Torch Issue - March 18, 2009

TORCH ILLUSTRATION/ KERI DODGE

WHAT’S INSIDE News......................2-5 Entertainment....17-21 Editorials..............8-11 Features..............22-26 Comics...............12-13 Sports.................27-32

Rev. Harrington Sit-down interview Read a TORCH reporter’s in-depth interview with the president of the University.

FE EATURE ES pages 22-23

TORCHONLINE.COM

Last week’s poll results Have you attended any basketball games this season?

42% Yes 58% No Check out our new poll every Wednesday “Think Outside. . .”

2

Directory

Managing Board LXXXV

GREGORY LEPORATI, Editor-in-Chief CHRISTINA HEISER, Managing Editor EVERTON BAILEY News Editor

ANTHONY MORREALE

MATT CHOQUETTE

Sports Editor

Chief Copy Editor

PASQUALE PASSARELLA LAURA AMATO

ELIZABETH JALONSCHI

Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor

General Manager

PATRICE BENDIG

JONNATHAN COLEMAN SARA RHODES

Features Editor

Online Editor

CAITLYN NOLAN

ZACH DAVINO

EntertainmentEditor Art Director

Layout Editor ELLEN CAREY Advisor

Business (718) 9906576 Advertising 990-6756 Editorial Board 990-6444

Features 990-6445 Letters 990-6445 News 990-6444 Sports 990-6444

Special thanks to Richard Rex Thomas for assisting in the design of The TORCH

Film I Love You, Man Check out Inferno’s interviews with stars Jason Segel and Paul Rudd, both in search of friendship in the hilarious new movie I Love You Man.

Inferno pg. 21 Q&A Frank Warren The TORCH interviews the man who founded the Post Secret blog, where people can anonymously send in their secrets.

Features pg. 26

Men’s Basketball Still Alive

NEWS

Despite a devastating loss to Marquette in the Big East Tournament, the Red Storm will see more postseason play in the CBI tournament.

Sports pg. 30

New financial center open

18 March 2009

SPRING BREAK OPINION PG. 11

EVERTON BAILEY News Editor

The TORCH

torchonline.com

TORCH PHOTO/LAURA AMATO

Students inside the new Office of Student Financial Services, located across from Carnesecca Arena in the basement of Bent Hall. Starting Wednesday, March 16, the office will be offering expanded hours: Monday-Thursday it will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday it will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Monday marked the unveiling of the Office of Student Financial Services, a new facility located across Carnesecca Arena in the basement of Bent Hall that will now host both the financial aid and bursar’s offices.

The two services were both previously located in separate areas of Newman Hall and plans are still being finalized as to what to do with the spaces in the near future, said University officials.

“What we have found in the past is that have to travel back and forth from the financial aid and bursar’s offices,” said Brij Anand, vice president of Facilities. “The hope with this new service is that students will only have to go to one place and have all their issues addressed and solved, as opposed to going to multiple places.”

He also mention said renovations began in mid-to-late Nov. and the remodeling was complete by March 6.

Besides the appearance of the newly renovated space, Anand said the new office offered more teller windows and a kiosk for students to check their financial aid status.

Anand also said he believed there would be a greater emphasis on customer service.

“The time of our students is very precious and we felt the way services were set up before was not as convenient for them and that’s how the idea for these combined services came about,” said Anand. “Hopefully this arrangement will be more convenient for students.”

Some students said they were impressed with the look of the new office.

“I like this compared to the old offices,” said sophomore Vincenzo Albanese. “It’s definitely gives off a more inviting atmosphere.”

Other students said they needed more time to adjust to the change.

“It’s definitely more aesthetically pleasing but I don’t know if it will make much of a difference,” said senior Shari Byer. “I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.”

Louis Iacobelli, a worker in the new student financial services office, said he was excited about the new space and also mentioned that he was not the only worker to felt that way.

“We all love it,” he said. “The new office affords students more privacy in dealing with financial matters and it’s going to result in better service because there are windows to help people.”

3

TORCH PHOTO/ ANTHONY MORREALE

Members of the VISION, P.R.I.D.E and F.A.I.T.H tickets running for positions in SGI answer students’ questions at their debate. Elections are being held on Monday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 25.

Candidates debate as election nears CHRISTINA HEISER Managing Editor

One of the other key issues discussed included student involvement on campus.

There were a few questions posed about student involvement, the first pertaining to how the two tickets wanted to get sophomores to stay involved in activities following their freshman year.

Andre McDonald, running for Sophomore Senator on the P.R.I.D.E ticket, proposed holding forums for freshmen and sophomores.

“I think we should have freshmen/ sophomore forums to help engage more freshmen and hopefully that we get them to participate in things on campus more as a freshman and then continue to do so as a sophomore,” he said. “I think financial aid workshops for students would also be very beneficial.”

When asked how the candidates planned to increase student involvement on campus, Donald Wiggins, running for Sophomore Senator for F.A.I.T.H said he did not think this would be an easy task.

“That’s not easy because you can only advertise for events so much,” he said.

“It’s mainly all on the will of the student to want to attend events.”

Francis said she thinks there needs to be more promotion of events in order to

increase attendance.

“Getting our floor members involved will be the key to getting more people involved,” she said. “You can hang fliers but you also have to be out there promoting events to students. You can’t be afraid of going up to people and interacting.”

McBurney gave a similar answer when the question of how to get commuter students involved on campus was asked. “…we have to really go to them, find out what interests them and have programming that they want,” he said. “We should have programming throughout the day, not just common hour.”

Elections will be held on Monday, March 24 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. in the main lobby of the library, Marillac Cafeteria and Montgoris Dining Hall. They will be held on Tuesday, March 25, in the same locations.

Students can also vote online on Monday from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. and on Tuesday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Additional reporting by Everton Bailey

NEWS

With Student Government elections less than a week away, some St. John’s students may still be wondering who to cast their votes for.

In an effort to reach out to the student body, the SGI candidates held a debate on Monday, March 16 in the Little Theatre, at which a group of close to 30 St. John’s students attended.

Candidates are running on either of two tickets—VISION or P.R.I.D.E (“Promising You Reliability, Innovation, Dedication to Excellence”). In addition to these two tickets, there is an independent candidate running for Sophomore Senator on F.A.I.T.H, which stands for “Finding Solutions, Answering Questions, Imagine a Better Future, True to St. John’s University’s Mission, Hardworking.”

Both of the presidential candidates began by introducing themselves and the rest of their tickets.

“We all come from different backgrounds,” said Chenele Francis, presidential candidate for VISION. “We are residents, commuters, RAs [resident

assistants] and OLs [Orientation Leaders].

I guarantee through all of us that your voices will be heard.”

Patrick McBurney, presidential candidate for P.R.I.D.E, said that if elected, he planned to create a community service committee, which would track the service of student groups. He said he also hopes to put in place an “Organization of the Month” incentive where groups will be awarded for their service.

Students wrote their questions down on cue cards. The candidates then went through each question one by one.

The first question asked pertained to what sets each ticket apart from the current SGI administration.

“Something that separates our ticket is our experience,” said McBurney.

“Through our experiences we can take what we know, bring that to the new UC and help accomplish what students want.”

Francis, however, had another take on the matter of experience.

“It’s one thing to have experience, but it’s more about what you do with it,” she said. “It’s all about the handson experiences gained and what you do with it.”

Meet the Candidates: A look at who’s running for the top offices in Student Government, Inc.

Christina Zaccarelli Running for: Vice President Ticket: P.R.I.D.E Junior Accounting major

Patrick Brewer Running for: Secretary Ticket: VISION Sophomore Government and Politics major

Chris Borgatti Running for: Secretary Ticket: P.R.I.D.E Junior Government and Politics major

Jacquelyn Torres Running for: Treasurer Ticket: VISION Junior Childhood Education major

Michael J. Molina Running for: Treasurer Ticket: P.R.I.D.E Sophomore History major

torchonline.com

Yvette Clairjeane Running for: Vice President Ticket: VISION Junior Government and Politics major

The TORCH

Patrick McBurney Running for: President Ticket: P.R.I.D.E Junior Government major and Philosophy of Law minor

18 March 2009

Chenele Francis Running for: President Ticket: VISION Junior Economics major

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New student center on schedule CHRISTINA HEISER

torchonline.com

The TORCH

18 March 2009

NEWS

Managing Editor The new $75-million new University Center/Academic Center is currently 40 percent completed and is on track to open at the end of August, according to University officals.

Brij Anand, vice president of facilities, said that while there is no area in which the construction team is behind schedule as of right now, “at any given time, something could get delayed, which could have an impact on the schedule.”

However, “We have not seen anything of that nature as of yet,” he explained. “The contractor has not informed us of any such issue and we are still gunning for an August completion.”

This three-story-high building, which will also have a basement and a subbasement, is set to hold 14 classrooms, a central lounge area for students, a coffee house café, a game lounge, new offices for student organizations and a dining hall.

According to Ibi Yolas, executive director of Design and Construction, the construction team has recently been “putting up the bricks, waterproofing, insulating the building, the mechanical systems are going up and we’re working on the furniture layout.

“We’re going at this full force,” she said.

Anand, Yolas and other members of Design and Construction meet with the contractor, architect and other designers from Sciame, the construction company, every week to discuss the progress of the building. The meetings take place every Thursday at 8 a.m.

“These meetings are designed to look at the schedule, any potential issues and to come up with resolutions,” said Anand.

“Based on these meetings we have been able to make sure that any issues that need to be addressed, modified or changed are carried forward to the team in the field.”

Anand explained that having weekly meetings allows for an effective form of communication.

“Normally when we do a project like this, if there was an issue, it would be written down on a piece of paper, it goes back and forth and it’s two, three or four weeks until something is done,” he said. “We have changed the process with the idea of keeping things on schedule, so we all get together on Thursdays and we find out what it is that we need to get done or need to change and then after the 8 a.m., there is another meeting held among the contractors to based on the

discussion held in the previous meeting and they figure out how to go about resolving any issues.”

Anand mentioned that Aug. will be used to run tests throughout the building in order to ensure a smooth transition.

“We haven’t quite worked out the logistics [of moving everyone into the new UC] quite yet but it seems that it will take about a month to test everything in the building,” he said.

Yolas also said that no classes are going to be scheduled in the new classrooms next semester.

“We couldn’t afford to schedule all the classrooms and in the event something goes wrong then we would have major problems on our hands,” she said.

Anand said he has high hopes for the new UC/AC. “The focus of the building is to really give the students, commuters as well as residents, a place where they are able to engage among each other, have a learning experience in the academic side of the building and it will be a building that will have a full venue of possibilities and events that can be held there with the prime focus of promoting the student learning experience and engagement enhancements,” he said.

Yolas shared similar thoughts.

“I hope this will be the building that will serve as sort of a ‘home turf’ for all students,” she said. “This will be the social interaction center of the campus and it will be a place that students can truly call their own.” There are a few smaller construction projects planned on campus as well.“After the UC, we plan to redo the infrastructure of St. John Hall, Bent Hall and the Humanities Center on the second floor of the library,” said Anand.

In addition, he mentioned that the area between the new UC/AC and St. Augustine Hall will be turned into a grove with lawns and additional trees.

“The goal is to have that portion of the campus to look as appealing and inviting and green as the great lawn,” he said.

According to Yolas, the roads from the UC/AC will be turned into a plaza. She also said parking will be limited in this area.

While some pieces are set to be in place by this Aug./Sept., the rest is set to be done by the summer/fall of 2010, said Anand.

“We want to really have portions of the campus, like campuses across the country, TORCH PHOTO/LAURA AMATO that are more like pedestrian plazas,” she said. “We are pushing the parking to the The new University Center/Academic Center is currently 40 outside of the campus and trying to make the percent completed. The building will house 13 additional classrooms, core part of the campus more pedestrian.” a lounge, a cafe, a game room and new offices for student organizaAdditional reporting by Everton Bailey tions. It is set to open in time for the Fall 2009 semester.

Luck of the Irish: a history lesson on Ireland REBECCA MOHR Daily Kent Stater Via Uwire Green, lush, old-fashioned and quaint are the images that Americans usually conjure up when asked to describe Ireland.

The country and its people are much more than that, and St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect time to learn about Irish culture and the meaning of the phrase “the luck of the Irish.”

Many Americans have not had the chance to visit, let alone live in, a beautiful country such as Ireland. English professor Don-John Dugas had the opportunity to attend Trinity College in Dublin for four years.

“It is a very modern country,” Dugas said. “Not at all like the movies. American perception is that Ireland got lost in time. I’m

not sure an Ireland even existed the way Americans like to think about it. An American parallel would be Williamsburg, Va. trying to recreate a culture that has past.”

Ireland’s past begins in the fifth century with a man named Patrick.

“The whole story begins with St. Patrick coming to Ireland to convert the pagans to Catholic. He was trying to explain the trinity, so he picks up a weed and explains using a shamrock,” Dugas said. “The shamrock became a missionary symbol for his holiday and Irish identity.”

Sarah Gilbert, sophomore electronic media management major, said she believes that a shamrock is considered lucky.

“I believe in the phrase ‘the luck of the Irish’ because I’m Irish,” Gilbert said. “Somewhere

along the line, the shamrock became a symbol of luck.”

The Irish reserve the shamrock as their national symbol.

“On St. Patrick’s Day, people decorate themselves and everything else with clumps of shamrocks. A man will put a shamrock in his lapel pocket,” Dugas said. “It has been used in teaching and the shamrock is part of their cultural heritage.”

In America, St. Patrick’s Day may be an excuse to drink, but Americans have imported the holiday from Ireland.

“There is no separation of church and state (in Ireland).

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday,” Dugas said.

“It’s a day break from Lent.

There are 39 other days during Lent in which adults do not drink alcohol and children do

not eat candy. On St. Patrick’s Day adults are in the bars and children stuff themselves with candy.”

Many Americans think of the Irish as lucky, Dugas said, but the Irish think otherwise.

“The Irish tend to describe themselves as unlucky,” he said.

“I think the phrase ‘the luck of the Irish’ came from Irish immigrants coming over to America and being successful.”

Irish literature defines the cultural Irish norm as unlucky.

“American literature is very optimistic,” Dugas said. “Irish literature, such as James Joyce, tends to be pessimistic.”

Joyce’s most famous work, “Ulysses,” was published in 1922 and parallels to Homer’s “The Odyssey.” The book was originally banned from the United States because of its obscenities.

Although the literature is pessimistic, Dugas said the Irish people are generally the opposite.

“The Irish are fun, loving and incredibly sociable,” Dugas said. “They welcome almost anybody.”

Whether students believe in Irish luck or not, the phrase “the luck of the Irish” still exists.

“I don’t believe in the phrase because luck is too determined by the beholder,” said Jake Williams, sophomore computer design and animation major.

Luck is a tricky thing - are the Irish more lucky or do you find your own luck?

“Personally I don’t believe in the phrase ‘the luck of the Irish’ because I’m not Irish,” said Nicole Gates, junior fine arts major. “I like what the character Two-Face in ‘Batman’ says that you make your own luck.”

5

Increasing student engagement a concern on campus EVERTON BAILEY News Editor In a recent interview with the Torch, University President Rev. Donald Harrington expressed his concerns over student engagement.

“During the whole transition from a commuter to a resident school, we slipped in student engagement,” he said.

“From what I can see, I think there are a number of different factors that could be at play,” Rev. Harrington continued.

“One of those factors is the question of whether or not we adequately address the great variety of interest and needs of our students.”

Harrington also said one of his main concerns is making sure commuter students still play an active role in campus life, even though the University has made strides to become a more residential school in recent years.

When asked whether the University leaned towards being more of a resident or commuter school, Rev. James Maher, vice president of Student Affairs, said he felt St. John’s was still “developing an identity.”

“I think the change has been pretty significant in terms of where students are coming from,” he said. “I think one of our challenges going forward is really helping students to build that identity.”

Maher also said another challenge regarding student engagement is effectively using social networking tools to keep up with the students and the everchanging technological trends.

Recently, the University has taken steps to increase student engagement.

Maher said he felt that one of the most successful ways St. John’s has done this is by offering incentives for students to attend University events, such as basketball games.

“What pleases us the most about programs like that is that we were able to collaborate with Student Activities, with Athletics and with Residence Life,” he said. “Together we were able to reach students that might not have thought to go to a basketball game.”

However, not all administrators share the same ideologies on how to effectively engage students.

“I know there currently is a big push to get students more involved by giving lots of things away but I don’t think that should be the answer,” said Charisse Willis, associate dean for the School of Education. “We shouldn’t have to encourage a culture where students are expecting rewards to support the University.

“We are a Vincentian university and I think we need to get back to the focus of the mission of St. John’s and try to think of different ways to engage students.”

An upcoming event Willis has helped

plan to increase interaction among members of the St. John’s community is College Challenge, a seven-day series of friendly competitions starting on April 14 and consisting of St. John’s students, faculty, staff and administrators competing in teams based on the five colleges within the University.

Some of the competitions include a scavenger hunt, Nintendo Wii game night and obstacle course.

“We’ve been talking about doing something like this for a while and I think this would be a great opportunity for our students and faculty to get involved, showcase their talents and have fun,” Willis said.

Although the goal of the challenge is to build student engagement, Willis emphasized that it is also important to get faculty members involved as well.

“It’s extremely important to build interaction between students and faculty members,” she said. “Students love to see their professors outside of an academic setting and professors also enjoy seeing students outside of the classroom. And by engaging in these activities together, it will only bring us all closer together as a university.”

Both candidates for president in this year’s SGI elections acknowledged a lack of student engagement as one of the major problems plaguing the student body.

“I feel one of the biggest concerns among the student body is student

engagement and getting more people involved in activities on campus,” said junior Patrick McBurney, presidential candidate for the P.R.I.D.E ticket. “I think it’s all about trying to break students out of their comfort zone and providing them with services that will get them more involved in the college experience.”

One of these services that McBurney has in mind is called Organization of the Month, an incentive which would reward student groups based on their amount of participation on campus.

VISION candidate Chenele Francis said she felt the biggest issue with student engagement is “complacency.”

“If you engage students from their freshman year, and give them something to do, even the smallest position, that will get them involved and make them feel more part of the University community,” she said.

“This will lead to them staying involved in the future and possibly bringing more people in to help be more involved.”

Can’t get enough TORCH news?

Visit our Web site for online exclusives. torchonline.com

8

Editorial Board LXXXVI GREGORY LEPORATI Editor-in-Chief

Illustrator’s Corner:

CHRISTINA HEISER Managing Editor EVERTON BAILEY News Editor PASQUALE PASSARELLA Editorial Page Editor

FLAMES OF THE TORCH

torchonline.com

The TORCH

18 March 2009

EDITORIAL

Time is of the essence To anyone walking around campus last November, it was obvious that a big election was taking place. Light posts were adorned with fliers, students standing outside the library were encouraging students to register, debate viewing parties were organized, and students flaunted their preferred candidate with buttons and bumper stickers. The spirit of the election was in the air.

Next week, another big election will take place, yet many students may be unaware that it is even going on.

On Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24, voting for the 2009 Student Government Executive Board will take place.

According to the St. John’s Web site, Student Government “is responsible for the coordination and regulation of the undergraduate student activities and organizations on campus.” Organization budgets are controlled solely by SGI and they also work with other committees to plan events throughout the year.

Any student involved in an organization or who wants to attend any of the concerts or carnivals on campus has a vital interest in how SGI is run.

Therefore, it would only make sense that students would want to have a say in who holds positions in Student Government.

The two tickets for the upcoming election, VISION and P.R.I.D.E., both have good ideas and suggestions that would benefit the school community.

The students on the VISION ticket have emphasized that you do not have to be a longstanding member of student government to run for its positions or to be involved in it.

The P.R.I.D.E. candidates have some unique ideas to get organizations more active, like setting up an “Organization of the Month” program to offer incentives to groups for their service.

For an organization with so much influence on the University, SGI elec-

tions should be prominent in the school community.

The most recent debate, though, showed otherwise. Approximately 25 to 30 students attended the event, though thousands of students are on campus on any given day.

How are students expected to turn out and cast well-informed votes if they haven’t been exposed to the candidates and their platforms?

The problem is simple: timing.

The timing of the election process could make it hard for students to get involved, or even care. Nomination of the candidates was announced on Feb. 24.

The two debates meant to introduce students to the candidates were held in rapid succession after that announcement, and they took place on days that made it hard for students to attend.

The first debate was held on March 5, the week after the candidates were announced and the week before spring break. That was also midterm week, which made it a very hectic time for students. The result was a relatively small student turnout of about 15 to 20 people.

The second debate, which also had a low turnout, was held on the first day back from vacation when students were busy getting reoriented to classes, activities, and the routine of the college workload.

In the future, perhaps SGI campaigns should start much earlier, in order to give students time to get involved and to learn what benefits each ticket could bring to St. John’s.

With more time to campaign and raise awareness, SGI elections could potentially grow into an event that a majority of students could get excited about. Otherwise, Student Government election day runs the risk of coming and going without nearly as much student attention as it rightfully deserves.

TORCH CARTOON: KATRIN ASTARITA

EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials are the opinions of the Editorial Board of The TORCH. Columns are the opinions of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of The TORCH. Opin-

ions expressed in editorials, columns, letters or cartoons are not necessarily those of the student body, faculty or administrations of St. John’s University.

TO CONTRIBUTE Mail letters to: The TORCH Letters, St. John’s University, 8000 Utopia Pkwy, Jamaica, NY 11439 E-mail letters to: torcheditorials@gmail.com

Please include your full name, year, and college (or department). Letters have a limit of 350 words and may be edited for content, grammar, or space. Unverifiable or anonymous letters will not be published.

All letters are subject to the approval of the Editorial Board of The TORCH.

TORCH CARTOON: ZACH DAVINO

Resolving their identity crisis

9

Student engagement has become a serious problem at SJU From what I’ve seen, St. John’s is suffering an identity crisis – one that’s produced an apparent student apathy that leaves me baffled.

Nothing highlights this more than this Monday’s SGI Debate, held in the Little Theatre at 3:00 p.m. sharp. During the debate, I found myself less concerned with what the candidates were saying, and more concerned by the turnout – between 25 and 30 people attended the event.

Meanwhile, there are thousands of students on campus on any given day.

Student apathy has struck me as a major problem at St. John’s during my four years here, and my interview last week with University President Rev. Donald Harrington helped me more clearly understand what’s caused this problem.

“During the whole transition from a commuter to a resident school, we slipped in student engagement,” he told me.

“There are a number of factors that could be at play,” he explained. “One of those factors is the question of whether or not we adequately address the great variety of interests and needs of our students.”

Rev. Harrington’s very honest admission that the school has slipped in engaging its students was interesting to hear and, most of all, got me thinking about the University’s resident/commuter dichotomy.

The school has put itself in an odd and difficult position since the creation of the residence village: on the one hand, the dorms have created a new challenge for administrators, as they now have to create

events that are catered towards students who are on campus 24 hours a day.

On the other hand, the vast majority of students are still commuters. With the recent and understandable surge in weekend events for residents, could the school be alienating its largest demographic?

I’ve heard complaints from resident students that there’s not enough to do at school, that campus is dead on weekends.

And perhaps these claims are justified.

But I don’t think the school is at fault for this; rather, I feel that it’s hard to establish a vibrant residence life with a minority of the student body living on campus.

Look at Columbia or NYU, for example. Those are universities that are largely resident undergraduate schools.

They both have many more thousands of students living on campus than St. John’s; the sheer volume of people involved in their campus life means there are guaranteed to be more parties to attend, more student-run events taking place, and more organizations to participate in on weekends.

SJU administrators have created vari-

ous events to try and keep their residents engaged, with many more weekend and night events. These activities, though, are not nearly as accessible for commuters and could leave them feeling neglected.

In fairness, there are some events catered entirely towards commuters. For example, this week kicked off the University’s annual “Commuter Appreciation Week.” But the very concept of that leaves me a bit perplexed; if the majority of students are commuters, shouldn’t they be the ones appreciated year-round anyway?

So, in a nutshell, St. John’s is facing an identity crisis: there are not enough resident students to create as vibrant a residence life as the likes of Columbia, so the University has been creating countless events to help engage those students.

But they may have alienated the majority of their students – the commuters – in the process. The end result is a student body comprised of more than a few apathetic residents and commuters.

Rev. Harrington seemed to share a similar concern with me during my interview with him.

“Right now, my fear is the commuter students getting lost,” he told me. “In my meetings with student government, in the beginning they were all commuter students. And now they are almost all, if not entirely, resident students. So I want to watch that to make sure the commuter students still feel heard.”

I applaud Rev. Harrington and other administrators’ willingness to acknowledge the apparent lack of student engage-

ment on campus. But the question remains: how can this problem be fixed?

The new University Center/Academic Center seems like a potential remedy.

“That’s a major response on our part to what a residence campus requires,” Rev. Harrington said. And, as he later explained, “. . . we also want to create a place for commuter and resident students to come together. And I would presume that many of the resident students would use it more than commuter students.”

Indeed, the new UC/AC seems like it’s precisely the thing to help resident students feel more engaged and have a definite place to congregate on campus.

It’s important, though, for the University to keep in mind that the majority of students – the commuters – need to feel included.

Let’s hope, as construction on the new building progresses, the University makes sure it keep its commuters in mind.

Only then can it potentially engage them well enough to fix the consistent apathy problem I’ve seen on campus for the last four years.

St. John’s is struggling between two identities: a resident school and a commuter one. How it handles its still large commuter population will likely determine whether that identity crisis will be resolved.

Gregory Leporati is a senior English major.

He can be reached at: torcheic@gmail.com

St. John’s thousand trees will go a long way JUSTIN THRIFT Staff Writer

STUDENTSPARKS

18 March 2009

not only help develop the school’s urban environment, but it will make a noticeable difference for students when walking around the school’s metropolitan campuses.

And the benefits of planting trees don’t stop there.

Many students desire the beauty and comfort of a traditional suburban campus along with the close proximity and access to a major city; increasing the greenery at St. John’s bolsters the University’s ability to offer this kind of environment.

Though small, St. John’s Queens’ campus is situated on a piece of land that is ideally designed for this kind of sought-after traditional college environment. With the addition of more green, St. John’s University can look to emulate the campuses of top flight northeastern schools with similar geographical locations such as Brown, Harvard, Columbia, and Fordham – all of which are known for their lush tree-lined walkways and shady campus greens located inside of a bustling city environment.

For all of these reasons, St. John’s should be applauded for its involvement in the Mayor’s green program. At St. John’s University, a thousand trees will go a long way in improving the feel and comfort of the student experience, as well as help to combat the growing threat of environmental deprivation in the local urban community.

OP-ED

New York City has an international reputation for its epic skyline and sprawling urban development, making it one of the world’s metropolitan centers and the epitome of what city life is all about. But is it known for its trees and urban forest? The answer is a definite and resounding no.

The city, however, is trying to change this as it continues to become more green with Mayor Bloomberg’s “MillionTreesNYC” initiative, one of 127 “PlaNYC” initiative programs adopted recently by the city of New York. Quite simply, the goal of this program is to plant one million new trees throughout the five boroughs over the next decade.

According to the program’s Web site, this will increase the city’s urban forest by an impressive 20 percent, thus improving the quality of city life and achieving all the benefits that come with planting trees.

An outline from the Web site divides the proposed locations for planting these trees into three categories: streets, parks, and private land, signifying that in order

to accomplish its goal of a million trees, the city is relying on private partners such as homeowners and private organizations to plant 40 percent of the quota.

And St. John’s is ready to do its part.

According to its Web site, St. John’s will further its commitment to protecting the environment by partnering with the “MillionTreesNYC” initiative and planting a thousand new trees on the Queens and Staten Island campuses, a partnership that the school describes as “enhancing the greening of the University and the sustainability of the campuses’ local environments.”

The University’s Web site quotes Brij Anand, vice president for Facilities: “We continue to implement strategic initiatives to successfully reduce our carbon footprint. Our senior administration has made our sustainability efforts a top priority to ‘go green’ at all four of our campus locations.”

With the world suffering from unprecedented levels of pollution and urban growth, it’s good to know that the University is aware and fully dedicated to the green movement. Not only is St. John’s working to lessen its carbon footprint, but it’s also concerned with improving the environment on campus for the sake of student life.

The addition of a thousand new trees to campus will

COMPILED BY THOMAS CARNEVALE

Absolutely, because I’m concerned about the direction of our student government and the well-being of the school.

I honestly don’t know who is running.

Erika Kirton

Charles Miller

Anthony Ippolito

torchonline.com

No, I wasn’t informed about it. Did they put fliers up?

The TORCH

Are you excited about the upcoming SGI election?

10

TORCH ILLUSTRATION/CHRISTOPHER LAUTO

Citifield of dreams

Should the St. John’s baseball team get to play there first?

torchonline.com

The TORCH

18 March 2009

OP-ED

BRYAN BURTNER Staff Writer It’s been called “the official Citifield preview day” on New York sports blogs, but to the Red Storm, it’s so much more.

You’ll have to excuse me for writing this from a distinctly pro-Red perspective, but it seems like the logical thing to do here, being a student of the University.

From that perspective, there’s absolutely no question: the match up against Georgetown in the new Mets stadium is nothing short of a grand slam for the baseball Johnnies.

Not only do they get to play in a much larger spotlight than usual, with television coverage probable and the millions-strong Mets nation taking notice of their neighbors down the parkway, they also have the chance to attract some new fans.

New York sports fans love baseball, and with forty-five thousand packing the beautiful new park to watch the Red Storm (and you better believe that the folks in athletics marketing are salivating over the photo op), maybe a few of them will stick with the team, and even make the trek down to Jack Kaiser stadium for a few games.

And even if they don’t, the exposure of this single game is a boon for an underappreciated baseball program.

But it’s pretty easy to see why St. John’s jumped at this opportunity. The question some are asking is, how does it benefit the Mets?

Well, let’s turn that around. How does it hurt them?

If you don’t think that the public is embracing this chance to see the first ballgame in the new stadium without shelling out a fortune, consider that the thirty thousand tickets that went on sale March 3 sold out in 45 minutes. No one seemed to mind that the game will be contested by a couple of college teams.

No, there really is no downside to this decision for the Mets organization.

Make no mistake, the event serves first and foremost as a practice run: a chance to work out any bugs in the game-day set up before the real thing comes a couple weeks later.

But at the same time, it allows the team to build a relationship with a strong college team that should be more popular among Queens baseball fans than it is. It’s community relations at its most fiscally and logistically harmless; a winwin that’s rare for the Mets, at least in recent years.

As for the sacrilege of having a team other than the Mets christen the park, it’s a non-factor. This event does nothing to take away from the fanfare of the real opening day, which will be such an event among fans of the team as to erase any memory of a little college game.

And that’s the way it should be; this is the Mets’ shiny new toy, after all. But they’ll have years to play with it.

By letting the Johnnies take it for a spin for a few innings, the team ensures that the park’s first game will be a baseball event in which everyone really is a winner.

STEPHEN PINTO Staff Writer Suspend reality for a moment and imagine you have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in building a custom mansion for yourself. It will be brand new, equipped with every personal amenity you requested, built to your exact specifications, and of course, it is a huge improvement from your old place.

And when it is just about done and you are all set to move in… you let your little cousin spend the first night in it, breaking in your new house for you.

TORCH ILLUSTRATION/KERI DODGE

This is the situation the New York Mets find themselves in, allowing St. John’s to christen their new house.

Except that there is an added level of importance: it goes down forever in history.

Baseball is steeped in history. Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball revels in its roots. Records are to be remembered and cherished and when they are broken, there is inevitable nostalgia for the days of baseball past.

Players become larger than life throughout the course of history. The story of Babe Ruth can sound as much like an American tall tale as a factual biography. The history of baseball is as rich today as the present-day game.

The opening of a new park falls right in with the rest of hallowed baseball history. A quick Google search can yield the results of the first game at every stadium.

While it might not seem that important to an outsider, baseball fans will agree that this history is a part of the game. Don’t believe it? Ask any Yankees fan if they wouldn’t mind the Yankees losing the first game at their new stadium.

That’s why the Mets should have been the first to play in their own park instead of allowing St. John’s the honors. Of course, it is an honor – one that St. John’s and fans of the Red Storm were right to gladly accept.

There is no denying that it is a great experience and opportunity for the players of St. John’s, Georgetown, and all the fans that will be attending the game.

But perhaps the Mets were too generous. On the other side of the city, the Yankees will christen their new park playing two exhibition games against the Chicago Cubs, another ancient team steeped in history.

The Yankees will be the centerpiece of Yankee Stadium. The Mets, however, will not even be the first baseball team to play at Citifield.

Sports teams aim to have their home stadiums be fortresses for the team: places defined by the greatness of the club, where other teams are intimidated to come. Though this is certainly still possible for Citifield and the Mets, they are not off to a good start.

As a St. John’s community, we should certainly be glad for this opportunity. It will probably be an entertaining game and a great experience all around.

But for the Mets, it is an opportunity passed by – one that they may live to regret as another grand chapter of baseball history is written.

11

TORCH ILLUSTRATION/KATRIN ASTARITA

Spring break should be a time away from schoolwork MARK MCDONALD Staff Writer College can be very stressful for students, and that stress doubles when midterms are brought into the equation.

Thankfully, spring break exists to help relieve students from their academic drudgery.

Spring break is important because it gives students a chance to breathe before returning to their myriad of academic commitments.

So why do some professors choose to use spring break as an excuse for doling out even more work? What is supposed to be a break for stressed-out students has been turned into a week

filled with researching, writing, and doing all sorts of work for professors who can’t even give their students a chance to relax.

Perhaps some people view spring break as an excuse for students to lie around and party, or just as a waste of time that could be better spent in the classroom.

What these people are failing to see is the enormous amount of stress that students experience just before the break. Sure, classroom time is important; but studying constantly without taking a break is not very conducive to learning. Just lazing around, relaxing, and spending time having fun is a necessity for humans. No on can go through life without having any downtime.

This problem does not seem

to be as widespread during the fall, where the presence of the Thanksgiving holiday during the break after midterms tends to influence professors to back off of the regular workload.

Spring break is just as necessary a break, with or without a holiday. The relief it gives students can be amazing, but when work is given it merely adds to the stress.

Beyond the added stress, professors should also keep in mind that the resources a person may find at home or on vacation are certainly less than when at St. John’s. Online connectivity may be hard or even impossible to come by for people over the break.

Research materials that are

easily found at the University might not be available in every library or research center around.

Writing a research paper using a small-town library is certainly more difficult than using the expansive collection at St. John’s.

Some professors also seem to think that making something due after spring break should give the student plenty of time to work on it. It probably should, but making it due at the end of the first week back would probably ease the stress of many.

Education, learning, and hard work are an essential part of life for everyone. People strive for knowledge, and work hard to do the best they can in life.

The students at St. John’s are no different and work non-stop

in pursuit of an education. For one week, everyone deserves a break.

Spring break is not a way for students to avoid putting in the work for their education; it’s a reward for all of their hard work.

It may not be much, but that week off helps people keep their sanity throughout the rest of the semester.

It is understandable and commendable that professors value academia as much as they do, but everyone needs a break.

People have their whole lives to do work, but they only get a few chances to have a spring break. Every student deserves to enjoy it for the short amount of time that they are given the chance.

Writers welcome.

18 March 2009 The TORCH

If you have an interest, the TORCH has a role for you.

Come visit us for our next meeting of the semester, on March 24 during Common Hour in the UC room 29.

OP-ED

Photographers, graphic designers, cartoonists, editors, and business people welcome too.

torchonline.com

TORCHCOMICS 18 March 2009

Re-Geek: The George Lucas Special

Short Shorts Tim Olwell

Ethel & Wilfred Christopher Lauto

I Can’t Draw Alex Reyes

Zach Davino

MORECOMICS 18 March 2009

Controlled Chaos Catharine Corrigan

Cloister Matt Brown

1-800-ARMSTACO Jonathan Roman

Misery & Co. Zach Davino

17

ENTERTAINMENT

18 March 2009

torchonline.com torchonli ine.com

REVIEW OF THE FILM

PGS. 20-21

The TORCH

IINTERVIEWS LOVEWITH YOU, MAN THE CAST

Another Horrific Horror Remake

19

EVEN WITH WES CRAVEN’S RETURN AS PRODUCER, THIS FILM FAILS TO IMPRESS HIS AUDIENCE JESSIKAH HACKETT Staff Writer THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT-

OUT OF 4 STARS

T

he Last House on the Left is the latest to join the long list of horror film remakes that have been plaguing the theatres over the past few years. The original was directed by Wes Craven, whose famous work includes A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and the original The Hills Have Eyes. Released in 1972, The Last House on the Left was met with mixed reviews and extreme controversy due to the sadistic, graphic violence featured. Wes Craven returned to produce this updated, modernized version of his classic horror film, but even with his involvement, the remake fails to match up to the original.

Mari (Sara Paxton) and her parents, Emma and John (played by Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn), are on vacation when Mari decides to go into town to meet her friend, Paige. The two girls soon meet a boy named Justin, who invites them back to a motel room for drugs. While there, they are confronted by a trio of criminals who were introduced in the beginning sequence of the movie. The ringleader, Krug (portrayed by Garret Dillahunt), is Justin’s manipulative and abusive father, who wields disturbing power over his son and convinces the reluctant and nonviolent boy to help them. What follows is a series of sadistic, nightmarish torture sequences in which Mari and Paige are kidnapped, beaten, and sexually abused.

The story reaches its turning point when the criminals unwittingly go to Mari’s parent’s vacation home while looking for shelter. Emma and John soon

discover what they have done to their daughter and carry out a violent revenge.

While the remake does not have the intelligence or unique content that made the original a critical success, there are a few redeeming qualities in the film which should not be overlooked. Both Paxton and Dillahunt portray powerful characters—Dillahunt’s villain is twisted and evil without falling into the mold of the traditional “bad guy”, and Paxton creates a realistic victim that reminds the audience of the devastating horror behind violence that could be considered glorified.

Additionally, director Dennis Iliadis bravely handles the infamous rape scene of The Last House on the Left with

as much sensitivity as possible, given the context. Instead of creating a scene which could be closely connected to violent porn, Iliadis avoids the nudity and graphic imagery and focuses instead on Mari as a victim.

The Last House on the Left offers no moral, no character development, and no clear distinction between good and evil. Every adult character is, at some point in the film, a victim and a predator, regardless of which moral “side” he or she is on. What the audience is left with is a bleak view of the worst aspects of human nature, but even that impression doesn’t last. Ultimately, The Last House on the Left perfectly follows the trend of horror-movie remakes—the original was best left alone.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FORUMS.COMINGSOON.NET

Coming Soon to a Stage Near You INFERNO NAMES THOSE BANDS AND ARTISTS WORTH SEEING ON TOUR THIS SPRING AND SUMMER ALEX QUEVEDO Staff Writer

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLOGS.MERCURYNEWS.COM

Above: Katy Perry

Jonas Brothers They have invaded just about everything else, so don’t be surprised to see them here. It’s still a big time concert; a world tour, no less, with Jordin Sparks and Honor Society. Purity rings for all!

Depeche Mode They’ve been around a long, long time and yet they are still going. Currently working on a new album, they will be promoting it on their upcoming Tour of the Universe.

Depeche Mode will be at Madison Square Garden in August.

There are some other bands going out on tour this summer, such as The Fray, Eric Clapton and Def Leppard. Head to your preferred concert information Web site for

PHOTO COURTESY OF HABITAT.ORG

Above: Dave Matthews Band

torchonline.com

No Doubt/Paramore We featured No Doubt in the last issue, so we won’t harp on the return of Stefani and Co. Tickets have already been scooped up, and we are seeing single tickets going for $120 on up on StubHub. Jersey’s Bam-

Nickelback Another album promotion. But promotion or not, Nickelback brings out massive amounts of people to their shows, so they are doing something right. They’ll be in New York in July.

The TORCH

Dave Matthews Band Yet another artist (band, we should say) with a quickly approaching New York date.

DMB is out on the road to coincide with the release of their upcoming album, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King. They’ll be at MSG on April 14 and at the IZOD Center April 15, but they’ll be back at Nikon at Jones Beach come July.

Incubus Incubus will also be promoting an album… sort of. Monuments and Melodies hits shelves in June, but features only two new tracks. The rest of the album will comprise of their hits and rarities. The tour starts in July, with tickets going on sale sometime in April.

18 March 2009

Katy Perry Love her or hate her, Katy Perry can put on a solid performance. Just ask anybody that has been to one of her sold-out shows this year. Chances are you won’t be able to find tickets on Live Nation or Ticketmaster, so if you want to check out Katy Perry you will have to head to StubHub or eBay. She’ll be in New York April 6-8.

311 The boys from Omaha, Neb. are almost a sure bet to go on tour every year. This year, they’re putting on the 2009 Summer Unity Tour with Ziggy Marley. 311 will be promoting a new album, Uplifter, due out June 2. They’ll kick the tour off in June.

Check their Web site for ticket information.

ENTERTAINMENT

N

ow that spring break is all over and done with, what else do we have to look forward to? Summer is close enough, but we need something more than just that. Thankfully, there are some big time concerts to look forward to over the coming months. Maybe you’ve already gotten a jump on things. Britney Spears has kicked off her tour, Fall Out Boy is heading out within the next couple weeks, and T-Pain is hitting New Jersey just after this publishes. So here is a look at some of the upcoming shows you might want to try to snag some tickets for.

boozle might be a better bet. Good luck on tickets.

20

Bromantic Comedy Done Right DYNAMIC CHARACTERS AND A REALISTIC PLOT MAKE I LOVE YOU, MAN A WORTHY FILM TO SEE CHRISTINA HEISER Managing Editor I LOVE YOU, MAN-

L

1/2 OUT OF 4 STARS

os Angeles may be one of the most populous cities in the country, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy place to make friends. Just ask John Hamburg, director of the latest film featuring members of Judd Apatow’s comedy dream team.

“L.A., as much as I enjoy it, I think it’s a very alienating place,” Hamburg said at a press junket on Sunday, March 8, 2009. “Everybody’s spread out, you’re in your car, you’re in your home, you’re in your office. You can go days with out talking to anybody. And I thought for a movie about a guy trying to find friends, that would be a good alienating kind of city to set it in.”

I Love You Man, opening nationwide on March 20, stars Jason Segel and Paul Rudd as two grown men in search of male friendship. Segel and Rudd, who worked together in Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall are easily believable as pals; you can tell that they have a natural chemistry.

The movie opens with Peter, played

by Rudd, proposing to his girlfriend (and best friend… his only friend, actually), Zooey, played by Rashida Jones. Peter and Zooey make a solid couple; in fact Jones said that what sets I Love You, Man apart from similar comedies is the fact that the female characters are dynamic.

“The first thing I was attracted to was that this was a well-rounded character and this was an independent person with a strong point of view,” Jones said. “She wasn’t just the girflfriend of a guy, she’s integral to the story, to the way the movie moves.”

Peter and Zooey are portrayed as the loving couple while Denise and Barry, played by Jamie Pressly and Jon Favreau, constantly bicker. Their relationship is an amusing contrast to that of Peter and Zooey’s.

While Peter and Zooey seem to have the perfect relationship, he overhears her group of girl friends telling her it seems weird that Peter has no male friends. This prompts Peter to start looking for the perfect companion, enlisting the help of his gay brother Robbie, played by a very funny Andy Samberg.

After a string of failed, but hilarious man dates, Peter finally meets Sydney, played by Segel. Rudd and Segel bounce off each other well because their characters are so different; Peter is awkward (Rudd captures this quality perfectly) and more uptight, while Sydney is more carefree and not afraid to say whatever is on his mind.

Their friendship, along with Peter and Zooey’s relationship, are portrayed more realistically than the relationships in many other recent comedies.

Perhaps this is due in part to Larry Levin, the screenplay writer; the movie is actually based on experiences from his own life.

“I said to my wife, ‘You’re my best friend,’ and she said ‘I don’t want to be

your best friend,’” he joked at last Sunday’s press junket.

Levin also described the experience that inspired the character of Sydney.

“I was at a party and I met a guy. I said to my wife, I really like this guy, but I never got his number,” he said. “He was sort of the guy that got away.”

Levin originally pitched this idea to Larry David as a Seinfeld episode, but luckily for us, he decided he didn’t get to tell the entire story he wanted to tell in a half hour.

And although I Love You Man may not seem like a romantic comedy upon first glance, it is safe to say that it is indeed one. However, unlike so many of today’s mainstream romantic comedies, this one avoids overused clichés and unbelievable relationships and plot developments.

“This wasn’t going to be the formulaic comedy of boy meets girl, boy loses girl,” Levin said. “We just let it be more natural.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THEGAMEREVIEWS.COM

In Their Own Words...

21

INTERVIEWS WITH PAUL RUDD AND JASON SEGAL, STARS OF THE UPCOMING FILM, I LOVE YOU, MAN CHRISTINA HEISER Managing Editor

C

torchonline.com

when we were working on the film we never even heard of it, you know.

Segel: It’s kind of annoying.

Rudd: Somebody said earlier today we were “manpanions.” That’s pretty good.

Any scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor that you think should have been in the movie?

Segel: I have one regret that there’s something not in the movie that it will be on the DVD. Remember when I wrestled Lou Ferrigno? The scene ends with me passing out. What I thought was the funniest thing, the scene continued and Paul came to get me. We just did the weirdest run of me waking up not knowing where I was and being super confused. I’m a gigantic guy, and we did this thing of Paul trying to lift me up and me continuing to fall over and it was such a funny physical comedy bit, but I think it was maybe self indulgent. It went on for like 10 minutes at a time.

Rudd: It’s really the trick of finding the right tone and that’s left to John and the editor, really. There are lots of funny sequences that either were cut for time or they just seemed too broad, maybe. We all wanted the movie to be realistic and not so over the top.

Segel: That’s one of the things I love about the movie, that it’s not a cynical look at these relationships. It’s also not a wink-wink nudge-nudge jokey version of them. We tried to do a really natural and realistic depiction of a guy trying to find a new friend and layer funny on top of that, but not start with the idea of let’s do the funniest version of how difficult it is. We wanted to do the realest version and have that be funny.

Which character that you’ve played can you relate to the most?

Rudd: I’m pretty connected to the character in I Love You Man. I tend to think of myself as more of an optimist, in a way that maybe Peter, the character I’m playing in this movie, is.

The TORCH

After working together in previous films, such as Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the chemistry between Rudd and Segal makes for a believable friendship.

reason I say he was so nice to do Sarah Marshall, which he always says “that’s crazy talk,” is Paul is a leading man. You know, he is. And he was willing to come because he loves acting and he loves comedy.

Rudd: And I love Hawaii.

Segel: He loves Hawaii. He was willing to come do a part that he shot for a week and was in a few scenes.

Rudd: I was really excited to work with you.

Segel: It speaks to your character and what kind of actor and friend you are.

Rudd: Thanks, buddy. I loved the character. This is another thing, it wasn’t even that it was a stoner type guy but the idea that if you ever go to resorts or Hawaii and you meet the people that “oh, they were from the mainland and then they came to Hawaii and stayed because they kind of figured out that all you really need, the pure joy in life, the sand and the surf,” and you meet them and there’s something zen-like about them and you think they’ve got it figured out. But if you hang out a little while longer and really talk to some of these people, oftentimes they’re running from something, and they’re just depressing. And the idea of that type of character, minus all of the jokes and everything, was a really fun, interesting character, the kind of thing that could actually be a dramatic thing.

Segel- Paul really created that character, too. Did you improv the phone joke? How you don’t wear a watch anymore? There’s a joke that Rudd did, that I think that he improved, I know I didn’t write it. He says “you know ever since I moved here I don’t even wear a watch anymore” and I say “wow that’s so cool” and he says “yeah, there’s a clock on my phone.”

Can we retire the term “bromance,” and if so, what do you propose we use instead?

Rudd: It seems like bromance just came out a couple of months ago and

18 March 2009

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BLOGS.MERCURYNEWS.COM

Jason Segal (left) and Paul Rudd (right) star as Los Angeles citizens trying to make friends in the film, I Love You, Man, due in theaters this Friday.

ENTERTAINMENT

an you talk a little about getting “Rushified?”

Jason Segel-Well, our characters bond over the band Rush. But I was a little too young to experience them during my prime, but I learned about them on Freaks and Geeks. Paul was a huge Rush fan, as is John Hamburg.

Paul Rudd: Rush scared me, I saw the Tom Sawyer video and it was scary as hell. Geddy Lee can be a really intense figure to like a 6 year old. But then I kinda got in to some of their songs. I was excited to meet them, and was really nervous actually.

Segel: Tell them the story about when you brought that up to them, about the scene.

Rudd: I know John wanted Rush because it seems like that’s the kind of band that two guys like us would’ve bonded over. They do seem to have a primarily male fan base. When they were shooting, I was so hypersensitive that they would have a good time, that they wouldn’t get bored, that they wouldn’t feel like we were mocking them in any way, because that’s the farthest thing, we weren’t doing that at all. But in the scene, we’re dancing around like crazy and Rashida is acting bored and I was telling Geddy Lee, “look it’s part of the story, we’re gonna be dancing around and she’s gonna stand there like she’s not really into it” and Geddy Lee said “oh so you mean it’ll be like every one of our concerts?”

Do you have any favorite bands or movies, favorite stories to share?

Segel:We love comedy, Paul and I. We’re both a bit students of comedy and comedy dorks. Things like Mighty Boosh and Little Britain. We love comedy and we’ll quote lines and stuff like that, so we definitely bonded over stuff like that.

How much did you guys improvise on the set?

Segel: The script was really tightly honed. John has been working on it for a while. By the time it got to us, it didn’t really need much improv. There were a few scenes like the first man date scene where there were no scripted lines.

Rudd: We would do little things here and there.

Segel: Sure.

Rudd: But like you said, the script was really solid.

Segel: A lot of the Paul awkwardness was improved because it is impossible to

write how awkward Paul can actually be.

Rudd: I think all of you probably agree with that.

Can you talk about the fact that the film is set in L.A.?

Rudd: Well that’s really John and I know he wanted to set it in Los Angeles and that it was a very specific reason for doing so. I’ve heard him say in answers that he’s given, about how isolated you can feel in Los Angeles and you’re in your car and everybody is kinda separate. Also when you meet people in Los Angeles everyone kind of has a shield up anyway.

This feeling of “what can you do for me.”

I know he’s always found that to be a somewhat tough place to make friends.

Was this the first time you really got a chance to work together?

Segel: Well Sarah Marshall, Paul came out to Hawaii, and was nice enough to play the surf instructor. We were sort of sequestered in Hawaii. We shot the movie at the same place where we stayed. So we would be together all day while we’re shooting and then at night we would all collide at the pool bar.

Rudd: Collide might be the right term, depending on how many Mai Thai’s…

Segel: Yeah, there were a lot of Mai Thai’s. We got to know each other pretty well then. Most of those scenes were improved ‘cause my script wasn’t nearly as tightly honed as Hamburg’s. And I think there we started to think that we might be a good comic duo. We bounce off each other well.

Rudd: In Knocked Up, we had a little of it. I remember, the scene that we did, where you’re standing at the door.

And in the movie you say “you’re Deb’s husband” and I say “yeah” and you just shut the door in my face. We did start doing riffs here and there. I remember you wore the track suit, and I congratulated you on winning the World Cup. And you said something about my jeans. So we did a lot of that kind of stuff. None of it particularly funny or else it would’ve been in the movie. But that was the first time, I think, we sensed that we could play off of each other alright.

Are you talking about other projects you might want to do together?

Rudd: You know, it’s been really cool in the last few years to kind of in a way, get my foot into this group that’s existed for a long time with Judd and Freaks and Geeks guys and kind of feel a part of this collective. We‘ve work together on several things. I hope it continues, it’s really fun.

Segel: There’s so much really fun of the mix and match. We all work together in various different capacities. Paul, the

22

Think Outside...

Features

4

Section

From the President’s desk

Rev. Harrington sits down with the TORCH in an exclusive interview GREGORY LEPORATI Editor-in-Chief

As he concludes his 20th year as president of St. John’s University, Rev. Donald Harrington sits down with the TORCH to discuss his proudest accomplishments, improving student engagement, residence life, and coach Norm Roberts.

environments. So there are a number of things you can point to and say, “Hmm, pretty significant.”

From what you’ve found, what do you think could account for the University slipping in terms of its student engagement?

I would rather not speculate on any one thing. From what I can see, I think there are a number of different factors that could be at play. One of those factors is the question of whether or not we adequately address the great variety of interests and needs of our students.

Some of those who leave are those who, as we’ve gotten bigger and we have more students coming from a distance, maybe feel lonely, feel not as engaged, not as involved.

Another factor is, I think resident students need to be engaged in a different way from commuters. And I think, for years, many faculty and administrators were used to students being here from eight in the morning until about one in the afternoon, and then again at six at night, and maybe they weren’t used to the 24 hour needs of students.

And the third factor I would put out

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The TORCH

18 March 2009

FEATURES

TORCH: Services like the Princeton Review and U.S News and World Report consistently rank St. John’s as a third-tier school. Is improving academics one of your chief concerns in the coming years and, if so, how do you plan on doing this?

Harrington: First of all, the rankings are not really rankings of just academic quality. They include donations by alumni, graduation retention rates, even things like class size. So it’s not like they’re doing a ranking saying these are the best schools. We have gotten as close to the top 125. We were 126 a few years back, and then we slipped back. And the issue we slipped back on is an issue highlighted in the TORCH recently, namely reten-

tion and graduation rates. If our retention rates stayed where they were, we would be well into the top 125. So in a sense, it shows that it’s not a ranking of academic quality. During the whole transition from a commuter to a resident school, we slipped in student engagement. This year I’ve engaged myself in what I call an institutional dialogue on student engagement to address this as best we can. Now, from January to January our retention improved one and a half percent, which we’re pleased with, but not satisfied with.

So, we’re trying to really come to understand what is the real retention issue because then that, in and of itself, will make a difference in the rankings.

But, having said that, we’ve grown stronger and stronger. Our SAT points have increased by 100 points in the last five years and in terms of statistics, and talking with faculty, it’s clear we have one of the strongest student bodies we’ve had, maybe ever. So I believe we’ve made great progress in academics - and don’t forget that other piece of academics, which is the use of technology in the classroom, and we continue to be ranked in the top 10 in that, in terms of wireless

TORCH PHOTO/ ANTHONY MORREALE

Rev. Donald Harrington discusses his proudest accomplishments during his 20 years as President of SJU.

there is the millennial student is different.

I’m just not so sure if we have watched that change, studied that change, carefully enough.

Some students say we’re their second choice, and they’d rather be at NYU. So when they get the opportunity to transfer, they do it. It’s just a lot of different factors, and I think the biggest mistake would be to say, “Here’s the one thing.” We’re trying to reshape the community so we can hear what students think and they can always hear us, then we’ll always have an engaged community.

Residence life is something that sprouted up during your tenure, something that you pioneered, and something that’s aided the school’s national recognition. There have been criticisms, though, that there is not enough to do in the Residence Village or that the campus is dead on weekends. Is Residence Life currently where you wanted it to be when you started it ten years ago, and what plans do you have for its future?

I’d say a couple of things. Is it where I would want it to be? No. And I say that because clearly, I hear students saying the things you just said. One of the things that have impacted the resident experience, from what I hear, is the concern of the visitation policies. Fr. Maher [Vice President of Student Affairs] has been working very hard to address that. For safety concerns, we don’t want to go just totally open, so we’re trying to keep a fine balance. But I hope students see we are trying to keep that balance, that we are making changes to address the issues they have been talking about. So in the nitty gritty things, we still have a lot to learn, and also our students continue to change.

Secondly, if we were satisfied with student life in general, but in particular residence life, we wouldn’t be building the new student center. I mean, that’s a $75 million building. We want to really enhance the academics with the academic piece, but we also want to create a place for commuter and resident students to come together. And I would presume that many of the resident students would use it more than commuter students. That’s a major response on our part to what a residence campus requires.

We desperately needed a University Center, and it takes a long time to get there, but we’re going to be there come August. And that, in itself, is sort of a very loud, shouting answer to the question.

But there are students who come here and absolutely love it. I try to be at the 5:30 mass every night, if I’m in town, to celebrate or concelebrate it. And to see that church full, and to see the enthusiasm of the students afterwards, really says to me it’s working here, and there’s a great community.

I was president 10 years before we opened up the first residence hall. And I was resistant because I thought our mission was to New York City kids, but I think we’ve done it in such a way that we haven’t walked away from that.

Is there any hope to expand the residences, to have more out-of-state students in coming years, or do you like the balance as it is now?

I learned, after having said for five years, “We won’t have any residences in my time,” to not say absolutes. But having said that, I think it’s a good balance right now. Are there other places we could ex-

23

TORCH PHOTO/ LAURA AMATO

The new UC/AC, which is still under construction, is a structure that Rev. Harrington believes St. John’s “desperately needed,” to bring commuter students and residents closer together when it opens in August.

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priority with that program. And yes, we would continue men’s basketball, but it had to be done the right way.

And that’s what I so appreciate Norm Roberts for. He’s done it the right way.

These young men are representative students of St. John’s, and academically, they are very strong, much stronger than in the past. Character wise, we hear from people in different cities who meet them in hotels and such, how representative they are.

There’s not a bit of NCAA questioning as far as I know of, and there better not be.

And the last piece is we are making progress each year, and I believe Norm is going to be able to bring us back to where we were.

Do you feel students, fans, alumni and the media have been unfairly lambasting Norm?

Again, turn to the positive side of this: people still really care about St. John’s basketball.

And there are people who have different levels of patience, and different levels of understanding how bad the situation was that Norm inherited. Fair, unfair, I understand why people really want us to win on a regular basis at the top immediately. I don t think anybody’s more in that category than Norm Roberts.

But I’ve also seen what has to get done to get where we are now, and I think we’ve made great progress, and I have great confidence that Norm is going to be able to bring us back there. He’s a fine man and a fine coach.

The TORCH

tional university. And when you go forth with your diploma, it will be much more recognized in California, Rome, or Paris than it would have been 20 years ago.

I’m proud of what we did with the facilities - that took a lot of fundraising.

But if you look at the residence village, my favorite thing is the church.

I came in with a dream to build a church, and we got a single $10 million gift to make that happen, so I’m extremely proud of that.

What has been your biggest regret, or something you wish could have been done better in the last 20 years?

The downside, the one thing that’s been a real disappointment, is obviously the basketball tradition, which has been so important to us. The bottom line is, we made, early on, some bad decisions regarding the men’s basketball team, and that’s been a disappointment to a lot of people. Me too, since I’ve always been a huge basketball fan.

Are there external factors in it? Yeah.

The recruiting has changed so much because of television, conference structure, etc. So a lot of excuses can be made, but I don’t make any excuses.

Bottom line: I don’t think we made good decisions regarding the men’s basketball team. But, once we hit the bottom with the Pittsburgh incident and the NCAA violations that came out after that, I was determined not to have this institution be embarrassed again by that type of behavior on part of the students or anything that could be slightly questionable to the NCAA. And that became my top

18 March 2009

my job is to keep the overall handle on what’s happening, to be the face of the institution, and to be the fundraiser. Right now I’m working hard to get a name on the UC/AC when we dedicate it, and that would be a multi-million-dollar commitment of some sort to the University. So those are the things I focus on.

What I would like to do all the time is not be president and spend time with the students. That’s what I love. You know, my prior life was at Niagara University, and I was there for 16 years. I went there newly ordained, taught, lived in a freshman dormitory, and I loved those years.

They asked me to be president up there, and I said, “I don’t really want to do that.”

Finally, I agreed.

Each president of every institution has no one way of doing it. You have to find your own way, find the way you think you can best use your own skills and gifts to make this stronger, and that’s what I try to do with my time.

You’re finishing your 20th year with the University. What’s been the one thing you’ve been most proud to accomplish in your time here?

I’m not going to keep it to one thing.

The thing I’m most proud of at St. John’s honestly, is the students. I think our students have just gotten stronger academically. They’ve gotten stronger in their commitment to service, they’ve been instrumental to the mission of the University. I’m just very proud of the students.

I’m very proud of our transition to becoming a residence university, because that is making us a much stronger na-

FEATURES

pand? I think so. We have the Henley Road dorm going up for upperclassmen, so there are some other possibilities. Our applications are off the charts for September, over 51,000 now for the freshman class. And a huge percentage is what we call the secondary market, outside the area.

Right now, my fear is the commuter students getting lost. In my meetings with Student Government, in the beginning they were all commuter students. And now they are almost all, if not entirely, resident students. So I want to watch that to make sure the commuter students still feel heard.

Let’s briefly talk about economics – something you’re quite familiar with.

After all, you were the first priest to be on the board of directors of a Wall Street firm, with Bear Stearns.

And I was on it for 15 years, yeah.

And you were on it last year during its crisis?

Yes, right up until the end.

So you’ve had experience with the current recession. And in regards to the University’s economics, there’s a fear about the state of private institutions.

With state schools costing far less, the concern is that there could be a significant drop in interest in private schools in the coming years. What do you see for private institutions in the coming years, and are you taking any actions to help counteract any of that for St. John’s?

I believe that the fear or concern is a very valid one, because I can see students saying, “If I can go to a state university for $3,000, and spend thousands and thousands to go to a private university, is it really worth the difference?” And that’s always been a very valid question, even more so now as dollars get tighter.

In the current year, fall semester, we drew back money from any departments that could afford it to establish an extra pool of money for extra financial aid for students who needed money in January.

And there were students who needed the money in January because their parents were losing jobs, etc., and so we were able to help them to continue. We have not put a hiring freeze in place, but we have an extra level of review for any positions. In terms of faculty, we normally hire 30 to 40 a year.

This year, there may be eight or 10 new faculty. And the reason is we want to make sure there are resources for our students, and secondly, I would rather not hire someone than have to lay someone off because money is tight.

After having said that, I’m optimistic about St John’s. As I said, applications are very, very strong, deposits are very strong, even deposits for room reservations are strong. So it looks as though, unless the bottom falls out, we should be fine. But fine doesn’t mean we’ll be wealthy. Nobody is wealthy in this environment.

One of the criticisms of you is that you’re not on campus enough, that you’re not, for lack of a better term, “in the trenches” with faculty and administrators on a daily basis. How do you respond to such criticism and, on that same token, what do you feel are your primary functions as president of St. John’s University?

First of all, I am here a lot, but I’m not out walking around campus looking for people to talk to or whatever, and it’s because I schedule myself pretty tightly, so my time is used well when I am here. So every day, I sit down with Dr. Pellow, or Dr. Upton for the academic side of things, or my own Chief of Staff, Rob Wile, for an overall briefing of what’s happening on all the campuses, international and all that.

I’m probably home one night a week. This weekend, for example: tomorrow morning I am celebrating a funeral mass for the brother of one of our trustees emeritus.

Then I have to be in Jersey by 11:45 to do the baptism for the grandson of one of our trustees. Sunday afternoon I fly to Rome.

I’ll be back Thursday afternoon from Rome after three days of different types of meetings there. That gives you somewhat of a sense of what it’s like. I don’t try to do other peoples’ jobs.

I don’t get into the nitty gritty. I feel

24

Dear Devil’s Advocate, I am graduating (hopefully!) in May but I have a severe case of senioritis. I have already been accepted to Law School and now I just cannot bring myself to do any work. I feel like the work has no point anymore.

I have all these research papers and homework assignments to do and they are just weighing my mind down and stressing me out. It’s getting to the point where I am afraid my grades will slip and my acceptance to Law School will be rescinded. Do you have any ideas of how I can cure my senioritis?

Sincerely,

Sincerely,

Senior Stacey

Devil’s Advocate

FEATURES

Dear Stacey,

Dear Devil’s Advocate,

First of all, you should be warned about the other little known symptoms of senioritis. These include numbness of the left arm, slight pain in the right earlobe, and flu-like symptoms.

If you have any of these, you should contact your doctor because you might have full blown senioritis.

Now, on to the cure. Like many other illnesses, senioritis has both a conventional and an unconventional treatment. Let’s start with the unconventional one.

On a nice sunny day, go outside with three potatoes and a large tub of water. You need to stand on one foot in knee deep water while juggling the potatoes and spinning around counter-clockwise.

While you do this you must sing these words to the tune of “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz/The Guess Who: “Senioritis does not exist and it has no power over me. Now I’m gonna go do my work.” After you do that three times, you should be cured.

18 March 2009

Managing Editor

The TORCH

I’m a very goal-oriented person. I always need to have a goal that I am working towards. I feel that it helps me grow as a person and it gives my life a purpose.

Lately, however, I have been having trouble thinking of a good long-term goal that I should try to strive for. It’s not that I can’t think of things about myself I can improve on. It’s more like I want something new and unique.

I have already had goals pertaining to working out, physical appearance, reading more books, socializing, and other things of that nature.

I just need to find something completely new that I can work on. Any ideas?

Dear Gary, The way the economy is today, I can think of a few goals you might have in the future. You might end up striving to collect enough change from passers-by to buy a couple of cheeseburgers from the dollar menu at McDonalds. Or, you might finding yourself aspiring to get a job pumping gas at your local gas station.

Seriously, though, I do have a couple ideas. In addition to your caveat of being unique, I think an appropriate goal should be both challenging and practical.

By practical, I mean it should be useful in your everyday life.

In that vein, a great goal to have would be to learn how to cook. And I am not talking about TV dinners and Kraft macaroni and cheese.

I mean a full fledged three-course meal. I’m talking about lobster bisque, duck confit, and some Crème Brûlée to top it all off.

Cooking is a great skill to have. It will help you save money because you will not have to order out so often.

You can show off to your friends and let’s face it, girls like guys who know how to cook.

Of course, if you don’t like cooking, I have a few other ideas for a goal you could strive for.

You could learn how to juggle. Or you could become ambidextrous. Or you could even learn how to take the wrapper off a Starburst inside your mouth!

Good luck, Devil’s Advocate

Sincerely, Goal-less Gary

Need advice? Please send your inquiries to the Devil’s Advocate at torchfeatures@gmail.com

Heavenly honey treats CHRISTINA HEISER

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The conventional cure is a little less complex. For this, all you need to do is sit down and remind yourself of a couple of things. First, tell yourself that senioritis does not exist. Second, remember that the longer you procrastinate, the more stressed out you will become.

Third, make sure you have a healthy balance in your life between work, exercise and relaxation.

If you do those three things, then you will have a much easier time getting your work done. Of course, you could use the unconventional cure, but it doesn’t have as high of a success rate. If that’s the route you want to go, though, then I hope you can juggle!

Two weeks ago, we were all trapped inside due to the first really serious snow of the year. I don’t know about you, but I was definitely glad to have the day off from school.

However, as the day went on, I found myself quite bored; there’s only so much daytime TV one can watch, after all.

But instead of sitting around idly for the rest of the day, I decided to be active: I was going to bake cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies are definitely my favorite, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any chips lying around. And because of the terrible weather, I would have to make do with the ingredients I could find in my house.

What I ended up creating is not your typical cookie. In fact, the combination of ingredients may even seem a bit strange at first.

But trust me, once you take a bite out of these honey oatmeal treats, you’ll never think of cookies the same way again. The honey adds a sweet layer of flavor to the cookies, making chocolate chips completely unnecessary.

In the end, I’m glad I didn’t find any chocolate chips to use. Sometimes, you have more fun (and come up with something even tastier!) when you get a little creative.

What You’ll Need:

What To Do:

-2 cups flour

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

-½ teaspoon salt -1 ½ cups sugar

-Beat sugar, butter, honey and egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed.

-1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened

-Stir in flour mixture until combined, then stir in oats.

-2/3 cup honey

-Put the dough on the cookie sheet in ¼ cupfuls, spacing them a few inches apart.

-3 large egg whites -4 cups quick-cooking oats -1 cookie sheet

-Bake for 11 to 14 minutes, or until the edges are brown.

25

Balancing learning and love Many college students deal with handling the commitments of a relationship and academics ANN MARIE MASCIOLI Staff Writer

Maintaining a relationship while in college can prove to be very difficult. In a world where you are trying to balance schoolwork and a personal life, often times one takes priority. Sometimes you may lose sight of what is important and this in turn can damage your relationships.

According to Dr. Kathryn Hutchinson, executive director of Student Wellness and Affairs, the most important part of maintaining a healthy relationship is balance.

This balance, she said, comes from a strong set of boundaries. Hutchinson discussed how relationships in college can be more difficult because it is the first time in their lives that students are truly setting out their boundaries.

“You need to decide what your priorities are and set those boundaries,” she said.

This view was echoed by freshman finance major, Elizabeth Janson.

“Me and my boyfriend both have really rigorous schedules, so we accommodate each other,” said Janson.

“We’re really mature about it; school comes first.”

There are also other important considerations when determining whether or not your relationship is healthy.

You have to take time to look at your relationship and determine your motives for being in it. Feeling needy and lonely may drive you into a relationship and this can lead to a skewed set of expectations.

If you enter a relationship for a way of escaping your loneliness, you might put too much emphasis on what you want from your significant other.

If you are expecting undivided attention from your

significant other and aren’t considerate of his or her needs, it can drive you two apart.

“At this level, the idea that you need to put everything you have into a relationship isn’t always right,” said Hutchinson.

But, how do you manage to find a balance that works for both parties?

“Communication is key,” explained Hutchinson.

Both people need to express their positive and negative feelings as well as their needs. Either party may feel stress being brought on by the other partner or an outside source.

If this happens, communication allows for both participants in the relationship to understand each other.

“

If you have the capacity to be here academically, you are capable of a relationship.

”

-Dr. Kathryn Hutchinson hinson inson

said. “He is really supportive.”

She acknowledged that some adjustments were necessary in order for everything to work out.

“I just don’t take night classes now,” she said. “He’s older and working so that definitely helps.”

Stress can develop within a relationship and this may lead to trouble. It is important to detect the source of the stress. If the relationship is the stressor, it may be that you two are mismatched.

When expectations change on one side it causes stress. More importantly than the source of the stress is how you deal with it.

But more importantly, when you are stressed you don’t act normally or healthy.

Your coping skills are still developing at this stage in your life and honing these coping skills can be essential to leading a healthy relationship.

Being able to take responsibility for your actions in the relationship can make a big difference as well.

Participating in a healthy relationship while in college can be a lot of work and take a lot of patience. While it may seem impossible, don’t feel discouraged.

As Hutchinson encouraged, “If you have the capacity to be here academically, you are capable of a relationship.”

If you can manage to express these needs, such as time to do school work or attend to any other obligation, it may make the other party feel more secure in the relationship and not feel abandoned or ignored.

Jacklyn Davidov, a senior, has been married for a year and a half. Davidov feels that the support of her husband has allowed for her to continue with school successfully.

“It’s definitely really hard, but I’m managing,” she

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Visit our Web site for online exclusives. torchonline.com

SEAN MCGRATH Staff Writer

The TORCH

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moved. And most of us never learned how to take care of ourselves. So I’ve spent the last two years trying to get the skills and documents I need to prepare for an uncertain future.”

This book is the story of what he went through to do just that. Strauss struggled to obtain a second passport and an offshore bank account. He writes about how

are affected and this irony is not lost on him.

Emergency could be used as a jumping-off point for learning to be a survivalist. It has many resources in it to teach the reader the skills necessary to do so and mentions many more.

At the very least, this book is an entertaining story. Strauss’ writing is fluid and very funny. Once you pick the book up, it is hard to put down.

In the end, however, Strauss’ book gives the reader a glimpse at what it takes to achieve freedom.

Freedom is not the ability to run when disaster strikes because when you run, the disaster still has a hold over you.

Freedom is also not relying on the system for electricity, food, transportation, and other necessities because the system can fail you.

True freedom is freedom from dependency and laziness. We depend on supermarkets and subways. We have become slaves to the convenience of fast food and running water. But what happens when those things are taken away from us? If you are truly free, then you will be fine.

If anything, Emergency lets the reader know that Neil Strauss is a free man.

18 March 2009

Emergency: This Book Might Save Your Life by Neil Strauss might do just that. At the very least, it will give you a sneak peak into the life of a man who, in the span of three years, transformed himself into a survivalist ready to take on any difficulty man or nature throws his way.

Over the past few years, you might have found yourself asking, “What happens when the excrement hits the fan?”

Between natural disasters, terrorist attacks, the collapse of the economy, and the Y2K Bug, it is a wonder we are all still alive. Neil Strauss saw all these things happening around him and realized that if and when the excrement hits the fan, he would have no idea what to do. So he decided to fix that.

Strauss puts it best when the leader of an Urban Escape and Evasion Class asked him why he signed up for the course.

“I think things have changed for my generation,” he said.

“We were born with a silver spoon in our mouths, but now its being re-

he learned to track, hunt, kill, cook, and eat animals. He tells how he learned to fly a plane, hotwire a car, pick locks, deliver a baby and many more useful skills.

Throughout the three-year process, Strauss met and learned from an eclectic group of people including billionaires and paranoid doomsday sayers. He learned how to track from the legendary Tom Brown, who reputedly learned his skills from an Apache Indian shaman. He learned how to survive in the city from the same people who train navy SEALs, marines and SWAT teams.

In short, he learned every skill necessary for survival, be it shooting a gun or wielding a knife, from the experts.

Towards the end of the book, Strauss learns an important lesson. Running away from a dangerous situation may help you survive, but you never truly live until you confront the situation in a controlled and reasonable fashion.

This leads to him becoming an EMT and doing other things to help his community in times of need.

Strauss started all of this because he wanted to be able to escape disaster, but now, when disaster strikes, he is right in there on the front lines helping those who

FEATURES

Emergency: This Book Might Save Your Life

26

Secrets spill at SJU PATRICE BENDIG Features Editor This Thursday, Frank Warren, the creator of the book series Post Secret, will be speaking at St. John’s about his project that has become so popular.

The TORCH was able to sit down with Warren to talk about his experience with Post Secret and what to expect for Thursday’s event.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

Frank Warren will speak at SJU on March 19.

TORCH: Why did you create Post Secret?

Warren: I guess I needed to explore secrets of my own life.

When did Post Secret begin?

Post Secret started in November 2004. It started out as an art exhibit.

I printed out post cards inviting people to share their secrets and mail them to me. The secrets never stopped coming.

How many secrets do you get a week?

I receive 200 postcards a day from all around the world.

How many Post Secret books are there?

Four so far, with one coming out this year.

How many copies have the books sold so far?

Over a million copies, with the last one being number seven on the New York Times best seller’s list, which was published two years ago.

What is the Web site about?

Every Sunday, I put 20 secrets that I get a week, and I also share living secrets.

What do you speak about?

I share funny and inspirational stories behind the secrets and I like to project on screen secrets that were

banned from the book.

My favorite part is at the end I invite students to have an open uncensored discussion about all of our secrets, and that can be very emotional. Students can share heartbreaking secrets or hopeful secrets, and bring the audience together in a meaningful way.

How long will the lecture last?

The lectures are always full of surprises. It can go from an hour to an hour and a half. Afterwards I will be signing books and meeting with people individually.

Why did you choose St. John’s?

I usually go to schools that invite me, and I am happy to come where I am invited. In the last year I have been to 30 colleges, including SUNY Brockport.

Have any secrets struck a cord with you?

There have been a few actually.

One secret was mailed on a Starbucks cup that said “I serve decaf coffee to customers that are rude to me.”

Another secret showed a picture of the Twin Towers and read, “Everyone who knew me before 9/11 thinks I’m dead.”

What do you hope students will come away with on Thursday?

I hope students will come away thinking all of us have a secret that can break your heart if you just knew what it was.

Understanding that can help us develop passion and empathy, and can lead us to a more peaceful world.

Free tickets are available to all St. John’s students in the UC room 39 from 8:30 a.m to 3:00 p.m.

torchonline.com

The TORCH

18 March 2009

FEATURES

Writers welcome.

Photographers, graphic designers, cartoonists, editors, and business people welcome too.

If you have an interest, the TORCH has a role for you.

Come visit us for our next meeting of the semester, on March 17 during Common Hour in the UC room 29.

27

Baseball sweeps home opener CHRIS HARRIS Staff Writer Sometimes, the wins just aren’t enough.

Despite capping off a four-win seasonopening home stand with a 12-5 drubbing of Fairfield, the St. John’s baseball team is still on the perpetual road to improvement. With Big East play just around the corner, head coach Ed Blankmeyer is looking for the consistency to compete successfully in a challenging conference.

“Offensively, the guys are getting their hits, but it seems sometimes we’re not clicking on all cylinders,” Blankmeyer said. “Base running has been inconsistent, defensively we make key errors and our pitching is young and inexperienced. It’s going to take a little time to get things going.”

The win over Fairfield marked the sixth win in a row for the Red Storm (8-6) after being swept out of the BYU series last week. When the team officially opened Jack Kaiser Stadium for the 2009 season this past weekend, the theme was, again, pitching.

Pitching captain and senior leader Nick Luisi took the ball in the home opener against Albany on Friday and junior righty Bruce Kern got the call on Saturday against Fairfield. Combined, the

TORCH FILE PHOTO

Greg Hopkins led the Storm by going 7-17 with eight RBIs this weekend. two hurlers surrendered eight walks and comfort in the latter innings. Blankmeynine hits in 10.1 innings. er is continually searching for the right The Storm escaped with 8-6 and 3-2 formula to construct his pitching staff, wins, but costly errors and some ninth- but it seems with time, the roles will fill inning walks cost them the luxury of themselves.

“I think we’re getting close in that regard,” the 14th-year coach said. “It’s about performance. We had a problem with leadoff walks; now we have a problem with two-out walks. The timing of it is hard for the young guys to pitch out of. We just need to perform a little bit better.”

When Albany and Fairfield returned to The Jack on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively, the offense made sure there would not be any more close games, which couldn’t have made the starters any happier. St. John’s pounded out 40 hits in the two games; the win over Fairfield and a 14-7 decision over Albany.

Tuesday’s starter, freshman Eddie Medina, picked up his second win of the season despite giving up 10 hits and five runs, one of which was earned thanks to some two-out errors.

“It’s easy to be on the mound when your team scores seven runs in an inning,” said Medina, the benefactor of the third inning offensive outburst on Tuesday.

“They’re just constantly hitting. They work hard every day and they’re behind me on the field. When I’m in the dugout, they go out there and get me the run support. That was big today.”

One hitter he can particularly appreciate is sophomore third baseman Greg Hopkins, who went 7-17 with eight RBIs during the home stand and a three-run homerun on Friday.

Storm’s Frederick soars at NCAA Championship ANDREW DA SILVA Contributing Writer

SPORTS 18 March 2009 PHOTO COURTESY OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

The TORCH

Priscilla Frederick improved three inches on her high jump during the indoor season. proved three inches and consistently competed at a high level each and every week,” said head coach Jim Hurt of his star sophomore.

Frederick comes away from the indoor season with four wins, including a Metropolitan Championship, and six top-ten placements. Her efforts also earned

All-Big East and All-ECAC honors.

With the outdoor season looming, and far fewer meets close to home, the expectations for Frederick continue to rise.

“We have talked about Priscilla’s future. We are going to focus on the high jump the remainder of this year – outdoor

NCAAs and USA Nationals, which is the qualifying meet for the World Championship,” Hurt said. “Her 5’ 11 ½” jump is 12th best in the country, so we hope to go higher outdoors and compete for a World Championship spot if possible.”

Being among the best high jumpers in the nation, Frederick

could easily claim that spot on the national team if she continues to improve as she has in her first two years competing for the Red Storm.

As she prepares for the nation’s elite competition in the high jump, she will also continue to be integrated into the pentathlon when possible.

torchonline.com

Sophomore Priscilla Frederick was the lone St. John’s University athlete sent to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships held in College Station, Texas over the weekend. Her appearance continues the University’s dominant streak of 19 straight years of having an athlete compete at the event.

Frederick, coming off an impressive sixth-place showing at the USA Track and Field Indoor Nationals, was the youngest athlete in the high jump and placed 14th. She faced such familiar competition as Connecticut’s Carin Knight, and placed just one spot behind Rachel Gehret of Louisville.

As it did in the Big East Championships, Frederick’s score caught her in a tie, once again not ruling in her favor.

Because it took her two tries to clear at a height of 1.75 meters, she was awarded 14th place, along with Kelly McNamee of the University of Washington.

Spots 11 through 16 were decided based on misses, as all finished with a height of 1.75 m, but Kristen Meister of California and Dess Meek of Sam Houston State edged out the others because they cleared the bar on their first tries at heights of 1.70 and 1.75 meters.

“Priscilla’s indoor season was a coach’s dream, as she im-

29

Michaelsen and the Storm are winning, and it’s fun MATT PASCONE Staff Writer

TORCH PHOTO/LAURA AMATO

Trevor Michaelsen is an ECAC Player of the Week honoree.

Senior year of college is supposed to be the time of your life and thanks to hard work and overall leadership, that is proving to be true for St. John’s lacrosse senior Trevor Michaelsen.

In his third year playing for the Red Storm after transferring from Rutgers, Michaelsen and his No. 16 Red Storm haven’t experienced a season like this in a very long time.

“Absolutely,” Michaelsen said about this being the most fun he’s had on the field since transferring here.

“Winning does it for us, it’s no fun losing.”

Losing was all the Red Storm seniors were used to for quite some time, especially after coming off a two win season last year.

What a difference a year has made.

At 4-1 overall, the Red Storm has changed that losing culture into a winning one within just five games of the season’s start.

“The change has been senior leadership,” said Michaelsen. “We make sure everyone is working hard.”

On top of senior leadership, overall play from Michaelsen as well as other seniors has propelled the Red Storm to this historic start.

With five goals and two assists against Drexel on March 7, Michaelsen earned the ECAC Player of the Week honor the following Monday.

The award was the first of Michalesen’s career.

In the Red Storm’s signature victory over Georgetown back on Feb. 28, a victory that could be considered not only a season-changer , but a program-changer as well, Michaelsen delivered for the Red Storm with two goals and one assist.

With the Red Storm’s recent success comes a reputation to now live up to, and play the way they have started the season.

Michaelsen knows the competition will be gunning for them.

“Each team has put a bull’s eye on our chest,” said the Red Storm attacker. “Teams are going to be coming harder and harder after us.

Incoming freshman and the development of other underclassmen has been key to the Red Storm’s outstanding start, but as is the case with most college sports,

the seniors have shouldered the load.

The winning Michaelsen has experienced this year has humbled him, but he will never forget where he and the Red Storm were last season.

“We have to continue to work hard each day,” Michaelsen said. “We all remember where we came from last year.”

With about a month and a half of regular season left, St. John’s lacrosse still has the better half of their schedule remaining.

All the hard work they have put in to turn around a program which appeared heading in the wrong direction has paid off. Now it’s time to turn the doubters into believers.

With that being said, there is only one goal for this season.

“We have to make the playoffs,” Michaelsen said.

“Each week we have to have a chance and make a run Memorial Weekend.”

With the playoffs still a good two months away, the Red Storm’s playoff push starts now.

It starts a lot sooner than most teams, but most teams vying for postseason play didn’t win just two games last season.

Streaking Storm drop first game of young season KATIE BECKMANN Staff Writer

“It was a tough game, and a tough loss against a very good opponent,” Buckley said. “We played very hard and the effort was there, we just made too many mistakes to win the game.

“We had our chances, and fought back to make it 8-7 in the 4th quarter, but against a good team like Loyola you can’t make a lot of mistakes and expect to win.

We have to keep our heads up though, and focus on the next game.”

For coverage of Tuesday’s lacrosse game against Siena, visit our blog at torchsports.wordpress.com

Women’s hoops earns spot in WNIT tourney League recipients on their squad, including Brogan Berry, a first-team All-Ivy League freshman who was unanimously named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

Berry averaged 11.9 points per game this season.

The Crimson’s biggest offensive threat is Emma Malarkey, who averaged 14.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, starting every game in 2008-09. Malarkey was the team’s leading scorer in 10 of the team’s 28 games.

The Red Storm will be led by Big East freshman of the year Da’Shena Stevens, who also landed a spot on the Big East freshman team. Stevens is the team’s second-leading scorer with 11.7 per game,

picking up where the suspended Monique McLean left off.

The winner will travel to Hartford March 22 to play the Hawks.

Six Big East conference teams received bids in the WNIT, including defending WNIT champion Marquette. A total of 13 teams are playing in postseason tournaments.

Last season, the Red Storm advanced as far as the semifinal round of the WNIT before losing to North Carolina State 63-61.

Kia Wright, in what would be her last game for the Red Storm, led the team with 16 points on 5-12 shooting, including 2-5 from three-point range.

torchonline.com

For the second straight year the St. John’s women’s basketball team will be participating in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The Red Storm were notified Monday that they have received an at-large bid by the organization to play.

The Johnnies will host Harvard in the opening round of the tournament Friday at 7 p.m. in Carneseca Arena in the firstever meeting between the two teams.

The Johnnies (17-14, 4-12) are com-

ing off a second round exit in the Big East tournament after falling to Notre Dame 62-45.

Despite a dismal 4-12 conference record, the Johnnies are 13-2 against nonconference opponents and is 11-5 at home this season.

Harvard enters the WNIT tournament having won six of its last seven games.

The Crimson’s most recent game was an Ivy League finals loss to Dartmouth, 64-51, ending the defending-Ivy League champion’s hopes at repeating.

Harvard finished the season 19-9 with an 11-3 Ivy League record and is 10-4 on the road.

The Crimson boast three All-Ivy

The TORCH

CHRIS HARRIS Staff Writer

18 March 2009

dominated in time of possession,” junior goalie Gavin Buckley, who finished the game with a career-high 18 saves, said.

“They dominated that quarter, and I think that was where they won the game.”

Offensively, the Red Storm was led by a balanced attack. Seniors Drew Schanen and Trevor Michaelsen each had two goals while senior Malcolm Miles, sophomore Terence Leach, and freshman Carl Iacona each had a goal. Iacona and classmate Harry Kutner each added an assist.

After the second period, the attack fought back and cut the score to 8-7 with 10:07 left to play.

Loyola would respond with three unanswered goals to cut any hope of a Red Storm comeback.

SPORTS

When the No. 16 St. John’s men’s lacrosse team traveled to face the Loyola Greyhounds on Saturday, there were glimpses where the Red Storm, then 4-0, looked a lot like last year’s 2-11 team.

St. John’s suffered their first lost of the season, falling to the Loyola Greyhounds, 10-7. With the loss, the Red Storm slip to 4-1 (1-1 ECAC) while No. 14 Loyola improves to 5-2 and stands undefeated in the conference.

The Red Storm started the game off slow – not winning face-offs, making errors – and then put themselves in

a hole that they couldn’t climb out of.

They would start to make a run and cut the score, but then fatigue would end up catching up with them.

“We’re obviously disappointed not to get the win,” head coach Jason Miller said. “We had plenty opportunities, and its frustrating not to have capitalized. We got off to a good start, and then the wheels came off for a stretch in the second quarter. We fought back hard, but the second quarter really hurt us.”

St. John’s led in the first quarter, 2-0, but after a six-goal run from the Greyhounds in the second period, the Red Storm were not able to recover.

“It was in the seconnd quarter where we had trouble clearing, and we couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively because they

30

Red Storm granted bid St. John’s will compete in the second ever College Basketball Invitational

torchonline.com

The TORCH

18 March 2009

SPORTS

BILL SAN ANTONIO Assistant Sports Editor The St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team will be playing in a postseason tournament this year.

While that may seem like a shock to some in the college basketball world, the Johnnies have earned a spot in the second ever College Basketball Invitational. The appearance is the program’s first in a postseason tournament since the 2003 NIT. They will play Richmond at the Robbins Center Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Head coach Norm Roberts said his team is looking forward to the tournament, considering it an opportunity for the Red Storm to play more basketball after their embarrassing Big East tournament exit to Marquette last week in which the team scored just 10 points in the first half, a new tournament low.

“They’re excited to play,” Roberts said. “They’re eager to grow as a team.”

The CBI is a single elimination tournament made up of 16 teams that is in only its second year. The tournament consists of eight first-round games, four quarterfinal games, a semifinal round, and concludes with a best-of-three championship series. Each game is played on the home team’s campus, and bracketing is done by the East, Midwest, South, and West geographical regions.

The first round of the tournament will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, with Quarterfi-

nals beginning March 23.

According to the tournament’s website, teams are selected not just on conference and non-conference regular season records, but how well teams are playing at the end of the season and in their respective conference tournaments. Roberts thinks that his team’s four wins in its last seven games, in arguably the best conference in Division I basketball this year, has something to do with the selection.

“I think we played well down the stretch but came up just a bit short at times,” Roberts said.

Though St. John’s is just 2-8 away from New York City this season, it will look to continue playing basketball at the high level it reached at the end of the regular season and in the Big East tournament.

“This tournament will be a stepping stone for us to get better as a team so that we will have more success in the Big East Tournament and eventually get to the NCAA Tournament,” Roberts said.

Roberts said Richmond’s play is similar to that of Big East-rival Georgetown, a team the Red Storm beat twice this season. With two sharpshooters on the perimeter who can make plays as well as a dominant big man inside, Richmond has enough talent to make Roberts think his team must play well all-around to have a chance at beating the Spiders.

Richmond finished 18-15 this season, including a 9-7 mark in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders’ most impressive win was theri 80-75 March 7 victory over

TORCH PHOTO/LAURA AMATO

Norm Roberts says his team is excited for the College Basketball Invitational. then-No. 17 Xavier.

Sophomore guard Kevin Anderson leads the Spiders, averaging 16.6 points per game.

Anderson dropped 29 points against Xavier.

“[Richmond] played very well down the stretch going into the Atlantic 10 Tournament,” Roberts said. “We are going to have to rebound both offensively and defensively and

make shots.”

Among this year’s invitees are the Pac-10’s Oregon State and Stanford, Boise State, Buffalo, Houston, Wichita State, Northeastern, and Nevada.

Did he just say what I think he just said?

Sometimes the man speaks and I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

“I think there’s been production this year. We’ve had a pretty good year this year.”

That was Norm Roberts in his postgame press conference after Marquette pounded his Red Storm on their so-called home floor, beating them by 29 points and holding the Johnnies to a record-low 10 points in the first half of their secondround game in the Big East Tournament.

Fine. Keep your guys’ heads up. Let them know you appreciate the hard work they’ve put in for you over the past few months.

But don’t treat your fans like fools in the process. This is what Norm wants us to believe is a “pretty good year” for St. John’s basketball: A below .500, 16-17 record with just six of those wins coming against Big East opponents.

An 0-10 mark against the top 8 regular season finishers in the Big East with those Big East foes averaging a 19.6-point margin of victory in those ten games.

A 13th place finish in the Big East.

Five losses by more than 20 points, and 16 of their 17 losses by more than 10 points.

Norm’s definition of a pretty good season makes me hope desperately this team doesn’t have his definition of an off year next season.

But the Storm did get invited to the CBI. That’s something, right?

Frankly, I could care less about their recent invite to the College Basketball Invitational and, in complete transparent honesty, I didn’t even know what it was until Sunday. I had to look up the year-old tournament when I learned that the Red Storm had been graced with the privilege of playing in the Gazelle Group sports marketing firm’s exciting postseason “classic” on Sunday.

In last year’s inaugural tournament, perennial basketball powerhouse Tulsa beat Bradley (I had to look them up, too) in a three-game championship series for the title.

“CBI, NIT, NCAA, it didn’t really matter to me,” Tulsa forward Calvin Walls

said after the big game last year. “I said, `You know, if we’re going to be in this tournament, it gives us an opportunity to go out there and show people what we could do and how good of a team we are and that we could win a championship, no matter what tournament it was.”

I almost hope that St. John’s doesn’t win this thing, because if I were to hear Norm say something like that about a tournament as insignificant as the CBI, I would not be happy.

And as always, what’s most frustrating to me is that no one seems to care. At least no one that can do anything about it. University President Rev. Donald Harrington is in clear support of Norm.

“Fair, unfair, I understand why people really want us to win on a regular basis at the top immediately,” he told the TORCH on Thursday, just one day after the Storm’s embarrassing loss to Marquette.

“I don’t think anybody’s more in that category than Norm Roberts.

“But I’ve also seen what has to get done to get where we are now, and I think we’ve made great progress, and I have great confidence that Norm is going to be able to bring us back there. He’s a fine man and a fine coach.”

Certainly a CBI championship won’t

save Roberts’ reputation for the creator of the recently discovered firenormnow.com, or the 255 people who have signed the Web site’s petition calling for his release.

But there is something that may help the man’s appearance under the New York media’s microscope and New York sports fandom’s telescope. Lincoln high school star Lance Stephenson’s collegiate decision is presumably less than a week away, and many feel that he is what Norm and the Storm need to fix this mess.

And, I don’t typically believe much in messiahs, but I admittedly hope like hell that Lance and Anthony Mason, Jr. have the chance to become great pals next year.

But, as much as I’d like Stephenson to be a Johnny, at this point I don’t see how he can pick St. John’s over Kansas or Memphis.

If the rumors are true and Lance is a guaranteed one-and-done, the kid has got to be thinking about national attention next season. He couldn’t expect to help his draft pick on a team that’s going to be entering the season with dreams of the NIT. That said, Lance, please. I can’t keep listening to Norm talk like that.

31

in invite tourney

TORCH SPORTS

STORM

CAST

Leavin’ their Mark Lance: ‘a week away’

Following Abraham Lincoln High School’s 76-64 Sunday win over Boys and Girls at Carnesecca Arena, recruiting prize Lance Stephenson spoke briefly with the TORCH. When asked how far away he was from making a college committment, Stephenson replied: “About a week away.”

The Lincoln senior is one of the highly coveted prospects of the class of 2009, with Kansas, Maryland, and St. John’s among his narrowed list of potential colleges. Though each of those teams were active in their respective conference tournaments, Stephenson said he did not follow any of the tournament games, nor will he allow their respective successes influence his collegiate decision.

On the Blog

torchsports.wordpress.com Follow the CBI tournament on The Backpage and check out TORCH sportswriters and resident CBI bracketologists Matt Choquette and Bill San Antonio’s respective picks.

Cut out the bracket to the left and play along.

Blowin’ in the Wind

COURTESY OF THE GAZELLE GROUP

Headin’ this Way Red Storm home games

Baseball:

St. John’s Postseason History: At a Glance

Villanova Villanova Villanova

3 p.m.

1 p.m.

Noon

Lacrosse: Mar. 21 Lehigh

2 p.m.

Softball: Mar. 18 Hofstra Mar. 25 Rider (DH)

4 p.m..

3 p.m.

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Visit our blog at torchsports.wordpress.com

The TORCH

The Red Storm have made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances NCAA Tournament Record: 27-28 The Red Storm have made 27 NIT appearances NIT Record: 42-29 ECAC NY-NJ Regional Playoff Record: 7-3 in 5 appearances The Red Storm have won 5 NIT Championships: 1943, 1944, 1959, 1965, 1989 Their 2002 NCAA appearance was vacated by the NCAA in 2006 Their 2003 NIT Championship was vacated by the NCAA in 2006

Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Mar. 22

18 March 2009

”

-Rev. Donald Harrington

SPORTS

“

Fair, unfair, I understand why people really want us to win on a regular basis at the top immediately. I don’t think anybody’s more in that category than Norm Roberts.

SPORTS 18 MARCH 2009 | VOLUME 86, ISSUE 18 | TORCHONLINE.COM

TORCH PHOTO/ LAURA AMATO

TORCHSPORTS.WORDPRESS.COM

The lacrosse team dropped its first game this weekend, a 10-7 loss to Loyola on the road on Saturday.

Despite a disappointing conference record, the women’s basketball team earn a bid in the WNIT.

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