The Heights 12/6/12 by The Heights

The Heights will return on Jan. 17, 2013. Happy Holidays! york’s road to 925

season’s greetings best

sports

Metro

Team-first attitude defines legendary coach’s success, B4

Boston welcomes the holidays with 71st annual tree lighting on the Common, D1

scene Before the ball drops on 2013, The Scene reflects on the year’s pop culture highlights, A10

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Vol. XCIII, No. 47

Addazio named new coach Former Temple head coach arrives to take reins of BC football By Austin Tedesco Heights Editor

Steve Addazio is the new head coach for the Boston College football team. A press conference was held yesterday to introduce the former Temple University head coach, who will take over for Frank Spaziani less than two weeks after the former coach was fired. “The mantra of Boston College is ‘Ever to Excel,’” said Athletic Director Brad Bates. “Today we celebrate a leader who thrives in the context of daily striving for excellence.” Addazio was signed to a six-year contract. He most recently led the Owls to a 9-4 record and their first bowl win in 32 years during his first season as a head

GLC launches new #Ellen2BC endeavor online

coach in 2011. Temple then moved to the Big East from the Mid-American Conference last year, and went 4-7. Addazio also served under head coach Urban Meyer at the University of Florida, and won two national championships during his time with the Gators. “I’m here for the long haul, and I’m here to win championships,” Addazio said. “And win championships with class and honor and develop young men on the football field and off the football field and in the classroom—men that are going to leave Boston College one day and are going to make a difference in society and this world we live in in a positive way.” Addazio is from New England and remembers where he watched Doug Flutie’s pass to Gerard Phalen. He also was a fouryear starter for Central Connecticut State University during the late ’70s, and he recalled driving up to BC with his friends at the end of every season to watch the Eagles play Holy Cross. He knew back then that

See Addazio, A4

By Devon Sanford Heights Editor

of success, because it supports what we believe to be true—that social media at BC has been and will continue to be on an upward trajectory,” said Patricia Delaney, co-chair of BC’s Social Media Council (SMC) and Office of News and Public Affairs Deputy Director. BC first became involved in social media in 2009, when the SMC created Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages for the University. Since then, BC has become active on Flickr, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest. The University has over 25,000 Twitter followers and an average of over

Across Facebook newsfeeds and Twitter pages, “#Ellen2BC” has spread like wildfire. Last week, Boston College’s GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) launched a social media campaign to host Ellen DeGeneres, television talk show host and GLBTQ activist, as a keynote speaker next semester. Laura DelloStritto, GLC Chief of Staff and A&S ’13, hopes that the “Ellen2BC” campaign will bring awareness to the GLBTQ community on campus. “Ideally, we would like Ellen to speak about her experiences as an LGBTQ individual,” DelloStritto said. “We would love to hear her discuss her experience coming out, the difficulties she has faced, and how she has overcome those difficulties to become who she is today.” Since the campaign began, DelloStritto and the GLC committee have created an “Ellen2BC” Twitter and Facebook page, which has received over 800 likes. They have reached out to clubs, organizations, sports teams, and academic departments on campus, asking for support. The committee has also released a letter that outlines the campaign’s goals and GLC’s history on BC’s campus. The letter, which has received over 1,500 signatures, reads, in part: “As you know, it is not always easy to be an LBGTQ individual in certain situations. Here at BC, it is often challenging to be an LGBTQ student as the religious ties of our university make support for this community difficult and, in some situations, contested. “The GLBTQ Leadership Council itself was not created by the university but was instead a student Senate initiative in 2004, less than 10 years ago. This came after formal university rejection of an LGBTQ group four times since 1974. Since the creation of GLC, students have played a key role in leading the charge for LGBTQ visibility, resources, and education on campus.” The GLC believes that DeGeneres, as a keynote speaker, would be an educational opportunity for those who are and are not members of the GLBTQ community. “We came up with the idea for this campaign while we were brainstorming ideas to raise awareness about LGBTQ resources in the BC community,” DelloStritto said. “One of the main obstacles GLC faces is a lack of visibility. Many students, including those who could really benefit from the resource we offer, are unaware that we exist. GLC not only strives to produce programming that is both entertaining and educational

See Klout Score, A4

See Ellen2BC, A4

graham beck / heights editor

New head football coach Steve Addazio gave an introductory press conference on Wednesday.

Athletes walk thin line when on the Internet By Austin Tedesco Heights Editor

In a split second, 140 characters can set off a firestorm. One day before the Boston College women’s soccer team kicked off against Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, an otherwise ordinary game in the middle of November, sparked attention across the nation. BC sophomore forward Stephanie McCaffrey posted a series of tweets on Twitter mocking the sexual abuse scandal that led to sanctions for the entire athletic department at Penn State. “I wonder if well get into the visitors locker room at Penn state! I hear the showers are weiners only, 10 and under,” read one tweet from McCaffrey. A Penn State blog caught on to the tweets, and the post was picked up by ESPN and The Huffington Post. While many student-athletes and coaches use Twitter and Facebook to build excitement and publicity for their sports and their schools, mistakes are inevitably made, and can be catastrophic. Every athletic department in college sports is quickly trying to find the best ways to use and to monitor social media. Two weeks after the McCaffrey fiasco, the social media policies in the BC athletic department remain unchanged. The department put head coaches in charge of creating rules that are consistent with individual team philosophies, according to associate athletic director of media relations Chris Cameron. Two social media experts did meet with the BC coaches and players this semester, however, to educate them about the power of even the smallest post, and that education process has continued. The athletic department also gave out cards this week to student-athletes with a list of things to do and not to do on Facebook and Twitter. It advises them to keep their accounts private, accept friend or follower requests only from people they know, post positive statements about their team or other teams, and thank their fans for support—but not to repeat anything said in the locker room, post about a tough loss before getting a chance to sleep on it, complain about their lives, engage in “Twitter beefs,” or use Twitter as a form of text messaging. While universities including North Carolina and Kentucky pay up to $10,000 a year for companies to monitor their student athletes’ social media posts, BC has a simpler approach. The sports information directors keep track of most of the student athletes’ social media accounts on their own. The athletic department also sees helping students understand social media and its potential impact as a more important goal than just acting as “Big Brother,” according to Cameron. Warren Zola, an expert on student

See Social Media, A5

jordan pentaleri / for the heights

The Social Media Council, formed last March, oversees BC’s presence in social media. The University has been recognized for its online efforts.

BC earns recognition for effective social media By Sam Costanzo Asst. News Editor

Boston College was ranked ninth nationwide on Mashable.com’s list of most social colleges and universities, which was published on Sept. 29. The ranking was based in part on universities’ Klout scores, which show how influential a particular institution is on social networking websites. As of publication time, BC’s score was 89 out of 100. The Klout score is designed to help universities, businesses, and other organizations better understand their social

media presence. It is based on the number of times an institution is interacted with on various sites, in relation to the amount of content it creates. On Twitter, for example, the buzz created by 1,000 retweets of 100 original tweets adds more to an institution’s score than if followers retweeted 1,000 of the institution’s tweets 100 times. The number of mentions or likes on Facebook, retweets on Twitter, and connections on LinkedIn, among interactions on other sites, all contribute to scores. As a result, these scores are constantly fluctuating. “We’re happy to see BC’s social media presence recognized by external indicators

middle campus lights up

Heading into Winter Break, Stokes construction on time New academic building set to open in January By Eleanor Hildebrandt Heights Editor

alex gaynor / heights staff

Gasson Hall shines in the background of Boston College’s Christmas tree, which University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. lit on Wednesday night in the annual holiday ceremony.

Construction on Stokes Hall, the first new academic building on Boston College’s Middle Campus since 2001, is continuing on schedule as the Fall semester comes to a close. According to Associate Vice President of Capital Projects Management Mary Nardone, furnishings have already been installed, meeting the November deadline. Final landscaping, which involves planting bushes around the base of the building and finishing the amphitheater behind the building, is in progress. The fences around the grassy area have been removed, and the newly opened walkway is already seeing significant foot traffic. “We’ve been fortunate with the recent weather, so the landscaping is in good shape,” Nardone said in an email. “Inside the building, before opening for the Spring semester, we still have Audio Visual installations underway, the startup of the coffee bar, and of course the faculty moves.” Construction on Stokes, which is named

after BC alumnus and trustee Patrick T. Stokes, broke ground on Oct. 4, 2010, and Executive Vice President Patrick J. Keating said in an email that a dedication ceremony would most likely take place next June. The building offers numerous naming opportunities for alumni and supporters of the University. For $100,000 or more, donators can name a 20-student classroom, a seminar room, or a faculty or department chair office. A donation of $1 million or more warrants the naming rights for the Honors Library, the Function Room, larger classrooms—including the performance and lecture halls—or the garden beneath the Link passageway, which connects the North and South wings of the building. Contributions of $5 million or more allow the donator to name the Stokes Hall Commons, the lawn next to College Road, the Link passageway itself, or the new Campus Green. Vice President for Development and Campaign Director Thomas Lockerby said that his office would keep the names and donation amounts private until the dedication ceremony next summer. “We have been gratified to have both the tremendous support of the Stokes Family as well as significant gifts from several BC alumni and BC parents,”

See Stokes Update, A4

TopTHREE

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

things to do on campus this week

Sufi Music & Poetry Today Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: Gasson 112

Latif Bolat will play Turkish folk music and devotional Sufi songs from the Anatolian peninsula land of the mystic poets, Yunus Emre and Niyazi Misri. He will also recite the devotional poetry of Yunus Emre and Rumi, 13th century Sufi poets.

Catwalk Christmas: Ugly Sweater Auction

Today Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: McGuinn 121

Hosted by BC Residence Hall Association, athletes and Jesuits will model ugly sweaters, which will be auctioned off to benefit charity.

Heightsmen Fall Cafe

Friday Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: Devlin 008 The Heightsmen of Boston College will perform their biggest concert of the semester and debut their new songs.

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University

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National Science Foundation to expand graduate grant program Since its inception, the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program has given top-performing students three years of tuition, salary, and some travel expenses. Now the program is expanding to offer a fourth year for some students to work in a university lab oversees. Through arrangements that the foundation has developed with at least eight countries, the cost will be covered by the host nations. The National Science Foundation has acknowledged the quality of foreign science facilities and hopes to give American students access to them. Partner countries, currently France, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Norawy, Singapore, South Korea, and Sweden, hope to gain from developing lasting partnerships with the visiting scholars.

On Campus Senior Rachel Newmiller won Home Depot grant for Campus School improvement A four year volunteer for the BC Campus School, Rachel Newmiller, A&S ’13, recently led an effort to install flowerbeds that were adapted for students with special-needs. A biology major and Presidential Scholar from Dresher, PA, Newmiller has worked in woodworking and sculpture since high school. Working as a transitional coordinator and an occupational therapist, Newmiller has created customized devices for students to assist in classroom learning. In her application to the West Roxbury Home Depot, she described the work the Campus School did and the successes and joy of the students. After winning the “Team Depot” grant to fund the project, the team at Home Depot volunteered their time and donated equipment to make the building of the multileveled flowerbeds possible. In addition to the flowerbeds, Newmiller also designed a slanted table that would allow immobile students the opportunity to touch and feel various plants. With her experience in threedimensional design, she worked in the Smithsonian Museum to build exhibits and hopes to continue working in nonprofits after graduation.

Local News Court delays sentencing for former Newton teacher in child porn case The sentencing of David Ettlinger, formerly a second grade teacher at Underwood Elementary School, has been delayed from Nov. 29 to Jan. 8 because of court scheduling conflicts. In January, he was arrested in his Brighton home and has been charged with possession of child pornography. As a part of an investigation since 2009, Ettlinger has been linked to “Dreamboard,” an online forum for pedophilia and sexual abuse. When he was arrested, he was found with child pornography and a video of him abusing a 14 year-old girl.

featured story

Dubois discusses history and instability of Haiti By Brandon Stone Heights Staff

This past Wednesday, Dec. 5, the Lowell Humanities Series featured Laurent Dubois, the Marcello Lotti Professor of romance studies and history at Duke University, in its last event of the semester. Dubois discussed his recent book, Haiti: The Aftershocks of History, relating the history of Haiti from its independence in 1804 to the present day. He recalled that “after the earthquake [in Haiti], I was frustrated by the lack of information people in America had about Haiti despite the tremendous number of connections in the history of the two nations.” He posited that Haiti’s future could be rebuilt only if its past is taken seriously. The event was highlighted by a slideshow of art from Haiti, which Dubois used to complement and enhance his retelling of Haiti’s history. He began by discussing the slave revolution in 1802, which he called a “revolution for human rights … drawing on much of the language from the French Revolution, Haiti created a

Kylie Montero / Heights Staff

At the Lowell Humanities Series, Laurent Dobois, a professor at Duke, expounds on the U.S.-Haiti relation in the 20th revolutionary egalitarian culture.” Dubois emphasized how much of this was a result of the incredibly diverse population that made up Haiti. The vast majority of Haitians in 1804 were slaves who had lived most of their lives in Africa. After the revolution, “there was a profound conflict over the meaning of freedom … in

large part shaped by the idea that freedom was fragile.” As a result, Haiti went through a long stalemate, in which it was divided by two opposite strategies: whether to embrace plantations as an economic vehicle or do away completely with such a system. This stalemate contributed to the 19th century in which Dubois argued “the

state exercised very tenuous power in much of the country … frequent conflict between governing elites had a limited effect on how most of the population led their lives.” Dubois also stressed that the popular conception that Haiti has never had a democratic movement is untrue. Specifically, he pointed to the demo-

cratic movement in the 1840s, which he said represented demands for true participation in governance. However, Haiti has a history of retrenchment: “Each time one of these movements moved for ward, the state moved back.” Dubois spent much of the second half of his presentation discussing the shared history of Haiti and the U.S. Specifically, he proposed that the “driving force in shaping Haiti in the 20th century was the rise of U.S. power.” Dubois recounted the 20-year U.S. occupation of Haiti beginning in 1915, which he said “is something Haitians remember vividly, but most people in the U.S. are unaware of.” He then discussed the degree of interconnectedness between the two nations. Large amounts of immigration, business relations, and cultural influence were the norm in the 20th century and today. Dubois emphasized how he believed that Americans need to understand how intertwined their history is with that of Haiti, ending by remarking that, “reminding ourselves of our historic connections reminds us that a different future is always possible.” n

Police Blotter

Voices from the Dustbowl

12/3/12-12/5/12

“If you could name your own reindeer, what would you name it?”

Monday, December 3

Campus.

8:54 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm in the Flynn Sports Complex.

1:42 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance in Cushing Hall (dorm).

11:51 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance in the Middle Campus Lots.

2:54 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance from the Flynn Sports Complex.

2:00 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a larceny in Vanderslice Hall. 5:23 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding providing assistance to another police department on Beacon Street. 5:48 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance in Conte Forum. 6:44 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding an actual fire in the Mods. 9:25 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding found property in the St. Ignatius Lot. 9:41 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm in Edmond’s Hall. 11:29 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance in Stayer Hall.

4:30 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a lost parking permit. 4:33 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a traffic accident the Commonwealth garage.

“Danny.” —Karalyn Hulton, LSOE ’16

11:35 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding an audible alarm in the Merkert Chemistry Center.

“Jumpy.” —Chris Klotsche, CSOM ’16

Wednesday, December 5 5:19 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance.

“Evie.” —Juyoung Rim,

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

A&S ’16

Today

39° Sunny 26°

Friday

47° Few Showers 39°

Saturday

53° Showers 37°

Sunday

51° Showers 33°

Source: National Weather Service

A Guide to Your Newspaper The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467 Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223 Editorial General (617) 552-2221 Managing Editor (617) 552-4286 News Desk (617) 552-0172 Sports Desk (617) 552-0189 Metro Desk (617) 552-3548 Features Desk (617) 552-3548 Arts Desk (617) 552-0515 Photo (617) 552-1022 Fax (617) 552-4823 Business and Operations General Manager (617) 552-0169 Advertising (617) 552-2220 Business and Circulation (617) 552-0547 Classifieds and Collections (617) 552-0364 Fax (617) 552-1753 EDITORIAL RESOURCES News Tips Have a news tip or a good idea for a story? Call David Cote, News Editor, at (617) 552-0172, or e-mail news@ bcheights.com. For future events, e-mail, fax, or mail a detailed description of the event and contact information to the News Desk. Sports Scores Want to report the results of a game? Call Greg Joyce, Sports Editor, at (617) 552-0189, or e-mail sports@bcheights.com. Arts Events The Heights covers a multitude of events both on and off campus – including concerts, movies, theatrical performances, and more. Call Brennan Carley, Arts and Review Editor, at (617) 552-0515, or e-mail arts@ bcheights.com. For future events, e-mail, fax, or mail a detailed description of the event and contact information to the Arts Desk. Clarifications / Corrections The Heights strives to provide its readers with complete, accurate, and balanced information. If you believe we have made a reporting error, have information that requires a clarification or correction, or questions about The Heights standards and practices, you may contact Taylour Kumpf, Editor-in-Chief, at (617) 552-2223, or e-mail editor@ bcheights.com. CUSTOMER SERVICE Delivery To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact Dan Ottaunick, General Manager at (617) 552-0547. Advertising The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the BC community. To submit a classified, display, or online advertisement, call our advertising office at (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday.

9:39 p.m. - An officer filed a report on a University Stay Away order.

Tuesday, December 4 9:05 a.m. - An officer filed a larceny report regarding a stolen bicycle on Lower

“Eagle.” —Kevin McGann, A&S ’16

Four Day Weather Forecast

CORRECTIONS In the Dec. 3 issue, the article titled ‘Sophomores discuss study abroad experiences’ should have been titled ‘Students discuss study abroad esperiences.’

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Superlatives bring wrong perspective

Princeton professor speaks about the Eurozone crisis Julie Orenstein For The Heights

The economic disaster that currently plagues the Eurozone is a result of three interlocking crises relating to sovereign debt, banking, and balance of payments, according to Princeton University professor Hyun Song Shin, who spoke at Boston College Tuesday. Shin’s lecture, entitled “The Euro Crisis through the Lens of Capital Flow Reversals,” was the seventh of eight in the BC International Economic Policy and Political Economy Seminar series, which has featured speakers from the academic world as well as from policy institutions throughout the fall semester. The series, sponsored by the BC Institute for the Liberal Arts, focuses on policymaking for the present-day economic climate, emphasizing political and strategic outlooks. As the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics at Princeton, Shin is an Oxford-educated expert in macroeconomics and economic finance, and began his discussion with basic banking concepts and methods in order to more clearly explain the current situation in Europe. On the liabilities side of a bank’s balance sheet, Shin specified that there are core liabilities, which include those to domestic households and non-financial claim holders; these amount to depositors’ wealth and are very stable. There are also non-core liabilities, those to financial intermediaries and foreign creditors. It is non-core liabilities, Shin said, that reflect the expansion of lending beyond “normal” levels, indicating that banks must turn to foreign creditors in addition to domestic depositors when they need to borrow more money to then lend to new borrowers. Where this practice becomes dangerous is when loans financed by non-core liabilities are of lower credit quality than those funded by core liabilities. Shin explained that during an economic boom, new borrowers who may not have had access to credit before are given loans by expanding banks, yet these borrowers have a

Matt Palazzolo “You’re beautiful.” I have heard this phrase countless times: on sitcoms and rom-coms, at dining halls and at parties. Guys are always eager to break out the “b” word when smooth-talking a girl. I, though, have higher standards for this simple word. In fact, I have never directly called a girl beautiful before. My rationale can aptly be summarized by the Simon Cowell corollary. Anyone who watched American Idol, back when it was relevant, must remember the contrasting judging styles of Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. Paula would shower every contestant with praise, regardless of how well they performed. Simon, on the other hand, reserved praise for only the best contestants, while everyone else was pummeled with snarky criticism. Accordingly, Paula’s praise was analogous to a participation medal, while Simon’s was a treasured asset. In today’s society, superlatives are a hyper-inflated and worthless currency. Obama is the worst president ever. LeBron James is the best basketball player of all time. Even Boston College students take part in the hyper-inflation, labeling Spaz the worst football coach in BC history. I loathe these overused superlatives. For me, beautiful is the ultimate descriptive superlative that transcends mere physical attractiveness. If and when I call a girl beautiful, I will truly mean it. Likewise, when reflecting on my first semester of senior year, I have a similar aversion to superlatives. From the start, first semester has an inherent disadvantage over second semester. Second semester is roughly 20 days longer and contains the prized Spring Break. While the month after Thanksgiving break is a depressing purgatory of schoolwork, April contains Marathon Monday and an impressive amount of procrastination-fueled partying. From a theoretical standpoint, my “best semester ever” would likely take place in the spring, not the fall. As I reflect on my current semester at BC, no obvious superlatives emerge. I took a variety of fascinating classes with excellent professors. My Capstone course in particular stood out, with its small class size facilitating candid conversations. Was it my best class ever? I’m not sure. One potential rival is eighth grade history, where I reenacted the Lincoln assassination in the starring role of John Wilkes Booth, complete with an unexpected fall from the top of a desk while shouting “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” As a Mod resident, I have helped host an assortment of parties. Were any of them the greatest, though? I doubt it. A performance by Otis Day and the Knights is a necessary prerequisite to any greatest party ever in my opinion (gold star to anyone who caught that movie reference). Finally, I have cultivated a superb group of friends over the course of my BC experience. I can discuss politics, attend a midnight movie premiere, or dominate a game of Mario Kart with any one of my friends. Are they the best friends ever? I don’t know. A two-month binge of Friends while abroad taught me that sometimes the best friendships are formed after college graduation. Rev. Michael Himes frequently says during class that the only time you can have a proper perspective on your life is five minutes after the dirt has been shoveled onto your grave. In a less macabre sense, this aphorism can apply to my BC experience. My viewpoint of high school has shifted since I first unpacked my clothes in Hardey Hall. I have drifted apart from some high school friends and grown closer to others. Parties back home paled in comparison to Mod gatherings. Accordingly, I’ll refrain from assessing my BC experience until I receive my diploma. Was this semester the greatest ever for me? Perhaps. Have I met my best friends while at BC? Possibly. Do I consider a girl at BC truly beautiful? I’ll never tell. Matt Palazzolo is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at news@bcheights.com.

lower ability to repay their loans, and the loans are subsequently of lower quality, making for the beginnings of a credit crisis. “The aftermath of a big credit boom is associated with a bad headache,” Shin said. Turning to the real European crisis, specifically that of Spain, Shin highlighted the fact that, in the period from 1998 to 2008, credit issued to Spanish borrowers increased fivefold. One may ask where banks obtained so much money to lend, and the answer, Shin said, can be found in foreign creditors. Until the introduction of the Euro in 1998, Spanish banks could raise nearly all of the money they lent domestically, though in 2008, at the dawn of the crisis, half of the 2 trillion Euros they were lending came from abroad. Countries such as Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands previously funded other European nations directly—however, now they do so indirectly though the European Central Bank. The Eurosystem funds the central banks of individual countries, such as the Bank of Spain, so that they can then fund commercial banks in the absence of abundant foreign creditors, or a “sudden stop” of capital inflows. With this practice occurring, the ratio of non-core to core liabilities gets higher, indicating a dangerous boom with the potential for low-quality credit. Spanish banks began issuing more long-term covered bonds, many issued only to borrow from the central bank. “The Euro experiment is unique because it involves cross-border borrowing, cross-border capital flows, but borrowing in [domestic] currency,” Shin said. While it may seem that continuously borrowing from the European Central Bank could be a long-term solution to the Spanish crisis, this can only occur if high-quality loans are being issued. Otherwise, borrowers will eventually default. Shin utilized the economic crisis suffered by Japan beginning in the 1990s as a parallel for Spain’s crisis,

See Eurozone, A5

Preparing the BC community for changes in weather Boston College Office of Emergency Management releases an informational ‘Winter Weather Preparedness’ letter Andrew Skaras Heights Staff

Campus has seen a fair amount of inclement weather this semester. Although Hurricane Sandy did not strike as severely in Boston as it was originally predicted, the campus did see some damage and a day of canceled classes. As the temperature has begun to drop, Boston has already received a few days of snow. After last year’s mild winter and below average 9.3 inches of snow, weather forecasters are predicting a more average New England winter this year. According to Terry Eliasen,

meteorologist and WBZ-TV executive weather producer, this winter will be colder and snowier, with an educated guess of 45 to 60 inches of snow. He also suggests that there will be a handful of big storms this year. While the students attend their last week of classes, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is beginning preparations for the winter of 2012-2013. “The Boston College Office of Emergency Management coordinates the University’s overall response to emergency situations threatening or affecting campus,” said John Tommaney, director of emergency

management, in an email. “We bring together various departments across the University such as police, facilities, Residential Life, Student Affairs and many others to address emergency situations by coordinating resources, priorities, communication, and actions to protect members of the BC community and campuses.” In preparation for the upcoming winter, the OEM has already published a “Winter Weather Preparedness” newsletter for the BC community. Containing advice for students on and off campus, the publication advises students on how to prepare for winter weather, what to do during inclement weather, and how to handle the aftermath of severe snowstorms. In addition, the newsletter discusses auto safety and lists additional resources helpful for students. “When heavy winter weather

threatens the Boston College area, our office coordinates closely with the National Weather Service, government emergency management organizations and various departments across campus such as Facilities,” Tommaney said. “Our Facilities staff have detailed plans for coordinating snow removal and keeping campus properties safe for our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.” For this purpose, Facility Management owns five plows, which it supplements by leasing a front-end loader and two Bobcats, according to their website. When there is over three inches of snow, they call in a plowing contractor to assist in their snow removal operations. “If the weather is forecast to be very severe, we will coordinate with the Senior Administration about actions which may need to be imple-

mented such as canceling classes, closing offices, and other activities,” Tommaney said. “If such actions are implemented, key operations of the University will continue such as police, facilities, Residential Life, Dining, health, and Counseling Services. If necessary, we could activate the University Emergency Operations Center to coordinate efforts for prolonged or severe impacts. Fortunately, this is very rare.” While the OEM is primarily devoted to handling emergencies on campus, they do have other responsibilities. “When an emergency is not occurring, we spend much of our energy on developing emergency plans, procedures, and policies and conducting various outreach and education programs to develop and promote preparedness,” Tommaney said. n

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Bates brings in new head coach Addazio, from A1 he wanted to be a college football coach someday, and as he sat there watching the game, he told himself that one day he would like to bring his team out onto that field. “My dream was to come to a university that was all about the family concept,” Addazio said. “I grew up in a strong family with strong faith, and I have an opportunity to now lead a football program within a tremendous family with a strong faith.” Bates described the coaching search as thorough, meticulous, and deliberate. He was looking for someone who had a strong history of facilitating a family culture within a program, an inspiring passion for his students and the sports, and a pedigree of winning and building championship programs. BC has gone two straight seasons without making a bowl game, and the team went just 2-10 this year. “It’s time to turn the page,” Addazio said, “To come together and unite and all work together for the same goals.”

He announced that Ryan Day, formerly a wide receivers coach at BC and the offensive coordinator at Temple last season, will take over for Doug Martin as BC’s offensive coordinator. He will take time to evaluate the rest of the staff as he gets settled, but he is already infusing the program with his enthusiasm. “When you press play on the video, what I’ll expect and what I’ll want you to see is a team that plays with energy and passion and a love of the game and is excited,” he said. “A team that plays hard. A team that you can tell loves the game of football and treats it as a privilege and not as a right.” The players met the coach for the first time during a team meeting before Addazio’s introductory press conference. “We’re not playing in a bowl game,” he said. “We’re hungry and we’re disappointed. I talked to the team before I came in here. I said to the team, ‘You sit in that chair and I hope there’s a disappointment. I hope it hurts. I hope there’s a hunger and I hope there’s a drive. I hope that you understand that you came to Boston College to win championships, and I hope

that fuels as we start this offseason workout program, because we’re all striving for success and we’re all competitors.’” Addazio stressed the importance of his role off the field as well. “I’m a teacher, and it’s very important to me to know that I can be a small piece of the development of a young man,” Addazio said. “The whole young man, not just the football piece.” He also emphasized that BC is the perfect place for him. “I want to be here and finish my career here,” he said. “This is where I want to be. I have a home up in Cape Cod. I’m in New England. I’m at the most wonderful place I could possibly be at, and I couldn’t be more clear about that.” It will be nine months until Addazio coaches his first real game as an Eagle at USC to start the 2013 season, but his energy and his passion are already evident. “I’m proud to be a Boston College Eagle, and I won’t let you down,” he said. “I’ve got drive and I’ve got energy. I’ve got a love and passion for what I do, for these student-athletes, and for Boston College.” n

GLC reaches out to Ellen DeGeneres Ellen2BC, from A1

graham beck / heights editor

Addazio outlined his goals for the Eagles, stressing the importance of his role as a teacher.

SMC keeps BC connected Klout Score, from A1

d.J. Terceiro / heights editor

Mahtab Sirdani visited Boston College last Monday to talk about Iranian women in works of comtemporary literature.

Sirdani looks at literary women in Iran Parisa Oviedo For The Heights

In an era when Iranian politics constantly dominates newspaper headlines, contemporary literature can offer more information about Iranian society and culture than most expect. Last Monday, Mahtab Sirdani spoke to a group of students and faculty, analyzing and comparing a graphic novel and a short story in Devlin 425. Sirdani was invited to speak about her analysis on two Persian authors, Marjane Satrapi and Goli Taraghi. The romance languages, English, and fine arts departments and the Islamic Civilization and Societies program, in addition to the Boston College Muslim Student Association and the Women’s Resource Center, sponsored the event. The lecture incorporated photos from Iran’s post-revolution era in 1980 and modern-day Iran. The distinction between the way women dressed then, in an age when headscarves were not enforced, and now was made starkly apparent. The first piece of Iranian literature that Sirdani discussed was a famous graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi titled Persepolis. The novel, which was also adapted into a film, is centered around a 10-year-old girl named Marjane, who lives in Iran in the years after the Shah was overthrown and the country went to war with Iraq. Marjane, Sirdani explained, “has a space between her and the majority.” This protagonist “views things and people in the story as either positive or negative.” Indeed, Sirdani pointed out, stories like Persepolis which hint at “suffering, pain, or repression, would be censored [in Iran] for at least another 30 years.” “In Iran we had minority religious groups that also took

part in the war effort [against Iraq],” Sirdani said. There were women in the war, she said, who took on a variety of roles, including soldiers, doctors, and photographers. Women taking on these roles of soldiers, doctors, and photographers were, however, very rare. Women in Iran’s post-revolution era, as portrayed in Persepolis, took on more definitive roles and often lacked a background in education. “Women now are actually educated and integrated into society,” she said. Unlike in the early ’80s, Sirdani implied, “women’s role in media and movement is not that black and white anymore.” The protagonist of Persepolis is part of the minority, but her circle of friends is “repressed, and everyone outside [of it] is a stranger or an enemy.” However, in the second novel Sirdani spoke about, Goli Taraghi’s The Grand Lady of My Soul, the main character is “part of the majority” and is a fundamentalist. Taraghi’s novel, which won the Contre-Ciel Short Story Prize in 1982, is a celebration in itself because Taraghi is one of the first published women writers in modern-day Iran. One of the major differences between Persepolis and The Grand Lady of My Soul is that in the latter, Sirdani pointed out, the “people in the story that introduce different groups are friends and neighbors,” instead of strangers. This fact, Sirdani said, “is a work of art that never goes beyond manifestation of a situation.” Through the eyes of either books’ protagonist, however, “the reader is put into a complex situation through an artistic creation.” This situation, the struggles of living in post-revolutionary Iran, is reflected through both works of literature. Both demonstrate, as Sirdani displayed, the “illustration of the reconsideration of hope,” the most powerful tool of human strength. n

300,000 weekly impressions on its Facebook page. “Our social media channels serve a number of functions,” said Melissa Beecher, co-chair of SMC and social media manager for the Office of News and Public Affairs. “We’ve done everything from answering admissions deadline questions to providing a platform for an alumna trying to establish a library for the students at her New York City school. In that case, book donations came in from people across the country.” BC’s social media presence has remained strong in part because of SMC’s efforts to provide guidance and promote collaboration among departments. According to Beecher, there were over 300 accounts representing various aspects of BC last year. SMC was created last March in order to help these and future accounts become more effective. It has representatives from 31 BC departments, ranging from each of BC’s schools to athletics and BCPD. The council has created a set of social media guidelines, which provide tips on how to use various

sites strategically and how to deal with negative reactions to content, as well as a blog and social media directory. “The guidelines were developed over the course of two months through intensive review of peer institutions’ guidelines, business leaders’ best practices, and exploring shared experiences as social media practitioners,” Beecher said. “We view the guidelines as a living document. As social media changes and new issues arise, we will continually update the guidelines.” Beecher and Delaney both expressed the hope that the council will become a resource for the BC community and a synthesis of other social media resources and knowledge. In the near future, SMC plans to create a website that contains information about all available resources, develop a formal policy proposal for social media usage at BC, and host social media experts to talk about effective practices and new technology. “The work of the council is to maximize resources by bringing together everyone playing a role in the virtual identity of the University and move us forward together,” Beecher said. n

about issues that affect the LGBTQ community, but we also offer Queer Peers drop-in office hours four days a week where students can speak anonymously with a trained peer counselor. We want it to be wellknown to all students that GLC provides these resources as an outlet for support on campus.” The GLC committee hopes to bring DeGeneres to campus by late January or early February. In the coming month, they plan to continue spreading awareness by tweeting at celebrities, emailing alums, and reaching out to the student body via Twitter and Facebook. The committee also plans to write and send individual letters to DeGeneres in hopes of garnering more attention. Since the campaign began, the committee has seen much success. “People from all sorts of clubs, teams, university offices, academic departments, and organizations are supporting the campaign,” DelloStritto said. “We have even had alums from the ’70s sign to show their support. [The campaign] has been reaching many people that we never expected to reach … I think the variety of sources of support will really help us get to Ellen.” DelloStritto hopes that the campaign will bring more awareness and understanding to the GLBTQ community on campus, an issue that GLC has struggled with in the past. “Another obstacle GLC faces is there still exists a type of stigma associated with attending our events,” DelloStritto said. “Some students may think that if they are not a part of the LGBTQ community they are not welcome or would feel uncomfortable at our events, which is a complete myth. People of all orientations, identities, and faiths attend our events, and we want to emphasize that everyone is welcomed. We couldn’t think of anyone better than Ellen to help remove some of that stigma.” DelloStritto and the GLC committee have high hopes for the campaign. “We’re hoping that if we get can in touch with someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who touched Ellen’s hand, eventually the message will get to her,” DelloStritto said. “I think we have a large enough student population and alumni network to make it possible. And I think if the message does get to her, she will be inclined to respond.” n

daniel lee / heights editor

Just two months ago, Stokes Hall was still undergoing intensive interior and exterior renovation (above). The building is currently scheduled to open for the Spring semester in January, in time for classes to begin.

Stokes construction continues on schedule Stokes Update, from A1 Lockerby said. Nardone estimated that by the time the building opens in January, over 260,000 hours of labor will have gone into its construction. Continuing BC’s commitment to sustainability, Stokes will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certified building, and the University intends to seek a higher rating when possible.

“All construction projects have surprises and setbacks, so this one has been no different,” Nardone said. “Given the two-year duration of this project, we’ve had more time to encounter more surprises, but also more time to juggle things to deal with them.” Keating agreed with the statement. “There are always challenges in construction projects, especially ones of this scale, but we are finishing the building and opening it on schedule—in the end that is what really matters,” he said. “The whole team is very happy with the result and the schedule.” n

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

LaCombe stresses humility Sara Doyle

For The Heights On Tuesday, Dec. 4, professor Amy LaCombe presented in Yawkey Center as part of the Last Lecture Series. LaCombe is a senior lecturer in the Portico faculty of the Carroll School of Management (CSOM). She has been given several awards, including the Carroll School Distinguished Teaching Award, the Ray Keyes Distinguished Service Award, and the Heights Momentum Award. Currently, she is the faculty advisor to the Best Buddies Boston College chapter. In her talk, LaCombe emphasized the importance of being human through humility, gratitude, and self-awareness, using examples of people and experiences that made an impact on her own life. The Last Lecture Series is presented by The Americans for Informed Democracy of BC, a non-partisan group. One lecture is held every semester, and gives a notable professor the opportunity to give a presentation addressing the question, “If you had the chance to give the last lecture of your life, what would you say?” The series takes its root in another series of lectures in which academics are asked to give a “final talk.” The idea was created by Randolph Frederick “Randy” Pausch, who gave his last lecture in 2007 after learning his pancreatic cancer was terminal. LaCombe, who attended BC and played women’s basketball, described an experience that occurred in her senior year from which she learned about herself. After losing a game, she was blamed by the coaches and benched. Devastated, she had to make a choice about whether to quit the team or try harder. “I was lucky,” LaCombe said, “I happened to choose the latter of the two options, and headed to the gym.” She credited her

coaches with showing her how much more was expected of her. “Find those people to hold you accountable in life,” LaCombe said. LaCombe also talked about four people who made significant impacts in her life, noting that it is “remarkable” people who show us who we want to become. Her professor, Elizabeth Strock, taught her humility after she gave up tenure after being the first female professor in finance to receive it. “The one act of losing the prestige, honor, and money is living proof of humility,” LaCombe said. “She never shows any resentment or jealousy [toward] the women who’ve gotten tenure because of the barrier she broke.” The other three important people in her life were a coach, Erik Johnson, who taught her humility by accepting responsibility after a defeat; a student in the Class of 2014 who taught her self-awareness by recognizing that he did not want the prestigious career other students sought; and a basketball teammate, Carla, who taught her gratitude through always having an attitude of gratefulness. “Every time she walked into the room, she was a sparkle of gratitude,” LaCombe said. “She was that teammate who did not have the ability to complain or see the negative.” LaCombe described how Carla remained grateful for what she had, even in the worst situations, such as dealing with her son’s leukemia and her father’s death in a car accident. At the end of her lecture, LaCombe expressed her own gratitude for being asked to present at a time when she felt she was losing touch with humanity in her busy schedule. LaCombe said that when she was asked to give the lecture, she had to reflect on herself, and remember who she wanted to become. “It is a gift I will never forget,” LaCombe said of the opportunity. n

alex gaynor / heights staff

CSOM professor Amy LaCombe presented her ‘Last Lecture’ on Tuesday night.

Economics expert speaks on capital flow Eurozone, from A3 emphasizing that bad loans issued during a bubble phase have to be resolved eventually, despite political hesitations to recognizing losses. “The politics really push you against recognizing your losses,” Shin said. “[The] temptation is to always kick the can further down the road.” According to Shin, it took about seven years for Japan to “clean up its balance sheets” through deleveraging, which involves reducing debt in

both private and public sectors. Spain has yet to begin this process, though European loans are still following the Japanese trajectory. Hopefully, said Shin, Spain can emulate Japan and get out of its crisis, a situation that sees an estimated 60 million Euros in capital deficit still out there. The questions remain as to the political process that will achieve a successful cleanup of the Eurozone, and how European governments and financial institutions will cope with, as Shin put it, the “strains of the restructuring process.” n

eun hee kwon / heights staff

Professor Hyun Song Shin (above), spoke about the European economic crisis.

BC students give blood

BC Student Attends U.N. Climate Change Convention Boston College junior, Joseph Manning, is currently attending his four th United Nations Climate Change Convention. The convention is held in Doha, Qatar and runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7. Manning is attending as a representative of the Sierra Club and will work with various delegates and officials from around the world while attending the conference. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

emily sadeghian / heights staff

The American Red Cross administrated a blood drive, held partly in order to restore supplies lost during Hurricane Sandy, last Monday and Tuesday at BC.

The United Nations Framework Convention on C l i m a te C h a n g e ( U N F C C ) began in 1992, when countries joined an international treaty to collaborate and come up with a plan to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change. The treaty itself does not set binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. In that sense, the treaty is considered legally non-binding. Instead, the treaty provides a framework for negotiating

specific international treaties, called “protocols,” that may set binding limits on greenhouse gases. By 1995, the countries involved decided that emission reduction provisions in the Convention were inadequate. After much negotiation, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted by the Convention in Kyoto, Japan on Dec. 11, 1997. The major feature of the Protocol is that it binds industrialized countries to greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. The first commitment period began in 2008 and will end in 2012, with a second commitment period beginning in 2013 and continuing onward. There are currently 195 par ties to the Convention. Since 1995, the various parties to the Conference have met annually in Conferences of the parties to assess progress in dealing with issues of climate change. This year’s conference in Doha, Qatar marks the 18th Conference of parties. All information for this article was taken from the UNFCC website.

BC considers regulation of athletes’ social media Social Media, from A1 athlete rights and an assistant de an in the C ar roll S cho ol of Management, agreed. “The Jesuit tradition talks about educating the whole person,” Zola said. “Now, St. Ignatius may not have envisioned social media, but I think that our job on this campus would be to educate student athletes to understand social media and the potential impacts it has.” There also are potential legal dangers in limiting student athletes’ rights on social media, Zola said. He cited the First and the Fourteenth amendments as the main constraints for athletic departments in their attempt s to control players o n Fa c e b o o k a n d Tw i t t e r. “Now, clearly, Boston College as a private institution has greater flexibility to impose restraints than a public institution would, like the University of Kentucky, which has,” Zola said. “But, again, I’m not as concerned about this from a legal perspective as I am from a university having the opportunity to help educate

its student-athletes on all parts of society and growing up.” Head men’s basketball coach Steve Donahue has an active Twitter account, along with about half of BC’s head coaches, but he does not allow his players to have accounts of their own. “At their age, I’m doing them a favor by taking it out of their hands,” Donahue said. “If they’re a regular college student and they say something that they regret, like most kids do at this age, and that we all do, then it’s forgotten. Unfortunately, they may make a mistake that gets magnified, and they’d have to live with it.” Every coach, just like every teacher, has a right to his or her own philosophy, Zola said. “For example, if a coach restricts anything—such as wearing jeans to road games, or Twitter, or candy, or alcohol for those who are legally of age—there may be reasons for that that have to do less with using that media and more with building team and dedication and all of the reasons why Boston College values athletics as part of educating the whole person,” Zola said. Zola does, however, think

t h a t s t u d e n t- a t h l e t e s ’ u s e of social media is inevitable. “I think that any institution cannot stop its students from using social media,” he said. “There can be policies, but ultimately students are going to make their own decisions, and as studentathletes are educated on how to use it properly, there needs to be some level of trust by a university, by an athletic department, by an athletic director, and by a head coach with the student. So, if I’m a head coach and I can’t trust how my student athletes are going to use Twitter, how can I trust them in an overtime game to run a play to help us win a game on national television?” That doesn’t mean it’s possible to prevent offensive and damaging m e s s a g e s f ro m b e i n g s e nt . “There are going to be mistakes,” Zola said. “We can educate and talk about policies and rules, but students and adults are going to make mistakes. So you treat them as learning opportunities and move forward.” These mistakes can be learning opportunities, but Donahue says it’s his responsibility to make

sure these mistakes don’t happen. “I think, unfortunately, you’re just under a microscope, and there’s so much in your life that is up and down that if you say something in a moment that you really regret, it’s not like you’re going to be like another student,” Donahue said. “That’s going to be plastered on ESPN. com, and it’s something that you’re going to be looked at for a 30-second mistake. I think it’s my responsibility to take that away.” These actions by studentathletes on social media don’t just affect their college careers. One mistake can lead to setbacks fo r th e re s t o f th e i r l i v e s . “There’s an understanding that there are people out there who are going to make decisions on employment based on publicly available information about a candidate, and that includes Facebook and Twitter,” Zola said. “So, I think a lot of students, as well as non-students, neglect to remember that something they put out which they find amusing and insightful may come back to haunt them in ways they may not have intended.” n

Altbach updates BC on higher education abroad Gabby Tarini

For The Heights

The Center for International Higher Education at the Lynch School of Education (LSOE) hosted an up-to-the-minute field report from professor Philip Altbach this past Tuesday, Dec. 4. Altbach is a global expert on Indian and Chinese higher education. Tuesday’s conversation was stimulated by Altbach’s recent trip to Beijing and Delhi, where he attended an extended series of meetings and conferences with higher education leaders and scholars. Altbach has had a long scholarly history with the two countries. He completed his doctoral dissertation in India, where he studied student political activism in Bombay. He has kept up with higher education in India ever since, maintaining a column on the topic at the prestigious Indian newspaper and fifth largest English newspaper in the world, The Hindu. Altbach’s relationship with China goes back to the 1990s, when he led a group of teachers to Beijing as part of a project to research higher education, and he has returned to the country every year since then. He is also on the advisory committee of the Shanghai Rankings. During the conversation, Altbach discussed the improvements and innovations in higher education in both China and India that he witnessed during his visit, as well as the problems he believes still need to be addressed. In China, the National Academy of Education Administration (NAEA) has begun talks in order to discuss how to properly train faculty and administrative officials. “There is a sort of ideological purification that goes on at the NAEA,” Altbach said. “The government wants to make sure

that these guys have exactly the right ideas about what higher education should be doing for the country.” Altbach emphasized that although China does a good job with its top univer-

“China has pumped

millions of dollars into its top 100 universities. However, it has severely underinvested in the bottom tier of universities, which is where 70 percent of Chinese students attend school.” - Philip Altbach, professor in the Lynch School of Education and global expert on Indian and Chinese higher education sities, it struggles to bring the country’s less prestigious universities up to the same caliber. “China has pumped millions of dollars into its top 100 universities,” Altbach said. “However, it has severely underinvested in the bottom tier of universities, which is where 70 percent of Chinese students attend school.” In India, Altbach noted improvements in higher education with the development and expansion of technical universities. Shiv Nadar University, located in Noida, India, was recently founded and

built by Shiv Nadar, the fourth richest man in India and the founder of HCL, a global technology and IT enterprise. “He wanted a world-class university in India, so he is building one,” laughed Altbach. “I believe that the university will be a success, with its strong leadership team, highly paid faculty, and brainpower of its students.” Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in Delhi is also another one of India’s success stories. “The leadership there is very impressive,” Altbach said. “Their graduates are getting jobs in the IT sector within India, instead of being exported abroad to places like Silicon Valley.” Altbach is not optimistic about India’s push toward higher education, however, unless it can solve two major issues. The first is the country’s inferior infrastructure. Altbach said that when he was en route to one of India’s major research universities, his driver got lost in the archaic and undeveloped back roads. He ended up in a small village that looked like it could have been from the 15th century. The second issue is the university governance within the country. “The governance of India’s universities is horribly bureaucratic and nonfunctional,” Altbach said. “The vast majority of students and faculty operate in an environment where innovation is impossible.” Despite its shortcomings, Altbach emphasizes that higher education is big news in India and China—news about universities and the push for higher education is in the papers everyday. “It is a big and rapidly growing industry—people really want access to it,” Altbach said. “I predict that in the next 20 years, 60 percent of university enrollment growth will be in these two countries.” n

The Heights

Editorials

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Coaches wrong to forbid athletes’ use of Twitter

Thursday, December 6, 2012

I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying. -Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish writer and poet

Rather than restrict athletes’ presence on social media, coaches should encourage them to generate support of BC teams This semester, Boston College has exploded onto the social media scene, with over 300 social media accounts representing various areas of life at BC, from Student Services, to Residential Life, to athletics. BC has more than 25,000 Twitter followers on their official account, and was recently ranked the ninth most social university by Mashable.com, a ranking determined in part by each university’s Klout score, which shows how influential a particular institution is on social networking websites. The University’s Social Media Council (SMC), established to address the growing power of social media, facilitates collaboration between departments and looks for areas where BC can expand its online presence. The SMC has expanded from overseeing only the University’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, to including accounts on Flickr, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest, as well. It is clear that the University is trying hard to connect with students and the rest of the BC community by using social media, and The Heights commends them for doing so. Social media is a simple, quick, and effective way of reaching out to large groups of people with news and announcements—but more importantly, it is a way of creating a sense of community. The University’s frequent use of social media allows easy interaction with students and alumni, and fosters a sense of a unity—a virtual BC family. Having a variety of accounts for different departments and aspects of the University allows students and alumni to customize their social media involvement, gathering news and announcements from departments that they are specifically interested in. The Heights commends the work of the SMC and encourages more students and administrators to engage actively in social media—doing so serves to inform both the students of important announcements and decisions, and the administration of the concerns of students. With that being said, there is an area of social media with less consistency and a much less positive reputation at BC—the social media presence of BC student-athletes. Recent tweets by soccer forward Stephanie McCaffrey that joked about the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University was an extreme case that resulted in her suspension from the team, but the general policy for student-athlete conduct is not entirely clear. Currently, head coaches of each sport are put in charge of creating rules that are consistent with individual team philosophies, according to Chris Cameron, associate athletic director of media relations. For example, men’s basketball athletes are not allowed to have

Twitter accounts and baseball players are not allowed to tweet during the season. The Heights believes it is important that the University establishes a policy on social media that is consistent across all sports. Specifically, The Heights believes that student-athletes should always have the right to social media accounts, including Twitter, if they so desire. It is often said that student-athletes are students first and athletes second. The University would not take away the right of a non-athlete to tweet, so it should not take away that same right of a student-athlete. The Heights understands that athletes are often higher profile representatives of the University than non-athletes, but they should be responsible enough to make decisions on their own about what is and what is not appropriate to post online. Furthermore, The Heights believes that there should be a level of trust between coaches and their athletes that would permit student-athletes to have a presence on social media. If a coach cannot trust his or her athletes not to tweet inappropriate or embarrassing things, how can they trust them during crunch time, or more importantly, not to embarrass the team and the University in other, more damaging ways? Still, there should be a standard of conduct for student-athletes on social media, and student-athletes should be held responsible for violations of those standards. Being a student-athlete is certainly a privilege that comes with a higher level of responsibility than that of nonathletes. Recently, the athletic department distributed cards to athletes with tips of what and what not to do on Twitter. This is a step in the right direction. Informing student-athletes of what is acceptable allows the athletics department to hold athletes responsible if they violate those standards, and serves to educate them on how to conduct themselves online. Preventing student-athletes from having social media accounts at all, however, is essentially treating them like children by implying that they are not mature enough to make responsible decisions on their own. Allowing and encouraging the presence of all student-athletes on Twitter could have an immensely positive effect on BC athletics. Fans of teams enjoy following athletes because it allows them to interact personally with athletes and see how players are feeling before and after games. As an institution, BC has done a great job of facilitating a sense of community through social media. The Heights hopes that head coaches realize that their student-athletes should have the opportunity to do the same.

Ellen2BC can unite students, dispel stigma ‘The Heights’ encourages students to support the campaign to bring Ellen DeGeneres to campus The GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) has recently launched a campaign to bring notable stand-up comedian, television host, and GLBTQ activist Ellen DeGeneres to campus. They have garnered more than 1,500 signatures for their letter which, along with asking Ellen to visit Boston College, details the history of the GLC, the obstacles the GLBTQ community has faced as a result of being a part of a Jesuit, Catholic university, and the impact they believe a visit from Ellen could have on the BC community. The Heights urges students and administrators at BC to take notice of this campaign and read the letter. At the very least, they will be better informed of the history of an organization and a subset of the BC community that unfortunately can be subject to stigma. We also commend the GLC for taking

on a project that, among other things, can serve as a way to dispel some of this stigma. By setting out to attract Ellen’s attention, they created a project that not only the GLBTQ community, but also the BC community as a whole can support. If GLC succeeds in bringing Ellen to BC, they will have organized an event that could attract a truly large and varied group of BC students. Such an event would work to break down the unnecessary and unfortunate stigma that many students who do not identify as GLBTQ associate with attending GLC events, and would hopefully increase attendance at future events. The Heights encourages all members of the BC community, whether or not they take a particular interest in GLBTQ issues, to add their signature to the letter to Ellen and join the effort to bring a great speaker to campus.

The Heights The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Taylour Kumpf, Editor-in-Chief Daniel Ottaunick, General Manager Lindsay Grossman, Managing Editor

cecilia Provvedini/ Heights Illustration

The Online buzz Reprinting reader comments from www.bcheights.com, The Online Buzz draws on the online community to contribute to the ongoing discussion. In response to “BC Expands Sexual Assault Resources” by Mary Rose Fissinger: “As a survivor of rape on this campus, by a BC student, I have been turned away by counseling services because they felt that they could not fit my needs. How could counseling services say they could not meet my needs, my needs to function as a student in class with my rapist, to feel like I could talk to someone ON CAMPUS so that I would not have the financial pressures of an off campus therapist. I have had professors speak of rape in such a casual manner that I had to excuse myself from class. If BC claims that we are in good shape for supporting survivors, they should actually speak to one of the hundreds of us on campus.”

In response to “Focus on Student Safety More So Than Punishment” by The Heights Editorial Board: “Students are not sanctioned similarly for situations in which they were drinking responsibly in their room versus sent to the hospital; those sent to the hospital are pretty much equivalent to a second offense for possession. I’m not sold on the suggestion that sanctions for beer should be lighter, either, since students drink beer pretty irresponsibly as well (shotgunning them instead of actually drinking them). Those who are drinking moderately and responsibly tend not to get caught, as they aren’t causing a ruckus.” —Anonymous

—MEM

“As a survivor, I find this article incredibly alarming. BC is not “in very good shape” when it comes to supporting survivors. The administration needs to make major changes, not minimal ones. I have had issues with both Counseling Services and the Dean’s Office. Counseling Services turned me away, saying that I needed to look elsewhere for long-term counseling and the Dean’s Office, several months later, recommended that I confront my rapist. That confrontation was, aside from the rape and subsequent harassment, my worst experience at BC. It’s great that BC is putting emphasis on prevention, but that’s not enough. The administration needs to work on how they support survivors because unfortunately, rape DOES exist on this campus.”

In response to “Increasing Hospitalizations Prompt Alcohol Policy Review” by Andrew Skaras: “When determining sanctions, do you include the number of repeat offenses tallied for the student? Are BC’s sanctions based on “quantity” of alcohol consumed determined by testing for alcohol blood levels? If so, does it make a difference whether the excessive blood level was achieved via hard liquor or beer? If testing is not used, shouldn’t BC consider testing use of alcohol blood levels or of breatherlizers for testing? Lastly, how is BC preparing for the future issues related to adoption of legalizing medical marjuana. In other states, the passage of this law has been the gateway for greater availability and abuse of pot.”

—Anonymous

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Opinions

Full house (finally)

Thumbs Up BC Compliments- It seems that the world has figured out how to use the Internet’s power of anonymity for good. Please welcome the antithesis of cyber bullying, Boston College Compliments: a Facebook page where BC students can post anonymous notes to friends telling them how smart, wonderful, and beautiful they are. Who knew that such a disproportionate number of the “best people in the world” attended BC? Another Thumbs Up to the creator of Boston College Neutral Comments because, we agree, there’s not enough hilarity in genuine admiration. Sleep and Study- The email about the 24-hour study spaces has finally arrived. Though some may view this as bad news, we choose to view it as the opposite. The days of zero obligations except to study are approaching and, mathematically, the chances of getting a couple hours of studying into a 12 hour time block are pretty good, so we hope we come out the other end stuffed full of knowledge and well-deserved rest. Plus, face it, the idea of hanging out in Gasson into the wee hours of the morning is kind of appealing, in a way. Except when we remember that only about 12 individuals will actually experience this luxury—the 12 who can scribble “occupied” on a ripped piece of paper and tape it to the door fast enough. Damn you.

Thumbs Down Holiday Horrors- We are outraged at the lack of completely useless and horrifically overpriced Christmas baskets for sale in the dining halls this season. What if we needed a large assortment of Christmas themed chocolate in a fun red bucket that we would never, ever re-use? It was bad enough that the muffin loaves were missing from our pre-Thanksgiving celebrations, but now this too? It’s almost as if BC Dining Services has cancelled the holiday season. All we know is, if there’s no free coffee come finals week, we at Thumbs Up Thumbs Down are staging a coup. That’s a wrap..?- OK, we hate to be the ones to say it, but we propose a mandatory, extensive, wrap-making boot camp for all members of the Dining Staff. Don’t get us wrong, we whole-heartedly appreciate everything you do for us and the fact that no matter what shape the “sandwich” you hand us at the end is, you always do it with a smile and a cheery decree that we have a nice day, but come on. How am I supposed to eat that? Ava n t - ga r d e a m b a s s a dor- Word on the street is Obama’s considering Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, for his ambassador to either the UK or France. While we would graciously accept her as our personal ambassador to the world of retail, jury’s still out on whether we’d trust her in the political sphere. For now, this is getting a TD.

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But this Thanksgiving I did see her…finally. Instead of sitting around the dining room table, hungover at 11 a.m. as in years past, that morning I sat in the Delta Airlines Arrival Terminal of Logan airport. Two and a half years of waiting later, my parents came up the escalator holding a 2.5-year-old child from the Congo, who was now my sister. It was a rush of excitement. And then a rush of…now what? The process seemed so long I didn’t really think of what it would be like if and when it actually happened. In many ways, the process of adoption helped to characterize my college experience. Countless Excel spreadsheets, interviews, Hillside sandwiches, and Natty Lights had come and gone since the first time I set my hopes on welcoming a new sister into my life. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like we have a lot in common. I’m white and grew up in the suburbs of Massachusetts. I have blue eyes and, as you can see from my headshot (which has not been changed in four years), I may or may not have the same hair stylist as Justin Bieber. I’ve experienced snow since the day I was born, when a vicious blizzard hit New England. I view my 110-pound Bernese mountain dog as a loveable pet and not an adolescent-sized lion. In fact, it’s kind of difficult to communicate with her. It’s not just because I’m about 18 years older and she probably doesn’t want to talk about my recent experience at Mary Ann’s, but she speaks a combination of broken French and Lingala. But let me tell you, boy oh boy do we have fun together. She had never seen a balloon before, and I have the attention span of a 2.5 year old. So, we toss balloons around the house for hours on end. (Smack it, watch it float in awe, smile, repeat…) I don’t think she had a flat screen TV where she was born, but we both think its hilarious to press the buttons on the clicker when our other siblings are trying to watch something, then laugh and run away. We agreed that

C.J. Gustafson Two and a half years ago my family decided to adopt a little girl from Africa. It was the end of my freshmen year, and to be honest, I never thought it would happen. As the oldest of four biological kids already, the event in general was too hard to imagine, too big of a shift in household dynamics to conceptualize. We’re going to go back to watching Elmo again? Seriously? Not to mention, Africa is really, really, really far away. The process felt like it took forever, especially because it was the topic of every dinner table conversation in recent memory in my house. Even when I wasn’t home and called my brother to see what had changed, he frequently quipped, “Well our house basically is Africa, less the African child we’re waiting for.” What made it even more interminable was the appropriate expectations of friends, since they were in essence waiting with us. I constantly felt I was fumbling the questions friends would ask me at parties. Multiple times I encountered the same awkward situation where a friend from freshman year asked sophomore, junior, and senior year the same question: “Is she here yet?” I’d shuffle my feet, offer a long explanation I didn’t fully believe myself, and receive a look of skepticism. No one in my family anticipated as many stumbles, trips, and painful wipeouts while trying to adopt internationally. At one point, we even changed the adoption agency and country all together. After a while, I began to get discouraged, sometimes feeling as if my friends now doubted the news I had once delivered to them with such excitement when I was a freshman. Thus, my attitude changed to “I’ll believe it when I see her.”

throwing crayons across a restaurant is a lot more fun than coloring peacefully in a restaurant. (We soon also agreed that being publicly scolded by our mom in the middle of a restaurant isn’t much fun). And ice cream…who doesn’t like ice cream? Especially pushing ice cream into someone’s face when they’re eating it, because that just looks silly. In short, smiling and laughing are universal. We’ve shared both over the last two weeks, regardless of cultural, geographic, and language barriers. I appreciate these commonalities that we as humans are able to share so much more now that my family is international. A few months before Ella arrived my mom exclaimed, “C.J., when you help move her into college in 15 years you’ll be so old, people will think you’re her father!” Without thinking, I replied, “Mom, what are you talking about, I’m white. Why would they think that?” But that was before. Even after the short period of time she’s been in my life, I’m becoming blind to any divisions that other people may view as existing between us. We are, to put it resolutely, family. We’ve enjoyed one Thanksgiving together so far. Recently, I got to thinking how 30 Thanksgivings down the road our table is going to be even more interesting. I failed to make the connection that inevitably my nieces and nephews will also look different than me. But, I’m realizing that it doesn’t matter how we look, just how happy we feel to all finally be together. My mom is bringing Ella to come and visit me at BC soon. If you’re looking for us, we’ll probably be the ones showering Crayons across Eagle’s Nest and spilling frozen yogurt on my roommates. But I guarantee we’ll be having fun (finally). C.J. Gustafson is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

Study abroad

Marye Moran While my classmates were waking up early to register for spring semester courses, I was sound asleep. While they were filling out their applications for club executive boards, I was looking up tourist sites in Europe. And while they went to hockey games with their season tickets, I, who will not be at BC for most of the season, booked my flight to London. Although I am only studying abroad for a semester, my entire junior year has been shaped by the decision. This fall, I spoke with an economics professor about becoming a research assistant, but given my limited time on campus, was unable to participate. I thought about getting involved in the planning committee for the Campus School Marathon Team, but since I won’t be here for Marathon Monday, decided against it. My spring abroad has even impacted my summer activities, severely limiting what internships I can apply to based on mandatory second semester interviews. I’ve felt it outside of the classroom too. When figuring out housing last year, my roommate and I had to weigh the experience of having a house with our friends versus the hassle of finding subletters for half of the year. Relationships are becoming all-or-nothing, as couples either decide to be serious and stay together, or figure it’s not worth it and break up. I already had to decide who I will spend most of my time with senior year, since I needed to come up with a housing group before going overseas. I’m not backing out of study abroad, given that most of my friends are going and I have a typical BC student’s fear of missing out, but I think for most students, the study abroad experience

Naive Holiday Turkeys

is not worth it. People go for cultural exchange and, in some cases, language acquisition, both of which are important life experiences. But for most students, I don’t think college is the time or place for it. About 40 percent of BC undergraduates study abroad during their junior year, and the Office of International Programs (OIP) actually says that the ideal situation is to go for an entire year. They cite research saying that, “students who have had international study experience are better equipped to compete in a global job market.” While cultural understanding and language skills are helpful, both of those qualities can be achieved in a context other than a semester abroad. And for most BC

I think for most students, the study abroad experience is not worth it. students, study abroad is far from a true cultural exchange. The OIP website says that, “historically, the most popular study abroad destinations have been Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Australia, and France.” While BC does have programs in locations like Morocco, Tanzania, and Japan, most students are not choosing those cultures that are so different than ours. Out of those six popular locations, half are English-speaking, and English is still widely spoken in the other three countries. Almost all schools have options to take classes in English, and while there are often home-stay options, many students live with other Americans and spend most of their time traveling, not becoming immersed in local culture. Of the three student quotes on the OIP website about housing, one describes their immersion, one describes living in “quite a western-style flat” in Cairo, and another student talks about living “with BY KALEB KEATON

two other American students.” When people study abroad, they often maintain the idea of visiting, not living in, the foreign country. There is nothing wrong with this idea. My goal for study abroad is not to gain a deep understanding of British culture, but rather, to travel throughout Europe and see the beautiful scenes and historical sites. I realize that this could be done at another time, and, in fact, I think it should be. Many study abroad programs go longer than BC’s semester does, as I, for example, have committed to being in London until mid-June. Why not just finish classes at BC in May and spend a month touring through Europe? The financial burden would not change—either way I’m buying one round-trip ticket—and then I would be able to focus my time. Travel when I’m supposed to be traveling. Study when I’m supposed to be studying. Be a BC student when I’m supposed to be a BC student. Students leaving for a semester are often barred from on-campus leadership positions, research involvement, or even coursework, being unable to take classes that span two semesters. Study abroad strains friendships, making some students not see each other for months on end, or if friends go abroad opposite semesters, for over a year. Friendships become all-or-nothing—with the burden of keeping in touch, it’s either a big commitment or the friendship is put on hold. For the students who do home-stays, go to locations like Nepal or Chile to experience a location they would never go to otherwise, and gain fluency in another language, study abroad is a great opportunity. But for most of the 40 percent of BC that goes abroad, the semester throws off an experience that is designed to last four years. There are benefits, but are they always worth the costs? Marye Moran is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

Holidaze Kristy Barnes There are two times during the course of the year when it becomes socially acceptable to skip your service group’s pre-game (anyone else see the irony?) and the subsequent festivities on Foster in order to stay in the cubby of O’Neill you have claimed. That’s right ladies and gentlemen: it’s finals time. If we break down these weeks of hell here at Boston College, we find there are three categories based on study habits that the majority of students fall into. The Bapst Kid: The students who dare to enter the most gorgeous building on campus are not here for the arm workout they will undoubtedly receive when opening the heavy wooden doors, but rather to work the muscles of the mind. So don’t let the beauty of the stained glass fool you; these kids are mean, lean, studying machines. Those in Gargan Hall are so serious that if one dares to cough, they receive the evil eye from half of the frantic students and are cursed at in the minds of everyone else. Bapst’s ground floor is packed with those who like to study by themselves…with others. The cubbies offer a chance for the serious students to pretend to be social while silently sitting next to their serious student friends, but hey, they were social on the walk to Bapst, so that counts, right? Deep in the basement are those who wish not to be distracted for the five or more hours they will be there, so enter with caution, for it’s possible once you descend down the daunting steps, you may not exit until the librarian comes to physically part you from your biology book. The O’Neill Kid: If not seen sprawled out napping on a chair, then the students who prefer O’Neill can be found juggling their Facebook newsfeed and the ten-page theology take-home that’s due the next day. While it’s possible to accomplish a good amount of work here, the busy-atmosphere makes it difficult, for every time the pitterpatter of footsteps nears, you’re bound to raise your eyes from your text, just in case it is someone you know. As the campus’ blandest building increases in height, the students inside increase in intensity. The first three floors are where the social butterflies gather to exchange the weekend’s gossip and maybe, if they are feeling extra productive, go over a few questions on their study guide. The atmosphere of the fourth and fifth floors is a little more serious and perfect for the students who need to get some work done, but are too timid to confront the glares that accompany any entrance into Bapst. But be sure to enter the top floors with caution—those chairs are awfully comfortable and it won’t be long until you’re fighting the slippery slope of an unexpected slumber. The Kid That Tries to Study in Mac: We all feel sorry for these suckers, as they use oversized headphones in an attempt to silence the noise of hungry freshmen chowing down the questionable concoction on their plates. It’s a mystery as to why these students think they will be productive in a cafeteria, yet without fail, during these final weeks, Mac all of a sudden becomes a hotspot for homework. I guess they get props for trying, right? While our study habits may differ, there is something we unfortunate souls have in common: we are miserable. With end of the semester papers and projects due this week and finals just around the corner, it’s easy to become furious with frustration as you frantically read the four finance books you put off reading all semester, because, after all, that’s what reading days were made for! It is during these final weeks that BC students enter what is known as the Holidaze, or the state of existence between Thanksgiving and Christmas break where one simply eats, sleeps, and studies. Even our party habits are put on hold, as we prepare for the exams that hopefully will boost our grades and make up for that test we slept through. While it is important to buckle down over the next two weeks—please know I will be the kid who is in a tug of war with the librarian—it is also important to put finals into perspective. In reality, each final is just one test, which factors in to one grade, for one class, in one semester of your entire college career. So, take a second and ask yourself: are A’s on all your finals worth being a Grinch during the most wonderful time of the year? Now, how do we prevent our skin from turning green when the worst and best times of the years are in the same weeks? Start with a deep breath. Remember what it took to get you here, and appreciate the amazing gift of a BC education. Maybe take a moment to enjoy the beauty of BC in the snow or have a conversation over hot cocoa. And for that meltdown that is bound to happen in the library of your choice the night before your chemistry final, I give you the words of my favorite author, David Foster Wallace, to help you keep moving forward: “No single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.” So, keep chugging along BC, and remember that what we receive here is a precious gift: don’t waste a second of it. Kristy Barnes is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Heights

A10

The Heights

the best of 2012

Thursday, December 6, 2012

summer olympics Bringing the country together with a sense of national unity, this year’s summer Olympics, held in London, became an integral aspect of pop culture life, turning formerly unknown American athletes into national heroes practically overnight. Take Ryan Lochte, for example. After his recent successes, Lochte is now one of the most well known swimmers in the world, right beside Michael Phelps. Or, consider the sparkling women’s gymnastics team of the U.S., known as the “Fab Five.” Though it was this past summer that Ali Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Weiber, Kyla Ross, and McKayla Maroney tumbled into the hearts of Americans across the country, their prolonged presence in the media made them a landed fixture in 2012’s popular culture. In addition to other noteworthy events, the girls have appeared on MTV’s VMA’s as well as Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this past year. Bearing in mind their endearing characters and fierce athleticism, it seems obvious how this summer’s Olympians became such a central, loved facet of American identity.

girl meets world A beloved ’90s classic that ran until 2000, Boy Meets World captured the hearts of a generation with its fun, light-hearted, 25 minute-long life-lessons. This year, though, came the welcome announcement that Disney would be producing a sequel to the comedy, titling it, instead, Girl Meets World. The reboot is planned to pick up where the original series left off, after Corey and Topanga married, and center on the life of their young daughter. Both Ben Savage and Daniel Fishel have recently been confirmed as returning parts of the cast, and who knows, maybe Mr. Feeney will even make a cameo. Casting for Riley, the 13 year-old star of the show, is still underway, but a pilot will definitely be in the works soon. One of the most surprising TV announcements of the year, Girl Meets World will have to live up to not only its timeless original, but also, to the high expectations a generation of fans are currently setting.

the election Although the Saturday Night Live circuit felt considerably dry compared to 2008’s Palin-bashing glory a la Tina Fey, 2012 saw no shortage of the pop culture glory synonymous with the democratic process. College Humor seemingly struck gold with “Mitt Romney Style”—the 3-minute parody depicting Romney dancing through stables and croquet matches, racked up 26 million views on YouTube. Former MADtv stars Key and Peele also won over the YouTube crowd, with a series of Obama satires, making pokes at the president’s self-important rhetoric. Artists took a particularly large role in the election. At the Republican National Convention, director Clint Eastwood made an entire speech directed at an empty chair, symbolic of Obama’s job performance. He later called the president “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z, two of the most prominent faces in music, were the opening act for Obama at several campaign stops. At a rally in Columbus, Ohio, Jay-Z even put a political spin on one of his classics: “I got 99 problems but Mitt ain’t one.”

instagram/snapchat Founded in 2010 by Stanford graduate Kevin Systrom, the photo-sharing network Instagram made big headlines this year when Facebook bought it for $1 billion this April. Since then, it has grown by 100 million users, thanks to a large part to the extreme popularization of the iPhone this year. Unlike comparable social networks, Instagram’s full features are only accessible via smartphone. The application offers 15 photo filters, transforming images of seemingly mundane Starbucks coffee orders into vintage masterpieces. All photos taken with the app are captured with a 1:1 aspect ratio, a constraint its parent company Facebook has since placed on profile pictures. Meanwhile, another team of Stanford folk launched Snapchat, the “disappearing” photo app. If Instagram is arguably pretentious, Snapchat is strikingly bizarre, granting users the ability to send each other photos, only to have them disappear within 10 seconds of opening. Its creators have assured the press it “isn’t about sexting,” although parents everywhere aren’t quite so sure.

call me maybe/gangam style What does an upbeat Canadian teeny-bop song about love at first sight have to do with a South Korean pop single about a trendy new district of Seoul? Both seemed to come from nowhere to light up the pop culture world—mostly because they were hopelessly catchy and more than a little ridiculous. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” released in late February, was that song that lodged its way into everyone’s head and appeared at parties across the country, its sugary pop beats proving completely infectious. PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video went viral in August, becoming an international sensation and triggering endless memes, parodies, and talk show appearances. With its throbbing beats, hilarious dance moves, and crazily over-the-top video (The horses! The explosions! The awkward booty shakes in the elevator!), “Gangnam Style” transcended the language barrier to become the most unlikely pop hit of 2012, and the most-watched video on YouTube. Love them or hate them, “Call Me Maybe” and “Gangnam Style” were pure 2012.

parks and recreation Parks and Recreation has been around for a few years now, but its brilliant run in 2012 makes a strong case for it being the funniest network comedy currently on the air. Season Four was anchored by the ongoing storyline of Leslie Knope’s run for City Council, with BC’s own Amy Poehler continuing to earn her reputation as one of America’s most gifted comedians. Yet, Parks is truly an ensemble effort, especially with the likes of Nick Offerman as the government-hating, meatloving Ron Swanson and Aziz Ansari as the super-fly Tom Haverford. Season Five has continued the show’s winning streak, including several episodes in Washington with guest appearances from the likes of John McCain and Joe Biden. But the show will always remain anchored in the eccentric, tiny town of Pawnee, Indiana. What began as an Office-knockoff has blossomed into its own, delivering not only copious belly laughs but also an affectionate portrait of small-town America.

ed sheeran Although his album + was actually released in early 2011, it wasn’t until this past year that English singersongwriter, Ed Sheeran, with his witty lyricism and mellow, acoustic melodies, left his own indelible mark on the music sphere. His idiosyncratic style blends indie folk subtly with hip-hop elements, and it’s such characteristics that make his songs, such as “Drunk,” “Give Me Love,” and +’s lead single, “The A-Team,” so incredibly popular. Sheeran is known not only for his dulcet, sweet tracks, though. Rather, has has made a name for himself by writing and producing for other big artists as well. He has collaborated with Taylor Swift on her latest release Red, and he even penned a couple songs, including the track “Little Things,” for British contemporaries One Direction. With his many, diverse talents, it’s no wonder that the redhead from across the pond is currently the most illegally downloaded artist in the UK—and probably in the U.S. too.

frank ocean This July, 25-year-old R&B singer Frank Ocean made a huge splash in the music industry, releasing his first studio album, Channel Orange, less than a week after coming out about the unrequited love he felt for another man at age 19. As a member of OFWGKTA—the hip-hop crew associated with Tyler, the Creator—Frank Ocean has shaken the rap industry entirely, which has long been criticized for its homophobic culture, by bringing his sexuality into the album (“Bad Religion,” “Forrest Gump”). Social implications aside, Channel Orange is widely held as one of this year’s best albums. It refreshed the world of R&B with the downright musicality and emotionally complex storytelling the genre has been lacking for decades. Prior to his studio debut, Frank Ocean developed a considerable fan base of hip-hop/R&B connoisseurs, with his 2011 mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra. He also made several musical appearances in Kanye West and Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne. Channel Orange marked some great developments in Ocean’s career and endowed him with great promise for years to come.

moonrise kingdom The sleeper hit of the summer was Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed, and hugely successful, Moonrise Kingdom. Since his debut in 1996 with Bottle Rocket, Anderson has been one of America’s most distinctive film stylists, establishing a niche reputation with films like Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Moonrise Kingdom, a pre-teen romance set against the backdrop of a fictional New England island in 1965, benefitted from a superb ensemble cast featuring the likes of Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. Yet, the most impressive cast members were 14-year-olds Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy, whose precocious romance stands in stark contrast to the cynical adult world surrounding them. Kingdom had all the usual Anderson touches—sweeping camera movements, exquisite dollhouse-like sets, a gorgeous color palette, and a killer vintage soundtrack—but these stylistic elements were perfectly integrated with a story that was truly touching, at once comedic and profound. The result was a unique masterpiece that confirms Anderson’s status as one of the great modern directors.

tHe dark knight rises Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy completed its cycle this July with The Dark Knight Rises. At the height of his brilliance, Nolan solidified his Batman reboot with the neo-noir panache audiences have come to expect. However, the end was bittersweet. On the film’s opening night, gunman James Holmes killed 12 moviegoers in a Colorado multiplex, raising questions to the psychological effect of the dark violence in these Batman films. The trilogy is no stranger to tragedy—in January 2008, actor Heath Ledger died of accidental overdose, prior to his Oscar-winning appearance as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Not without controversy, The Dark Knight Trilogy amassed critical success, second only to its box office glory (the series amassed a total of $2.6 billion worldwide). What’s more, his influence on the action genre is already evident in this year’s movie crop (e.g. Skyfall, The Avengers). Nolan will strike again—his Superman reboot, Man of Steel, is set for release next June. Until then, superhero fans can sleep easy, after finally receiving “the hero Gotham deserves” on the big screen.

joseph gordon-levitt Known at first only for his role in the sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt became an instant household name after starring as Zooey Deschannel’s jaded lover in the 2009 indie classic (500) Days of Summer. He has completely infiltrated the film industry this past year, however, proving that he’s more than just a sweet, winsome face—he’s an undeniably versatile and talented actor too. Starring in four acclaimed films just in this past year, Gordon-Levitt is arguably 2012’s Ryan Gosling, and he will, without a doubt, remain the actor to watch. A faithful police officer in The Dark Knight Rises and a president’s son in Lincoln, Gordon-Levitt has the rare talent of bringing a marked sense of importance to his supporting roles. On the screen, he conveys the same level of skill and charisma in his lead roles, too, such as in the sci-fi thriller Looper and in the comedic action flick Premium Rush. With such a successful past, it will be both interesting and exciting to see how his future will pan out.

joss whedon Did anyone have a better 2012 than Joss Whedon? First of all, he managed the near-impossible task of satisfying both die-hard comic book fans and a general audience with the megahit The Avengers, Marvel’s massive integration of its superhero franchises. Compared to so many joyless comic book movies, The Avengers was truly refreshing, replete with witty banter and superb action scenes that made for a thrilling popcorn movie. Directing The Avengers would have been enough for anyone else, but Whedon also wrote and produced The Cabin in the Woods, a heady blend of the slasher movie and science fiction. In an entirely different vein, Whedon premiered his low-budget, black-and-white Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing (shot in 12 days while on break from making The Avengers) at the Toronto Film Festival. Finally, Whedon enlivened the election scene with a hilarious viral video “endorsing” Mitt Romney for his policies designed to send America into a zombie apocalypse. From a simple video to the biggest blockbuster of the year, 2012 proved Whedon’s versatility in the entertainment world.

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Wiley’s Follies

Star value by Allie Broas

‘Twilight’ baby sets standard for computer-generated humans With so many films coming out before Christmas, it’s hard to keep track of the bevy of talented youngsters on our movie screens. Thankfully, Stephanie Meyer and the last installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, has made it quite easy to identify the beginning of the next generation of talent: computer generated humans. Special effects gurus Phil Tippet and John Rosengrant led the visual effects team for the last two Twilight films and created the masterpiece in Breaking Dawn that was the animatronic baby Renesmee. The baby, which in reality is a collection of wires and bolts, was transformed on screen to the fully functioning, wide-eyed, and almost too realistic offspring of Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. Though scenes involving the swaddled newborn scared many theatergoers, this very well may be the new Hollywood. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Avatar and The Lord of the Rings trilogy’s Gollum have demonstrated that computer generated humans have a place at the Oscars now, and baby Renesmee is proof that this trend is growing rapidly. We can only hope that the time when we are competing for jobs with puppet machinery is still relatively distant in our future.

Photos courtesy of google images

Fashion Forward

Spring style hearkens back to ’90s Overalls are coming back, but some looks are best left in the past

Therese Tully We all had that one childhood outfit that we loved. For whatever reason, it was this outfit that was the perfect combination of comfortable and ohso-fashionable, or so I thought at the time. I begged to wear it over and over again, and my mom often caved and let it happen. Even when I was young, I was a budding fashionista, I must say, or at least had a strong sartorial opinion of my own. I often disagreed with the fashion choices my mom made for me, though looking back at photographic evidence, I should have trusted her more. There is no denying that she had far more of an eye for what looked good on a little girl than I did. I vividly remember one such outfit that I found utterly offensive, mind you I was barely four years old at the time. I know this, because there is a picture of me in it (I am surprised I let anyone document what I thought was truly a fashion tragedy). The outfit consisted of adorable red corduroys, a cream sweater, and what was, in my mind, the most hideous aspect of this outfit, my saddle shoes. I was utterly convinced that wearing pants made me look like a boy, and that these black and white shoes were hardly becoming, as I much preferred to wear my mom’s high heels constantly. Though it is sad to admit, I remember thinking that this outfit would ruin my whole day, and I am pretty sure it did. But with a red ribbon in my hair, I must acknowledge that my mother knew what she was doing, which makes me question how some pieces snuck into my young wardrobe. My favorite outfit, the one I believed to be comfortable and cool, was in fact a pair of OshKosh B’Gosh short, floral overalls. Yes, you read that right. Overalls, sure those always look good, let’s make them into shorts now and throw in a floral pattern! Layer them with a pink tee for a perfect look and maybe throw in some Keds and matching pink socks if I was really feeling it. The pictures from these days

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are ones I look back on with shame (partially because of the outfit, and partially because this outfit coincided with the days when I had bangs, a short and tragic time in my young life). What brought this outfit to mind was not a sentimental picture from the past, but a story that ran on fabsugar.com just this past Tuesday. The story proclaimed for all the world to see that Elizabeth and James, the coolest of the cool brand-wise, was showing denim overalls for this spring! Yes, chambray is in right now, and people are pushing its boundaries, trying to make denim on denim work in a non-Canadian tuxedo kind of way, but overalls, really!? This bold move made by the brand Elizabeth and James, headed by the ever-glamorous Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, was not the most surprising when you think about the label they have put their name behind. These two iconic ’90s girls, who rocked some overalls in their past, will surely reinvigorate the trend for modern days, hopefully ditching the short cut and white floral prints along the way, please. And honestly, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Elizabeth and James, whose cool factor is always through the roof and whose pieces feel both cutting edge and classic at the same time. The rest of the spring ’13 lookbook does not cease to impress. Distressed denim in washes ranging from black to the lightest white pair, with everything in between accounted for, work well with the drool-worthy tees and sweat shirts that dot the spring line, with phrases like “HIPPIE,” “POET,” and “WARRIOR” printed in plain, bold-faced lettering. Two different versions of a tie-dyed chambray shirt bring this popular trend one step further, and nicely juxtapose with the aforementioned industrial overalls. I could imagine myself wearing any and all of these items this spring, and believe that I would someday not look back in complete horror at my fashion decisions. I start to think, that maybe there is even a way to make the overalls work. A cool scarf, or perhaps a bright, bold, chunky necklace would offset the decidedly masculine, utilitarian vibe, or maybe pairing them with some cork platform heels or a sharp blazer even. I like to think that if Elizabeth and James is selling them, they have to be pretty cool. Because, like I did in the ’90s, I tend to follow Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s fashion advice, as sad as that may sound. The duo has really matured from their Full House days, and I like to think that I have matured right along with them. Though I may consider revisiting the childhood love of my past, the overall, I will never look back on my saddle shoe days with love, I am still glad those are long over.

Therese Tully is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

Mary-Kate and Ashley have come a long way since their child star days, but their glamourous fashion brand Elizabeth and James is set to resurrect the overall as a high-style fashion item. ’90’s nostalgia has long been the rocket fuel behind Nickelodeon’s “Nick at Nite,” and this season, it’s taking hold of the fashion industry.

Yes, Boston College, there is a Santa Claus

John Wiley We hang our stockings on the fiscal cliff, as mindful of the partisan gridlock as the holiday traffic. And so long as cleanup from Hurricane Sandy is still underway, the Christmas tree might not be the only tree in the living room. It’s hard to find faith in anything besides the headlines. It’s hard to find importance in anything outside the day-to-day. We have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age, but when life is so hopelessly entangled in the temporary, it becomes all the more important to recognize what will forever be true. Yes, Boston College, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as Chobani and the Plex exist, the things in which we derive the highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary our lives would be if there were nothing greater than nights at the Mods (and for some, mornings in the infirmary). We love most things because they are specific to us—specific to our generation (e.g. Snapchat) or specific to where we’re from (e.g. Vineyard Vines). However, far be it from me to claim Christmas is specific to Chestnut Hill’s 18-22 demographic, or to anyone anywhere for that matter. To our grandparents, it was Frank Sinatra. To our parents, it was Bruce Springsteen. To us, it’s Michael Buble—but who am I to argue who sang “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” best? Christmas music is a strange phenomenon. What other genre so readily repeats itself? What other art form so easily claims the human heart? It strikes me how so much has been overturned while Christmas stays intact. Of course, I’ve heard the complaints—Christmas has changed, it’s far more secular, it’s maligned by consumerism, it’s just not what it used to be. It’s the same people who are offended that the news gets published online, but I’d like to argue they can still get newspapers delivered to their door. The beauty of Christmas is that it can be so universal, while still allowing us to celebrate it the way we want. For me, as a lifelong Catholic, Christmas is about the birth of Christ, setting up a Nativity set in my dining room, and going to midnight mass. However, to claim it’s nothing else to me is simply untrue. It means going home, getting a little out-of-hand with lights in my front yard, and drinking Chipwich Eggnog with dinner (and every other meal for that matter...for at least three weeks). For my non-Christian friends, it’s an entirely different tradition, equally as nuanced, equally as relevant to what matters most to them, even if that means not celebrating it at all. Santa Claus exists. He exists in movies: I’ve seen him in Elf, and I’ve seen him in Miracle on 34th Street (any discrepancy in his portrayal is surely a result of studio pressure). He exists on Pandora’s Christmas playlists, just as he existed on vinyl records decades ago. On Capitol Hill, the arrival of budgetary compromise is entirely uncertain, but Dec. 25 surely will come. In homes across the country, the same Santa Claus is expected by the 99 percent and the one percent. Uncle Sam may take from us unfairly at times, but Santa Claus eats everyone’s cookies. Nietzsche would argue that Santa Claus too must die; someday we will kill him. But how does something die when it’s continually reborn? I’m talking about more than just the way Tim Allen was reborn in The Santa Clause. See, hope is a pervasive force, and I’d reckon Santa Claus is too. He’s reborn in every generation: in movies, in music, on TV, in shopping malls, on city streets, in opera halls, and in football stadiums. He’s a part of us we just won’t let go of, no matter what political and economic force manages to take away. He’s been heard as long as there’s been sound, and been seen as long as there’s been sight. Santa Claus cannot be reduced to dogma. His story has been retold millions of times, but in each retelling, he maintains a single nature, and I’d like to believe it’s a giving one. He’s accessible to everyone, and there never is a year Santa Claus doesn’t come around. You see, Santa Claus is art.

John Wiley is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@ bcheights.com.

The Heights

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Minaj boldly returns with a solid release, ‘The Re-Up’

Chart Toppers

By Brennan Carley

1 Diamonds Rihanna 2 Die Young Ke$ha 3 One More Night Maroon 5 4 Locked Out Of Heaven Bruno Mars. 5 Gangnam Style PSY 6 Some Nights fun. 7 Ho Hey The Lumineers 8 Home Phillip Phillips 9 I Cry Flo Rida

Arts & Review Editor

Nicki Minaj has had a rough year. Sure, her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded sold a boatload of copies and spawned several successful singles, but her place in rap’s hierarchy has taken a tumble. Hip-hop has only taken notice of Minaj for her shortcomings lately, whether it’s popular DJ Funkmaster Flex berating the artist for “going pop” this year or a number of notable radio stations refusing to play the rap cuts (“Beez in the Trap” or “I Am Your Leader”) even though they’d been released as promo singles. It’s also hard living in the shadow of your former self. Minaj hasn’t released a verse as good as her “Monster” spitfire, but that’s now over two years old, and the music industry moves on quickly. What critics hailed as the next queen of rap seems to have fizzled along the way, trading barbs for her Barbz, quippy raps for poppy choruses. Ever the smart businesswoman, it seems as if Minaj herself has noticed this public shift in opinion, and her latest—a reissue of Reloaded with eight more tracks—crackles with the sort of fiery braggadocio of her mixtape days. Minaj actually classes up the EP with tracks like “Up In Flames” and “Freedom,” two extraordinarily solid and grounded rap efforts that the rapper has been missing in recent years. They cement her skills as one of the most talented writers—man or wom-

an—in the industry, something many have questioned of the Re-Up artist for some time. The album comes alive on “Hell Yeah,” the perfect combination of rap and pop and something one can’t help but think Minaj has been searching for throughout her career. British R&B singer Parker takes the hook, while Minaj tosses bombs at rivals like “I ain’t see you on the Forbes yet / swear to God I ain’t see you in the stores yet.” It’s a smart and welcome song that signals a return to form. Ciara makes a guest appearance on the hook of “I’m Legit,” a Mike WiLL Made It styled production with a dirty bassline and lickety-split quick rhymes from Minaj, who should be commended for her lightning quick pop culture references. “I did a freestyle then I got a shoutout from Obama / yes, yes, I am ill / I go in / for the kill,” she rhymes, calling out her second presidential candidate in a matter of months (a la Mitt Romney on Lil’ Wayne’s “Mercy” remix). Ciara holds her own, but her inclusion is headscratching to say the least. Minaj has a tendency for choosing some truly eclectic collaborators on her solo work, but fans must not be able to help thinking that her clout could pull in bigger names. Was Beyonce too busy, or perhaps just too classy? What cements the EP, however, is also its most ludicrous single. Bringing the word absurdity to another level, “I Endorse Dem Strippers” serves as a sequel of sorts to her guest verse on fellow 2012 all-star 2 Chainz’s “I Luve Dem Strippers,” but here Minaj

Pink Friday: Roman REloaded the Re-up Nicki Minaj produced by Universal Music released Nov. 19, 2012 Our rating a-

Singles

Top Albums

Photo courtesy of universal music

Nicki Minaj returns to rap roots with a ‘Pink Friday’ refresher, adding eight new tracks that show off her lyrical finesse. takes center stage. An icy beat is a welcome accompaniment to her heavily-accented rhymes as she raps about things not possible to be printed in this newspaper. “I ain’t got no time for your silly feuds / I’m with Pretty Gang at Sue’s Rendezvous,” she says with what one has to imagine is a steely glint in her eyes, shouting out a gentleman’s club. “I endorse this message,” she repeats over and over, drilling the mantra into your head.

Rap fans should expect to hear this spinning on their local stations in the coming months thanks to solid, not stellar guest verses by Young Money label-mate Tyga and Minaj’s own signee Brinx. Minaj has never had much luck with first singles, either, so the failure of “The Boys” both as a musical achievement and as a chart-performer should come as no surprise. With forgotten tracks like “Massive Attack” and “Roman in Moscow” serving as

the lead singles from her prior two albums, the Cassie assisted mess of a song from The Re-Up should fade into the background of the rapper’s otherwise more than sterling career. If nothing else, The Re-Up serves as the bridge between a solid sophomore effort and a hopefully rock-solid third disc. If it points to the direction her work is set to take in coming months, fans and haters alike should take note: the Queen is back. n

1 Unapologetic Rihanna 2 Red Taylor Swift 3 Take Me Home One Direction 4 The World From The Side of the Moon Phillip Phillips Source: Billboard.com

From behind her piano, Keys demonstrates her raw musical talent By Emma Donovan For The Heights

Alicia Keys’ new album, Girl On Fire, begins the same way the songstress began her music career, with just her and the piano. The album’s instrumental opener, “De Novo Adagio,” is a nod to Keys’ classical roots

and reminds fans that the professionally trained Columbia University grad is, in fact, a serious artist. Once Keys’ past has been acknowledged, the following track introduces the intent of rebirth and new beginnings that is threaded through the rest of the album. Although the track, entitled “Brand New Me,” features Keys pro-

claiming her fresh start, it falls flat in that it doesn’t exactly feature a fresh sound. The slow ballad, co-written by Scottish songwriter Emeli Sande, is honest and vocally on par, but it fails to distinguish itself from Keys’ previous work. The next Jamie xx produced track, “When It’s All Over,” evokes a bit more interest with a background

Girl On fire Alicia Keys produced by RCA released nov. 27, 2012 Our rating b

Photo courtesy of RCA

‘Girl on Fire’ shines brilliantly in its simple and intimate nature and showcases Keys’s beautifully earnest vocals.

of horns and snare drums creating a generally more upbeat vibe to Keys’ jazzy-smooth crooning. It’s not until the song “New Day,” however, that Keys’ confident new demeanor is matched with an equally bold sound. This is not surprising considering the track is a catchy collaboration with hip-hop icons Swizz Beatz (Keys’ husband) and Dr. Dre. Keys replaces her usual smooth, belting vocals with a series of sharp eh’s and oh’s, and a slight accent channeling that of Rihanna. This new vocal technique paired with a thumping backbeat makes for a fresh departure from Keys’ ballad-heavy R&B comfort zone. Other successful team efforts include “Fire We Make,” featuring Maxwell and “Tears Always Win,” a collaboration with Bruno Mars. The pairing of two of R&B’s most powerful voices in “Fire We Make” results in a sensual, smooth slow-jam attempted, but not quite achieved, in the earlier track “Listen To Your Heart.” Although at points Maxwell’s range threatens to overpower Keys’ low moaning, the artists’ voices manage to, for the most part, contrast each other perfectly. While few doubted that a duet with fellow R&B star Maxwell would be a success, more were

skeptical about Keys’ collaboration with Bruno Mars and the Smeezingtons, the team behind Cee Lo Green’s “F--k You,” and Mars’ “Grenade.” Keys’ “Tears Always Win,” does feature the doo-whop vibe inevitably associated with many Bruno Mars creations. The retro vibe, however, goes along well with Keys’ soulfulness, resulting in a pleasant, honest, and upbeat edition to an album otherwise overweighed by tracks too low, slow, and smooth. The album’s title track is clearly also its defining ballad. The inclusion of a rap from the ever-eccentric Nicki Minaj may seem like it would be out of place next to Keys’ voice. Minaj tones down the theatrics, however, integrating her part perfectly into the song. The result: a Billboard Top 100 worthy power-ballad. Keys’ most emotional and impressive moments, however, are not in her collaborations, but rather in her most under-produced tracks that showcase simply her and her piano. In “Not Even A King,” the raspiness of Keys’ voice, accompanied only by a few simple piano notes gives an effect so vulnerable and intimate it could be a lullaby. This track is one of the best examples of Keys’ uncommon ability to showcase her vocal talent without

belting her lungs out. The album draws to a close with tracks, which, though they sound good on their own, sound awkward when played in succession. The unexpected appearance of electric guitars paired with a strong backbeat and a booming snare drum in “Limitedless” would have a much more foot-tapping effect had it not been surrounded by slow, subtle ballads, “That’s When I Knew,” “One Thing,” and “101.” Overall, however, Girl On Fire as a whole can be deemed refreshing. The songs were not always refreshing in the way that their sounds were completely different than any of Keys’ previous work. With the exception of a few tracks, most of the album emits the same vibe present in previous efforts, As I Am and The Diary of Alicia Keys. Girl on Fire is refreshing in the way that it features a subdued and raw, yet still interesting and catchy, version of hip-hop and R&B that is so difficult to find today, given that the genre has become infiltrated by autotune and computer-generated beats. Similarly, the honesty and deeper meanings which lie behind Keys’ every track are a welcome rarity that give each song a depth no synthetic beat could ever provide. n

With its introspective lyrics, ‘Unapologetic’ is surprisingly blunt By Ariana Igneri Heights Staff

Rihanna’s seventh album in the last seven years, Unapologetic, finds the Barbadian singer haunted and vulnerable, a marked distinction from last year’s Talk That Talk. And though both effervescent, dubstep dance numbers and guileless, personal ballads are present on the release, the record plays much like an open confessional, revealing the R&B artist’s most intimate sentiments within the confines of pop structures. Thus, how listeners react to the blunt intensity of Unapologetic depends upon whether they consider it to be a convincing success in terms of lyrical sincerity or, rather, a blatant commercial exploitation of the singer’s private life. Admittedly, the album does not start out strongly, and the opening track, “Phresh Out The Runway,” fails to be an elucidating introduction to the rest of Unapologetic. Its explicit lyricism and repetitive chorus seem comparatively contrived—nevertheless, the song, like several others on the album, is meant to serve as a diversion—a pounding, hedonistic respite from the other anxiety-latent tracks. “Jump” and “Right Now”

have the same purpose. The former borrows the seductive chorus from Ginuwine’s “Pony,” placing it amidst skidding synths, dipping bass drops, and even a cameo by Kanye West, while the latter is an infectious track, featuring momentous bass and neontinted, electric sounds, compliments of David Guetta. “Pour It Up,” lastly, can be classified likewise. Displaying Rihanna’s subtle rap posturing, the song isn’t really concerned with deep emotions, but instead just with her celebrity-earned assets, as she brazenly sings, “All I see is dollar signs.” In contrast to these are her more internally revealing tracks—the songs that will inevitably catch listeners’ attention. On the commanding and enticing “Lost In Paradise,” for example, Rihanna seems to be lost in a limbo of mixed emotions, singing, “It might be wrong but it feels right to be lost in paradise.” The doubletrack, “Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary,” evinces the artist’s emotional distress as well. Blended together with comparably bright and vaporous twinkling sounds, both halves of the song are equally alluring, while Rihanna confesses, “What’s love when I’m tragedy?” and “I’m prepared to die in the moment.” However, Unapologetic’s most contentious track is definitely

“Nobody’s Business,” featuring Chris Brown—who was charged with assaulting her just two years ago. Despite her troubled history with Brown, she sings, “You’ll always be my boy, I’ll always be your girl.” Even with its smooth ’80s R&B sound borrowed directly from Michael Jackson, the song is slightly difficult to listen to. The record includes tracks featuring less controversial guest artists also, however. In “Numb,” Eminem steps in, and though he skillfully references “Love The Way You Lie,” the rest of his rap is unfortunately disappointing, as he lyrically obsesses over the female body in a way that aims to be clever, but instead comes off as tawdry. Future, with his warbling and eerie refrain, can be found on “Loveeeeeee Song.” Amidst a woozy background, he intones, “I don’t want to give you the wrong impression,” in a track basically about self-consciousness. Some of the more unique songs on Unapologetic include “No Love Allowed” and “Diamonds,” the album’s lead single. With its expansive piano intro, soaring choruses, and interesting vocal inflections, the track is irrefutably unforgettable. Standing out in a completely different way, “No Love Allowed,” is succinct yet memorable. With its simple, reggae

backbeats, listeners are forced to pay closer attention to both the song’s vocal performance and its lyrics, which is sometimes a challenging task on the more heavily produced tracks. Even amidst the songs characterized by shocking lyrical honesty and imposing electric, dub-step elements, the most standout pieces on the record are arguably its two ballads: “What

Now” and “Stay.” With its shimmering piano intro and flitting, falsetto verses, “What Now” builds remarkably to a powerful, synthesized chorus, eventually breaking down with fuzzed out power chords and a classic guitar solo. It demonstrates Rihanna’s versatility and ability to transcend genres in a single track. Completely earthen and raw, “Stay” is also a stunning ballad,

but it relies solely on somber piano harmonies and poignant, resonating vocals, including those of Mikky Ekko. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether Rihanna is using Unapologetic’s lyrical candor as an outlet for emotional catharsis or, instead, just as way to sell more albums—because its diverse and cohesive track list alone eliminates the need for her apologies entirely. n

Unapologetic Rihanna produced by Def Jam released nov. 13, 2012 Our rating b

Photo courtesy of Def jam

Rihanna explores the emotions behind her personal life within the confines of ‘Unapologetic’s varied tracklisting.

Radio singles by Mary Austin Williams will.i.am “Scream & Shout” (Feat. Britney Spears) From his forthcoming solo album, #willpower, rapper will.i.am (of Black Eyed Peas fame) teamed up with pop legend Britney Spears to produce this electro-inspired number. While the pair previously collaborated on a track for Britney’s last album, Femme Fatale, “Scream & Shout” is woefully forgettable, so much so that even Spears’ feigned British accent can’t save it.

50 Cent “My Life” (Feat. Eminem & Adam Levine) Though it has been a while since “In Da Club” and “Candy Shop” were popular radio hits, 50 Cent proves he still has swagger by teaming up with a duo of legends, hip-hop icon Eminem and former Maroon 5 front-man Adam Levine. Levine’s smooth falsetto in the chorus rounds out Slim Shady’s raw flow, and while you can’t match any of their older hits, “My Life” will still have you rocking your head to the beat.

Timeflies “Swoon” Boston-based duo Rob Resnick and Cal Shapiro, also known as Timeflies, recently released their EP, One Night, with a catchy mix of hip-hop, electro, and pop music, making “Swoon” a standout track. Clever lyrics about a fun night on the town make this a great track to add to your party playlist. If you missed out seeing them live at BC, be sure to check them out on their winter tour this February.

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

keeley’s corner

Jingle all the day

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Scene and Heard

BY: jOHN wILEY

Sean Keeley Every year, there are certain inevitable signifiers that Christmas is coming: the sight of dorms decked out in lights and other Christmas finery, a massive barrage of Christmas commercials and showings of It’s A Wonderful Life on TV, and, especially relevant for college students, sleep-deprived nights preparing for the grind of finals before the much-needed winter break. But above all, this is the season of Christmas music, a reality that is truly impossible to avoid. No matter where you are, Christmas music will find you: on the radio, emanating from dorm rooms, in supermarkets, even playing in the dining halls on campus. Good luck to anyone who wouldn’t mind going a day without hearing Mariah Carey belt “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” for it is truly a losing battle. Christmas music is indeed so ubiquitous that it’s easy to overlook what a strange cultural phenomenon it is. No other holiday imposes itself on our ears with anything close to the same intensity. When Easter, Halloween, or even Thanksgiving roll around, the music industry keeps on doing its thing. But as soon as Black Friday hits, it seems that all of American society bends to the will of Christmas music. The other strange thing about the popularity of Christmas music is how old-fashioned so much of it is. It’s safe to say that most college students aren’t likely to jam out to ’50s-era crooners like Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby on a regular basis, but as soon as December arrives, it seems that everyone starts pulling out these old chestnuts. A decidedly old-fashioned musical style surges in popularity for a few weeks and is then forgotten again. Before anyone reading this column dismisses me as a hopeless Grinch, I hasten to add that I don’t necessarily object to Christmas music on principle—far be it from me to deny the nostalgic seasonal pleasure of hearing “White Christmas” or “Feliz Navidad” every once in a while. But, there comes a point when the stuff becomes so incessant that it starts to feel like an aural assault rather than pleasant mood-setting ambiance. The season also inevitably produces a new stream of Christmas albums and singles by popular artists, many of whom are very strange candidates for the material. It’s one thing if you’re Michael Buble, who successfully carries on the crooner tradition and is thus a natural fit for the genre. It’s another thing if you’re CeeLo Green, whose Yule-tide offering, CeeLo’s Magic Moment, dropped in October. I prefer my CeeLo telling off gold-diggers rather than covering tired Christmas songs, thank you very much. An even more extreme example is Bob Dylan’s 2009 Christmas in the Heart, which is probably the height of Christmas music absurdity. Was anyone asking for the then 68 year-old, whose never pretty voice has been severely ravaged by years of drug abuse and his Never-Ending Tour, to croak his way through traditional hymns and Christmas pop songs? (No.) Even as a die-hard Dylan obsessive, I find the move inscrutable—though also undeniably hilarious. I like to imagine that Dylan got giddily drunk at a holiday party, stumbled into a recording studio with his band, emerged with an impromptu Christmas jam session, and decided to release it for the hell of it. Judging by his hilariously silly music video for “Must Be Santa,” such an occurrence is not entirely outside the realm of plausibility. Even as the Christmas music machine produces such absurd entries, though, there’s always the rare artist who manages to pull off a truly successful Christmas song. Coldplay did just that in 2010 with “Christmas Lights,” merging their rich soft-rock sound with a Christmas theme. The Killers have done the same for the past seven years with their annual holiday singles. Rather than succumbing to the maudlin sentimentality of so much Christmas music, songs like “Don’t Shoot Me Santa” have a playfully subversive edge while adhering to The Killers’ brand of lively, dense pop-rock. Such tunes also find The Killers experimenting with new sound textures (including jingle bells, yes) and collaborating with artists ranging from Elton John to Mariachi El Bronx. So, if you’re tired of the usual assortment of Christmas tunes, try giving these a spin. And always remember to save a place for Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”—anyone immune to its pleasures surely has a heart two sizes too small.

Sean Keeley is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

1. VICTORIA’S SECRET SHOW

2. PERRY WOMAN OF ’12 Billboard Magazine named deserving pop star Katy Perry their “Woman of the Year.” After selling out 124 arenas and releasing her first movie, Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D, Perry has a lot to be proud of. She also joined forces with the Obama campaign this year and continued in her many philanthropic endeavors. She drew some criticism with her statement: “I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women.” This strikes me as true to the artist, however; labels rarely stick to Katy Perry.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show attracted 9.3 million views this Tuesday, with their signature “Angels” appearing alongside A-listers Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars. The circus-themed display presented several rounds of lingerie, ranging from the retro-inspired “calendar girls” to movie characters, including Buzz Lightyear. Adriana Lima even hit the runway a mere two months after giving birth. The moral of the night? Puberty was extremely kind to the Angels and extremely harsh on Bieber—the 18-year-old pop sensation sounded notably strained in his two-song set.

4. Remembering brubeck This week saw the passing of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, remembered most fondly for his work in the Dave Brubeck Quartet. The son of a rancher and music teacher, Dave Brubeck took up the piano at age 5. His music career heated up in his early 20s, leading to his dropping out of veterinarian school. Brubeck opted for family life over the wild lifestyles of many of his contemporaries. Brubeck had six children, and his marriage endured decades. His song “Take Five,” written in atypical 5/4 measure, is among the bestselling jazz songs of all time. He died Wednesday of a heart attack.

3. a heavenly twitter feed Pope Benedict XVI created a Twitter account this week, under the name @pontifex (Latin for “bridge builder”). Although not entirely synonymous with progress, the Vatican is no stranger to social media. The Pope already has broadcasted several of his speeches directly to smartphone devices. For the sinner-on-the-go, he even endorsed the use of a confession app, designed to help the faithful examine their consciences via touchscreen. The Pope decidedly will not be a member of #teamfollowback, as he already has reached half a million followers.

5. SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR

Sports Illustrated announced this week that LeBron James would be its 2012 “Sportsman of the Year.” His winning the title is impressive in light of all athletes from the London Olympics and Miguel Cabrera also being eligible for the award. Along with winning his first NBA championship ring this June, Lebron won his second Olympic gold medal and third MVP award this year. Sports Illustrated’s announcement speaks volumes to the twoyear reputation dialysis Lebron underwent, following his 2010 departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers, a move sparking some pundits to name him “the world’s most hated athlete.”

The critical curmudgeon

@GSElevator (GS Elevator gossip, comedy)

“#1: Almost time for children to learn a valuable life lesson. santa loves rich kids more.” photo courtesy of google images

Taylor Swift exemplifies the recent trend of artists filling their music with obvious references to their celebrity love affairs.

Anonymity in love songs is a lost virtue in modern music Matt Mazzari To begin with, I’m a free love kind of guy. Long hair, groovy colors, intimidating nicknamed rooms designated for lovemaking (i.e. “Boom Boom Room”, “Love Shack”, “In-And-Out-Burger”, etc.) I’m down with it all. In all seriousness, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to be with whomever they want, barring no exceptions. However, an interesting phenomenon has arisen in music (though not necessarily just recently) that makes me think some relationships are best left unsung. I’m talking about the tendency of pop musicians to date other people in the public eye, so that when they write music about their lives, it’s all very explicitly understood. When you get to a point that the anonymity of a single is gone, have we lost more fun than we’ve gained? What I mean to say is that some pop stars have taken to having dramatic, flashin-the-pan relationships that color their work with a superfluous air of celebrity. In such situations, no longer is a love song just about the “every girl,” Eliot’s “objective correlative,” because now there’s a wellknown face attached to the tune. Now, break-up songs aren’t anonymous outlets for grief, but specifically directed insults and personal smears. For instance, there’s a pattern forming for pop-country songstress Taylor Swift lately in that she’ll date a famous guy, like John Mayer or a Jonas brother, and later release a series of singles correlating to their break-up. People were surprised at first when she briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhall, but unsurprised to

hear the usual vitriolic aftermath: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Recently, tabloids have been speculating that Swift is giving it a go with One Direction member Harry Styles, a harbinger of another sudden burst of inspiration. By the way, the source I was reading said that Styles was a “Mick Jagger lookalike,” an outrageous claim I shouldn’t even need to refute, but somehow still do. Let’s get one thing straight: young Mick Jagger is not attractive. Not even a little bit. He looks like a fish with Farrah Fawcet hair. The reason he’s considered a sex symbol is because of his stage presence: he gyrated like a maniac and shrieked like a sex-crazed fiend. Please, please, PLEASE stop misunderstanding one of the greatest frontmen ever as some kind of boy-band perversion. The guy could hardly even really dance! But, as I was saying, does knowing the person the song is about change the whole affair? In 1966 when the Beatles came out with Revolver, hidden away on the B-side was “For No One.” I maintain that “For No One” is among the most heartbreaking songs I’ve ever heard. It’s devastatingly simple, just some melancholy piano chords, and Paul’s best lonesome voice drifting over it, but the sinking sensation of being left behind was never better captured. No one really knows who the song was about. In fact, McCartney probably just wrote it without anyone in particular in mind. It’s spoken in second person, lacking everything glamorous: a universal experience, poignant, human, and sad. Shouldn’t that be the way it’s done?

What tends to happen with these celebrity relationships is quite the opposite of poetic. Profundity is exchanged for cheap shots, explosive appearances at restaurants, and crummy lyricism. In the worst cases, you get the Chris Brown package— personal drama overshadows musicality completely, and basically everyone forgets why you’re famous for anything more than your bizarre on-and-off relationship. Once Twitter gets involved, it’s basically all over. Brown recently had to take down his account due to a controversy wherein he became explicit with comedian Jenny Johnson for her repeated criticism of his past abusive behavior, a resurgent topic now that it seems he and Rihanna are getting back together. The conversation began with a needlessly vulgar exchange and then inexplicably devolved from there. Now, I’ve personally never been on an MTV’s Yo Mamma showdown, so I can’t claim to understand that kind of pressure, but I do know that if your go-to material in a publicly posted insult showdown is “I WILL poop on you,” you need to revise your arsenal. I digress. I suppose my point overall is this: wouldn’t it be better if musicians just wrote songs, rather than their own little soap operas? If people spend more time thinking about your relationships than about your statement as a musician, then your celebrity is out of control. Good luck on finals, everyone!

Matt Mazzari is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@ bcheights.com.

@stephenathome (stephen colbert, ‘the colbert report’)

“2NITE: mY GUEST iAN mCkELLEN PLAYS ‘gANDALF THE GREY.’ BUT HE COULD BE ‘GANDALF THE lOOKS 35 aGAIN’ IF HE TRIES jUST FOR wIZARDS. tcr, 11:30P” @FRANK_OCEAN (FRANK OCEAN, SINGER)

“i NEED TO MEDITATE ON WHY I HATE THIS PERSON.”

@pATTON OSWALT (PATTON OSWALT, ACTOR, STAND-UP COMEDIAN)

“‘WE’RE NEXT.’ -- bEN AFFLECK AND J-LO, TEXTING EACH OTHER. #LIZANDDICK @azizansari (aziz ansari, actor, ‘parks & Recreation’)

“Very sad to discover briskettown is a restaurant and not a secret brooklyn neighborhood made of brisket that i didn’t know about.” Submit your favorite tweets of the week for consideration at artseditors11@gmail.com.

Scene and Heard

Papal Tweeting

The Vatican turns to the Blue Bird As A modern voice, page A13 Columns

Christmas Conflict Two Columns Square off on Christmas Music, page A13, A11

album review

‘Unapologetic’ Rihanna’s seventh album is a dark portait of A triumphant career maligned by tragedy, A12

BY SEAN KEELEY, ARIANA IGNERI, JOHN WILEY | HEIGHTS STAFF

n a few short weeks, the ball will once again drop in Times Square, ushering in the New Year and with it a new slate of pop culture phenomena. But before the past 12 months are forever confined to memory, The Scene takes a look back at the music, movies, television, events, trends, and people that shaped this year. From a surprise South Korean K-pop sensation to the strange technological fad of Snapchat, from the intimate personal vision of Wes Ander-

son’s Moonrise Kingdom to Christopher Nolan’s massive franchise-closing epic The Dark Knight Rises, and from the folk-rap stylings of the UK’s Ed Sheeran to the R&B innovations of our very own Frank Ocean, 2012 provided a plethora of memorable pop culture items. No one knows what 2013 will bring, but we can at least be grateful for this past year’s offerings. And if the Mayans are right and the world comes to an end in a few weeks, well, it’s the end of the world as we know it and we feel fine.

mAGGiE bURDGE / Heights graphic

SPORTS The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Bates has Addazio brings energy his man in Addazio By Greg Joyce Sports Editor

Austin Tedesco Almost two days and one passionate wrecking ball of a press conference later, I’m starting to drink the “Vitamin Water.” I’ll at least have a cup. Steve Addazio, known to his former Florida Gator players as “Vitamin Addazio,” is taking over for Frank Spaziani as the head football coach of Boston College. The difference in the Barber Room was stunning yesterday afternoon. I was warned beforehand to be ready. I was told by other members of the media that I’ve never seen anything like this guy. I didn’t listen, and I was wrong. Two minutes into his speech, I began to rethink my idea from the night before that athletic director Brad Bates had made an underwhelming hire. I hadn’t been in the room for a pregame speech since my senior year of high school, but this really brought me back. Five minutes into his speech, he had me ready to get up and run a mile for him. “I’m here for the long haul, and I’m here to win championships,” he said. That’s bold, I thought, but I’ll buy it. Words can only go so far, but his words showed quickly that he sounds like the perfect fit for BC. It will take nine months until he can prove it on the field, but Bates found a great match for the values that the athletic department and the school hold. And then 10 minutes into his speech, I was ready to lineup in the backfield against the Alabama defense and do everything I could to try to gain a few yards if he was on the sideline yelling instructions. More importantly, it wasn’t just me. Rising seniors and leaders of the 2013 team Chase Rettig, Steele Divitto, Kasim Edebali, and Bobby Swigert had all picked up on that intensity after less than an hour with the coach. Both Divitto and Swigert said they wanted more enthusiasm and engagement from the new head coach when Spaziani was fired. Addazio brings that and more. But, still, so far it’s only words. He had proven success in the Mid-Atlantic Conference with Temple, but then stumbled through his first year in the Big East. He helped lead the Florida offense to two national championships, but he had that ridiculous SEC talent on his side. Whether or not his past success will transfer over to BC will show with time, but so far he’s doing all the right things. He said that these players are about to face the toughest offseason they’ve ever had. That includes the winter, the spring, and the summer. He’s demanding the ultimate sacrifice from his players, and it sounds like they are ready to buy in. He’s also bringing former wide receivers coach Ryan Day back to BC as the new offensive coordinator. He could have pursued a more ambitious hire, but he’s going with someone he knows, someone he’s excited about, and someone who is respected as an up-and-comer. Under different circumstances, Doug Martin deserved to return, but a new coach means new blood and, at least for Rettig and the rest of the offensive players, there will be some familiarity with Day, who shouldn’t be judged by his time under Spaziani. That ultra-conservative regime is out, and Addazio’s new enthusiasm is in. Day deserves a chance to prove himself as a playcaller, just like Addazio deserves the chance to prove himself on the field. The system will be based on players on the roster, and that’s great news for this offense. Day will likely implement successful aspects of Martin’s game, like the quick routes and the delayed screens, while also focusing on tough running between the tackles. Addazio said he’s focused on creating a balance between the run and the pass, something the offense lacked all of last season. That’s the perfect place to start. He’s a proven offensive-line coach, and his energy will be infectious with recruiting in the area. The running game and “O-Line U” might not return immediately, but he’s shown that he has the tools to make it happen. The first day is always just about words, and Addazio didn’t miss a mark. The next nine months will be about actions, and if he’s as successful there as he was on his first day, then this program is, finally, ready to turn the page.

The uncontainable energy, enthusiasm, and passion that overflowed in the Barber Room yesterday as Steve Addazio was announced as the new head football coach at Boston College was a welcome change for his newest players. “I’m very excited to play for him,” said linebacker Steele Divitto. “[His passion] is something that’s very special and something I’ve always treasured in some former coaches I’ve had. I think when a head coach can bring that passion and that energy, everybody feeds off

of it. People get excited to play for him, they get excited about the game. They get excited to play for each other. That’s one of the key components of winning football games.” Addazio’s booming voice and backand-forth movement throughout his introductory speech gave the players in attendance a glimpse of the coach he will be on the field and in the locker room. “You can see that he cares a lot and he has a lot of passion,” said quarterback Chase Rettig. “He carries with himself a lot of enthusiasm.” graham beck / heights editor

See Addazio, B2

Addazio met with his new players for the first time today before his introductory press conference.

ALumni call for the return of Varsity lacrosse

Graham beck / heights Editor

The varsity men’s lacrosse team played its final game in 2002 before being moved to a club sport because of Title IX, but now alumni are pushing for the varsity team to return. By Rosemary Chandler, Adam Parshall, Katharine Rooney, and Austin Tedesco For The Heights

“Sucks to BU.” That’s what Boston College alumni like to chant about rival Boston University. But some are now so frustrated with the BC athletic department, they’re joking about making donations to its cross-town rival. Eleven years after the University eliminated men’s varsity lacrosse—and with BU now adding a team—angry alumni are redoubling their calls to revive the program. “We don’t need to take a back seat to a school like BU,” said Kevin McLane, BC ’99, who graduated as BC’s all-time leading scorer just before the team was cut. Those demanding that men’s varsity lacrosse be restored are emboldened by the hiring of a new athletic director and the addition to the Atlantic Coast Confer-

ence of schools that have lacrosse. They also cite the additions of lacrosse teams at comparable universities and colleges and the huge growth in popularity of the sport. “It’s become a joke that BC doesn’t have it,” said E. Ward Bitter, BC ’77 and All-American lacrosse player and a member of the BC Varsity Club Hall of Fame, who says he refused to send his own children—all standout athletes—to the University because it no longer had men’s varsity lacrosse. Bitter says sarcastically that BC alumni should give $250,000 a year to the program at BU until the university restores the team. Men’s varsity lacrosse played its last game in 2002. The team was cut, along with wrestling and water polo, to conform to Title IX, which requires equal opportunity in athletics for men and women. Bringing it back would mean cutting scholarships for another men’s sport or adding some for women.

See Lacrosse, B2

chasing more than wins

Graham beck / heights Editor

A second half run led Harvard to its fifth consecutive win over Boston College on Tuesday night.

Harvard takes fifth straight By Austin Tedesco Asst. Sports Editor

Alex trautwig / heights senior staff

Austin Tedesco is the Asst. Sports Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.

Donors offered $8 million over five years to restore the program, but then-athletic director Gene DeFilippo told them it would take $30 million, alumni said. “It was an immediate reaction,” McClane said. “We were all rebuffed.” He calls the $30 million figure “absurd.” The University of Richmond established a men’s varsity lacrosse team, which will debut in 2014, with an investment of $3 million, and the University of Michigan spent just under $6 million to set up a team that began play last year. The average annual operating expenses of a Division 1A men’s lacrosse program is around $1.2 million, according to the NCAA, with revenues of $737,182, for a total cost of $509,567 per year. DeFilippo, who stepped down in September, did not respond to a request for comment. He has been

Jerry York is one win away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in college hockey. But that’s not what makes him tick. His unchanged coaching philisophy is. See B4.

i nside S ports this issue

Eagles extend unbeaten streak The women’s hockey team won their seventh straight game at UNH last night..........B3

When head coach Steve Donahue sees his team shoot almost 60 percent from the field, he expects them to win. Despite the apparent offensive efficiency on Tuesday night, the Boston College men’s basketball fell to Harvard 79-63 in the program’s fifth straight loss to the Crimson. “It’s hard to imagine you shoot 58 percent and lose by 16 pretty handedly,” Donahue said. “There’s a mental toughness side on both sides

York continues to set the standard Jerry York’s actions speak louder than his wo rd s , b o t h o n a n d o f f t h e i c e. . . . . . . . . . .B 4

of the ball that they had and we didn’t. That was, I’m sure, apparent to everybody. In particular, when they pressured us, even though we were scoring, we were never understanding and staying poised and confident in our offense. But, when we pressured them, they just moved like clockwork to the next thing. And like I said, it’s kind of mind-boggling to put up those kinds of numbers and lose pretty handedly.” Ryan Anderson opened the game by

See Basketball, B3

Editors’ Picks..............................B3 Game of the Week.....................B3

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Seniors welcome the enthusiasm and intensity Addazio brings Addazio, from B1 With the hiring of Addazio as the next football coach comes the fifth offensive coordinator for Rettig in his three-plus years at BC. Addazio announced at yesterday’s press conference that Ryan Day will be the new offensive coordinator for the Eagles. Day served in that same position under Addazio for one season at Temple, and before that, he spent five years as the wide receivers coach at BC. That means Day and Rettig have a familiar relationship, as they overlapped for two seasons in Chestnut Hill. “The only thing I can really say about that is when [Day] was here and I was here at the same time, he was a big supporter for me,” Rettig said. “We had a good relationship. Hopefully, I can meet with him tonight because obviously there’s a lot to be talked about. “I’m kind of just in the fog right now with everything, I have to meet all these people. At least I know coach Day well.” Addazio said he wasn’t too concerned about Rettig adjusting to yet another offensive coordinator, and thinks the talented quarterback will do well under Day. “I think great players handle that fine,” Addazio said. “A lot of these concepts are the same. A curl flat is a curl flat.

A corner route is a corner route, and I think with terminology we try to do the best we can to make that as easy a transition as we can. But, I think that players adapt. What is more important is that relationship and the teaching of the fundamentals.” Rettig echoed Addazio’s hope that he’d be able to adjust to a new offensive game plan under Day, and said he was looking forward to another challenge. “Nothing comes easy, it’s kind of like what coach Addazio was saying earlier— you don’t want to be a part of success that was easy to gain—it doesn’t really mean anything,” Rettig said. “Just got to move forward, build more relationships, face this adversity a little bit, and get through it, and have some success and it’ll be that much greater of a feeling when we get it.” Last season at Temple, Day ran an offense that was heavily dependent on the run game, but Addazio said that was because of the personnel the Owls had, and that the type of offense Day will run at BC also depends on the personnel. Rettig didn’t know much about Day’s offense at Temple this year, but trusted Addazio’s word that it would be a balance of both passing and running at BC next year. “We could use a better running game for this year, and like he said, it creates balance,” Rettig said. “If we can pass

the ball and run the ball it’ll be a good thing.” While Rettig said he would miss 2012 offensive coordinator Doug Martin, who he had built a close relationship with, the two had met and had conversations about the possibility of Martin not being retained. Entering a key offseason where relationships will be built, and Addazio will throw himself right into the swing of things, he vowed to make this offseason the toughest one BC has ever been through. Divitto said he was looking forward to that challenge. “That gets me very excited,” Divitto said. “I’ve always been a person who’s thought if you sacrifice and you stay patient, the more you do, the more successful you’re going to be. So, I was very excited for him to say that. I’m excited to buckle up and get ready for a tough offseason.” Defensive end Kasim Edebali, who will be a fifth-year senior in the 2013 season, also said he was ready to embrace a grueling offseason. “Especially being an upperclassman now, I understand that you have to put in a lot of work to accomplish big things,” Edebali said. “I’m ready. He said it’s going to be the hardest offseason ever? I’m ready for that. I want it to be the hardest offseason ever.” n

Graham beck / heights Editor

Addazio said the players would face the toughest offseason ever starting this winter.

After 924 wins, York personifies ‘Ever to Excel’ on and off the ice Chris Grimaldi While the college football coaching carousel made a stop at Boston College this week with the addition of Steve Addazio, another major chapter of BC athletic history is on the verge of being written. When the men’s hockey team travels to play Hockey East rival Providence College tomorrow night, it will be vying for much more than a conference victory. PC’s Schneider Arena will potentially be an unlikely venue for history: head coach Jerry York’s record-breaking 925th career victory. Perhaps York’s inevitable milestone has taken somewhat of a back seat during a suddenly hectic week for the BC sports scene. Considering his stoic demeanor and avoidance of fanfare for his own accomplishment, however, he probably doesn’t mind.

In fact, it might be exactly what he wanted all along. After all, York has already solidified his place as one of BC’s elite. All you have to do is look up at the banners hanging from the ceiling of Conte Forum to understand his legacy on the Heights. The milestones he’s reached and achievements he has garnered since returning to his alma mater in 1994 speak for themselves—over 900 career victories, six Beanpot titles, and four national championships. He has brought young and unpolished recruits together to form a dynastic powerhouse unrivaled by any other program in the country. And for over 20 BC alums enjoying careers in the NHL? All played on an Eagle squad headed by York himself. Yet, you don’t have to have a stat sheet memorized to realize the impact York has had on BC hockey and how strongly he is revered on campus. The

chants of “Jerry” that shook the walls of Conte prior to York’s record-tying win against rival Boston University last Saturday night have become a standard way of honoring the man who has lived out the University motto of “Ever to Excel.” When he notches win 925 and breaks Ron Mason’s all-time mark for career victories, expect the chants to only grow louder. Regardless of how many records he’s broken or titles he’s won, York’s legacy reaches far beyond the trophy case. His time at BC has been defined by the intangibles he embodies and instills within his players—attributes that can neither be confined to material accomplishments nor drawn up in a playbook. All you have to do is hear him speak to know the set of values he champions. Sportsmanship echoes in his words when he congratulates the effort of an opponent during a postgame press conference, and

selflessness leads him to fill his sentences with “we” rather than “I.” After Saturday night’s game, York shared the mantra he and his coaching staff have preached to the Eagles throughout the ups and downs of every college hockey season: “If you put yourself above the team, good things are not going to happen.” If the words of team captain Pat Mullane are any indication, his coach’s message has hit home. “There’s no place for selfishness or ‘me’ attitude at BC,” Mullane said. “It’s everything for the team and this University.” York lives what he preaches with little fanfare because empty words like “ego” aren’t in his vocabulary. And if he does break the record on Friday night at Providence, expect BC’s beloved head hockey coach to react as he always has: with his signature professionalism and high praise of his squad’s effort.

After his team’s loss to BC on Saturday, BU men’s hockey head coach Jack Parker offered an interesting bit of praise for York’s achievements that left me thinking: “It’s hard for people to believe this … but I still don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.” This is neither a backhanded compliment nor a critique of fans’ appreciation for BC’s beloved head coach. Rather, it is a testament to York’s approach to both hockey and life—one that strives for greatness rather than accolades, allowing actions to speak louder than words. If you truly want to know Superfans’ opinion of York and what he’s done for BC, simply look at a certain banner hanging in the corner of Conte Forum and the words it states: “In Jerry We Trust.”

Chris Grimaldi is an editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@ bcheights.com.

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

Although alumni are pushing for the varsity men’s lacrosse team to return, detractors say a new program would be difficult to get off the ground and that conditions such as weather, travel, and practice space would get in the way.

Alumni say return of lacrosse would attract high caliber students Lacrosse, from B1 replaced by Brad Bates, who has spent his time so far dealing with the struggling football team. “I hope he goes in open minded,” says Brendan Toulouse, another former player, who graduated in 1994. Lacrosse is the fastest-growing team sport in the country. The number of collegiate varsity and club players rose nearly 5 percent last year to more than 33,000. This trend has accelerated in the time since lacrosse was cut at BC. Last year alone, more than 680,000 players participated in organized teams, up more than 60,000 from the year before and the largest single-year increase since U.S. Lacrosse began keeping track in 2001. That means BC is missing out on a pool of athletic and academic talent, say alumni and some prospective applicants. The University would attract top student-athletes “if lacrosse was added and

kids saw the opportunity they had to go to a school like BC and play,” says Mike Pirone, a junior attackman who was recruited by the University of Denver from Georgetown Prep in 2010. John Kemp, a senior and goalie for the University of Notre Dame, says he didn’t consider any schools without varsity lacrosse programs. Neither did Greg Perraut, a sophomore defenseman at Fairfield University. “If BC were D1, it could definitely lure recruits away from major D1 programs,” Perraut said. Each of Bitter’s four sons was an All-American. Instead of enrolling at their father’s alma mater, one went on to become captain of the team at Navy, another went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later played for the Charlotte Hounds and Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse, and another is now at UNC after graduating from Deerfield as the No. 2 recruit in the nation.

“That caliber of student is choosing Chapel Hill over Chestnut Hill,” Toulouse said. “The caliber of student-athlete we are losing goes to schools like UVA or Cornell.” High Point University in North Carolina has seen the sport’s appeal since adding men’s varsity lacrosse this fall. “We attract a lot of kids from the Northeast, so having a lacrosse team allows us to look at the best schools, and get the best male students from those schools,” Athletic Director Craig Keilitz said. “It’s a win-win-win for us.” Not everyone believes the same would be true at BC. “We can’t get people to go to our basketball games,” says Frank Nemia, a senior and president of the club lacrosse team. “If [varsity] lacrosse came in here, would it be just another sport? And that’s what I feel might be an issue.” Nemia says it would be harder to get a team off the ground than advocates seem to think. “Basically, you’re starting

a program from scratch.” Michigan, for example, went 2-15 in its first season, and one of those two wins came in an exhibition game. Weather, distance, and practice space are problems too, Nemia said. The closest ACC lacrosse team would be at Syracuse, a six-hour drive away. Lacrosse season begins when there’s often still snow on the ground in New England—Syracuse plays under a dome. And Nemia says there’s a shortage of athletic fields. But Bitter says B C could have a competitive program within four or five years. BC “has immediate potential to be a top-tier D1 program,” Perraut said. “The entire lacrosse world has speculated they should go D1 in the near future. It would increase the ACC lacrosse conference, and would bring much more attention to the sport.” There’s also about to be a hole in the conference, with Maryland and its lacrosse team departing for the Big Ten. Alumni who want lacrosse returned to

BC say it would attract big crowds. “Go visit any of those schools—Duke, UNC, Georgetown,” Bitter said. “You see 2,000 or 3,000 people there. They love it.” When No. 9 UNC hosted No. 1 UVA in April, more than 5,000 people attended. Chris Osnato, UGBC president, points out that club lacrosse is already popular with students. Varsity games would be even better attended, he says. “People want to see the best.” James Heffernan, BC ’98, says he and others plan to keep the heat on Bates. “I know he’s focused on football, and there’s a lot of pressure on him, but we’re going to try and steal his attention away,” Heffernan said. “There’s a lot of guys interested in this thing.” One is McLane. “I would love these kids to get the same opportunity I had,” McLane said. This story was reported and written by students in UN23301: Advanced Journalism. n

The Heights

Editors’ Picks

Thursday, December 6, 2012 The Week Ahead

Standings

Women’s hockey opens the new year at Clarkson, while the men are at Providence tomorrow. The men’s basketball team faces St. Francis on Saturday and the women play Arizona State on Sunday. Alabama and Notre Dame will play in the national championship.

Recap from Last Week

Austin Tedesco

32-18

Heights Staff

32-18

Greg Joyce

28-22

Chris Marino

25-25

Asst. Sports Editor Austin Tedesco tied Heights Staff in picks. Steve Addazio was hired as the new head football coach. Men’s hockey head coach Jerry York tied the all-time career wins record on Saturday night. Alabama beat Georgia 32-28 on Saturday to earn a spot in the BCS national title game.

Guest Editor: Therese Tully

Game of the Week Women’s Basketball

Arizona State vs. Boston College

Features Editor

“I like sports and I don’t care who knows.”

Greg Joyce Sports Editor

This Week’s Games

Chris Marino Assoc. Sports Editor

Austin Tedesco Asst. Sports Editor

Therese Tully

Features Editor

Men’s Hockey: No. 2 BC at Providence

Women’s Basketball: BC vs. Arizona State

ASU

Men’s Basketball: BC vs. St. Francis

St. Francis

Women’s Hockey: No. 6 BC at No. 2 Clarkson

Clarkson

BCS National Championship: Notre Dame vs. Alabama

Alabama

The Boston College women’s basketball team will face Arizona State on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Conte Forum. Coming off of a dramatic victory against Rutgers last weekend, the Eagles will look to continue their momentum in the hope of improving their record to 6-3 on the season. Head coach Erik Johnson’s successful start to his tenure on the Heights has been helped by strong performances from team veterans such as Kerri Shields, who comes into Wednesday’s contest averaging 12 points per game after her game-winning layup last Sunday.

Sun., 1 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Transition woes hurt BC

Basketball notebook

Basketball, from B1

Graham Beck / heights Editor

Olivier Hanlan (above) played well for the Eagles on Tuesday, but the rest of the team was inconsistent in the loss to the Crimson.

Inability to stop runs hurts Eagles By Matty Pierce Heights Staff Defensive stops, one aspect the Boston College men’s basketball team strives to pride itself on, were not there when the Eagles needed them most in their 7963 loss to Harvard on Tuesday night. “A saying of ours is three stops,” said BC freshman guard Joe Rahon. “You’ve just got to get three stops in a row. Calm the storm, go back on offense, execute good offense, be poised, and get a great shot on the other end. Coach preaches all the time that when things aren’t going well you’ve got to slow down—you’ve got to come together.” When the Eagles were able to get stops like the ones Rahon touched upon, they had success. Unfortunately, these stops did not occur enough. In the first three minutes of play, Harvard converted on each of its first four possessions, leading the Eagles by a score of 9-6. After settling down on both ends of the floor, the Eagles were able to gain their first lead of the game at 13-12 with

13 minutes remaining in the first half. BC was unable to capitalize here and follow the “three stops” rule Donahue preaches, allowing Harvard to go on a 91 scoring run in which they scored four possessions in a row. When this run was complete, Harvard led BC 21-14 with 10 minutes and seconds left in the half. When BC did show glimpses of good play, they were able to get the stops on defense they were looking for and execute good offense. The best example of this began with seven minutes left in the first half, when BC went on a 12-3 scoring run to tie the score at 26 with just less than four minutes remaining. During this run, the Eagles held Harvard scoreless on five of seven possessions, and at one point, recorded three stops in a row. Building off of this momentum, the Eagles were able to enter the half trailing Harvard by just two, 31-29, with the game still in reach. The Eagles broke down at start of the second half, though, not following the “three-stop” rule. “The first five minutes of the second

half, we weren’t able to do that,” Rahon said. “That was the turning point in the game. They made that run off of a couple of our turnovers, they got out in transition and got a couple of easy baskets.” To start the second half, Harvard scored eight consecutive points in the first minute and 30 seconds of play. During this time, Harvard was able to convert on four of its five possessions. After this initial scoring run by Harvard, the Eagles had to try to claw from behind for the remainder of the second half. Without the necessary stops on defense, the Eagles could not overcome this deficit. The Eagles were not able to keep Harvard from scoring three in a row for the entire second half. Although they did a better job of getting stops when they needed them in the first half, ultimately, BC held Harvard three times in a row on defense only once the entire game. To find success in the future, the Eagles must be able finish better defensively and use the momentum from these plays to put together a complete game. n

scoring 11 of the Eagles first 13 points and it looked as though the Crimson didn’t have an answer for the BC forward, but after the first five minutes his offense began to fade. “Part of our offense is everyone moves and everyone touches the ball,” said freshman guard Joe Rahon. “Looking back we probably should’ve tried to make more of an effort on the court to try to get it to him when he was hot, but they did do a good job of keying on him. When we were driving they were shading him a little bit more than they did at the start of the game, but looking back we probably should’ve tried to ride him a little more there.” BC kept the game in reach until the second half, when Harvard went on a run that the Eagles couldn’t match. “The Achilles’ heel for us is that we allow a play that just happened to snowball to the next play, and it happens in all facets of basketball,” Donahue said. “It’s something that I can’t tell you how many times we talk about it, we harp on it, and we show it to them on film.” The Harvard players methodically attacked the BC defense on their way to tying their highest point total of the season so far. They made BC defend for the whole shotclock before finally finding a clean look that consistently fell through the net. “That’s the two hardest things to do in basketball,” Donahue said. “To push it early on and stop them, and then to have the poise and toughness and confidence at the end of the shot clock, and they exploited both ends of that.” On the offensive end, BC was flustered by the Harvard pressure which broke the rhythm of the motion offense. “They did a great job of pressuring us

and trying to deny easy swing passes,” Rahon said. “I think we didn’t handle it as well as we needed to. We knew they were going to do it. We knew it was coming, and we were trying to just get backdoor cuts, get sharp cuts, and move the ball, but they did a good job of taking us out of our rhythm there for a little bit, and we were never really able to turn it around and get over the hump.” Donahue wouldn’t chalk up the loss to experience, though. “Can’t say experience anymore,” Donahue said. “I’m done with that. The defense was poor. It’s got to get better. We’ll work at it, but the defense was really poor.” Although many of the Eagles looked out of sync and worn down during the second half, Donahue said it wasn’t an issue of effort. “It’s not effort,” Donahue said. “It isn’t. We, my staff and myself, have to get them playing at a certain high level, consistently, all the time, and not missing a beat. It appears at times that it’s effort, but I just think it’s the mental toughness part of it that the guys don’t have the ability to fight through. These guys will continue to get better at it, we’ll continue to bring people into this program that understand it, and we’ll build a culture similar to what we did at Cornell and similar to what Harvard has—but to say they’re not trying? No, they try. They try really hard.” His players need to be more mentally tough, and he says that will come through failures like this as he continues to build the program. “I love these guys, as I say all the time,” Donahue said. “I have great confidence that they’ll get it and we’re going to work extremely hard to do it. Unfortunately, and I know I sound like a broken record, we’re going to have failures here and there. We’re going to have some extreme frustration, but that to me is the only way you can be successful.” n

Graham beck / heights Editor

Andrew Van Nest was not able to defeat his old team as he lost in the rivalry for the first time.

Women’s hockey heads into the holidays on a good note at UNH By Emily Malcynsky Heights Staff Last night, the Boston College women’s ice hockey team extended their record-breaking unbeaten streak to twelve straight games, defeating the University of New Hampshire Wildcats decisively with a score of 4-1. The game, played at the University of New Hampshire, was the seventh game in a row that the Eagles have been victorious, a team record. The first period of the game demonstrated strong defense from both teams, resulting in a score of 0-0. A total of 15 shots occurred during the opening period, nine of which were fired off by the Eagles. Senior goaltender Corrine Boyles denied all six shots fired by the Wildcats. Both teams kept up firm defenses during the second period, but freshman Haley Skarupa managed to beat UNH

goaltender Jenn Gilligan on a forehand deke with assistance from Alex Carpenter. However, the Wildcats began to pick up their intensity offensively, firing off eight shots against the Eagles, who totaled only four shots during this period. Boyles was able to continue to hold her ground against the Wildcats aim, but an interference penalty shot allowed UNH to bring the score to a tie at 1-1. The Eagles came out with renewed force in the final period, with senior forward Caitlin Walsh scoring in the first few minutes of the period. Her fellow senior Ashley Motherwell followed suit with another goal shortly afterward. Meagan Mangene, a junior, capped off the 4-1 victory minutes later, scoring off a loose puck at the top of the crease. The Eagles held on to their lead for the remainder of the game, continuously preventing UNH from gaining further scoring opportunities.

The BC women’s ice hockey team is currently ranked No. 6, with their win over UNH bringing their record to 113-2. The Eagles have tied or won twelve their last consecutive games. The Wildcats have a record of 7-11-1. In addition to extending their successful streak, several members of the team earned special recognition during last night’s game. Carpenter, a sophomore forward, extended her individual point streak to 14 games, and Skarupa’s goal was her fifth within the last three games. Walsh’s goal ended a nearly year long personal drought, while Boyles enjoyed her ninth straight decision win. With the successes of last night to hold them over, the women’s ice hockey team will enjoy several weeks off before returning to the ice on Jan. 3, when they will travel to Potsdam, New York, to face off against No. 2 seated Clarkson University at 7 p.m. n

Graham Beck / heights Editor

The Eagles extended their win streak to a record breaking 12 games against UNH yesterday.

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

living like an eagle

Jordan Pentaleri / heights Graphic

York still hasn’t changed, even with the ultimate record in sight By Greg Joyce Sports Editor

Putting the team before the individual. It’s every coach’s dream. It’s also Jerry York’s reality. On any given day, anybody involved in the Boston College men’s hockey program can expect York to bring a few things to Kelley Rink. There’s his decaf coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. There’s his famed notebook and a few sharpened No. 2 yellow pencils. Then, of course, there’s his constant smile that rarely ever goes away. But York also brings vital intangibles. There’s his enthusiasm, his positive attitude, his genuineness and care for others, his gentle demeanor and an underlying determination for more—more trophies. York has been able to collect those trophies by carefully crafting a program with one overarching theme—no one player is bigger than the Eagle. York’s mental consistency as a coach, which includes that mantra, is one of his biggest strengths. His younger brother Bill has seen the same Jerry York all of his life. “Jerry is consistent day in and day out,” Bill York said. “They can lose a big game, they can be on a losing streak, and his attitude doesn’t change. He’s still very, very positive.” On the verge of becoming the all-time winningest coach in college hockey, York can surpass Ron Mason’s record with a win on Friday night in Providence, which would be the 925th of his career. For now, however, the record is the last thing that York is thinking about. “Some of these individual accolades now—the remarkable number of games that he’s won—with Jerry, that’s not really part of his culture,” Bill said. “It’s nice, but let’s get this distraction over with and get back to winning team trophies and get on with it. I think that’s his leadership because it’s how he acts. Some people go through the motions thinking they’re trying to get something. That’s not Jerry.” But it was not always so clear that York would be this successful of a college hockey coach—or even a college hockey coach at all. York himself admitted that when he was playing at BC from 1963-1967, he never thought he’d be back as a head coach, never mind a head coach with over 900 wins. “No,” York said laughing. “I was thinking of either going to law school or going to graduate school for a masters and going into high school teaching and coaching. I elected to go into high school teaching and coaching.” Little did he know that his decision would get him to where he is today. He went back to BC to earn his master’s degree in education, while serving as a graduate assistant. From there, he went on to be an assistant coach at Clarkson when an opening became available. He took his newly wedded wife Bobbie with him, and moved up to Potsdam, NY to begin his career. After two years as an assistant, York took over as head coach at Clarkson in 1972. Though it might not be as clear as recent games, he still remembers his first win. “Oh wow,” York said remembering the game. “I was at Clarkson, it was a home game versus Queens University, a Canadian university from the Ottawa area. I remember it vaguely, but it was a relatively easy win for us.” In 1979, York left Clarkson to take the same job at Bowling Green, where he won his first national championship in 1984. Then, in 1994, he was presented with the opportunity of his dreams: the head-coaching job at BC. After the interview, his brother Bill, a lawyer, worked with York to figure out the terms of a potential contract. When York finally found out that he had secured his “lifelong dream” of coming back to the Heights as the head coach of the hockey team, he called his brother Bill right away. “He called me up, just overjoyed, and said, ‘Hey Bill, let’s go out and celebrate,’” Bill York said. “And I’m thinking, ‘Oh terrific, we’re going to go out and have a couple of nice cold beers.’ He picks me up and I say, ‘Where are we going?’ He drives me over to Brigham’s and gets me an ice cream sundae.” Nine-hundred and twenty-three wins after the one over Queens University at Clarkson, York has maintained the same philosophy that he started coaching with—stressing that the team is more important than the individual—and his players have been the biggest benefactors. “Everyone preaches that, but it’s so much easier said than done,” said Tommy Cross, who won national championships at BC under York in 2010 and 2012, and is now playing for the Providence Bruins in the AHL. “The difference is that [York] gets guys to buy into that. And in some respects, it’s even harder for Coach to do that than other coaches, because you look at the roster this year, they’ve got first-round picks left and right, they’ve got potential All-Americans. You look at our team last year, we had a guy that was playing in the NHL at the end of the year and then a guy, Brian Dumoulin, that could have gone to the NHL this year, among others. “I think when you get those high-profile kids, typically comes more ego and more individual accolades. Somehow, Coach does the opposite and he gets those guys to buy in. If your superstars are buying in, then everyone really has no choice but to buy in as well.”

alex trautwig / Heights Senior Staff

York wasn’t sure that he would get into coaching after college, but he especially never thought he would have 924 wins. Making players leave their egos at the door is something that starts at the top, and York said the leadership on the team helps to maintain that mindset. “Our staff, we’re all about team, with the understanding that you never put yourself above the team,” York said. “If you do that, you’re certainly going to fight a lot of demons trying to win hockey games. I think leadership of the players, internally, is probably the most important thing. We can state all our goals, but the players have to fully understand that and embrace that philosophy.” A team will follow its leader, and the Eagles have a perfect example of humility in their leader, as York is never one to bring attention upon himself, starting with the wins record. It is tough to get him to talk about the milestone because it’s not what York is about. “Jerry’s a type of guy who’s just not impressed with himself and his accomplishments,” Bill York said. “Jerry’s very competitive, loves to compete—he and I compete as hard on the golf course as some of the kids compete on the ice. But he’s always had a sense of humility to him, and I think that has served him very, very well in the game. Jerry’s a team guy, and that’s why individual accolades, to him, are a distraction. It’s the team that matters.” Players like Brian Gibbons, who graduated from BC in 2011 and won national championships with York in 2008 and 2010, said that the team-first mentality is good for everyone on the team, and it makes hockey more fun to play. “It makes you a lot closer as a team,” Gibbons said. “No one is worried about individual stat—everyone just wants to win. A lot of times, guys will be happier and more excited when other guys score than when they do. If you look at the bench after a goal, all the boys are always jumping around and hugging. Winning is where the real fun is at.” Cross echoed Gibbons’ sentiment, and said that one way York got his teams to buy into the mentality was by showing film of players like Gibbons who demonstrated selfless hockey. “I think repetition of preaching it over and over and pointing out positive examples of when a guy like Brian Gibbons doesn’t care about getting an assist but sells out to block a shot,” Cross said. “I remember frequent examples of watching on tape when [York] showed a guy being a team guy instead of an individual. Cam Atkinson scores a

highlight-reel goal and instead of fist-pumping and jumping into the glass, he’s pointing at Brian Gibbons for the assist, saying ‘Great play.’ I think it’s stuff like that that he points out and he’s repetitive in hammering that message home that it is team before individual.” Winning trophies has been a hallmark of York’s time at BC, but it likely wouldn’t be if not for the way he serves as a role model for his players off the ice. “The biggest reason that BC is so successful year in and year out is because he’s at the head of the charge,” Cross said. “He’s at the top, and he sets the tone for the whole program and the culture of the program. That’s his beliefs on being a good person and being a good citizen and caring about others and being positive and all that other stuff. He really had an effect on me that way—just being a good person to be around and bringing energy and believing in your morals and your values and sticking to that.” The type of person that York is and the qualities he exudes were visible to Cross ever since he was recruited by the coach. Like many other players, Cross immediately bought in because of what he saw in York. “He didn’t really sell much, because the thing to sell is himself, and he never talks about himself,” Cross said. “But I think when you meet him and you come to BC for the first time, you know what a legend he is, and that kind of speaks for itself. When Cross came on his visit to Chestnut Hill, the first thing that York introduced him to was not the weight room, the equipment he’d have at his fingertips, or even all the banners hanging in Kelley Rink. Instead, York took Cross to meet Rev. Tony Penna, the director of campus ministry and the chaplain for the hockey team. “He said this is one of the best people that you’re going to meet here, and this is an example of what BC offers,” Cross remembered. “And I think that just goes along with coach York’s whole philosophy for the program—[if] you do things the right way and you focus on the right things, then the material things like banners and equipment and trophies, those things will follow.” Penna has been around the program since 1998, and has seen firsthand the effect that York has had on the players that have come through BC. When he first met York, Penna was introduced to

Alex Trautwig / Heights Senior Staff

With 924 wins, York could become the single all-time winningest coach with a win on Friday night at Providence.

some of the hockey players who were still in Chestnut Hill to train during the summer, and was impressed with the relationships they had with their coach. “I remember marveling at the natural rapport Jerry had with his players, and even more impressively how at ease they were with him,” Penna said. “That first impression has survived the test of time. His relationship to his players is as genuine and natural today as it was when we first met in 1998.” That relationship is a caring one, and York’s former players still point to that as a unique aspect of the coach. “There’s a lot of things that make Coach special, but most importantly is how much he cares about everyone and everything involved with BC,” Gibbons said. Often, there can be a difficult line for a coach to walk on in terms of caring for players, while still getting the most productivity out of them on the ice. The balance that York has successfully struck is something that Cross admired about him as a coach. “Coach is such a positive guy, energetic, and he’s such a friendly guy,” Cross said. “But at the same time, he’s very—I don’t know how to say it—but I guess he’s very demanding in a great way, where through his personality, it’s clear what he expects of you. While some coaches choose to scream and yell to get their point across, York gets his point across without having to raise his voice. The personality he maintains as a coach makes his players want to succeed and perform to the best of their abilities for him. “With Coach, it’s within his personality, but at the same time, the message is just as forceful,” Cross said. “He doesn’t have to yell and scream because of the respect that he gets. You know what play is demanded of you from him. You know you have to produce whatever he’s asking for.” Penna pointed to York’s strength in building a staff and recruiting players who “fit into his vision of what a studentathlete should be, particularly at a Jesuit university. “He’s created a culture of excellence at Conte and holds everyone involved with BC hockey to that high standard,” Penna said. “He challenges every player, coach, trainer, administrator, student manager, and chaplain to give a little more each day to the program than they did the day before. And people respond enthusiastically because Jerry never asks of others what he’s not willing to do himself.” While York’s potential record-breaking 925th win is in reach tomorrow night, it’s not about the number of wins for York. It’s about the trophies—those are the wins that he remembers most. “Anything that wins a trophy,” York said. “That’s what we’re all about—not number of wins, but just significant wins. And those are trophy-wins. Those are the ones that stand out—could be Beanpots, Hockey East Championships, national championships.” The national championship trophy is the pinnacle, something that York hopes all of his players can have a chance to get their hands on by the end of their time at BC. But even beyond the trophies, York knows there is more to life than hockey, and he makes sure that even if his players don’t leave Chestnut Hill with a national championship, they at the very least, leave as respectable young men who handle themselves with class. “He talks about the importance of his players leaving BC with a diploma in one hand and a championship ring on the other,” Bill York said. “But if you listen to his players and the players he’s had over the years and what they say, it seems that the essence of their time at BC, with all their accomplishments, was their development as young men of character and respect. That, to me, is the highest tribute to Jerry—that has become the culture of the program.” For now, with BC just 13 games into the young season, the trophies will have to wait. The Eagles won’t play for the Beanpot until February, the Hockey East Championship won’t be decided until March, and they’ll keep working toward the National Championship in April. In the short-term, York won’t be basking in the excitement of potentially breaking the wins record. The quantity is not important to him—it’s the quality of the wins. “There’s probably a future time [to reflect on it],” York said, “but right now, we’re focused on this particular team, trying to win a championship.” Until then, York will keep trying to use each day to give a little more to the program than he did the day before. For a man that has given so many wins to BC in 18-plus seasons, giving one more win to break the record won’t be much of a problem. But don’t expect York to be satisfied. He’s hoping there will be a time later on in the season when he can think about a more important win—one where after the game, surrounded by his players—his team—they can together raise yet another trophy. The trophy wins have helped to prove the effectiveness of York’s coaching philosophy, but they haven’t changed his mindset. He’s still humble, still driven, still positive, still enthusiastic, and still caring. Four-hundred and fifty-seven wins since the ice cream sundae at Brigham’s with his brother Bill, York is still the same coach. n

metro The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Breaking Boundaries

From BC to Beantown Tricia Tiedt

The number of miles from my home in Argyle, TX to the main gate of Boston College: 1,829. The number of miles from the main gate of BC to the Boston Common: approximately six. And yet, doesn’t it often feel like half a world away? Let’s face it: we live in a BC Bubble. While we advertise our proximity to the city and the opportunities for college students in Boston (mostly to impress those overly concerned parents of prospective students), how often does the average BC student utilize all that Boston has to offer? Let me tell you, it’s not enough. I first stepped onto the BC campus when I was 10 years old. It was a business trip turned family vacation, a total fluke—and also my first time in Boston. At that young age, BC became imprinted in my mind as what a college should look like. And, as they say, the rest is history. I didn’t even consider schools south of the Mason-Dixon line. And, interestingly enough, didn’t consider any other school in the Boston area. I was determined to experience this “balance” we advocate: living in a comfortable, safe environment with the city of Boston at our fingertips. It was Boston or bust. But, as you well know, this BC Bubble is quite appealing. From Student Activities Day to meeting every freshman on Upper Campus, I quickly got sucked into all BC had to offer. And, as any involved BC student knows, BC has a lot to offer. Don’t get me wrong—I love this community. I love the spirit, the camaraderie, and the home away from home aspect embraced by students and faculty alike. Theoretically, you could never leave this campus and have a fulfilling, well-rounded college experience. That’s something you won’t find three miles down Comm. Ave. Even within this community, organizations attempt to break through the BC Bubble. Service groups such as 4Boston and PULSE offer the chance to volunteer off campus. BC to Boston, a new addition of UGBC’s Cabinet, is dedicated to “bringing you the best of Boston at a bargain.” The Career Center provides resources for finding jobs and internships throughout the city, with options for virtually every student. This kind of outreach is truly commendable. But it’s not what I’m talking about. Tell me, when was the last time you took the night off, hopped on the T, and went to Beacon Hill? When was the last time you went to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or see the Boston Ballet? How about that great little bookstore tucked away on Newbury Street? What bookstore, you say? Well, I’m glad you asked. Over the course of the next semester, those are exactly the things I hope to bring to this column. (It’s the Trident Bookstore and Cafe, by the way. Check it out.) The purpose of this column is to provide you with the best Boston has to offer. Not to fulfill a core requirement, nor to entertain the parents when they visit—although I’ll cover both of those. Rather, I strive to bring to light all this city is, and make it accessible to you as a BC student. While the Metro section of The Heights does not connect every story back to BC, my goal in this column is to do just that. Because, when you get down to it, all that tourist-y information we throw out is right: one of the greatest cities in the country is at our fingertips. It’s up to us, as students, to find all it’s worth. My first suggestion? Take some time out before heading home for the holidays. Make that six-mile “trek” to the Boston Common Frog Pond, via the MBTA Green Line, and go ice skating. I can virtually guarantee that the change of scenery, from the O’Neill shades of gray to the lights on the Christmas tree, will get you through even the worst of finals. Tricia Tiedt is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com

BC students participate in walk for homelessness By Shannon Inglesby For The Heights

Last Sunday, over 250 people gathered in solidarity at the Boston Common for a goal that brought them together, despite the cold December weather: an effort to end homelessness in Boston. The chilly temperatures they experienced for a few hours are normal for the 6,000 homeless individuals on any given night in Boston. The annual Winter Walk, a walk for homelessness in the Boston area, began 10 years ago. After a decade of successful walks, Winter Walk saw yet another successful year with a strong turnout of those passionate for the cause, including a number of BC students. As of 2011, there were a reported 636,017 homeless individuals in the

United States. Among this number are 16,000 homeless Massachusetts residents. Two organizations, Hearth and HomeStart, planned the Winter Walk in the Boston Common. Linda Wood-Boyle, president of HomeStart, discussed the common misconceptions regarding homeless individuals and how homelessness is a larger issue than a lot of people realize. “Most people think of the person on the street who is pan handling as mentally ill or drunk,” Wood-Boyle said. “But those people, the people you see, are less than 10 percent of the homeless population.” The other 90 percent of homeless individuals are staying in motels for temporary periods of time, living in their cars, or

See Winter Walk, D3

Shannon Inglesby / For the heights

BC Students from various service organizations participated in the Winter Walk on Sunday.

Boston lights up the Common for the holiday season Tree lighting is complete with performers and vendors By Natalie Blardony For The Heights This past Thursday, Christmas invaded the Common as the 71st Annual Boston Common Tree Lighting Ceremony kicked off the holiday season. Food stalls, a Dunkin’ Donuts hot chocolate tent, a ‘Free Eggnog’ stand, and more provided nourishment for all throughout the night. Various tents from the sponsors lined the perimeter as crowds gathered around the stage to watch performances from various artists and acts including season five “American Idol” finalist Elliott Yamin, “The Voice” contestant James Massone, the Nova Scotia band Squid, the Boston Arts Academy, and the Grinch. Free balloon art was provided for those of younger ages as well. As the hours and minutes ticked away, anticipation for the tree lighting heightened. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino kicked off the pyrotechnic display that came along with the lighting of the 45-foot, imported Christmas tree. The origins of this ceremony are quite fascinating, as it originated as a gift of thanks from the people of Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1919. Two years prior, in Dec. 1917, two ships accidentally collided in a section of the Halifax Harbor. This was the largest accidental explosion in

See Tree Lighting, D2

Natalie Blardony / heights Staff, Maggie Burdge / heights Photo Illustration

Boston scores 100 percent in GLBTQ-friendliness rating By Lauren Totino For The Heights

Photo courtesy of google images

Users will have secure access to medical marijuana through Medbox vending machines.

MedBox coming to Mass. By Deryn Thomas For The Heights What has been termed as the modern “green rush” is making its way to Massachusetts—and like its historical equivalent for gold in California, it promises to be an extremely lucrative venture. But this isn’t about cash, or even environmental sustainability, like its clever name may suggest. This is about pot in vending machines. Of course, there is a bit more to it than that. These vending machines are highly secure and meticulously designed medical marijuana dispensing systems, marketed by the company Kind Clinics, and patented as “MedBoxes.” Each MedBox contains a temperature sensitive refrigeration system from which infused products and a variety

i nside Metro this issue

of different strains of medical marijuana are stored and dispensed. Infused products may include food, drinks, and even candy. The machines themselves use fingerprint recognition technology, along with a state issued ID and HIPPA compliant user ID card, to grant access to the products. In addition, consumers are not able to directly interact with the machine, but instead through a qualified operator, as would be the case in any business that provides marijuana over the counter for medical uses. The technology stores detailed information about each patient’s prescription and medical records, preventing consumers from gaining access to more substance than the law allows or beyond

On the Flip Side

Last week, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which works for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBTQ) equality rights, unveiled the first annual Municipality Equality Index (MEI). Boston and Cambridge earned 100 percent perfect scores in the categories of “Non-Discrimination Laws, Relationship Recognition, Municipality as Law Enforcement, and Municipality’s Relationship with the GLBTQ Community.” Cambridge scored bonus points for transgender health benefits and for serving vulnerable populations in the GLBTQ community, while Boston earned extra points for having GLBTQ elected officials. Within Massachusetts, Northampton and Provincetown were also evaluated, the former scoring a 64 percent and the latter earning a 59 percent. The MEI determined scores by analyz-

See MedBox, D3

Does a group based on sexual interests deserve a place in an institution of higher education?.................................................................................. D3

ing 47 criteria in six categories, which included: non-discrimination laws, relationship recognition, the municipality as an employer, municipal services and programs, the municipality as law enforcement, and the municipality’s relationship with the GLBTQ community. This new index evaluated the laws and policies of 137 cities in the country, including the 50 state capitals, the 50 largest cities in the country, and 75 cities and municipalities that have high proportions of same-sex couples. According to the 2012 Municipal Equality Index official report, the MEI rates cities on a scale of 0 to 100, based on the city’s laws, policies, and services. There are 100 standard points as well as 20 bonus points that are awarded for exemplary programs, so these extra points do not apply to all of the evaluated cities. Although it may seem like only those states with good laws would score a perfect 100 percent, state law does not necessarily determine a city’s ability to score high, as evidenced by the fact that some cities without positive state laws received scores in the hundreds.

See MEI Scores, D2

Restaurant Review: Eastern Standard..............................................................D4 Person to Watch: Joseph Manning............................................................................D2

The Heights

Menino aids in GLBTQ rating

Bookish Bostonian

A city’s literary reputation

MEI Scores, from D1

Natalie Blardony / heights staff

The Christmas tree in the Boston Common was lit on Thursday, Nov. 29. Ryan Towey It’s hard for a city to escape its reputation. If one writes about a city enough, the literary and musical reputation of that city may end up being inseparable from the reality, as if an artist had taken a photograph of a city skyline and then decided to augment it with a layer of paint. When people look at the image of a city, it seems to be somehow truer than that which they would see in a photograph or if they were to stand at a distance and look at the real thing. New York, for instance, cannot be separated from Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) any more than Paris will be able to escape the imagery of his Midnight in Paris (2012). Dublin, too, will never be considered separately from James Joyce’s work. And to me, a Jersey-born fan (read: disturbingly dedicated fanatic), Bruce Springsteen’s nearly 10-minute “New York City Serenade” will always drape the titular city with the sound of violins and the echoes of his lyrics. Cities are a compilation of artistic layers. Boston is no exception to this rule. The only problem, however, is that one of the most recent, and certainly one of the most popular artistic representations of Boston, comes in the form of a song, the lyrics of which would be repeatedly tweeted (and retweeted, and retweeted) by soon-to-be college students heading to the city of Boston. Augustana’s 2006 “Boston” is actually not a terrible song, and I am not saying that it paints an inaccurate or undesirable vision of Boston, but its view is extremely limited. I get it, Augustana—you can see the sunrise in Boston and you think you will go there. I cannot allow, however, for a momentarily popular song by an average-at-best band to be the reigning impression of the city that I now call my home. Franz Wright, a poet who has taught at Emerson College and now lives in Waltham, Mass., is one artist who does Boston greater justice. Take, for example, Wright’s “East Boston, 1996” from his 2008 anthology God’s Silence. The name of Boston is presented only in the title of the poem, but the lines describe the feeling of Boston in a manner that rivals the Boss’s work on “New York City Serenade.” The language employed by Wright in “East Boston, 1996” embodies a quintessentially Bostonian feel: “It is freezing, but it is a good thing / to step outside again: / you can feel less alone in the night, / with lights on here and there.” These lines speak of togetherness, a unity against the cold of Boston’s environment, as if the city itself had risen, defiant against nature itself. Wright goes on to write of people who would welcome the speaker into their homes to tell him “what has happened to their lives,” suggesting that Boston is the home to many stories. Wright seems to emphasize, however, that those stories are not necessarily ideal, as if suggesting the age and the experience of the city. Boston is the cold city in the North, literally aged by history, but it still stands strong. This is what Boston is to me. I know that Wright’s poem may seem like a somewhat depressing vision of life in this city, but this is not so. The realism of the poem speaks to Boston’s inherent optimism. This idea is expressed when Wright’s lengthy poem describes “the night smells like snow. / walking home, for a moment / you almost believe you could start again.” To me, those lines have become Boston. No, Boston is not always literally waiting for a snowfall, but, in my vision, the sky is always preparing to layer the city in hopeful white. As this is my first column for The Heights, I hope that I can offer you some information, some laughter, and some insight as I try to paint Boston as best I can. Ryan Towey is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Parks and Rec. advisor aids lighting Tree Lighting, from D1 the world, and de vastated the p e ople of Halifa x immensely—killing 2,000 and injuring 9,000 people. Almost instantly, the people of Boston responded through shipments of any aid they could give. This outreach and support touched the residents so deeply that they sent over the tree and thus began the tradition. But the Christmas celebration in the Common didn’t begin until 1942, and the ceremony has grown exponentially since. With over 50,000 lights used to light more than 60 trees around the Common, it has quickly become a ceremony popular among residents of the city and tourists, of those both young and old. The job for those who aid in coordinating this landmark event is incredibly important, as one glitch can throw the entire plan off track and into chaos. Making sure that doesn’t happen and keeping the relations between all who are involved in helping the event happen is Jacquelyn Goddard. First coming into the Parks and Recreation Department just last year, she has been a Bostonian since 1993. Preparations for this event started as early as Nov. 16, which marked the arrival of the tree, and as one can imagine, the setting of the tree in the stand took the entire day. Just a day prior to the celebration, the stage as well as the decorations and the fencing surrounding designated areas were set up. On the day of the tree lighting itself, vendors came with their booths to set up as early as 10 a.m. These various vendors pay good money for the prime location spots as that is then used to fund things like the stage and pyrotechnics display at the conclusion of the ceremony. Goddard’s role in all of this

is to coordinate the logistics between those involved, including “internal players such as our maintenance staff and the Boston Park Rangers and external players such as Channel 5, which broadcasts the tree lighting live and groups giving us entertainment such as the Boston Ballet.” Along with this responsibility, she has to make sure that minute but important details are handled, in order to avoid any kind of disruption, but also that all the larger details are ready to go, like “minute by minute, what our show will look like to the audience.” Despite the massive undertaking this event entails for her, Goddard stated that the event is a very rewarding one for her to take part in. The tradition previously mentioned warms her heart each year as she rereads the story of how Bostonians “dropped everything and sent supplies and medical personnel to help Halifax residents.” Not only that, but meeting the delegation from Halifax as they arrive, seeing all the families and “thousands of people gathered for the event” is a “pleasure to see.” But with the wide variety of entertainment going on, picking a favorite moment was a hard one for Goddard, and a lot of those in attendance as well. When asked, she replied that her “favorite part of tonight is at the beginning when I am at the entrance to the event area…I enjoy meeting people who I have spoken to on the phone, but never met in person.” When asking those in the crowd what their favorite part of the night was, many were in awe of the fireworks display at the end of the event, but the musical performances were also at the top. No matter the preference, it was an incredibly touching experience and one that should not be missed each year. n

There were nine cities that also earned a 100 percent score like Boston and Cambridge, including Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, New York City, Portland, Philadelphia, and Seattle. It is also important to note that the MEI is not a ranking of the best cities for GLBTQ people to live. Rather, it is an evaluation of laws and policies and an examination of how well city services include the GLBTQ community. The goal of the HRC in developing the MEI is to promote inclusiveness of the GLBTQ community, and to advocate fairness and equality. Equality, according to the HRC, is also important in promoting good business, as cities are constantly in competition for businesses, residents, and employers. Recent research has shown that those cities that have blossoming GLBTQ communities have higher levels of income, life satisfaction, housing values, emotional attachment to the community, and higher concentrations of high-tech companies. Workplaces that fairly treat all employees tend to enhance their reputations, increase job satisfaction, and boost morale among employees. Essentially, statistics have demonstrated that there exists a distinct correlation between a city’s inclusivity and its ability to attract talented employees and innovative businesses. Yet, some cities are quite far from achieving the benefits that GLBTQ inclusiveness and equality can bring to the community—for example, Montgomery, AL, Frankfort, KY, and Jefferson City, MO each failed the MEI evaluation with scores of zero. Still, there is room for improvement in promoting GLBTQ equality, though start-up groups are emerging

Person to Watch With finals around the corner, students find themselves focusing the majority of their attention on studying. Joseph Manning, A&S ’14, an environmental and political science major, is also concentrating on his two favorite subjects—though you won’t spot him in Bapst.

Until Dec. 7, Manning is attending the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha, Qatar. With representatives from over 190 countries in attendance, the convention strives to create collaborative initiatives among countries to protect the environment. Manning is attending the convention as Chair of the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC), the youth branch of the national Sierra Club—the grass-roots environmental organization John Muir founded in 1892 to promote the preservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Summers spent in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia, Canada sparked Manning’s initial interest in climate change. “I work to solve climate change because the people I love are on the front-lines. If sea levels rise, my community will be displaced,” Manning said. Manning presented research on the relationship between communities and renewable energy infrastructure at the ACC Meeting of the Minds Undergraduate Research Conference at Virginia Tech in April. As Chair of the SSC, he leads the SSC’s 13,000 youth students and 250 chapters in the execution of the youth-led organization’s mission to train high school and college students

around Massachusetts with the intention of promoting equality and developing GLBTQ communities. Recent Tufts graduate Travis Lowry teamed up with Conor Clary to co-found Rainbow Chronicle (www. rainbowchronicle.com), a website similar to Yelp, where users can rank businesses, places, people, and events based on their GLBTQ-friendliness. Lowry and Clary are both straight, but share the hope that their innovation will help three targeted demographics find “who and what are safe places and people in their community.” These target users include at-risk members of the GLBTQ community whose surroundings may be homophobic, established members of the GLBTQ community, and members of the allied community, like Lowry and Clary themselves. It does not come as much of a surprise that Boston and Cambridge earned high scores on the MEI, as Cambridge ranks the third in the nation among the most vibrant GLBTQ communities and was home to the first legal same-sex marriage in the U.S. Additionally, just last summer, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino took a stand against fast food chain Chickfil-A’s opposition to same-sex marriage and sparked a nationwide debate when he wrote a letter to the chain’s president, Dan Cathy, who openly admitted that his company supports organizations that rally against same-sex marriage. When Chick-fil-A considered opening a chain on Union Street across from City Hall, Mayor Menino urged the company to back out of its plans, declaring: “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail, and no place for your company alongside it.” The mayor received criticism for his remarks, but he continued to stand by his comments in an act that undoubtedly contributed to Boston’s perfect MEI score. n

By: By: Arjun Danielle Gajulapalli Dalton

to become leaders who create change in the environment. Manning commented to The Heights via email from the conference, “On Thursday [Nov. 29], I was in a meeting with Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, and she said she wished ‘young people were watching this conference from their homes and getting so angry they were throwing shoes at the television.’ And she’s right, climate change is in our future.” While Manning is continually at the heart of the search for solutions to climate change issues, whether attending President Obama’s Mar. 29 address on rising oil prices in the White House’s Rose Garden or attending the United Nation’s annual discussion on climate change for the past four years, he believes that climate change is relevant to everyone. He explained that misconceptions about the relevancy of climate change and the necessity of thinking ahead to the future as reasons for why climate change is not a large priority for many individuals. While individuals may find it hard to prioritize dwindling polar bear populations resulting from climate change, for instance, Manning countered, “Climate change has real tangible human impacts, impact that we are already beginning to see. The real face

of climate change is the farmer from Iowa who lost her crop because of the drought and the young boy from Staten Island whose home was flooded in a November hurricane.” Amidst BC’s rigorous academic environment, Manning’s commitment to following his passion increases as he learns about his interests in the classroom. To students still discerning their passions, Who: BC Junior Joseph Manning What: Attending the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change Where: Doha, Qatar Why it matters: Manning is a major advocate for finding solutions to climate change. He strives to raise awareness about the misconceptions of climate change, and how these issues af fect Americans today. he advised them to challenge themselves to take part in the diverse array of classes and clubs and recommended, “Once you have a sense of your passion, try to find an organization or mentor that will help you grow and encourage you to be all you can be.” n

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Walk for Homelessness Winter Walk, from D1 floating in and out of shelters. A lot of homeless people in Boston are hidden, contributing to the large number of homeless individuals who seek access to affordable housing. HomeStart, a non profit homeless service agency, strives to provide affordable and sustainable housing to homeless individuals in Boston. HomeStart’s goal is to act like realtors for individuals seeking stable housing. There are over 50 homeless shelters in the Boston area; These shelters refer people to HomeStart to help them become acquainted with the organization and what it can potentially offer them. HomeStart employees then become mentors for these individuals and help them determine what they can afford and what is available to them. Wood-Boyle was proud to announce at Winter Walk that the organization has successfully placed over 500 households in permanent housing with a 96 percent retention rate. Equally important, Wood-Boyle added, “while we help people get out the back door of the shelter, we help stop the flow of people coming in the front door.” Hearth, the second organization that planned Winter Walk, is very similar to HomeStart, with the exception that it focuses on older adults. Consequently, Hearth takes a different approach since many of the people it works with will not be re-entering the workforce. It focuses on outreach in shelters and helping people navigate their way toward permanent housing. Hearth also strives to raise awareness for the homelessness issue, especially through events like Winter Walk. Mark Hinderly, CEO of Hearth, said this year’s Winter Walk had the most people he had seen in the last 10 years, and he was very proud of the turnout. Before the walk began, a man named Omar spoke to all the walkers. HomeStart began working with Omar five years ago and placed him in an apartment. He was so appreciative for everyone who came to the walk and thankful for everyone’s support. “It says a lot to come out here to support people you don’t even know,” Omar said. He added that he is constantly thankful for all the “little things” now available to him

MassEDChusetts

Looking at more time in class

since he has his own apartment. He said having his own refrigerator and his own bed constantly make him grateful. Wood-Boyle said that this year’s Winter Walk was “better than ever before.” This is the first year Winter Walk has been held in the city—for the last decade it has taken place in the suburbs. Many of this year’s participants were BC students. A lot of the shelters that HomeStart and Hearth collaborate with are placements in the

“I was very happy with the representation of multiple BC student groups that came to raise awareness.”

Jacqueline Parisi

College Munch must ask themselves certain questions. Why should a certain group of people have to be silent about their sexual preferences? Why should a person who enjoys consensual, alternative sexual activities be deprived of a forum in which to feel accepted by a group of his peers? If Harvard provides support for the GLBTQ community, why should those who explore alternate sexual preferences not also be equally accepted? That is not, of course, to equate the GLBTQ community with ‘kink’, but it does stand as a good example of acceptance. The issue of whether or not a religiously affiliated university like Boston College would be equally responsible to accept such an organization is a separate question. The Catholic ideals espoused at BC may provide legitimate cause for the University to reject such an organization on a moral basis. Even BC, however, created room for the GLC within its religious framework. If Harvard desired to live up to its motto of “Veritas,” meaning “Truth,” then it had to maintain its dedication to the ideals of free speech and, by extension, accept the Harvard College Munch.

Students in Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee should prepare to keep their notebooks open and pencils sharpened for a bit longer in the 2012-2013 school year: these five states announced Monday that they will add upwards of 300 hours of learning time to the calendar. The reasoning behind this change coined Time for Innovation Matters in Education Collaborative,” is to boost student achievement and make American schools more competitive on a global level. The project is modeled after a program that began in Massachusetts six years ago, when the state decided to experiment with adding extra hours to the school day. The new reform will expand this effort so that they affect 5,000 more students in the Commonwealth. The National Center on Time and Learning, which is a nonprofit research and advocacy group, will lead this effort in conjunction with the Ford Foundation. Bear in mind that, if this were occurring four years ago, I would have been adamantly against it. In fact, I don’t think any elementary school, middle school, or high school student would be in favor of this change. After all, what student wants to spend more time in the classroom? Now, when I hear about studies such as those from Harvard economist Roland Fryer, which have proved that the two best factors affecting educational outcomes are intensive tutoring and adding at least 300 hours to the standard school calendar, I am compelled to take a second look at this proposition. The results of this study are simple: students who spend more hours learning perform better. The three-year pilot program will affect 20,000 students in 40 schools. Schools will work together with districts, parents, and teachers to decide whether to make the school day longer, add more days to the school year, or both. In theory, spending more time in the classroom will give students access to a more well-rounded curriculum that includes arts and music, individualized help for students who are behind, and opportunities to reinforce critical math and science skills. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has weighed in on this proposition, asserting that “whether educators have more time to enrich instruction or students have more time to learn how to play an instrument and write computer code, adding meaningful in-school hours is a critical investment that better prepares children to be successful in the 21st century.” When I first read about these class time increases, two red flags went up in my mind. I thought it was well intended, but definitely idealistic in terms of the financial capability to pay teachers for these extended hours. I also questioned the quality of these extra hours spent at school. More time at school will only be advantageous if it is spent wisely. According to the Huffington Post, the costs will be covered by mixing federal, state, and district funds. The Ford Foundation and the National Center on Time and Learning will also be contributing to help ease the costs of this pilot. In Massachusetts, specifically, the program will build on the state’s existing expanded learning program. Regarding the quality of extra time spent in the classroom, Luis Ubinas, the president of the Ford Foundation, said that the initiative was not “about adding time and doing more of the same. It’s about creating a learning day that suits the needs of our children, the realities of working parents, and the commitment of our teachers. It’s a total school makeover.” All in all, it sounds fairly simple and uncontestable. Actually, it is quite the contrary. Not everyone agrees that shorter school days are to blame for the problems in our education system. In fact, according to a report from the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education, the idea that American schools have fallen behind in classroom time is not entirely true and that, contrary to popular belief, some students in high-performing countries such as South Korea, Finland, and Japan spend less time in school than do U.S. students. Concerns from teachers unions could also prove to be an additional roadblock. Contesters have argued that they need fair compensation for working more and have asserted that more hours and days in the classroom is not enough. I do not see this reform radically changing the face of education in our nation. However, there is no doubt that it can be argued as a significant step in the right direction.

Ryan Towey is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com

Jacqueline Parisi is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@bcheights.com

photos Courtesy of Google images

—Jennie Hardin A major concern for the new MedBox vending machines includes availability to children. 4Boston Volunteers Co-Chair

4Boston and PULSE programs. Rosie’s Place, Pine Street Inn, St. Francis House, and Women’s Lunch Place are a few of the placements where BC students serve the homeless community in Boston. Members of 4Boston Council, 4Boston, and Pulse volunteers attended the walk. Jennie Hardin A&S’13 and Carter Bielen, the co-chairs of the 4Boston Volunteers Program and A&S’13, were both proud of the turnout. “I was very happy with the representation of multiple BC student groups that came to raise awareness,” Hardin said. She added that she hopes that the participants in the event will leave the walk feeling inspired and empowered to become involved with helping the homeless community find affordable and permanent housing. “I truly admire the commitment of 4Boston and PULSE to serve the marginalized members of our community. This was a great experience to share with fellow BC volunteers.” Moriah Bauman A&S ’15, a 4Boston volunteer, said,.Winter Walk 2012 raised awareness for the issue of homelessness throughout Boston and the organizations and volunteers involved can be expected to have more success in the future. n

Marijuana dispensed MedBox, from D1 the expiration of his or her prescription. Currently, the amount and frequency of which a patient is able to obtain marijuana for medical uses is not actually determined by the doctors themselves, but is mandated as a part of the legislation. Massachusetts’ towns and cities will have approximately 120 days after the start of the new year to update any existing regulations that may apply, and to establish new rules regarding the dispensaries. This includes zoning regulations, which will address where these—and additionally, cultivation businesses—may be located. Because these vending machines would not be available in regular pharmacies, such as CVS or Walgreen’s, but only in registered, state approved dispensary businesses, serious questions have been raised in regard to new zoning rules, such as how close the dispensaries

will be allowed to schools, churches, and other areas where children inhabit. The law in Massachusetts has limited the number of dispensaries in the state to 35 for the first year, and no more than five in each of the state’s 14 counties. Several towns, such as Reading and Wakefield, have even discussed banning the dispensaries all together. So what’s in it for Kind Clinics, and others who have become involved in the industry? Potentially, a lot. Although the state law dictates that all dispensaries must operate as not-for-profit businesses, Kind Clinics function as a consulting group that provides clients, such as “physicians or people who want to get into the business,” with resources, support, and expertise. As it states on their website, “The primary goal of Kind Clinics is to be the best consulting group in the medical marijuana dispensary industry and create the most compassionate, safe, and legally compliant medical marijuana dispensary brand in the country.” n

THE ISSUE:

As of Nov. 30, the Committee of Student Life at Harvard University approved fifteen new student organizations, including Harvard College Munch. “Munch” is a group founded specifically for those students at Harvard who identify with the ‘kink community’—a term commonly associated with BDSM interests: bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism. The group, which currently has about 30 members, now has the ability to recruit for events around campus and coordinate official meetings. The question we are raising is not one of personal values, but one of validity: does a group based on sexual interests deserve a place in higher education?

Photo courtesy of google images

Validity of club is questionable Harvard supports free speech Tricia Tiedt I’d like to start with an obvious, yet very important, statement: this is happening at Harvard. One of the most historically prestigious institutions of higher learning in the country is recognizing a small group of students with distinctive sexual interests. What message is this sending to everyone else? In a word: a provocative one. I’d also like to preface my very conservative opinion with a disclaimer: In no way do I judge, denounce, or condemn these students for their sexual preferences or desires. We are fortunate enough to live in a liberal society with the freedom to express ourselves in virtually any way we choose. My opposition to this club is not an issue of freedom of speech. My immediate reaction when hearing this news was ‘Hey, what one does with their private life is their business. Good for them for expressing it in a way they feel comfortable. You do you. Or rather, you do her…with handcuffs. Whatever.’ But, these students aren’t expressing themselves in a way they feel comfortable…at least not when it comes to this announcement. In fact, The Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, granted any and all students interviewed about the club anonymity. The founder, who goes only by ‘Michael,’ told The Crimson

that the biggest advantage in Munch’s recognition was “the fact of legitimacy.” “[Our recognition] shows we are being taken seriously,” Michael said. If you want to be taken seriously, why won’t you identify yourselves? While everyone has a right to privacy, not identifying yourself as a member of the new club seeking legitimacy is counterproductive. If you want your anonymity, don’t give the press something to write about. I am not attempting to damn anyone’s moral standards. I fully understand that Harvard does not have the Jesuit, Catholic foundations of Boston College, and therefore does not ascribe to those religious implications. There is something to be said for being a member of the best-known institution in this country, however. To the members of Munch, I ask: is this what you’re doing with your time at Harvard? Establishing clubs based on sexual preferences where no active discrimination is present? As men and women of Harvard, you are—supposedly—held to the highest academic standard in the country. As a fellow student in the Boston area, I am disappointed to hear that this is the ‘progress’ currently being made in our educational hub. Tricia Tiedt is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com

Ryan Towey This issue is not about sex. Yes, the Harvard College Munch is indeed a safe haven for those who enjoy kink and BDSM in their sex lives, but the justification for such an organization should not be based on the moral ramifications of such sexual inclinations. This article does not serve to support or reject the sexual preferences of a group of people, but instead supports the idea that Harvard was just in its choice to accept an organization that provides a forum for a certain type of sexuality. Harvard would have been unjustified in stifling a student organization dedicated to the discussion of kinky sexuality, because Harvard can support the organization without necessarily supporting the sexual lifestyle it espouses. In a similar fashion, people could reasonably argue that E.L. James’s erotic Fifty Shades of Grey is a grotesque use of the literary arts. Such people would probably be right, but no American who believes in free speech can justifiably suggest that such a book be censored or banned. A nation may allow a book to be read on its shores without every citizen of the nation expressly supporting the book’s ideas. Those in opposition to the Harvard

The Heights

Thursday, December 6, 2012

BY MARC FRANCIS

Branching out of the BC Bubble into Brookline Bordering the cities of Boston and Newton, the town of Brookline captures a historical and entrepreneurial spirit. It portrays an accurate representation of a genuine Massachusetts neighborhood and withholds plenty of attractions. Brookline serves as a center of artistic preservation—the town has been hailed

for its hidden cultural gems. While in Brookline, it is imperative to pay a visit to the Larz Anderson Park. At 61.3 acres, it is one of the most spacious parks in the area and affords its visitors with one of the most breathtaking views of the Boston skyline. On top of the fantastic view, the park provides much room for exploration. The city of Boston has definitely taken care of the park as it is consistently in top shape. Visitors utilize the park grounds for a number of events, like ice skating, dog walking, sledding, and athletics. The park includes a scenic pond, a baseball field, a gardening area, and even an auto museum. The museum houses some of America’s oldest automobiles and traces the development of the

Photo Courtesy of Google images

The Beacon Street Tavern is most popular among Bostonians and is highly rated by Zagat.

American car throughout its history. After strolling through the historic Larz Anderson Park, take a trip to the Longyear Museum—another Brookline visitor staple. The museum has fascinated locals and foreigners for decades, serving as an active memoir to Mary Beecher Longyear and Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science faith. The mansion’s architecture alone has attracted visitors from all over the world. Philanthropists Mary and John Longyear had collected hundreds of memorabilia throughout their lives, including furniture, artifacts, pictures, portraits, and much more. But when urban development threatened the livelihood of the Longyears’ collection, they stored it all in one house—the Longyear Mansion. Today, the museum hosts exhibits like portrait and artifact galleries, all contributing to the tale of the life of Mary Baker Eddy. The museum infuses all its visitors with a taste of culture, religion, and history. Lastly, finish the day with a meal at the Beacon Street Tavern. Conveniently located on Beacon Street, the quirky restaurant has grown in popularity for its unique menu and comfortable atmosphere. Embodying classic Bostonian ideals , the restaurant’s interior is composed of dark wood and high-back clam shell booths. With its late hours and wide

Allston-Brighton Crime Reports 12/1/12 - 12/2/12

Boston University Student Assaulted and Battered

variety of drinks, the eatery is also quite popular among bar-goers. The Beacon Street Tavern charms all of its customers with a one of a kind menu and standout decorations. According to Zagat, the restaurant offers “a trendy take on classic American pub food.” As a fairly recent addition to the neighborhood, bostonmagazine.com stated that “While Beacon Street has a high standard to live up to, its eager

crowds hint at a shining future for the neighborhood’s newest addition.” A visit to Brookline is a nod to culture—an appreciation of the nearby sources of history and society. Boston College is just one aspect of the highly educated, diverse surrounding community. A single journey down Beacon Street is stocked with education, entertainment, and great food.

Photo Courtesy of Google Images

The Larz Anderson Park is a Brookline gem with a view of the Boston skyline.

Restaurant review

Eastern Standard prepares wide variety

Officer Lonergan, Officer Christian, and Sergeant McMahon reported the assault and battery of a Boston University student at 5:45 a.m. on Dec. 2. The student was a passenger in a friend’s car on Brighton Avenue when the car was hit by snowballs. When the victim exited the vehicle, he was assaulted with a stick by a male who was accompanied by another male and a female with a shaven head. The BU student subsequently declined medical assistance.

- Courtesy of the Boston Police Department, District 14 Gathered by Tricia Tiedt, Heights Staff

Photo Courtesy of Google images

Not content to reach for any one dining extreme, Eastern Standard provides a multi-faceted dining experience. By Charlotte Parish Metro Editor

In the effort to develop a unique personality of a restaurant, many venues throw themselves off a cliff of caricature. They become chained to either high-end cuisine—complete with obscene prices, unpronounceable dishes, and waiters who disdain to explain the meal—or low-end grub that is hugely (and incomprehensibly) over-portioned, highly unhealthy, and characterized by rushed service emphasizing table turnover. However, Eastern Standard brushes its menu, decor, and waitstaff with moderation, fashioning itself as a flexible experience to satisfy any craving. One of two restaurants for the Commonwealth Hotel, Eastern Standard’s plush decor has rich scarlet hues and wood paneling all around the spacious dining room, with artistic flares finishing off the Mad Men atmosphere. Much like the show’s alternation between business, class, and revelry, the menu shows a tremendous range of character from unreal sea-salt French fries to an endlessly succulent foie gras atop brioche supplemented by figs and hazelnuts that twist the delicate meat with a sucrose finish. Eastern Standard’s most acclaimed dish, though, is their extremely unique roasted bone marrow. Juxtaposed with the grilled cheese that is also on the menu, patrons might be hesitant to try such an adventurous dish from a restaurant that does not put itself on a pedestal of high-end cuisine, but a singular piece of the bone marrow (which is best described as a savory butter) spread on toast with the hazelnut gremolata would win over even the strongest apprehensions. Main plates again appeal to any palate, price range, and culinary whim. An inexpensive burger or roast beef sandwich are the simplest offerings, but collaborating executive chef Jeremy Sewall does not let those sit unadorned, instead adding an especially tangy (in the best way possible) horseradish mayo to compliment the roast beef. For those who want to continue the more adventurous track that lay before them, the apple wood smoked pork porterhouse is a sensational plate with bitterness seasoning it because of the adorning greens and apple. However, the baked rigatoni is perhaps the epitome of Eastern Standard’s combined touch of home-cooked and high-class. The idea is simple and familiar: soft pasta topped with meat and cheese. It is

the parts with which Sewall creates this whole dish that really amaze, however. The ricotta is whipped lighter and fluffier than a typical ricotta, mixing perfectly into the undefined “pink sauce” (not the mystery sauce of a cafeteria, but rather the guarded recipe that completes this dish). Alternating with this texture, the lamb sausage is perfectly seasoned and ground rather finely to incorporate throughout the rigatoni, rather than simply being dropped onto the pasta in larger chunks.

Location: 528 Commonwealth Avenue Cuisine: Americana Signature Dish: Roasted Bone Marrow Atmosphere: 9/10 Average Entree: $25 Overall Experience: A-

And while it is impossible to show restraint in the face of such a fantastic dinner, the desserts hold their own and break away from the familiar into the realm of tarts and puddings. Either the sticky toffee pudding or butterscotch bread pudding are enough to tempt, topped with milk chocolate and praline ice creams, respectively. But the Anjou pear tart is the true star of the final course as a unique assimilation of flavors that center around the tangy, buttermilk panna cotta. A quite recent addition to the menu, the dark chocolate tart is a midnight burst of flavor cut by strong espresso ice cream that is simply irresistible, even if it is often too rich to finish. Its unique personality (and exceptional cocktail menu) is enough to gain a significant following of repeat offenders at Eastern Standard, but they don’t rest on their laurels in that regard. They make sure that patrons have a new option on almost every visit with daily specials, a late night menu, and outstanding brunch. The only problem is deciding which meal you want to spend with them—or just stay all day.