly what they will receive: 110 minutes of purebred, overthe-top Americanism.

McCoy and Waugh aimed to make a Navy recruitment video, and so they have – Hollywood style.

Filled with heartfelt dialogue, rounds of ammunition firing everywhere, and awe-inspiring explosions, Act of Valor will undeniably fulfill the dreams of its target audience. But if someone is expecting a war masterpiece, this is definitely the wrong movie.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

UB Sa fe

Most of us don’t want to admit when our parents are right. We put up a huge fight and talk back in an attempt to prove a point and then it blows up in our faces. However, our parents are usually right even if we don’t want to admit it. There is one topic, though, which we cannot argue with them about – music.

Don’t get me wrong, the music of the past few decades is decent, but the music our parents grew up with and loved was infinitely better than the choices we have now. As college-aged students, it’s always fun to put aside our iPods with our Top 40 hits and turn on the voices of the past.

Growing up listening to music with our parents mostly consisted of listening to their choices in music. In all honesty, many parents probably wouldn’t want to rock out to Lady Gaga or Ke$ha, and that is probably for the best.

The ’60s, the decade many parents of collegeaged students grew up in, marked the era of explosively popular music, and worldly music idols like The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

Listening to the music our parents grew up with is the consistent memory and tradition we have tied to our parents – the family emblem to pass down to the next generation. It instills a comforting feeling, and the memories it brings and emotions it hits transcend the generations, inspiring memorable feelings in our parents and within us.

I recently went to see Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles, and was impressed to see many young children and teens present to watch the remnants of Beatle-mania unfold live. Not that I’m old enough to recount memories from growing up in that decade, but the fact that their legendary music lives on is heart-warming, and that kids are still interested in the music I have grown to love.

The music of that era now acts as a historian.

The music of that era serves as a social commentary about events including the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the daily life occurrences of people growing up decades ago – essentially a narrative depicted through music.

Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix are pioneers of their musical craft and we wouldn’t have the music of today without these innovative musicians. Currently, we do have great guitar players to listen to – Jack White, Dave Grohl, and John Frusciante – but it’s hard to compare to the distinctive riffs and passionate melodies Hendrix twanged on his Fender Stratocaster.

When I attend holiday dinners with my parents and their friends, the topic of music is frequented, and I eagerly take part in the conversation, adding my own opinion. This usually garners stares of disbelief from across the table, and the questions ensue.

“Don’t you have your own music to listen to?

Why are you taking ours?”

The answer is: the kids of this generation love to listen to the origins of rock ‘n’ roll. We wish we were around to listen to it when these performers played their music live, and we want to take part in the memories our parents experienced – thousands of screaming fans crying and wishing to touch John Lennon’s hand and getting a glimpse of Paul McCartney’s characteristic lefthanded bass playing.

However, the simple detail of our young age has hampered us from fulfilling that desire, and we have to settle with listening to the music via recordings. Many of us try to be authentic as possible and use our record players to salvage antiquity when grooving to our jams.

For us, we realize current popular songs come and go as part of one-hit wonder hysteria, but the legacy of The Beatles and The Beach Boys has already proven to outlast five decades and many generations, and will not stop anytime soon.

Whenever you feel like not listening to your parents, you probably have good reason to rebel and fight back. But, when it comes to their childhood music, they have us beat.

Email: vilona.trachtenberg@ubspectrum.com

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Page 8

A Week in Ink: Issue No. 46 NICOLAS PINO Senior Arts Editor

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man No. 7

Teen Titans No. 6 From the Scarlet Speedster to his prepubescent counterpart Kid Flash, this week the DC Universe is rife with conflict for every supersonic superhero capable of breaking the sound barrier.

In his short seven-issue lifespan Miles Morales has gone from comic’s youngest usurper to the Marvel world’s greatest underdog guided only by the hand of the wallcrawler’s most talented ink-slingers, Brian Michael Bendis.

Though Wally has his own icy demon to fight in the form of Captain Cold, Teen Titans member Bart Allen has a much larger problem on his hands, namely the complete and utter destruction of every living cell in his body, one by one.

Morales as a wide-eyed hero-in-training has been a breath of fresh air to an increasingly stale universe, and though not every web he spins is perfect, the amateur approach comes off as believable and thought-provoking.

Writer Scott Lobdell has taken a series that typically caries little weight or substance and through the use of internal strife, tenuous teamwork, and palpable stakes, transformed the teenage team into a competent cornerstone of the revamped DC world.

Lobdell takes the plot one step further this issue by bringing a new threat to a team already on the brink of its own destruction. His name is Grymm, and by the initial looks of the character and his insatiable psionic powers, he is everything the team will learn to fear in the coming issues.

The introduction of Virgil Hawkins, renowned more in the superhero community as Static Shock, has interesting implications as the student scientist shows definite interest in taking up the mantle and fighting alongside his pre-adult peers.

While Lobdell’s writing still has room for improvement, a clear, focused story arc has appeared among the explosive start of the previous issues, and with so much riding on the successful containment of Kid Flash, there’s almost nowhere to move but forward.

Bendis is at his best in “Issue 7,” as he writes about a hero without a mentor, a kid fighting a man’s war, and beyond the shadow of a doubt Morales is growing into the role he was born to lead.

But Bendis isn’t alone however, his artistic team of Chris Samnee and Justin Ponsor work well together to create a renaissance of earlier art worthy of the Todd McFarlane legacy. Mixing a palette as rich as the setting sun, the team continues to produce some of Spidey’s most stunning works yet. While most of the team’s work is worthy to don the cape and cowl of their predecessors, the series’ action panels are still a bit bland, an easy fix for a team so capable.

Ultimate Spider-Man builds momentum by placing Morales in clear conflict with his unenthused family members, first with a father unimpressed by his talents and then with his uncle, an up-and-coming super villain known by most as The Prowler.

Though Morales has some serious spandex to fill, he’s slowly coming into his own. And while the audience may still mourn the loss of New York’s wittiest wall-crawler, his prepubescent counterpart may just have it in him to please both critics and skeptics yet.

Chew No. 24 With Chu being incapacitated for the foreseeable future, his daughter Olive is at the mercy of former partner and cibopath Mason Savoy.

hit Comedy Central show South Park, each and every issue has been vacuum-packed with small visual Easter eggs.

Savoy, as notoriously smart as he is brutal, has won over Chu’s daughter and is currently tutoring the one shot Tony has at stopping what could be the world’s biggest threat.

With Chu’s daughter developing powers beyond that of anything her father or mentor possess, there’s little stopping Savoy from accomplishing total control over his ex-FDA, cibopathic partner.

Everything writer John Layman writes has an inherent depth and an invisible plot behind it, “Chew No. 24” being no exception. Every minute detail Layman writes falls perfectly in line with the larger picture and although readers were only given an appetizer in the past four issues, Layman’s main entree will surely be worth the wait.

As Image Comics enters its 20th anniversary, series like The Darkness, Invincible, Witchblade, Chew, and their creative teams continue to make the company as key of a contributor today as it was nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Layman and his crew do well to never take themselves to seriously, a trait often overlooked and undervalued in the competitive world of comic writing. Everything from this issue’s introduction of a xocoscalpere to the blatant sculpting of Butters from

While the series isn’t a comic for every ink-loving taste palette out there, for a comic priced at the substandard value of $2.99, Chew is an absolute steal for those willing to dine and dash with Layman.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Continued from page 5: What Money Can’t Buy: The Ujima Company pany’s revenue.

“I don’t know what the university does to orient people who are coming to school here from other places,” Hill said. “I meet so many people who are about to graduate from UB and they tell me that they never go see anything in Buffalo. They don’t know that there was anything in Buffalo…Who said put the campus out there? If they had put it downtown, [many students] would’ve been trying to come.”

The UB students who came to see Sunday’s performance of For Colored Girls… praised the performance. UB’s Student Support Services, the university’s academic support program, took a few students to see the production.

One of the SSS’s main goals is to give freshman, from low-income backgrounds, or disabled an opportunity to see cultural activity around Buffalo. A representative from SSS believes the Ujima Company’s production was the perfect chance to do so.

though it was different stories. Everything just meshed well.”

The 1975 choreopoem (a combination of poetry and dance) expresses the struggles of African-American women through seven characters who represent different colors of the rainbow. The stories portrayed in the play include Lady in Blue’s (Saron Ephraim) graphic tale of abortion, Lady in Green’s (Zoe Viola Scruggs) metaphorical poem about abandonment, and Lady in Red’s (Shanntina Moore) heartbreaking recount of domestic violence.

The actresses found it unfortunate that some of the themes present in For Colored Girls… were still prevalent today, 30 years after the company first performed the play. At the same time, they were happy that the choreopoem still remained relevant because it allows them to connect with women going through their own personal struggles.

Dayatra Hassan, who plays the Lady in Purple, felt personally connected with the show because of that effect.

“[SSS] enjoyed [the play],” the representative said. “It’s the appreciation for being able to see African-American women express different things they’ve encountered throughout their life experiences, with some students being able to relate with certain [actresses].”

“There are women that don’t get a chance to say what we’re saying,” Hassan said. “So to say it on stage and be able to hear from people…That, for me, is healing.”

Elizabeth Molina, a freshman undecided major, also raved about the performance.

Even if the funds aren’t there, the Ujima Company has been thriving off its connection with the audience – an everyday deal for Hill’s business.

“I thought it was very moving,” Molina said. “Even though you may never experience [what the characters go through], you could sort of relate to some of the emotions. It’s so captivating. Everything kind of flowed even

The Ujima Company will be performing For Colored Girls… through Mar. 18.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Continued from page 1: Finnegan and Fen Look to Impress Despite the repute of its author and universality of its themes, Fen is a little-known work, and is rarely performed, in part due to the demands placed on actors by its challenging script. The students working under Finnegan, however, are more than up to the challenge.

and actress plays two separate – and often radically different – roles. This, coupled with the poetic-yet-laconic nature of Churchill’s writing, forces the student actors and actresses to be as expressive and impressive as possible in course of their brief time on stage.

“I’m really happy to be in a show that’s not really done often,” said Tyler Austin, a sophomore media studies major and the play’s male lead of Frank. “[That way I can’t] base my character off of something that I’ve seen before, or…have an expectation about how the show should look like based on other things.”

Fen will be performed at CFA’s Black Box Theater from Wednesday to Sunday; Wednesday through Saturday’s shows will be performed at 7:30 p.m., while Sunday’s performance is a 2 p.m. matinée. Tickets are $10 for students and $20 for nonstudents.

With the exception of Austin and the female lead, every student actor

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Page 9

Rintamaki Rejuvenates the Classroom Fashion for Strength texts of his English class.

MEGAN DRESSEL Staff Writer

Rintamaki strives to be the best professor possible. He has his bachelor’s degree in communication, his master’s degree in higher education, a Ph.D. in speech communication, and has completed a three-year post doctorate program.

Students crowded into Knox 20, excited to begin class. Some even brought friends along to share in the experience. The opening was a message from textsfromlastnight.com. The week before was an auto-correct goof up that left the lecture hall full of laughter. The 300-plus students were erect with attention, eager for another day of Communication 492: Sexual Communication.

Lance Rintamaki is the mastermind behind the unconventional class, but he is far more than just a sex-com expert. He is an assistant professor and the Director of Undergraduate Education for the communication department at UB. His dedication to providing a relevant, personal educational experience for his students makes him stand out as a professor.

The decision to teach a sexual communications class came from a suggestion from an old advisor, who suggested Rintamaki write a book about it. Rintamaki originally thought it was a joke.

“I started doing searches in the library and there was a ton of stuff,” Rintamaki said. “But none of it had ever been compiled. Part of that is because it comes from outside of our fields, even though they are communication variables that are being looked at.”

That spring semester, he assembled approximately 20 students who collectively compiled 16,000 articles about sex and communication. These articles came from an array of academic journals. Since then about 1,500 articles have been added.

Rintamaki was able to break these articles down into different categories and develop a thorough sexual communication course.

The class has three sections: one on variables that affect human sexuality and behavior, one on communication about sex, and one that covers prostitutes, strippers, sex in the law, and violent sexuality.

The decision to take sexual communication was a simple one for junior communication major Teresa Sprow.

“While enrolled in interpersonal communication, Lance spoke enthusiastically about the new sexual communication class,” Sprow said. “He was

Dr. Tom Feeley, the chair of the communication department, was also the chair of the search committee that hired Rintamaki. It was not only Rintamaki’s training and range of expertise that set him apart, but his energy and vitality, according to Feekey.

Courtesy of Lance Rintamaki Professor Lance Rintamaki taught UB’s sexual communication class last semester, and he’s known for his unusual teaching tactics and interaction with students on a personal basis – even in large lectures.

excited to bring this new course to UB and wanted com. students to be just as enthused as he was. His excitement for the class is what hooked me.”

Gabby Gutenplan, a senior communication and sociology major, enjoyed the openness and participation of the class, even though the lecture included almost 300 students. She also found the information interesting; she was sharing what she learned in class with her friends on a regular basis.

But teaching a sexual communication class is tricky, according to Rintamaki.

“The information has the potential to be very sensitive,” Rintamaki said. “I appreciate the fact that the group of students were mature, but would also laugh. They maintained a balance of being light hearted while talking about some really serious stuff. It was one of the best learning environments I’ve ever been a part of as a teacher.”

Rintamaki grew up on a small farm outside of Flint, Mich. In addition to participating in swim team, soccer, tennis, and a traveling national volleyball team, he also helped to pick sweet corn and pumpkins, which were the farm’s two major crops.

He always enjoyed learning, and therefore enjoyed school. AP calculus was his least favorite class, but his favorites were physics and AP English. He specifically enjoyed the challenging high levels of critical thinking and collegiate

Rintamaki’s dedication to teaching comes from the role models that he had in college. Originally a genetics major, his path changed because of two professors.

“I was taking communication classes because I was told they would be fun and interesting,” Rintamaki said.

“They were, in fact, both [fun]. I was a Resident Advisor for three years, and I was taking knowledge that I was learning in class and applying it to the job.

This application of knowledge was really telling for me. Communications became a clear choice.”

But it was more than just using the information.

“They were competent [professors], but they clearly took the time to teach well, and were invested in whether or not we learned in their classroom,” Rintamaki said. “You could tell that they enjoyed their jobs – that they enjoyed teaching.

From there, I knew I wanted to be a professor. They were key role models in what I would do with my life.”

Rintamaki strives to achieve three things in his classrooms: competence, connections with students, community.

He uses different techniques to create these things.

According to Nick Vozzo, a junior communications and theatre minor, Rintamaki has achieved these goals and then some. Vozzo has taken his interpersonal communication class, sex com., and is doing an independent study with him this semester.

He was originally a little bit scared of Rintamaki. In the first class of interpersonal communication, he told the students they were making their own syllabus. He wanted to make sure that students were given the opportunity to get exactly what they wanted out of the

RACHEL KRAMER Asst. Life Editor She fidgets backstage, running her fingers along the hem of the leopard print cocktail dress that she thinks is too revealing for this time of winter. She sees her cue and with one last nervous glance down at her high heels, Emily Mroz takes the runway with pride.

Mroz, a freshman human science major and psychology, was one of 30 models who participated in the LGBTA third annual fashion show. The show was called “Designs and Dreams Three: Fashion for Strength,” and it took place in the CFA last Sunday.

For the past three years, the LGBTA has hosted a fashion show in support of a cause that is important to many members of the club and the UB community. This year the event supported the victims of domestic abuse.

The club raised almost $2,000 for the Family and Children Services of Niagara Inc., a center in Western New York that supports battered women, runaway teens, and bullied children.

The members of the LGBTA searched for an organization that supported its belief of spreading an equal amount of help to everyone in need. The LGBTA chose this organization based on the idea that many members of the LGBTA community also struggle on a daily basis with all kinds of abuse, especially in the home, according to Brendan Dillon, a sophomore urban planning major and public relations representative for the club.

“We wanted to show [that] our club is full of diversity,” Dillon said. “We are involved in every aspect of life: the good and the bad. There is no difference between us and anyone else, besides who we love.”

Mroz was even more anxious and excited to be a part of the event because she knew that she was modeling for a greater good. She tried out to be a model for the show on a whim and when she received the call that she was chosen to be part of the helpful event, she knew she had made the right decision.

“It’s for a club and a charity, and I knew that was a good thing and that [motivated] me to learn to model and pushed me forward when I thought I couldn’t do it,” Mroz said. “I had never even worn heels before. It wasn’t until an hour before the show the other models helped me and showed me how

Continued on page 10

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum This past Sunday, models strutted their stuff down the runway and showed off local Buffalo designs in support of UB’s LGTBA club.

to walk.”

Other models included a mix of students and professionals that the designers handpicked during a round of auditions. The models ranged from 12 to 23 years old, and none of them were paid.

The designers were eager to join in support of the cause – many of them had been involved in prior fashion shows. All of them are from the local Buffalo region, and they volunteered their time and money to help with the show. This year’s designers included Holly Hue, Splash Panic, Katie Gariepy, Shana Feeley/Thomas Lee Designs, Beth Eischen/Lilipad Creations, and Desiree Murphy/DMattliano.

These artists were chosen in an effort to support local businesses and give these designers a chance to show off their creations, according to Judy Mai, a junior health and human services major and president of the club for two years.

Continued on page 10

Mon. February 27 — Fri. March 9, 2012

w w w. c o m p f e e . b u f f a l o. e d u UB’s Comprehensive Fee is a consolidation of campus-required fees that supports several university services.

UB students pay the fee each year, unless you qualify for fee waivers.

Every year, UB asks students for feedback about the coming year’s plans for the Comprehensive Fee.

We N e e d Yo u r F e e d b a c k 

Learn about the fee, how it is allocated, proposed increases, programs and initiatives, etc.



Hear what your peers think



Participate in the MyOpinion Survey



Join the CompFee Listserv to send us your feedback or questions

Our goal is to get as much feedback from students as possible before the fee is finalized.

Any time during the Consultation Process (2/27-3/9/12), visit the website above to leave your feedback or learn more.

ubspectrum.com

Page 10

Healthy Living with The Spectrum Simple tips to achieving big arms AARON MANSFIELD Senior Life Editor Big arms: every guy wants them, but most don’t have the dedication to put in the necessary work. Others that have the motivation just don’t understand how to properly work out.

Gym rats everywhere worship arm day – arms are the most classic and arguably the most fun work out.

I’m no Incredible Hulk lookalike with 30-inch arms, but I do have a few small tips that can help you on your quest to confidently hand out tickets to the gun show.

Here’s a big no-no: going to the gym and doing five sets of bicep curls and hammer curls won’t get the job done.

Another: super setting (going immediately from one exercise to another) from biceps to triceps (and vice versa) won’t get you results. It’s a process called “reciprocal inhibition” – a muscle akin to another (biceps to triceps in this case) will be deactivated when the other is activated. Thus, going back and forth between the two arm muscles makes no sense.

The solution? Go all out on one facet and then proceed to the other. Most bodybuilding experts suggest doing triceps first.

Here’s another sometimes-unknown fact: triceps are the key to huge arms.

Biceps can only grow so much, but triceps have the capacity to grow and grow and grow. When you see a guy with huge arms, it’ll look like he has big biceps (and he probably does), but his arms look so big because he’s done concentrated training of his triceps.

Strive for engagement, not motion.

You can’t sway your legs and back to help you curl and expect massive results. If you can’t lift a certain weight with proper form, don’t do it. Period.

You need to put your pride aside and put proper form at the forefront of your mind if you want bulky arms.

One final tip: work from the heaviest, hardest exercise to easiest, lightest.

Obviously you have more energy when you first start your workout and you also have the most capacity to lift before your muscles become so exhausted that you can’t push the same weight. Don’t expect to do your barbell curls at the end of your workout – you need to have all the energy in the world to pull your biggest weight.

Clearly one workout won’t work for everyone and you shouldn’t do this workout every arms day, because it’s essential to switch things up to get progressive results, but here’s one sample workout that’ll get your arms swelling. We’re going to start with triceps and then hit biceps, do three sets of each move, and the whole thing should take 30-45 minutes.

1. Close-grip barbell bench press No, the bench press isn’t just for working your chest. If you put your hands close together at the center of the bar, you’ll work out your triceps. This move is insane…that’s why it’s at the start of the workout.

2. Seated triceps press Grab a free weight and put your hands in a “triangle” shape underneath the top side. Sit down and use the triangle to push the weight up and down behind your head. Adjust your form to make sure you’re engaging your triceps.

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3. Rope overhead extension Almost all gyms have a rope attachment to their cable machine. While many guys just push down on the rope, pushing it straight up over your head (not forward, but up) engages the triceps even more.

4. Barbell curls Think of the biggest barbell you can curl…now grab one that’s 10 pounds lighter. Try to do eight to 10 reps and don’t sway your body at all. Just slowly curl the weight to the top and slowly lower it down, making sure to fully engage your biceps. After your last rep, hold the weight at the top for 15 seconds. You’ll feel an incredible burn.

5. Preacher curls It’s hard to describe this one, but there’s a sit-down bicep-curl-assist machine at gyms everywhere. Sit down at this preacher curl machine and rest your elbows on the black pad.

Make sure to keep your elbows and forearms stationary as you curl the weight up and down.

Mroz modeled for Murphy in her leopard dress and had an amazing time getting to know real models and other students who shared a similar passion for charity. She was even allowed to keep the spandex leggings that she fell in love with.

Besides the fashion and the charity, the show was meant to promote awareness of what the LGBTA really stands for. This was an effort to show the rest of the UB community that the members of the LGBTA are more than just the people who put on drag shows every year, according to Mai. “That’s just a small part of our culture,” Mai said. “We don’t judge based on anything. We welcome everyone.

Our club accepts everyone and yes, we focus on LGBTA issues, but that’s not all we do. We want to make UB a safe

environment for everyone to know that it’s OK for [people] to be who they are.”

In the future, Mai hopes to take the show to the next level by holding it at a venue off campus. This will allow more people to come and therefore more money to be raised for the charity they choose to help next.

Mroz plans on trying out again next year to be a part of the annual show.

“I loved [the show] because it shows the LGBTA in a good light,” Mroz said.

“It shows that we are a put-together and strong group who really can accomplish anything.”

The LGBTA is hosting LGBT Awareness Week from March 26 to 30, as the organization hopes to continue raising understanding of its club as well as its culture in general. *Check out page 11 for more pictures of the fashion show* Email: features@ubspectrum.com

Continued from page 9: Rintamaki Rejuvenates the Classroom “It’s the way he interacts,” Vozzo said.

“The way he presents himself and the material. He doesn’t care if you can repeat a definition. He wants to be sure you can apply a concept, and use it in real life.”

“Teaching in a college classroom at its finest can be pure joy, and there are few things that give me that much satisfaction,” Rintamaki said.

Grab two dumbbells (of the same weight) and start slowly curling them up one at a time. Curl your wrist and hold the pose at the top when the muscle is fully engaged. It’ll feel like your biceps are about to pop if you do it right.

Three semesters later, and Rintamaki no longer intimidates Vozzo. Instead, Vozzo respects and admires Rintamaki. The professor has pushed him to do whatever he wants with his degree and to make the most of his education.

The attention to the details of the classroom – giving students a name and not a number, encouraging a community, and providing an education that can be applied outside the University – is how Rintamaki has earned the respect of so many students at UB.

Regardless of if you want to do a different workout or switch things up, remember: warm weather is coming, and that means short sleeve shirts.

Sprow, Gutenplan, and Vozzo all described the professor as genuine, car-

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

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Email: aaron.mansfield@ubspectrum.com

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Every outfit was handcrafted and every designer came up with his or her own theme. Designs ranged from alternative formal wear to sportswear to animal prints.

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Continued from page 9: Fashion for Strength

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Page 11

Designs and Dreams 3

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum

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Page 12

Continued from page 14: Continued from page 14: Coming For That Number One Spot Baseball Gets Swept in Season Debut With Watt, sophomore forward Javon McCrea, and senior guard Zach Filzen providing consistent production on the on the scoreboard, it may be up to a fourth scorer to keep up with the plethora of talent on the Akron side.

“If we play our offense with rhythm I think there are a lot of chances for people to score points,” Witherspoon said. “We have a number of good passers on our team, and [sophomore guard] Jarod Oldham is one of the better passers on our team. So I think there are a lot of opportunities for guys to score.”

Another key matchup will be the battle at the point guard position, between two of the best young guards in the MAC. As the season has gone on, Oldham has gained confidence and has done a good job controlling the Buffalo offense. He leads the conference in assists per game with 6.1.

Opposing him is Akron sophomore Alex Abreu: a sly, cocky point guard who isn’t afraid to get into the paint and pick his spots. He plays tremendous defense, rattling opposing points by applying pressure with his pickpocket skills, and he has reputation for scoring timely baskets.

“Abreu is having a very good season,” Witherspoon said. “I think that the key to stopping him in this game is to keep him out of the lane.”

The Wildcats were able to get off to a hot start in game one as they scored an insurmountable five runs in the first inning.

“We got to come out and throw strikes,” Torgalski said. “I think it might have been a little nervousness for the guys making their first start against an SEC team. Once we got through that it seemed like our guys settled in pretty well.”

The tables turned in game two, as it was the Bulls that piled on five first-inning runs, but a six-run inning in the sixth gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the series.

Trailing 6-4, Scahill started the rally with a solo homerun to bring the Bulls within one. Moments later Mestas hit an RBI single that tied the game. In the bottom of the ninth, a bases loaded walk by Buffalo’s senior Kevin Crumb gave the Wildcats their third and final win of the series.

“This weekend alone I saw improvement over last year,” Torgalski said. “Our approach is better, we’re going into games expecting to win and it’s got to be like that every time we step onto the field.”

“That’s life in the MAC,” Witherspoon said. “If you’re gonna be in a fight, it’s good to fight at the top of the conference.

There are a lot of opportunities here and you have to be at your best to win these games.”

With higher expectations heading into this season, there are some promising aspects to the team.

The battle to the top of the MAC continues in Akron, at the James A. Rhodes Arena on Wednesday. Tipoff for the game is slated for 7 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Continued form page 14: Men’s Swimming and Diving Look to Defend its MAC Championship “This is what we are peaking for,” Bashor said. “We have tapered down our training and given the swimmers a lot more rest. This is the meet that we have been shooting for to swim our fastest and perform our best on the boards.”

The Bulls will be in contention with Eastern Michigan (43, 1-0 MAC), Missouri State (9-1), and Southern Illinois (6-2, 2-0 MAC) for the team crown. Eastern Michigan and Southern Illinois were the runners up last year and all three have swimmers sprinkled across the MAC leader boards.

The Bulls will look to become the first team in school history to win back-to-back MAC titles. The meet will run from Thursday to Saturday.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Continued from page 14: Sidelines Buffalo will play at South Carolina and The Citadel next weekend.

Junior catcher Tom Murphy returned as the reigning Mid-American Conference player of the year. He was named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list, as one of the top 50 players in the country.

“I thought Murph had a pretty good weekend, offensively he picked up right where he left off last year,” Torgalski said. “Defensively, we played a team that likes to run a little a bit and they didn’t even try stealing on him.”

Murphy batted an impressive 6-for-14 against Kentucky’s dominant pitching rotation but his performance alone will not be able to bring the Bulls to success.

straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

Head coach Kathy Twist is please with the continued progress in the team’s footwork and aggressiveness.

Women’s TennisThe women’s tennis traveled to Philadelphia to faceoff against two non-conference opponents from the city of brotherly love, in the form of Penn (3-4) and Temple (4-4).

Buffalo (1-5) would win its first match of the year against Penn, 5-2 on Saturday, but then lost to Temple, 4-3 on Sunday.

Sophomore Tanvi Shah continued her success on Saturday with a 7-5, 6-0 win but failed to win her match at Temple, losing in

Game three proved to be a thriller as the Bulls attempted to avoid the sweep. Senior outfielder Dan Scahill and junior shortstop Jon Mestas had two huge at bats in the top of the ninth.

With all the movements at the top of the MAC, and a fourgame difference between the top seed and the sixth, these last few games are key to seeding. The difference between playing four games starting with a second round game at a campus site, and having to play only two games en route to an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is huge.

Buffalo still has an opportunity for the top seed, but could also fall as far as fifth depending on the final two games.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

“It was a team effort again,” Twist said.

“Playing the important points, the crucial points very tough…all happened yesterday.

It was a good continuation today and looking forward to Binghamton.”

The Bulls will host Binghamton this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Police Blotter Feb. 21:

Feb. 24:

3:35 a.m. – A woman called reporting damage to her office door of room eight in Acheson Annex. She does not think anything was stolen from the area.

1:38 p.m. – A student’s cleaning supplies were taken from her room in Goodyear Hall.

6:31 p.m. – Jessica Wong, a biomedical sciences major, and Henry Zeng, an accounting major, stole a student’s iPhone and ID card on the UB Stampede Bus. Wong and Zeng used the student’s ID card and were arrested.

Feb. 22: 1:35 a.m. – Amer Rawhi Shamaa, an alumnus of UB, was found sleeping in the eighth floor south lounge in the Natural Sciences Complex. The officer woke him up, identified him as a non-UB student, and arrested him for trespass. Shamaa stated that he would keep coming back until he leaves Buffalo, and he has been doing this for months. He was released with an appearance ticket to Amherst Town Court.

6:56 p.m. – A caller stated four males were smoking marijuana on the dock by the Richmond Dining Hall. When patrol arrived, the subjects were gone.

7:35 p.m. – A student’s wallet was taken from an unsecured locker on the second floor of Clark Hall. The wallet contained a UB card, a Bank of America VISA, a Korean MasterCard, and $40 in cash.

Feb 25: 1:23 a.m. – A female student was taken to Erie County Medical Center for an alcohol overdose after she was found intoxicated on the right hand side of the tunnel from Greiner.

4:29 a.m. – Isaac Quinones, 26, a non-UB affiliate, was arrested on Main Street for a DWI. Quinones refused to provide a breath sample.

Feb 26: 2:16 p.m. – A resident advisor in Goodyear Hall reported finding a bong in a dorm room. Patrol confiscated the bong for destruction, and the student was petitioned to the Student Wide Judiciary.

Although coach Torgalski was proud of the way his team played against a tougher out of conference opponent, they still came out of the weekend winless.

“My expectations are for us to keep getting better,” Torgalski said. “Our goal is to be at our best when conference play starts at the end of March and make the MAC tournament this year, and I think we have the talent to do that.”

The Bulls will stay on the road as they travel to Morehead, KY to face Morehead State (4-4) in a four game series this weekend. Game one will take place on Friday at 3 p.m. *Check out page 11 for box scores.* Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

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Page 13

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Daily Delights

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Visit ubspectrum.com/games for our online game of the week Also see the crossword and Sudoku answers from last issue

Wednesday, FEBRUARY 29

Crossword of the Day

FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You may realize today that you have been selling yourself short for quite a while. It's time to demand what is due, in all respects!

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You may have been put in a position of authority that is not at all in your sweet spot. You will be able to say "I told you so."

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You are being unusually glib about a situation that is quite important to someone else. You are part of the problem.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- You may find yourself coming closer to the edge than ever before today -but there's a reason for this newfound daredevil spirit.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- In just a few minutes you should be able to accomplish something that takes others three or four times as long.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Home projects have been sitting on a back burner long enough. It's time to take those vague ideas and turn them into firm plans.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You'll learn a few tricks of the trade from someone who has recently taken you under his or her wing. Soon you can break off on your own.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- You'll have one more chance to get it right today -- and you are confident that this time you'll know just what must be done -and how.

1 Brief periods, briefly

5 Box-office failure 9 Beverage with a marshmallow

14 "Sack" attachment

15 It's not a good thing

16 Got word of

17 Leave the engine running

18 "I changed my mind" on a computer

19 Made a misstep

20 Exert one's influence

23 Improve, as cheese 24 Prefix with "plasm" or "type"

25 Broom accompanier

27 Archery bow wood

28 Decomposed

32 Card collection

33 "Significant" person

34 River to the Rio Grande 35 Ironic event

38 Commemorative pillar (Var.)

40 "Blue Velvet" actress Dern 41 Broken on the ranch

42 Deli cold cut

44 Be inquisitive

47 Less popular, as a restaurant

49 Achieve harmony

51 Blood classification letters

52 Star transport 56 Beyond the suburbs

58 Asian nursemaid

59 TV Batman West

60 About to blow 61 "Quo Vadis" meanie

62 Give up claim to

63 Allays 64 Homer's besieged city

65 "East of ___"

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- It may be time for you to take a calculated risk -- but take care that you don't involve anyone against his or her wishes.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You can have a little nostalgic fun today, provided a friend agrees to come along and help you maintain the proper perspective.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Personal security may be your primary concern throughout the day. Still, you mustn't let yourself be

Sudoku

Edited by Timothy E. Parker February 29, 2012 DISTORTION By Vera Verne ACROSS

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- A little faith in your own abilities can go a long way today. You are in a situation that demands confidence and a little daring.

1 Peanut butter brand

2 Abide

3 Wet behind the ears

4 Hardy kind of wheat

5 "Sesame Street" straight man

6 Of higher rank than

7 Conservative skirt

8 A gentleman might prefer one

9 Activity requiring four bishops

10 "Above," in an anthem

11 Crab or turtle shell

12 A spice

13 Math problem numbers

21 Aerial combat mission

22 Big bang maker

26 Eighth Greek letter

29 Cries of understanding

30 Asian new year celebration

DOWN

31 "The Lord of the Rings" beast 33 Avian baby 34 Persona non grata 35 Fleeting 36 Air traffic control agcy.

37 "Fee, fi, fo, ___" 38 Kind of acid used in cosmetics 39 Indian lute (var.)

42 "Quiet on the___!"

43 Downright 44 ___ oneself on (had an ego about) 45 Filmed a new version of 46 Palace workers 48 Archipelago units 50 Candied, as fruits 53 Spud bud remover 54 Edible root 55 Bok ___ (Chinese vegetable) 57 "Fast cash" site

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Page 14

Scouting Akron Coming

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

For That Number One Spot Playoff Scenarios: Current Mid-American Conference Standings:

Buffalo treks to Akron hoping to zap the Zips NATHANIEL SMITH Sports Editor

1. Akron 12-2 2. Ohio 10-4 3. Buffalo 10-4 4. Kent St. 9-5 5. Bowling Green 8-6 6. E. Michigan 8-6 7. Toledo 6-8 8. W. Michigan 6-8 9. Miami (Ohio) 5-9 10. Ball St. 4-10 11. Central Michigan 4-10 12. Northern Illinois 2-12

It’s the last day of February, but March Madness has already begun.

There is only a week until the men’s Mid-American Conference basketball tournament in Cleveland, Ohio begins.

But by the way things are shaping up in the conference, the battle for the top two seeds and that all-important bye into the semifinals of the tournament will hit a crescendo at Northeast Ohio tomorrow night.

Current Record: 20-9 (12-2 Mid-American Conference) All-Time Record: 25-19 Akron Last Meeting: 82-70 Buffalo (Jan. 18, Alumni Arena) Two Zips to Watch: F-Nikola Cvetinovic: The 6-foot-8 senior’s numbers don’t look all that impressive in the box scores, but that speaks more to the balance of Akron than to Cvetinovic himself. He’s averaging 10.2 points per game, to compliment his 5.2 rebounds per game, and has been a force for the Zips. When he made the trip to Buffalo he dropped 17 and eight, and kept Akron in the contest at Alumni Arena. His size and ability to play on the perimeter are a nightmare for defenders.

C-Zeke Marshall: He’s a 7-foot, long armed body in the middle of the paint that the Bulls forwards will have to deal with. He’s an emphatic shot blocker who can change the game with his play on the defensive end of the floor. He averages 10.1 points and 5.3 boards per contest, and is almost as scary on offense as he is on defense.

The Bulls will win if... They play to near perfection. Akron has been head and shoulders above the rest of the conference for much of the year.

Beating them on the road is something that isn’t easy as the Zips are 13-1 at home this year. However, Akron looked lost against the Bulls when the teams met in January, so Buffalo will need to channel that same performance.

The Zips will win if... They can stop the Buffalo forwards (seniors Mitchell Watt and Titus Robinson and sophomore Javon McCrea). Buffalo dominated Akron in the paint last game attacking Marshall and getting easy looks so Akron will need to slow the trio down to get the win.

Predictions: TYLER CADY Senior Sports Editor Akron just got embarrassed on national television Sunday at Ohio (23-6, 10-4 MAC), losing by 24 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. The Bobcats are returning home, and will be on a mission. Although I think that Buffalo matches up well with Akron on a neutral court, beating it on the road is too difficult of a task.

Akron-84 Buffalo-70 BRYAN FEILER Sports Editor

Note: The top two seeds get triple-byes to the semifinals, seeds three and four get automatic byes to the quarterfinals, and seeds five through 12 play in the opening rounds.

The Bulls (17-9, 10-4 MAC) have woken up a bit from their recent threegame slumber, by beating a tough Miami (Ohio) (9-18, 5-9 MAC) team, 84-74 last Saturday at Alumni Arena.

However, the road gets tougher, as they have to face a hungry, and angry, Akron (20-9, 12-2 MAC) team on Wednesday.

(One Seed)- Buffalo gets the first overall seed if Buffalo wins at Akron on Wednesday, and again at home on Saturday against Bowling Green. Buffalo would also need Akron to lose at Kent State Friday, and Ohio to lose one of their final two contests (at Kent State Wednesday and at Miami (Ohio) Friday).

The Zips seemed to be a lock for the first seed in the MAC tournament. But that all changed on Sunday when they were run out of the gym by Ohio (236, 10-4 MAC) by 24 points. With the Bulls in town, a team that gave them their only other conference loss – a 8270 beating in Buffalo – the Zips are looking to even the score.

(Two Seed)- Buffalo would get the two seed as long as it finishes with a better record than Ohio, and tied with or better than Kent State and Bowling Green. The Bulls own the tiebreaker with the Golden Flashes and Falcons (if they win on Saturday), however the Bobcats own the head-to-head tiebreaker with Buffalo.

When these two teams play, the spotlight is always on the battle in the paint. Both teams have some the best big men in the conference.

On the Zips side, although the 7-foot big man Zeke Marshall is the team’s main attraction, the real focus will be on fellow forward Nikola Cvetinovic.

The 6-foot-8 Serbian has been trouble for the Bulls, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight boards in their last game.

“We gotta keep him off the glass, keep him away from the basket area, and understand his tendencies,” said head

(Three Seed)- Buffalo gets the three seed if the standings stay stagnant. Finishing tied with Ohio finishes them in this slot.

Courtesy of Jeff Harwell Nikola Cvetinovic (13) and the Akron Zips look to wrap up the Mid-American Conference’s number one seed against

coach Reggie Witherspoon.

pecially on the road.

The Bulls will counter with senior forward Mitchell Watt, who has been deadly for the last few weeks. He has averaged 18.8 points over the last five games, including a 28-point explosion against Miami. Continuing that hot scoring could be key for the Bulls, es-

“The biggest thing for [Watt] in terms of scoring is the movement of the basketball, the movement of his teammates and himself,” Witherspoon said.

“When he’s moving and he’s playing with energy, the other things just kind of take care of themselves.”

(Four Seed)- Winning one of its final two contests guarantees it will finish in the top four. In order to be the four seed Kent State would need to win its final two games over Akron and Ohio.

(Five Seed)- Buffalo would need to lose its final two contests, and Bowling Green would need to beat Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday. Kent State would also need to win both of its contests against Akron and Ohio.

Continued on page 12

Men’s Swimming and Diving Look to Defend its MAC Championship BEN TARHAN Staff Reporter

The only Buffalo team to win a MidAmerican Conference championship last year looks to defend that title this weekend.

The men’s swimming and diving team heads to Oxford, Ohio to take on the best the MAC has to offer and prove that it still is a championship caliber team.

The Bulls (6-1, 1-0 MAC) enter this year’s championship meet with the same attitude and expectations as last year. The veteran team, that won all five relays last year, and a plethora of individual events, are deep in nearly every event.

The team returns the majority of its contributors from last year including senior Jared Heine, juniors Matt Schwippert, Matt Hogan, and Josh Meints, and sophomores Mike Dugan and Phil Aronica.

The number of returning swimmers bodes well for the team’s chances this year. The Bulls are poised to challenge for a MAC championship in every individual event, and they have depth with other swimmers that have the capability to win every event.

Six swimmers that have swam top-16 times in the MAC for the 50-yard freestyle, three that have swam top-eight times of the 100-yard freestyle, and six who hold top-16 times in the 100-yard backstroke.

Senior diver Colin Patrician is having one of his best seasons and is looking to improve off his second place finish at last year’s championships.

Head coach Andy Bashor is more concerned about the relay events. The relays are worth the most points, and the Bulls’ victories in all five of them last year were a key to winning the title.

Meg Kinsley /// The Spectrum

Each relay team returns nearly all of last years members and looks to repeat their results.

The men’s swimming and diving team looks to defend its Mid-American Conference crown this weekend at the conference championships.

Continued on page 12

Akron finds itself in a situation to win the MAC Regular Season title after having a stranglehold on the conference for much of the year. Not only will it clinch the regular season crown with a win against Buffalo, but this is also a potential late-round matchup in the tournament and Akron would love to send a message. Buffalo won at home during the teams last meeting but I think Akron will prove it is the team to beat in the MAC. Buffalo-71 Akron-83 NATHANIEL SMITH Sports Editor Embarrassed on the road by 24 to Ohio? Check. Facing a team that beat them earlier in the season? Check.

Senior night in Akron, Ohio? Check.

There are plenty of reasons why the Zips will be gearing up to beat the Bulls, and after that last loss there’s no way they will get embarrassed at home. It’s not going to be a blowout by any means, but Akron is extremely tough to beat twice.

Buffalo- 73 Akron- 79

Possibilities for Buffalo:

Baseball Gets Swept in Season Debut Men’s Tennis-

JON GAGNON Staff Writer

The men’s tennis team is off to a rough start to the season after dropping yet another pair of weekend contests, this time to Ivy League foes Penn (1-4) and Princeton (4-6).

The baseball team got its season under way last weekend as it took to the diamond in Lexington, KY for a three-game series.

The majority of the Bulls’ (1-6) struggles this season have come in doubles play. Despite head coach Lee Nickell switching the pairings, the results remained the same as Buffalo fell 5-2 to Princeton, and 4-3 to Penn on consecutive days. However, the early season struggles have not diminished the hopes of Nickell.

The Bulls (0-3) are coming off of a very disappointing season (14-38) as they faced an undefeated Kentucky (6-0) in what would be a grueling non-conference series. Buffalo came out of the weekend winless, losing all three games, 13-4, 9-5, and 7-6.

“ The Ivy League is a step ahead of the MAC and this has obviously been the toughest schedule that this program has ever seen,” Nickell said. “Even though we are sitting at 1-6 I feel like we’ve learned a tremendous amount.”

Despite going winless, head coach Ron Torgalski thought his team put up a good showing.

“For the first time out on the field I thought we played well,” Torgalski said. “We faced a handful of pitchers this week that are going to be top two or three round guys. So we were stepping up a level against a good SEC team.”

The Southeastern Conference is home to some of the best baseball teams in the country and Kentucky has two starting pitchers in Baseball America’s top 20 draft prospects.

Continued on page 12

Sidelines

Some of the struggles have come in part because the Bulls are stepping up to tough competition in their nonconference play.

Courtesy of Paul Hokanson The UB Baseball team lost its series against Kentucky 0-3.

LAST HOME GAME OF THE SEASON Men’s Basketball vs. Bowling Green

The top three singles, junior Vusa Hove and senior Wojciech Starakiewicz and freshman Damien David have been doing well at the top of the lineup but the Bulls are having depth issues.

Continued on page 12

‘Celebrate the winningest class under Reggie’

Saturday, March 3 6:oopm All UB Seniors can partake in a free pre-game party from 5-6pm sponsored by

FREE Senios Day posters to the first 1,000 fans

BARNETT

FILZEN

ROBINSON

WATT