Fordham Observer - Issue 13

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NOVEMBER 20, 2014 VOLUME XXXIII, ISSUE 13

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GO! Ghana Postponed Due to Ebola

Photo Feature

By HANSINI WEEDAGAMA Staff Writer

Fordham University’s latest precautions against Ebola include cancelling the upcoming Global Outreach (GO!) project to Ghana.

The decision to cancel the service project was made by Fordham’s Office of University Mission and Ministry staff. The project, which takes place during the summer, works closely with People in Action for Cultural Enrichment (PACE) Ghana - an organization that has a cultural exchange program with U.S. communities to provide educational and health resources to strengthen rural communities in Ghana. Although there are currently no reported cases of Ebola in Ghana, Stephen McGowan, coordinator of GO! at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), stated that the decision to cancel the project came with the unpredictability of the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa.

“We would love to make a decision in May when the project is, but in reality, we have to pick a leader now, [and] a team very soon, so as a precautionary step we needed to make a decision moving forward,” he said. As for PACE Ghana’s reaction to the cancellation, McGowan said, “They were very understanding ... they know that we have to take precautionary measures.”

Former GO! Ghana leader Jaime Rodriguez, FCLC ’14, echoed McGowan’s statements and added, “We haven’t been canceled or terminated our relationship with that organization. We are still in contact with PACE Ghana and so this is only a postponement of us going back to Ghana.” As to his personal feelings on the cancellation, he said, “It broke my heart to know that we won’t be sending a team this year … we’re really missing out, Fordham is really missing out on this opportunity to be transformed by this project.” see EBOLA pg. 2

Inside

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

For this issue’s Photo Feature, Observer photographers capture the grit and beauty of the New York City sidewalk.See centerfold for more photos.

S.A.G.E.S. & Admin: Stuck on Semantics

By ADRIANA GALLINA News Editor

Students for Sex and Gender Equality and Safety (S.A.G.E.S.), a student coalition advocating for sexual health access and other student rights at Fordham, and the administration so far can agree on one thing: a petition with 1,100 student signatures is not something to be ignored.

Dean of Students at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), Keith Eldredge said, “A petition with 1,100 students is a compelling thing to continue a dialogue about.”

But S.A.G.E.S. wants more than a dialogue. “The meeting with [Associate Vice President and Dean of Students at Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) Christopher] Rodgers and five of our members lasted about two hours. It was very

conversational,” a core member of S.A.G.E.S. Wilmarie CintronMuniz, FCRH ’15 said. “We got to discuss some of our demands, but not in specific or substantial ways, so to speak.”

On Nov. 3, S.A.G.E.S. delivered their petition to Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University, and demanded a meeting with McShane. After multiple cancellations and rescheduling, several core members of S.A.G.E.S. met with Rodgers on Nov. 5 and Nov. 13. S.A.G.E.S. and administration are planning subsequent meetings.

“I don’t want to speak on behalf of the president,” Eldredge said in regards to why S.A.G.E.S met with Rodgers instead of the President.

“McShane hires staff folks to cover various topics on campus. My interpretation is that he wants to put stu-

dents in contact with the folks best equipped to handle their concerns.

In this case, most the requests fall under Student Affairs.”

S.A.G.E.S. continues to be frustrated by lack of action. CintronMuniz said, “This isn’t just four or five students saying these things need to be changed.” She continued, “I think [the petition] empowers us to speak on these things and demand to move towards more progressive policies.”

Eldredge thinks a dialogue can lead to action. “Part of what I see as continuing dialogue and conversation is they have these demands, okay so where is room for compromise, where is room for growth, where is room for action? Can we do exactly what they’re asking for?” he asked.

That question is where things get even more difficult. Fordham is not

a Catholic school, rather Eldredge explained it as, “We are a private institution run in the Jesuit Catholic tradition.”

“You don’t have to want to be Catholic to be here, you don’t have to be Catholic. But we are going to uphold Catholic morals and traditions,” Eldredge said.

Cintron-Muniz said, “For Fordham to use that as a reason, [contraception] is not a Catholic value, seems like imposing a religious doctrine on somebody who doesn’t value that tradition. It’s ludicrous.”

In keeping with Catholic morals, the University forbids sexual intercourse on campus. This is explicitly stated in the Moral Growth and Responsibility clause in the student see S.A.G.E.S. pg. 3

Literary

FEATURES

SPORTS

ARTS & CULTURE

OPINIONS

Comma

IFT in D.C.

Who’s on short

Kenny Leon

Tinder Mercies

Fordham students get punctual

Ignatian family teach in

Mets short on shortstop

Person, place, thing

It’s going down, I’m yelling tinder

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PAGE 15

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THE STUDENT VOICE OF FORDHAM COLLEGE AT LINCOLN CENTER

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News

News Editor Adriana Gallina - agallina@fordham.edu

November 20, 2014 THE OBSERVER

Fordham Takes Precautions Due to Ebola

EBOLA FROM PAGE 1

Despite not sending a team to Ghana, Global Outreach is planning to organize fundraisers and book drives next semester, the proceeds of which will go towards helping PACE Ghana. Rodriguez said, “[My team] was very sad to hear that it was canceled. We’re taking steps to … or figuring out a way [that] we can be involved and so we hope to sort of organize and create some sort of fundraising opportunities.” Postponing GO! Ghana is not the only action Fordham has taken in regards to Ebola.

As of Oct. 24, Fordham barred students, faculty and staff from studying in or traveling for University business in the three countries heavily affected by Ebola - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, according to FCLC’s Health Center.

In addition, the Health Center advises that students take precautions when traveling on personal time as well. Bob Howe, senior director of communications at Fordham, said in an email, “We’re monitoring the situation, including the advisories issued by the [Center for Disease Control], and are reviewing any travel on a case-by-case basis.” He also added, “Of course, we haven’t had any symptomatic members of the University community - believe me, you’d know without having to ask.”

The CDC has issued warnings that mirror Fordham’s newest pro-

SRI STEWART/THE OBSERVER

cedures for precaution - including advising U.S. citizens and residents against traveling to the three heavily affected countries on non-essential business, according to their website. The policies of both Fordham and the CDC reflect the gravity of the situation in West Africa, with over 5,000 confirmed deaths since the outbreak began.

As of Nov. 11, the United States is Ebola-free. Cases in Texas and New York were all treated and the patients were released, according to the New York Times. While some may say that this is a sign of hope and a reason to breathe a sigh of relief, there is still an overwhelming number of Ebola cases in parts of West Africa -- over 14,000 cases have now been reported according to the CDC. Because of the growing number of cases, Fordham has decided to put these extra procedures into place as a precaution.

Fordham is one of many schools in New York to take action. Both the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and New York University (NYU) have issued travel warnings to its students, stating that students, faculty and staff should refrain from making non-essential trips to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In addition, both schools require that students with possible Ebola signs or symptoms report to their respective health centers, according to their websites.

The Health Center Office asks anyone who visited affected areas to alert the Office before returning campus.

Crime Query Won’t Be Dropped on Applications

By QUENNIE CHEN Contributing Writer

In response to concerns made by critics, three New York colleges have abolished the crime query on their applications this past October. Students who have completed the Common Application for college admissions are probably familiar with the question: “Have you ever been adjudicated guilty or convicted of a misdemeanor, felony, or other crime?”

The three colleges are St. Johns University, Five Towns College, and Dowling College. St. Johns and Five Towns do not use the Common Application, but Dowling does.

Twenty-five out of the 28 Jesuit institutions in the United States use the Common Application. Two of the three Jesuit universities that do

not use the Common Application (Loyola University Chicago and Rockhurst University) have a similar crime query. Georgetown University, another university that does not use the Common Application, is the only Jesuit institution that does not include the question on their application.

In total, 27 Jesuit universities have the crime query on their application, including Fordham.

Colleges may want to implement this query because of safety concerns and precautions. Fordham student John Liang, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’17 and legal assistant at a law firm said that this raises the question, “how important is it to ask uncomfortable questions for the sake of safety?”

According to a study published by

the Center for Community Alternatives in 2010, there is no empirical evidence that shows students with a criminal record being more likely to commit crime on campus. Liang said, “Asking about misdemeanors as well as violations is nonsensical as most of these offenses are minor and factor in poorly when assessing potential safety risks of admitting a new student.”

Dr. John Davenport, professor of philosophy and director of peace and justice studies at Fordham University also addressed some of the concerns made by critics. The question is problematic because the query is “unfair not just because it might have a disproportionate impact on students from certain minority groups but just in general because the role of higher education is to create oppor-

tunities,” he said.

According to Davenport, colleges are supposed to be a meritocratic system, meaning that colleges should wholly be looking at an applicant’s potential in the admissions process.

“The leeway for colleges to do that [affirmative action] is shrinking all the time so they don’t really want to also be excluding people on the basis of misdemeanors or minor felonies,” he said. To ignore an affirmative answer to this question is difficult, he explained. The pressure of liability issues could cause colleges to “discriminate on the safe side if there’s any doubt at all.”

Patricia Peek, director of admissions at Fordham University, assured that they “engage in a holistic review process of our applicants” and “this question is only one element in the

overall evaluation.”

Davenport suggested that if colleges want to err on the safer side and still be precautious without completely eliminating the query, they could narrow the question. Colleges may want to ask instead, “have you ever been convicted of rape or some other violent crime, armed robbery or assault” because “if a student says yes to those questions there might be, one could argue, more reason to be concerned” he said.

According to Peek, “we have received no complaints that I am aware of” in regards to the crime query. As to whether Fordham will be abolishing the question anytime soon, “we do not see any immediate change for Fordham,” but will keep “an eye toward emerging trends and conversations” in the admissions process.

Fordham Talks Evolution and Church: They Can Co-Exist

By JUSTIN REBOLLO Staff Writer

When Pope Francis gave his address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City, the media promoted the view that the Pope’s statements were controversial. The Roman Catholic Church, however, has held the beliefs which Francis expounded upon for years and the address was meant to exhort humankind to think of our responsibility to “creation,” according to Lecturer in Philosophy and Mark Burke, S.J. Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center Rev. Robert R. Grimes S.J. said, “I don’t think that the Church sees any inconsistency between Church teaching and the theory of evolution.”

Grimes said, “What we call the Big Bang Theory was first put forth by a scientist who was also a Catholic priest.”

The Pope’s address was given to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences which according to the Vatican which “seeks to pay honour to pure

science, wherever it is found, to assure its freedom and to promote its research.”

One of the most discussed parts of the address, the Pope’s, is the Pope’s statement on Genesis. “When we read in Genesis the account of Creation, we risk imagining that God was a magician, with such a magic wand as to be able to do everything,” Francis said.

Francis continued, “However, it was not like that. He created beings and left them to develop according to the internal laws that He gave each one, so that they would develop and reach their fullness.”

The media, such as MSNBC -which published an article whose byline read “Pope Goes Rogue” until it was changed to “Pope Francis: God is not ‘a magician with a magic wand,’” has portrayed his comments as the Church conceding to science and the Pope breaking tradition.

Burke holds that, “for Catholics, there is no contradiction between faith and reason.”

According to Burke, the nature

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

According to Fordham experts, the Pope isn’t as radical as some media outlets publicize.

of the address was “that God has given us responsibility, moral and religious responsibility, for what we do with creation.” The address was not a theological breakthrough but a

speech to inspire scientists.

The Catholic priest and scientist referrenced by Grimes was George Lemaitre, who according to the American Museum of Natural

History “argued that the physical universe was initially a single particle—the ‘primeval atom’ as he called it—which disintegrated in an explosion, giving rise to space and time and the expansion of the universe that continues to this day. This idea marked the birth of what we now know as Big Bang cosmology.”

The media when the Pope’s address first occurred mistakenly categorized his comments as a theological breakthrough instead as a speech to Catholic scientists meant to inspire them. The portrayal of the comments forgot to mention the Catholic tradition of scientific inquiry.

The Pope discussed creation and evolution and humankind’s responsibility to creation, specifically scientist’s responsibilities. The media spun Francis’ comments as a doctrine shift, in line with the view of Pope Francis as an iconoclastic and progressive pope, as opposed to a declaration for scientists, as the Pope said, “to carry out that felicitous theoretical and practical initiatives in favor of human beings.”

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Financial Issues Behind NYC Church Mergers

By ELIZABETH LANDRY Staff Writer

On Sunday, Nov. 2, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan announced the largest reorganization of churches in the history of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Fiftyseven parishes will close and merge with neighboring parishes by August of 2015.

“When we knew we were on the list to merge, they gave us an opportunity to appeal,” Donna Lajoux, executive secretary of Fordham University campus ministry, said.

Lajoux is a member of St. Gabriel’s of Riverdale, which is now set to merge. She was employed as the bookkeeper there from 2005 until she began working in the Campus Ministry office at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) in October. “And we did appeal. Now, I think [the closure]’s pretty much set in stone,” she said.

This consolidation is one in a trend that has been going on for decades. This reorganization involved all 386 parishes in the New York City area, which were warned that they were under review. Fifty-seven churches will now prepare to close in coming months.

“This is not just going on in New York,” Rev. John J. Shea, S.J., director of Fordham’s campus ministry, said. “It’s going on across the nation. And it’s a difficult decision for bishops because it doesn’t look good if you’re closing parishes. You should be growing, not shrinking.”

According to Shea, the mergers stem from financial problems, “[The parishioners], themselves, don’t have the money to personally keep it going,” he said. “And unfortunately in many of the big cities, unlike in the suburbs, many of the churches are old and take a lot of heavy expenses.” Shea also cited a widespread shortage of priests as a factor. According to Pew Research Center, the number of priests in the United States has been slowly but steadily declining over the last 50 years.

Fordham Professor John Seitz, Ph.D., explained, “What the bishops are looking at are: ‘Who’s in the parish?’ ‘Who’s getting their sacraments performed there?’ ‘Are there other parishes nearby that can serve those needs?’ So they’re taking a businesslike approach to the problem.”

Seitz also agreed with Shea that money was a factor. “An important consideration is the financial straits of Catholic dioceses, the difficulties

they have in paying their bills … linked to, in some cases, bad management of funds, or payments to settle claims for sexual abuse victims. So it’s a layered story, not just one explanation,” Seitz said.

According to the Archdiocese of New York, only 12 percent of its 2.6 million Catholics regularly attended Sunday Mass last year. Both Shea and Seitz attributed the pattern of urban church closings to the population shifts after a wave of suburbanization that took place in and after the 1950s. Shea said, “The demographics have changed from where people used to live. Many of them were ethnic parishes connected with the Irish, Italian, German [populations] and those parishes flourished. But now people have moved out, moved on … so you have more churches than you have people to fill them.”

According to Pew Research Center, each generation has had lower religious affiliation rates since the Greatest generation, born before 1928. Today’s youth born after 1980, has the lowest church attendance rate of all.

Shea compared the loss of a church to the loss of a home. “In my parish, the grammar school closed, the rectory closed, the nuns are gone from the convent, and that’s the church where I received communion, confirmation, my first mass,” he said. “It’s hard to see that go … For these people, their whole lives have been in that church. They grew up there, it’s like a family.”

Lajoux said the same of St. Gabriel’s. “It’s a small church … we had about 600 people coming to church every weekend … We had lots of families, lots of parishioners who are third, fourth generation there, so it’s very heartbreaking.”

She continued, “It might have been a small church. But it had a feeling of the parish of a cathedral. It was very loyal people, and we had great volunteers, great ministries.”

Lajoux also expressed her worries about the accessibility of St. Margaret’s for some St. Gabriel’s parishioners. “It’s very hilly in Riverdale,” she said. “I think for a lot of senior citizens, and for many of the young mothers with strollers and families that we serve … I’m sure that it will be difficult [to walk there].”

Seitz said that there are ways that parishes can appeal these kinds of decisions, but it is a very expensive process and very time-consuming to make the way through the Catholic system of canon law, and

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

The Fordham University Church at Fordham College at Rose Hill.

in the places he’s studied such as Boston, appeals are usually denied by higher levels of authority.

“It’s a really dicey proposition to be closing a parish,” he said, “because for the entire life of the parish, the [parishioners have] been hearing from the pastors that ‘this place is your spiritual home,’ …

There’s a lot of investment in these places, and sometimes the logic of business seems to violate those histories. It’s revealing about what we care about, what we value, whether or not a place is worth preserving.

“The bishops make the case that this is like a dying and a resurrection: we have to die in order to be

reborn, that’s a basic Christian argument,” Seitz said.

According to Lajoux, that rebirth might take some time, as there is definitely a mourning period. “[Our pastor’s] been open and honest with us from day one, and we just have to now move forward, as sad as it is.”

Will S.A.G.E.S. Dialogue Turn into Action?

Protest Planned for Lincoln Center S.A.G.E.S. FROM PAGE 1

handbook.

One of the eight “demands” S.A.G.E.S. has revolves around contraception access on campus. “The Catholic Church is just not with the times anymore,” Rachel Fields, FCRH ’15, another founding member, said. “Students are having sex whether they like it or not. The University has a responsibility to make sure it’s safe.”

Cintron-Muniz said, “There’s all these ways in which Fordham chooses to take the safety of its students seriously. Having the highest rates of [sexually transmitted infections] in the country is a real safety concern.”

Fields continued, “[Fordham] can make exceptions for other things. For example, we have an [Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer] LGBTQ group on campus, which is one of the reasons I came to Fordham.”

S.A.G.E.S. has announced a protest on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 4:30

TYLER MARTINS/THE OBSERVER

S.A.G.E.S. will host a protest on Nov. 20 at FCLC.

p.m. at starting outside FCLC and culminating at Columbus Circle.

“I’m hoping to be there to at least hear what they want to express in a protest,” Eldredge said.

According to Fields, groups planning to attend the protest include, Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD), Planned Parenthood, Naral Pro-Choice, Latina

Institute for Reproductive Health NYC, Damayan Migrant Workers, New York City Youth Leadership Council and students from other New York City colleges.

In response to these groups presence, “I’m more concerned about members of our community not to say I’m dismissive of outside influences,” Eldredge said.

Opinions

Rachel Shmulevich — Opinions Co-Editor rshmulevich@fordham.edu Marina Recio — Opinions Co-Editor marinarecio@icloud.com

November 20, 2014

STAFF EDITORIAL

C

been an Americanized sport and encompassing the Brits.

Tinder is changing the way we date and bridging the gap between real-life and virtual romantic connections. Now, love is only a swipe away.

Even Taylor Swift has evolved her music from country to pop.

Even Taylor Swift has evolved from country to pop.

Evolution takes time.

Literally. (Just ask Charles Darwin.) So it’s no surprise that it may take some time for Fordham to evolve. (It’s a process.) Registering for classes may see yet another overhaul, back to simulta-

Observer the

THE TRANSCENDENCE OF EVOLUTION harles Darwin brought forth the Theory of Evolution in 1859. In true Catholic fashion, the Church just got around to acknowledging it. Last month, Pope Francis told a crowd that evolution does not contradict creationism.

“The evolution in nature is not opposed to the notion of Creation,” Pope Francis said. Though this isn’t controversial to Roman Catholics around the world, Pope Francis has officially built a bridge between science and religion.

Coupled with his remarks about “homosexuals” a few weeks back, Pope Francis is shifting the tone of the Roman Catholic Church, and he isn’t the only one making ripples around the world. The NFL may be heading across the pond, expanding what has

THE OBSERVER

neous registration.

S.A.G.E.S. is bringing their protests to Lincoln Center, and with over 1000 signatures from the student body, it’s hard for the Administration to ignore.

The administration is open to creating a dialogue, which is a step in the right direction. Soon enough, we may even get access to contraception.

And maybe we will luck out and finally get decent food in Fordham’s dining hall.

However, in the midst of all of the evolution and change, there are some things that will always remain the same. College students can be comforted to know that no matter how different things become, their relatives will always ask the same questions while they are home for the holidays.

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Turkey Has a Good Reason to Sit Out the Third American-Iraqi War Dylan Reilly Asst. Opinions Editor

What do Turks, Kurds, Syrian Arabs and Iraqi Arabs have in common? They were once part of the same country, the Ottoman Empire.

Today, one of these groups is not like the others—the Kurds did not get a state when the empire was broken up by Britain and France after World War I. The Sykes-Picot borders of the Middle East are without a doubt instigators of conflict, but the Islamic State is trampling those colonial borders. They’ve erased the line between Iraq and Syria, and their controlled territory stretches right to the Turkish frontier. Turkey is a NATO ally, and much of NATO is at war with the Islamic State, including the United States and Britain. The United States has a vested interest in getting Turkey to commit troops and airpower to the conflict, but they didn’t the last time we invaded Iraq and probably won’t this time either. Why don’t they want to get involved? The answer is the Kurds.

The Turkish government is not convinced that the Islamic State is the greatest threat to Turkey, but knows that Kurdish nationalism is.

Turkey is almost a fifth Kurdish according to the CIA World Factbook, and any potential Kurdish nation state worth its salt is going to claim the Turkish/Syrian borderlands as part of its territory. Right now, the most likely “Kurdistan” to emerge is in Iraq, where the Kurdistan Regional Government is de facto independent from Baghdad. Turkey has fought Kurdish insurgency before, and an independent Kurdistan would not only embolden separatists but probably support them financially as well. If Turkey fights the Islamic State, they remove a potential threat, Islamists, and bolster another, Kurdish nationalists, be they in Iraq, Syria or Turkey itself.

Simply speaking, the Islamic State and the Kurds are enemies of one another, and Turkey doesn’t want to commit to defeating the former because it would help the latter more than it would help Turkey.

The Turkish-Kurdish situation is complex, and the ongoing war south of the border has made things worse. The armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is based in Turkishcontrolled Kurdistan, is designated as a terrorist organization by all of

COURTESY GUY GURMAN VIA TNS

Turkish tanks parked in a lot near the border with Syria on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. The northern Syrian city of Kobani, under siege from Islamic militants, is in the background.

NATO. The PKK has sent fighters over the Turkish border into Syria to protect the Kurdish population and fight the Islamic State, something that bothers Turkey perhaps more than Europeans are bothered by their citizens going to fight for the Islamic State. Then there are the Iraqi Kurds, loyal U.S. allies who also undermine the unity of the rump state they are nominally a part of. If the Islamic State is defeated, it improves the position of all Kurds in the region, which would threaten Turkey.

Turkish neutrality makes perfect sense from Ankara’s perspective, and in a Hobbesian world, we would be content to let it be since there is nothing compelling them to act otherwise. But we don’t, and that’s where the problem comes in for our military-industrial planners. Turkey

We are right to value the lives of our own soldiers, but it is transparently Machiavellian to pressure foreign armies to die for our objectives. is a NATO member, and most of NATO, led by the United States, has committed to fighting the Islamic State, in both Iraq and Syria. Turkey directly borders this new country that we are trying to destroy. From an American perspective, Turkey should naturally be involved in fighting our latest enemy, over

whom we have unprecedented moral high ground. Not since the Cold War has the United States had an enemy so diametrically opposed to us—a Western secular democracy is at war with a Middle Eastern jihadist kleptocracy. Turkey is also legally secular and a democracy, presumably making the Islamic State their ideological antithesis as well.

Any assistance from Turkey, but especially ground troops would be decisive in fighting the Islamic State.

The battle for air superiority was a non-event, but it is supplementary to the ability of troops to capture and hold positions. It is often said that guns don’t kill people but rather people with guns do. Similarly, airplanes don’t win wars but armies with them do. This poses its own moral questions for the United States, however. Should Middle

Eastern troops be committed to death in combat while Westerners comfortably fly their drones and jet planes over the Islamic State? We are right to value the lives of our own soldiers, but it is transparently Machiavellian to pressure foreign armies to die for our objectives. I consider myself an exceptionally cynical person, but there’s something emphatically wrong here.

President Barack Obama, who approved funding and training of Syrian rebels and wants to avoid the “boots on the ground” approach that his neoconservative predecessors took in the region, seems to like the idea of having the indigenous fight on our behalf, as dead Syrians will not hurt his popularity. But what of the Turkish military? It would seem that the Ottomans are not for sale.

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Affordable Care Act: Here to Stay Health Care Spotlight to Move to Medical Device Tax Jonathan Milohnic Contributing Writer

Unless you live under a rock, then you are fully aware that the United States now has a Republican-controlled Congress. The liberal media is cursing the gods, while the conservatives are hopeful that the American people’s faith in their government will be renewed, and that gridlock in Washington will be replaced by progress.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, took a backseat this election season: health care reform is no longer the hot button issue in America, as immigration reform has been brought to center stage, but does that necessarily mean that Americans will no longer see a debate over health care reform and that the ACA is written in stone?

Republicans, as well as some Democrats, have highlighted the Medical Device Tax as their newest gripe with the ACA. The Medical Device Tax was tacked on the ACA as a sales tax levied on medical device manufactures. The tax was originally to be 4.6 percent, but was negotiated down to its current 2.3 percent by former Senator John Kerry. It is applicable on everything from surgical gloves to MRI machines, but according to the IRS, exemptions do exist on items such as eyeglasses, contacts and hearing aides. MRI machines are amongst some of the most expensive medical equipment available, and this tax can add anywhere from $3,450 to $27,600 to the purchase of a new machine. Some of this cost is passed onto the purchaser, whether it is a hospital or a privately held practice, which inevitably increases the price charged for each procedure.

Highlighting the Medical Device Tax is a genius campaign tactic: a majority of Americans have absolutely no idea what the tax truly entails (other than the fact that it is related to Obamacare), and it has garnered votes for candidates from those constituents who are

less than well-informed about the topic, but nonetheless oppose the ACA. The tax does serve an intrinsic purpose to the bill: it aims to provide additional revenue to the expanded health care coverage to an estimated 25 million Americans.

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the tax would provide $29 billion dollars in revenue over a decade. This is not the first health-related tax, however. Vaccinations, such as—but not limited to—the human papillomavirus vaccine and even the yearly flu vaccine that most of us receive, are taxed at $0.75 a dose.

Politicians and medical device manufacturers are arguing that the tax is causing job loss and discouraging the innovation of medical devices and technology—two arguments that are losing more and more clout because the statistics involved are circumstantial and unreliable.

At the end of the day, I am not expecting there to be a repeal of the tax. There just is not enough of a reason for it. America does not have the spare cash lying around to replace the $29 billion that it is estimated to generate over the next decade. If Congress even drafts a bill to repeal the Medical Device Tax and gets the bill to pass in both Houses, it is unclear as to whether President Barack Obama would sign it or veto it. The only reason I could see him signing off on the bill is to simply throw the Republican Party a bone.

President Obama did meet with congressional leaders on Nov. 7 for lunch to hammer out a plan for the next two years. Americans are expecting a lot, but they shouldn’t be expecting any major changes in health care any time soon. The ACA is still in its infancy and until there has been enough information gathered on its actual impact on healthcare costs there cannot be any motions raised to get rid of it.

Health care in America is a waiting game, and unfortunately, we all must play it before we can start to make additional improvements.

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

Tinder: Microcosm of What We Do in Life Kayla Pantano Staff Writer

Websites like Facebook and Twitter have become integral parts of our generations’ lives and as social media evolves, so does the way we communicate and receive information. This evolution has also changed how we date. With apps like Tinder, online dating is no longer taboo and has become accepted as normal in our generation. While Tinder specifically is often dismissed as superficial because of its matchmaking process based on appearance, it is simply a microcosm of what we do in real life. Despite allegations that we are lowering our standards, we are simply expanding our options.

Tinder is location-based and takes users’ information from Facebook to create a profile, which consists of a few photos, a short bio, mutual friends and interests.

The app presents photos of people who fall into the user’s preferences (gender, age and distance) and the option to swipe right in affirmation or to swipe left in rejection. If two users swipe right to one another’s photo, then they can chat and decide what to do from there. Yes, it

Despite allegations that we are lowering our standards, we are simply expanding our options. is shallow to swipe right if you are satisfied with the level of attractiveness and to swipe left if you are not, but isn’t that exactly what we do everyday? We choose whom we approach and whom we do not. We exchange information, learn more about the other and then decide what the relationship will entail.

Tinder simply provides the opportunity for people who are unlikely to meet otherwise.

Whether or not Tinder is a trend, it is not changing how we are dating. There will always be the lucky few whose well-established friendships will turn into romantic relationships, and those who meet their soulmate by chance of fate. Everyone else will either go on Tinder or other alternative dating solutions to meet new people, decide to meet people the old fashioned way or wait and let life run its course. Regardless of the

JESSICA HANLEYE/THE OBSERVER

approach, once people meet, dating is the same. They make plans, they show up, they call one another, they plan another date and so forth.

Tinder is simply an extension and an improvement of how we date.

With the elimination of vulnerability, as users do not have to deal with rejection to the same extent,

and the added reassurance of a mutual attraction, Tinder allows users to approach dating with more boldness. Therefore, despite varying intentions of Tinder users, skeptics of online dating should rejoice for those who have not prevailed with traditional dating, as they now have a low-stress and safe dating option

that allows them to possess an extra level of confidence.

The argument that many Tinder users have questionable motives is irrelevant, as this is also an issue outside of Tinder. However, in any situation, if intentions are not mutual, then people can move on.

Similarly, the idea that Tinder adds vulnerability instead of eradicating it is also extraneous. With increased pressure to have a photo that captivates people, and the desire to receive as many matches as possible, Tinder can be detrimental to selfesteem. However, users need to be confident and patient, just as they need to be outside of Tinder.

The bottom line is that people have the right to find love in whatever way they choose, and if they decide to utilize technology, all the power to them. The goal of Tinder is to introduce two matches and to provide them the opportunity of communication. Restaurants, small talk, flirting, flowers and any other dating clichés can follow. Real-life interaction and human connections are not being thrown out the window. In fact, Tinder does the opposite, and while there are no available statistics or success rates (yet), Tinder continues to introduce people who have no intention of swiping right or left again.

COURTESY OF KAYLA D’ANGELO

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The Comma

November 20, 2014 THE OBSERVER

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Robotic Angels at 14th Street

By DANNI HU

Stepping outside the F train station, I smell a burned plastic, like ill chemicals Poured into stomachs of dead angels.

It is always there in the exit, Revolving with the round metal skeleton.

I caress the ashes of that odor, red, hot, roaring.

Watching flux running into wells Climb inside the sewer.

Vaporize into a grey cloud, Falls back down through storm.

The water and the lightning vomit the flavor of ill chemicals inside the mezzanine.

It traces the rushing trains, Stains our shiny clothes, dresses, pants, socks; Not a single piece of fabric remained pristine.

I sense, Clockwise tongues speak to me, Galvanizing eyes of golden fishes chase me, who abandoned themselves on the beach after running out of their energy.

It’s the black and white films tangled around our bones, Wrapped us together in separate bundles, Unattached.

Sculpt our images for a thousand decades Until we believe they are real, Unchanged.

The smell follows us, Have our beginning and our end Wound by the rolling wheels, strolling, howling.

Once again I walk out the F train.

The scent of the burned plastic.

The saints that shed my tears.

The smell of the robotic angels is always there in the exit, with the screeching of the turnstiles making me cringe.

I am always there going through the entrance, Taking out the metro card, Swiping out my gut.

Yet this is the scent we could not resist; We helplessly look for once it fades.

It is the rhythm of our progress, The catalyst of our production in the name of humanity.

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

We’ll Always Have Sung Chu Mei

By RACHEL FEDERMAN

“I hope we end up together,” said Evan, not long after we broke up.

“Do you really think that will happen?” I was tearful and droopy, carting around too many bags.

He nodded vaguely, then pointed out how clear the sky was, how razor-sharp the moon.

We were already over, officially, but still each other’s one essential person, cracking apart the ice sculpture of the relationship like waiters cleaning up after a wedding, when there’s really nothing else left to do.

We were on our way to a gallery on West 22nd where a gaggle of naked women would be dispatched from a pickup truck into a room full of giant blue mushrooms. The curator of the show was our friend Brian, the artist who’d introduced us three years earlier.

“So you’re over, but still friends?” Brian was handing out plastic glasses of wine inside the gallery. Most people were just reaching over each other’s shoulders and grabbing as many as they could.

“That makes it sound—” I turned to Evan for help, not sure what kind of word even I wanted.

“Uncomplicated.” He offered, guzzling back the wine with more bravado than I think I’d ever seen him show.

“Yeah, that.” I realized I should try to take in the art, but it was like a group dressing room—there wasn’t anywhere to comfortably let my eyes stop. I skimmed over the crowd, then looked back at Evan. We were never the finish-your-sentences type of couple. I had worried about that being too cutesy. I know he doesn’t believe it, but that’s part of the reason I couldn’t even commit to one definite date night a week with him. Too cutesy. Too precious. Yet here I was, intensely committed to making these last nights together mean something. As the crowd swelled to greet the toned and shining women, we made our way against the tide, probably seeming to be on to bigger and better things.

What we were on to in fact was not bigger and better but smaller and worse—one last lonely dinner at the Chinese place on Hudson Street where we’d gone on our first date.

The fortune at the end would have been funny on any other night. “Let me see it,” Evan pulled it out of my hand, spurting orange pulp in my direction. “‘You are the guiding star of his existence’” he read, mouth trying to smile but not.

“Yep.” I looked around at the gurgling fish tank, then at the hostess who smiled and started to come over until I shook my head to signal no, we were okay, or at least there wasn’t anything she could do for us to make it better.

Evan was still staring down at the fortune, mouthing the words. Finally he looked up at me and handed it back. “Well that’s off base,” he said, with that exaggerated Seinfeldstyle intonation that he could never really pull off.

“Not really,” I said, mostly to myself, putting the fortune in my pocket and almost feeling relief. It wasn’t a cold night, but there was a draft at our table, bringing with it the smell of bleach, which I guessed was seeping up from the bathroom.

Evan chomped down his fortune cookie and mine—one of a million unspoken agreements. We split the check, and hovered for a minute outside the door. The opposite of the awkward, hopeful delay of our first few nights together—Are we going in the same direction? This was more like an extended curtain call where the actors overestimate the number of claps the audience has left in them.

“Which way are you headed?” I asked, looking up at that razor moon.

“You tell me,” Evan said, trying again to smile, handing me my bags.

“Where I’m going?” I asked, keeping my voice flat.

“No. Point me in the right direction.” He smiled, sarcastic I think, and a little sincere.

“The fortune?”

Oh right. I swung the bags over my shoulder. I was tired and wanted to go home. Very little slack can be cut for a guiding star. It had better remain constant and predictable and bright.

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER November 20, 2014

The Comma

9

Jasmine

By MARGARET FISHER

Sweet little ponytail Bounces past the smear and graffiti.

This is my fairytale kingdom.

Twists and X’s on brick swirl to birthday cakes in the backyard, A concrete castle with a chain link swing.

Plastic cups and Grass beneath the stairs.

One, two, three, The door.

Laced magic sparkle sneakers And if I believe, I can fly.

Puddles are shiny with rainbow oil slick, And gray is the best color Because I can paint it again.

The little white flowers grow under our fence And take me far away.

There’s a princess, too, With long black hair and golden shoes.

A purple rug and marble balcony.

Sand and sky and bright eyes.

Daddy is my knight.

He has armor in the pores of his skin: Barbed wire and momma as a name.

There are numbers for the day I came along.

The day he got his princess.

He told me and it’s true.

But he looks sad and Leans back to close his eyes.

I look out the window.

The birds come to see me and The sky is blue behind the clouds.

Jasmine is in her castle; and with no one around, She sings and sleeps and Moves on fast.

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

One Man’s Ash

By ERIKA ORTIZ

It was a clear and warm Saturday morning when Amy sat down with a map, a red pen, and that day’s newspaper. She opened to the appropriate section and began to search the personal ads, checking the details of the items offered and then referencing her map to mark out her plan of action. Once Amy finished and was ready to go, she wrote up her list on a “Things To-Do” pad and headed out.

When Amy reached the first destination, she pulled over to the curb and shut off the engine.

She quickly grabbed her purse and climbed out of the car, eagerly crossing the street. She ascended the driveway that led to a yard swarmed with people. She smiled brightly and jumped into the fray, happily searching and critiquing with her fellow bargain hunters. Like most people that spend Saturday after Saturday at garage sales (and you must trust that these people do indeed exist), Amy wasn’t in search of anything specific. That was the beauty of a bargain; even if you didn’t need something, the deal was too good to pass up.

For most of the morning Amy continued on her merry way, weaving between crowds and digging through bins, arguing her case for a price reduction and walking away with a sly smile and her hands full of purchases. As the day was winding down (and her car was getting full), Amy decided that the next stop would be her last.

She pulled up in front of a house that had a sign in the window that read “Estate Sale.” As usual, Amy poked through the various bins and boxes, doing her best to ignore the larger items that wouldn’t fit in her car no matter how much she wanted them.

But even so, she managed to find a few things that she enjoyed, her favorite being a decorative brass jar with a lid. She thought it would be perfect to use as a vase in her living room.

When Amy finally returned home that afternoon, she embarked on the task of unloading all of her treasures and putting them to their intended uses.

She hung pictures on the walls, arranged lawn ornaments in her garden, and packed away out-ofseason holiday decorations.

As she finished putting everything in its place, Amy took the last item she purchased and brought it to the living room. Just as she had suspected, the jar matched the decor wonderfully. She happily moved the decoration to its new place and made work of transferring the fake bouquet of roses from the old jar to the new. In her haste, however, she managed to knock her bargain on its side— and a waterfall of ashes cascaded out. She cocked her head to the side, staring at the mess in confusion, before simply shrugging her shoulders. Amy then swept the ash back into the jar, rearranged the flowers, and walked to the kitchen to make herself a late lunch.

KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER

10

Photo

November 20, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE GRIT OF NYC For this photo feature, Observer photographers captured the gritty side of New York City.

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

Seen on West 207th Street, in the Bronx’s Kingsbridge area.

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Hughes Street, in the Bronx.

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Attorney Street, in the Lower East Side

ISABEL FRIAS/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Broadway & 59th Street, in Midtown.

ISABEL FRIAS/THE OBSERVER

ISABEL FRIAS/THE OBSERVER

Seen on 65th Street & Broadway, on the Upper West Side.

Seen at the West Fourth Street subway station.

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER November 20, 2014

Photo

11

THE GRIT OF NYC

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Clinton Street, in the Lower East Side.

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Arthur Avenue, in the Bronx.

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Arthur Avenue, in the Bronx.

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

Seen on Stanton Street, in the Lower East Side.

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The Comma

November 20, 2014 THE OBSERVER

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Dirty Feet

By HANNA TADEVICH

I’ve got very mixed feelings about washing my feet at the end of the day. It’s the coziest thing to slide off my sandals and stretch out my toes and let them slap down on the wooden panels that creak under my weight, absent for a whole twelve hours.

Weighted, grounded, slap slap slapping toes and my heels that thunk down behind them. New York City sidewalk dirt and Alvin Ailey studio dirt and Fordham hallway dirt have all snuck beneath my feet today and mingled together between sandal bottoms and calluses. The whole story is there: the bruise from rehearsal, the blister from the extra-long walk I took to get the extra-needed cupcake, the toenail I dropped my laundry basket on. It just wouldn’t be right if my feet didn’t get some home dirt on them too: a fringe from my notebook paper that endlessly graces our floor no matter how many times I pick it up, some dirt particles from my roommates’ shoes… now I’m mingling with their days as well.

But I’m supposed to wash the dirt off before I crawl under my covers. It’s not good to bring one day’s mess into the next. Clean breaks and fresh starts is the path to levelheadedness. I’ve been trying to live life that way. Tabula rasa if you will, one day at a time. And it has been quite successful on the surface!

I deleted your phone number last week and oh how soapy and scrubbed I felt. I sold your old bicycle that was still in my garage. I replaced the photo in the picture frame you gave me for my birthday. But traces of the dirt remain… like I would know it was you if you ever called because those numbers are still in my head. And I sold the bicycle to my cousin in Wisconsin in case you ever want me to buy it back for you. And

just because it’s not in a frame doesn’t mean it’s not half-visible on my wall, poking out behind some art I have hung up now.

I’ve fallen in and out of love with other people since you. I’ve lost track of anything tangible that’s stuck to my feet from walking with you. But there you are still, the coziest thing, the dirt mingling with today’s dirt, and I’m happy to have you there.

I know you’re one to cut your toenails meticulously and take care of calluses with a good deal of Burt’s Bees. You are stoic and clean and I imagine it is not a source of conflicted emotion for you to wash your feet of the day. I’ve come to accept it as much as I possibly can. But let me tell you, it makes life interesting to keep some dirt around. It makes you feel things: crunchy beneath your feet things, callussy Iworked-for-this things. It’s evidence of a life lived fully.

Sometimes I come home to my home dirt and I say, let me pull on some thick wool socks right now, let me hold in all this dirt for a moment and appreciate what a mess I am. Let me get some of this day’s dirt on these socks so that they can hold my memories for a time when I want to deal with them. And then a couple weeks later, I pull on those socks again – you remember the ones, brown-orange-tan-red-greenpurple-orange-brown Ecuador socks – and I walk around in my years of dirt; I might think of you and I might not, I might smile or I might cry. But it’s pretty good to sift dirt through our toes and hold memories in our socks. If you ever want to walk beside me again, I’d gladly show you how it’s done.

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

For Songbirds Wept

By SANJANA RAJAGOPAL

Urns of ash steeped in dreary April rain spilt their secrets to the red dirt of the delicate earth.

Aoide

By VALERIA SHATILOVA

Her robe like Neptune’s hydrogen atmosphere, is tumultuous gusts of tulle, ice particles, and her own divine cold.

Your blue eyes were carved into the violet clay; rolling like marbles as the potter turned them over in his wet hands.

I have nothing left to remember anymore.

The polaroids burnt until the smoke filled my lungs and the memories choked my throat.

My corpse turns numb on touch— The holy water he sprinkles on my bruises sears my skin mercilessly.

The bronze folds of his smile haunt me— A Greek beauty, an ornate vase for my collection.

Orange wasps come crying in the gentle spring breeze— Don’t you love him? Don’t you love him?

Blood and heat pool in the dark corners of my heart.

The mortician comes in hues of black to set flames to his pale grin.

And tears were shed, for the songbirds wept on the eve of his silent passage into obsidian night.

COURTESY OF HALINA SHATRAVKA

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THE OBSERVER November 20, 2014

The Comma

13

Courage

By KAYLA D’ANGELO

Courage (n.): 1. the ability to do something that frightens one.

2. strength in the face of pain or grief.

For a long time, I equated courage with stupidity.

Better to be cunning enough to avoid the problem, Better to think before you jump into a situation, Better to hide from the complications that rear their heads Like venomous snakes just waiting for a bite.

Misophonia

By SOPHIA NOULAS

Everywhere she went, she went Chak, Chak, Chak. Except on carpets, then she went Chut, Chut, Chut. Oh, he hated her Chuts and her Chaks, but worse than her thick heeled boots were the days when her bright pink bubble gum went Smack, Shlop, Smack.

Chack, Smack, Slop, Chack, Smack, Slop, Chut, Smack, Chut, Chut, Smack, Slop… gurgle.

The infernal gurgling of the water cooler! The water cooler was what sealed the deal, when it was in the break room, then he could’ve stood the noise, but now it was next to his desk. Five times a day, she would sidle out of her chair in the back of the room and then slowly and loudly she would make her way up to the water cooler. Five times a day.

It was a wonder how after all the Chut’s, Smack’s, Slop’s and Chack’s he finally cornered her in the break room and went SZIZK, SZIZK, SZIZK. What was even better than the sound of those SZIZK was the silence that came blissfully after.

Once in school they asked me to write about the bravest person I knew, And I laughed to myself And even as I wrote what the teacher wanted to hear on the page, I mocked the assignment in my head.

I don’t remember how old I was.

Once in school they asked me to write about the person I most admired, And I thought for the first time, “My mother is the bravest person in the world, and I love her for it.”

And I didn’t think she was stupid for being brave.

I thought of how I hadn’t told anyone I

thought I was depressed, And I wished I had the same kind of courage.

At the time I couldn’t quite explain to anyone else why she was brave.

She’s afraid of heights and closed spaces, Gets vertigo from the slightest amount of spinning, Thought of guinea pigs only as slightly horrifying rodents Until one snuggled into her throat like a child.

No one could understand how a person like that could be brave.

I knew she was but I didn’t have the words to tell them.

My mother would never be the type to portray a hero in a fairytale, And that’s all anyone ever seemed to see of her.

But my mother is brave enough to live even crippled by illness And always with a smile And always for someone else.

Despite getting to live thirteen days of her life For everyone fourteen everyone else gets, She is selfless, giving away what time she has, And that’s the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.

COURTESY OF HALINA SHATRAVKA

Little Boy Purple

By NICK LAWTON

Purple was my favorite color. Is my favorite color, currently.

But there was a time when I had lost purple in my life. A time when the warm, pinkish hues turned cold. Frigid, even. A time when my purple became blue.

I hung up my purple bucket hat. I stuffed my purple L.L. Bean backpack, nearly the size of my tiny body, into my closet. I threw my purple T-shirts into the garbage. I put my purple gym shorts at the very bottom of my pajama drawer.

I was determined to obliterate all signs of the color from my life. I was seven.

The things a boy my age should desire seemed to come in shades of blue. Blue trucks. Blue jerseys. Blue dinosaurs.

I wanted to be blue so badly, but not for myself. Never for myself. I wanted to be blue for my mom, so she wouldn’t have to worry if I would come home from school crying because the girls at school didn’t want to play dress-up with me. I wanted to be blue for my dad, so we could laugh together while we played basketball in my backyard, and so I wouldn’t have to look at his deeply disappointed face after I told him I was quitting. I wanted to be blue for my brothers, so they could stop having to explain to their friends about my inexplicable Barbie collection and obsession with belting Britney Spears’ “Lucky” in public places. Motivated to make life for my family easier, I was committed to being blue and everything that it represented.

I took on this new persona without understanding the damage it would later cause to my identity. I stifled my effeminate tendencies, and along with them my creativity and individualism. I wasn’t supposed to be purple, but try as I

might I couldn’t be blue. My wardrobe became a never ending grayscale, and other parts of my life followed. Purple and I felt like strangers to one another, with no hope of ever meeting again. I became ill with normalcy, and it plagued me for years.

A seven-year-old does not even understand the science of tying one’s shoes properly, let alone the complexity of gender. Seven year-olds are curious, though. At such a formative age, a child is eager to take in everything around them, questioning all the while. How can we deny them the right to question what they may like or dislike? How can we as a society let a human that has only lived seven years on this planet hate themselves to the core? Allow a child to feel worthless because they don’t fit in with either of the acceptable genders?

I’m still picking up the pieces of a childhood happiness that was shattered the day that seven-year-old realized judgment existed. The warmth of the purple within me was drawn out without permission. I’ve completed many parts of the puzzle of my life, and am now authentically me every day.

There are pieces still floating on the sidelines. Pieces of selflove and self-acceptance that are still waiting for a place to call home.

I have this picture of myself at about four years old, standing on a dock near my boat and rocking my purple bucket hat with a purple t-shirt. I am smiling wide, beautifully innocent to the trauma that would attempt to capsize me on my journey of discovery. I hope that I’m almost there, and my remnants of blue will become purple once again.

ISABEL FRIAS/THE OBSERVER

COURTESY OF KAYLA D’ANGELO

Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture Editor Ramona Venturanza — ramonaventuranza@gmail.com

November 20, 2014

THE OBSERVER

Sylvia Day Brings a Dose of Romance to Fordham Day’s New Series Will Feature A Character From Fordham

By KAMRUN NESA Managing Editor

New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Day is planning to write a new adult romance series featuring a character who attends Fordham University.

The two-book series, which will be titled “Blacklist,” chronicles the relationship of Lily and Cain, who attend Columbia University and Fordham respectively. Day was inspired by her agent, Kimberly Whalen, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’91.“[My agent] was telling me for a long time ‘You need to write about characters from Fordham.’ I’m like ‘Yes I hear you’,” Day said.

Cain will be in Rose Hill and will be a basketball player. “He’s the guy who started in life with very different circumstances. He grew up very privileged in a particular way and all of that was taken away from him.

So he’s got a lot of frustration; the change in his family’s fortune is not due to anything they did on their part. They were taken advantage of.

He wants retribution … in a way, he definitely wants to reinvent himself.

He’s a really tough guy to get to know because he’s wary of everybody. Lily has a soft spot for him. She is still very privileged, and that’s a rough spot for him to get over in the beginning because he feels that she doesn’t have the life experience he has.”

This series deals with a theme that Day hasn’t yet written about: college romance. “You have to look at the overall arc of the story. ‘Blacklist’ is told over two books, and in the first book, we’re following a couple at that point in their lives where the world is theirs ...” Day continued, “There’s a fearlessness to that. And it gives you courage you don’t have later on because later on, you stumbled so many times that you’re a little bit wary.”

“When we see [Lily and Cain] again in the second book, it’s years later, and they’re very different people; they’re older, they’re wiser, they’ve stumbled, they’re jaded. Life has hardened them a bit … and that to me is the arc of their story and the beauty of their story.”

Day admitted it will be a challenge writing about characters who are in college, and then making a time leap. “You’re still somewhat

COURTESY OF SYLVIA DAY

In the upcoming two-book series, “Blacklist,” Sylvia Day plans to feature a character from Fordham.

dependent on your parents in a particular way that you won’t be later in your lives. Emotionally, financially, in a lot of different ways, there is a tie still there ... and that tie will be interesting to explore. The challenge is not the earlier age of the characters but the arc of following a couple over the span of years and seeing them in that progression. ” Day will be coming to New York to do more research for her characters, in early 2015. She said that she would love to shadow some Fordham students. “I am happily looking for students who would let me shadow them for a day or two after the new year. Any Fordham student: I would like to get the entire experience everywhere. I’m actually going to get the vernacular of the University correct before I sit down and start writing the book. ” Day chose Fordham and Colum-

bia for their New York location. “It’s a magical spot and people should find all of the magical spots in the city and then you’ll fully have an appreciation for it.”

“Blacklist” will be Day’s 11th series in the 11 years she has been a romance author. “I got my first romance novel [‘Desert Hostage’] when I was 12.” After reading the entire book in a week, she realized that she wanted to be a romance novelist when she grew up.

However, she didn’t start to write until much later, after she became a Russian linguist for the United States Army Military Intelligence, got married and went to college.

“Setting aside time didn’t come into play at a time in my life when I was trying to finish school and pay bills and have a steady income, and writing to me seemed like something that I had to set aside time for. It

wasn’t until I had that break in life when I was home with my kids.”

Now, it only takes Day a few weeks to finish a manuscript. “I’ve written books in as little as four weeks. The average time for me to write a book is about six weeks. And then depending on commitments and everything else, it could take as long as two months maybe three months, but it never usually takes more than that.”

Day is both the New York Times bestseller and international bestseller, and has been published in over 40 territories. She was also the 20122013 President for Romance Writers of America. As someone who is invested in the romance genre for many years, she said people cannot escape romance in a story. “Almost any story that you read has at least a romantic subplot to it.”

“Most great stories have at least a

small romance in them. So to assume that romance genre is the only genre where you’ll find romance is completely wrong. It’s a universal human struggle. There are things that you cannot be forced to do for your own sake that you will do for the person that you love. That emotion forces us to be better people, to try harder, to work harder, to sacrifice more and it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, you can relate to that.”

As advice to aspiring writers, she quoted Nora Roberts: “Anyone can publish a book not everyone can write one.” Day suggested first writing three full-length novels before trying to publish. “By the time you get to the end of the third book, one: You’ll know how long it takes to write a book. Two: You’ll understand what your strengths and your weaknesses are. And then at that point, you’re ready to be published.”

The Comma Interrobang A Holiday Guide to Dodging Relatives’ Questions

By MEREDITH SUMMERS Literary Co-Editor & Copy Editor

With Thanksgiving next week, many college students are looking forward to going home for the break. Dreaming of playing with pets and not having to wait for hours to attempt laundry in broken washers, many students forget the worst part of break: facing questions from extended family members. For those who have waited until the last minute to prepare stock answers to the same questions that are always asked, I put together this guide that will make sure the questioners will want to find someone else to talk to quickly.

Question: So, are you seeing anyone?

Answer: Yes, actually, a few people. However, I’m a little concerned because no one else seems to be able to see them.

Question: How are your classes going?

Answer: Well, when I lived at home, I definitely felt like I was in the upper-middle class, but after trying to live in New York on a budget for a few months, I’m definitely feeling very lower class.

Question: Do you have an internship this semester?

Answer: I built the ship, but none of the other interns seemed to want to get on it with me. (Then pull out a boombox and start playing Enya’s “Sail Away”) Question: What are your plans after graduation?

Answer: I’m hoping that I will inherit a lot of money from a deceased family member so that I can be independently wealthy. By the way, how are you feeling?

Question: How are your friends?

Answer: Monica and Chandler have secretly been hooking up since they went to London for Ross’s wedding. Joey found out but promised he wouldn’t tell. Rachel found out when she overheard Monica and Chandler on the phone and then Phoebe saw Monica and Chandler “doing it” while she was in Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment. At first, Rachel and Phoebe decided to prank Monica and Chandler because they didn’t know that they know. But then, Monica and Chandler prank them back because they didn’t know that they know that they know. It got worse when Rachel and Phoebe figured out that they didn’t know that they know that they know that they know. It’s all very complicated.

If you stick to this script (because your relatives sure will) you will be left to stuff your face in peace in no time.

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Arts & Culture

November 20, 2012 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

Fordham Dancer Goes on Tour with Ailey II The Ailey Dancer Fills In for an Injured Dancer

By SHAINA OPPENHEIMER Contributing Writer

As the saying goes, one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain.

Gabe Hyman, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’16, joined the ranks of an apprentice at Ailey II, where he was given the opportunity on tour while filling in for an injured dancer.

Ailey II, the second company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, was created by Alvin Ailey as a means for young students to transition into professional dancers. The 12-member company caters to an international audience and will be touring Germany, France and Jamaica this season.

For Hyman, “the hardest part about being an apprentice is not being a company member who gets certain parts in the pieces.” An apprentice is expected to attend all rehearsals and learn company repertoire. They understudy various parts and fill in for missing dancers. “You don’t get the chance to perform full out but can be thrown in at any time. It’s a big responsibility keeping up with all the different dances because you never know what can happen.”

The opportunity to join this company is the product of years of training. Hyman started his dance training at the age of 10 when his mother urged him to audition for a performing arts middle school.

A few years later while attending Virginia School of the Arts, Hyman realized his zeal for dance and decided to spend the next decade pur-

COURTESY GABE HYMAN

Gabe Hyman, FCLC ’16, performed on tour with Ailey II.

suing this art form.

He idolized Clifton Brown, one of Ailey’s acclaimed dancers. “I fell in love with the way he danced,” Hyman said. “I wanted to dance like him.” This resolution helped Hyman push his per sonal limits

and constantly improve his work.

Hyman’s revere for Brown led him to fall in love with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and eventually helped his decision to be a part of the Ailey/Fordham BFA

program. During the spring of his sophomore year, Hyman was invited to audition for the second company. “I was going in with no expectations because you never know what can happen or who they’re looking for,” he said. After making it through all three cuts of the audition, Hyman was offered an apprenticeship with Ailey II. When a fellow company member was out for an injury, Hyman was utilized his knowledge and years of hard work and perform with the company in his place. This fall, Hyman traveled with Ailey II to perform in Connecticut, Maryland, Vermont and Ontario, Canada.

The opportunity gave him a chance to perform the pieces he had been rehearsing on the side in works including “Virtues” choreographed

by Amy Hall Garner, “Breakthrough” choreographed by Manuel Vignoulle, “Wings” choreographed by Jennifer Archibold and “The Revelations” choreographed

by Alvin Ailey.

The physical demands of performing were just one aspect of the tour. Hyman explained, “On tour you start with a travel day. When you get there you have a master class where you have to demonstrate or teach. Then you go to the theater for a warm-up class, have tech rehearsal, then perform. After the show you go straight on the bus to the next city, get there at 2 a.m. and do the whole thing over again.”

For Hyman, this was his first taste of the true flesh and blood of professional life. “It’s hard because you’re tired, and you have to keep

“I was going in with no expectations, because you never know what can happen ...” pushing yourself. You need to learn when to rest and take care of your body. That’s something I definitely wasn’t ready for.”

Although the taxing schedule posed a challenge for Hyman, it further served as a testament for his love of dance. From a young age, Hyman dreamed of transcending on stage in the way he Brown did, now as an apprentice with Ailey II, he can amalgamate his passion and hard work and establish himself as an artist. Hyman explained, “The greatest thing I’ve learned being an apprentice is that you have to put on different hats at different times.

You need to be on top of things because you never know when someone is sick or someone is injured, and that’s your responsibility as an apprentice to fill in and take the opportunity when given.”

Hyman’s talents serve as a beacon of promise for the upcoming generation of dancers. It is clear that his hard work and passion will continue to drive him. “I’m looking forward to where my dance career will take me. I can’t wait to graduate and move on to the next step in my dance career and see where I end up. I’m very open to new experiences in the dance world and I’m ready for whatever comes.”

‘Full of Grace’ Explores the Journey of LGBT Catholics A Play That Carries the Legacy of a Beloved Bishop

By LOULOU CHRYSSIDES Staff Writer

Homosexuality has always been a sensitive topic within the Roman Catholic Church. On Nov. 24 in Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) Pope Auditorium, the play “Full of Grace: Journeys of LGBT Catholics” will explore this topic, with some untold stories of those within the religion that identify as LGBT. Designed as a docu-drama, the play will share the first-person experiences of over 30 LGBT Catholics ages 19-85 from the United States. The play will be followed by a discussion led by its two third-party producers, Scott Barrow and Robert Choiniere.

The idea for “Full of Grace” began when Bishop Joseph Sullivan of the Diocese of Brooklyn created the Ad Hoc Committee of Gays and Lesbians and their Families in 1999.

His goal was to create a welcoming environment for gay individuals and their families in the Roman Catholic community. Realizing that the Catholic Church was not overly accepting of the LGBT community at the time, Sullivan wanted to demonstrate to his congregates that he would break the mold, so to speak, by demonstrating that all were welcome in his parish.

In 2012, Sullivan contacted Robert Choiniere and Scott Barrow to “create a theatrical production based on the faith journeys of LGBT Catholics”, Choiniere said, “with the hope of producing this piece on Catholic college campuses to encourage a dialogue about sexual identity and faith.” Barrow and Choiniere, both accomplished theater professionals, immediately began brainstorming manners in which they could tell the stories of those they came across. With the

help of Bishop Sullivan, Scott Barrow and Choiniere created “Full of Grace: Journeys of LGBT Catholics.”

Even after Sullivan passed away in 2013, Choiniere stated that the Ad Hoc Committee continues on with its same mandate. “The entire piece is dedicated to the memory of Bishop Sullivan,” he said.

Carrying on the desire of the Bishop to tell the stories of LGBT Catholics, both Barrow and Choiniere remained true to the original message. “The play will explore themes such as inclusion and exclusion, self-acceptance and shame, integrity, family, relationships and marriage as well as individual experiences of God and Church. These are the untold stories of disciples seeking a place at the table and the fullness of life to which God calls them,” Choiniere said. Barrow added, “This play wrestles with some of the most important issues in a person’s life, their pain, their faith, their God, their sexuality and their intimacy with other people.”

When discussing the culmination of the idea for the piece, Barrow said, “For me, it was not as much of an academic discussion as it was about a real need to understand the people around me. [Such as] family and friends who were really struggling with this issue. [The play was] an opportunity to talk to and interview a lot of people on this subject, which was fascinating. This issue is obviously incredibly important to a lot of people; it has a lot of pain and suffering and friction about the subject, so I had a real need to understand why people who were being marginalized and isolated just didn’t up and leave the faith.”

Although the concept of the play came before Pope Francis’ recent comments pertaining to homosexuality and Catholicism, both

COURTESY OF BOB CHOINIERE

“Full of Grace: Journeys of LGBT Catholics” will play at Pope Auditorium at FCLC on Nov. 24.

Choiniere and Barrow agree that the idea that the Pope of the Catholic religion is merely addressing LGBT individuals shows how far the Catholic Church has come in terms of acceptance and tolerance.

“The concept of the play itself is, I believe, an exercise in the Pope’s overall desire to consider the lived experience of the faithful in our theological discourse. The play itself is a theological reflection on faith and sexuality from some of the most marginalized members of the

Church. The Church is now struggling with the disconnect between teaching and lived experience. This play is an opportunity to put these two into dialogue. In that sense, it is perfectly timed with Pope Francis’ thrust to consider the experience of the faithful in any conversation concerning content or implementation of the Church’s teaching. We didn’t know that Synod or even Pope Francis were coming when we started, but it does seem that the timing could not be better.”

IF YOU GO

Full of Grace: Journeys of LGBT Catholics WHEN: Monday, Nov. 24, 7-8:30 p.m.

WHERE: Pope Auditorium at Fordham College at Lincoln Center PRICE: $15 for general public, free admission for students.

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER November 20, 2014

Arts & Culture

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KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER

Denzel Washington Chair in Fordham’s Theatre Program, Kenny Leon, was the featured guest of Randy Cohen’s “Person, Place, Thing.”

Kenny Leon Appears on Randy Cohen’s “Person, Place, Thing”

By HA-YOUNG GLORIA JUNG Contributing Writer

On Monday Nov. 17, Randy Cohen held a second live radio broadcast of “Person, Place, Thing” in Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) Pope Auditorium. Denzel Washington Chair in Fordham Theatre Program, Kenny Leon, joined the Primetime Emmyaward winning radio host to give audiences an inside scoop on his person, place and thing.

Leon, a Tony Award-winning Broadway and film director, is recognized for his work on Broadway and film “A Raisin in the Sun.” He has worked with numerous Hollywood celebrities including Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, John Stamos and Morgan Freedman. He has also worked with the first Denzel Washington Chair in Fordham Theatre, Phylicia Rashad, in two films.

Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Fordham Theatre is a faculty position to which Denzel Washington, FCLC ’77, made a $2 million endowment as well as an additional $250,000 for the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship for undergraduate students studying theatre at Fordham.

As an actor and lover of the theatre himself, Leon expressed gratitude to be on the radio show program, “Person, Place, Thing,” which was created and is hosted

by Randy Cohen. This taping was a live broadcast Leon revealed his most memorable place, person and thing.

Leon’s most memorable person is his mother. “My person is Annie Ruth. That’s my mother. My mother was 15 years old when I was born.”

He explains that he was the oldest of two siblings and his mother, as a single parent, started working and left her children in the care of

their grandmother. “She was going to make a living, as a single parent, and a way for us in life,” Leon said.

He explains that his mother was the last person who wanted him to act. “My mother and stepfather were making $10,000 a year,” he said. Leon participated in a federal Upward Bound program that prepares students who are from lowincome families for higher education which he explains had helped him.

Eventually, his mother gave him her blessing saying “that acting thing is okay” after seeing him in an advertisement.

When Cohen asked Leon about his most memorable place, Leon said, “My place is Las Vegas.” To which, the audience laughed. He explains that after telling some people that his memorable place is Las Vegas, people have told him “that’s the gambling place.” But he countered and said, “My wife and

“I was taught by my grandmother and mother that I have to figure out what my purpose is and to serve that purpose.”

I have been going there and it is so incredible.”

“You have to know how to do it. You have to go to Las Vegas and say: okay, I have two hours for gambling. Then, our budget is $500.

So we head over to the penny slot machine. Now, when you go to the penny slot machine you have a good chance of winning.”

Leon continues to explain how the Grand Canyon is another memorable place and how it offers a sense of spirituality. Cohen replied and said, “You are the only person

You know what never goes out of style? Taylor Swift and writing for Arts.

who sees Las Vegas for nature.”

Leon’s valuable “thing” is a three wood golf club. “One day, I went out for a golf lesson and got my golf clubs and shoes and hit about two buckets of golf balls and hit one ball and was like, oh my God. I mean, up until that time sex was the closest thing to that feeling I got. Golf taught me everything that I need to know about life,” Leon said.

“You’re so upbeat,” Cohen said.

“I am an upbeat person. I’m above the ground. I was taught by my grandmother and mother that I have to figure out what my purpose is and to serve that purpose,” Leon said.

To conclude the program Leon stated “I want to give whatever I have and it is a joy every Monday [when he teaches his Fordham class] and I’m glad I agreed to the Denzel Washington Theatre Chair.”

Features

Features Editor Ian McKenna —ianmckennawmc@gmail.com

November 20, 2014

THE OBSERVER

Dorothy Day Goes to Washington, D.C.

COURTESY OF CAROL GIBNEY

Members of FCLC’s delegation to the Ignatian Family Teach-In.

By ALANNA KILKEARY Staff Writer

Sitting just beyond the glass wall doused in colorful block letters and team member baby photos, four Dorothy Day Center activists have eager, passionate expressions on their faces, ready to speak about this year’s Ignatian Family Teach-In 2014 (IFT). IFT, a component of Ignatian week at the Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) and Rose Hill campus, is a Jesuit conference for students, which was held in Washington D.C on Nov. 15 through 17. Over 50 Lincoln Center and Rose Hill students representing Campus Ministry, Global Outreach (GO!) and the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice attended this year, along with six Fordham faculty members.

Hunter Blas, FCLC ’17 begins, “The Ignatian Family Teach-In is a conference run by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, a network of Jesuit institutions, both colleges and high schools, and Fordham is a member.”

She goes on to describe IFT’s origin, memorializing the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests of El Salvador in response to U.S. Involvement at the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador. This year marks the 25th Anniversary since the martyrdom. “We go to the IFT conference to represent Fordham and Dorothy Day because it is for service and justice, mission and ministry,” Blas continued. Each year, the conference consists of breakout sessions and keynote speakers, discussing a particular theme chosen for that year. Additionally, students have the chance to lobby congress with their conclusions at the end of the conference. This year, the 2014 theme is “Uprooting Justice. Sowing Truth.

Witnessing Transformation.” The issues that were discussed and lobbied for included environmental rights, immigration and foreign policy in Central America. Speakers included Fordham’s very own theology Professor, Michael Lee as well as two Fordham students, Scarly Rodriguez, FCRH ’16 and Sarah Allison, FCRH ’16.

When asked why each member has chosen to attend IFT this year, each participant had a lot to say. Jalen Glenn, FCLC ’16, said that he was inspired to attend IFT after he took a class on Latin America and the U.S. “I’m very interested in lobbying for a shift in foreign policy, and immigration reform is also a pretty important issue for me,” Glenn said. Glenn also remarked that lobbying would be an interesting experience due to the recently established congress from early November 2014 elections.

Blas chimed in once again and said that she chose to attend IFT for a second time. “IFT transformed my Fordham experience because it basically was my gateway to be involved with [the] Dorothy Day [Center],” Blas said. Blas passionately maintained that she built a community at the teach-in last year, and she learned a lot. “I became hooked on [the] Dorothy Day [Center] and social justice, and I made it a point to try to go all four of my years here!” Blas finished.

Aakash Kumar, FCLC ’17 burned with the same fervor and said that he is attending IFT this year after being inspired by a talk he attended at the Rose Hill Campus about the six Jesuit priests and two civilians that were killed in El Salvador in 1989 during the Salvadoran civil war. “They were all there for a specific duty, to fulfill their obligation to Christ—a form of liberation theology—I saw what they were doing at IFT is carrying out what they’ve done by learning about these issues and lobbying congress— carrying out their [the priest’s] goals after their death,” Kumar said.

Finally, Rachel Ninomiya, FCLC ’18, noted that this would be her first year attending the teach-in. “I’m really interested in the issues that are being discussed, things like environmental reform and immigration. I’m from California and I went to high school with a lot of kids from illegal backgrounds that had to go through the process of legalization—it’s a cause I’m interested in lobbying for, for sure,” Ninomiya said.

All four of these student leaders got involved with Dorothy Day through its programs such as Urban

Plunge and IFT. Students have spent the semester so far to raise funds for their trip and collect signatures in support of the changes they were calling for to deliver to U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York’s 10th District, who represents the area ofthe city which FCLC calls home.

After the conference, Glenn came to a poignant conclusion. “While there, I established connections with students from other Jesuit institutions by engaging in honest dialogues about social justice issues that we are passionate about. In addition, meeting with a member of Representative Jerrold Nadler’s staff showed me that I can initiate the changes I want to see in the world,” Glenn said.

Returning inspired, the team is eager to to bring back with them the Ignatian values learned at IFT and introduce them to the Fordham Community. “I was empowered by how receptive the staffer was of not only my voice, but my peer’s voices as well.

I plan to bring the knowledge gained from these experiences back to Fordham so that I can continue to uproot the injustices that impact New York City,” Glenn said.

“We haven’t figured out what that’s going to look like yet, but we have a basic conversation planned,” Ninomiya said of the students’ desire to introduce IFT values to the larger Fordham community. Students who visited believe that IFT values of justice, human rights and policies will benefit the larger student body at Fordham, who represent future politicians, lawyers, doctors, journalists and leaders of society.

After his experience at the conference, Kumar also agreed that IFT had changed his social perspective for the better. “I found that the power to make a change in the world, whether recognizing racism or men and women working together to solve gender inequality, rests in our hands, and that we are the ones who must carry the burden of the martyrs, even after IFT, through uprooting the injustices of our time, sewing the seeds of restoration and witnessing the eventual transformation of our love towards others,” Kumar said.

REX SAKAMOTO/THE OBSERVER

Jalen Glenn, FCLC ’16, Aakash Kumar and Hunter Blas, both FCLC ’17.

Sports

Sports Editor Dylan Penza - dpenza@fordham.edu

November 20, 2014

THE OBSERVER

Whose on Short? Finding a Shortstop for the Mets

By DYLAN PENZA Sports Editor

The last time the New York Mets were in the postseason was in 2006.

To put that in perspective, “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter was the number one song in America and this writer was in sixth grade. However, the recent signing of free agent outfielder Michael Cuddyer shows that the team will attempt to compete for a playoff spot this year after almost a decade of incompetence. The team may have hopes for a National League East title or a Wild Card berth which will grant them access to postseason baseball in October but the franchise has a gaping hole devoid of talent at shortstop hindering their chances.

The team features superstar players in David Wright and Matt Harvey, promising young contributors like National League Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom Gold Glove winner Juan Lagares, and savvy veterans such as Bartolo Colon and the previously discussed Cuddyer. The team, while filled with these talented players and prospects, still has a need for a shortstop. Infielders Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada were passable players at the position last year.

However, Tejada cannot hit well enough to be considered an everyday starter while Flores’ fielding leaves a lot to be desired while manning a spot of defensive important. Flores’ power and hitting ability should make him a piece of the team’s future plans, but for the Mets to actually be a contending team, they will need to acquire another, more solid piece either by trade or free agency.

Under the regime of team president Sandy Alderson, who has admittedly been hampered by team owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon’s financial troubles cause by the Bernie Madoff scandal, the Mets have been frugal. Although the team is in New York City, arguably one of, if not the largest market in the country, the team has kept a below average payroll and hasn’t splurged on established players. This means that the team will most likely not chase Hanley Ramirez who can be con-

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS SWEDA/CHICAGO TRBUNE VIA TNS

Starlin Castro of the Chicago Cubs is the best fit for the Mets at shortstop, but the team needs to explore other trade and free agency options.

sidered the best and most expensive shortstop and hitter on the open market. Also, the free agency signings of Jason Bay and to this point Curtis Granderson have most likely made the Mets organization hesitant to sign expensive free agents to long term contracts. If the Mets do in fact attempt to gain a true superstar to cover shortstop, it will most likely be by trade and not by free agency.

The Mets have been linked to Colorado Rockies’ shortstop Troy Tulowitzki over the off season. With apologies to Jhonny Peralta, Andrelton Simmons and any irrational Yankees fan screaming about Derek

Jeter, Tulowitzki has been the best shortstop in baseball for arguably the last five years. If healthy, and that’s a big if as he has been hampered by injuries, he is one of the best players in the MLB, and if the Mets acquired him, they would immediately become a contender for the National League East. However, Colorado understands his value and the Mets’ need, so they will want a top pitcher.

Tulowitzki is great, but is he worth giving up a player like Jacob deGrom or top prospect Noah Syndergaard, especially if he’s signed for six more seasons? Tulowitzki would no doubt make the Mets better immediately,

but the price they would have to pay for him might hurt their long-term future.

So if the Mets either can’t or shouldn’t acquire the top players they could sign or trade for, who should they get? The best bet either seems to be a veteran on a middling team or a young player log jammed in an organization with a surplus of shortstops that could be acquired for a mid-level prospect. The Mets inquired about Jimmy Rollins from the Philadelphia Phillies, but he vetoed due to a no trade clause in his contract. The Mets could trade for Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White

Sox and the veteran would only cost most likely a player like Dillon Gee. Chris Owings and Didi Gregorious of the Arizona Diamondbacks are both possible candidates and if the team were willing to take a prospect like Rafael Montero. Although this may be wishful thinking, a trade for Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro is plausible as that team has a dearth of shortstop talent, but needs pitching. Regardless of who plays shortstop for the Mets in 2015, the team will need an upgrade at the position if it truly wants to compete for the World Series Championship.

The NFL’s Expansion into England and What it Means

By THOMAS O’CALLAGHAN Staff Writer

With the NFL continuing to play regular season games across the pond in England, many are now wondering if the league will situate a team there full-time. But deep in the heart of soccer territory, how successful would an NFL team be? Not to mention, many players are already against the scheduling of Thursday Night Football, so how would they react to traveling to London?

Without a doubt, the games that have been played in England have been a great financial success for the NFL. In fact, in the seven years that the league has been traveling to the U.K., the games have been extremely popular, with nine of the 11 selling upwards of 83,000 tickets at London’s Wembley Stadium. The pertinent question is whether or not this success is a budding new fan base in the U.K., or just a popular novelty for a soccer-loving audience.

Many are unsure of the NFL’s ability to transcend cultural boundaries. Soccer reigns supreme in almost every country other than the United States as shown by an estimated 715.1 million who watched the 2006 World Cup, according to FIFA. Soccer and football fans are mostly not confident that soccer

PHOTO COURTESY OF RODGER MALLISON/FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM VIA TNS

These British fans are excited for the prospect of a NFL game, but would they be as excited for a team?

fans would be willing to split their time with American football. The biggest obstacle in the way of the NFL ascending to a global brand is

the learning curve involved. American football can be convoluted, and many are quick to admit that it will take time learn the intricacies of a

new sport. This learning curve is why many NFL fans see these games in London as a precursor to expansion to other countries.

Given the concern in the NFL community over the last few years regarding safety, having players travel to London several times per season would be yet another point of contention for the league’s critics. Many critics and even many in the Players’ Union say that the current schedule is unsatisfactory in allowing players time to recuperate between each game. Factoring in the travel time to London and back, that leaves more scheduling problems for the players. With many problems for the league office to address, it may not be time to attempt this ambitious expansion for the NFL. While the NFL will seemingly be successful in its endeavors in the U.K., as there are three more games scheduled for the 2015 season as well. Londoners are enthusiastic about the NFL: ticket sales for games at Wembley Stadium being upwards of 225,000 sold this year alone, but is it just a fad? Frequent travel to the U.K. would present a challenge for NFL teams. Furthermore, such as the recent concussion lawsuits and the Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice incidents have hurt the league’s image. Therefore, the NFL should wait to place a team there. Perhaps the NFL will complete this project that they started seven years ago, but it is unlikely in the near future.

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Sports

November 20, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

Finding New York’s LeBron James Why the Knicks and Nets should search for a hometown superstar

By DAN FERRARA Staff Writer

In July of this year, LeBron James decided to go back home to Northeast Ohio to try and bring the Cleveland Cavaliers their first championship in franchise history.

As their hometown hero and savior, James now faces extremely high expectations and enormous pressure.

He also looks to have set the trend for other NBA players, much as he did when his formation of a “Big Three” became a mainstream commodity in the basketball world.

New York and its five boroughs used to produce top NBA talent on a regular basis.

Hall of Famers Kareem AbdulJabbar, Chris Mullin, Bob Cousy, Nate Archibald and Bernard King are all from New York, but only King played for his hometown Knicks. With the Knicks currently in the midst of a culture change and perhaps a transition or rebuilding period, they need a hero like James - or even on a smaller scale, someone like Mark Jackson, who was from Brooklyn, went to Bishop Loughlin High School and St. John’s University, and then played seven seasons with the Knicks during the late 1980s and early 90s.

The most recent NBA players to come from the five boroughs are Kemba Walker (Bronx) and Lance Stephenson (Brooklyn). Although they are both good players, neither appear to be productive or talented enough players to carry a team to a championship, and neither of them have played for the Knicks or Nets yet. In fact, the last high-profile

NBA player, that played for Brooklyn or New York, to come from one of the boroughs was Stephon Marbury.

Marbury went to Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, earning the nickname “Coney Island’s Finest” for his star-caliber play. He played five seasons with the Knicks and averaged 18.2 points and 7.0 assists per game, but his solid stats never translated into wins.

In fact, Marbury’s tenure in New York only translated to one playoff berth -- a four-game sweep at the hands of the rival Nets – and what could be considered as the worst stretch in franchise history. The Knicks compiled a miserable 151259 record with Marbury on the team, making him more of a villain than a hero around this neck of the woods.

Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant is set to become a free agent in the summer of 2016, and many believe that the front runner to land him, should he decide to leave Oklahoma City, is the Washington Wizards.

This is precisely because Durant was born in Washington D.C. and played AAU and high school basketball all over Maryland and Virginia. Washington, which hasn’t won a championship since 1978 when they were still the Bullets, would greatly benefit from the addition of Durant. Along with point guard John Wall and shooting guard Bradley Beal, the Wizards would instantly become title contenders if they were to sign him as a free agent.

The Knicks are also keeping

The fact of the matter is that New York isn’t the basketball haven that it once was, and the lack of homegrown stars is evidence.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF SINER/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER VIA TNS

Lance Stephenson may be the best player from NYC, but he is not a star.

an eye on their cap space for 2016 so that they have enough funds to make a run at Durant, although they aren’t the favorites. If he were from New York, however, the idea of him coming home to play with Anthony would likely put the Knicks in the top spot on his list of free agent destinations.

The fact of the matter is that New York isn’t the basketball heaven that it once was, and the lack of homegrown stars is evidence. The Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973 and haven’t been relevant for the better part of the last two decades, which has made big free agents (LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul) pass on the idea of playing here. Famed places like Rucker Park have produced great street ballers, but no incredible NBA talents recently, nor have the glorified high schools of Brooklyn, Queens and the other boroughs. Homegrown players like Metta World Peace and Lamar Odom won’t get the job done and bring the Knicks back to the promised land – they need a superstar to come out of their backyard and lead them to a championship.

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