Volume 92, Issue 26

THE MUSIC ISSUE – Our annual roundup of local music culture A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

temple-news.com

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

VOL. 92 ISS. 26

TSG ELECTION

TU Believe wins amid low turnout Junior Ray Smeriglio was voted last week as the next student body president.

JOE GILBRIDE JOHN MORITZ The Temple News

R A Raucous Weekend Hundreds of students flocked to the 2300 block of Park Avenue for a party last Saturday as an alternative to the universityhosted Cherry On Experience. Forty-six were arrested in connection to off-campus drinking during the weekend. Early Sunday, a 21-year-old non-Temple student fell to his death outside Kardon/Atlantic Apartments. PAGE 2 | ANDREW THAYER TTN

Near tall buildings, high winds Recent construction around Main Campus causes wind tunnel effect.

LOGAN BECK The Temple News Morgan Hall is the new kid on the block in terms of oncampus housing.

Since its development, students have noticed there has been a notable uptick in wind activity surrounding the building, as well as on Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Physics department chair Rongjia Tao said because of Morgan Hall’s size – 660,000 square feet and 27 stories tall – it blocks the nearby winds and creates canyon-like effects, pushing the wind downward toward the sidewalk on the street

Wind tunnels form when wind is channeled to the ground from air around the top of tall buildings. | SERGEI BLAIR TTN level, which causes pedestrians to feel a more intense wind.

This is a phenomenon commonly known as the wind tunnel effect.

“The wind speed in the tunnel will be much higher than the normal wind speed,” Tao said.

“In addition, it also often cre-

ates vortex-turbulence inside the tunnel near the ground and near the building wall. Therefore, on a windy day, not only facing high-speed wind at the street tunnel, one may also see some leaves of dirt quickly ro-

tate.”

Grounds Department Su-

THE

perintendent Glenn Eck said there are other areas on Main Campus where the wind tunnel effect can be observed, such as on Montgomery Avenue between Klein and Conwell halls and between Anderson Hall and the TECH Center.

“The only way it really affects [grounds keeping is] that it can be a little harder to establish plants under those conditions,” Eck said.

Eck said years ago there used to be trees along the street between Klein and Conwell halls. Apart from that area being tight and not particularly sunny, the trees were hard to maintain because the wind tunnel effect pulls the moisture out of the soil.

“We were never able to get trees established there in that particular spot,” Eck said.

There is no landscaping

WIND PAGE 6

ay Smeriglio and his ticket, TU Believe, defeated competing ticket Renew TU to be elected student body president by more than 200 votes in an election last week that continued the trend of diminishing voter turnout.

Smeriglio served as director of communications in the most recent Student Government administration, headed by Student Body President Darin Bartholomew. Smeriglio is also well-known for his appearances as a hype man at basketball and football games.

Joined on his ticket were Julia Crusor and Blair Alston, who will serve as vice presidents. Renew TU was headed by candidate for student body president Ifeoma Ezeugwu and vice presidential candidates Meghan Guerrera and Rachel Applewhite.

The results of the vote, which was open to all students online through Owl Connect April 8-9, were announced to a small gathering of people from TSG and Student Activities at the TSG office in the Student Center on April 10.

TU Believe gathered 56 percent of the vote with a total of 961 votes against the 755 earned by Renew TU. “I had a small crying fit,” Crusor said of the victory. “This is something we really wanted for a long time.”

Applewhite said the loss was disappointing because her team worked hard to win.

“I hope [TU Believe] will use some of our ideas going forward,” Applewhite said. “I would love to help out on TSG where I’m needed.”

VOTE PAGE 6

BY THE NUMBERS VOTING RESULTS FOR THE 2014 TSG ELECTION

56%

TU BELIEVE

961

VOTES FOR TU BELIEVE

44%

RENEW TU

755

VOTES FOR RENEW TU

TOTAL VOTES CAST: 1,716

Student Body President-elect Ray Smeriglio (right) embraces Blair Alston after winning office. | JOHN MORITZ TTN

USIC ISSUE

For students and faculty, music outside class INSIDE

Established trumpeter Daud El-Bakara returns to Temple to finish a degree he started 20 years ago.

EMILY ROLEN The Temple News He tried to recall names of jazz greats that let him sit in on their shows, dug through his memory for the venues that have long since closed and ran his fingers over an imaginary trumpet, trying to mimic the fingerings he used when he played with some of the genre’s biggest names.

Thirty-seven-year-old trumpeter Daud ElBakara is a freshman jazz performance major and has returned to Temple after leaving in 1995, before he even completed one semester.

“I wasn’t mature,” El-Bakara said. “I had to fulfill all the other requirements of classes, and I was frustrated that I didn’t have enough time to spend, or what I thought was enough time, on my primary instrument, which was frustrating. I wasn’t too good with time management and some of the classes I didn’t really like at that time.”

Growing up as a jazz musician in Philadelphia and as a student of Northeast High School, El-Bakara said his environment helped shape him

DAUD PAGE 16

Videos bond musicians “Shaking Through” brings independent artists into the studio to record an original video in 48 hours. PAGE 9

Hungry Ghosts A collaborative group of solo rap and hip-hop artists began with Freestyle Fridays at the Bell Tower on Main Campus. PAGE 7

Singing in the game

Daud El-Bakara makes his living playing the trumpet. | DARRAGH FRIEDMAN TTN

Two women’s tennis players will showcase their musical abilities at an upcoming talent show for student-athletes. PAGE 23

Dorothy Geller is a professor and folk singer who rejects pop culture.

PAIGE GROSS The Temple News Although she loves being a musician, Dorothy Geller does not want to be a rock star.

Geller, a professor in the Intellectual Heritage department, said her goal as a musician is to resist the ideas of traditional rock culture that perpetuate pop culture obsessions with those in the industry.

“The best expressions are of appreciation, when people engage me about what [my music] sounds like, what it’s doing, how they felt, what kind of place they went with it,” Geller said.

“It’s really about being able to create an environment where you transport a small community that doesn’t fit in the standard categories.”

Dorothy Geller| ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY TTN

Geller first picked up a guitar when she was 13, growing up between New York and London. Geller said expression is her main focus and, as a result, many of her songs are “not very musical,” but are about rejecting traditional ideals of rock and pop culture.

When performing, Geller goes by the stage name Dora Bleu. Although she’s been in a band previously, when performing as a solo artist, she said the stage name helps her avoid selfpromotion.

GELLER PAGE 19

NEWS

PAGE 2

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Exclusive | CHERRY ON EXPERIENCE

A student plays laser tag at the university-sponsored Cherry On Experience, an alternative to the canceled Spring Fling, held at the Geasey Field Complex last weekend. | ANDREW THAYER TTN

With lack of Spring Fling, new events compete Off-campus block party draws hundreds of students to Park Avenue.

ANDREW THAYER The Temple News In the absence of the tradition of Spring Fling, dual events were held both on and off Main Campus Saturday as the university-run Cherry On Experience was held and a non-Temple-affiliated block party drew hundreds of students to Park Avenue throughout the afternoon and evening.

At the block party, a stage was set up in the middle of the street with a DJ and live rap performances, as hundreds of students swarmed to the block.

Philadelphia police monitored the student activity while a heavy cloud of marijuana hung in the air and students openly drank.

“It’s obviously just a thinly veiled

excuse to day-drink all day but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just people trying to have fun,” said Ed Braun, a Philadelphia resident.

At one point, the music was stopped and a student was asked to get off of a nearby roof by the DJ, citing concerns for their safety. Last year’s Spring Fling was marred by the death of a 19-year-old West Chester University student who fell off a roof during an off-campus party.

The university canceled the school-sponsored Spring Fling last year, citing excessive student drinking.

Reached by phone Monday, Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said 46 arrests were made this weekend in connection to off-campus drinking, 31 of which were not Temple students.

The block party was put on by Temple students and Park Avenue residents James Pierce, a senior marketing major and Obi Onejeme, a junior management major.

“We wanted to do a showcase in absence of Spring Fling this year for Temple University,” Pierce said. “We elected to do a block party, which ended up becoming a festival, which we call Owl Fest.”

The two students gathered signatures from all of the residents on the block and raised money to put on the event, but wound up having to pay heavily out of pocket, they said.

Leone said CSS raised concerns about the party and the students were required to resubmit an application for a street festival. Students paid the 22nd precinct $1,800 for added police presence.

“It’s not about making money, it’s about seeing people have fun and having a good time,” Onejeme said. “They took away Spring Fling, so we wanted this type of event to be around for years to come.”

But not everyone was happy with the event. A woman who requested to remain anonymous and lives several

houses off the block, expressed dismay over the ruckus caused by the event.

“This is a residential neighborhood, and when they get finished, you see those red cups, beer bottles, beer cans? You know who has to clean those up? We do, and it is not fair for us to have to clean up their mess.”

As she stood on her porch, she became visibly upset as a student threw up on the sidewalk next to her house and another laid down, seemingly semiconscious, on a ledge next door.

“I’m not against people having fun,” the woman said. “I’ve been here 60 years plus and this is about the worst. It’s not the fighting. It’s just the mess that they make, and I don’t think they should be allowed to do it.”

At the same time on the other side of Main Campus, Temple’s Cherry On Experience was held at the Geasey Field Complex. The school-sponsored event was free to students and featured music, water ice and activities including laser tag, do-it-yourself T-shirt tie-

dye and Bumper Ball. Security was posted at the entrances to the event to monitor students drinking.

More than 700 people attended the event, Dean of Students Stephanie Ives said.

“I think it’s good they did this because people are going to have their own Spring Flings either way. So it’s good they got everyone out to do fun things instead of just drinking and having a block party somewhere else,” Jessica Kurczewski, a junior psychology major, said.

However, the event received mixed reactions from students.

“I wish it was a little better advertised because then there would be more people here, but I think it was a good idea for [Temple] to change [Spring Fling],” Casey Mcmenemy, a senior English major, said.

Andrew Thayer can be reached at andrew.thayer@temple.edu.

Reminiscient of last year, another off-campus death Despite absence of Spring Fling, arrests and tragedy remain.

JOHN MORITZ News Editor The death of a 21-year-old man who fell from a fifth-story window at Kardon/Atlantic Apartments last weekend is the third such incident to occur on Main Campus in a year and served as a black mark on a weekend that also included numerous arrests outside of a block party held in the absence of Spring Fling.

Police say the man, whose name has not been released, was visiting friends at the apartment building on 10th Street and was alone in their room at 12:30 a.m. Sunday, April 13, when he fell to his death.

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office had not released a toxicology or autopsy report as of Monday,

NEWS DESK 215-204-7419

April 14.

Spring Fling was canceled last year in the wake of the death of 19-year-old West Chester University student Ali Fausnaught, who fell from the roof of an off-campus row house where she was visiting friends at a house party.

President Theobald said the woman’s death was not the reason for Spring Fling’s cancelation, but rather the pervasive drinking and skipping of class that was associated with the university tradition.

Through a university spokesman, President Theobald declined to comment on last weekend’s incident.

Last September, 21-year-old Landon Nuss died after falling in a stairwell at Kardon/Atlantic Apartments. The death was ruled an accident and police said Nuss had been smoking in the stairwell.

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 12, the university hosted the Cherry On Experience, an outdoor spring festival on the Geasey Field Complex that was

developed as an alternative to Spring urday’s festivities. Of those cited, 31 Fling. Security officers were posted at were not Temple students, Leone said. the entrances to the event to watch for Students said CSS had tried to restudent drinking. voke the permit they had obtained to An alternative block party hosted host the event. Leone said he spoke by students on the 2300 with 22nd Precinct block of Park Avenue police and determined was unregulated by the the event needed a university and drew hunfestival permit requirdreds of students to the ing organizers to pay block, where a DJ stood for added police seover crowds of students curity. openly drinking and “The permit they smoking marijuana. asked for was a block Acting Executive party, and honestly Director of Campus what that was was not Safety Services Chara block party. That lie Leone said campus was a festival,” Leone and Philadelphia police said. “The main thing made a total of 46 aris we don’t want peorests and citations during ple to be a victim goCharlie Leone / CSS acting the weekend, when CSS director ing to or coming back partnered with Philadelfrom a party.” phia police and the LiWhile the majorquor Control Board to monitor the area ity of incidents from Saturday involved around campus in preparation for Sat- public intoxication and underage con-

“The permit

they asked for was block party, and honestly what that was was not a block party. That was a festival.

”

NEWS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

sumption, there were additional reports of fighting and public nuisances.

James McElanie, 18 from Upper Darby, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after police responded to several reports of people being punched.

The man who fell to his death at Kardon/Atlantic Apartments was found

by Allied Barton bicycle officers, who called fire rescue to have the man transported to Temple University Hospital, Leone said.

Leone said the death does not appear to be suspicious at this time and is under investigation.

An official at PMC Property Group, the owner of Kardon/Atlantic Apartments, did not return requests for comment on Monday.

John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu or on Twitter @ JCMoritzTU.

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

PAGE 3

Staff reports | community

Local nonprofit fighting to maintain funding After bureaucratic shift, the Women’s Christian Alliance is forced to restructure funding.

ERIN EDINGER-TUROFF The Temple News The Women’s Christian Alliance is fighting to continue its 95-year run as a nonprofit located several blocks from Main Campus following the city’s Department of Human Services’ shift of authority in the foster care system that staffers said inhibits its financial means, used to serve the community.

DHS ushered in its Community Umbrella Agency last fall to give one organization in each district primary responsibility for case management of the foster care system in that area. DHS created the system in an effort to make local resources more accessible to children and their families and expects the CUA to collaborate with existing networks in the district, according to a statement on its website.

The WCA, a 501(c)(3) organization that receives the majority of its funding from the City of Philadelphia through DHS, was not appointed to be the CUA of District 22. Assuming that responsibility this July is NorthEast Treatment Centers, a behavioral health and social services agency with about 800 staff members.

WCA is located at the corner of 18th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Bishop Mary Palmer, who founded Samaritan Temple in North Philadelphia, said WCA is “a staple in the community,” as well as an African-American owned and operated establishment.

Palmer, who is chair of the board of directors at WCA, said although WCA knows it has to adapt to the change, it won’t be easy.

“It’s emotional for our staff, because we have connected very well with our clients and not only our children, but our foster care parents and resource parents and because of the CUA, our cases have to flip to whatever the provider is in the area that they live,” Palmer said.

Now that WCA will not be a primary foster care provider in the area, Palmer added that “two thirds of [the] budget will be out of the window.” To keep its doors open, WCA will have to

Bishop Mary Palmer (second from left) attended the Crayons for Haiti fundraiser presentation at Women’s Christian Alliance on April 8 to hear children present about their donation efforts. Palmer said she spends around 30 hours at WCA every week to boost morale. | ABI REIMOLD TTN restructure by expanding some of its existing programs outside the realm of foster care. Palmer said her goal is that no one at WCA will be laid off due to their present financial instability, though she was forced to tell the staff they will receive 60 percent of their earned payroll this week.

“I’m grateful because when I made that announcement earlier today, most of our staff understands it and they love what they do,” Palmer said. “I am particularly proud of them, for still wanting to come to work understanding fiscally what that means. I am going to delay as best I can any additional restructuring, realignment that may need to be done fiscally, so that the 57 people I represent at WCA, that come here every day and do a fabulous job, will be rewarded with compensation.”

Palmer said members of the board at WCA are giving the majority of

their time to the organization pro bono, though she said she’s often in the building around 30 hours a week. In her efforts to diversify programs offered by WCA, Palmer is attempting to expand the current education program in particular, along with the establishment of other social service programs. She’s reached out to City Council President Darrell Clarke and Councilwoman Marian Tasco, among other city officials, in an effort to receive support for those programs.

Steve Grilli of NorthEast Treatment Centers said as the CUA of the district, NET aims to partner with existing organizations. Though he said the organization is still reaching out, NET is interested in working with existing organizations in the area like WCA. “We are very well-aware that the only way for this to be successful is to work with the organizations that are already there and know the district best,”

Grilli said. “If there are services already being provided by organizations like Women’s Christian Alliance, we would set up subcontracts with them to continue the services they’re providing.”

John Holt, the treasurer of WCA’s board, said WCA has sent subcontracting proposals to a number of the CUA organizations, but there’s no guarantee they will be accepted. Along with NET, WCA has reached out to a neighboring CUA, Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, Wordsworth and Turning Points for Children.

“Until there is a more finite understanding of what the arrangements will be, we have no idea what the funding dollars for this year will be,” Holt said.

Holt said WCA will need more private donors to contribute to the reinvented programs in order to keep WCA in operation.

Projects at WCA, like the recent

contribution to Crayons for Haiti, a support effort for children with limited means, involved local children in a donation effort. Elementary to middle school-aged students learned about Haiti as a nation and contributed their own donation, whether handwritten letters or clothing they’d outgrown.

Palmer said through initiatives like this, WCA aims not just to maintain local youth, but to encourage them to live exceptionally. She said she hopes WCA will establish successful relationships with donors soon.

“Maybe I’m a visionary, or I’m this crazy faith person, being a bishop in the Lord’s church – yes, God can do all things, I just wish he would hurry up with it,” Palmer said. “Anytime now would be great.”

Erin Edinger-Turoff can be reached at erin.edinger-turoff@temple.edu or on Twitter @erinJustineET.

staff reports | ADMINISTRATION

Owls on the Hill Day cut due to scheduling conflict in capitol To replace lobbying trip, administrators ask supporters to send letters to state reps.

MARCUS MCCARTHY Assistant News Editor Administrators announced last week that Owls on the Hill Day would be canceled and instead students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff are being asked to electronically submit personal letters to lawmakers advocating for Temple’s state appropriations.

Andrew McGinley, public affairs and policy manager, said many of the students who wanted to go were unable to because of the event’s proximity to final exams.

Owls on the Hill Day was originally planned to have students personally meet with lawmakers on April 29 to lobby for state appropriations.

The annual Cherry and White Week events were planned for a later date than is typical in the past due to scheduling conflicts at the State Capitol building, McGinley said.

The previous two years’ Cherry and White Weeks were held in late March.

“The scheduling is beyond our control,” McGinley said. “It’s based on space availability in the Capitol Building. We use a lot of space during that week and there’s lots of other unions and charities and other groups that also

Administrators canceled an annual lobbying trip to Harrisburg. | DANIELLE HAGERTY TTN FILE PHOTO want space in the capitol building. So it got pushed back.”

Other Cherry and White Week events include an academic presentation in Harrisburg by the Institute for Public Affairs, followed by art and music students as well as researchers

presenting to lawmakers. These events will still be held on April 28 and 30, respectively.

McGinley said the letters don’t need to be long or formal, just personal.

“Elected officials want to hear from constituents,” McGinley said.

“This year we’re asking people to just write a note... via email.”

McGinley said the switch is not expected to be a permanent decision.

Outgoing Student Body President Darin Bartholomew, who worked heavily in organizing the event in the

past, declined to comment.

The new electronic format for Owls on the Hill Day will not be largely exclusive to students as it was in the past visits to Harrisburg, something McGinley said he sees as a benefit.

“When you talk about Owls on the Hill [Day] it’s really been student driven,” McGinley said. “We’ve had alumni participation. But now it’s asking people to take a day off from work.

It’s asking people to travel to Harrisburg. It’s a lot. So this way, more people from our alumni community are really engaged, our students, our faculty, our staff and Temple parents can really easily say, ‘Hey, this matters to me.’”

In 2011, Gov. Tom Corbett proposed a 50 percent cut to Temple’s funding but after intense lobbying by students and university representatives, the cuts were reduced to 15 percent, or a $25 million drop in commonwealth appropriations. Every year since then, Temple’s commonwealth funding has stayed level at $139.9 million. McGinley urged students to not take these level-funding years for granted.

“We all know that the legislative process can change at the drop of a hat,” McGinley said. “We have students who struggle to pay for tuition and we have students who work a lot and we all know what Temple’s trying to do to deal with affordability issues. But we also all know that if we received more state funding, the issues wouldn’t be as bad.”

Marcus McCarthy can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or on Twitter @marcusmccarthy6.

EDITORIAL/OP-ED

PAGE 4

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

Joey Cranney, Editor-in-Chief Jenelle Janci, Managing Editor Cheyenne Shaffer, Chief Copy Editor John Moritz, News Editor Jerry Iannelli, Opinion Editor Erin Edinger-Turoff, Living Editor Patricia Madej, Arts & Entertainment Editor Avery Maehrer, Sports Editor Marcus McCarthy, Asst. News Editor Evan Cross, Asst. Sports Editor Jessica Smith, Asst. Living Editor Sam Tighe, Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor Dustin Wingate, Multimedia Editor Alexandra Snell, Multimedia Editor Chris Montgomery, Web Editor

Patrick McCarthy, Asst. Web Editor Abi Reimold, Photography Editor Andrew Thayer, Asst. Photography Editor Addy Peterson, Design Editor Katherine Kalupson, Designer E.J. Smith Designer Donna Fanelle, Designer Zachary Campbell, Advertising Manager Grayson Holladay, Business Manager Morgan Hutchinson, Marketing Manager

The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community. Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News. Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News.

Visit us online at temple-news.com.

Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com.

The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122

EDITORIALS

Cherry On dwarfed by student block party

Despite the university’s ef- 19-year-old West Chester Uniforts to attract students with the versity student Ali Fausnaught Cherry On Experience, last Sat- fell to her death from an offurday’s non-Temple affiliated campus row home. Despite the block party on Park Avenue at- cancelation’s proximity to the tracted much tragedy, the unilarger crowds Though students still drank versity has dethan the uni- in the daytime, it’s good nied that Fausversity-sponnaught’s death that parties aren’t Temple- was a reason for sored festival. sanctioned.

Te m p l e the cancellation. officials esAt the block timate that the Cherry On Ex- party, police asked students to perience, intended to replace get off of the roof of a Park Spring Fling, drew more than Avenue home. The event’s DJ 700 attendees. stopped the music, asking the The block party’s orga- students to consider partygoers’ nizers said the event was held safety. in direct response to Spring Despite the efforts to keep Fling’s cancelation. Although students secure, there was a police monitored the block fatal fall early Sunday mornparty, students openly drank ing just two blocks off camoutdoors. pus at 10th and Norris streets.

The contrast in attendance A 21-year-old man visiting of the Cherry On Experience friends fell to his death from a and the Park Avenue block par- fifth floor window. It’s unclear ty shouldn’t come as a surprise if the student’s death can be – the university’s attempt to re- traced to any sort of illicit beplace Spring Fling so soon was havior. a lofty goal.

While it’s likely that any The university announced Temple party will invite rival on Aug. 27 of last year that “copycat” parties away from Spring Fling would be can- the confines of Main Campus, celed, citing drinking and poor it’s better for the university that class attendance as reasons for the parties are no longer Temthe decision. ple-affiliated.

The decision came after

KATIE HENNESSY TTN

FROM THE ARCHIVES...

In hunt for new stadium, honesty is key The university’s claim comments last week give us that Lincoln Financial Field pause. wants $12 million upfront in Don Smolenski, team presnegotiations for a new contract ident of the Philadelphia Eato house the football team is gles, gave a convincing rebuttal troubling for a to Theobald’s number of reacomments.

The administration should Smolenski told sons.

First, such be honest in its search for a the Inquirer home football stadium. that the team a high number indicates hasn’t had any it’s extremely unlikely that the negotiations with Temple about football team would continue extending its contract in more playing at the Linc after the than a year and that Theobald’s team’s contract expires in 2018. comments “do not accurately “We’re not about to give reflect our conversations with them that kind of money,” Temple representatives.”

President Theobald told the Is the administration trying Chronicle of Higher Educa- to make it seem like the Linc is tion last week. That means the forcing Temple to move someuniversity’s next step is to find where else? Theobald certainly an alternative home in the city has the motive to have the pubor move forward with its plans lic in his corner. to build an on-campus football Building a stadium, likely stadium. west of Broad Street, would The idea of sharing space only exacerbate tensions with at places like the Philadel- the community that seem to be phia Union’s PPL Park or the at an all-time high. To alleviate University of Pennsylvania’s those concerns, Theobald has Franklin Field is likely unap- spoken publicly about allotting pealing to the administration. time for local high schools to Temple wants a stadium to call use the stadium and including its own that will bring big-time academic space. college football to Main CamTemple should be conpus and the lucrative game-day cerned with effectively comrevenues that come with it. municating the benefits of such The administration seems a stadium, not trying to fool the convinced of the advantages community into thinking it had of such a stadium. Now it just no other choice but to build it. needs to convince the public.

That’s why Theobald’s

CORRECTIONS

The Temple News strives to be a newspaper of record by printing factually correct and balanced articles. Accuracy is our business, so when a mistake is made, we’ll correct it as soon as possible. Anyone with inquiries about content in this newspaper can contact Editor-in-Chief Joey Cranney at editor@temple-news.com or 215.204.6737.

April 12, 1984: Pop musician Cyndi Lauper entertains crowds at Spring Fling. After existing as a decades-long tradition on Main Campus, Spring Fling was canceled in Aug. 2013 after President Theobald condemned the event as a “bacchanal.” A new spring festival, the Cherry on Experience, was held at the Geasey Field Complex on Saturday.

OP-ED...

Get out of the Temple bubble If you move off-campus, is it still the university’s responsibility to keep you safe?

By Shannon McDonald

Stories of tension between Temple students and their neighbors are commonplace, especially as the university expands.

The recent attacks against students are particularly worrisome, but so is the response from students.

The victims of these attacks are in no way at fault for this violence, and no one — student or not — should feel unsafe in his or her neighborhood. But the response from students in the days following the assaults shows the naiveté and sense of entitlement that Temple students seem to have about their college experience.

In particular, a Change.org petition, which calls for Temple Police to expand its boundaries to protect students who live off Main Campus, displays a level of ignorance toward reality that makes me cringe with each new signature. By that logic,

Temple Police should also patrol the Broad Street Line, the area around Temple’s Center City campus and Lincoln Financial Field during Temple football games. The idea that Temple students should get more protection in the city at large simply because they are college students is selfish and absurd, and the university shouldn’t enable this behavior.

Though carefully and thoughtfully worded, the petition overlooks the bigger picture: Students who choose to live off campus want all the benefits of living on campus. And here’s where I’ll invoke a phrase I recite to my students often.

Get out of the Temple bubble.

Students who want to experience living on their own in a large city need to accept the responsibilities and risks that come with that choice. This unfortunately means a higher risk of crime than they’ll find within the brightly lit bubble of Main Campus. It’s time to find solutions for these realities, not shield students — adults with free will — from issues they need to face head on.

Not once since the recent attacks have I seen or heard a student suggest ways to

better foster a relationship between students and the Philadelphia Police Department’s 22nd District. Are the students who live in the neighborhood going to the PSA and community association meetings? Is the district making an effort to keep its younger residents informed?

As development directly west of Temple increases, students will move farther out. Students are asking Temple Police to increase its boundaries by a few blocks.

What will they ask for two years from now?

The university has a role here, too, but it has nothing to do with policing.

Make neighborhood immersion part of the general education requirement. Connect students with city planners, with cops, with SEPTA, with the community organizations. Students should be able to make informed decisions about housing, and to recognize all the consequences of leaving cushy campus life behind.

Shannon McDonald is a SMC adjunct instructor, a former TTN staff member and a reporter at NewsWorks. She can be reached at shannon.mcdonald@temple.edu.

COMMENTARY

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

PAGE 5

COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY

The National Society of Collegiate Scholars sells membership to its honor society.

Hall lacks community

Honor is earned, not bought Morgan

T

After its first year, the suite-style dorm rooms in Morgan Hall are keeping kids isolated.

M

KEES HOLTERMAN TTN

he tradition of “you have already won!” is far from dead. It lives here at Temple, preying on the desire to be the most special snowflake in the whole wide world.

The National Society of Collegiate Scholars has been sending letters to students in the Top 10 percent of their class, informing them of their membership in an allegedly prestigious honors society that provides scholarship and networking opportunities, as well as discounts from national businesses. Membership is not granted until one pays $95 in dues, Joe Brandt which are really not worth it.

“You should feel proud of this prestigious national recognition of your outstanding work here at Temple University,” a letter read.

The letter claimed my admittance came after “a careful review by the NSCS Admissions Committee.” Without a meeting, they must have based the decision off of my grades. How did they know I was in the Top 10 percent?

“The Office of the University Registrar does not release any academic data to any on- or off-campus student organizations,” University Registrar Bhavesh Bambhrolia said in an email.

However, the Registrar’s Office, when prompted, can provide lists of students who fit certain criteria – such as the necessary grade point average to be in the NSCS – if the students in question have not opted out of inclusion in the Cherry & White Directory. The only information provided is what appears in the directory.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, this sharing of information is perfectly legal. So that settles that: Unless you opt out of the directory by submitting a special request to TU Help to do so, the NSCS will find you.

Once they find you, the organization will lure you in with myriad discounts from its corporate sponsors, including Geico and Barnes &

Noble, institutions to which many students have already poured a few hundred dollars of their parents’ money.

When one accepts admission to the NSCS, a “press release” is printed, to “allow the media in your local area to cover this important event,” according to the letter. This same point is reiterated on the website.

They’re serious.

The inflated recognition from the press release will surely bring swells of pride in the heart of an already proud parent who always wanted to see his or her child’s face at the bottom of a trashcan at

the Inquirer. Any frugal parent who loves to shop – Hi, Mom – gets antsy thinking about the possibility of saving money here and there. It’s like having a coupon book that’s exclusive to the thousands upon thousands of parents who have smart kids that made their folks cough up the dough for the fee.

The fundamental problem with NSCS is that it is a business deal for an “honor.” It harks back to Monopoly’s popular “Chance” card that reads: “You’ve been elected chairman of the board!” and requires paying $50 to each player. It’s a modern example of Monopoly’s sentiment

that honor is bought, not earned.

That’s not an honor society that I want to be a part of.

I am sure there are some people who have benefited from the NSCS and are happy with their investment.

I do not see myself as one of them.

Ninety-five dollars can pay for pizza, Mosaic books, public transportation fees or a nice dinner for your loving parents, who want to see you succeed. Put the money there instead and keep businesses out of academics.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

THE ESSAYIST...

‘A spiraling, hallucinogenic disaster’ A student ponders her own mortality in the wake of a friend’s unexpected death.

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By Brianna Spause

unday, March 30.

Casey’s mom was out of town, opening up the little Bucks County apartment to a gathering of longtime friends. The shindig was graced with an overwhelming amount of good energy, good food and good people.

12:30 a.m.

An aroma rose from the kitchen. It crept around the corner and filled my nostrils with intrigue.

“Whatchya making?” I asked the grinning face behind the steam.

“Eat it,” he answered, filling my empty hands with a plate. It was an immediate success, the asparagus and squash tossed with garlic he made simply because, “Why not?”

More friends arrived as the night wore on.

“How’s school? Did you hear what she said?

Don’t drink that, it’s expired. Apples to Apples?

What exactly is the Flying Spaghetti Monster?”

1:30 a.m.

“Alright, see you guys around!”

It’s always a pleasure to hang around with old friends. Alcohol has a passionate relationship with nostalgia, and the dose was just right.

8:17 a.m.

“Hey! It’s the cops. Get up.”

“Good morning,” the officers offered, staring at a living room full of disoriented teenagers.

There were two of them standing at the top of the

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stairs, scanning the room and scribbling answers to vague questions. Only one officer spoke.

“None of you are in trouble,” he kept saying.

“Everyone is OK,” he kept saying.

“Can you identify these three men?”

“That’s Jake, Joe and Ben,” Casey wearily answered, picking out their identities from the printed license photos. “Everyone seemed fine when they left, officer.”

Everyone was fine.

The three of them left, waving and shouting their goodbyes as they descended the stairs, and slammed the door on any sense of functioning reality.

“I can’t give you any details due to the ongoing investigations, but I’m sure you’ll hear about this through the grapevine.”

5 p.m.

New message: J: Were you at that party?

“Yeah, why?”

Because little did we know, everything was not fine. Jake was stabbed in the chest. The poor soul had every kind intention to help as he walked through his best friend’s – his murderer’s – front door. It was too late.

Joe was no longer a person; he was a spiraling hallucinogenic disaster. The man on mushrooms was responsible for stripping his life away.

Joe isn’t a monster, just a man that fell off the edge of intoxicated splendor.

At 2:30 a.m. when the police responded to a fatal stabbing on Kasmir Avenue, he was no longer a person, either. He became a compilation of every smile, every handshake, every idolized memory he left behind.

One hour separated our hug goodbye from the moment he drew his last breath – 3,600 frozen seconds in time that fell together in the universe’s

web of unfathomable circumstances.

Monday, April 7. 9 a.m.

I’m digging through the back corner of my closet marked “funeral attire,” watching the clock. I’m running out of time, I thought, hurriedly slipping a black dress over the head I’ve been fighting to hold high.

Time is an invention designed to capture the universe as it spins from one moment to the next.

A man who was once a crowd pleaser is now in a closed casket – a testament to the fragility of human life under the elements.

And here I am riding the minute hand of the clock down a dizzying spiral; I am hanging on for dear life in fear of the moment it’s my turn to lose my grip.

10 a.m.

It was empty, the day I said goodbye. A sea of shattered hearts filled the funeral home, each painted with a familiar face. Condolences rolled off the tongue in a desperate attempt to lick the wounds, but failed to fill all of the spaces in between.

The minute hand will continue to spin, winding the collective hole in our chests closed. Fond memories will string each broken piece together; we will be whole again. But until then, I will battle on with the notion that this just wasn’t fair, and it never will be.

One hour.

Between the contagious laugh that disappeared down the stairs and the presence that has disappeared forever.

I’ve never felt so mortal.

Brianna Spause can be reached at brianna.spause@temple.edu.

LETTERS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

organ Hall, Temple’s newest residence hall, is one of the most modern dormitories in Philadelphia. Upon its ribbon-cutting in 2013, there were hopes that Morgan Hall would bring a sense of community to its residents. But how much is the building really bringing students together?

Freshman student Elizabeth Grant lives on the seventh floor of the low-rise Morgan Hall South. As much as she enjoys living in Morgan Chelsea Ann South, she said she doesn’t Rovan think the residence hall has created a sense of community.

“From what I notice, everyone seems to generally keep to themselves,” Grant said. “The hallways and common areas are typically empty, with a few exceptions depending on the day. I think this might be because every dorm room has its own living room, so there’s no point to go somewhere else to lounge or watch TV.” The traditional four-person apartment-style suite consists of two shared bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a kitchen with a sink, conventional oven, pantry space, full-size fridge, kitchen table and a communal living room with a couch and a 42-inch flat screen TV. Since students have pretty much everything they might need within their apartments, there’s not much motivation to leave their rooms. Grant said the year started out strong, as residents kept their doors open and made efforts to socialize.

However, during the course of the year students have remained in their caves with little urgency to come out, he said.

Much like Grant, I don’t know the majority of my neighbors on the 12th floor of Morgan Hall North, either. There are times I get into the elevator, see that the button for my floor is already pressed, look around at the blank unfamiliar faces and don’t have any clue which of them lives only several feet from me.

Brittany Cozzens, a sophomore advertising major and resident assistant in Morgan Hall North, said she tries her best to get her residents to meet one another and become friends.

If Cozzens were asked to give a recommendation of a residence hall ideal for freshmen: “I lived in J&H. So, I would probably say J&H [for a freshman] just because it is the ultimate communal living spot. You meet a ton of different people from different places.”

The floors of Johnson and Hardwick halls are segregated by gender, and residents utilize communal bathrooms on each floor.

“I think it just opens you up to a lot of people and it also teaches you a lot, too,” Cozzens said. “Yes, you’re sharing a bathroom with so many people, but you also have to learn how to be considerate.”

Coming from a smaller-sized suite in the southeast wing of 1300 Residence Hall – with 60 guys and eight girls, plus an RA – from last year to a larger, apartment-style suite and a smaller hallway, I would think that this smaller group of residents would make it easier to bond as a unit.

Compared to the constant activity of residents from last year, the best way to describe my hallway this year would be “eerily quiet.”

This is not to say the RAs aren’t trying to develop that sense of communal bond. However, with the odds stacked against them, it can be challenging.

Had I lived in Morgan Hall last year – if it were open then, of course – I would not have felt as inclined to go out into the lounges or the hallway to socialize and meet the people I still talk to today.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t [recommend Morgan Hall South to freshmen],” Grant said. “Don’t get me wrong. Morgan Hall is absolutely beautiful and a personal living room and kitchen are awesome to have. But for a college dorm, it’s dorm size and price because of it is a little unnecessary. I also feel that because of how luxurious the dorm room is, I don’t really have the need to go beyond it to make new friends, and I think that should be a priority as a college freshman.”

Let’s face it: As a species, we’re lazy. If we have everything we need within reach, why should we bother to leave our rooms?

Chelsea Ann Rovan can be reached at chelsea.ann.rovan@temple.edu.

NEWS

PAGE 6

NEWS IN BRIEF MONTEIRO PROTESTORS HOLD WALKOUT, RALLY Members of the coalition Students for Monteiro held a rally Wednesday, April 9, to demand the reinstatement of Anthony Monteiro, an adjunct African American studies professor whose contract is not being renewed.

The group of about 30 protestors delivered speeches in front of the Bell Tower before marching to Sullivan Hall, which houses administrative offices.

While the protesters gathered around the front door of Sullivan Hall, Temple police put up crowd control barriers on Beasley Walk, where there is a side door.

After about a half hour of chanting, university administrators came outside to receive a petition from the protesters. Estimates for the number of signatories to the petition varied, with members of Students for Monteiro citing numbers between 500 and 900.

After the administrators took the petition, People Utilizing Real Power member Paul-Winston Cange dismissed the crowd and announced a joint community-and-students protest on Wed. April 16 at 1 p.m.

-Joe Brandt

TEMPLE LOSES FEDERAL LAWSUIT Temple lost a federal lawsuit concerning student loan information in late February.

The case, titled Seamans v. Temple University, was originally decided in 2012 in federal district court but was appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and argued last September.

The court decided that the Higher Education Act of 1965 doesn’t exempt a university that offers student loan information to a credit reporting agency from the reporting requirement of the federal privacy law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The court ruled that the case will be sent back to district court to decide on punitive damages the university may owe the plaintiff, Edward Seamans, as protected under the FCRA.

-Marcus McCarthy

TUH DONATES TO COMMUNITY Temple University Hospital has started the first blood donation system in the city to use blood from umbilical cords and placentas.

Expecting moms at TUH will be given the option to donate this blood for free with no danger to them or their babies. The blood will be stored at a site in New Jersey.

Stem cells have been shown to effectively treat leukemia, lymphoma and could, in the future, help treat cancer, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and other ailments.

The program will be run by the hosptial’s Women and Infant’s Division in partnership with the Mason Shaffer Foundation and nonprofit Commuity Blood Services.

-Marcus McCarthy Continued from page 1

WIND

near the outside of Morgan Hall – the landscaping and grassy area resides within the two towers as part of Morgan’s 30,000 square-foot terrace for the residents.

“When you put landscaping in front of the building, you’re trying to sort of soften the building and make it blend into the landscape, but it doesn’t really work on a tower that tall,” Eck said.

With the powerful winds surrounding these buildings, snowfall and ice can be blown around on roofs, as well as blown off the side of the buildings. During the winter, police cornered off certain areas to avoid blow-off onto Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Facilities employees also worked to manage the snow on top of buildings like Morgan Hall to avoid injuries.

Standing in the courtyard between Morgan Hall north and south with the wind visibly blowing their shirts, junior Perry Bachstein and sophomore Ahmed Amer said they think the wind makes

Continued from page 1

VOTE The tickets were officially announced at the weekly TSG General Assembly meeting on March 24. Debates between the two tickets were held on March 31 and April 7.

TU Believe campaigned on expanding LGBTQ safe-zone training programs and the range of TUr Door services, as well as improving dining halls and building security. Renew TU’s platform centered on increasing lines of communication

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Follow attacks, changes to security TSG, administrators say campus police will expand patrol zone, improve building security.

JOSEPH GILBRIDE The Temple News New safety measures will be added to campus buildings next semester and security officers will have an expanded range and presence, according to plans in development in the administration.

An internal proposal is calling for changes to Main Campus security beyond its current range, though some of the plans could not be discussed because they are still in the development stage, said student body president Darin Bartholomew.

Representatives from Campus Safety Services recently held several forums with students in response to safety concerns after attacks on students near Main Campus.

While decling to cite specifics, Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone confirmed that CSS is working with TSG to determine an expanded patrol zone and improvements to building security.

Many students voiced a desire for a larger, more visible police presence. Bartholomew said there will not be a radical change to campus safety, but rather a “reallocation of resources.”

“We’re not talking about hiring hundreds of

police officers and putting them on every single block,” Bartholomew said. “We’re going to do what we’re legally able to do.”

Bartholomew said he is most confident that Temple Police’s patrol zone will be expanded and the area made more simple to make it less confusing to students, landlords and businesses off Main Campus.

The current patrol area extends from Susquehanna Avenue in the north to Jefferson Street in the south, and from 9th to 16th streets east to west. However, the area is not uniform and some streets within the stated boundaries are not covered. By state law, campus police are legally allowed but not required to patrol and respond to incidents within 500 feet of property owned or operated by the university.

Temple Police’s current patrol zone does not extend the full distance allowed by the state.

“Some students have asked: ‘What about [expanding to] 18th and 19th streets?’” Bartholomew said. “Seventeenth makes the most sense because that’s where the response zone ends. That’s the hard boundary.”

Temple Police’s response zone, the area wherein it can operate if called for help, extends farther than its patrol zone, stretching from Dauphin Street to Master Street north to south and Eighth Street to 17th Street east to west.

“My goal is the two boundaries should be the same,” Bartholomew said. “For a student wanting to rent a house off campus, if it’s in the zone, they should know they get all the services, and if it’s not, they know they don’t get any.”

Bartholomew said he has been advocating for a larger, simpler police patrol area since he came into office. “When the off-campus zones were created, the Temple area was very different,” Bartholomew said.

Other safety proposals could involve revamping security inside Main Campus buildings.

In a Temple Student Government election debate on March 31, Student Body Presidentelect Ray Smeriglio floated a proposal to the crowd that Temple could consider moving to a tap- or swipe-only system for using student IDs to get into buildings. However, Smeriglio said after an interview with campus safety officials that the suggestion was not discussed further.

Bartholomew said he would “never advocate to go for IDing for all buildings. This is not a massive police state increase. We would maybe redesign entrances.”

He said security changes would go further than the security improvements already implemented on Main Campus, which added guards to Anderson Hall and the Student Center.

Smeriglio said his discussion with TUPD and CSS have centered on social media and transparency, after students raised complaints that incidents were going unreported by police.

“We’re working on how TSG social media can get information out to students,” Smeriglio said. “Everyone is looking to how to make TSG and police more transparent.”

Joe Gilbride can be reached at joseph.gilbride@temple.edu.

Markers in Alzheimer’s focus of research Researchs look at subjects’ blood to find risk of developing Alzheimer’s in later life.

LOGAN BECK The Temple News A comprehensive study conducted by a team of researchers at Temple, the University of Rochester and Georgetown University may hold the key to detecting the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease – a simple blood test.

Susan Fisher, chair of the Department of Clinical Science at the School of Medicine, said typical Alzheimer’s patients progress from having normal brain function to mild cognitive impairment, before developing and fulfilling all of the criteria for having Alzheimer’s. The ultimate goal of the study was to predict the development of Alzheimer’s before the patient displayed any symptoms.

The research team recruited a group of 525 adults aged 75 and over who had no diagnosis of a neurologic disease and who were not on any medications that would have side effects that would affect their cognition. The subjects were enrolled in the study over a course of two years, in Rochester, N.Y., California, and Washington.

“The goal of this study was to identify markers, lipid markers, from the blood that would predict or might show patients who are at the greatest risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” Fisher

said.

While enrolled, subjects had a sample of blood draw and completed a “full battery” of neuropsychological tests that evaluated the patients’ memory, attention and executive functions. A series of language and visual tests were given also.

“So we did all this testing and we had this tube of blood,” Fisher said. “In the laboratory they examined this blood for a metabolic profile, a medical footprint of cells that might separate those who eventually develop Alzheimer’s disease to those who didn’t.”

The patients that participated in the study were followed for three years and studied once a year. At the end of three years, the research team found 46 people who would have been categorized as MCI, but did not display symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Twenty-eight patients were found to have normal psychological functioning.

Three years later, all 74 of the patients were tested and found to have Alzheimer’s.

The team looked at the blood of these individuals by examining a small subset for different kinds of markers. They found 10 lipids of fat that seem to be very different in people developing Alzheimer’s versus everyone else.

“We knew that once people had converted, you could go back and look at the initial blood test and see that the blood showed different characteristics than those that did not,” Fisher said.

That being said, ideally the team wants to be able to identify the 10 markers in the first group, take another test group with a small set of people who had progressed to Alzheimer’s, as well as a

group that did not and examine their blood for the same 10 markers. These 10 markers separate the two groups of people at 90 percent or greater accuracy.

According to the Susan G. Komen website, mammograms are typically only 78 percent accurate in detecting an abnormal breast lump in women ages 50 and older.

“90 percent is pretty darn good,” Fisher said.

Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. There are many treatments and suggested drugs for treating Alzheimer’s, but according to Fisher “none are particularly useful” because they have not halted the progression of the disease after diagnosis.

These drugs, however, are thought to perhaps be helpful in preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s if they are administered early. The testing that took place in the study allowed researchers to screen people who look like they may develop Alzheimer’s in the immediate future, and determine where they could get prevention treatment.

Although the initial study has been completed, there is still a bit of work to be done to find more about this breakthrough.

“I have to say, although we have a big sample size, we still only had a small sample of people within three years that developed Alzheimer’s disease,” Fisher said. “While these results are positive, they need to be tested more within a more diverse group of people.”

Logan Beck can be reached at logan.beck@temple.edu.

walking to class even worse when the weather is bad.

“When it’s cold, it makes it 10 times colder,” Amir said. “If someone is walking next to you can’t talk, you have to yell.”

“I’ve gotten very close to wearing a scarf one day, but I luckily haven’t crossed that line,” Bachstein said.

Freshman Gabrielle Flanagan said the wind tunnels are so bad, it sometimes makes her unbalanced.

“I’m not a huge fan of it,” Flanagan said.

In an extreme case, the wind tunnel effect was reported to have been the cause of 25 incidents and injuries including internal bleeding, as well as one death in Europe, according to the BBC. The extremely strong winds surrounding Bridgewater Place in Leeds, England crushed the victim in 2011. These winds also caused a buggy to be blown over, containing a three-month-old infant.

Logan Beck can be reached at logan.beck@temple.edu.

about services already offered by the university and the creation of a Diversity Week.

A total of 1,716 votes were cast, according to a tally by TSG election commissioners. It was lower than the total from last year’s election, which counted 2,075 votes, which in turn was lower than the previous year’s 2,647 votes.

TSG Election Commissioner Dylan Morpurgo said the drop in voter turnout meant TSG didn’t communicate as effectively as it could have to students.

“Voter turnout can always be higher,” Morpurgo said. “Because campus is so busy and diverse, people are not always connected to what’s

Taller buildings on campus create wind tunnels that rip through the streets below. Students say the effect causes discomfort and colder temperatures.| SKYLER BURKHART TTN going on.”

Outgoing president Darin Bartholomew cited the weather as a factor in low voter turnout, saying the groups were not able to have heavy campaigning due to the large number of rainy days in late March and early April.

Morpurgo said the number of votes cast was not an all-time low turnout for TSG elections.

In other ways, Morpurgo said the election was an improvement. “Both teams made a really concerted effort to run a clean campaign,” he said.

“The debates were very cordial. That wasn’t always the case in the past.”

Crusor said TU Believe has “big shoes to

fill,” as they prepare to lead the student body in the fall.

TSG holds weekly meetings that bring in university administrators to hear from students, and leaders frequently meet with top administrators to relay thoughts and concerns from the student body. The student body president also holds a non-voting seat on the Board of Trustees.

Smeriglio will assume office at the inauguration on May 5 at the general assembly meeting.

Joseph Gilbride and John Moritz can be reached at news@temple-news.com.

LIVING

owlery.temple-news.com

BRAZ-BQ INTRODUCED

GREEK WEEK SUCCESS

Adriano Redante’s food truck specializing in Brazilian fare will now be open on Main Campus on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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The newest sorority on Main Campus, Alpha Xi Delta participated in this year’s Greek Week.

ONLINE.

temple-news.com

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

ADDRESSING TRANSPORTATION

Columnist Monique Roos argues complaints with public transportation are not unique to the United States.

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The

usic issue

Hungry for more A collaborative rap group of students and alumni has grown in popularity.

ERIN EDINGER-TUROFF

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Living Editor

(From right) Rappers P64, Buggie Fresh, Prophet Lethal Dose and OHM (front) collaborate with the help of DJ Cody Griz (far left) to form the Hungry Ghosts.| CLAIRE SASKO TTN

tudents who want to join the Ghost Ghang must enter a blood pact that unites the group of

rappers.

At least that’s what Omar Samir, a 2013 graduate and the founder of the collaborative hip-hop/rap collective, joked

about the growing popularity of Ghost Ghang, also known as the Hungry Ghosts. A number of solo artists who’ve been brought together by their experiences at Temple make up the Hungry Ghosts, which members said has gained a “cult-like following” recently.

John Peruso, another 2013 graduate who raps under the name ‘P64’ – inspired by his information and computer science technology major and love of video games – released a mixtape in February called “Philadelphia Love Story,” but he spends a significant amount

of time performing with the Hungry Ghosts.

“Really, we kind of owe everything to Temple in a way,” Peruso said. “If it weren’t for Temple, we wouldn’t know each other – the infrastructure wouldn’t be here to hold us together, we wouldn’t have learned the stuff that we learned through the curriculum at Temple – also Maxi’s, the open mic night there kind of put us in contact and brought all these amazing rappers together, and that kind of just formed a scene that made us all have to rhyme

GHOSTS PAGE 19

CAPTURING CAMPUS Kaniz Pramanik, a junior biology major, created “Humans of Temple Univeristy,” inspired by Brandon Stanton’s “Humans of New York.”

PAGE 20 | SKYLER BURKHART TTN

For students, a goal to work for community Two students have been recognized on Main Campus for academics and entrepreneurship through a scholarship and award gala, respectively.

JESSICA SMITH Asst. Living Editor When senior computer engineering major Chima Onukwuru developed the idea for his promotional website Africans Can Gossip in August 2013, he thought he would have to beg schools to participate.

But now after receiving nearly 2,000 daily hits and attracting the attention of The Society of Emerging African Leaders, schools are begging him.

“We started just at Temple,” Onukwuru said. “Now we have schools like Penn State, UPenn and Rutgers. We even got University of California, Berkeley on there.”

Africans Can Gossip posts information and fliers about upcoming events for different African student organizations across the country.

Onukwuru said the idea be-

hind the site came from his experience with the Organization of African Students at Temple.

He said he thought there should be a way for students at all university African organizations to unite nationally.

“We thought, ‘What if we had a place where different people from different schools in different African organizations had one place where they could see all events that cater to them?’” Onukwuru said. “Instead of just going to school, graduating and getting a job, we wanted to do something big that would set us apart from other people.”

Onukwuru said the site name might be confusing because it’s about promotional events, not actual gossip.

“We just wanted a name that would draw people in,” Onukwuru said. “People come to the site expecting gossip, see what it really is and stay for the

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events.”

Onukwuru said he was eager to get the site up immediately. Even with a background in coding, Onukwuru said he knew it would take a lot of time to develop a fully functional site from scratch. He said he instead decided to use sites like GoDaddy.com and bought ev-

AFRICA PAGE 18

Chima Onukwuru created Africans Can Gossip. | JESSICA SMITH TTN

ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY

The Temple News

Joyce Rasing was homeless before she secured housing prior to her first year at Temple.

The junior political science major first lived with her grandparents after enduring an abusive childhood with her mother and stepfather. She said she has never known her biological father.

“It’s really hard sometimes,” Rasing said. “I don’t have anyone to really call or talk to. Sure, I have friends, but they’re not the same as parents or family.”

Rasing said coming to Temple provided her with some of the stability she desired, including a familiar environment since her grandmother worked as a nurse on Main Campus.

One of her biggest burdens – to pay for her education – was alleviated when she was awarded

LIVING@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

the Straw into Gold Scholarship of $10,000 in May 2011. The scholarship is endowed by Ronnyehane Goldsmith, College of Liberal Arts alumna of ’68, ’70 and ‘82.

The SIG Scholarship is awarded to a CLA student who has lost either one or both of their parents, in order to ensure they are able to obtain their professional aspirations. It has been instrumental to Rasing’s ability to finish her undergraduate degree.

“This scholarship was a chance for me to stay in college,” Rasing said. “I was actually going to drop out if it weren’t for this. This was perfect timing.”

Rasing said she was surprised that she received the scholarship, since she wasn’t sure her grade point average was high enough, despite having a 3.6 cumulative GPA. Rasing’s faculty mentor,

Jayne Drake, vice dean for academic affairs at CLA, nominated Rasing for the scholarship.

What came as more of a surprise, Rasing said, was meeting the donor who provided the opportunity at the 2011 Baccalaureate Awards Program.

This scholarship, along with state grants, helps Rasing

RASING PAGE 18

Joyce Rasing won the Straw Into Gold award. | ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY TTN

LIVING

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TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Tyler School of Art | courses

Tyler diagrams for artistic careers A new course in the Tyler School of Art on infographics is open to all majors.

ALEXA BRICKER The Temple News The Art of Infographics, a general education course available to both art majors and nonart majors, will be offered for the first time in Fall 2014.

As an assistant professor of graphic and interactive design and a graphic designer herself, Abby Guido said she started to notice a change in the field in recent years, requiring much more experience in the creation of infographics. Guido said since news and information is presented to readers on multiple platforms that include visual representations of information, it calls for further development of artists’ skills.

“There is so much data out there, and you look at numbers and think, ‘What does it mean?’” Guido said. “But when you learn how to tell a story and how to visualize it and how to express it to your audience, it makes that information valuable.”

To help adjust to this development toward visualization of the news, Guido said she decided that students from all departments could benefit from an additional course that teaches the importance of infographics in the modern world.

Beginning next semester, The Art of Infographics will be available as an online course on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:50 p.m., along with an additional day and time that has yet to be announced. The course will also be separated between graduate

and undergraduate level with the graduate students having an additional project requirement.

Guido said having the class online rather than in a classroom is just another way in which the course represents modernity.

“The idea of bringing all these different students together from different backgrounds seems a little intimidating possibly, where students think, ‘I don’t have this art background, how do I take this class,’” Guido said. “I think having it online kind of makes it an even playing field for everyone.”

Guido said that while students will be learning basic principles of design, the class will be focused more on an understanding of what goes into creating an infographic.

“There will be a history, so we will look back and see the development of infographics and when they started to appear,” Guido said. “The design part will be discussing visual literacy, so techniques you can use to critically analyze infographics. We’ll look at contemporary infographics, but we will also do a lot of technical demonstrations in the Adobe Illustrator software.”

Over the course of the semester, students will also be creating their own infographic, which they will build upon as they develop new skills and techniques. One aspect Guido said she is particularly excited about is the Web X program utilized by the course. Students will log in to the class at a specific time and will be able to communicate with one another, similar to other video chat software.

“What happens when you ‘show up for class’ is that you will see my screen,” Guido said.

“I can present lectures this way,

Abby Guido, an assistant professor at Tyler, will teach a new course on the creation of infographics starting this fall semester. | COURTESY ABBY GUIDO I can talk about work, and it’s actually kind of like ‘The Brady Bunch’ – you see everyone’s little faces up there. It’s really great.”

Guido said she can also “share the ball,” by selecting certain students to present their work to the rest of the class. The software also allows students to break into groups where they can form separate virtual classrooms.

Artistic fields like graphic design are often chalked up as being something that anyone can become good at with practice, Guido said, but she hopes that with the introduction of this course, students will better

appreciate the work it takes to create complex infographic designs.

“I think [the class will promote] understanding and appreciation and being able to have the ability to look at a piece of design – an infographic – and [in addition to] infographics, I’m hoping students will take this appreciation elsewhere as well,” Guido said. “I’m sure some students will fall in love with [the course] and that’ll be really cool, too. You never know where it could take you.”

Alexa Bricker can be reached at abricke1@temple.edu.

FOOD TRUCK | BRAZ-BQ

City’s only Brazilian food truck on campus Braz-BQ made a deal with Samosa Deb’s truck for a park spot.

ARIANE PEPSIN The Temple News Though there are several Brazilian restaurants in Philadelphia, there is only one Brazilian food truck – Braz-BQ. Owner Adriano Redante said he decided to open BrazBQ in June 2013 after his time working as a cook at Peddler’s Village in Bucks County and Chima in Center City. While Brazilian cooking has always been a passion of his, becoming a food truck owner was not the idea he had in mind when he immigrated to the United States in 2000.

“When I arrived here, one of my first jobs was a cook and that’s what got me interested in the food business,” Redante

said. “I originally wanted to move to the U.S. to learn English, then move back to Brazil to become an English teacher, but I think where I am now is working well for me.”

After he opened Braz-BQ, Redante said he traveled all over the city to cater different events and serve various neighborhoods throughout the week.

Redante said this decision was not just by choice, since there are complicated issues surrounding parking locations.

“I used to take the truck to Drexel, but now I’m kind of random with city spots – I go more to Ventureforth on Eighth Street and to some office buildings in the suburbs now,” Redante said.

“When I wanted to try to come to Temple, I thought it was going to be hard to find parking, and I was right.”

After meeting Debbie Dasani, owner of Samosa Deb’s on Montgomery Avenue between 12th and 13th streets,

Redante said she offered him a deal. They agreed to rotate trucks during the week in the same parking spot so they could both have selling time at Temple. Braz-BQ is usually on campus on Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting at 11 a.m.

“I’m really happy that I can come to Temple. It’s awesome,” Redante said. “The Brazilian community is very excited about having a Brazilian food truck represented here. I think it’s very important to represent the tastes of your country to different communities.”

Redante grew up in southern Brazil, where he said his cooking background lies. BrazBQ’s best-selling item is the Hamburgão, a quarter-pound of sliced beef topped with smoked ham, bacon, melted cheddar and a fried egg piled with corn, green onion, lettuce, tomato, potato sticks and homemade mayo on a Kaiser roll. Redante said his cuisine is representative

Adriano Redante brings his truck, Braz-BQ, to Main Campus twice a week. He made a deal with Debbie Dasani, another truck owner, to share parking.| SASH SCHAEFFER TTN

of his hometown and culture.

“Brazilian cuisine is very vast,” Redante said. “Every part of Brazil has a different ingredient base, so I’m bringing the taste of southern Brazil, where I’m from. We have the traditional steak experience like Brazilian steakhouses with the truck because there’s a churrasqueira [grill] in it.”

Redante said he also tries to put an American spin on some Brazilian dishes so customers aren’t afraid to try a new culture’s food, but are still getting the experience of southern Brazilian cooking. One of these options is the Brazilian cheesesteak, with steak, cheese, lettuce, fried onions, tomatoes and a homemade chimichurri sauce on a roll.

“I feel like you have to ‘American-ize’ a little because people get scared of things that are exclusively Brazilian or things like that,” Redante said.

“We don’t do Brazilian cheesesteaks in Brazil, but I created one for the truck.”

Redante said he enjoys the freedom that owning a food truck has brought him after working in the restaurant business for more than 10 years.

The experience as a truck owner reminds him of living in Brazil, where he said street vendors have a strong presence.

“I wanted to learn to do something new [when I moved here] and that led me to where I am today,” Redante said. “[My menu is] based off of Brazilian street food. I wanted to bring the street tastes of my home to the U.S. so people can enjoy it like I did.”

Ariane Pepsin can be reached at ariane.pepsin@temple.edu.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PUERTO RICAN PUNK

WIRED JAWS AND HOUSE SHOWS

Campo-Formio, a three-piece band from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Punk band The Weaks have been through a lot in the past few months.

After sustaining a bike accident resulting in a wired jaw, Chris Baglivo of played a show at Nachohouse in West Philly on April 12. the band said he’ll continue to record new material.

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temple-news.com

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The

PAGE 9

usic issue

Video series crafts a community ABI REIMOLD TTN

The usic issue | roots

Band voted best for simplicity Levee Drivers talk first album, minitour and bringing country to Philly.

SAMANTHA TIGHE Asst. A&E Editor

Musicians have 48 hours to record a “Shaking Through” session via Weathervane Music, a nonprofit promoting independent artists.

W

JENELLE JANCI Managing Editor

hen a musician records a “Shaking Through” episode, they have to be prepared to move into the studio – literally.

The video series, led by Brian McTear of the nonprofit Weathervane Music in Fishtown, requires artists to commit 48 hours to recording a song in its wood-draped, naturally lit and inviting studio.

Artists move in to the apartment attached to the studio while they record.

The result is a professionally produced song, a video of the recording process with artist commentary and a video documenting the technical side of the production.

The project’s new website launches Tuesday, and its new fifth season will premiere April 19 for members and April 23 for non-members.

McTear, executive director of Weathervane Music and the creator and co-producer of “Shaking Through,” said the project stemmed from his goals 19 years ago when he founded Miner Street Recordings. He is currently the co-owner.

“It was always my inclination to try to be as helpful and to create as much opportunity for the artists I was working with as I possibly could,” McTear said.

However, McTear said the early stages of the idea for “Shaking Through” didn’t initially involve filming.

“When I first had the idea, I didn’t consider video as part of it at all,” McTear said.

When he began Weathervane Music in 2002, McTear said he and his busi-

WEATHERVANE PAGE 12

The

(Above) Rob Grote of the Districts, records vocals. (Bottom) Francis Quinlan of Hop Along in the studio.| COURTESY PETER ENGLISH

Despite not having yet released a full-length album, Americana band Levee Drivers has still been snagging several “Best in Philly” awards since officially taking the name in 2008.

Last year, the Tri-State Music Awards named the group the “Best Indie/Folk Americana Band.”

Originally hailing from Bucks County, Pa., the band is comprised of four people: August Lutz, 28, the frontman, Kyle Perella, 26, the lead guitarist, Jeff Orelowksi, 27, drummer and the newest member of the band, Ben Plotnick, 25, the bassist.

Lutz, Perella and Orelowski have been playing together for years – Lutz and Perella went to high school together – but up until last year, Levee Drivers had yet to find a long-term bassist. Lutz says he knew Plotnick as being a regular at the shows that they played.

“One night he came to one of our shows and we were all hanging out, drinking and he was talking about wanting to get back into music and if we knew any bands,” Lutz said, “and I’m here looking for a permanent bass player, so it kind of fell into place.”

Levee Drivers has a soulful, almost bluesy sound, but with an edge. A quick Google search of the band’s name will turn up references to musicians like Johnny Cash and Bryan Adams.

“I like to do very simplified and very straight-to-thepoint songs,” Lutz said.

Americana is not a genre one might associate with Philadelphia, but Lutz admits to

LEVEE PAGE 14

usic issue | singer-songwriter

Lohse’s sound comes naturally Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gretchen Lohse is currently working on her second solo album.

KERRI ANN RAIMO The Temple News When listening to Gretchen Lohse’s light and delicate vocals, it’s hard to imagine the singer-songwriter ever screaming on stage.

Blame it on her love for collaborating.

“I’ve been just trying to keep it pretty simple…I love playing with a ton of people,” Lohse said. “At one point, Yellow Humphrey had eight or nine people on stage, which was really fun. But, sound-wise, I felt like I couldn’t ever hear myself singing or my guitar, or my voice would get kind of lost. It was hard for me to sing well, I think. I always

A&E DESK 215-204-7416

felt like I was kind of screaming.”

The folksy singer-songwriter made a name for herself as the lead vocalist for psychedelic folk rock group Yellow Humphrey. Lohse’s roommate, Rick Flom of National Eye as well as The Silver Ages – and also a member of Yellow Humphrey – said Lohse’s lyrics have become fantastic over the past few years, drawing more and more on folktales and fairytales.

Flom recorded Lohse’s first solo album, “Primal Rumble,” which was released this past December. Lohse is now working on an upcoming album.

As opposed to “Featherweights,” Yellow Humphrey’s album that includes a variety of elements from electric guitar to trumpets, released in April 2011, Lohse’s “Primal Rumble” is stripped down and softer.

However, Lohse said there are still many people who played on the album.

This includes Lohse’s longtime friend, Thomas Hughes of The

LOHSE PAGE 12

ARTSandENTERTAINMENT@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

DARRAGH DANDURAND FRIEDMAN TTN

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

The

usic issue | punk

Duo continues despite injury Bernard volunteers and hands the cop Longer Afraid to Die, came to reality from his information. The cop returns, looks an inside joke.

Bernard dead in the eye and says that his While booking a last-minute house license is suspended as well. show in Willimantic, Conn., TWIABP’s The two said the officer lets the mohometown, Bernard thought it’d be comiJARED WHALEN ment of disbelief linger before announcing cal to be a parody band for the day.

The Temple News that he was joking. The true moment of Austin Jefferson, a contributing guisurprise came, however, when the officer tarist for the band, made a T-shirt design Chris Baglivo of The Weaks is still handed them cross-laden pamphlets and with the spinoff name and screen-printed playing shows with his mouth wired shut said the reason he pulled them over was to shirts for the show. after suffering from a bike accident. ask, “Have y’all been saved?”

The shirts sold out.

Now that’s punk.

“After half a second’s careful delib“The show was a success,” Bernard “I was riding my bike to work, took a eration we all grab the pamphlets and say said. “I liked Austin's design so much I turn too fast, slid on a worn-out manhole ‘Thank you,’” Baglivo said. “He lets us wanted it to be more than just a limited run lid and flipped my bike,” Baglivo said in drive off and we don’t look back.” fake band T-shirt. It was right around the an email. “I javelined Now, the group is back home in Philly time we were finishing up face-first into the conwith plans of putting the pamphlets aside the EP, so we figured, why crete and broke my jaw in and tracking and mixing its latest LP. not?” two places and broke my Progressing and summer weather are Band members have MAY 27 nose.” in the band’s sights for this summer. experienced more jokes GOLDEN TEA HOUSE While the Philly punk “Hopefully I go swimming a lot,” Beron tour than the ones they $5-$7, TIME TBA rock band had to initially nard said. “I want to spend time hanging give out, however.

ALL AGES back out of a few shows, out on the Jersey Shore, but I just got a sec“Our drummer Mikey things quickly picked up. Despite his inond job and I should probably pay my bills is driving and he gets pulled over,” Baglivo juries, Baglivo still set out for a Northeast on time more often.” said. “While we’re waiting for the cop, tour this week.

“Ideally we’ll always be touring or reMikey turns to us and says, ‘Guys, I totally However, the injury did push back the cording,” Baglivo said. forgot, my license is suspended.’ So we all band’s timeline for the release of its upexchange appropriate ‘Oh sh--, we’re f----coming LP, but members said they’re not Jared Whalen can be reached at ’ glances and the cop walks up.” too concerned. jared.whalen@temple.edu.

Instead of busting them, however, the “Fortunately we were ahead of schedcop tells them to swap seats with another ule anyway,” Baglivo said. driver.

This isn’t the first time the group has had to get accustomed to change. Both Baglivo and Evan Bernard, the other face of The Weaks, studied in Drexel University’s music industry program.

What started as a recording project for content-overloaded musicians has now evolved into a fully operating band. The Weaks is a pop/rock duo made up of members of the former band Dangerous Ponies.

Taking backlogged songs rejected by Dangerous Ponies, Bernard and Baglivo began practicing and recording in early 2012. Various Philadelphia musicians have since collaborated with the band.

The friends’ music draws on the influences of bands including Guided by Voices and The New Pornographers.

Earlier this year, the band released an EP through Lame-O-Records called “The World Is a Terrible Place and I Hate Myself and I Want to Die.” The album title, which is parody of the punk band The Punk band The Weaks practice for upcoming shows. Right now, the group says its World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No main focus is to finish recording its latest LP. | KRISTEN VANLEER TTN

The Weaks retell stories of fake band names, broken jaws and missionary cops.

WHEN NEXT?

The

usic issue | reggae

Band aims to make Philly popular for reggae Philly Reggae Band continues to develop after its first-year anniversary.

CHELSEA FINN The Temple News Search “Philly” and “reggae” in Google and Jonifin Marvin Benjamin is one of the first hits.

And that’s exactly what he wanted.

Benjamin, who was born in Jamaica, said he has always had a close interaction with reggae music, a staple in Jamaican culture. Despite his move to Philadelphia at 4 years old, Benjamin said he wholeheartedly considers himself both a Jamaican and a Philadelphian.

Benjamin said he noticed there was no platform for reggae music in Philadelphia, so he created the Philly Reggae Band last year to remedy the situation. Having experience with music drew him to want to create his own platform.

“I’ve always worked with music. It hasn’t always been in reggae, “ Benjamin said. “I

There are no permanent wanted to create a consistent members in the Philly Regsource of reggae in Philadelgae Band. However, there are phia because it’s needed. A lot a few members who appear of Jamaicans here are workmore frequently than others, ing-class and might not think and there is a list of people about entertainment so much who have said they are comand thinking about their famimitted to the group and could lies.” stand in when a musician is The Philly Reggae Band needed. plays as a cover band at the “Bands fall apart bemoment, but it always adds cause you get a touch of its sidetracked, or own flair to the other people music. Hopeget sidetracked fully, BenjaAPRIL 26 with other min said, the FLYING CARPET things, so I set band will be CAFE & BAR up the structure ready to start $7, 5:30 P.M. so it feels safe,” its own mateALL AGES Benjamin said. rial in the near But Benjamin said he’s future. just excited about bringing five Philadelphia DJ Supa reggae musicians together in Tang works as the band’s resiPhiladelphia, wanting to show dential DJ, as well as a radio the city that there is more to host and producer, adding a reggae music than Bob Marley. new twist of sound to reggae Benjamin said that when music. he created the name of his “[Benjamin] wants to do band, he received backlash more experimental things and from people who questioned that’s where I come on,” Tang its legitimacy. said. “‘The Beat Goes On” – “I want people to see he did a reggae version of that Philly and reggae together… song and people loved it. I It’s really just creating vismean, I’m a female reggae DJ ibility, creating strategies, so so people come over and are surprised and will ask me or people like the name now, them about that.” [but] some people were like,

WHEN NEXT?

‘Why are they going to name it that? [Are] they going to be the [city’s] official reggae band?’ We are trying to be the official reggae band,” Benjamin said. “I want to be a staple here, the front-runner of a reggae band. I want them to get more festivals and book them gigs in New York as well, but I want them to be a staple here in Philly.”

“Their name is genius,” Tang said.

Since it is still a cover band, there have been no albums released or record deals yet, but Benjamin is hoping to get the opportunity to represent the city’s growing reggae community. He said he is also hoping to work more on stage presence now that the band’s first-year anniversary is coming up.

Aside from the legitimacy of the band name, what’s most important is the legitimacy of the music, Benjamin said. He wants to make listeners feel like they’re on an island.

“Like they are actually in Jamaica,” Benjamin said.

Chelsea Finn can be reached at chelsea.finn@temple.edu.

The Philly Reggae Band doesn’t have formal members, but instead rotates based upon interest, something founder Jonifin Marvin Benjamin said he does to keep “structure so it feels safe.” | COURTESY PHILLY REGGAE BAND

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE 12

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Continued from page 9

WEATHERVANE ness partner Peter English could see the makeup of the music industry shifting. As people began buying music less and less, a new approach was necessary to keep Weathervane Music sustainable. When the duo decided sponsorship was their most viable option, they deemed video the best way to draw sponsors in.

And it did – Bruce Warren, assistant general manager for programming at WXPN, took notice of the pilot episodes, and the station sponsored “Shaking Through” for two and a half years before the project decided to go off on its own.

Currently, there are more than 40 “Shaking Through” videos online.

McTear said one of the most important parts of the “Shaking Through” operation is its membership. Officially launched on Jan. 1 of last year, the membership gives users early access to episodes and downloads of unmixed tracks, giving them the opportunity to create their own mixes of songs featured on the series. “[Offering membership] was giving individuals out in the world a way to hook in to the activity,” said McTear, who spoke about the topic at TEDxPhilly this year. “The viewer becomes the creator, because they get to remake the song.

Those remixes are sometimes way more creative that the original mixes we make.”

The membership community seems to agree with McTear. According to the project’s annual report, the Gearslutz.com threads where users post remixes were viewed 233,000 times in 2013. There were also over 2,300 forum replies and more than 600 remixes submitted. Users can access files from old episodes and download them as many times as they want.

“It’s not just a nice idea,” McTear said. “It’s a community of people that f------ go bananas over this s---.”

McTear said the upcoming season of “Shaking Through” focuses on female artists.

Sharon van Etton, who was featured on the first official episode of “Shaking Through,” curated and coproduced the first episode featuring the band Torres, which is supported by members of The War on Drugs and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Other artists to be featured are The TomToms, Cassandra Jenkins and Cayetana.

An episode will debut every two weeks.

McTear said one of the biggest challenges of running “Shaking Through” is getting others to recognize the difference between his project and other live music series like La Blogotheque and Daytrotter.

“That is literally a two or three-hour effort on the part of the band,” McTear said. “They show up, do all of this stuff and then they leave.

This is two full days. They can’t just do it earlier in the day when they are playing at the Electric Factory later that night.”

Jenelle Janci can be reached at jenelle.janci@temple.edu or on Twitter @jenelley.

Campo-Formio, a punk band from Puerto Rico, plays a basement show on April 12 at Nachohouse in West Philly. | ABI REIMOLD TTN

Singer-songwriter finds success in keeping it simple LOHSE PAGE 9

Spinto Band, who performs keyboard and piano accompaniment for Lohse’s live shows. The duo recently performed at the Underground Arts’ “Communion” event on April 3.

Hughes is a facet of the ever-increasing network of friends and family who have worked with Lohse as a musician.

“I’m just really lucky to know so many people that are willing to play with me,” Lohse said. “I also tend to end up on a lot of other people’s albums.”

And Lohse is typically willing to give the reins to the people she collaborates with.

“I don’t want to direct too much,” Lohse said.

This is the case for several of her music videos, in which she let friend and video artist Mike Spano manifest her songs in unconventional ways.

For “Cherry Tree,” a track from “Featherweights” laced with nostalgia, the music video is a compilation of Lohse’s own family videos.

“My parents took tons and tons of home videos,” Lohse said. “[Spano] offered to do it, and then I showed up with, like, 10 VHS tapes, and he was just like, ‘Oh my God.’” Spano ended up asking if he could create a music video out of some of the clips.

“That was all his idea,” Lohse said. “My mom saw it and she said

that it was really incredible how he managed to basically paint this really accurate picture of my childhood.”

Considering Lohse was raised by two musicians who met one night while playing music at Philadelphia’s Irish Center, it seems inevitable that

WHEN NEXT? JUNE 1 DOUBLE DECKER BUS TRAVELING PHILLY

she’s grown to become a multi-instrumentalist.

Lohse knows how to play the violin, viola and guitar. While in high school, Lohse would travel from Lansdale, Pa., to Philadelphia for violin lessons.

She also dabbles in various other instruments like piano and mandolin, and she’s working on a song on banjo.

“I play not very well on a lot of other instruments that I just kind of record anyway,” Lohse said.

It’s Lohse’s makeshift mannerisms that make her stand out, and that make her fun – or sometimes challenging – to perform with.

“I’m really bad at song structure,” Lohse said. “I’ve gotten yelled at by people who play with me sometimes because they’re like, ‘You go to this chord twice the first time, then you go three times, or, I have one song that doesn’t have any repeating parts at all.

To me it makes sense because that’s how I wrote it and it just appears that way to me.”

But Hughes said things like that are Lohse’s “quirks.”

“Roy Orbison wrote like that, too,” Hughes said to Lohse about her song structure.

“Then I’m in good company,” Lohse replied, smiling.

Kerri Ann Raimo can be reached at kerriann.raimo@temple.edu.

Singer-songwriter Gretchen Lohse was formerly the lead singer of folk rock group Yellow Humphrey. She has since gone solo and is currently working on her second album. | DARRAGH DANDURAND FRIEDMAN TTN

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

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“HEAR ALL ABOUT IT” Watch Hungry Ghost perform “Swaggin’ Ball Z” in The Temple News office as part of our “Hear All About It Series” at temple-news.com/multimedia.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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THIS Y EAR’S STAFF PICKS

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“BRAN D NEW” BY PHARRELL WILLIAMS FEAT. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE - JOEY CRANNEY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 2.) “PINK SLIPS” BY OKKERVIL RIVER – JENELLE JANCI, MANAGING EDITOR 3.) “SEVERED CROSSED FINGERS” BY ST. VINCENT – CHEY ENNE S HAFFER, CHIEF COPY EDITOR 4.) “SLEEPING WITH A FRIEN D” BY NEON TREES JOHN MORITZ, NEWS EDITOR 5.) “YOU’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH” BY BLOOD ORANGE – JERRY IANNELLI, OPINION EDITOR 6.) “WATER FOUNTAIN” BY TUNE-YARDS -PATRICIA MADEJ, A&E EDITOR 7.) “ THAT GIRL” BY JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – ERIN EDINGER-TUROFF, LIVING EDITOR 8.) “LET IT GO” BY IDINA MENZEL - AVERY MAEHRER, SPORTS EDITOR 9.)

“OXYGAL” BY SPEEDY ORTIZ - ABI REIMOLD, PHOTO EDITOR 10.) “ACTRESS” BY TOWERS – CHRISTOPHER MONTGOMERY, WEB EDITOR 11.) “ THISKIDSNOTALRIGHT” BY AWOLNATION - ADDY PETERSON, DESIGN EDITOR 12.) “ THE DRAW” BY BASTILLE – ALEXAN DRA SNELL, MULTIMEDIA EDITOR 13.) “ROYALS” BY LORDE – DUSTIN WINGATE, MULTIMEDIA EDITOR 14.) “MURDER” BY JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – MARCUS MCCARTHY, ASST. NEWS EDITOR 15.) “ THE WOLVES & THE RAVENS” BY ROUGE VALLEY – SAM TIGHE, ASST. A&E EDITOR 16.) “ TESSELATE” BY ELLIE GOULDING – JESSICA SMITH, ASST. LIVING EDITOR 17.) “NOSETALGIA” BY PUS HA T FEAT. KEN DRICK LAMAR – EVAN CROSS, ASST. SPORTS EDITOR 18.) “3005” BY CHILDIS H GAMBINO -PATRICK MCCARTHY, ASST. WEB EDITOR 19.) “R U MINE” BY ARCTIC MONKEYS – AN DREW THAY ER, ASST. PHOTO EDITOR

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The

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

usic issue | classic rock

Combining classic rock covers, food This rock band is made up of local chefs.

ALBERT HONG The Temple News Big in Munich isn’t really big in Munich at all. In fact, the group has got quite the following in Philadelphia instead.

However, this ‘70s and ‘80s rock cover band made up of people who work in local food businesses is getting ready for its last show for the time being during the upcoming Philly Beer Week.

Being an industry band, chefs Jeremy Nolen of Brauhaus Schmitz and Wursthaus Schmitz and Ben Puchowitz of Cheu Noodle Bar and Matyson all play guitar. Gregg Gordon, server at Johnny Brenda’s and North Third, is the vocalist and Guy Juravich, manager and server at Brauhaus, is on drums.

Nolen said the idea for creating a band came to him during last year’s Philly Beer Week when Brauhaus needed to come up with events to entertain attendees.

Nolen’s original plan was to create a band made up of all chefs, but said he knew they had to make an exception for Gordon and Juravich to join the rest of the group.

Big in Munich made its debut with classic rock hits, which turned out to be a success with a crowd of at least 75 people packed into the back room of Brauhaus. For a band that was intentionally created for a small event, it has gone on to play ‘80s rock and metal during Oktoberfest and Karne-

val, and has also been invited of playing professionally on to Philadelphia magazine’s the road, and Juravich is a proPhilly Cooks event. fessional studio drummer.

“It all started as, not a While Big in Munich has joke, but just a one time thing no plans to write music or hit it and it turned into where we’re big, members said they can ungetting interviews for Philaderstand the reasons as to why delphia magazine and we’re the music and food businesses playing for [its] party,” Nolen can relate to each other. said. “It was a lot of fun and it “[Cooking] is like a paswas just something to get us to sion,” Nolen said. “There’s a play again.” lot more passion involved and The ability to get back on a lot more creativity, which I stage in front of a microphone think definitely translates into and sing again was one of Gorthe music side of it.” don’s key benefits for becom“Playing in a band is just a ing involved with this band, he kind of release,” Gordon said. said.

“Play out, have a good time Gordon attended the Uniand not worry about anything versity of the Arts to get his else that night. We try to make bachelor of fine arts in musical the show fun and that goes theater. Eventually, he landed hand-in-hand with even the his first serious food you’re gig singing for creating or a band called the service, Dog and Pony. when you’re JUNE 3 After a year, BRAUHAUS SCHMITZ trying to though, he and COST AND TIME TBA give an exthe bass player perience to 21+ were let go and someone Gordon moved to California while they’re there.” for five years.

With fists in the air and Once he came back to heads banging, complete with Philadelphia, Nolen reached wigs and leather pants, the exout to him for the project and perience Big in Munich gives now, Gordon feels more comis far from a typical restaurant fortable singing again. experience.

“Big in Munich has been Due to everyone’s heca huge jump-off in rebuildtic schedules in the upcoming ing my confidence and findmonths, like Nolen opening ing what my voice is again,” his new restaurant, Whetstone, Gordon said. “When we get as well as Puchowitz’s newest together and have fun, it’s rerestaurant, the band is taking ally special and it’s a really an extended hiatus. good time.”

“It’s awesome working Although the combination with a bunch of restaurant guys of the food and music scenes where we all know what’s gomay seem unconventional, ing on and how our days are many chefs, servers and bargoing and we can all relate, so tenders in the local food busiit’s a lot of fun,” Gordon said. ness have recorded albums and Albert Hong can be reached at gone on tour. albert.hong@temple.edu.

Nolen himself has years

WHEN NEXT?

Levee Drivers showcase best of blues rock, Americana LEVEE PAGE 9 seeing a growing trend of this es like that to get a certain feel southern genre in the Northand to take a little break from east. the East Coast for a little bit.”

“Something’s clicking Despite its award recogwith people, to kind of just go nition, which Lutz said still backward and have an acoustic baffles him, there’s a lot that guitar,” Lutz said. “I definitely the band has to accomplish. It noticed a lot more bands commoved past the smaller goals, ing out with a more, and I don’t he said, like being played on want to say country because the radio, but there’s still more country can be an ugly word to do. sometimes, but it’s definitely a “There’re definitely steps nice little theme going on.” that we have that we crossed The band will not be withoff and many steps that we out a full-length album for haven’t crossed off,” Lutz long – in fact, members said said. “Right now we’re mainly they hope to concentrating release an alon the album, bum toward that’s the big MAY 3 the end of the one to cross year.

They UNDERGROUND ARTS off.” $10, 8 P.M. have most of Still, put21+ the musical ting aside evfoundations erything Lutz done, Lutz said, but they still hopes to accomplish with the have to shop around a threeband, he still wants people to song EP. come out and enjoy its live But the album will have to shows – he wants to create wait a little longer – on April a memorable experience for 12, Levee Drivers kicked off fans. a nine-day tour at World Café “We’re a band that works Live. This mini-tour takes the very hard; we put a lot into our band just below the Masonlive shows,” Lutz said. “One Dixon Line to four states, inof the most important things cluding the center of the counyou can do is try and make evtry music world: Tennessee. ery live show different than the “This tour is the first tour last.” where we’re actually going Samantha Tighe to be co-touring, which is gocan be reached at ing to be pretty fun, with our samantha.tighe@temple.edu and on friends the Grand Nationals,” Twitter @SamTighe.

Lutz said. “We usually try to hit Knoxville, Nashville, plac-

WHEN NEXT?

Local Americana rock band Levee Drivers at World Cafe Live. The trio released its first album, “Speakin’ Bourbon Coated Blues” in November. The band recently kicked off a nine-day tour on April 12.| DARRAGH DANDURAND FRIEDMAN TTN

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE 16

The

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

OUT & ABOUT

usic issue | rap

Rapper learns hardships of making a name Knox Hill, a rapper with dual ties to D.C. and Philly, promotes his new album here and abroad.

TYLER HORST The Temple News Knox Hill is so busy with his career that he barely has time to fit it all in. Calling all the way from Manchester, England, he fought off jetlag to squeeze in an interview between appearances on English radio and nightly shows.

Hill, a rapper from “the DMV” – the area encompassing Washington, Maryland and Virginia – is something of a globetrotter. With family in Eng-

land, plus ties to both the Philadelphia and Washington areas, he said his ultimate endgame is to make his name internationally known. The next step in that process is the two-and-a-half week tour of the UK he's embarking on to promote his most recent album, “Redemption.”

“One of my biggest fan bases comes from [the UK],” Hill said. “I like to look at analytics for Facebook and YouTube and see where my fans are coming from, and I've got a lot over here.”

Though he said he's had a creative mind for as long as he can remember, in another life Hill might have been a businessman.

Hill said he’s a self-promoter, looking for every opportunity to expand his fan base, sometimes nab-

Knox Hill is currently working on promoting his latest endeavor, “Redemption” released this past January. | COURTESY KNOX HILL

Continued from page 1

DAUD

into the musician he is today.

“I think this city is very critical of its natives, and I think that helped to shape me,” El-Bakara said.

“You want to be at a certain level before you present yourself to the audience. That’s how it was for me.”

After leaving Temple, El-Bakara spent his time playing gigs, as well as practicing and touring with different bands like The Stylistics.

Dizzy Gillespie, Arthur “Art” Blakey and Donald Byrd are a few of the names El-Bakara rattled off as part of his repertoire.

“Favorite moments, there’s too many,” El-Bakara said. “I got a chance to do a gig with Donald Byrd. That was very, very joyous. He shared a lot with me in a little bit of time. You know, showing me different techniques and what to play over certain chord progression and things of that manner.

Showing me how to construct musical sequences using numbers.”

As a trumpeter for 25 years, El-Bakara said getting the chance to experience mentorship with talented musicians outside of school was especially helpful and memorable for him.

“They had a jazz series over at the Hershey Hotel, I think it’s called the Double Tree now, they had a jazz series they were running,” El-Bakara said.

“One Sunday they were featuring Art Farmer and I just asked to sit in. He was such a classy, classy, man. He was so nice. He had this video called ‘Live at the Smithsonian’ and I would watch that every single day. One summer I would just watch it and play along with the video every day, trying to figure out how he was improvising over these songs and sounding so good. I just couldn’t play along. It wasn’t quite right. When I had the opportunity to meet him and play with him, that was a good feeling. I was definitely ecstatic.”

bing niche audiences other rappers wouldn't think to look for.

In the past few months, Hill has even begun a collaboration with a community of “League of Legends” gamers.

“You have thousands of people that are on livestreams watching these games. They have commentators, interviews, everything behind it,” Hill said.

With the way ESports have expanded to a professional level, Hill said he saw no reason not to use them as a form of cooperative promotion the same way other artists have used more traditional sports leagues. As a video game fan, he said he’s not ashamed to put his name alongside a fantasy strategy game, either.

Hill has made theme songs for two “League of Legends” teams, creating what he calls a “win-win” promotional situation for both his music and for the teams.

Even with fans in communities around the world, it’s hard for Hill to pinpoint a place he would call home.

“I'm kind of a vagabond,” Hill said with a laugh.

Never letting himself get too comfortable in one place, Hill keeps moving in order to keep his career from stagnating. His run in the UK is all about promoting “Redemption,” the 10-track album he released in January. “'Redemption' is meant in the literal sense of the word,” Hill said about the release. “This album came into creation during one of the more down times in my life.”

“Redemption” is about personal struggle and inviting listeners into the mind of the artist to find pieces of their

El-Bakara said his time as a jazz musician in Philadelphia has been “humbling” as he finds himself out of work because of the changing jazz scene in the city fairly often.

“There aren’t a lot of venues that cater to jazz anymore,” El-Bakara said. “Once upon a time, there were a lot more, now there are very, very, very few.

So the experience is humbling and I’ve learned a lot.”

This changing jazz scene, he added, can mainly be attributed to this lack of space that caters to jazz music.

“You don’t have the mentorship anymore like we once had at the highest level,” El-Bakara said.

“It’s not as much of that anymore because of the lack of venues. You’re not going to get certain wisdom from the elder stage men of music. A majority of your learning is going to come from college, as opposed to before where it was learned from a conservatory and then experience through venues and things like that.”

As a musician today, El-Bakara said he still believes that getting experience on stage is one of the most valuable elements to being a successful and knowledgeable artist.

“If you don’t go out and seek those jazz greats or people with a great deal of experience, if you don’t seek their instruction, you could be shortchanging yourself,” El-Bakara said.

Now, as a 37-year-old freshman, professors who he played shows with in the past are teaching ElBakara in the classroom.

“I’ve worked with pretty much a majority of them,” El-Bakara said. “I played with them. So it’s kind of strange. I’ve done some gigs with some of the professors. It’s very different, definitely weird.

But it hasn’t affected our dynamic so far.”

Being back at school has posed certain challenges for him, however he said he’s enjoying being back at Temple.

“I thought I just needed to go back to school so I could have more opportunity to play and ultimately

own story in the lyrics. Hill said one of the primary themes in his songs is motivation. No matter what a listener might be doing when listening to a track off of “Redemption,” Hill said he hopes the song will inspire them to do it better.

The message is not only for the audience, but also for Hill himself.

“I still consider myself a rookie at everything I do,” he said.

Less than three years into his career as a rapper, Hill said he understands how crucial it is to do more work beyond booking shows and recording. He sees the current state of the genre as being over-saturated with rappers. If everyone thinks they can do it, artists like Hill need a way to distinguish themselves.

“You need a brand that stands out and people can relate to. You need to be willing to put in the hard work,” he said.

That's why, when he gets back from his brief international tour, Hill plans to shoot a few more music videos and start recording new music.

He's growing the fan base he has abroad, but doesn't plan on ignoring the one has at home.

“The goal is to get to the point where Knox Hill is a household name,” Hill said. “Anything less than that is not good enough for me.”

Tyler Horst can be reached at tmhorst@temple.edu.

SPRING INTO FOOD Manayunk held its StrEAT Food Festival this past Saturday which is just the first food-themed celebration within the neighborhood this season. The Spring Manayunk Restaurant Week kicked off this past Sunday and will run through Friday, April 25.

Strawberries will be a key ingredient throughout the local 22 restaurants’ three-course menus. Such restaurants include Taqueria Feliz and Manayunk Brewing Company. Attendees can expect strawberry salads and strawberry desserts. The pricing for these menus is set at $15, $25 and $35.

–Albert Hong

PHILLY DOES PASSOVER

Restaurants around the area will be celebrating the Jewish holiday with their take on traditional foods for Philly’s Passover Festival, which will last from now until April 22. The Metropolitan Bakery, with two locations at Rittenhouse and University City, will feature its handmade olive and sundried tomato matzo for $3 a sheet throughout the week.

Cantina Feliz will hold its fourth annual, four-course Mexican Passover Tasting menu. Courses will include King Salmon Tostadas, matzo ball soup and braised short rib tacos. The dinner is $27.

–Albert Hong

ESP SHOWCASES POP-UP

From now until April 22, there will be a temporary pop-up museum at Eastern State Penitentiary. The museum will offer a look at over 100 artifacts from its rarely seen collection.

With a theme the attraction calls “Sin and Salvation,” the temporary museum will showcase six cases of artifacts ranging from handcuffs and keys to shanks.

The items were found in the debris from the site and donated from past officers and inmates when the penitentiary was in operation. The museum is included in regular admission to the penitentiary.

–Chelsea Finn

RECORD STORE DAY

Daud El-Bakara plays the trumpet. He is going back to school to earn his bachelor’s degree.| DARRAGH DANDURAND FRIEDMAN TTN

have more earning potential to make money,” ElBakara said. “Plus, I’m very interested in science. I just kind of acquired that interest maybe about four years ago. I’m glad I came back to school. I like it the second time around.”

Emily Rolen can be reached at emily.rolen@temple.edu.

TRENDING IN PHILLY

What people DON’T BLOCK THE BIKES @NewsworksWHYY tweeted on April 11 that between are talking January and March, almost 350 tickets were given out to about in vehicles parked in bike lanes, according to data from the PPA and the Philadelphia Police Department. Though Philly – from news the numbers are average, the PPA has started a campaign that allows people to report vehicles blocking bike and store lanes through Twitter. openings, to music events and restaurant openFOOD TRUST BRINGS BACK NIGHT MARKET ing. For breaking news and daily @NorthwestPhilly tweeted on April 11 that the Food updates, follow The Temple News Trust is bringing back the Night Market to West Oak on Twitter @TheTempleNews.

Lane on June 19. The food festival, which started last year, highlights restaurants and food trucks throughout the city and has live music.

Celebrate “Record Store Day” on Saturday at Vinyl Revival Records in Lansdowne, Pa. Vinyl Revival will offer limited edition and first release records from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Stop in at 11 a.m. for a book signing with James Rosin, author of “Philly Pop, Rock, Rhythm & Blues.” At 7:30 p.m. headliner psychedelic/indie group DRGN King will perform. Other performers include Aaron Hug, Nina Marie, Ghost Gum, Big Tusk, Tom Curtis, Jr., The One2s, Family Vacation and Wild Rompit.

Tickets are $8 for students.

–Kerri Ann Raimo

LGBTQ FILM FEST POSTPONED

@phillymag tweeted on April 12 that the LGBTQ film festival, QFest, has been postponed indefinitely. QFest was originally scheduled to begin in July. The creators announced, however, that two smaller QFests will be held at the Warehouse Cinema in Northern Liberties, when it opens in the fall.

MILEY CYRUS CONCERT RESCHEDULED @Phillydotcom tweeted on April 13 that the Miley Cyrus concert slated to take place on April 22 at the Wells Fargo Center has been rescheduled to April 21. The Bangerz Tour stop was moved to allow the Flyers to play the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the NHL playoffs.

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

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TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Networking on ‘gossip’ site AFRICA PAGE 7 ery domain imaginable.

“The first week, I spent about $200 or $300 on domains and the web developer where you actually build the site,” Onukwuru said.

“When the site first came out, it was absolute garbage,” he added. “It was so ugly. From there, we started to tweak and kept moving along.”

Onukwuru said the site is updated weekly, but events typically only take place during fall and spring semesters.

In order to keep people visiting year-round, Onukwuru and fellow site-managers decided to add more content with a fashion blogger and comedy specials.

“You’re not going to stop by every day and see something new,” Onukwuru said. “But I

want people to come by once and see an event. Then maybe they check back next week for a new music video or fashion tips.”

Junior information science and technology major Adefolarin Adeleke runs the music portion of the site, posting information about new African artists and their work.

Adeleke said it’s easy to recruit schools to provide content because there is virtually no downside.

“The key word is free,” Adeleke said. “We just sent out emails to schools and told them we promote and advertise their events for free. Who wouldn’t want to go for that?”

Africans Can Gossip received attention when Onuk-

Chima Onukwuru’s website promotes the events of African student organizations on various university campuses. The site has expanded from Temple. | JESSICA SMITH TTN ADVERTISEMENT

wuru was honored at the Second Annual SEAL Award Gala on April 4. The event awarded leaders who positively represent the African community.

Though Onukwuru was the only Africans Can Gossip contributor named, he said the honor belonged to all eight of the site contributors.

“It wasn’t a solo effort,” Onukwuru said. “Even though I came up with the idea, I needed people to expand on it. My friends like [Adeleke] came into play and helped me take it to the next level. I told them we all had to go up as a group to get the award.”

One of the speakers at the event was Farai Gundan, a cofounder and CEO of mobile and online advertising network FaraiMedia LLC, and a contributor to Forbes magazine.

“We were recognized in front of somebody who spends time with the richest women in the world,” Onukwuru said.

“She started off as a blogger. It was so inspiring to meet people like her doing big things in the African community. It motivates you.”

Onukwuru and Adeleke said they are by no means finished with the site. They said they plan to expand after graduation and bring more people on board.

“You know, you always have your doubters,” Onukwuru said. “We had people saying, ‘Oh, it’s not going to work. Oh, you can’t do this.’ But now we have people asking to contribute all the time. It’s crazy what happens when you work hard and stay humble. We just want to get bigger.”

“We’re not done,” Adeleke said. “Stay tuned.”

Jessica Smith can be reached at jessicasmith@temple.edu

Joyce Rasing was awarded a scholarship given to students who have lost one or more parents. She said it will allow her to finish her degree. | ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY TTN

For Rasing, a chance to complete her degree RASING PAGE 7 to be confident about paying hours a week, and I’m taking 12 her tuition, but she said it does credits this semester.” not take from her having to supDespite the obstacles she port herself. She works several has faced, Rasing said she jobs to pay for her day-to-day wishes to continue the legacy of expenses, at Barnes & Noble Goldsmith once she graduates on the University of Pennsyl- in Fall 2015. The scholarship vania’s campus and serving as a requires that the recipient continues efforts verbal coach and to give back to site director at a the community nonprofit orgapost-graduanization that oftion.

Rasing fers SAT prep to plans to go to low-income high graduate school school students. and work in the She was civil and public also a part of service fields, Temple’s ROTC primarily as an program and the urban developTemple Univerer in the intersity Philippine est of the comAmerican CounJoyce Rasing / junior munity. cil.

R a s i n g ’s “That [is] the extent of my social life,” goals after graduation are also Rasing said. “I easily work 40 hinged on her intention to stay

“I love being

in Philadelphia.

It’s so real, and going to Temple makes you see the reality of the city.

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”

in Philadelphia. The King of Prussia, Pa., native said she believes that being in Philadelphia has helped her to decide her career path.

“I love being in Philadelphia,” she said. “It’s so real, and going to Temple makes you see the reality of the city.”

Rasing said she is grateful to CLA for the opportunities it offers students, adding that it has been nothing but a positive snowball effect on her college career.

Above all, Rasing said it is important to her to remain optimistic.

“It’s tough, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rasing said. “I either work hard or not hard at all.”

Alexis WrightWhitley can be reached at awrightwhitley@temple.edu.

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Are you the next Editor in Chief of The Temple News?

The Temple News, Temple University’s award-winning student newspaper, is looking for an editor-in-chief for the 2014-15 academic year. Candidates must be enrolled, matriculated Temple students who, if chosen as editor, will be registered for at least nine hours of undergraduate course work or five hours of graduate work during their entire term of office.

A good candidate should demonstrate strong leadership ability and proven managerial skills with prior media experience. A candidate’s experience in the business, editorial and design aspects of newspaper publishing will be a factor in the selection of the editor.

Contact Student Media Program Director John Di Carlo at john.dicarlo@temple.edu to obtain an application. Candidates should submit a completed copy of the proposal packet, two letters of recommendation, a current resume and a number of writing samples to the Office of Student Media in Room 304 of the Howard Gittis Student Center.

Candidates will be interviewed and selected by the Temple University Publications Board.

Applications are due Monday, April 21.

Are you the next Templar Editor?

Templar, Temple University’s award-winning yearbook, is looking for its editor for the 2014-15 academic year. Candidates must be enrolled, matriculated Temple students who, if chosen as editor, will be registered for at least nine hours of course work during their entire term of office.

A good candidate should demonstrate leadership ability and proven managerial skills, with prior media experience. A candidate’s experience in the business, editorial and design aspects of yearbook publishing will be a factor in the selection of the editor.

Candidates should submit a completed copy of a proposal packet, two letters of recommendation, a current resume and a number of layout, design and writing samples to John Di Carlo, Student Media Program Director, in Room 304 of the Howard Gittis Student Center. Please send an email to john.dicarlo@temple.edu to obtain a proposal packet.

Candidates will be interviewed and selected by the Temple University Publications Board.

Applications are due Monday, April 21.

LIVING

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Public transit is a worldwide issue

PAGE 19

hear all about it | hungry ghosts

Brazilians are all too familiar with problems surrounding public transportation.

I

n Philadelphia, students and members of the community complain about SEPTA because of its services and how some passengers don’t know how to behave in a public space.

Despite what Philadelphians may believe, their public transportation is an immense step up from some other countries, and Brazil is no exception.

In Brazil, there are many similarities to SEPTA. Even though S E P T A could have better and Monique Roos more modForeign ern vehicles Perspective and stations, it’s important to note that people should be more respectful to one another as well. If Philadelphia’s residents complain about the services, they should also do their best to make SEPTA a better social environment. Regardless, even on bad days for Philadelphia public transportation, it could be much worse.

I come from a small city called Campo Bom with a population of 60,074 – there are no subways or trains there, only buses with no air conditioning.

As one of the hottest cities in southern Brazil, we can have 104-degree temperatures in summer, yet public transportation isn’t a place to cool down.

When I entered a bus here in Philly and felt the air conditioner on, I was shocked.

During rush hour in a SEPTA subway, you have to stand up because it’s so crowded. In Brazil, overcrowding of public transportation in the big cities comparable to Philadelphia is such a problem that it causes serious issues like robbery and a recent outbreak of sexual harassment. The proposed soluttion is to separate women and men in designated subway cars.

The first solution that Brazil offers to solve the problem is to separate the women, rather than arrest criminals – and Americans ask me why I want to stay here so much.

It is common in SEPTA subway cars for people to listen to music loudly with no headphones, as if everyone should

listen to their horrible music.

This may be common in America, but in Brazil it is a chaotic routine. It is unacceptable, yet everyone accepts it.

Last year when people took to the streets in Brazil to protest, it was initially because of the increase in the public transportation fares. Now with the FIFA World Cup approaching, some huge investments are being made to improve the public transportation in the country. Porto Alegre even has an “Aeromóvel” now. People hope that it will remain after the World Cup, but there’s no way of knowing if that will be the case.

Also, since Brazil has been developing a stronger economy in recent years, many people that couldn’t afford a car or motorcycle before are now able to buy one. As a result, traffic has gotten much worse, even in small cities like mine. The roads cannot support the number of cars we have now, and the chaos from public transportation is also present for people driving their own cars. Spending hours in a traffic jam in São Paulo isn’t news anymore.

Maybe an hour of delay on the Schuylkill Expressway sounds like a traffic nightmare to Temple students driving home for a weekend. If they tried driving routinely in countries like Brazil, they’d be wishing for American highway traffic in spite of themselves.

America has significantly more roads for cars and, as a result, less traffic jams. Maybe the culture of driving is something that needs to change in general, as it spreads from developed nations like America to countries like Brazil, only to increase transportation issues.

The Facebook page “People of SEPTA” posts a number of unusual pictures and videos.

Some of them are just people wearing different kinds of clothes, others are people dancing, but some are of people using drugs and vomiting inside the subways and buses – that’s a reflection of society more so than SEPTA. As for public transportation responsibilities, in Philadelphia or Brazil, all we need is a dignified way to travel. That is not too much to ask.

Several independent musical artists form the group Hungry Ghosts. They have performed throughout Philadelphia and opened for artists like Dice Raw formerly of The Roots. On April 25, they will perform at a block party fundraiser.| CLAIRE SASKO TTN Continued from page 7

GHOSTS

pretty hard to be the best that we can. It raised the level of competition amongst everyone, really.”

Samir, whose rapper name is OHM, said the Hungry Ghosts have become something of an “urban legend” on Main Campus, even though many of the members are now alumni.

Members of the group will still attend “Freestyle Fridays” at the Bell Tower on Pollett Walk, which is where they first started rhyming together as underclassmen. Ivan Moukhin, a fifth-year senior international business and marketing major who goes

by Prophet Lethal Dose, said their increased success has been exciting.

“We’ve gotten from various people that when they came to visit Temple, they saw Freestyle Fridays, they recognized us, and it’s a little weird but we influenced their decision when they were trying to decide to come here,” Moukhin said. “So almost in honor of them we’ve got to go out and keep going harder.”

Members of the Hungry

Monique Roos can be reached at monique.roos@temple.edu.

Ghosts said while they primarily target their fan base on Main Campus, they’ve expanded their following from North Philadelphia to near Center City, and have worked with artists citywide. The group has opened for Dice Raw formerly of The Roots and members of Wu-Tang Clan in Philadelphia performances.

Between February 2013 and February 2014, they threw monthly concert parties at the M-Room at 15 W. Girard Ave. Peruso said their audiences, particularly their dedicated fans, expected a “festival atmosphere.”

Peruso said along with his own mixtape, many of the Ghost Ghang members have their own records to be released soon. In addition, the group as a whole is working with a group of Philadelphia-based producers called SciFi on an album, more details for which will be announced this fall. They also perform at events on request.

One upcoming event at which the Hungry Ghosts will perform is a block party fundraiser hosted by HootaThon and fraternity Alpha Kappa Lambda, proceeds from which will benefit Children’s Hospital of

Philadelphia.

“Anyone who deems your art necessary is going to approach you,” Samir said. “So like, I’ve been approached on campus, or out of state and stuff.”

Cody Griswold, an alumnus with a sculpture major and art history minor, DJs for the Hungry Ghosts, which Samir said facilitates the artists’ performances. Griswold, who performs as DJ Cody Griz, met a Philadelphia DJ at an event in Texas who knew of the Hungry Ghosts by reputation and told Griswold the group is “killing it right now.”

Griswold said he believes Main Campus has been the perfect atmosphere to cultivate a following for their rap group.

“Now people see us and go ‘Oh, you’re in Ghost Ghang,’ ‘Oh, don’t you know so-andso,’ so that’s that grassroots vibe that, you know, it’s building,” Griswold said. “It’s a burning ember in the middle of Temple right now that’s spreading across the city.”

Peruso said he thinks the variety of sound due to the different artists’ styles has been a strength to the Hungry Ghosts.

“Sometimes there’s a con-

sistent sound that you expect from a group, but with us, because it’s a group of solo artists, there’s a good mix various styles,” Peruso said. “It’s a really varied soundscape for people to get into.”

Moukhin said the Hungry Ghosts have used their assorted styles to target “every niche in hip-hop,” which has grown each of them as individual artists. Peruso said additional success for the members has come as an inevitable result of each of them acting as “unofficial ambassadors” for the others. Samir joked that the free publicity doesn’t come easily.

“If [a student does] join, we’re going to expect a monthly tribute to show your loyalty,” Samir said, laughing. “You’re going to have to sit through the initiation process in the valley of darkest thoughts and we’re going to beat you up one minute for every previous member of Ghost Ghang.”

Erin EdingerTuroff can be reached at erin.edinger-turoff@temple.edu or on Twitter @erinJustineET.

Geller rejects expectations of pop stars GELLER PAGE 1 “The music is something else,” Geller said. Eastern Europe, the American East Coast and “It isn’t really me. The music is something I am Canada. Geller said the places she likes to perdoing outside of my everyday self.” form at are not necessarily familiar to travelers, Geller teaches two Mosaic I classes on Tues- like Helsinki, Finland, which she called one of her days and Thursdays. She said she enjoys teaching favorite places. She said she appreciated the city’s and performing in different ways. music school that teaches traditional folk music.

“I’m never playing music and wishing I was Geller has studied at the University of Chigrading papers,” Geller said. “Music doesn’t pay cago, University of Virginia and George Washingwell, but the labor that I put into it is ton University. She studied in more selfish than with teaching.” interdisciplinary programs Geller said she encourages open that featured texts from varidiscussions and differing perspectives ous decades and themes, in her classroom in an effort to help which she said relates to her students evolve academically and perMosaic classes. sonally through the semester. Geller Geller admitted to besaid she finds more satisfaction in ing a tough grader on written teaching than performing because of work, but said she wants to the connections that she shares with her encourage critical thinking as students over the assigned texts. much as possible. Her class “I get to have this long-term interstudies texts from many time action with my students,” Geller said. periods and backgrounds, ty“They are able to funnel their own exing themes by geography, laperiences into these conversations that bor and power. we’re having about historical events “How I feel about a stuand social violence.” dent doesn’t have much to do As a musician, Geller has been with how they are doing in my touring the world since the early ‘90s, class,” Geller said. “LearnDorothy Geller/ professor ing is not directly related to trying to use her style to combat the glorification of singers and bands. the grade they receive, but in “That’s the problem with being a performer,” this period of education, unfortunately, [students] Geller said. “The narcissism, the one-sided affec- need the grade to motivate them.” tion – it is destructive.”

Geller said she would like to continue teachHer tours are scattered through Western and ing along with her musical career, adding that she

“I’m never

playing music and wishing I was grading papers. Music doesn’t pay well, but the labor that I put into it is more selfish than with teaching.

”

Dorothy Geller teaches intellectual heritage courses at Temple, separate from her musical career. She said the two occupations are both fulfilling. | ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY TTN doesn’t feel one career is more important than the other. She said she usually devotes summers and school breaks to her music and focuses on teaching during the academic year.

“I kind of need both,” Geller said. “They’re both forms of expression and forms of communi-

cation. They work together.”

Paige Gross can be reached at paige.gross1@temple.edu.

LIVING

PAGE 20

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

CLIPPINGS

AROUND CAMPUS COFFEE TRUCK EXPANDS Cloud Coffee, located on Norris Street across from the Tyler School of Art, has announced that it is expanding its business by adding another truck.

Owned by Tyler alumni Kristen Mills and Matthew Craig, Cloud opened in January 2013.

To celebrate their new addition, Mills and Craig are throwing a Cloud Fundraising Party on April 27 from 6-11 p.m. at Crane Arts, located at 1400 N. American St. The party will feature a jazz ensemble, rock band, and DJ for a cover fee of $10.

Any questions can be directed to cloudcoffeephilly.com/contact.

-Ariane Pepsin

WILD EDIBLES ON MAIN CAMPUS

Kaniz Pramanik interviews Professor Marybeth Acac last Thursday after taking her photo for “Humans of Temple University.” She will post the professor’s responses as the caption of her photo on the project’s Facebook page. | SKYLER BURKHART TTN

Documenting the faces of Temple Kaniz Pramanik created a Facebook page-style blog called “Humans of Temple University.”

DOMINIQUE JOHNSON The Temple News Spin-off blogs based on Brandon Stanton’s “Humans of New York” have become a trend among some amateur photographers, including junior biology major Kaniz Pramanik.

Pramanik created “Humans of Temple University,” which she said tells a variety of stories through pictures and short interviews as a way to showcase how diverse her peers are. Her efforts started out as way to showcase some of her own work.

Pramanik began taking pictures for Humans of Temple University in January of this year, but posted the photos later in February because of what she called her hectic schedule.

“Just within two weeks, I think I had around 200 followers,” Pramanik said. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’”

Pramanik said she has been interested in photography since high school when she took a black and white photography class. She said she loved being able to develop pictures in the school’s darkroom and manually manipulate the photos.

Not being able to afford the equipment to have her own darkroom, Pramanik decided she would explore the digital realm of photography. She bought a camera and began taking pictures, posting them to her Flickr page.

“I started taking pictures of people that I knew,” Pramanik said.

“I’m trying to spread it out and pick random people. Just picking people that really interest me. I’m trying to

get everybody in.”

Pramanik said there are many people around the university that interest her when she’s wandering around Main Campus with her camera, even a person who’s quiet and studying. She said her policy is to politely explain her purpose and ask permission to take their picture. She follows this with a series of short questions centered around the subject’s major, reason for attending Temple and any advice they have for fellow students.

So far, people have been receptive to the idea, Pramanik said, adding that no one on Main Campus has turned down her request to photograph them.

“I’m just trying to get out that you’re not alone,” Pramanik said.

“There’s this one guy who’s from Washington D.C., who’s featured on the page and his life is hard, being far from home and being in school. A lot of people connect to that.”

Pramanik said she was initially hesitant to start a page based solely on portrait-style photos because she wasn’t sure it would be unique enough for students to recognize and appreciate it. She credited a close friend with giving her a push to start the growing project, despite other aspirations.

“My main goal was to be a doctor and that’s still going on,” Pramanik said. “I’m trying to get into medical school and stuff. Photography is my hobby, not precisely a career.”

With her page at almost 350 likes, Pramanik said she finds the most challenging thing about running Humans of Temple University to be time management.

“I work two jobs and I go to school,” Pramanik said. “For a while, I had free time so I would go around and take some photos, but now it’s getting so hectic because finals are coming up. It’s just the time. I feel

Today from 10-11 a.m., Professor Charlene Briggs will lead an interactive seminar at the Temple Community Garden at Broad and Norris Streets. She will instruct attendees on how to identify edible plants that grow naturally in the city of Philadelphia, something Briggs said she thinks is a valuable skill most people are not aware of.

Whether a plant is a weed or considered a flower, Briggs will provide tactics to identify the purposes for which various plants can be used. Some are edible, while others have properties useful for day-today life, whether medicinal or for various household tasks.

The event is sponsored by Temple Community Garden and the Temple Office of Sustainability. The event is open to students and any members of the community at no cost. Briggs’ interactive presentation is part of TCG’s spring initiative to engage more of the student body in gardening efforts on and around Main Campus.

-Erin Edinger-Turoff

BOYER GOES SUSTAINABLE To contribute to the Temple Office of Sustainability’s initiative, Campus Sustainability, the Boyer College of Music and Dance will host a “Music Swap” event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today in the Presser side of the Tyler Atrium. Musicians will bring their lightly used sheet music to the event, which can be exchanged with any of the music brought by their peers. The event is part of Boyer’s attempt to promote the principles reduce, reuse and recycle, as advertised by the Temple Office of Sustainability.

By sharing the printed sheet music, Boyer hopes to reduce the amount of paper used by the studentmusicians at the university. Students, professors and staff members are all encouraged to bring their sheet music for the exchange.

In addition to sheet music, there will be books and recordings available for attendees to browse and take home at no cost. Those who attend are encouraged to make a donation at the fundraising tables Boyer will have present for the event. Anyone is free to attend.

-Erin Edinger-Turoff

ART HISTORIAN LECTURE

“Humans of Temple University” is intended to celebrate the diversity of students and members of the Temple community, its creator Kaniz Pramanik said. | SKYLER BURKHART TTN like that’s the challenge.”

Pramanik said she also hopes to find someone to keep the page updated and running when she graduates from Temple. When the time comes, she said, she’ll look for potential candidates who would be interested in maintaining the existing page.

“I mean, it’s awesome just to look at the page and be like, ‘Wow,

this is Temple, we’re so [diverse],’” Pramanik said. “We have a range of different [ethnic groups] and cultures. I hope to pass it on to someone who is as passionate as me and wants to get their photography out.”

Dominique Johnson can be reached dominique.johnson@temple.edu.

Tyler’s visual studies department and the Latin American students department have joined forces to bring art historian Carla Macchiavello to Temple.

The lecture will be held today beginning at 11 a.m., and will focus on the social and political issues in Colombia. It will also discuss the work of Colombian artist, Elkin Calderon, who is helping to alleviate some of those problems.

Macchiavello is also an assistant professor of art history at Universidad de Los Bogota in Colombia and the focus of her work, similarly to Calderon, is on the political issues of the country and how art relates to them.

The presentation will be held in Room B004 in the basement of Tyler and is free and open to the public.

-Alexa Bricker

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

“Do you think Temple

gives back to the community as much as or more than other universities in Philadelphia?

”

JANE BABIAN TTN

“I remember when Temple was building there was a garden with a peach tree in the middle that kids would eat from.

There was a protest but [Temple] still built over it anyways.”

SAMANTHA HENRY

SOPHOMORE | STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

“Less. I only know of one group at Temple. UPenn has more – not just education, but sports and living as well. I believe the gym and other buildings should be accessible to local kids.”

“More. We just cleaned up the garden on North Broad Street. Risk Management and Insurance [majors are required] community service hours every semester.”

KIARAH CANNADY

GABRIEL GERENZA

SOPHOMORE | KINESOLOGY

JUNIOR | RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE

SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

PAGE 21

SPORTS BRIEFS

With multiple Owls transferring, Cardoza lands Fountain DONNAIZHA FOUNTAIN WILL JOIN THE TEAM FOR 2015-16 SEASON After recent news of guards Rateska Brown and Meghan Roxas transferring, Tonya Cardoza gained a transfer of her own, signing Georgia Tech freshman guard Donnaizha Fountain to a scholarship.

Per the NCAA transfer rules, Fountain will sit out the 2014-15 season.

Although the Roxbury, Mass. native will not play next season, she joins the Owls’ recruiting class of guards Tanaya Atkinson, Alliya Butts, Khadijah Berger and forward Wendion Bibbins as newcomers for next year.

Fountain averaged 3.3 points per game in 21 games last year for the Yellow Jackets, primarily as an option off the bench.

–Andrew Parent

GYMNASTICS OWLS COME UP SHORT AT NCAA QUALIFIER AT MICHIGAN Three members of the men’s gymnastics team competed at Michigan University last Thursday in the NCAA national qualifying competition.

Jon Rydzefski and Jakob Welsh competed in the all-around, while Evan Eigner participated on the still rings.

Anna Pavone placed fifth in a field of more than 30 distance runners.

In the 100-meter dash, freshman Adam Hasan recorded a personal best with his 21st place finish.

Sophomore Elijah Hargove and Jamal Williams also posted personal-best times.

The top finisher for the women’s team junior Margo Britton, who placed second in the shot put with her throw of 14.80 meters – her top mark during the outdoor season.

Both teams will return to the track this weekend – at home, for the first time this year – at the Owls’ Alumni Invitational on Saturday.

–Avery Maehrer

FIELD HOCKEY Amber Youtz was named to the U.S. field hockey squad, along with recruit Maiyah Brown.

Youtz has 42 career goals at Temple and tallied 16 in 2013. | MINH MAI TTN FILE PHOTO

Coach Fred Turoff said Rydzefski missed two out of his six routines, while Welsh missed three routines.

This cost both gymnasts as they scored a 78.950 and 78.050, which put them in eighth and ninth place out of nine competitors in the all-around.

Eigner couldn’t crack 14 in his rings routine, earning a 13.900. It was his second lowest score of the season – the only one lower was back in the first week of the season at the West Point Open on Jan. 17, when he scored a 13.800.

The national qualifier was the last week of competition for Temple at the Division I level. Last Decem-

the possibility of going to kick for the football team, but he was hesitant to talk to Turoff about it.

“I went to Patrick about it,” Bittner said. feel at home,” Bittner said. “It didn’t feel right. “Eventually I started easing into it with Fred. I It didn’t feel like the right place for me. So, at the started training in the gym. My mom bought me end of May I didn’t know what I was going to do, a kicking net, I started kicking in the gym every day and he saw me doing it, I don’t know if he didn’t know where I was going to go.”

So, he called coach Fred Turoff, who he said knew I was taking it seriously or not yet.”

But when the cuts were announced, Bittner had shown interest in him as a gymnast.

“I asked to come here,” Bittner said. “He said that Turoff had no problem with him playing said yeah, so I filled out an application, got ac- football.

“Now if it was still varsity cepted and everything and came here and I was playing football? I for gymnastics.” don’t know, it might be differStill, it was tough for him to ent,” Bittner said. “But he supfocus on just one sport. Bittner has ports me with what I’m doing been doing gymnastics since he was now.”

2 years old. He picked up soccer Bittner has started practicing when he was 8 years old and kicked with the football team, but is still for his high school football team in on a schedule more tailored for his junior and senior year. He loved his workload as a gymnast. He doing all three.

Patrick McLaughlin / coach has 8 a.m. classes, which allow Temple’s football team was in him to get his work done before need of help in the kicking department last fall. The Owls missed five extra points he has to go to the gym and train, and then be able and went 3-for-9 on field goal attempts. Bittner to relax afterwards.

He practices with the team on Saturdays, but talked to assistant coach Patrick McLaughlin about the idea of competing in two sports, and he during the week, when the team practices early in the morning, he said that he accelerates quicker had McLaughlin’s support.

“The guy is driven,” McLaughlin said. “He’s through the practice so he can still get to class.

Bittner hasn’t kicked since he graduated high got a vision for what he wants to accomplish. school in 2011 and he said that the three years Would it been difficult? Yeah.”

But McLaughlin said Bittner would have away gave him some rust. He said he is 60 percent of what he can be right now, and said it all been able to pull it off.

Bittner said he would have gone through isn’t going to come back to him right away.

But Bittner hopes he’ll have consistency with handling two Division I sports in gymnastics and football at the same time. But then, the again by the end of spring practices. Having Board of Trustees voted to eliminate the men’s three other kickers on the roster – sophomore Jim Cooper, redshirt junior Tyler Mayes and redshirt gymnastics program last December.

“I started e-mailing the coaches and then we sophomore Colby Perry – will push him too.

“Lots of people say that since there are mulfound out about the Dec. 6 cuts,” Bittner said. “I was like, ‘Alright, I kind of really got to take this tiple kickers that they have a bad relationship,” Bittner said. “Or their friendship might not be football thing seriously.’”

“For me, I need to be an athlete,” Bittner like it is to a running back or a quarterback, but in added. “I can’t not do a sport in college. I mean my eyes we’re all on one team and were all doing we’ll still have club gymnastics, which I’ll still our best to make that team better.” partake in, but it’s not the same as varsity.”

Nick Tricome can be reached at Bittner had approached McLaughlin about Continued from page 24

BITTNER

“[Bittner] is

driven. He’s got a vision for what he wants to accomplish.

”

nick.tricome@temple.edu.

YOUTZ AND BROWN NAMED TO 2014 U.S. INDOOR TEAM

ber, the university voted to cut the team. The program Junior forward Amber Youtz and recruit Maiis slated to lose its varsity status on July 1.

–Steve Bohnel yah Brown were both named to the 2014 U.S. Field Hockey Women’s Indoor Squad.

Twenty-three players were named to the team.

The coach of the team, Denise Zelenak, is also the PICKETT, BRITTON LEAD OWLS AT coach of Drexel’s field hockey team. Zelenak made HURRICANE ALUMNI INVITATIONAL the final roster selections.

Youtz has 42 career goals at Temple and 16 in The men’s and women’s track & field teams competed last weekend at the Hurricane Alumni Invita- 2013. Brown scored 36 goals in four years at William tional in Coral Gables, Fla., where senior jumper Gabe Allen High School in Allentown, Pa. – Evan Cross Pickett earned an IC4A-qualifying mark and senior

TRACK & FIELD

“This field, for as nice as everything is, it gets a lot of use,” Wheeler said. “It’s been a tough winter, so I don’t think right now the surface is as good as it can be.” in a number of years, Temple was forced to pracWheeler credits some of the struggles to tice indoors for much of the early part of the mental lapses on the field. season. Instead of practicing outside at Ambler “Now it’s in the heads of some of these Campus, the team was relegated to the Student guys,” Wheeler said. “They haven’t forgotten Pavilion on Main Campus. how to field, but there’s that mental block of, ‘I’m While the warmth and comfort of the on- hoping not to make an error.’” campus facility did provide a suitable location to Senior third baseman Derek Peterson, who is work out, members of the team say it was also tied for the second-most errors on the team with detrimental for preparing for the inaugural season seven, said the fielding troubles are something the in a new conference team doesn’t focus on.

“It’s just been tough not being outside,” juInstead, they’re more results-oriented. nior shortstop Josh Mason said.

“I don’t really count them, we UP NEXT “Being inside with turf, you have don’t really pay attention to that,” Owls at Delaware perfect hops where everything Peterson said. “We just pay attenApril 15 at 3 p.m. goes your way. Now you’re outtion to wins and losses. [Against side and there’s a little rougher Cincinnati] we had seven errors playing surfaces.” and we still had a chance to win late in the game.

Temple has played four games at Ambler To me, it’s really just about winning.”

But through 28 games, there are 10 wins on and five at Campbell’s Field in Camden, N.J., the Temple’s record. team’s new home for conference home games.

Mason said he was confident in Temple’s Campbell’s is a field that gets a lot of play.

The 6,425-seat ballpark is home to the Camden ability to improve defensively.

Riversharks, Rutgers-Camden and now Temple.

“It takes reps, it takes practice,” Mason said.

In last weekend’s series against Cincinnati, “Now that the weather is allowing us to, we’ll be a series that Temple won two of three games, the outside. It’s going to improve, I can guarantee Owls committed 12 errors, a season-worst for any you that.” three-game stretch.

Jeff Neiburg can be reached “The hops are a lot different than any other at jeffrey.neiburg@temple.edu field we’ve played on,” Mason said.

Continued from page 24

BASEBALL

or on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.

SPORTS

PAGE 22

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

Former guard Ryan Brooks (left) dribbles past defenders during a 2010 game. Scootie Randall (right) prepares to make his move during a 2011 game. | TTN FILE PHOTOS

Dunphy: ‘We’ll go anywhere’ to recruit talent Continued from page 24

RECRUITING

THE PROCESS

Anthony Lee was on Main Campus.

People were coming up to him and asking him if he was on the basketball team.

He wasn’t yet. He was still in high school.

Lee, a 2010 commit, was on an unofficial visit to Temple with his parents. The Columbia, Md., native was easy to spot, given his 6-foot-9-inch frame. Lee said he liked that people on the street were approaching him, since it showed the passion of the fans.

“It was so cool,” Lee said. “I was hyped. They think I go here and I don’t even go here yet. [At this point] I’m not even being recruited for real.”

While that experience helped Lee feel comfortable on campus, that’s not what happens with all recruits. Dunphy said the first step he and his staff – specifically, assistant coaches Dave Duke, Dwayne Killings and Shawn Trice – take is compiling a preliminary list of players they want to look into.

The four of them divide up the players, sometimes based on relationships the staff might have with coaches in the area, and then go and scout the players individually.

While Dunphy said “we’ll go anywhere” to find a good player, he added that it’s important to establish recruiting pipelines. He said the staff is working to further relationships in Texas and Florida, since the Owls are now conference opponents with Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida and South Florida. Temple now has exposure in those areas that didn’t exist before the American Athletic Conference was created.

“We’re not just going to automatically go to California and scour California because it takes time, effort, money,” Dunphy said. “You want to make sure that you are getting the biggest bang for your buck. Take advantage of the kinds of relationships you have.”

After scouting the player, if they’re still interested, Dunphy visits the player, either at home or at school.

That gives Dunphy an opportunity to meet with the player and his parents, coaches or whoever is close with the player.

Then Dunphy will invite the player to Temple. A typical visit begins with the player arriving on Thursday evening, having dinner and hanging out with the team. Sometimes, prospects are paired with a current player on their visit. Lavoy Allen, an Owl from 200711, said he showed around Dalton Pepper, Juan Fernández and eventual North Carolina commit Justin Watts.

On Friday, the player watches practice and goes out to dinner with Dunphy. On Saturday, the player will go to a football or basketball game and then head home.

Mark Karcher played at Temple from 1998-2001 under former coach John Chaney. He was a McDonald’s All-American at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore and wanted to go to an Atlantic Coast Conference school, but did not academically qualify. After three years at Temple, he played professionally overseas. He is now the founder and one of the coaches of BMore’s Finest, an Amateur Athletic Union program in his hometown.

“A lot of kids don’t understand the process,” Karcher said. “I don’t really think they take it as a business. I think they look at it as something to do… I try to get the kids to understand that in the recruiting process, [they should] be

a student of the game. Watch games, watch basketball, do some research.

I think a lot of kids today watch basketball for the wrong reasons. I try to teach them to look at details.”

Cheney, the legendary men’s basketball coach who led the Owls from 1982-2006, declined to comment through an athletics spokesman.

Dunphy said the traits he looks for in a player include positional need, skill, academic drive and character fit.

He said his methods haven’t changed since arriving at Temple and he still looks for the best possible player.

“The process is always the same,” Dunphy said. “We’re going to go after a young man that we think fits us perfectly.”

THE PITCH

Ryan Brooks was going to prep school.

The 2006 Lower Merion graduate had finished his senior season and had gotten interest from some Division I schools, but he wasn’t enamored with any of them. He decided to attend prep school for a year to improve his game and increase his exposure.

Then Dunphy, who had just taken over for Chaney, got in touch with Brooks. It was late in the recruiting process, so Brooks didn’t have much time to decide – only about a week, he said.

That was enough time. Brooks decided to go to Temple, and he became Dunphy’s first recruit at the university.

“He sold Temple as a program,” Brooks said. “The history, the academics. The people that they could help surround me with that helped me both on and off the court.”

Brooks, who now plays for Telekom Baskets Bonn in the German Basketball League, said he was aware of Dunphy’s reputation around the city.

Brooks was also familiar with Temple, as his mother is a music therapy professor in the Boyer College of Music and Dance.

At the time, the team was going through somewhat of a down period.

Although the program hadn’t had a losing record since 1982-3, the Owls hadn’t won 20 games in five seasons.

After Dunphy and Brooks’ first year, the team rebounded to win more than 20 games in each of the next six years.

“One of the things Dunphy said was that he was starting a new era, and I could possibly be the face of that new era, being his first recruit,” Brooks said. “Ultimately, the goal was to turn that program around. I believe in the four years I was there, we definitely did that.”

Dunphy said he thinks a selling point of Temple is that it has a “vibrant and alive campus” in a big college basketball city. Rarely do recruits who visit Main Campus find that to be a bad thing, but there have been occasions when Temple’s location has hindered the team’s chance of getting a player.

Allen said when then-Plymouth Whitemarsh player C.J. Aiken visited campus, Aiken’s mother wasn’t happy with the surrounding area. Aiken went to St. Joseph’s University.

“It’s another big thing,” Allen said.

“Parents aren’t really turned on about where the campus is located.”

For his part, Allen, who now plays for the Indiana Pacers, said the area didn’t matter to him because he spent most of his time on Main Campus.

One common theme among Dunphy recruits is that they aren’t guaranteed anything. The coach tells players they will be given an opportunity to work and get playing time. Dunphy said many players aren’t ready to play right away, but those that are – like Al-

len and Fernandez – get that opportunity. However, Dunphy doesn’t think most players are ready right away.

“There are certainly young men who are choosing a program because they think they can play significant minutes right away,” Dunphy said.

“In today’s world, sometimes the instant gratification is what young people want. And that’s OK. That’s what they want. The fact is, if you have a really good program each and every year, like we did for the previous six years before this, we had some veteran leadership all along the way which allowed us to go back to the NCAA tournament.

That’s what you’re gonna get at these really top-notch programs.”

Allen said while players who come to Temple tend to not be very highly recruited, they often turn out to be productive. He agreed that Dunphy not promising them immediate playing time turns some players off.

“Guys want to hear what they like to hear,” Allen said.

BY THE NUMBERS

23

RIVALS 150 PLAYERS IN PHILADELPHIA AREA FROM 2009-14

8

TEAMS IN THE AMERICAN WITH MULTIPLE CLASS OF 2014 RECRUITS

6

TEMPLE RECRUITS IN THE PAST THREE HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES

3

TRANSFERS WHO WERE INELIGIBLE IN 2013-14

2

PHILADELPHIA RECRUITS SINCE FRAN DUNPHY WAS HIRED

LEAVING HOME

The last time Temple got a commitment from a Philadelphia player directly out of high school, Kevin Ollie was playing for the Sixers.

That commit, Scootie Randall, made his decision in February 2008 after leading Communications Tech to the Public League title. In the 77-73 double-overtime victory against Frankford, Randall scored 16 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out five assists.

Now Randall is playing for the Iwate Big Bulls in the Basketball Japan League. Meanwhile, Ollie has gone from NBA journeyman to NCAA national champion coach.

Although it’s been more than six years since a Philadelphia native decided to move from high school to Temple, Dunphy doesn’t consider it to be quite that long, saying both T.J. DiLeo, a 2008 recruit from Cinnaminson, N.J., and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, a 2009 commit and Chester, Pa., native, are “pretty much” Philadelphia players, referencing their hometowns’ proximity to the city.

Still, there has been a drought.

DiLeo committed a month after Randall and Hollis-Jefferson made his decision months later in September 2008.

In the past six recruiting classes – 2009 to 2014 – there have been 23 total players on the Rivals 150 who are from Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. Eight of those players are from

Philadelphia. None came to Temple.

Of those 23 players, four – Maalik Wayns, Daniel Ochefu, Ryan Arcidiacono and Mikal Bridges – committed to Villanova. St. Joseph’s and La Salle got one each – Aiken and Aaric Murray, respectively. The only Temple player on that list is Pepper, who originally went to West Virginia before transferring.

Since 2002, the earliest year Rivals has information for, three of the top-ranked Philadelphia players in their respective classes have committed to a City 6 school. All three – Wayns in 2009, Reggie Redding in 2006 and Kyle Lowry in 2004 – went to Villanova. The other 10 players, including Ja’Quan Newton, Rysheed Jordan, Amile Jefferson and Mustafa Shakur have committed to schools across the country.

“I think that there is a certain amount of sizzle that goes with going away to school as they report it to their constituents, their families, their AAU guys,” Dunphy said. “Those kinds of things. There’s a sizzle related that, as opposed to saying, ‘I’m going to go to a city school.’ In my mind, there’s a great amount of substance in that, but for some of these kids it might not have the same sizzle.”

Dunphy also said the rise of AAU teams has contributed to the trend of players leaving home for college. AAU teams are made up of the best high school players in a given area and compete with each other during the summer, when the high school season is over. AAU competitions are good opportunities for coaches to scout multiple players who have college potential at a time.

“These kids travel so much with the AAU teams,” Dunphy said. “They see different campuses. They see different parts of the country. They travel more than they ever did in the past.”

The only Philadelphia-area Temple recruit since the 2009 class was 2013 Camden Catholic graduate Kyle Green, and Green withdrew from Temple before playing a game. Dunphy said he doesn’t think the scarcity of Philadelphia recruits in recent years is for lack of effort.

“We’ve tried,” Dunphy said. “We go after the Philadelphia kid often. It just hasn’t resulted in them coming to

Temple most recently.”

THE FUTURE

In the Class of 2014, Temple has gotten one high school commitment – Obi Enechionyia, a power forward from St. James School in Maryland.

Enechionyia has a three-star ranking on Rivals.

Per Rivals, every team that will play in The American in 2014-15 has at least one three-star recruit or higher. Of those 10, six have multiple recruits with a three-star or higher rating. Temple, Tulsa and Southern Methodist are the three schools with one Class of 2014 recruit – although SMU’s is Emmanuel Mudiay, who is widely regarded as one of the 10 best players in his class.

During the past few years, Temple has lost more players than it has brought in, leading to depth issues. The team entered the 2013-14 season with nine active scholarship players, with some scholarships open and others used on ineligible transfers.

However, Dunphy said he likes the direction the team is headed. Although the Owls are losing Pepper and Lee – the former to graduation and the latter to transfer – they will bring in three or four new players, depending on if Jesse Morgan is eligible.

“I don’t think our effort has changed,” Dunphy said. “I’m not going to compromise my principles. I’m not going to lie to somebody. I’m going to tell them honestly how I feel and tell them the truth, that their time is going to come.”

Sometimes, the staff’s work takes longer than expected to pay dividends.

Morgan, Jaylen Bond and Devin Coleman – the three transfers that sat on the bench last season – were all recruited

by Temple when they were in high school.

“You just work hard,” Dunphy said. “That’s all you can do. That’s the only thing that you can control.

Whether or not a kid in the end decides he’s going to come, there’s a lot of things that go into that process that these young people are going through to make their final decision.”

Evan Cross can be reached at evan. cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.

Former Owl Lavoy Allen dunks during a 2011 game. Allen began a career in the NBA after his four-year stint at Temple. | TTN FILE PHOTO

SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

PAGE 23

usic issue | TENNIS & TUNES

A piano, a voice and a racket Carly Bohman and Rebecca Breland will soon perform in a talent show for student-athletes.

BENJAMIN MCWILLIAMS The Temple News In the lobby of a Houston hotel, Carly Bohman spotted a piano.

She and the rest of the women’s tennis team were waiting for transportation to arrive during the middle of a two-match Texas road trip in early March.

“I can play,” Bohman told the players.

She walked over and sat down on the bench.

As her fingers glided across the keys, she began to sing – her teammates soon joined her. The longer the taxi took to arrive, the more their voices echoed throughout the room.

One voice that stood out was that of junior Rebecca Breland, who, like Bohman, has been involved with music nearly her entire life. The two students said they plan to showcase their abilities at a talent show for Temple student-athletes on April 28 at McGonigle Hall.

Coach Steve Mauro said he has seen a YouTube video Bohman uploaded of her singing and said it was enjoyable to hear her vocal abilities during the trip.

“Carly entertained us and all the girls were so impressed with how she sings,” Mauro said. “It’s nice. It shows another side of Carly besides being

Carly Bohman (left) and Rebecca Breland have been involved with music nearly their entire lives. Bohman plays the piano and ukelele, while Breland enjoys singing. | HUA ZONG TTN a good tennis player.”

Breland, a junior from Las Vegas, has a passion for singing while Bohman, a senior, tackled everything from the piano to the ukulele at a performing arts high school in Ontario, Canada.

For as long as Bohman has been devoted to tennis, she has been dedicated to music. She first began formal lessons around the time she was 5 years old, and became serious about tennis around when she turned 9 years old.

But Bohman said she feels like she’s been playing instruments since before she could talk.

“I’ve always been really drawn to the lyrical aspect,” Bohman said. “There’s such an emotion tied to it that you can’t get across in any other medium.”

While Breland does not have the same expansive instrumental repertoire as her teammate, music is a part of who she is – as a student and an athlete. Breland said she has been asked to sing

the national anthem at sporting events, something she hopes to do in the future.

“I started singing when I was about 5,” Breland said. “I’m always singing. I sing all the time on the court or when I’m walking around.

I just love the vibe. It’s so relaxing and it calms me down.”

Breland said her singing has greatly benefited her play during competition. When her vocals begin to subtly creep onto the court, she said it could often be advantageous.

“I find that when I sing more it helps me to relax on the court,” Breland said. “Music loosens me up.”

With the rigorous schedule of a Division I athlete, both Bohman and Breland say it can often be hard for them to find time for the hobby they love.

“I don’t feel like I play as much during the tennis season,” Bohman said.

“It can be really time-consuming,” Breland said.

Although Breland and Bohman are majoring in fields unrelated to music, both say it is a part of their lives that they cherish.

“It’s something that’s been with me my whole life,” Bohman said. “I definitely plan on continuing to play music in the future.”

“I like singing for fun just to do it,” Breland said. “If it opens up opportunities for me, then that would be great.”

Benjamin McWilliams can be reached at benjamin.mcwilliams@temple.edu.

SOFTBALL | PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Against Villanova, a class reunion for three Californians Teammates Toni Santos and Brooklin White played at the same high school.

DON MCDERMOTT The Temple News On April 15 at Ambler Stadium, there will be an unofficial class reunion for Temecula Valley High School.

Temple senior right-hander Brooklin White and freshman outfielder Toni Santos will face fellow Californian and Temecula Valley graduate Natalia Segovia in the Owls’ doubleheader against Villanova.

“It’s fun to have a little piece of home,” White said.

White and Santos have been enjoying “a little piece of home” since last fall, when Santos joined White at Temple.

Santos was originally committed to a university in California, but decommitted because of a coaching change. Between White and coach Joe DiPietro, Santos was convinced to come

Continued from page 24

GYMNASTS

Trustee Lewis Katz said after the reinstatement of the crew and rowing teams that he will offer a $70,000 matching grant, given that coach Fred Turoff and his squad is able to raise the money each year through fundraising. Turoff said there will be future opportunities to compete in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship as a club team.

“This is happening,” Campus Recreation Director Steve Jones said. “It has the full support of athletics…And obviously based off of what Lewis Katz has done, what’s gone on in the president’s office, things like that. So this is a go.”

Turoff said he is happy about Katz’s pledge, but added the kinks are still being worked out in how the process will unfold.

“He was generous enough to offer us the $70,000 matching grant, which I hope is a yearly matching grant.” Turoff said. “But I haven’t gotten written proof of that.”

“I think it’s an attainable thing to do,” Turoff added. “It’s going to go a long way to help the club out and to get me a salary, because I have to look at

“I was really dominant in to Temple.

“It helped recruiting Toni high school in California, and with Brooklin being here, be- I think I kind of expected to do cause Toni’s parents were able really well when I got here,” to talk to Brook’s dad about her White said. “And I think that experience here,” DiPietro said. hurt me in my freshman year.

“And it was all positive, so that I didn’t realize how good Division I softball was.” helped me get her here.”

White’s sophomore season “Brook told me how much fun this place is, the team chem- was her most successful year istry, the coach, everything,” with the Owls. That year, she Santos said. “How much she won 14 games and posted a 3.36 loved it, and that it would be ERA. White struck out 98 bata good fit for me, as long as I ters, which placed her eighth on Temple’s single-season strikewanted to go away.”

Now at Temple, White and out list.

Although Santos are very UP NEXT she did not close – even Owls vs. Villanova achieve the same closer than they April 15 at 3 p.m. level of success were in high in her other seasons – this year school, Santos said.

“We’re so similar,” Santos she holds a team-worst 6.00 said. “We were talking about ERA – White said she has no this [a little while ago], just the complaints.

“I work really hard,” White things we like. Things that we don’t even set up or talk about, said. “I just have to let the exwe’ll end up doing the same pectations go. I haven’t perthing and then we’ll find out it formed as well as I would have about later. We flow. We’re kind liked, but I can’t complain about my effort.” of the same person.”

DiPietro said White’s offWhite came to Temple in 2010 after a solid high school field attitude is what he likes to see in a student-athlete. career with the Golden Bears.

“She’s got herself into everything, which is great,” DiPietro said. “That’s what you want out of a college kid. You don’t want them to just be a softball player and student.”

“She was just someone I looked up to because of her work ethic,” Santos said.

When Santos joined Temple, DiPietro discovered Santos had many of White’s positive characteristics. In her rookie year, Santos ranks fifth on the team in hits and first among team starters in batting average against conference opponents.

“Toni is a sweetheart of a kid,” DiPietro said. “Very polite. Hard worker. And the girls love her. She’s a good teammate.”

“Whether she’s going good or not, she always has that same expression on her face,” DiPietro added. “She’s always upbeat. There’s too many players who, when things are going good, they’re all smiles – and when things aren’t going good, they’re all frowns. And she’s not like that.”

White’s collegiate career is

that now.”

Young said some of the planning for how the club would run has already been discussed. The women’s gymnastics team would have priority when scheduling practice time in Gyms 143 and 144 in McGonigle Hall, which occurs between 3 p.m. and midnight.

Since there is already a gymnastics club in place at Temple, Young said there would probably be a distinction between the new club and the current club. Turoff’s squad would be under a “competitive” title, while the other club would be referred to as a “novice” club.

Turoff said that most of his scheduling for next year for his new club team has already been established.

“We’re still going to compete with other varsity collegiate teams in the ECAC, and perhaps some other clubs,” Turoff said. “Since we are still a member of the ECAC, we can compete in that championship.

But we cannot qualify for the NCAA championship.”

Turoff said a drawback in terms of scheduling is that there is no guarantee that Temple will be able to keep hosting a meet on Presidents weekend in February, one in which the Philadelphia Boys’ Team participates in.

timate goal growing up was to compete collegiately…Not being able to do that, it really hurts to grasp and deal with that. On the other side, I could stay at Temple, where I’ve grown up and be comfortable with that.

And if we are a club team, we could potentially revolutionize the sport and the whole club system.”

In terms of the facility itself, there is one significant change that could take place in the next couple of months – the floor mat could be moved from Gym 143 to Gym 144.

“It could coincide with the types of classes during the day that [the] kinesiology [department] puts in there,” Young said of the possible rearrangement.

“That’s something that [women’s coach Aaron Murphy] would have to work out with academics.”

Ultimately, much of the say when it comes to the facility and practice time rests on the hands of Murphy. But considering that both teams share the facility at the same time now, sharing it at different times isn’t out of the question.

Meanwhile, gymnasts on the team have begun thinking about what their future plans will hold in terms of both their athletic and academic careers.

Junior Blaise Cosenza and freshman Misha Kustin are two that plan on sticking around.

“I already transferred from [Northampton Community College], and I’m over halfway through my major,” Cosenza said of his decision. “So I don’t think it’s worth it trying to transfer in [somewhere else].”

“I don’t really have another place to go,” Kustin said. “And if we are a club, we’re going to be a top-notch club … No matter what, I’m excited for it. I’m going to train hard – it’s why I’m here right now.”

Still, Cosenza said there needs to be a distinction between the new club and the current club.

“A lot of the guys [on the team] have been doing it all our lives,” Cosenza said. “I’ve been doing it since I was two…

So there definitely needs to be a line.”

But not everybody has made up their mind yet. Sophomore Evan Eigner, is still on the fence.

“One view is that I’ve been working my whole life to compete at my maximum level at the sport,” Eigner said. “My ul-

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steven.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @SteveSportsGuy1.

Toni Santos (left) was recruited, in part, due to the help of Brooklin White. | ALEXANDRA MCDERMOTT TTN quickly coming to an end, with less than a month of competition scheduled for the team. After the Board of Trustees voted last December to cut the softball program after this season, Santos will soon be faced with choosing whether to continue her studies at Temple or continue her softball career somewhere else. She and others on the team maintain that they are focused on the season at hand and will make those decisions after the final game.

Regardless of the future, however, Santos and White said they have enjoyed their time together – both at Temecula Valley and Temple.

“It’s been really fun,” White said. “We’re able to talk to each other if things are going wrong. It’s just nice to have that relationship. It’s nice to have somebody from home here, so they can relate.”

Don McDermott can be reached at donald.mcdermott@temple.edu.

prised the family at Christmas.

While Lily is the one the team adopted, Trish Adkins said that the squad has emourselves because we thought it braced her siblings as well. was really great what they had “Chloe was a baby when done for Devon’s family and [Lily] was adopted and [the Adwe just wanted to express our kins’ 1-year-old son] Nicholas support.” wasn’t even here,” Trish AdAlthough they never ex- kins said. “They’ve embraced pected it at first, Lily’s oppor- all of our kids and they really tunity came soon enough. At are her big sisthe time of her ters.” adoption, Trish Despite the Adkins recalled fact that players that Lily had just have come and relearned how to gone during the walk. four years Lily “She was has been with still wobbly and the team, players she was still maintain that the learning all of love remains the Trish Adkins / mother same. those things, and then she sees this “Every time team of these girls graduate, amazing young women doing there are more girls that come amazing things,” Trish Adkins through and just keep embracsaid. “It was like, she wants to ing them,” Trish Adkins said. be like them, they’re her big “It’s really an amazing thing sisters. Just on that sort of re- for her to have. Any kid to have ally physical level it’s been that many big sisters is a big amazing.” deal, but for Lily it’s been inBut the team has done way credible.” more than serve as inspiration.

The Adkins are also supNick Tricome can be reached at nick.tricome@temple.edu or on porters of Alex’s Lemonade Twitter @itssnick215.

Stand, and the team has been to Lily’s stand to help out. The Owls have also been to her birthday parties, and even surContinued from page 24

ADKINS

“They’ve

embraced all of our kids and they really are her big sisters.

”

SPORTS

Our sports sports blog blog Our

thecherry.temple-news.com

CALIFORNIAN REUNION

SINGING IN THE GAME

Toni Santos and Brooklin White will compete against a fellow Temecula Valley High School graduate on Tuesday. PAGE 23

Tennis players Carly Bohman and Rebecca Breland have been involved with music for almost their entire lives. PAGE 23

PAGE 24

CARDOZA LANDS TRANSFER Donnaizha Fountain joins women’s basketball, men’s gymnasts come up short at qualifier, other news and notes. PAGE 21 TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014

temple-news.com

exclusive report

Gymnastics will move on as club after cuts

The

Hard Sell

Turoff said his team will still compete in the ECAC.

Fran Dunphy sticks to old-fashioned recruiting techniques while the city’s premier talent continues to play elsewhere.

STEVE BOHNEL The Temple News The men’s gymnastics team will return as a club sport next season, according to the Campus Recreation department, after a series of attempts from team members and alumni failed to convince the university to reinstate the program’s varsity status.

The Board of Trustees voted in December to cut men’s gymnastics and six other sports: baseball, softball, men’s indoor and outdoor track & field, crew and rowing. In February, the crew and rowing cuts were overturned due to new sources of funding that will lead to the renovation of the East Park Canoe House.

Now, the men’s gymnastics program is preparing to stick around as a club beginning next year.

F

EVAN CROSS Assistant Sports Editor ran Dunphy rarely goes a day without thinking about recruiting.

The men’s basketball coach said he thinks most coaching staffs spend a lot of time working on bringing in new

players.

“I think it’s the lifeblood of what we do,” Dunphy said. “It’s always what we work at. We talk about it often. It’s something that we think about 24/7.”

Dunphy and his staff aren’t the only ones thinking about the Owls’ recruiting. Dunphy’s recruiting during recent years has raised questions about the coach’s ability to bring in the talent necessary for the team to be contenders in a competitive new conference. The former University of Pennsylvania coach has a tendency to recruit players who don’t get a ton of interest from other schools and then coach them up into serviceable, sometimes great, college players.

However, many fans want him to pull in more heralded recruits.

To do that, it’s Dunphy’s job to sell himself, his team and his school to those players.

RECRUITING PAGE 22

GYMNASTS PAGE 23

HUA ZONG | TTN

lacrosse

baseball

Fielding miscues afflicting baseball in conference play

The 13th Owl

The Owls lead The American in errors.

JEFFREY NEIBURG The Temple News

Cancer survivor Lily Adkins was adopted by the team in 2010.

There is a theme developing for this year’s baseball team: the unearned run.

Through last Sunday’s loss to South Florida, the Owls had given up 195 runs and more than one-fourth of them were unearned.

Temple has committed an

NICK TRICOME The Temple News The lacrosse team had an extra starter last Friday.

During introductions, 8-year-old Lily Adkins – with a jersey and a stick – was announced prior to the game and was on Temple’s sideline with her family throughout its match-up against No. 19 Louisville.

The team adopted Lily four years ago through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a nonprofit organization that pairs children battling pediatric brain tumors with high school and college sports teams with the goal of giving them support and improving their quality of life.

Lily is bashful. When she was asked about the team last weekend, her eyes faced the ground as she gave some head nods and nervous shoulder shrugs. Combined with her big smile, however, she got her point across.

“She is still a little shy,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “But she is so much less shy than she was, and you can tell that there’s a love for just being around our team that makes the whole experience so worthwhile.”

Lily was 14 months old when she was diagnosed and treated for an ependymoma brain tumor. She survived and

American Athletic Conferenceworst 57 errors on the season.

Making matters worse for coach Ryan Wheeler’s squad, the Owls are the only team in the conference that has yet to hit the 30-game mark. Their fielding percentage, at .942, is also in the basement of the nineteam conference. The eighthworst percentage is Cincinnati at .957.

Through Temple’s first 28 games, the team has compiled a conference-worst 2.11 errors per game.

“You got to just go back to the fundamentals, the techniques,” Wheeler said. “Those are things that we’ll work on in practice and then we hope that they translate into the games.”

In last Wednesday’s 3-2 loss, a 10-inning affair against Lehigh, Temple committed five errors. Two of the three runs from Lehigh weren’t charged to an Owl pitcher.

After a harsh winter, one of the worst Philadelphia has seen

BASEBALL PAGE 21

football

Bittner transitions from mat to turf The gymnast’s focus shifted to football after the athletic cuts.

Eight-year-old Lily Adkins plays on the sidelines during the lacrosse game last Friday. | ANDREW THAYER TTN has been cancer-free for almost seven years.

“We’re blessed that Lily was able to find a cure,” Mike Adkins, Lily’s father, said.

“But that’s not always the case.

The stories get really big news, unfortunately, when the kids pass away. There are lots of kids out there like Lily, though that are surviving because of the research that has gone on.”

“We continue to do everything we can at that end,” Adkins added. “The more people know, the more that we hope it will help find that cure so that all the kids can live.”

Adkins and his wife, Trish, are Temple graduates and knew

SPORTS DESK 215-204-9537

about the story of Devon Lam, the Owls’ first adopted sister who was picked up by the team in February 2008. She died in December of that year, when she was 5 years old.

“They were having an F.O.J. day after Devon passed away,” Trish Adkins said. “We came because we thought it would be awesome to support the team and to find out about F.O.J. We never thought that Lily would be adopted. It just kind of happened.”

“We came and we told them who we were,” Trish Adkins added. “We introduced

ADKINS PAGE 23

NICK TRICOME The Temple News Last fall, as the football team’s kicking game continuously struggled, Michael Bittner was making his plans to become a two-sport athlete.

The junior gymnast, who is preparing to enter his first season kicking with the football team, said he didn’t think dualsporting would be anything too overwhelming – mainly because he had done it before.

In the latter half of his high school career, Bittner competed in gymnastics, soccer and football. He would head to soccer practice right after school, leave it a little early to head up to the football field to kick and then go to the gym and train un-

SPORTS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

Michael Bittner kicks during an April 5 practice at Paul VI High School in Haddonfield, N.J. | HUA ZONG TTN til about 10 p.m. After that, he would take care of any homework, eat, sleep and then do it all again the next day.

“Time management – I learned quickly when I was a younger kid,” Bittner said. “I think I could’ve done it [in college]. As long as you believe in something and you work hard

enough, you can achieve it.”

Bittner came to Temple for gymnastics, but he was originally on a football scholarship with Division II Lock Haven.

After a visit in May 2011, however, things fell through.

“When I went up, I didn’t

BITTNER PAGE 21