WSN101112

NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Vol. 40, No. 23

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012

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Initiative offers minority support

Union Sq. hosts annual green event

By TANAY HUDSON

By ZUHA JAMIL Union Square became a bit greener on Wednesday.

Grow NYC, a non-profit, environment-oriented organization, returned to the Union Square Greenmarket for its seventh annual New Green City event. City agencies, nonprofit organizations and green-minded businesses gathered to showcase their efforts to make the city more sustainable and to educate New York residents about how to be environmentally conscious.

The park was swarming with people of all ages, which included the activists and organizers running the event, students eager to learn and teachers observing with care.

Wearable Collections, an organization that recycles unwanted clothing to prevent them from

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BRITTANY ELIAS FOR WSN

New Yorkers gathered at the Union Square Greenmarket to learn about sustainability.

Lead performances drive Sundance hit ‘Smashed’

By DREW GREGORY

James Ponsoldt’s Sundance Film Festival hit “Smashed” is more than just another melodrama about the dangers of alcohol. Instead of after-school special clichés, the movie takes a close look at relationships built on superficialities.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate, an elementary school teacher in her 20s who drinks beer in the shower and takes swigs from a flask before class.

After puking in front of her students and accepting crack from a woman whom she drunkenly drives home, Kate begins to realize she might have a problem.

Kate’s husband, Charlie (Aaron

Paul, “Breaking Bad”), is frightened and conflicted about her sudden realization. Their marriage is founded on alcoholism, and taking it away could prove disastrous. When Kate begins alcoholics anonymous meetings chaired by her ex-alcoholic coworker (Nick Offerman, “Parks and Recreation”), her marriage slowly deteriorates each day.

Winstead and Paul’s portrayals burst with a human quality rarely seen in movies dealing with addiction or marital strife.

They know how to show happiness and energy as authentically as intense sadness. Kate is the friend who makes a party fun;

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A report released last week revealed that nearly 4,000 people have participated in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative, which is only in its first year.

Bloomberg launched the initiative last August to address the disparities in opportunities that slow the advancement of young African-American and Hispanic men between the ages of 16 and 24. The initiative does not exclude women or other ethnicities from their programs, but is primarily geared towards men.

With a three-year plan and a $127 million budget, the program was partially financed with $30 million of Bloomberg’s personal funds and through publicprivate partnerships that will invest more than $43 million a year in the program.

The Young Men’s Initiative aims to provide access to mentoring and educational programs,

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NYU Toms club opens students’ eyes to visual impairment

By KRISTINA BOGOS

Beginning at 2 p.m. today, NYU students will be able to experience what life is like for the 285 million people worldwide who suffer from visual impairment.

To raise awareness and educate the NYU community about curable eye diseases, the NYU Toms club — a new group working with the Toms shoes and eyewear company — will have a scrim on display at the Kimmel Center for University Life until 6 p.m.

The scrim, one of 20 created by the Toms headquarters, is a seven-foot tall easel with a 32 by 42 inch screen that replicates the vision of an individual with glaucoma or cataracts. The

COURTESY OF DERRICK BURNETT

The members of NYU Toms will acknowledge World Sight Day. group will speak to students and the community about providing aid to people with eye disease, and distribute sunglasses pro-

vided by LiveWell NYU, a university public health initiative.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | NYUNEWS.COM

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Oct. 11-14, 7:30 p.m.

Ailey Citigroup Theater | 405 W. 55th St.

Oct. 13, 6:30 p.m.

Roseland Ballroom | 239 W. 52nd St.

Oct. 11, 7 p.m.

Museum of Arts and Design | 2 Columbus Circle

Von Ussar Danceworks presents their sixth annual Dance Gallery Festival, which will feature the talented work of dance companies and choreographers from around the country. Tickets are $15 with student ID.

Get ready to dance the night away with Santigold as she plays her energetic, eclectic pop hits like “Lights Out” and “L.E.S. Artistes.” Tickets are $32.50 from Ticketmaster.

Panelists, including NYU professor Mosette Broderick, will discuss architecture, landscape and interior design. An exhibition titled “Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art” is currently on display at the MAD. The lecture is free.

DANCE GALLERY FESTIVAL

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SANTIGOLD CONCERT

DORIS DUKE’S SHANGRI LA

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OPINION PAGE opinion editor

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SNAPSHOT

ON THE WIRE

Real-life doll house

Since the 1980s, Southampton-native Dan Knowlton, 41, has been collecting Cabbage Patch Kids. Today, his collection amounts to more than 600. He makes clothes for the dolls and spends hours changing and dusting them, as well as cleaning their beds, chairs and shelves. Three rooms in his apartment are dedicated solely to the dolls, which Knowlton calls his children. Apparently, Knowlton is not alone in his Cabbage Patch fanaticism. Joe and Pat Prosey boast a collection of 5,000 Cabbage Patch Kids, on which they have spent approximately $1 million. Their only daughter, Vikki, said she has “always tried to distance [herself]” from the dolls.

— THE HUFFINGTON POST

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ADVISING DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

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KEITH LEIGHTY UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER

CU-Boulder to host marijuana symposium Wednesday — COLORADO DAILY

The view from the top of New York subway lines on a rainy day.

PHOTO BY FRANCIS POON

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

GU eyes secondary U.S. campus — THE HOYA

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EDITOR-AT-LARGE

FRANCIS POON About WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student newspaper of New York University. WSN is published Monday through Thursday during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods.

Corrections: WSN is committed to accurate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact managing editor Jaewon Kang at managing@nyunews.com or at 212.998.4302.

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GREEN continued from PG. 1

Union Square holds annual event to raise awareness of sustainability ending up in the landfills, was present at the event.

“Normally, we receive anything from 500 [to] 1,500 pounds of wearable fabric and other textiles every week at our Union Square spot,” said Wearable Collections founder Adam Baruchowitz.

Another organization present at the event was You Save Green, a company providing renewable solar energy.

Justin Pietras, employee at You Save Green, said, “Our objective is to sign people up for a free energy assessment and help them understand why it’s a better alternative than other forms of renewable energy,” said Justin Pietras, an employee of You Save Green.

David Magid, the renewable energy coordinator for You Save Green, said people are wasting money and resources by continuing to use other energy sources.

“What we are doing is a winwin situation because we are saving money and reducing the carbon footprint,” Magid said.

Christine Black, founder and executive director of The Sustainable Restaurant Corps, shared how her company aims to maintain sustainability by evaluating restaurants throughout the city.

“We aim to post these ratings

on sites like Yelp, Zagat and Open-Table,” Black said. “This will help consumers make better choices by identifying restaurants that operate in ecofriendly ways.”

Jason Marcus of Zipcar, a carsharing company, said the company reduces the costs of renting or owning a car by subsidizing gas and insurance costs.

“Each Zipcar takes at least 20 personally owned vehicles off the road,” Marcus said.

Gloria Adams, a teacher at City College Academy of Arts, visited the event with her ecology class.

“It is especially important that New York high school students are informed about such matters and engaged in such events because in an energy-driven city, environmental concerns don’t always come to the minds of the youth,” Adams said.

Allie Young, a New York City resident, said she was happy to see New York making an effort to advocate environmental concerns.

“In a city as compact as [New York City], we often tend to forget that what is sustaining us is the environment,” Young said.

Zuha Jamil is a contributing writer.

Email her at cstate@nyunews.

Biology department welcomes new prof.

By NICOLE BROWN

This year, Esteban Mazzoni joined the university staff as a professor in the Department of Biology. Mazzoni is originally from Argentina and received his undergraduate degree in education from the University of Buenos Aires. He received his doctorate degree in Developmental Genetics at NYU while simultaneously working as a teaching assistant. After receiving his degree, he researched at Columbia University’s medical center for five and a half years.

Mazzoni said he was drawn to NYU’s excellent science programs, specifically within the biology department.

“I think the biology department is full of young, energetic people,” Mazzoni said. “The wealth of expertise is a great asset.”

He also said he enjoys working in an environment that consists of undergraduate and graduate students.

CAS junior Chelsea Culbert, who worked with Mazzoni in a program at Columbia, described him as a great collaborator.

“He was a great mentor and so knowledgeable and dedicated to his research,” Culbert said. “He’ll be a great addition to the biology department at NYU.” He said his first impressions of working at NYU have been mixed because he was once a student at the university.

“It’s a strange feeling,” Mazzoni said. “It’s familiar but new.”

He added that he is impressed with the friendliness on campus.

“It seems like people care about each other, at least in the biology department,” he said.

Along with rest of the biology department, Mazzoni is conducting research to understand the differentiation of embryonic stem cells.

He said his goal is to develop protocols to create new organs from these cells.

“These cells have the potential to become every cell in the body,” he said. “We need to know how to make embryonic stem cells become the cells we want.”

Justin Blau, professor of Biology and Neural Science, said he is thrilled to have Mazzoni return to NYU. “Esteban Mazzoni is a very creative scientist and an excellent human being,” he said. “It is not that long since he was here as a Ph.D. student, but even then, our interactions were those of colleagues rather than a mentor and a student.”

“I am delighted to have Esteban as a professor here in Biology and I expect him to make many exciting discoveries about neural stem cells,” Blau said.

Nicole Brown is a contributing writer. Email her at university@nyunews.com.

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Community Board 6 approves plan for new park

By BEN WATANABE

Community Board 6 approved the Parks and Recreation Department’s proposal to convert the two-block stretch of Asser Levy Place into a new park for Manhattan’s East Side last night.

Asser Levy Place, which runs parallel to FDR Drive between 23rd and 25th streets, will host a variety of facilities geared towards providing fitness and leisure to the East Side residents in the park come December of 2013.

The design includes construction of a track, a multipurpose play field, concrete ping-pong tables, outdoor exercise equipment and seating and planting areas.

Parks Department spokesman Philip Abramson said the conversion is part of a larger piece of land sold to the United Nations.

“The demapping of Asser Levy Place as a street and its mapping as a park was authorized by state legislation enacted last year, as part of a package of park projects required in conjunction with the proposed United Nations Consolidation Building to be constructed on a portion of Robert Moses Playground at 42nd Street,” Abramson said.

Earlier plans laid out by the Parks Department allotted $500,000 to transform Asser Levy into a play space, but these funds would have done little more than block off the street to traffic.

Therefore, city councilman Daniel Garodnick allocated an additional $1 million in city funding, making the total budget for construction $1.5 million.

NYU adjunct professor of planning Sarah M.

Kaufman said the conversion will enhance the use of public space within East Side neighborhoods.

“I think that the east Midtown area is really lacking for outdoor space,” Kaufman said. “[The conversion] is a great way to get people out of their houses, exercising and enjoying the city.”

Ashley Syed, a Tisch sophomore and Gramercy Green resident, agreed with Kaufman and expressed an interest in visiting the park for exercise.

“I think I might visit it after the renovation,” Syed said. “I do yoga, and it’ll be cool to have a place to practice it outdoors right in my neighborhood.

At last night’s meeting, only one board member Lou Sepersky abstained from voting. The rest of the members voted in favor of the park.

Sepersky choose to neither support nor oppose the proposal because of the lack of a public voice at the last meeting when the proposal was first brought up.

“The matter was not on the agenda of the committee. The public had no chance to address the issue,” he said. “Therefore, it has to be reverted back to proper presentation to the committee.”

The other board members argued that in the past, issues not listed as a presentation were still approved and moved to allow the Parks Department to continue with their plans. Their next step is to make a presentation to the Public Design Commission. The Parks Department hopes to get approval by the end of November and begin construction in the spring of 2013.

Ben Watanabe is a contributing writer.

Email him at cstate@nyunews.com.

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Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative successful in ethnic communities as well as employment and civic and community engagement opportunities, in an effort to lower poverty, reduce crime and lower unemployment and dropout rates.

“This cross-agency enterprise is the culmination of 18 months of work begun when the Mayor committed in his 2010 State of the City address to find new ways to tackle this crisis,” Bloomberg spokeswoman Samantha Levine said.

The Department of Probation, which is one of multiple city agencies taking part in this program, is impressed with how far the program has come in its first year.

“We are thrilled with the progress of the initiative,” said Department of Probation spokesman Ryan Dodge.

Despite the progress, Bloomberg points out that there is still work to be done.

“We will continue to take aggressive steps to ensure that all New Yorkers are able to fully participate in the promise our city holds,” he said in a press release.

Many NYU students like LSP freshman Joseph Tavera, who falls under the targeted demographic, approved of the initiative.

“It seems like a program that would benefit a lot of people my age and above, especially when they are still developing and trying to find their purpose in society,” Tavera said.

New York City resident Kafele Clementealso, 19, also championed the idea.

“It sounds like a good deal because as I am an African-American, and not all AfricanAmericans struggle, but I have been through a few struggles in my life so knowing that a [program] is going to change something sounds good to me,” Clemente said. “That helps a lot because a lot of young Black and Latino men who are fathers are struggling to take care of

COURTESY OF YOUNG MAN’S INITIATIVE

Bloomberg’s intiative offers job opportunities. themselves because they made a mistake [at a young age] but knowing that they have a chance to get back out there is awesome.”

In spite of the positive reaction to the program, NYU professor of education Dr. Pedro Noguera, who was asked to serve on the advisory board for the Young Men’s Initiative, said that although Bloomberg deserves credit for acknowledging the major problem, this issue is far larger than the mayor understands.

“They were targeted because they bear the greatest hardships [such as] high dropout rates, high suspension rates, high incarceration and unemployment rates,” Noguera said. “Unfortunately, the YMI does not recognize the connections between these problems and instead treats them in isolation.”

Tanay Hudson is a contributing writer.

Email her at cstate@nyunews.com.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | NYUNEWS.COM

FEATURES

EDITED BY NICOLA PRING FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM

Artist extracts own blood for latest installation

BY DELIA KEMPH Vincent Castiglia’s artwork gives a whole new meaning to the term life’s blood. The avant-garde painter’s new exhibit at the Sacred Gallery in SoHo showcases a collection of works painted solely with his own blood.

Even though Castiglia has worked with more traditional media, he wanted to connect with his art on a deeper level. Using his blood was a vehicle for accomplishing a natural relationship to his work.

“I fell in love with it,” Castiglia said.

“I felt a harmony with the medium for the first time ... using blood was that missing link.”

The exhibit, called “Resurrection,” is a retrospective, showcasing a decade’s worth of Castiglia’s work. Each piece in the collection took between one and four months to complete depending on its size. Castiglia estimates he has used between 10 and 12 pints of his blood over the past 10 years, which medical professionals extract from him.

The artist mixes his blood with water to achieve the illusion of depth and variation of color, but there is no other diluting agent.

“I believe it touches on a lot of stations of the human experience that are universal to us all,” Castiglia said of his work. “Many of them would be considered darker or things that we might not want to necessarily look at, but they deal with both life and death and everything in between.”

The dark themes in Castiglia’s work have led some to deem it horror art.

His paintings contain explicit nudity, decaying bodies and images that convey pain and suffering. Despite the potentially controversial subject matter, however, Castiglia said he has not encountered any negative feedback from critics or the public.

“If it were something that were obviously created for the purpose of shock value, I think it would be a different story,” he said. “But I think you can see that something much more than that is happening, something much more than sensationalism.”

CAS freshman Katie Moore visited the exhibit and was struck by the lighter themes present in Castiglia’s art.

She said she appreciated the intense connection the artist had with his work, and the subtle undertones of easily accessible themes like motherhood and pregnancy.

“My favorite pieces were the ones in which you could see the blood had congealed,” Moore said. “It was a very graphic reminder of the literal blood, sweat and tears that he’d put into his work that make it so unique in its field.”

Castiglia’s one-of-a-kind style is undeniable, not only because of his unusual choice of medium, but because he presents raw observations of the world.

“I wouldn’t be painting unless it was brutally honest because it’s part of how I experience life and understand the world,” he said. “[The pieces] are eras and periods of my life encapsulated in some sensible way.”

Sensible may not be the first word that comes to mind when looking at Castiglia’s blood-drenched artwork, but no one can deny its brutal honesty.

“Resurrection” is on display at the Sacred Gallery through Oct. 31 at 424 Broadway, second floor.

Delia Kemph is a contributing writer.

Email her at features@nyunews.com.

BRYAN NELSON FOR WSN

Castiglia’s paintings feature harrowing images of his own blood.

WHAT’S IN YOUR BAG?

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LSP sophomore Carson Scott keeps souvenirs from her many travels in her bag.

By OLIVIA WEISS LSP sophomore Carson Scott loves to travel.

The Arizona-native’s mother is Mexican, and she often visits her family in Mexico. Scott’s travels have heavily influenced her personal style.

“I wear a lot of hand-embroidered shirts that the indigenous people in Mexico made, and I use a lot of Mexican embroidered bags,” Scott said.

The sophomore shows WSN what’s in her bag.

1. WALLET Scott never goes anywhere without her wallet. “It has everything I need,” she said. Along with money and her NYUCard, she keeps photos of her best friends and an accumulation of fortunes from fortune cookies. One of her favorites says, “Your first choice is always wisest to follow.” Both her wallet and her bag are from Frances, a locally owned store in Phoenix, Ariz. that sells mainly handmade items.

2. IPOD When Scott is walking around the city, she is always listening to music. Her go-to artists are Simon and Garfunkel and Earth, Wind and Fire. Currently, her favorite song is “You and I” by Ingrid Michelson. She keeps her iPod in a pouch that her aunt brought her back from Lucknow, India. “[My aunt] has a store in Mexico called Ethnique. She travels to India twice a year and picks out stuff to sell in her store,” Scott said. Her aunt always finds things with beautiful embroidery handmade by the local women. Scott’s wardrobe is also filled with jewelry and tunics her aunt brought back from India and gave to her.

3. NOTEBOOK Scott always keeps her notebook close by.

The cover is decorated with an image of her favorite painting, Sandro Botticelli’s “La Primavera.” Scott spent her freshman year studying abroad at NYU’s campus in Florence, Italy. “One of my favorite aspects of it was getting into the museums for free,” she said. She bought this notebook at the Galleria degli Uffizi, where Botticelli’s painting is on display. Carson uses this notebook to jot down thoughts, food recipes or anything she thinks is creative or interesting.

4. SUNGLASSES Scott’s favorite green sunglasses are from Flashback, a vintage store in California. She has had them for five years and isn’t looking to replace them anytime soon. “I bought them because they’re very ’60s and I’m very into that ... and they remind me of Janis Joplin,” she said. Scott cited Joplin, along with Twiggy, Edie Sedgwick and Blake Lively as her style icons.

She is also heavily inspired by anything from the 1960s and ’70s.

5. POETRY BOOK Scott’s passions include reading and literature, and she keeps a poetry book by Rumi, a medieval Persian poet, in her bag.

“As little kids, my mom used to read it to my brother and I,” Scott said. Her most valued Rumi insight: “‘Why talk about all the known and the unknown, see how unknown merges into known.’”

Olivia Weiss is a contributing writer.

Email her at features@nyunews.com.

TOMS continued from PG. 1

NYU chapter of Toms shoes informs NYU about World Sight Day “The awareness is our main goal, but it’s also to instill a sense of wonder in people,” said Tisch sophomore Melanie Ward, public relations manager for the NYU Toms club. “Why not look through this [the scrim] for a second and put yourself in someone else’s shoes?”

The display of scrims across the country today, World Sight Day, is an extension of Toms’ commitment to giving: for every pair of Toms eyewear purchased, the company will provide a pair of prescription glasses, medical treatment or sight-saving surgery to individuals suffering from visual impairment in developing countries.

The NYU Toms chapter has incorporated the company’s social justice focus into their own business plan.

“Our core mission statement is to be in line with Toms,”

said Stern sophomore Derrick Burnett, NYU Toms campus leader. “As a result, we’re doing projects that we’re invested in and passionate about by helping others.”

In addition to World Sight Day, the NYU chapter has planned other exciting events for the 2012-2013 year. For “One Day Without Shoes” on April 16, 2013, Toms’ annual day of awareness, the group hopes to launch NYU’s first barefoot music festival. The lineup for the concert will be based on the popularity of up-and-coming artists featured on the chapter’s new music blog, “sines,” which is slated for a mid-December release.

“The goal of the festival is to celebrate the music of our peers while also recognizing the quality and artistic integrity NYU students have to offer,” said Steinhardt

sophomore Forrest Durell, project director for the music festival. “The blog’s role in the concert is to curate the NYU artists that will be playing during the show.”

There are over 500 Toms clubs on college campuses across the nation, but Burnett stated that the NYU chapter’s creativity stands out from the rest.

“Some campuses have cult followings, but they don’t have programs to last,” Burnett said. “In a city this big, with so many other things to do, we figured building something to last is better than building a one-day event that will be gone tomorrow.”

Kristina Bogos is a staff writer.

Email her at features@nyunews.com.

NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

ARTS

EDITED BY STEFAN MELNYK ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM SMASHED continued from PG. 1

‘Smashed’ spotlights alcoholism with exceptional depth

COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Winstead and Paul shine in Ponsoldt’s Sundance hit. she’s charming and crazy, both ridiculous and hilarious when drunk. This makes it all the more startling when the laughter stops.

The audience, though not the inebriated Kate, feels this transition as the smiles fade and the discomfort takes over. Ponsoldt and his cinematographer Tobias Datum intelligently show this transformation with tight close-ups that Winstead and Paul completely own.

As Kate gradually commits to sobriety, it becomes apparent that, for her, a life without alcohol is a mundane one. Or, more accurately, if your marriage and friendships are created when drunk, they will falter when sober. Kate has to face the fact that she is not married to Charlie. Rather, drunk Kate is married to drunk Charlie. Sober Kate does not care for her husband very much when she is not drunk.

When the supporting charac-

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ters take centerstage, however, the story begins to waver. At this point, “Smashed” becomes purely about alcoholism and feels both familiar and false. The supporting cast of Offerman, Megan Mullally and Olivia Spencer contribute little to the film’s strong points. The one exception here is Mary Kay Place, who plays Kate’s mother.

In one scene, Place wonderfully contextualizes the problems Kate struggles with throughout the rest of the film; this scene is essential for framing Kate’s journey.

Without taking itself too seriously, “Smashed” still works.

An upbeat indie score and plenty of laughs anchor this story of alcoholism in the real world, acknowledging both its greatest moments and the hangovers that follow.

Drew Gregory is a contributing writer. Email him at film@nyunews.com.

‘Nashville’ needs to find voice, still has potential

By TOBIAS KEUNECKE

The wait is over. After months of promotional posters throughout New York, along with endless repetitions of the same commercials and sponsored ads on Facebook, “Nashville” has made its way to TV. But is all of the hype justified? Right now, the answer is muddled.

The storyline — an aspiring star in the country music scene trying to wedge out the current reigning-but-aging star — feels tired thanks to an abundance of clichés.

“Nashville” looks and feels like the 2010 Hollywood film “Country Strong,” albeit with better execution.

In the pilot, queen of country music Rayna James (Connie Britton) is asked by her label to co–headline a tour with up-and-coming starlet Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) who is a more ruthless version of Taylor Swift. If Rayna refuses, her label will stop promoting her latest album and cancel her tour altogether.

Meanwhile, Juliette is intent on stealing Rayna’s producer Randy, not to mention her band leader and ex-lover, Deacon. At the same time, Rayna has issues with her powerful father and her passiveaggressive husband. Juliette has her own set of issues despite her callous attitude, including phone calls from her drug-addicted mother. A plethora of minor characters populate the show’s world, including Scarlett, an initially unremarkable waitress who unsurprisingly turns out to be an amazing singer in the episode’s final few minutes.

So far, “Nashville” has neither found its voice nor has it come off as a complete mess. Britton does a serviceable job portraying a struggling country legend while providing her own vocals. Those who know her only from “American Horror Story” will be surprised at this new side to her persona though her southern charm will be familiar to fans of “Friday Night Lights.”

Panettiere, on the other hand, seems to be trying

too hard to play bad. Giving characters an evil glare in nearly every scene, she struggles at authentically conveying a mean-girl image. Unless her acting improves significantly over the next few episodes, she may prove to be the show’s most miscast star.

The other actors tend to fade into the background, as their importance to the main plot thus far is limited.

Additionally, the cheap-looking greenscreen effects employed periodically feel unprofessional.

Overall, the “Nashville” pilot is a somewhat well-produced hour of drama and country music with decidedly mixed performances from its actors. Hopefully, the show will be able to weave together its storylines more skillfully over the next few episodes. Judging from this pilot, “Nashville” is far from reaching the levels of the network’s other hits like “Revenge” and “Once Upon a Time” that enjoyed strong starts. “Nashville” faces an uphill battle if it aspires to match those shows’ quality.

Tobias Keunecke is a contributing writer.

Email him at entertainment@nyunews.com.

VIA MASHABLE ENTERTAINMENT

Panettiere and Britton co-star in “Nashville.”

‘Fell’ delivers new take on classic ‘Alice in Wonderland’ tale

By DYLAN JARRETT

For anyone who has ever wanted to follow Alice down the rabbit hole, the opportunity presents itself in “Then She Fell,” an interactive performance presented by Arts@Renaissance and Third Rail Projects. “Then She Fell,” led by Third Rail Projects’ artistic directors Zach Morris, Tom Pearson and Jennine Willett, provides audiences with the chance to visit Wonderland and explore the world of author Lewis Carroll.

Limited to an audience of only 15 per performance, “Then She Fell” is a mixture of a dance piece, a treasure hunt and the original “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.” Performed in the former Greenpoint Hospital in Williamsburg, it is billed by the theater company as a “fully-immersive, multisensory experience,” and it does not disappoint.

As audience members split up to follow familiar characters like the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the White Queen, the White Rabbit and Alice, they are presented with sights and sounds lifted straight out of Wonderland. Audience members here are more frequently participants than mere spectators, taking directions from the characters, painting white roses red and attending a mad tea party, among other familiar activities.

With an amazingly high performer-to-audience member ratio, nearly everyone in the audience is guaranteed a one-on-one experience with a character, which is something that similar alternative performances, such as “Sleep No More,” cannot offer. Additionally, “Then She Fell” heavily fea-

tures food and drinks, providing interesting Alicethemed cocktails and snacks.

Unfortunately, like its source material, “Then She Fell” fails to provide a cohesive narrative.

In addition to telling Alice’s story, it attempts to shed light on Lewis Carroll and his relationship with Alice Liddell, the girl who allegedly inspired the book. Carroll joins the cast of characters, and there are a number of his letters to Alice scattered throughout the set.

Although this is a fascinating idea in theory, the two storylines feel significantly disconnected, making the show difficult to follow. The dynamic between Carroll, Alice and the rest of the characters can feel forced at times, and it might have been more successful at evoking Wonderland if Carroll’s presence had been omitted. Despite strong performances and wonderful staging, including some beautiful choreography, the story of Wonderland tends to become lost.

Despite these issues, “Then She Fell” is still a great way to spend an evening. The show is always interesting while the fun and the drinks are almost reason enough to attend on their own. Despite its several shortcomings, “Then She Fell” is able to effectively bring audiences down the rabbit hole and into Alice’s wonderland.

“Then She Fell” runs through Nov. 18 at Arts@Renaissance, located at the former Greenpoint Hospital, 2 Kingsland Ave. For tickets and more information, see thenshefell.com.

Dylan Jarrett is a contributing writer.

Email her at theater@nyunews.com.

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OPINION

EDITED BY CHRIS DINARDO OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

SPIRITUALITY

Spirituality not substandard form of religion

By SAMEER JAYWANT

CNN, notorious for the occasional lessthan-academically sound article that makes eyes roll, recently published an opinion piece by Alan Miller titled, “‘I’m spiritual but not religious’ is a cop-out.”

Complete with an incredibly stereotypical picture of a shirtless, beer-bellied, probably unemployed white guy with hippie dreadlocks praying on a beach, Miller’s article makes an unreasonably ineffective argument for why individuals who identify as spiritual but not religious represent “some of the most retrogressive aspects of contemporary society.” Highlights of Miller’s whiny, outdated and often offensive argument include his assertions that independence from religious institutions is falsely profound, and spiritualists are cowards of thought because they do not advance a positive explanation of the God question. It is difficult to decide where to start tearing down the ignorant and, ironically, retrogressive wall Miller has built between religion and spirituality.

Anyone or anything that is considered spiritual is simply relating to the human spirit or soul as opposed to material possessions. Interestingly enough, one of the highest commandments of the Christian God is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart ... soul and ... mind” (Mark 12:30). The appar-

ent delineation of spirituality as an entirely separate entity from religion is a false dichotomy. Religion is intrinsically linked to the conception of the spirit and soul, and to criticize a population for consciously choosing a certain undiluted and inherently deeply personal aspect of religiosity is fundamentally inconsistent with the principles and values that we, as a progressive society, should vigorously defend. This isn’t just a question about freedom of religion; the very notion that our generation is increasingly turning to independent thought and personalization of belief in an arena that has been conventionally dominated by dogmatic, intolerant, onesize-fits-all perversions of texts that are aggrandized versions of Aesop’s Fables should be seen as a symbol of progress rather than an abdication of any sort of moral code.

What is most disquieting about the anti-spirituality argument is its attempted invasion of the minds of those who self-identify as spiritual and the attack that somehow their individual relationship to any sort of higher being — or lack thereof — is inherently less profound than the same relationship for Christians, Jews, Muslims or even atheists.

But one of the most useless arguments in the history of man is one individual trying to convince another that his faith is wrong and his beliefs are flawed. This

holds true for spirituality as well. The fact that nobody is committing crimes against humanity in the name of spirituality does not imply that these people do not believe just as strongly as the religious that their values are morally just and personally fulfilling.

Richard Feynman once said, “I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong ... I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things.” Miller’s premise that spirituality is false because it advances no single explanation for our existence and the unknown that accompanies that existence is laughably demonstrative of the irrationality of his entire argument. Why is his explanation the legitimate one when the nature of the question removes legitimacy from any answer? Spirituality is all the more powerful because it does not rely on any sort of fixed text or personified God to explain the grandiosity of existence; is that not the point of life? The message is this, Mr. Miller: leave our beliefs — or lack thereof — alone just like we do to yours. By the way, I don’t speak for all non-religious spirituals.

But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

Sameer Jaywant is a contributing columnist. Email him at opinion@nyunews.com.

NEIGHBORHOOD

SoHo noise complaints ironic for college students

By SASHA LESHNER

It’s Thursday night, and time is ticking towards the early hours of morning. As you adjust the book light on your textbook, begging the chapter to end, your ears prick up, for the noise outside has been increasing as steadily as your focus has been dwindling. Approaching the window, a familiar scene awaits you: an enormous throng of bodycon dresses and pressed khaki pants is writhing outside the door of a hidden club, where bouncers are pushing the crowd into the street to keep them from vomiting too close to the entrance. The shrill laughs and brawny shouts have been inhibiting your study progress and sleeping schedule since move-in day — that is, on the nights you opted out of rowdy adventures and chose to stay in.

These scenes have come to be expected on Wednesday through Sunday nights around the SoHo area and have begun to draw much negative attention from nearby residents. The tense discourse between SoHo-dwellers and the owners of these bars over the latter’s unmanageable noise pollution has grown to include students in Broome Street residence hall, an NYU dorm that

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sits right in the center of a sea of bars and clubs — making it a prime location not only for access to riotous nightlife, but also for a potential shift in the emerging discussion about future regulations of these establishments.

Last week, the Manhattan Community Board No. 2 sent an email to residents of the Broome Community as an invitation for students to attend their next meeting where they will be planning how to restore an appropriate level of peace to the neighborhood. The culprits identified included bars that had recently opened nightclub extensions, like the notorious Brinkley’s and Southside Night Club establishment, which was questionably granted a license as an additional bar by the New York State Liquor Authority, despite the fact that Brinkley’s is meant to operate as a restaurant. By looking at discrepancies such as these, the board hopes to deny renewal of their licenses, or at the very least implement minor changes, such as limiting the hours of operation, to reduce disturbances — a feat they want NYU students to help achieve.

As mid-semester stress settles in, it is no surprise that students are trading in their heels for slippers as they hunker down and study. This withdrawal from

participation in nightlife has not gone unnoticed as the board has made an obvious attempt to draft these hibernating students into an attack on the very enterprises once considered ample stomping ground for a night out. This potential partnership is ironic, to say the least, especially considering that the hooligans described and photographed by the board resemble the very college students they are now imploring to aid them in their cause.

The board is trying to take advantage of the lull in collegiate nighttime adventures to dismantle the very sites that, just a few weeks ago, had been polluted by these same students. But NYU, which is “in and of the city,” is a school immersed in a sleepless culture that students either love or hate depending on the day of the week. Being a college student does not entitle us to strip SoHo of the boisterous spirit that both aggravates and attracts us. For students to use the privilege of attending NYU as permission to engage in a duplicitous condemnation of institutions we seek out on Saturday nights would only foster hypocrisy.

Sasha Leshner is a contributing columnist.

Email her at opinion@nyunews.com.

STAFF EDITORIAL

Supreme Court should hold previous rulings on affirmative action

For the first time since 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments on affirmative action. Abigail Fisher, a white woman who was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin, sued the university because she says its affirmative action program is discriminatory and unfair.

The University of Texas at Austin is arguing that Fisher does not have grounds to sue because she has not suffered the damages necessary for a lawsuit. We agree that Fisher has no right to sue under these circumstances.

Although she was not able to attend the university, she attended and graduated from Louisiana State University and now has a job in Austin — clearly not getting into the university did not ruin her life. In addition, it is impossible for Fisher to prove that her rejection from the university was based on race — it might have been, but this is impossible to prove in court.

The University of Texas guarantees acceptance to Texan applicants in the top 10 percent of their class.

This policy already accounts for three-quarters of the students admitted annually, so the university does not consider race as an admissions factor for any of these applicants.

The court upheld a decision in 2003 that universities can use race as a factor in admission decisions alongside other factors, but the universities cannot use quotas or numerical systems to determine how many students of a certain race to admit. The court should uphold the previous decision that allows colleges to continue limited affirmative action programs.

Affirmative action programs are important in helping minority students receive a college education.

Most students admitted through affirmative action programs are as qualified as any others to attend the university, but they are simply given an admissions advantage because of disadvantages they have likely suffered earlier in life.

Students from racial minorities contribute to a university’s cross-cultural environment, one that is important to prepare developing students for life after college. This program gives opportunities to minority applicants while improving the college experience for all students. Although it is understandable that qualified students who are rejected from universities feel slighted, the benefits of affirmative action programs are worth the risk of angering another Abigail Fisher.

Email the WSN Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.

EDITORIAL BOARD: Chris DiNardo (Chair), Jessica Littman (Co-Chair), Christopher Drake, Sanchay Jain, Sasha Leshner, Peter Murphy, Raquel Woodruff and Richard Zhang.

Send mail to: 838 Broadway, Fifth Floor New York, NY 10003 or email: opinion@nyunews.com WSN welcomes letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles relevant to the NYU community, or in response to articles. Letters should be less than 150 words. All submissions must be typed or emailed and must include the author’s name, address and phone number. Members of the NYU community must include a year and school or job title.

WSN does not print unsigned letters or editorials. WSN reserves the right to reject any submission and edit accepted submissions in any and all ways. With the exception of the staff editorial, opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

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NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

SPORTS

EDITED BY THE WSN STAFF SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM

Violets win first Tear It Up match at Coles

By NICO CANTOR

NYU women’s volleyball team opened up the Tear it Up campaign by beating Stevens Institute of Technlogy 25-19, 25-17, 18-21, 16-25, 15-11 on Wednesday night at Coles Sports Center.

The Violets came into the match hungry for a win against a strong Stevens squad. With 10 days of rest and a couple of hard practices under their belts, NYU was fired up and ready to kick off this week’s volleyball play in front of a huge crowd.

To start off the match, NYU used freshman setter Mackenzie Calle in the front row who pulled off a great serve. But defensive errors, especially in the block, were keeping the Ducks in the game.

The Violets used some of its key players to get themselves out of the rut. And it was the junior setter Hope Bogle who finished the set single-handedly. Targeting the libero with short and long services, she helped the Violets take home the first set.

Incredible blocking from Ste-

vens’ senior Maggie Kowalska gave the Ducks the upper hand to begin the second set. Kowalska was hitting around NYU’s triple block in the middle and double block on the outside.

But as NYU began to take the lead, the spotlight turned to sophomore hitter Alexandria Mao who totaled 10 of her 19 kills by the second set.

Rallies were short, kills were being won off of the Violets’ untimely blocks and nothing was going NYU’s way because of Kowalska.

“I did notice that I had a committed block to me a lot of the time, so I told my setter to run the middle,” Kowalska said.

Stevens was on the road to the biggest comeback of the year.

“Elements of the game kind of got a little bit shaky,” Mao said. “We got a little too comfortable.”

Mao took control, and NYU was winning the set 5-4. The Violets’ lead increased with sophomore middle blocker and outside hitter Allie Williams’ block on Kowalska. They con-

tinued to dominate in the second and third set; Kowalska was dumbfounded and could not find a way to beat the Violets’ solid defense.

From there, it was easy for NYU to take their final set of the night. Though Kowalska totaled a match-high 20 kills, she could not take home the victory.

Coach Jolie Ward was happy with the team’s victory.

“We’ve worked on some things and gotten better on being able to have this energy on the court to allow us to make mistakes but still feel comfortable coming back,” Ward said.

The Violets maintained their perfect record. Bogle, who tallied 33 assists, said the team would use this match as a stepping-stone for a big weekend of volleyball in University Athletic Association conference play. Their first game is Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against Brandeis University.

Nico Cantor is a contributing writer.

Email him at sports@nyunews.com.