SPORTS Khalif Wyatt’s 31 points weren’t enough in the Owls’ season-ending loss to Indiana.
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Waitlisting among registration changes University introduces numerous changes for registration starting this summer. SEAN CARLIN News Editor Beginning with the upcoming registration period for Summer 2013, students will see changes to registration, elimi-
nating washout and allowing for undergraduate course waitlists. The university announced last week that it will effectively end washout – formally known as registration cancellation – in an effort to alleviate financial stress for students registered for classes and allow more time for students to make minimum tuition payments. Previously, if students didn’t make the minimum payment to the university, they would be automatically
University signs on for labor rights
New major to explore preserving human life
Temple is now part of the Workers’ Rights Consortium.
A bioengineering major will be introduced this fall.
JOHN MORITZ Assistant News Editor
LAURA ORDONEZ The Temple News
The manufacturing of the famed Temple “T” and other Temple logos on apparel and goods is set to be guarded by the watchdog Workers’ Rights Consortium following Temple’s agreement to partner with the group earlier this month. On March 17, Temple officially announced the decision, which will revise the university’s code of conduct in dealing with labor practices for manufactured goods. The Workers’ Rights Consortium is a nonprofit labor organization that reviews and issues reports on factories around the world that produce licensed goods for colleges and universities. The more than 180 schools affiliated with the consortium are expected to react to reviews of unfair labor practices in factories manufacturing their products by contacting those firms and attempting to incite change, according to the consortiums bylaws. The Main Campus student group Temple Coalition of Students Against Sweatshops was formed in August to lobby the university into reviewing its
The College of Engineering will introduce a Bachelor of Science degree in bioengineering in a move to lure students into one of the fastest growing occupations in the country. Beginning Fall 2013, the new undergraduate degree will allow students to explore the involvement of technology in preserving human life, from artificial organs to drug-delivery systems. “This degree will provide students with opportunities for employment and graduate school,” Keyanoush Sadeghipour, dean of the College of Engineering, said. “It is an ideal discipline toward professional fields such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and so forth.” Because of the aging population and the evolution of technology, employment of biomedical engineers is expected to grow by 62 percent between 2010 and 2020 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Omar Fisher, assistant professor of bioengineering, said the new curriculum would offer flexibility for students to choose certain tracks like pre-medicine or biomechanics. The Board of
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dropped from any classes in which they were enrolled in for the upcoming semester. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Assessment Jodi Levine Laufgraben said after the washout date, typically 80 percent would re-register for courses and 20 percent wouldn’t. Washout played a role in finding those who had registered for the term but weren’t going to attend the university, Laufgraben said. While it was
effective in finding the group of students who weren’t going to attend the university, it created a major service issue. “It was becoming a real customer service problem in that we noticed significant activity in phone calls, emails and visit volumes to financial aid and to the Bursar’s Office around the washout date, particularly in August,” Laufgraben said. “We really looked what some ways [are] that we can
approach improving financial aid and Bursar customer service. Also, make students aware that if you register for classes, you’re financially responsible.” The end of registration cancellation essentially makes students financially responsible for all courses they register for. In an effort to clear up any confusion about students’ financial obligations when registering for courses, the university is also introducing a Financial Respon-
sibility Agreement, which basically acts as a “terms of use.” “This is just making students a little bit more aware that registration triggers a bill,” Laufgraben said. “We’ll be doing other things, particularly in the summer, to remind students that if you aren’t planning to attend, you need to drop your classes.” Laufgraben said that the
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ADDY PETERSON TTN
Area braces for AVI The newly approved property tax system, AVI, could impact future off-campus renters. ADDY PETERSON The Temple News
D
ue to Mayor Michael Nutter’s new Actual Value Initiative property tax system that City Council put in effect at the end of 2012, both Philadelphia homeowners and tenants could see drastic changes in their taxes and rent in the upcoming year. “I think the [property tax] reassessment is really going to shake the city up,” said City Controller Alan Butkovitz.
Council approved the AVI tax system in 2012. Issues facing the council now are what the new tax rate will be for taxpayers and whether there will be exemptions for senior citizen homeowners, low-income residents and other qualified individuals, Butkovitz said. “The Nutter administration is absolutely committed to this new form of taxation,” he said. According to the city, the purpose of the new tax system] is to “make sure that all values are assessed fairly and in compliance with state laws, statutes and industry standards.” In other words, the city is ensuring that if homeowners have similar houses or if they differ greatly in “size and condition,” they are taxed appropriately. AVI amends Philadelphia’s old property tax system
that has been, Butkovitz said, out of date since 2003. Butkovitz said more than 298,000 properties were looked over and reassessed to match the new AVI system, but objections arose when the new tax rate was off by 30 percent of the properties’ original market prices. “I think there’s a very serious question about the accuracy of these new assessments,” he said. “Under the law, the entire plan is only allowed to be inaccurate up to 15 percent between what the assessed value of what the property is and what the market value is,” Butkovitz added. The most accurate way to assess properties is to make sure that they are all assessed at market value, but from Butkovitz’s analysis of new assessments
under AVI, it is inaccurate by approximately 30 percent to 35 percent. “If that’s true, then the reassessment is invalid,” Butkovitz said. “It would be no more accurate than the system it replaced.” Under AVI, popular areas that house young families and homeowners such as Center City and South Philadelphia will be impacted the most, Butkovitz said. Going from roughly $800 to $1,200 a year in property taxes alone, he said the “positive image” of the city will decrease and could force a large amount of residents to vacate to the suburbs. “Longtime residents are going to face enormous tax increases and effectively be forced
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TSG candidates announced at General Assembly meeting
From left, TSG student body presidential candidates Darin Bartholomew and Anthony Torres address the General Assembly. | IAN THOMAS WATSON TTN
WITCH HUNT, p. 7
The theater department puts on its production of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” NEWS DESK 215-204-7419
Diamond Nation and Temple United, the two tickets competing for Temple Student Government executive positions, were introduced during “Meet the Candidates” at the General Assembly meeting yesterday, March 25. Monday marked the first official day of campaigning for the two teams seeking to win the election scheduled for April 9 and 10. Diamond Nation, led by candidate for student body president and junior human resources management major Anthony Torres, has set a platform on three pillars: community, opportunity and diversity.
RETURN OF THE ROXY, p. 9
The Philadelphia Film Society is raising money to restore the historic Roxy movie theater. NEWS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
According to Diamond Nation’s website, its mission is “to provide all students with viable and accessible opportunities, integrate the Temple and Philadelphia communities, and cultivate dynamic relationships among our diverse student.” Candidate for vice president of services Patricia Boateng and candidate for vice president of external affairs Danube Johnson complete Diamond Nation’s ticket. Diamond Nation will face off against Temple United led by student body president candidate Darin Bartholomew. Bartholomew, a junior management information systems
major, is joined by candidate for vice president of services Cree Moore and candidate for vice president of external affairs Sonia Galiber. Temple United’s mission is to solve the challenges on campus through unifying the student body. “Through making information more easily accessible and representing a diverse student body, we will advocate for the Temple Community,” Temple United’s website states. Temple United and Diamond Nation will debate next Monday, April 1, at the General Assembly meeting.
CLASS CONSCIOUS, p. 5
Steve Newman and Zack Scott expound on the student-professor relationship.
-Laura Detter
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Space a concern for bioengineering program ENGINEERING PAGE 1
A graduate student handles biomaterial at a research laboratory. | LAURA ORDONEZ TTN
Trustees approved the curriculum on March 5. “The challenge of teaching these courses in the future will be developing the material in a way that is novel and interactive,” Fisher said. “Once we get through a couple of years with the curriculum we propose, we’ll be in a better position to tweak it further.” A bigger challenge will be to provide adequate facilities to house the new program given the high level of interest expressed by prospective students. “We are enormously under pressure in regards to space for our current programs, let alone a new program coming board,” Sadeghipour said. “Having said that, the potential for growth is enormous.” Two floors within the engineering building were renovated with the purpose of housing the department and creating the teaching and research labs necessary for the new degree. The renovation came after the architecture department vacated its space and relocated to its new
building in 2010. Two large teaching labs and several brand new research labs were created. The concept implemented in the college is an open lab policy where several labs can be offered under one roof and only a few feet away from the faculty offices. Despite the additional space and new facilities, the department is uncertain whether transfer students will be admitted to the program next fall. Sadeghipour said the popularity of the discipline will force the department to add more teaching labs within the next few years in order to sustain enrollment. Silvia Lopez, a sophomore undergraduate research assistant within the department, said she hopes the new program will incorporate several engineering fields into one. “I am mostly interested in learning how to apply the knowledge in electrical engineering to fields such as biology and medicine,” she said. “I want to focus on something completely different.” At the graduate level, the
department has been focusing more on research and on providing students flexibility to choose the courses that fit their interests. For Huaitzung Cheng, a second-year bioengineering graduate student, the department’s development depends on its research output. “There is not a lot of faculty right now, and you can expect them to spend much of their time on just the courses,” Cheng said. “As new researchers, they need to be able to get the funding in to do the research.” The department will need to focus more on the curriculum down the road in order to have good researchers, Cheng said. Six new instructors will be hired within the next few years as the program moves forward. “We need to be careful about how we take our next step,” Sadeghipour said. “In the future years, we are looking at further expanding our facilities.” Laura Ordonez can be reached at laura.ordonez@temple.edu.
After protests, meetings, Temple joins pro-workers group WORKERS PAGE 1 code of conduct and affiliating with the WRC. Amy Kessel, a senior business management major and one of the founders of TCSAS, said the group branched out of another student organization, Net Impact, to try to develop a focused message of fair labor practices for workers making Temple gear. Beginning by sending letters to former Acting President Richard Englert and current President Neil Theobald, Kessler said the group initially received no response from the administration and moved on to the the Office of Business Services.
“[The Business Services Department was] receptive to the idea, but didn’t really see the urgency in it in the same way that we did,” Kessel said. Prior to joining the WRC, Temple did license some of its products through a manufacturing firm in the Dominican Republic called Alta Gracia, which markets itself as a “living wage apparel” firm. Alta Gracia pays its workers more than three times the minimum wage in the Dominican Republic for apparel workers, according to the firm’s website. It sells its apparel to more than 600 colleges and universities, and is approved by the WRC. The focus on worker’s
rights in the developing world has become of increasing concern recently, following several high profile cases that ended in loss of life and public scrutiny of major corporations. “I think definitely that all those incidences play together [in influencing the university’s decision],” Kessler said. “It would be really painful to see a burnt down factory with a Temple ‘T’ on the clothing there.” The university has been involved with the Fair Labor Association, another nonprofit that works with manufacturers and licensers to ensure fair labor practices, since 1999, Richard Rumer, associate vice president of business services, said. Rumer said the university
previously chose not to affiliate with the WRC because it felt that the group, founded in 2000, was not ready organizationally, but its recent growth has caused the university to reconsider and affiliate. “The university has always been keen on doing the best we can do to ensure our products are manufactured through the best working conditions,” Rumer said, adding that it was a “good additional move” to align with the WRC. As a member of the WRC, the university will send a letter to the College Licensing Company – through which the university licenses its products – that it has joined the WRC and its products must be manufac-
tured according to the consortium’s bylaws, Rumer said. The university is currently preparing to send a warning letter to Adidas, which is accused of owing $1.8 million in severance pay to workers at the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia after the factory owners shuttered the factory and fled leaving 2,686 workers out of a job, according to a report by the WRC. If Adidas does not provide a response to the university’s letter by April 17, the university will then evaluate its relationship with the manufacturer, Rumer said. On Feb. 12, TCSAS held a rally in which workers from the PT Kizone factory spoke to students about working condi-
tions on that factory, and their struggle to receive their severance pay. TCSAS marched with the workers to Theobald’s office in Sullivan Hall to deliver letters to the president asking for the university to revise its licensing policies. Kessler said she was allowed to deliver the letter to the president’s office and have meeting with members from Business Services including Rumer and an agreement was made for the university to join the consortium. John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu or on Twitter @JCMoritzTU.
Advocating students take message to capitol
Saying “thank you” and maintaining presence were two main goals of advocacy day. LAURA DETTER The Temple News
Although Gov. Tom Corbett proposed flat funding for Pennsylvania’s 14 state and four state-related universities, Temple students, alumni and administrators feel that their presence in the state capitol is as important now than ever. On March 19, more than 100 students along with alumni met with state legislators in Harrisburg, Pa., as a part of the third annual Owls on the Hill Day. “Legislators always appreciate the opportunity to hear from their constituents and hear from their students about the importance of the commonwealth appropriation,” Senior Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Ken Lawrence said. Owls on the Hill, formerly known as Cherry and White Day, was part of Cherry and White Week in Harrisburg, which also highlighted undergraduate research and featured artists and athletes. The two main goals of this year’s advocacy day were to create a visual presence in Harrisburg and thank legislators for their support of higher education funding. Lawrence’s main concern was that participants would lack the sense of urgency present
the past two years because this year marks the first time since taking office that Corbett did not propose deep cuts to higher education funding. Last year, Corbett proposed a 30 percent cut to Temple’s funding, which followed a proposed cut of 50 percent the previous year. “I think it was important not to lose any momentum and continue to show the legislature and governor that we are continuing to watch and we are appreciative of what we are getting, but we will remain active and vocal on behalf of funding for higher education,” Lawrence said. Lawrence’s concerns were put to rest when more than 100 students boarded buses both on Main Campus and Ambler Campus at 9 a.m. last Tuesday, representing the largest number of students who had ever advocated in Harrisburg for Temple. “[Legislators] see students coming, so they know it is a bigger issue,” Temple Student Government Student Body President David Lopez said. “So, it is the vision component that is why it is so important because they know we care about it.” For the first time in the event’s history, alumni were invited to join the advocacy efforts in Harrisburg, further increasing the university’s presence and message. Then School of Communications and Theater alumnae Elliot Griffin and Director of Community and Neighborhood Affairs Andrea Swan were among the nearly 15 alumni advocates who shared their stories with legislatures.
“I know that a lot of times people try to tell [legislators] that investing in higher education is investing in Pennsylvania, but I was trying to explain why that is in fact true,” Griffin said. Griffin grew up in Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania and made the decision to not only attend Temple for journalism, but also accept a job with Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, housed on Locust Street in Center City. “Alumni are able to come in and say what life is like after Temple, and we can discuss how many people we graduated with who might have been from Maryland or New Jersey and because Temple really makes students a part of the Philadelphia community, stayed in the state,” Griffin said. The message of the alumni aligned with the Twitter campaign that TSG launched leading up to Owls on the Hill Day, which utilized the tag #OurFutureMatters to highlight current students’ plan to give back to the commonwealth. A Tweet on March 6 featured TSG Vice President of External Affairs Ofo Ezeugwu’s goal to “open businesses in Pennsylvania and provide job opportunities for people all over.” In addition to maintaining a presence in the state capitol, Owls on the Hill Day also focused on thanking legislators for their support of higher education funding. “The most important thing you can do when you go into any meeting is to say to some-
one, ‘Thank you for your support that you have provided in the past, and we hope that you will consider supporting Temple in the future,’” Lopez said. Lopez, along with TSG Vice President of Services Julian Hamer and a small group of students and alumni, had the opportunity to thank Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, who completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at Temple and is one of the university’s biggest boasters on the hill, Lawrence said. Swan had the opportunity to connect with Rep. Maria Donatucci, who serves parts of both Philadelphia and Delaware counties. “I met with my state representative Donatucci, whose family has a long history of service to Philadelphia. It was great to connect with my representative and a representative of a family who has given so much to Temple,” Swan said. Although a great number of legislators were eating lunch or in caucus when the participants were in the capitol between noon and 2 p.m., the presence of the students still sent a message to those legislators who did not get a chance to meet with students. “We got some feedback from legislators who were saying it is great to see students here even when things are good and when good, they mean it is not a circumstance where a major budget cut is on the line,” Lopez said, adding, “We want to make sure they know we are trying to build a working relationship between Temple and the people who govern.”
Students meet with Rep. Stephen Kinsey at Owls on the Hill Day Tuesday, March 19. | LAURA DETTER TTN At the end of the day, students said they made the trip to Harrisburg to tell their story and add to the advocacy efforts of Lawrence and his office. Griffin recalls meeting with a legislative aid who had talked with President Neil Theobald the previous week, but wanted to hear what a normal day at Temple was like. “It was at that moment that everyone was like we are really making a difference and able to provide a voice that no administrators can provide and that only a student who is taking classes and really needs Temple’s resources can provide,” Griffin said. Lawrence cannot speak of how important it is to him and the university that students make the effort to connect with
their state representatives. “The best thing for me, personally, if I go into a legislator’s office and they say that they heard from 20 to 30 of their constituents on behalf of Temple then there is not a whole lot that I have to say to that legislator,” Lawrence said. “I firmly believe that one of the reasons why we were not proposed to be cut this year is because of all the past advocacy that we have done where the legislature and governor have recognized that this is a very vocal and organized community supporting higher education funding in general and Temple specifically,” he added. Laura Detter can be reached at laura.detter@temple.edu.
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Starting this summer, ‘washout’ will be no more REGISTRATION PAGE 1 elimination of registration cancellation – or “the washing out of washout” – has received positive reviews. “We feel the overwhelming response so far has been positive,” she said. “For students who’ve gone through cancellation or the stress of possible cancellation, it’s a tremendous stress at the start of the semester
when we want you focused on the semester.” Targeted emails will be sent throughout the summer to students who are registered, but don’t appear to want to attend class. “We’re not just eliminating cancellation, we’re putting in the other tools to help students with billing problems,” Laufgraben said. “This gives students a longer time to pay.”
A more immediate change that students will notice when registering for classes will be the university’s new waitlist feature on Self-Service Banner. In previous semesters, if a class was closed, there was no way to know if any spots had opened up after the initial wave of registration passed. Now, students registering for class will have the option to be put on a waitlist that will no-
tify students via email if a spot opens up in the class. The spot will be saved for the waitlisted student for 72 hours. Because the waitlist doesn’t automatically add people on hold into the class, students have the option of either taking the spot, or taking themselves off the waitlist. “Waitlisting is really like getting on the list to get a table at a restaurant,” Laufgraben said. “In the old days, you
would have to go in every day, some people went in every hour, you’d have to keep checking to see if you could get in [to a closed class].” In addition to allowing students to be placed in line for closed courses, the waitlist function gives departments a look at how popular certain courses are. This function will allow departments to open up additional sections if a course
is particularly popular. Students previously had to petition the department to create additional sections in a course. Waitlisting cannot be used for specific sections within a course. Sean Carlin can be reached at sean.carlin@temple.edu or on Twitter @SeanCarlin84.
AVI could have impact on student renters AVI PAGE 1 out of their neighborhoods,” he said. Initial evaluations or the proposed property assessments under AVI were mailed out to homeowners on Feb. 15. These new assessments were only a predictor to what homeowners’ future taxes will be for their property. Homeowners aren’t expected to know their new tax amounts until October or November 2013, Butkovitz said. Those will go into full effect in February or March 2014. Homeowners and housing businesses won’t be the only ones that could see an increase in their property taxes. “Not only will this affect homeowners, but it could also increase rent for upcoming renters for these houses that are affected by the act,” said sophomore architecture major Laura Cuconati. Cuconati lives with eight other roommates near 17th and Berks streets, in a property they rented from Affordable Student Housing. The property is just several blocks off of Main Campus and according to a map of the AVI changes on philly.com, that street, along with several other student-populated streets such as Bouvier, Berks and Willington, could see a median increase of up to $250 in homeowner taxes, some of which could trickle down into an increase in rent. “I will be moving if the rent goes up,” Cuconati said. “The amount of money I am paying now is too much for a place that doesn’t offer the best living environment.” One of Cuconati’s roommates, sophomore English major Shaylin Carper, said she feels the same if rent does, in fact, go up. “Being a student, it is very hard to afford off-campus liv-
ing as it is, and if my rent goes up, I’ll be forced to commute. I can’t afford it otherwise,” Carper said. With both Cuconati and Carper having lived in their house for the past seven months, they said that an increase in their rent is the main reason they would be moving to a different residence. Though these streets are popular for off-campus housing, they are also a permanent home for inner-city homeowners. With Temple being in the 19122 zip code, Butkovitz reiterated that new AVI taxes will most likely double for these said homeowners from $400 to $500 to roughly $1,000 a year. Both landlords and private homeowners could take a hit from this. “Student housing in that area, off campus, is already extremely expensive. The landlords are certainly not going to absorb the increase, and they will use it as a justification for even more expensive rent,” Butkovitz said. “But with such a demand for off-campus housing, the landlords are able to command those prices and I think they’ll be able to command increased prices to make up for the tax increase.” Nick Pizzola, owner of Turning Point Realty, said that based on the various properties that are owned by the company, rent for students can range from “as low as $200 to well over $600 a student for off-campus housing.” Students that aren’t financially able to pay a large amount for rent have a “range of rents that they can pay” and can choose from, Pizzola said. Basing this claim from other landlords in the area, Pizzola said that, for the time being, “there isn’t a need to have dramatic increases in rent.” “I don’t have every assessment. But no one has said to me
From left, Shaylin Carper, Laura Cuconati and Kati O’Kane sit at their 17th Street off-campus house.| ADDY PETERSON TTN ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to have to raise rents next year, this year because I’m getting killed.’ No one has said that,” he said. “Based on the assessments that we’ve received so far, there isn’t a need to have dramatic increases in rent. However, if the rate of tax increases, over time, there could be an impact [in student rent],” Pizzola added. “Renting prices in the area are already high, which could put some college students in even more debt,” Cuconati said. “I enjoy the location I am living in compared to other streets that surround Temple’s campus, but I will not be living [here] next year.” Pizzola added that this fac-
tor of location and the property’s amenities contribute to an increase in student rent as well. “If I lose business, it won’t be because I’m raising rates. Most landlords will lose business because they aren’t managing their properties as well as they should,” Pizzola said. Affordable Student Housing did not respond to inquiries for comment. With AVI providing up-todate market values for properties, Butkovitz said there will only be unnecessary “pressures” put on residents that have lived in the same area for years, in order to keep up with these increases. For those that have already
received their new assessments in the mail, there is an element of the AVI plan, called the Homestead Exemption, that, according to phila.gov “can reduce the taxable assessed value of their home” or, in other words, limit the increase of their property taxes. The current exemption’s proposal suggests exemptions from $15,000 to as high as $30,000 a year off of prevoiusly assessed property values for those that have applied and have been granted it. It is not guaranteed to be implemented to all qualified applicants, however, causing this element of the overall tax plan to be controversial for city residents.
Based on this, Butkovitz said that he won’t be surprised if there are massive amounts of repeals or moves for exemptions to come from homeowners based on the assessments that they received in February. If these exemptions are granted, then the city will have to pay residents the difference from the old market value price for a property to the newly assessed one.
Addy Peterson can be reached at adlaine.braquel.peterson@temple. edu or on Twitter @adlainebraquel.
Medical school ranked 2nd App helps with advising in Philadelphia, after Penn TUSM was rated No. 51 by U.S. News & World Report. CINDY STANSBURY The Temple News Temple University School of Medicine gained high marks in the most recent U.S News & World Report rankings of the best medical schools in the state and country. No stranger to the list, in past years TUSM has received similar high rankings. For 2014, the school is placed at No. 51 nationally in research. This is the secondhighest ranking out of all the medical schools in Philadelphia. The University of Pennsylvania is No. 1 in the city. The rankings track a series of categories including student admissions, research activity and reputation among medical school colleagues and residency directors. “They call [the schools] research schools but they are not ranked only because of
their research,” said Dr. Richard Kozera, executive associate dean at TUSM. Kozera said that he believes in many areas TUSM is a leader, including the skill of its professional researchers. “We have one of the best, if not the best, pulmonary centers in the whole Northeast,” he said, adding, “the researchers that we have are world class.” A large project out of TUSM is the Center for Translation Medicine. This research is dedicated to improve the treatment and outcomes for patients, by increasing the mobility of basic scientific discoveries. Recent discoveries out of the program include a possible link between the human papillomavirus 16 to a form of childhood epilepsy, and a key biochemical step involving heart failure that could aid the invention of new drugs to treat and possibly someday prevent the problem. Kozera said in order to complete the projects, employees from different departments must collaborate.
“They are very excited to be working together into multidisciplinary ways,” he said. Funding for the projects out of TUSM is provided through grants from the National Institutes of Health that were awarded in 2012. The total amount was $94 million, which was split to about $183,400 per faculty member. TUSM is among the Top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Faculty members at TUSM educate upward of 840 medical students and 140 graduate students per semester, according to a press release from the school. Kozera said that while it is nice to be recognized, employees of the school don’t pay the rankings too much mind. “We do it because we want to have a good medical school,” he said. “Although it is nice to give ourselves a pat on the back.”
Fox’s new application allows students to schedule advising appointments. DOMINIQUE JOHNSON The Temple News
Fox School of Business launched the first version of its mobile application to students last February, and in January, an update was released, upgrading features. The update gives users the ability to schedule advising appointments, and create and manage reservations for breakout rooms at Alter Hall. “It’s more mobile in the sense that normal apps, you know the ones that you get for your iPhone or Android device, every update comes through you get the little update on and you have to press the icon to update,” Josh Sankey, a senior web developer, said. “We don’t have to that with ours, we can actually update the app because it lives on a little Web server here.” So far, the app has been Cindy Stansbury can be reached at very well received and has gotcindy.stansbury@temple.edu. ten many compliments through
social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, Sankey said. This makes it a little more unique than other apps, Sankey said. If there was a misspelling somewhere within the application, it could easily be fixed instead of pushing out a new release to students. Sankey added that he always finds it annoying when he finds an application that requires a constant update and wanted to avoid such a thing with this mobile application. “We had a lot of student input as far as what features that they would like to see,” he said. “The difference between 1.0 and 2.0, the biggest is probably the breakout room reservations and the book and advising appointments, which were two requested features that we added in 2.0.” With the breakout room feature, students can reserve and schedule a room from whatever time they may need it for from the mobile application instead of having to be in front of a computer. “The other part was the advising appointments,” Sankey said. “It was something our advising department was beg-
ging for. They get flooded with these things and they get a lot of phone calls and they wanted to try and put some of that stuff online so they could fit it into their schedule.” Students can log in with their university credentials and can select an adviser. The application will automatically detect if the student is a graduate or undergraduate and the student can pick out of a list of advisers. The application also shows dates and available times. The mobile application is not connected to Blackboard, Sankey said. When developing the application, he said one of the goals was not to duplicate things that Temple’s mobile application already had. “We kind of figured there was no need for us to reinvent that. We just focused on what internally would be useful to us,” he said. “Something we would like to implement going forward, would be almost like a GPS- type map that’s something that’s coming down the line, something that was requested.” Dominique Johnson can be reached at dominique.johnson@temple.edu.
OPINION
A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. Angelo Fichera, Editor-in-Chief Cara Stefchak, Managing Editor Sean Carlin, News Editor Zachary Scott, Opinion Editor Luis Rodriguez, Living Editor Jenelle Janci, A&E Editor Joey Cranney, Sports Editor John Moritz, Asst. News Editor Ibrahim Jacobs, Asst. Sports Editor Lauren Hertzler, Chief Copy Editor Brandon Baker, Copy Editor TJ Creedon, Copy Editor Saba Aregai, Multimedia Editor Dustin Wingate, Multimedia Editor
temple-news.com
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Chris Montgomery, Web Editor Patrick McCarthy, Asst. Web Editor Andrea Cicio, Social Media Editor Kate McCann, Photography Editor Abi Reimold, Asst. Photography Editor Addy Peterson, Designer Emily Hurley, Designer David Hamme, Advertising Manager Kathleen Smith, Business Manager Morgan Hutchinson, Marketing Manager
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community. Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News. Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News. Visit us online at temple-news.com. Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com. The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122
EDITORIALS
Taxing problems
T
axes may be certain, but they need not be unfair. That was the central premise behind Mayor Michael Nutter’s push for the implementation of the Actual Value Initiative – a property tax system that roots the taxable value of a property to its market value. AVI was intended to correct for years of an antiquated tax system, which failed to apportion the tax burden in the city in a fair manner. Obviously, this is an admirable objective. But now that the reassessments have been made open to the public for more than a month and critical analysis of the data is being done, the question of equitability has once again come to the forefront. The extent and targeted recipients of relief measures has become contentious. Besides for the homestead exemption, Nutter has proposed $10 million in relief for small businesses and $20 million for longtime residents in gentrifying neighborhoods. The latter could have a substantial impact on the Temple community by preventing a potential exodus of longtime resi-
I
Financial aid fix
n a few weeks, students returning to Temple for the fall semester will register for classes – and some of the worries associated with a new semester will be long gone. The university announced yesterday, March 25, a number of changes to its class registration and payment policies, easing some burdens for students. A new financial agreement will end Temple’s practice of canceling classes if payments aren’t received on time. For students, especially those who find themselves battling miscommunication and long waits for financial aid, this is welcomed news. Students who don’t drop classes before the last day in the “drop/add” period of each semester, though, will be responsible for paying for the classes – for Summer 2013, that’s June 3. For Fall 2013, i’s Sept. 9. The new policy sets appropriate deadlines, placing emphasis on
The implications of AVI require careful deliberation by Philly’s city officials. dents surrounding Main Campus. Furthermore, there have been reports of neighbors with properties of equal size land and similar houses being valued tens of thousands of dollars apart. And despite decades of tax records existing prior, improvements upon land have now been deemed more valuable than the land itself. The city will attempt to remedy some of these complaints through a two-step appeal process which enables concerned homeowners to challenge their assessments if they can offer reasonable proof that their property was misvalued. It’s nice to have some means of open review available, but if the unfairness of the assessments turns out to be as widespread as currently being reported, then it is fair to question if reviewing properties will be an ample solution. The Temple News encourages city officials to consider as wide an array of options as possible, including postponing implementation for an additional year, and to ensure that veracity is prioritized over mere change.
Temple’s improvements to financial aid will make life easier for the student body. student culpability. A third change announced by Temple will add a waitlist for full classes. This practical addition rids students of the unrealistic practice of constantly refreshing Self-Service Banner in hopes of a seat becoming available and prioritizes the placement of students who register early. The waitlist requirement futher allows departments to respond to students’ demands – allowing for popular classes to expand in terms of the number of sections offered. This change is a vast improvement from the former method of petitioning. These changes offer easy, common sense solutions to some of the biggest hurdles faced each semester. More than that, they speak to the possibility to rid the university of inefficiencies and eliminate for students uneasy times, if and when there’s a will to do so.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
“I wish I could go back now
JULIANA COPPA TTN
PHOTO COMMENT
President Neil Theobald, his wife Sheona Mackenzie and Kevin Clark, senior adviser to Theobald, watched the Owls lose to the Indiana Hoosiers in the NCAA tournament Sunday. All three are formerly of Indiana. | HUA ZONG TTN
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?
POLLING PEOPLE
20%
Very closely; we inhabit the same classrooms after all.
58%
Somewhat closely; it’s still a professional relationship.
6% 16%
Not too closely; we’re paying them to teach us and that’s it.
Cary Carr / Body of Truth
Letters to the editor may regard any current issue but must include your full name, position and location. Students can give year and major. Submissions should be 350 words or fewer.
It depends on the professor and the student. *Out of 45 votes.
CITY VIEW
A person is diagnosed with epilepsy after having two unprovoked seizures. It is the No. 4 most common neurological disease in the United States behind migraines, strokes and Alzheimer’s disease. Epilepsy, however, is really just a term to describe more than 40 syndromes that cause seizures. For commentary on Epilepsy Awareness Month, see Hend Salah’s article on P. 6.
Prevalence
In the U.S. it is most common among children and the elderly.
Children under 15
Adults over 65
and listen to him, to take his word for it: I was perfect with all my imperfections. I was beautiful enough solely because a part of me came from him.
”
Visit temple-news.com to take our online poll, or send your comments to letters@ temple-news.com.
How closely should students and professors communicate?
Remission
Going five or more years without a seizure.
* 70 percent of people with epilepsy can be expected to achieve remission with the help of medication.
* 75 percent More than 326,000 children under 15 years old have been diagnosed with epilepsy.
More than 570,000 adults over the age of 65 have been diagnosed with epilepsy.
of people who go without a seizure for two-to-five years can be taken off medication.
ADDY PETERSON TTN *Sources: EpilepsyFoundation.org
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
COMMENTARY
Delving into discussion
PAGE 5
Students and faculty coexist on the same campus and inhabit the same classrooms, yet it sometimes seems like the two groups exist worlds apart. They have more in common than the Temple moniker, however. In order to help bridge the gap that forms between the two, The Temple News has partnered with The Faculty Herald to open a dialogue. Below are two articles – one written by a student and one by a professor – each discussing three topics that the writers feel are important for the other party to know. ZACK SCOTT Opinion Editor
D CLASS
IFFERENT STUDENTS BRING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PREPARATION TO
To assume that every single classroom will be filled with students of exactly equal experience in a subject and mental acuity would be foolhardy. Regardless of the prerequisite system in place, a variety among the students present is naturally occurring. But that does not prevent it from becoming an annoyance, especially for those located at the poles of the bell curve. For a student who finds him or herself overwhelmed by the difficulty, this might just mean having to throw in a little extra proverbial elbow grease to catch up and stay on pace with the rest of the class. When “extra hard work” escalates into self-teaching an entire course, then the situation becomes dire enough as to be unacceptable. Students who find themselves stranded in a classroom where they have already achieved some level of mastery over the material are stuck in an equally frustrating experience. It is no secret that college is becoming an increasingly expensive investment. Enrollment in a class of this sort can feel like tuition is being taken in exchange for questionable returns. This dilemma is further muddled by a fair desire by all parties involved – students, faculty and administration – to preserve the academic independence of professors in their classrooms. Surely students recognize that the people who stand before them in class have earned that place by demonstrating a mastery of the topic they are being paid to teach somewhere along the line. While that academic independence undoubtedly must be preserved, it need not also interfere with a student’s ability to receive the type of education he or she has paid for. That is not to say that a collegiate education should be treated solely as a service industry in a manner similar to a local restaurant or retail store. But it is unavoidable that an element of “we want what we pay for” seeps into the student perspective, especially in instances like those described above. If the question is how to fix the problem, then the answer is a complex one that will likely require efforts from students, faculty and the administration. But if the query is generalized to what professors should do to help control this frustration, then the answer essentially can
be distilled down to flexibility. If it is clear that the bell curve of the class is skewing closer toward either side, then perhaps try to correct for it as best as possible within the allowable confines of the syllabus. If a particular student makes his or her concerns known to you, don’t merely brush them aside and tell them that they should have been more judicious in his or her course selection. Despite what I perceive to be an expanding reputation for misplaced priorities among outside parties, students do care about more than just the final grade. The process of learning is important, too, and a classroom environment should work to foster that, regardless of who is sitting in it.
STUDENTS HAVE DIVERSE MOTIVATIONS FOR BEING IN CLASSES
In a utopian education landscape, grades would be considered merely a means to the greater end of learning. I don’t doubt that there are numerous students and faculty members who believe that is still the case. But it would be foolish to say that grades don’t matter at all when it’s such common knowledge that they carry incredible weight. Any remnants of doubt about that went out the window in June 2010, when the New York Times published the names of 10 law schools found to be inflating student grades because they “seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate.” Because of the importance infused into the grading system, it naturally becomes the topic of conversation when discussing the professor-student dynamic. Complex and difficult questions sprout left and right. The entire matter seems to exist in terms of sliding scales and degrees, perspective dominating the entire exercise. From the student position, the issue can be summed up as a matter of prioritization. There are absolutely students attending Temple who chose classes with a mindful eye on RateMyProfessor.com or a keen ear listening to friends and classmates, searching for professors with reputations as A factories. But there are plenty of others who legitimately are seeking intellectual betterment. To say that all students want to be graded generously or sternly is to commit a sweeping generalization, ignoring the classroom composition at Temple that consists of vastly different people with different expectations. Likewise, professors have different expectations, and what makes a particular professor “good” or “bad” cannot be summed up by their grade distri-
bution. What can and should be considered is the transparency with which a professor makes his or her grading intentions clear. Students want their intellectual guides to tell them right from the beginning what the expectations are so they can plan accordingly.
SOME STUDENTS DO LEGITIMATELY HAVE FULL PLATES
At this point I seriously doubt there is anyone at any university in the U.S. that hasn’t heard a student yell, “Don’t they know that this isn’t my only class?” It’s become hackneyed, and it is so overly simplistic that it doesn’t deserve a serious place in this discussion. No, students don’t deserve nor should expect sympathy concerning the quantity of work they must do. Asking for a reduction in the workload is not a fair request to make. But asking for flexibility on a case-by-case basis shouldn’t be. Just as professors need to balance their responsibilities of teaching, mentoring on an individual level, researching and producing works relevant to their respective fields and volunteering their expertise elsewhere, students need to balance myriad obligations. The issue of workloads isn’t as simple as the number of classes. Students are often preparing to enter a highly competitive workforce, and therefore need to occupy themselves with pursuits like internships and student activities that can further their post-collegiate goals. There has been much talk about student expansion into surrounding neighborhoods, and for good reason. But one consequence of students living on or near campus is that they now see monthly rental and utility bills that need to be paid. These time commitments add up, and they can do so quickly. For those students who have four papers all due the same day and are trying to conduct research during lunch breaks at work, an extension or a chance at a revision can make all the difference. Some students, inevitably, would come forward with some story about their dog eating their flash drive or some variation of a classic excuse. Abuses are to be expected and accounted for as best as possible. Everyone knows homework assignments and papers don’t exist in a vacuum. But sometimes it seems as though professors don’t really respect the quantity of clutter invading students’ lives. Applying discretionary leniency would alleviate this dilemma.
STEVE NEWMAN Faculty Herald Editor
W
HILE WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO TEACH YOU AND DESERVE YOUR RESPECT, WE DON’T ALL ENJOY THE SAME WORKING CONDITIONS AND THAT BEARS IMPORTANTLY ON YOUR LEARNING CONDITIONS.
Tenure is crucial to protecting academic freedom and faculty governance, and getting a tenure-track job and earning tenure are not easy. But while many students know something about tenure, many don’t know that most of their instructors are not eligible for it. Those on the teaching or instructional track at Temple – the great majority of whom have doctorates or other terminal degrees and many of whom are productive scholars and artists – are not eligible for tenure, come in at lower starting salaries, receive smaller raises, enjoy less job security and have less-robust benefits, though there has been some progress in recent years through the faculty union’s negotiations with the administration. Graduate students, who teach while they take classes, prepare for comprehensive exams and write dissertations, are paid a modest stipend by the university and do have some minimal health benefits, thanks in part to their having unionized a few years back. Adjuncts get no benefits at all and have to teach at more than one school – Temple pays approximately $3,600-$3,800 per course to WWmany adjuncts in the College of Liberal Arts, and that’s more than many other places – or work another job to make ends meet. There has been a pronounced shift at Temple and other schools away from tenuretrack hiring, a move that saves money and dilutes the power of the faculty by leaving fewer of us who feel we can speak out forcefully about the state of the university without fearing for our jobs. Perhaps these cost savings are the reason why Temple’s instructional budget has remained flat, since it allows Temple to purchase more instruction, as it were, at the same cost. But given soaring tuition costs, shouldn’t there be more money for instruction since teachers are crucial to the most important reason you’re here? The answer isn’t as simple as “administrative bloat” or “fancy dorm rooms” or “increased health costs for employees including faculty,” although they all play a role. Zack Scott can be reached It’s a complex question, one at zack.scott@temple.edu or on Twitter @ZackScott11. that students, faculty and ad-
ministrators need to talk more about, and perhaps we’ll get the chance with the new, decentralized budget model that is being instituted. Our discussion needs to be informed with a real sense of how the makeup of Temple’s teachers has been altered by recent hiring practices.
WHILE TEACHING UNDERGRADUATES IS AND SHOULD BE CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT TO US, WE DO MORE THAN TEACH UNDERGRADUATES.
This is true no matter our track or rank. Tenure-track faculty also typically teach graduate students – leading seminars, preparing students for exams, and guiding them in their theses and dissertations. If we head up a lab, it means that we are supervising large groups of people, including post-docs and lab techs. Faculty in the natural sciences and many in the social sciences usually spend a great deal of time pursuing the grants that make their research possible. But whatever field we’re in, tenure-track faculty are expected to do research and/ or produce creative work. It’s something most of us love to do; and, as I have said, many of those not on the tenure-track, full-time and part-time, are also productive scholars and artists. But this work takes time: researching and writing the essay, designing the experiment, molding the sculpture, seeing an article or book through a torturous publication process, attending conferences, etc. Tenuretrack faculty are also expected to serve on departmental, collegial and university committees and to serve our profession by chairing panels at conferences, reading manuscripts for journals and book publishers and doing committee work for our professional organizations. Faculty not on the tenure track also often take on this work. Graduate students are also busy taking graduate classes, preparing for exams, writing theses or dissertations and beginning to attend conferences and to submit work for publication. Adjuncts are likely spending a fair bit of time traveling from one campus to another. Whatever our track or rank, pretty much all of us have lives outside the classroom. We have families to take care of. Many of us are busy helping our kids with their homework; others are tending to our elderly parents; some are doing both. We are members of civic, religious and political organizations. We even have hobbies! None of this is to suggest that you do not deserve our attention or that you shouldn’t demand it. While Temple is a research university, it also has a
primary mission to educate undergraduates. And, while education should never be reduced to fee-for-service, it is not a trivial fact that our salaries are largely paid by undergraduate tuition. I mean only to suggest that when you email us at midnight on a Sunday, we may not be able to get back to you as quickly as we’d both like. Or that if you ask a question that we’ve answered explicitly and repeatedly in class, we may get a bit irritated because we want to make the time we devote to undergraduate teaching count as much as possible. Finally, I mention all this to give you a fuller sense of who we are as professionals and people. I think it’s a good idea for us to get to know each other better while respecting our right to privacy and the boundaries of a healthy student-teacher relationship. It makes for a richer educational experience for all of us.
MOST OF US DO REMEMBER WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A STUDENT, THOUGH OUR MEMORIES MAY BE A BIT OUT OF DATE; BUT WHILE MANY OF US SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR SITUATIONS, THERE HAS TO BE LIMITS TO THAT SYMPATHY.
It’s true that many of us have not been students for decades. But that doesn’t mean that we have forgotten entirely what it’s like: laboring to master difficult concepts, to balance academic work and the jobs that pay your tuition and – for those of traditional college age – to make sense of what it means to be a young adult. But though many of us try to let this knowledge inform our teaching, there are limits to what it can do. We are obliged to maintain the academic standards of our classes, so however sympathetic we may be to your extracurricular demands, we must not let this soften the necessity for you to do the work that a class requires. Those of us who are doing our jobs well demand a lot from you not because we’re sadists or because we can’t imagine what it was like to be a student but because learning requires effort if it is to be what it should be: serious fun. Most Temple students I have the pleasure to teach know this; but some don’t, and I hope a reminder doesn’t hurt. Steve Newman is an associate professor of English at Temple and the editor of the Faculty Herald. He can be reached at snewman@temple.edu.
THE DRAWING BOARD
Below is an excerpt from a discussion between the editor of the Faculty Herald and TTN’s Editorial Board. Visit temple.edu/herald for a longer transcript. Angelo Fichera, The Temple News editor-in-chief: Does [merit pay for research] at all, in your experience at Temple, detract from professors’ focus on the classroom? Steve Newman, Faculty Herald editor: It can. The answer you tend to get from professors is that research is supposed to make our teaching better. We’re in dialogue with what’s happening out in the field and we can bring that back to our students and it keeps our graduate and undergraduate courses fresh. Ideally, yes. But the fact is that there are only a certain number of hours in the day...Sometimes research does invigorate your teaching. Sometimes it forces
you to make a painful choice where to invest your time. Zack Scott, TTN opinion editor: What are the administration’s priorities on [balancing research and teaching obligations]? Research obviously increases the university’s visibility and adds prominence and helps with recruitment. But teaching is what keeps students here. Which would you say they stress? SN: That’s really tough... It’s going to be hard to find anyone, be it an administrator or faculty member, who doesn’t say that teaching and research go hand in hand. We say this in part because we believe it, but it’s also
OPINION DESK 215-204-7416
a useful way to deflect the question. I would just judge in part by how merit gets broken down. Our union puts out how the different colleges award merit. Across the board, 64 percent of merit last year was awarded for research, 20 percent for teaching, 16 percent for service, and that’s similar to the levels over the past few years. This is a research university; and the value of research is not exhausted by what it contributes to teaching. Temple is committed to producing knowledge. But in addition to being a public university, which means it needs to be responsive to the public’s need for educated citizens, Temple is also relatively unusual in its commitment to
the Conwellian mission and in having a very small endowment relative to other research universities, which makes it dependent on undergraduate tuition. So we have to commit to undergraduate education in a serious way. Have to. Otherwise, we’re false to our mission, and we will not be able to sustain ourselves financially. AF: In my experience as an undergrad one of the things that’s been missed is the idea of teachers bringing their research back to the classroom. Sean Carlin, TTN news editor: The only thing you see in [political science] a little bit more is the fact that the profes-
LETTERS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
sors might make you buy the textbook that they wrote. Cara Stefchak, TTN managing editor: I’ve taken a lot of sociology classes, and I’ve found that the professors there and in women’s studies tend to use what they’ve written as textbooks. SN: Let me ask you about that. You say they use it as a textbook, and there was a knowing wink about that. It’s one thing to say they are bringing their ideas into the classroom. It’s another to say that they’re charging you 50 bucks, part of which goes into their pockets. Is it more the latter or the former?
CS: This semester, I’m taking a Women in Poverty class, and the teacher isn’t necessarily using the textbook that she wrote, but she does discuss the research that went into it, and she’s supplementing the course with [other texts]. SN: To speak to my own experience, the people who are really accomplished researchers are very devoted to their teaching. It’s like tenure. You get tenure, and it’s quite possible to get away with phoning it in. But very few professors in my experience do. The same thing with research.
OPINION
PAGE 6
Epilepsy is a multifaceted disorder
SOMEONE ELSE’S
appy Purple Day, everyone! What is Purple Day, you ask? It’s National Wear Purple for Epilepsy Day. It’s supposed to raise awareness about this condition and change some misconceptions about it. To put it simply, epilepsy is a seizure disorder. An epileptic is a person who is prone to having seizures, or fits of tremors, causing the loss of control over his or her body. Interestingly, the phrase “having a fit” was coined in reference to these convulsions. Not such a fun phrase to use anymore, is it? It is widely believed that a seizure is marked by severe and uncontrollable shaking of the body. This is not entirely true, because this is only one type of seizure. In fact, in many cases someone next to you could be having a spell and you wouldn’t be able to tell. The person will lose control of his or her body but not outwardly so. I have found that there are common misconceptions about epilepsy. Several people have told me that they think a seizure is just a lack of control over a body’s movement, without any particular feeling attributed to it. A friend of mine once told me that he thought it was just like moving your arm back and forth without being able to make it
“Saturday marks ObamaCare’s third anniversary, and President Obama and Democrats across the country will surely celebrate its greatest achievement to date: survival. The health care law narrowly survived a Supreme Court challenge, repeated attempts by House Republicans to repeal it and, with President Obama’s reelection, seems to be set for implementation next year.”
H
HEND SALAH
Salah argues that awareness of epilepsy doesn’t necessarily mean having pity.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
move yourself. That couldn’t be further from the truth. A seizure is more than just sporadic and irrepressible movement. To have some understanding of what a seizure is like, try to sit on your hand until it goes numb. When you attempt to move it, you will feel pins and needles go through it. Now imagine this feeling amplified by 100. That is how it feels to have a seizure, and yes, it is painful. A n other untrue belief I have come across several times is that, because seizures mostly develop from abnormal activity in the brain, other brain functions are hindered as well. I have heard people even go as far as saying that it causes a learning disability. It is true that memory can be affected by this condition, but someone with epilepsy is not necessarily at a disadvantage when it comes to schooling or education. In fact, there are many influential people who epilepsy.
For example: Sir Isaac Newton, a very famous and accomplished scientist, was epileptic. Bud Abbott, of the comedy team Abbot and Costello, had a seizure disorder, as does Neil Young. Throughout history many leaders were diagnosed with the condition after their time, such as Julius Caesar. Finally – and most importantly – it is not a handicap. Someone with this condition is not in need of constant special attention. There are some struggles, but epilepsy comes in many levels of difficulty. Some epileptics do not experience any problems in their daily lives, while others do. This condition is not necessarily a crippling one, and treating it as so isn’t making you any friends. A few weeks ago, I was walking out of a class with a friend and cracked an epilepsy joke – one I still think is hysterical. A girl I have never met stopped in front of me and started lecturing me about it. She told me that I was being insensitive, and that epileptics need my sympathy and support, not my laughs.
“Finally –
and most importantly – it is not a handicap. Someone with this condition is not in need of constant special attention.
”
In the beginning, I was extremely angry. I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 13. Yes, I have faced many problems because of it. And yes, there are a couple of things I am unable to do. However, her insinuation that people like me are in need of sympathy or help just because we have to deal with some obstacles is both irritating and fallacious. We all have problems, whether they’re with our health or issues with family, work or school. If we don’t learn to laugh at our problems and move on, our lives will become too complicated. Voltaire, a French Renaissance philosopher, once said, “Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater their power is to hurt us.” Dealing with epilepsy is one of those thorns, and just like any other problem, it is possible to move past it. So happy Purple Day, everyone. If you hear any epilepsy jokes today, don’t be afraid to laugh. This is what awareness is really all about: learning about each other’s problems and getting through them, while having a laugh or two along the way. Hend Salah can be reached at hsalah@temple.edu.
Legal drinking comes with hitches
I DANIEL CRAIG
Craig laments the hidden drawbacks to turning 21.
am writing this posthumously. What I mean by that is I am writing this on Monday, March 18, and this won’t be published until Tuesday, March 26. I turn 21 at midnight on Sunday, March 24. My friends are making sure I don’t remember anything. It’s going to be a rough night. You know how the more excited you get for something the less fulfilling it usually turns out to be? I can remember oozing with anticipation for my 16th birthday, fantasizing about the freedom driving would bring me. Now, more than four years later, I dread people asking me for rides and the droll of sitting on a backed up I-76 for hours. The point is, it’s natural to overlook the negatives of something when the positives seem so glamorous. I’m not saying that I don’t want to turn 21. I’m just saying that as I crawl closer and closer to legalization, I’m beginning to sober up – pun completely intended – to the realities of mak-
ing the leap out of underaged purgatory. Let’s be realistic. Turning 21 in college, especially at Temple, likely doesn’t equal your first experience with alcohol. I won’t go into detail to avoid self-indictment, but I would venture to guess that you know what I’m talking about. What is so great about bars, anyway? I went to them in London, and the experience was probably a 50-50 split. Sure, you’ll have nights with good music and it’s easy to get a drink. But other times you’re suffocating in a crowded dump, waiting three hours for one drink and having to tolerate the conversation of wasted friends that aren’t all that interesting to hear. Guess what else? Turns out you actually have to pay for drinks at bars. Crazy, I know. Someone told me they paid $14 for one shot the other night. Do you know what I could get for $14 dollars? I could get fries off the dollar menu at Wendy’s. Then a cheeseburger. Then 12
er Lite in a clear plastic cup. I will admit the last one might be a stretch. And I’m also aware my bickering fits the bill for a classic First World problem. I guess it’s just that after years of looking at the benefits, I’m just now starting to realize that turning 21 doesn’t give me unlimited beer money or save me from desperate underclassmen. But who am I kidding? This is going to be awesome. I’m going to milk this weekend for all it’s worth. I still have to practice my victory dance for each time a bouncer looks at my seriouslythis-kid-can’t-be-older-than-17 face, only to swipe my license and have to let me in. Let’s just say I’m praying for my liver. Oh, and if someone could lend me $14, that would be great. Daniel Craig can be reached at daniel.craig@temple.edu or on Twitter @Ohh_Danny_Boy.
on the
WORD WEB...
other things. Oh and that’s not all you have to pay for. Unless I’m willing to navigate my way through Philadelphia at 3 a.m. with a buzz, my debit card will be subject to the mercy of whatever back way the taxi driver decides to take me home. Don’t forget literally anyone you know under the age of 21 begging you every weekend for some social lubrication. “Can you buy me a 40? I’ll totally pay you back. And could you drop it off at my dorm? Oh and also can you like get some for my friends? Actually, could you just physically pour malt liquor down my throat?” I might have to turn off my phone every Thursday morning through Sunday afternoon just to spare myself. Couple all of that with the irrational fear of becoming “that guy” who ends up sulking on a Maxi’s barstool every day of the week, wondering how my grades have plummeted and personal relationships have shattered over a lukewarm Mill-
temple-news.com
Unedited for content.
DEANNA SAYS ON “BAKER: BIG GROUP IDENTITY DOES MORE HARM” ON MARCH 20 AT 8:37 P.M. For some of the gay community, if they are truly interested in helping children that will grow up to be gay and not just interested in their own present day desires, they need to learn about and understand, support and include the trans community. Why? Because many gays first came to the attention of their parents and friends due to non-traditional gender expression. By making the world more accepting of non-traditional gender expression, people will be more accepting of gay children.
BABS SAYS ON “BAKER: BIG GROUP IDENTITY DOES MORE HARM” ON MARCH 20 AT 2:35 P.M. Mr. Baker touches on some elements of truth, as it is a “mans world” in society in general, in the LGBT community it is a “gay mans world”. As a mature woman of transgender experience, I do know a bit about having male privilege and also about losing it. I’ve been on both sides of the street both as a heterosexual male and a lesbian female. Being a transwoman additionally gives me the perspective of being in the depths of societal expectations ( the gutter?).There is one thing Mr. Baker should however realize and acknowledge … that to our enemies, the haters, those cannot tolerate any of us … when two gay men, regardless of how straight acting or conservatively dressed they may be, are seen walking in public hand in hand, they are as queer looking and perhaps more vulnerable as any couple of transpeople. There are many different cultures and subcultures within the LGBT community which should be understood and respected, but the more we find and understand and act upon our common grounds, the stronger we can be and affect positive change.
DAN SAYS ON “EXPLORE OTHER PARTS OF THE CITY SHOULD NID PASS” ON MARCH 19 AT 7:11 P.M. While I can’t say I am a landlord, so I’m not privy to exact details on property tax increases, I agree with the sentiment. Councilman Clarke wants to cash in on students, which is fine because everyone cashes in on students, but to try and place the blame for the reason North Philadelphia is a cesspool on students goes too far. If the students were the ones to blame, why is the rest of North Philadelphia (the parts without high concentrations of Temple students living) dirtier, less safe and noisier than right around Temple? Could it be because the people who live in North Philadelphia are actually kind of dirty, noisy, and dangerous?
OPINION
Paul Howard,
on foxnews.com in “ObamaCare turns three -- a checkup on the rhetoric vs. the reality”
“No question, Obama’s prime goal was to reverse the mistaken belief among Israelis that he is hostile to their country. Given his powerful endorsement of Zionism and American ties with Israel, he probably succeeded, even with the Israeli right wing.”
Trudy Rubin,
on philly.com in “Worldview: Fine speech by Obama, but successful?”
“It’s conceivable that the Court, as it did with abortion in its 1973 ruling on Roe v. Wade, will rule that homosexual “marriage” is an American right. The snowball seems to be rolling downhill, and getting bigger.”
Thomas M. Doran,
on washingtontimes.com in “Once we start redefining marriage, where do we stop?”
“Common sense tells us that placing additional burdens on law abiding gun retailers will do nothing to reduce crime, but placing the full weight of our criminal justice system on lawbreakers will.”
Chris W. Cox,
on usatoday.com in “Gun sellers burdened enough: Opposing view”
“Such gizmos are meant to reduce overcrowding and help manage the spiraling costs of incarceration by allowing offenders to serve their sentences at home. Thanks to the almighty smartphone, offenders can be under the constant gaze of case managers, who will monitor their activities in real time. Welcome to the Panopticon for couch potatoes. ”
Evgeny Morozov,
on nytimes.com in “Imprisoned by Innovation”
LIVING temple-news.com
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Timeless themes take center stage “The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller manages to remain relevant, even with Puritan setting. LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ Living Editor
B
efore “The Crucible” could be found on Tim Dugan’s acting résumé, it could be found on the syllabus of his former students. Dugan, a master’s of fine arts in acting candidate, played the role of high school teacher in his everyday life before coming to Temple and getting cast as John Proctor in “The Crucible” – a character on Dugan’s bucket list. “This is one of those roles, as an actor, I would love to play,” Dugan said. “When I found out I got cast I was elated because I just knew I was going to get to spend months with this story and this character.” “The Crucible,” opening tomorrow, March 27, at Tomlinson Theater, is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Written as a commentary on the Mc-
Carthy trials, which questioned suspected communists – including playwright Arthur Miller included – “The Crucible” explores how a community handles heightened suspicion. “I’m sure that when this play is taught, inevitably, the topic of McCarthyism and the blacklisting of many artists is addressed,” said David Mackay, the play’s director. “I think the thing to remember is that Arthur Miller challenged the government, by saying they were wrong. It’s easy to look back at events and see how civic and human rights were violated, and historically how some artists have commented on human unfairness. But Miller composed a passionate fable, based on historical facts, paralleled the play to current events, and challenged a fear-mongering government [initiative]. We could use a few more artistic watchdogs.” At the center of the witch-hunt is Abigail Williams, the play’s antagonist, portrayed by Jackie DiFerdinando, a junior
theater major. “I did a lot of research on [“The Crucible”] and Puritan life, getting into that mindset,” DiFerdinando said. “In Puritan society women were looked down upon, they were lesser beings and had to obey their men. They had to be the dutiful little wife and listen to everything their husband or father said.” In “The Crucible,” Williams has an affair with the married John Proctor. She also gets caught in the woods experimenting with “witchcraft” with some of her friends and her uncle’s slave. To avoid getting in trouble she lies and begins to name women she has “seen with the devil.” “Throughout ‘The Crucible’ when she starts pointing out people for being witches, people are giving her a sense of power and she actually becomes a very powerful person in society,” DiFerdinando said. Since Williams is a servant she is not used to having a sense of authority. Her
CRUCIBLE PAGE 15
LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN
Feminism finds many homes on Main Campus Activism sparked
W
JULIE ZEGLEN
In time for Women’s History Month, Zeglen runs down feminist resources on Main Campus.
here are all the feminists? On a campus as large and diverse as Temple’s, the answer is not so easy to find. With so much going on, events like the recent LGBTQ Alumni Society’s panel discussion of marriage equality and a documentary screening of “Service: When Women Come Marching Home” about disabled women veterans in the military who often get lost in the shuffle of thousands of students. In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s embark on a quest for feminism on Temple’s campus.
TEMPLE FMLA
The Temple chapter of the national organization Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance works to unite likeminded students for dialogue, events and education about feminist topics. About a dozen members regu-
OWL OR NOTHING, p. 8
Members of OwlCappella anticipate the release of the group’s first EP on March 30. LIVING DESK 215-204-7416
larly attend meetings, which involve icebreakers, discussions about recent women-related news, planning for events and often a film screening or presentation by a feminist expert. Meetings are held every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Wellness Resource Center. The group organizes several events on Main Campus per year. Recently, its tampon drive collected several boxes worth of feminine care products for Philly’s Project SAFE. In Fall 2011, the group ran “This is What Feminism Looks Like,” a tabling event that invited passersby to have their pictures taken and ask questions about feminism. The event brought in about 170 participants. FMLA also partakes in “Take Back the Night,” which raises awareness of domestic abuse, and is seeking to organize a panel with professors and similar organi-
zations where students can ask about a timely women’s issue. One perk of FMLA affiliation is an invitation to the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, this year held in Washington, D.C. Attendees are invited to workshops and talks about the state of youth feminist involvement in women’s issues around the country and world. Discussion topics this week included the Steubenville rape case and subsequent media portrayal, the rates for a sexologist to give a talk and the incidence of sexual violence on Main Campus. Contact the group by emailing templefmla@gmail. com.
through screenings Groups use documentary films as educational tools to inspire social change from students. MARCIE ANKER The Temple News
It was a packed house in Tuttleman 407 on Tuesday, March 19. More than 40 people filled the rows and lined the perimeter to secure an optimal view for the first-time screening of the documentary film, “Speciesism: The Movie.” The event was hosted by the WOMEN’S STUDIES Temple Vegan Action Network, Despite the threat of a cut and included an introduction by two years ago, Temple’s wompolitical science graduate stuen’s studies program is going dent and featured commentator strong. in the film, Alex Melonas. TVAN started a little more FEMINISM PAGE 17
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER p.15
Cary Carr reflects on her time with her father, and remembers the compliments he’d give. LIVING@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
than a year ago in response to what members felt was a lack of vegan presence and of animal rights activists on Main Campus. The founders of TVAN include Melonas, political science Ph.D. candidate Brett Miller, English professor Dan Featherston and librarian Gretchen Sneff. “[TVAN] seeks to educate the Temple community about animal rights and veganism through nonviolent means,” Melonas said. “TVAN holds that all forms of animal use are wrong and that veganism is a moral obligation.” In addition to screening films, TVAN also engages in various other methods of spreading its message to the Temple and Philadelphia communities. Distributing vegan literature, promoting the sustainable health benefits of veganism and
SOLIDARITY, p. 17
FILM PAGE 16
Jacob Harrington discusses why he’s a feminist and why other men should adopt the label.
LIVING
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music DONNELL POWELL Alumnus gives back to the nonprofit sector, which he benefited from growing up. LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ The Temple News Donnell Powell could be called a poster boy for nonprofit organizations. In his junior year of high school Powell participated in Operation Understanding D.C., a year-long program that attempted to bridge the gap between African-American and Jewish high school students. When he got to college he started his own nonprofit, Color My Sidewalk, and now he found his first job upon graduating at non-profit Philadelphia Young Playwrights. “I always told myself, because I was grateful for OUDC, I wanted to give back and pay it forward in the nonprofit sector,” Powell said. The Temple News caught up with Powell, a 2012 broadcasting, telecommunications and mass media alumnus, to find out how he landed his job and about his involvement with “Time Machine,” which will be part of this year’s Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. THE TEMPLE NEWS: Were you involved with PYP before you graduated? DP: I learned about PYP through my professor, Glen
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
Donnell Powell stands next to a mural commissioned through his first nonprofit.| LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN Knapp, who was teaching a theater management class at Temple. He is the executive director of PYP. In [Fall 2011] I did an internship with PYP and then that internship carried over until it was time for me to graduate. When I graduated I moved back home to Washington, D.C. and then I got a call from [Knapp] that said, “Hey, I want you up here working with me.” And that was all she wrote. TTN: What was your internship like? DP: I was the general management intern. I would pretty much assist with general things such as producing. I was actually handling a lot of contract work for our professional productions in 2011 at the Wilma [Theater]. I was also serving as the company manager. If you don’t know about theater, the company manager pretty much makes sure the cast is taken care of. TTN: You graduated with a degree in BTMM, how did theater come into play? DP: I’m an artist. I consider myself more of a creator than an artist. I do visual art, anything from painting to mixed media to sculpture to installations. In college I discovered I wanted to go into arts administration. I’m also a jazz pianist so I said to myself, “I have the music component of arts down pat, I have the visual arts component of it and I took a couple dance classes at Temple so I had a gist of what dance is.” Theater was the component that was new to me and I was like, “If I want to go into arts management I have to know every medium of the arts.” TTN: How did you manage to land a job in PYP so soon after graduating? DP: It’s funny because I had that class with [Knapp] and then I did the internship with PYP and I guess prior to my internship ending, [Knapp] and I had a conversation about my [plans after graduating], whether or not I’d be returning to [Washington], D.C., and what the job market was like there. [Knapp] told me, “The door’s always open here at PYP for you because we’ve seen the work you do and we know your work ethic.” I came [back] up during the summer [after I graduated] with a friend on a thing we called “The Government Cheese Tour” where we just went to D.C., Baltimore, Philly and New York just going to see different art scenes and network pretty much. When
we came to Philly we went to a PYP event called “The Summer Revision Open Notebook” and [Knapp] and I chatted. He said, “Lets work out a plan.” It got moving from there. TTN: What’s your involvement with “Time Machine?” DP: I’m serving as producer of the piece. So I’m the person who makes it happen. I put all of the ingredients in place such as contracting the cast, the design team, the director, things of that nature. Since “Time Machine” is a coproduction with [PIFA] and the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts it’s just a matter of staying in contact with our partners who are invested in this project. TTN: What is “Time Machine” about? DP: “Time Machine” is a devised performance installation we are calling a multi-generational performance installation. We say “multi-generational performance installation” because there’s three components to this “Time Machine” project. It’s the professional artist we hire, the University of the Arts students and the high school students from all around the Philadelphia area who all make up this ensemble of participants. The theme for PIFA this year is “If you had a time machine…” It’s an open-ended question. So what we’ve been playing around with, instead of focusing on one specific period of time, we’re playing with the concept of “the lost hour.” “The lost hour” [refers to] the hour you lose springing forward, the hour we lost this most recent daylight saving time. So what happens in this lost hour? TTN: You only had to wait two months to secure a job after graduating, how would you recommend students go about that? DP: I would suggest making relationships, cultivating relationships and sustaining relationships with your professors. As I said, my professor got me my job and other people I graduated with landed their first jobs with a professor they were close with. Secondly, be good at what you do. It’s funny because when [Knapp] offered me the job it wasn’t through a [traditional] interview. The fact that I did his class and [was his intern] was pretty much my interview. He saw my work ethic throughout that whole process. Luis Fernando Rodriguez can be reached at luis.fernando@temple.edu or on Twitter @theluisfernando.
A cappella group prepares for first EP to take flight With its first recorded work, OwlCappella goes “Owl or Nothing.” ERIN EDINGER-TUROFF
The Temple News Time has flown for the coed a cappella choir of Temple Owls, who will celebrate their newly released EP, titled “Owl or Nothing,” with a concert March 30 at Rock Hall. “It’s been a lot of hard work,” said Kevin Chemidlin, a junior computer science major and president of OwlCappella. “Now we’ve reached the top of the roller coaster, and we can let our hands go and enjoy the ride.” After being founded in Fall 2010, members of OwlCappella have seen the group progress from its early days opening for already established a cappella groups at Temple like the all-male Broad Street Line, to now recording their audiences’ favorite songs for their new EP, available online on March 26. OwlCappella is no stranger to performing under pressure, after singing for Mayor Michael Nutter and at a Phillies game, along with performing at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Recording “Owl or Nothing” with Silvertone Studios in Ardmore, Pa., however, presented challenges of its own that ultimately united the group, members said. Each group member was recorded individually at the stu-
dio, singing his or her section’s part of every song. The group’s music director, Tyler Poletis, a senior music education major, conducted each singer during their personal recordings. Individual recordings allowed OwlCappella to edit its songs more effectively, though it was a time-consuming and ultimately more expensive process. Luckily for OwlCappella, it surpassed its fundraising goals with the help of the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, where donors can contribute a desired amount to the a cappella group’s cause. In order to provide an interactive experience for donors, OwlCappella set up a reward system for donors based on the contributed sum. “We [wanted donors] to get involved as well,” said Gray Tennis, junior sociology major and OwlCappella’s vice president, who led fundraising efforts, said. “So it’s not just donating to a faceless cause.” Five dollars earned donors a personal thank-you email, with $25 earning them an automatic copy of the EP upon its release. Donations of $500 garnered a private performance. “You can do more with the sound,” Chemidlin said, explaining the benefits of OwlCapella’s costly recording tactics. “You have more control. You can edit sounds. In a song, if you want the sopranos to be louder, you can just bring them up, whereas if it was all together, there’s no way to do that.” Some pressure resulted from the individual record-
ings, but Chemidlin said every member was well-prepared and ready to perform. “I’m going to remember [the experience] really fondly for the rest of my life,” Tennis said. OwlCappella members always manages to have fun together, Tennis added, even when they are hard at work and dedicating large amounts of their time to group efforts. Chemidlin agreed and said that OwlCappella has “never been closer as a group.” “It was kind of like a retreat,” Chemidlin said. “It was a cool setting because [the recording studio] was a house. It was one of the most fun weeks I’ve ever had, so much more than I thought it was going to be.” The recording studio itself is located in the home of Alfred Goodrich, the producer and engineer at Silvertone Studios. “He was such a nice guy,” said Jennifer DiBartolomeo, a junior psychology major. She added that recording and editing the five songs on the EP was “one of [OwlCappella’s] biggest time commitments,” though significant time is always dedicated to preparing for their concerts. As one of the original members of the group, DiBartolomeo was drawn to OwlCappella’s co-ed group make-up. Its founder, Bexx Rosenbloom, was a former member of Singchronize, Temple’s only all-female a cappella group, who wanted an a cappella group available to both men and women. An
advantage to a co-ed choir is that there is a wider selection of songs to choose from when all vocal parts are included, DiBartolomeo said. This allowed for a unique selection of songs on their EP, varying from hip-hop/rap songs, to upbeat pop, indie and punk. Chemidlin said that the diversity in song choice on the EP is something he’s immensely proud of. The songs on the EP have been performed by OwlCappella largely last semester, and are considered both group and audience favorites. Tennis said he hopes the release of the EP will allow OwlCappella to reach more members of the community, particularly since it’s going to be available online starting March 26 through iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Pandora. Chemidlin called the release to the Internet a “huge tool for exposure,” as audiences who enjoy performances will be able to download OwlCappella’s music after the EP’s release. “I definitely see the performance offers continuing,” Poletis said, referencing the group’s experience singing at past community events. “From here it’ll only go up.” As the first recorded work by OwlCappella, which obtained all rights to its songs, “Owl or Nothing” will provide a sense of professionalism, as Chemidlin and Tennis both said. The concert, at 7:30 p.m. on March 30, will debut new songs OwlCappella has been working on, and will be a cel-
Kevin Chemidlin, president of OwlCappella performs at the second annual a cappella showcase on Feb. 19 at the Temple Performing Arts Center.| LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN ebration, Chemidlin said, of the EP’s release. Physical copies of the EP will be sold for the first time for $5 at the concert, which itself is free of charge. Plans to record again are currently in the works, as many group members are excited by the possibility of working on another EP or even full-length album. “Whatever the group wants
to do,” Chemidlin said. “Whatever opportunities come our way, we’ll take advantage of. I know we’ll record again, because that week was just too much fun.” Erin Edinger-Turoff can be reached at erin.edinger-turoff@temple.edu.
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Nostalgic theater gets facelift The Roxy Theater is in the process of becoming a film-festival hub by the Philadelphia Film Society after closing its doors last September. PATRICIA MADEJ The Temple News
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oing out to see a movie could take on a whole new meaning for Philadelphians this summer. The historic Roxy Theater, located at 2023 Sansom St., is being completely renovated by the Philadelphia Film Society funded through a Kickstarter campaign. Andrew Greenblatt, executive director at the Philadelphia Film Society, anticipates hard work ahead for the restoration process, but he said he is excited for the end product in the near future for the last theater in Rittenhouse Square. “When we saw the opportunity to improve a theater, we wanted to do that,” Greenblatt said. “We wanted to show true independent films and documentaries. These are films that don’t have the opportunity to be seen outside of Philadelphia.” Originally opened in 1975, and formerly owned by Max Raab, producer of “A Clockwork Orange,” the theater is undergoing some much needed restoration with the help of more than 430 backers on the organization’s Kickstarter page, as of press time. The Roxy officially shut its
The Roxy Theater, located at 2023 Sansom St., is being renovated through a Kickstarter campaign started by the Philadelphia Film Society. The theater opened its doors for the first time in 1975 and was formerly owned by Max Raab, the producer of the cult classic “A Clockwork Orange.” | MAGGIE TRAPANI TTN doors down last September, but the Philadelphia Film Society saw its potential. Greenblatt speculates The
“Talk about whatever it is you know.” Those were the words that launched Josh Wolf’s career in comedy. The advice came from an event organizer before Wolf’s first-ever appearance at the age of just 15. The Massachusetts native was so young that his parents had to drive him to the gig. “My parents came and sat in the front row, and all I knew was them, so I made fun of them for 15 minutes,” Wolf said of his first show. “It was a silent car ride home.” Wolf finds his own rides to his shows these days, but he’s still talking about what he knows. His brand of honest comedy is inspired by his life and the events in it. He found success, he said, only when he developed from what he thought a comedian should be, writing what he thought the audience wanted to hear, to simply being himself on stage. “You can’t make it for other people,” Wolf said. “You have to make what you think is good.” He traces that realization back to a specific moment on stage. Telling a story about one of his sons, Wolf remembers thinking, “This is too cruel, but it’s just how I feel right now, and I said it and it got a huge laugh.” That laugh flipped a light
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Josh Wolf, a comedian who frequently appears on “Chelsea Lately” and “After Lately,” came to Helium Comedy Club Friday through Sunday night.| KAIT LAVINDER TTN switch in Wolf’s head, and he said he believes that his comedy turned a corner that night. He hasn’t looked back. His comedic journey brought him to Philadelphia this past weekend to Helium Comedy Club in Center City Friday
through Sunday night. Wolf is happy to be at a point in his career where he has built up an audience and headlines clubs across the country. Along with his comedy career, Wolf released his book, “It Takes Balls: Dating Single
BAR GUIDE, NEXT WEEK
The Temple News will present its annual Bar Guide, a one-stop navigational tool for our 21+ readers looking to explore the city’s unique bar culture. A&E DESK 215-204-7416
would otherwise not see a theater screen outside of Sundance, year round.
KYLE NOONE The Temple News
Temple Owls. “I feel that it’s the responsibility of art to craft new myths,” Geffers said, adding that Americana figures have prime potential to be forged into myth, especially Houdini, a character who lived in imagination. “If you say the word ‘magician,’ people still think of Houdini today,” she said. “He was the first national, American superstar.” One of the world’s most famous magicians, Houdini perfected his illusions on the vaudeville stage, alongside the likes of comedians Charlie Chaplin and Abbott and Costello, and child actresses like June Havoc and Gypsy Rose Lee. Vaudeville was hot entertainment at the turn of the 20th century and through the 1930s. It was wholesome fun for the whole family, who would go out to see the nine acts of singers, dancers, animals and magicians when the shows came to town. Vaudeville performers were always moving from city to city on the circuits, hoping that one day they would make it to the big time. “Plays themselves never became famous in the way that we think of them as being famous,” Savadove said, adding
EGOPO PAGE 11
Society is looking to do is reopen The Roxy as a first-run independent theater, which would provide the types of films that
Josh Wolf, of “Chelsea Lately,” stopped by Philadelphia this weekend to perform at the Helium Comedy Club. The comedian is also the author of a New York Times bestseller.
Temple alumni at EgoPo Classic Theatre are bringing the past to the present with vaudeville-style productions.
Many would say vaudeville died in the Great Depression, but tucked away in an old theater near Rittenhouse Square, the spirit of the high-energy variety shows lives on. EgoPo Classic Theatre has carved out a place in Philly, performing hugely-popular and influential shows of the last 150 years, but when it turned to the vaudeville era, it also had to turn to the drawing board. “Often our titles are really big draws themselves, but here we have to teach our audience members about a subject that they might know a lot less about,” said Lane Savadove, the founder and artistic director of EgoPo. “We have to develop these scripts from scratch,” he said, noting that it can take six months to a year to get a script ready before it ever enters the rehearsal process. Temple master’s candidate Brenna Geffers is now deep into the rehearsal process for EgoPo’s upcoming show, “The Life (and Death) of Harry Houdini.” Geffers is the director and primary writer for the show, tweaking it here and there with the actors, three of who are also
seats were ancient, and the sound and projection was unbelievably old,” he said. What the Philadelphia Film
Comedian Wolf headlines Helium
Vaudeville makes a return to the stage RACHEL MCDEVITT The Temple News
Roxy hasn’t seen any remodeling or construction for nearly 20 years. “You could see that the
ARTSandENTERTAINMENT@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
Moms and Other Confessions from an Unprepared Single Dad,” this month. Writing is nothing new for Wolf – he wrote a chapter in
JOSH WOLF PAGE 11
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Philadelphia Film Society to restore historic theater ROXY PAGE 9
The Roxy Theater has been closed to the public since last fall. The Philadelphia Film Society aims to raise enough money to revamp and reopen the historic theater. | MAGGIE TRAPANI TTN The funding launched on March 1 and will go on until the end of the month. The Philadelphia Film Society has already reached its goal of $40,000. “The rewarding part has been seeing the amount of supporters we have. You go into a Kickstarter, and you put a number like $40,000, and you don’t know what you’ll get. To get $10,000 in our first couple of days let us breathe a sigh of relief,” he said. The money raised will only cover a small portion of the amount it will take to restore the Roxy completely, which Greenblatt estimates to be about $600,000. The Kickstarter campaign will, however, help fund many of the cosmetic and necessary
renovations such as flooring, digital projector screens and sound systems, said Greenblatt. The majority of the money will go toward installing new seating in both the theaters. “First and foremost, everyone at this point understands the need for digital conversion,” Greenblatt said. “We need DCP ability. Studios are just not making 35mm anymore.” Because the traditional 35mm film is no longer commonly produced, Greenblatt said the restoration will have to go with a “convert or die” mentality. There are many incentives for pledgers who show their support. They can pledge as much or as little as they desire, but the higher the donation, the
higher the reward. Donating $10 will give the pledger a button and $25 will yield a T-shirt. A $50 donation earns a supporter two tickets to any screening and a T-shirt, and the incentives get better from there. Those who give $1,000 are able to name a seat in the theater with a custom-engraved brass plaque. So far, the majority of backers are opting to donate $25. Greenblatt said the process overall is very exciting. “A lot of people are chipping in and wanting to see this thing happen, and we want this to be the hub of the Philadelphia film community,” he said. The Philadelphia Film Society will also get a de facto home base when The Roxy is
finished. There are two screens in the theater that currently seat about 140 people combined, but that number will likely decrease to ensure better viewing angles for all seats, said Greenblatt. “It all comes down to the theater-going experience,” he said. “And we hope to make it the best film-going experience.” Greenblatt said there are currently 14 movie theaters in Center City and about 40 in Philadelphia, with most of them playing bigger-budget studio productions. In cities like Chicago or New York, you can see a number of theaters within a few blocks of each other, he said. The majority of the former theaters that were the size of The Roxy were converted into
retail stores or other commercial etablishments, he said. However, once opened, this will be an affordable event any Philadelphian will be able to attend. Ticket prices and concessions will be about the same as standard movie theater prices. In addition, the Philadelphia Film Society hopes to hold film discussions with filmmakers, film festivals and other film-related events at The Roxy. That being said, it will also participate in the annual Philadelphia Film Festival, held each fall, Greenblatt said. “The primary and initial focus is the theater itself, because, to me, it’s the most important,” Greenblatt said. “People will be in the lobby for 10 minutes, but they’ll be watching the movie in
the theater for 90 minutes.” After the theaters are completed, the society is looking to renovate the lobby, lounge, bathrooms and entrance. Greenblatt said he would like to see it reach the goal of $40,000 but would, of course, love to raise even more. Over the next couple of days, Greenblatt said the Philadelphia Film Society is planning to add additional incentives to keep backers pledging, but they have yet to be announced. Patricia Madej can be reached at patricia.madej@temple.edu.
Beergasm brews excitement in Philly Dance groups land on campus The first annual craft beer festival Beergasm will take place March 28. Two SCUBA dance groups performed at their beers for folks to taste and three bands, each with a differRACHEL BARRISH enjoy. In addition to the brew- ent style. New York-based folk Conwell Hall. The Temple News Philadelphia is about to have its first Beergasm on Thursday, March 28. The first annual event celebrating local craft beer will be held at Yards Brewing Company at 901 N. Delaware Ave. To have a beergasm, “you stimulate all of your senses with quality craft beers to the point of reaching euphoria. How a person chooses to have theirs is completely up to them,” Lexi Malmros, owner and creator of Beer Cakes Philly, said. When Collaborate Philly founder and CEO Sam Watson thought of what his next event should be back in December, he reached out to Malmros. The two teamed up and began the planning for what would be an exciting new event to showcase Philadelphia’s local brews. Philadelphia has its own rich, cultural fondness for beer. There is a community that has built up in the last 30 years or so since the founding and development of brewing companies such as the Philadelphia Brewing Co., Yards, Dock Street and Iron Hill. The Philly folks have acquired a taste for their favorite types of brews and are now developing recipes. Today there are a plethora of bars and pubs in and around the city that have started putting local beers on draft. So now everyone can get his or her fill of the citrus blended Walt Wit or the hoppy Sly Fox. Local bars and home brewers from Philadelphia will all be coming together under one roof to celebrate their drink of choice. “Philly Beergasm will be a true love letter to local beer culture,” Watson said. “It’s all about giving a showcase to the little guy.” Brewing companies such as 5 o’clock Brew and Forest and Main will be bringing along
ing businesses, Philadelphia rockers The End of America will homemakers will also have the be the opening act. The headchance to showcase their per- lining act will be Restorations. sonal concoctions. There will also be various raffle Jason Ranck, a local, will giveaways including cool prizes be bringing along a Bamberger such as a case of Victory Beer, Rauchbier he named “Evening goodies from Drink Philly, gift Wood,” and Blaise Fougere, cards and more. another home brewer, will be All proceeds for this event showcasing his will go to handcrafted vaPhilabundance, nilla porter. But so attendees it won’t just be aren’t only buyliquid brew that ing a showcase you’ll have the of tasty, local chance to taste beers but also and enjoy; there donating to a will also be a worthy charity. handcrafted Philabundance beer-centered is the food bank menu designed and hunger reby chef Dan lief program for Berlin. It will inpeople in the clude a large Delaware Valmenu of food inley. fused with some “We love Sam Watson / collaborate philly type of beer beer and we founder ingredient like love Philadelstout sheppard’s phia,” Watson pie, porter’s mac said. “We wantand cheese as well as cupcakes ed to make sure that this event and baked goods from Beer could do some good for the loCakes Philly, which will have a cal community as well.” table set up called “Cream Your Even though this is the first Own Cupcake.” Beergasm, the folks at CollaboBeer isn’t the only spirit rate Philly said they plan to keep available at the event – you can this event going throughout the head over for some wine and year as a quarterly event. And cocktails provided by Spodee, a at the end of the year, there will company that combines country be a bigger event, “bigger plates wine with garden herbs, spices and a more formal event where and moonshine. people can get the chance to When attendees arrive, they dress up while drinking like a will be given a glass courtesy of sailor.” Beergasm, and from then on all The first annual Philly beer, food and entertainment is Beergasm is open to everyone, included with admission. There but only those 21 or older can will be cooking stations where drink. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., people can look into the process and the event will run until 9:30 of how to cook food with beer. p.m. Tickets are $40 and only There will also be the op- available online on the event portunity to get a tour of the page. Yards Brewing Company to see Rachel Barrish can be reached how the factory operates. The at rachel.barrish@temple.edu. entertainment portion includes live musical performances from
“We love beer
and we love Philadelphia. We wanted to make sure that this event could do some good for the community as well.
”
REBECCA ZOLL The Temple News Conwell Dance Theatre hosted two performances on March 22 and 23 featuring The Green Chair Dance Group and The Real Shannon Stewart. Both groups were discovered by SCUBA, a national touring network for dance. SCUBA, in part with Philadelphia Dance Projects, worked together to have the two groups come to Philly to perform. Terry Fox, director of Philadelphia Dance Projects, helped to organize the performances. “I was in Seattle for a conference and I met some of the people who had started SCUBA, and they invited us to participate,” Fox said. “That was about eight years ago, but SCUBA itself is probably ten years old.” SCUBA represents an underwater breathing apparatus. The idea is that the artists “dive” into touring. The groups that are chosen to perform go through a specific process of auditions. “We do a call every year and so we get a number of artists who apply to SCUBA, and myself and some other people look at the entries,” Fox said. “We then email the artists that have applied and we pick three or four and send them to the city.” These two groups were chosen to perform at Temple for a specific reason. “I approached Conwell to see if we could partner with them because I knew they had a good audience and I thought it would be good for them to see developing work,” Fox said. Philadelphia Dance Projects has been partnering with Temple for about the last four years.
“It’s been great,” Fox said. “Students can take classes with the artists and see their work. It would be a shame to take it somewhere else because we have a good relationship with them.” Fox herself has a special tie to Temple. “When I was a dancer in Philly, I knew many of the dancers then who were studying or coming from there,” Fox said. “I went to Temple for awhile but ended up graduating from NYU.” One of the audience members at the performance was Marion Ramirez, an MFA student at Temple studying dance. She knew The Green Chair Dance Group prior to coming to the performance. “I think it’s great that their work gets to be represented like this. It’s a lovely mixture of theater and dance and physicality,” Ramirez said. “I enjoyed the fragmentation of the composition, yet how they insist in their motives and in their physicality. They show us a struggle of whatever they’re doing and they don’t mask it. And we’re kind of part of their process. They’re presenting stuff to us, and they’re inviting us in to see whatever they’re going through. [The two groups] work really well together.” One of the dancers from The Green Chair Dance Group, Hannah de Keijzer, felt great about her performance. “This is a piece that I love to perform. It’s very friendly and we really like to connect with the audience whenever we perform,” de Keijzer said. The piece welcomed the audience numerous times throughout the performance when one of the three dancers would stop what he or she was doing, walk up to the front of the stage and give the audience a bit of insight about what to expect or what they were doing. “[The piece] feels like a real expression of the joy that
we get in moving and dancing together and the expression of what it’s like to be committed to other people over time, and the intimacy and difficulty of that,” de Keijzer said. Aaron Swartzman, a dancer with The Real Shannon Stewart, got involved with the dance group when Stewart herself asked him to be in the piece they performed. He agreed since he was involved in doing a piece about memory, and the piece he was invited to join was about memory. “To me, the piece connects to memory loss. It’s definitely a piece that’s still in progress, which I really like. After every show, we’re still making changes to it,” Swartzman said. “Shannon and [her artistic partner] think a lot about exactly what they’re trying to craft. I like this incarnation of the piece. It’s a little bit more physical than some of the other ones I’ve been in.” Swartzman, just like de Keijzer, felt good about his performance, he said. “For me, aerobics, the first section, is the most stressful one for me because it has the most counting in it,” Swartzman said. “Not my speciality.” To Swartzman, the deeper meaning behind the piece was glitches in the memory. “I guess I’d mix in a lot of my own work around how we manufacture our memories,” Swartman said. “As we forget stuff we sort of just make it up or we make it up before we forget it then it changes as we tell it that way.” Both pieces were very similar in that they started off with the dancers all doing the same thing then branching out into intriguing solos of interpretive movement and interesting dancers. They also both had a deeper meaning in which the audience could ponder about. Rebecca Zoll can be reached ar rebecca.zoll@temple.edu.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
PAGE 11
Show introduces Houdini to new audiences Comedian comes to Philly EGOPO PAGE 9
that any one play in vaudeville was done in several different formats and underwent constant changes between performances. “Even Houdini’s own vaudeville performances were never recorded or published in
any traditional way,” he said. Savadove said that American theater, as we know it today, was born in vaudeville; before that, theater was mostly copied from the Europeans. “Once the vaudeville cir-
cuit took off, suddenly, exponentially more Americans were seeing theater than had ever seen it before,” Savadove said, “and we started to develop our own acting style, our own directing style, our own way of doing scene design.” It was in this time that melodrama was developed, and that, combined with the spectacle of vaudeville, paved the way for the modern American musical. “It was sort of the birth of contemporary theater, and yet it doesn’t exist on library shelves in any traditional way,” he said. Even without the printed versions of vaudeville shows, people today are still finding ways to visit the past, whether through themed bars or restaurants, special exhibitions like American Spirits at the National Constitution Center or shows like this one. While audiences of the early 1900s piled into the rows of seats at theaters and movie houses to see their favorite performers on stage, audience members at “Houdini” will be able to see the spectacle from a different angle. Geffers said all attendees will sit on the stage with the actors, giving them the chance to look out over the lonely lines of red-velvet seats while the actors give all they have in their performance. “That’s something we are exploring in the show: the empty theater as a character,” Gef-
HAPPY HOUR CUPCAKES! THURSDAY, MAR. 28 5-7 P.M. FREE WHOLE FOODS MARKET- 20TH AND CALLOWHILL STREET 2001 PENNSYLVANIA AVE.
families and cupcake lovers who want free samples. Erin Shaffer, a decorator at the bakery at Whole Foods, makes all the cupcakes by herself. “The idea was a group decision from the production team. It’s been going on for probably three to four months,” Shaffer said. She comes up with the flavors herself, too. “Sometimes I base [the flavors] on if I go out to eat and get a cocktail. Sometimes I look for ideas on the Internet. It’s just kind of whatever I can see around me as inspiration.” Philly-based bakeries like
Philly Cupcake, Pamcakes and Lil Miss Cupcakes are fine for everyday occasions, but if you’re looking for something special, unique and custommade, you will find it at happy hour cupcakes. “The flavors are unique every time,” Shaffer said. “I make them the day of. They’re custom made for this particular event. It’s almost like if you were to go to a bar and order a drink, it’s made right there in front of you.” Imagine a Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary or Strawberry Daiquiri in cupcake form. That’s where Shaffer comes in
“The Life (and Death) of Harry Houdini” opens March 29. The show explores the magician’s career and his struggle with personal loss. | COURTESY EGOPO THEATRE
Cupcakes and liquor – what could be better? Put these two things together on a Thursday evening and you get happy hour cupcakes at the Whole Foods on 20th and Callowhill streets. This unique food sampling has been going on for a few months, attracting couples,
JOSH WOLF PAGE 9 Chelsea Handler’s book “Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me,” a New York Times best seller. Wolf has also written for numerous television programs including “Yes, Dear,” “All of Us” and “Cuts.” The book is different for him, he said, because it is biographical. Wolf tells the stories of being a young, single man raising children, and the hilarity that ensued. “In TV, I’m writing for someone else’s voice. This book I didn’t write in anyone else’s voice,” Wolf said. “I wrote this book the way I talk.” Wolf sees his book as an extension of his show on stage, and he writes in his same brutally honest style. “We had no money. We all lived in one bedroom...It was not a great situation, but from it came a lot of very funny, irreverent stories,” Wolf said. Wolf is happily married now, but is proud that he was able to tell the stories from that period of his life. He said the book can inspire readers to persevere through rough times and see the lighter side of life. “There is humor in every Rachel McDevitt can be situation you’re in, and we’ve reached at had some tough ones,” he said. rachel.mcdevitt@temple.edu. Wolf, who has occasionally been called an overgrown fraternity brother, also wanted to show that parents come in different styles. “You haven’t seen any dad’s stories from a guy from
fers said. “And how lonely that can feel.” The play itself follows Houdini as he struggles with the idea of death, after the loss of his mother. Dealings in the occult were growing during his time, with people holding séances to contact loved ones beyond the grave. “Houdini was either so appalled or drawn in by the idea of contacting his dead mother that he tried to do it himself,” Geffers said. “If anyone could do it, it would be him, the ultimate escape artist.” The play also explores Houdini’s career as an escape artist and dives into what that really meant, asking: What are we trying to escape from? “Audiences can definitely expect more of a ghost story than a magic show,” Geffers said. “The Life (and Death) of Harry Houdini” opens Friday, March 29, and runs until April 7 at the Plays and Players Theater at 1714 Delancey Place in Philadelphia. Student tickets are $15. More information can be found at egopo.org.
and turns these popular drinks into yummy, edible sweets. “Most of the time I make the actual drink and soak it into the cupcake.” Doing so helps to enhance the flavor of the cupcake and it retain the flavor for a long time. The most popular flavor Shaffer has ever made was the Pineapple Basil Mojito, which includes fresh pineapple, brown sugar and basil. Once Shaffer discovered this flavor was a big hit, she had to make it a second time, which was rare since all the flavors are new every week.
BEST OF BRITAIN: TRIBUTE TO ASTON MARTIN MARCH 23- APRIL 14 TUESDAY-FRIDAY 10 A.M.- 6 P.M. SATURDAY-SUNDAY 10 A.M.- 4 P.M. CLOSED MONDAYS $8 SIMEONE FOUNDATION 6825-31 NORWITCH DRIVE
SEASON 3 OF ‘A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT’ TUESDAY, MARCH 26, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, THURSDAY, MARCH 28 6:30-7:30 P.M. $15 RED ROOM AT SOCIETY HILL PLAYHOUSE 507 S. 8TH ST. 21+
“Best of Britain” is a car show that displays a certain type of car every year at the Simeone Museum, and this year it’s featuring the Aston Martin for it’s 100th anniversary. Visitors will be able to see all types of Aston Martins as well as learn about them. The display will include a 1936 Aston Martin Le Mans – an Aston Martin specifically built for racing.
For $15, audience members get to sit back and relax while watching a play, eating a pie (a slice of pizza), and drinking a pint of beer. The one-act comedy KYOTO is presented by Tiny Dynamite and is “about hotel rooms, sexual desire, and climate change.” Come out and enjoy a hilarious night of entertainment and a typical college meal.
Not only do customers get to sample the cupcakes, but if they’re fast enough, they can grab a box and bring it home with them. “We sell the cupcakes at the table. I make about 35 cupcakes each week and whatever we have left over we put in the case until they sell,” Shaffer said. Customers don’t know what to expect each week, thanks to Shaffer and her creative imagination. In the past, she has made Royal Bush, Hot Toddy, and more. As a result, Shaffer gets a variety of feedback, but the best feedback
my perspective, and I thought it should be told,” he said. Wolf is a regular on E’s “Chelsea Lately,” featuring Chelsea Handler, as well as on “After Lately.” The shows have given his career even more exposure. Wolf credits Handler herself with giving him the opportunity. “Chelsea and I started doing stand-up together, and Chelsea is an intensely loyal, good person,” Wolf said. “So when she got that show, there’s a bunch of people on the show she started with. She brought us all along for the ride.” Wolf recently became a writer for “Chelsea Lately” and said the experience of being there every day and having people to bounce ideas off of is rewarding. “You get to see a lot more of the inner workings,” Wolf said. “It’s always good to learn every aspect of every business that you’re in.” With so much to do, it’s not hard to keep busy for Wolf, but he’s not backing away from the stand up stage. “I love performing,” Wolf said. “As soon as I’m not having fun anymore I’m going to find something else to do.” Kyle Noone can be reached at kyle.noone@temple.edu.
she’s ever gotten was something that’s stuck with her since she started. “I [have had] a couple people tell me it’s the best cupcake they’ve ever eaten,” Shaffer said. “The best feedback is also people coming back every week to try to next flavor and knowing that people are looking forward to it.”
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND SATURDAY, MARCH 30 8-10 P.M. FREE DAVINCI ART ALLIANCE 704 CATHERINE ST. Italian artist Silvia Belviso displays her provocative artwork that portrays female’s bodies while leaving out their heads. There is a deeper meaning behind the art, so art majors may find the display particularly interesting. The evening will include live music and refreshments.
-Rebecca Zoll
WRITE ESSAYS? CONTACT
The Temple News is collecting personal essays by Temple students through April 5. Select work will be published online and in print on April 16. Email brandon.baker@temple.edu with submissions and inquiries.
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
Former Belle
JARED WHALEN TTN
The Philadelphia folk band fronted by Bruno Joseph has had an international journey. JARED WHALEN The Temple News
For some bands the road is smooth, direct and easy to follow. For other bands, like Former Belle, it’s like trying to navigate through Center City in rush hour. Formed and fronted by Philadelphia’s Bruno Joseph, folk band Former Belle has a colorful history. Starting as a solo project for Joseph in Summer 2010, Former Belle transitioned into a full band with violins, upright bass and footstomping drums. This chapter would not last forever, though. After “breaking
up” in mid-2011, Joseph continued Former Belle as a solo project, one that ultimately took him to Europe. Refueled by a foreign tour, Former Belle is back at it, having released its first full-length album, “Cathedral,” this past winter. To achieve the diverse sound found on the album, live shows now feature new members Nathan Allebach on bass and Kyle Sheva on drums. Former Belle will play PhilaMOCA on May 9. The Temple News talked to Bruno Joseph about Former Belle’s music, history and future. The Temple News: When did you start writing material that would ultimately become Former Belle songs? Bruno Jospeh: I wrote in late high school, but the stuff that became Former Belle didn’t really happen until college. A lot of the time during winter
breaks or summer vacations because I’d go home and not have a job, and that’s where I’d just be stranded in my mom’s basement writing. TTN: Can you explain how Former Belle came to be? BJ: After I got out of college I had all those songs that I wrote throughout college. I met with a producer [Chris Radwanski]. I was going to do the whole solo act. [Radwanski] said, “Why don’t you get a band?” And at that point I just called friends and said, “These are the songs. These are the parts I have in my head. Help me put them together in a band.” And it kind of formed that way. It formed as a solo project into, “Hey, let’s be a band now.” TTN: How did you come up with the name Former Belle? BJ: I had a couple names in mind because I felt they repre-
sented the project, but Former Belle represents a time where I thought life was this big beautiful thing and I thought life was always going to be that way. And then as I got older, I saw the more harsh side of it, so I always wanted to reach back to where things were formerly beautiful. TTN: How would you describe the evolution of Former Belle? BJ: It started as a solo project with friends. And then it turned into a folk band. From there, it really turned into a fullon, full-time band. We were playing every month, and we were playing a lot of shows a month. And then we started traveling, and then we bought [a] van to travel in. I’d say the biggest step for Former Belle is we kind of took a break when I moved to Boston. Everyone kind of dispersed and decided
to do their own things. That was considered us breaking up. And then while I was in Boston I wrote half the new album and then got a call that I could go to Europe to tour. I think that the European trip, plus the Boston trip, was really the biggest step in the evolution of what the band actually turned into. Once I got back it was, “OK, new record.” TTN: You just put out your first full-length album, “Cathedral.” Describe the writing process of that album. BJ: The writing process was weird, because it happened in three completely different sections. Some of songs were older songs that I wrote during the first “Sounds from the Ground EP” days. Then when we went through our breakup and I moved to Boston, I’d say half the songs, if not written, were started there. And then I
went on tour in Europe for about five weeks, and I wrote the rest of the songs. So, it started in Philly, went to Boston, went to Europe and essentially all the songs came together in the studio when I moved back to Philly after the tour. TTN: What would you say was one of the most significant moments for you and Former Belle? BJ: The opportunity to go to Europe. That was life changing, because at that point I thought Former Belle was dwindling out. At that point it changed my whole outlook and it was like, “Yeah, I still want to do this.” Jared Whalen can be reached at jared.whalen@temple.edu.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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Prince’s Purple Reign can’t be stopped
W
KEVIN STAIRIKER Fear of Music
Stairiker examines why Prince keeps doing what he does.
hen Prince appeared on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” a few weeks ago, he really didn’t have to be any good. He could’ve sat on a stool clutching an acoustic guitar and played “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore” for a few minutes, and the crowd assembled, both in the studio and watching at home, would’ve given him rapturous applause regardless. Instead of doing that, he premiered one new song, “Screwdriver,” and played ”Bambi,” from his second album. It’s rare to get to see an artist play songs that have a 34year age gap side by side, but the songs weren’t all that different in execution. Both resembled the rockier parts of “Purple Rain” – specifically how much “Screwdriver” reminded me of “Computer Blue” – with the former being indebted to it, and the latter predating it. At the end of “Bambi,” Prince threw the guitar he was playing into the air and it came crashing back down to the ground, breaking it. This would’ve been a fine moment of rock and roll showmanship if not for the fact that the guitar was being borrowed at the time from Captain Kirk Douglas of The Roots. Prince could have easily begun his victory lap in the mid1990s, but there he was playing,
sneering coyly at the camera like he was still a young provocateur. In 2004, the same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he released one of his best albums and songs in “Musicology.” Ever since then, he has steadily been releasing albums to middling acclaim. Not that it particularly matters much to the man’s fans, who will gladly pack stadiums across the country to see him. Presumably one of the great things about being Prince is that he can simply throw together a tour, whether there is an album to promote or not. One of the strange benefits of being an acclaimed musician with decades of experience is that you can release album after album for the same group of people for years without having to worry about achieving, or reclaiming, any sort of widely popular success. Of course, there are reasons for this. Recently at South by Southwest, young bands strained ever harder for the great cereal prize that is general acclaim and acceptance by playing in bars and streets and any space they could fit into. As years have gone by and larger corporate sponsors and performers have steadily begun usurping newer bands, it becomes that much harder to think about the latter when someone like Prince – with openers A Tribe called Quest!
– is on your itinerary. And not only did he show up, but he ‘showed up,’ playing a staggering 26-song set stretched over six encores. Six. It’s no small wonder that he was saved for last at the festival. How could anyone follow him? For a man fast approaching 55 years of age with 34 released albums, where is the endpoint? Presumably, Prince will keep writing and releasing material, well, until he is on his death bed, and even after that, the supply of unreleased songs could flow out of his vault for years. To the general public, he’s the man that made “Purple Rain” and was responsible for painting most of the ‘80s in a thick sheen of purple. To his rabid fans, he’s a messiah that requires careful examination at every turn. The space between casual Prince fan and mega-fan is a wide gulf, because trying to break through a discography like that is not an easy task. The beauty of having literally hundreds of songs littered across decades of time is that there really is something for everyone on an album-byalbum basis. For example, the pop-rock side of Prince shines brightest on his criminally short 1980 album “Dirty Mind,” with songs like “Uptown” and “When You Were Mine,” featuring a melodic bounce that can’t be denied. On the other end of the
spectrum, there’s “Xpectation,” one of Prince’s many albums that was released primarily via download in the early 2000s as part of his NPG Music Club. Overflowing with jazz influences and neo-classical undertones, “Xpectation” is as far as Prince has gotten from “Purple Rain” yet. Prince is a great example of a musician simply not knowing when to quit. He’s won nearly every accolade a musician can get, along with selling millions of albums. It begs the question – how long can this keep going? How long can we just keep expecting new Prince albums to show up in the morning, sometimes literally with the morning paper as he did with the releases of recent albums “Planet Earth” and “20Ten”? Until that question is answered, we’ll be experiencing the same cycle of “Prince releases music,” “Prince is interviewed and says strange things about the Internet” and “Prince sells out new tour in minutes,” over and over until either he decides he’s written his last riff, or his fans decide that they’ve had enough. With any other musician, the former would seem like a more obvious choice, but Prince has never allowed himself to just be any other musician.
FIVE UNDERAPPRECIATED PRINCE SONGS (Not including “Purple Rain” or “Sign O’ The Times”) 1. “SOMETIMES IT SNOWS IN APRIL” 2. “TAMBORINE” 3. “ALL THE CRITICS LOVE U IN NEW YORK” 4. “RONNIE, TALK TO RUSSIA” 5. “UNDER THE CHERRY MOON”
Kevin Stairiker can be reached at kevin.stairiker@temple.edu.
Retro games still scoring big in modern culture
O SAMANTHA TIGHE Save & Quit
Tighe looks at the popularity of retro arcade games.
ne thing to note about popular trends is that they’re cyclical. For one generation, something is always enormously popular – whether it is a certain style of clothing, a hairdo or a genre of music. Soon enough, it’ll lose traction and popularity; it will slowly phase out. The trend goes dormant for about 10 or 20 years. Forgotten. Perhaps even scoffed at. All it takes is one spark, however – one throwback – before there’s a sudden revival, and the old is now back in. In 1972, Atari launched “Pong,” one of the first major arcade games. In 1978, “Space Invaders” was released. “PacMan” and “Donkey Kong” came out in 1980 and 1981, respectively. It’s been 41 years since the release of “Pong,” and “Space Invaders” was one of the front-runners that ushered in this “golden age” of arcade games. That was 35 years ago. Yet anyone actively involved in the video game community knows these games. In
fact, most of these games have entered back into pop culture by a revival of old-style arcade games. Remakes are being released in addition to the creation of ROMS and emulators made for laptops and consoles. Although most have died off within the last 10 years or so, arcades are being brought back. They may not be as thriving or lucrative as they once were – but they’re not completely obsolete either. In fact, there’s a nostalgic and eccentric vibe associated with arcades now. There are even bars, like Barcade on Frankford Avenue, which make a profit off of the arcade gimmick. So, I was curious to find what arcade games appealed to those at Temple. I asked about 20 people from the different schools and majors. Out of everyone, there were only three people who
couldn’t name an arcade game off the top of their head. The most common answers, of course, were “Donkey Kong” and “Pac Man.” When pressed for more titles, most came up blank. There were, however, some students who didn’t give the typical answers. Matthew Tonner, a sophomore studying management information systems, gave a whole list of games he used to play when he frequented Chuck E. Cheese’s as a child for birthday parties. “You had [Dance Dance Revolution], which I sucked at, those motocross and jet ski games,” Tonner said, before furrowing his eyebrows in additional thought. “There was also this shooting game at the movie theater back home that I can’t remember. You could coop and kill terrorists. I probably put hundreds of dollars into that game.”
“All it takes
is one spark, however – one throwback – before there’s a sudden revival.
”
Now, they weren’t the classic arcade games I was looking for, but Tonner was correct in his own way. I blame myself for not whittling down the video game timeframe, but his answers did open the door. Meaghan Louis, a freshman university studies, mentioned more classic arcade games. “I know ‘Pitfall,’ for sure. My dad bought my mom this arcade stick for Christmas that had games in it,” she said. “She was so excited. She played ‘Donkey Kong’ and some others. She was all about ‘Donkey Kong.’” Tamara Richardson, a freshman marketing major, could name several arcade games but couldn’t recall ever actually playing one. She saw arcades on the boardwalk and in the mall she visited in her hometown in Pittsburgh, Pa., but she never went in, she said. “My mom always said they were a waste of money,” Richardson said. “[I] always wanted to play, definitely, but never really got to.” Christine Kirkland, a senior studying marketing, was the
only student I interviewed who visited the Barcade. “[I] went with some friends on a Friday night – I regret that,” Kirkland said with a smile. “It was pretty packed, but they had a decent selection of games.” While arcade games are now retro-chic, it will be interesting to see how time treats them. Nowadays, many major players in the video game industry – like developers and writers – got their first taste of gaming by playing these arcade games, before the first batch of console games were even created. In time, however, I predict that these players will be phased out and newer generations will gain a foothold within the industry – people whose first taste of gaming was PlayStation or Xbox. We’ll just have to see if our current consoles will be given the same treatment as arcade games. Samantha Tighe can be reached at samantha.tighe@temple.edu.
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page 14
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Announcing the new Master of Science in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship degree! The College of Engineering and the Fox School of Business are pleased to offer a new jointly delivered master’s degree program that will begin in fall 2013. The IME degree will prepare students to drive and manage innovation in existing companies and establish new entrepreneurial ventures. Learn more about this exciting new program by attending our IME Information Session
PROGRAM •
30 semester-hour program can be completed either full time (one year) or part time (two years)
•
Flexible scheduling: Courses are offered either online, in the evening, or on weekends
•
Program promotes great interaction between those from various professional backgrounds
W H E N : Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 12 –1 pm W H E R E : Room 503, Alter Hall Register for this information session online at: temple.edu/engineering
College of Engineering and Fox School of Business
Thank you
Temple University
for making a difference,
one line of code at a time.
159 Coders, 24 Hours, 6 Nonprofits, 3 Locations Thank you to the Temple University students who participated in our Code for Good challenge. You helped solve real-life technology challenges for the Delaware nonprofits – The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation and United Way of Delaware – to make a difference in people’s lives. We’re proud of your efforts, and you should be too.
techcareers.jpmorganchase.com
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer M/F/D/V ©2013 JPMorgan Chase & Co.
HIGHLIGHTS:
LIVING
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Page 15
Praise from loved ones not to go unnoticed
I
CARY CARR Body of Truth
Carr reflects on the praise she received from her father growing up.
’ve always been my toughest critic. Whether I’m distraught over the definition of my arms, the cellulite on my legs or the flub around my stomach, I excel at identifying and obsessing over my flaws. But in reality, no one notices these supposed defects. In fact, my friends and family seem to be blind to them. The same goes with my friends. I have one pal in particular who absolutely despises her legs. Despite the fact that she’s undeniably gorgeous with a heart of gold, she tunes out our compliments and spends all of the time she could spend appreciating herself focusing on some imaginary imperfection. And one day, I fear, she’ll look back at pictures and wonder what the hell she was thinking by not appreciating her beauty. It’s pretty common: We tend
to focus on the negative and ignore any positive feedback our loved ones give us. But what if it was the opposite? What if instead, we let go of all the things we hated about our body, making them as insignificant as they really are and focused on the compliments and positive parts of ourselves, allowing ourselves to feel good about and possibly even proud of our looks? I know what you’re thinking: easier said than done. But I’m tired of using that as an excuse to put off my efforts in improving my self-esteem. And after this past week, I’m ready to make a change. My dad, who has always been my No. 1 fan, passed away during spring break. And throughout my entire existence, I can’t remember a single instance when he wasn’t flooding me with flattery.
Ever since I was 3 years old, I was his little princess. He would bring me to work to show me off, telling all of his co-workers how “lucky” he was to look just like me. Every time he would pick me up for a lunch date, his first words would be “you look beautiful,” and whenever a boy broke my heart or a kid at school would pick on me, he would call them “crazy” for not seeing me the way he did. Despite his consistent praise, I found a way to focus on my insecurities, falling into an eating disorder, unable to believe that I was even half as beautiful as he thought. It broke his heart, seeing me push aside my food, seeing me refuse to acknowledge the truth: I didn’t need to change a thing. I wish I could go back now and listen to him, to take his word for it: I was perfect with
all my imperfections. I was beautiful enough solely because a part of me came from him. I don’t believe in some sort of afterlife, and I know my dad’s not really up in the sky watching me right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to be my best self, to be my happiest, in order to make him proud. So from here on out, every time I’m tempted to go on a new diet because my pants don’t fit exactly the right way, and any time I feel like comparing myself to someone else, I’m going to remember how my dad would have wanted me to see myself. I’m going to look in the mirror and hear him tell me I’m beautiful, and I’m going to believe it. Because in the end, that kid in ninth grade who called me chubby doesn’t mean a goddamn thing, and the choreographer at an audition who thought
I was too big to be on the dance team is a meaningless nobody in my life. But my dad, well, his opinion and his voice will be with me forever, echoing again and again in my heart. If he could read this right now, I hope he would know that I think I’m the luckiest girl alive to have had his gapped-tooth smile and bright eyes. I hope he would see how far I’ve come from restricting my diet and fixating on the scale. I hope he would understand that I wasn’t ignoring his words, but that I just needed time to believe them on my own. If I could hear him call me beautiful just once more, I wouldn’t fight with him over it. I would just thank him because I know he truly believed it. Cary Carr can be reached at cary.carr@temple.edu.
Classic play draws parallels crucible PAGE 7
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desire for Proctor makes her ac- hysteria?” cuse Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, Prior to this production of of being a witch. In another “The Crucible,” the theater deturn of events, Proctor eventu- partment also put on the show in ally gets accused of witchcraft 1976 and again in 2000. “It’s like a Shakespearean as well. play, I think “[Elizabeth that’s why Proctor is] dealShakespeare ing with the fact gets done so her husband has much,” Dugan been unfaithful said. “There are to her, and then cycles of certain she is thrown into plays which get another situation popular to do where she has to based on what’s defend her husgoing on in the band,” said Leah world. I think Walton, an MFA this is one of acting candidate those plays, who portrays and I hope it Elizabeth Proctor. [continues to Dugan adds, Tim Dugan / first year mfa acting be] one of those plays that keeps “It’s a scary time and a scary place when truth getting cycled through.” With four acts and a run doesn’t matter. What are the factors that make a situation time of three hours, the highlike this possible? How does it stake situations characters find go from being this affair to this themselves in help build the
“It’s a scary
time and a scary place when truth doesn’t matter. What are the factors that make a situation like this possible?
”
play’s momentum, he added. “It’s well built; every character has a history and has stakes in this society,” Dugan said. “It’s just one of those stories where everything is [high stakes].” Walton said she hopes audiences can make relevant connections to the show’s themes. “The thing about an amazing play like ‘The Crucible’ is that it still has legs after so many years, and that’s what makes something a class,” Walton said. “It’s still important to today’s audiences.” The Crucible runs March 27 through April 6. Luis Fernando Rodriguez can be reached at luis.fernando@temple.edu or on Twitter @theluisfernando.
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Jackie DiFerdinando (on floor) and the cast of “The Crucible” rehearsed on Thursday, March 21, in Tomlinson Theater. DiFerdinando plays Abigail Williams. The show runs March 27 through April 6. | Luis fernando rodriguez TTN
living
page 16
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Actors must know physical limitations, responsibilities
MARCIE ANKER Starving Actor
In part one of a twopart column, Anker discusses body image in the politics of casting.
A
hundred years ago, during what I like to call “The Dark Ages,” otherwise known as high school, I got my first job. It was at this cesspool of a steakhouse that was legitimately run by ex-cons out on work release. I remember almost nothing from that experience. I knew it was one of those times in life that was better left repressed or blacked out. However, one thing that has stuck in my mind like a piece of broccoli in my teeth is something that the manager said to me on my first day. “Do you want to hear a secret?” he said. It was no secret that he was a strong anti-hygiene activist and likely an Internet troll. “We only hire girls that can fit into size small T-shirts. We only order size small, so if ya don’t fit, ya don’t work. But you will be fine.” Red. Flag. America’s obsession with physical appearance and personal image continues to find new ways and places to rear its ugly head. Unfortunately, this obsession with appearance is the elephant in the room – or stage, rather. Whether we realize it or not, we as consumers are conditioned to believe that beauty exists as a 5-foot, 7-inch,
110-pound, WASP-y blonde. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Hollywood’s population consists of white models who are forced each day at gunpoint to spend four straight hours on a treadmill. So, it’s no wonder that theater, a visual art, would also take image into consideration when casting. Actors get two to three minutes to show a director who we are in an audition. Two minutes. We are not afforded the luxury of a 45-minute get-to-know-you interview like other professions. We have two minutes. At auditions, we literally have to present ourselves to a director, and the only things we can control in that situation are our talent and image. A few weeks ago in a weekly class that includes every theater major, a big-time Philadelphia-area casting director came in to speak to us and impart her timeless wisdom upon us. Funnily enough, she said something strikingly similar to what my piggish boss said to me years before. The casting director said something along the lines of, “If you are larger than a size four, you don’t stand a chance in this industry.” Granted, this casting director deals primarily with film actors and models. But, in a room full of budding or fullybloomed divas, you can imagine the outrage. I, however, did not share in the public’s outrage and cries for blood. So, while some students sharpened their pitchforks and lit their torches, I chose to write about it. And, honey, I ain’t no size two. Body image and physical appearance are very delicate subjects for any individual to be confronted with, especially when the subjects are broached with such unflinching bluntness. And the trouble comes when actors’ feelings start getting hurt because they either don’t or won’t separate the distinction between “thin” and “healthy.” Senior theater major Kyra
Baker was one of the many students present during this particular presentation. Of the issue, Baker said, “It really made me think how the entertainment industry has the biggest influence on society, particularly young people. Being thin doesn’t necessarily mean you’re healthy. In fact, it can often mean quite the opposite. As an actor who has been greatly influenced by physical ideals, I struggle to maintain an image of health and an attitude of acceptance. These are of much more value than the size of my jeans.” Fortunately, talent and skill are given far more importance in the casting process than physical appearance. To the best actor goes the role. Peter Reynolds, head of the musical theater department at Temple and artistic director of Mauckingbird Theatre Company weighed in with his professional opinion and experience as a long-time director. “For film, I would believe [the casting director was] right,” Reynolds said. “The truth is, film and television automatically put 10 pounds on you. Period. It’s just a fact.” And I agree with Reynolds, partly because I can’t dispute a fact and partly because there are different considerations and standards used in film casting. Reynolds went on to add, “For theater, what I believe is more important than a certain size or a certain dress size is fitness. Because in theater, you’re casting someone who has to do eight shows a week. And I’m looking for people who I can look at and say, ‘Oh yeah, he can dance that eight times a week; she can sing that eight times a
week.’ I don’t think people understand how much fitness and nutrition shows up. You can look at somebody who eats well and takes care of themselves, no matter what size they are, and directors can see that. Then you can look at somebody who smokes, who eats really poorly and who doesn’t exercise, and that shows up, too. So for me, it’s fitness, not a specific size. The only thing [actors] have control of is what you can do, how you tell a story and your own fitness.” Reynolds brings up several crucial points that cannot be ignored by actors. It takes incredible stamina to perform in eight shows a week, musical or not. A production of “Grease” can be just a physically demanding and taxing as a production of “Hamlet.” Our bodies are our instruments. The voice and speech training that we undergo at Temple only go so far once we hit the stage. The rest of the work lies in our own hands. About a year ago, I was in a show and I essentially lived off of the Pringles-and-Red-Bull diet plan throughout the threemonth rehearsal process. During a dress rehearsal the night before our first preview, I was rushed off stage and stripped in the lobby – not as sexy as it sounds – because I was so lightheaded that I blacked out and nearly fainted and vomited simultaneously – not as impressive as it sounds. I was not taking care of myself, as a human being or as an actor, and it showed. After I put my clothes back on and the director was sure I was stable, she reprimanded me for not taking better care of my body during
“We have to be
realistic about who we are, and what we can do; and conversely, what our limitations are as actors.
”
this time. I should have known better. Lesson learned. I don’t have to be perfect -looking or have the perfect body to be cast in a show. But I do have to care enough about my image to invest effort in putting forth the best version of myself through fitness, hygiene and appearance. God knows I wouldn’t get cast if I walked into an audition room with taquito breath, sweatpants to hide my taquito food baby, last night’s makeup and uncombed hair sprinkled with bits of – wait for it – taquitos. Hell, I wouldn’t cast me. Appearance matters; effort matters. “Appearance plays a huge part,” said Elizabeth Carlson, a master of fine arts candidate in directing. “When we see an actor for two to three minutes – sometimes less – in an audition, we are gathering as much information about you as we can in that short time, and some of those things are: How you look, how you’re dressed, how you move, how you speak – both in your audition piece and conversationally. I like to think that, as directors, we are casting actors, not models – but it can be easy to get taken in by how someone looks.” Carlson added that as a director she may have an idea in her mind about how a particular character should look and that may hinder her judgment. “All of a sudden an actor walks in who looks exactly how you pictured that character. That can be a trap, because at that moment, part of you tunes down your quality detector because you want that person to be ‘the one’ so badly.” Carlson gives a perfect example of the power that looks can have over a director. Despite the dangerous temptation of choosing type over talent, Carlson has avoided that trap and directed several outstanding scenes and a production of “Cloud 9,” where she was a
co-director with fellow MFA directing candidate David Girard. Carlson sums up the responsibility of an actor very well: “Part of who you are as an actor is how you look, and you can use that to your advantage, or not. But that’s the way it is. Own who you are and what you’ve got. Confidence goes a long way, as does knowing and working well with the instrument you have.” Amen. Now, obviously, there are unfair double standards that exist in the film industry when it comes to women versus men. Women, generally, are held to a far higher physical standard in Hollywood than men are. And if women don’t fit this model-esque role, they are promptly placed on either the “best friend” or “comic relief” shelves. Our acting professors stress the importance of young theater artists knowing and embracing their capabilities. We have to be realistic about who we are, and what we can do; and conversely, what our limitations are as actors. Basically, we have to know what kind of actor we are. I know better than to walk into an audition for the role of Lady Macbeth, or for the role of Lisbeth Salander in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” because that’s not me, no matter how much I wish that was. Sigh. In the world of theater, we actors have very little control over our fates or the roles that we get, so if there is something that is within our power to control, why wouldn’t we make the best of it? We have to take care of our bodies as much as we do our minds. To be continued...dun dun dun. Feed me? Actually, don’t. I’m on a diet. Marcie Anker can be reached at martha.anker@temple.edu. For part two of this column, pick up TTN on Tuesday, April 2.
Groups use films to create dialogue, raise awareness presenting students with subsequent evidence to support the change to a plant-based diet and advancing the development of vegan advocacy on campus are just a few of the many measures taken by TVAN. This particular event centered on the screening of what Melonas calls “a first draft” of the documentary, “Speciesism: The Movie.” The documentary takes the audience on an exploration of “factory farms.” The aim of the film was, first, to educate viewers on the existence of major animal rights issues called “speciesism,” and second, to challenge their traditional modes of thinking. Audible gasps filled the room when Melonas appeared on screen in several scenes, specifically one major scene where he launches into a deeply emotional call for action against what he described as a “modern day Holocaust” against animals taking place every day, every minute, everywhere. “I think the film series is a wonderful form of activism. It has the potential to show how animal rights and veganism is really a holistic movement, versus the more common – and obviously false – view that vegans just really, really ‘love animals,’ or worse, ‘hate human beings,’” Melonas said. “‘Speciesism: The Movie,’ criticizes our unthinking and, ultimately, what turns out to be merely prejudiced preference in favor of members of our own group. We don’t really know why, but human beings just seem more ‘special.’ In other words, the film challenges the various ways that human beings are constructed to disregard or devalue the interest, the suffering and the lives of billions of non-human animals.” The film certainly adopted
a full-frontal assault style, capturing several graphic scenes of animal cruelty. These scenes were designed to ensure that viewers are not given the opportunity to un-see what they have seen; they must confront the harsh realities of the world, Melonas added. However, the film received a positive reception from students. “I thought [the film] was brilliant,” said Janine Gudknecht, a junior biology major. “It was informative and has the potential to be an eye-opener for future audiences. It did a good job of addressing the counter arguments that are pro-meat. I’d tell people to watch it.” Abby Chang, a junior music therapy major had a similar reaction. “I really enjoyed it,” Chang said. “While I cringed during some parts, those scenes were the ones that made the biggest impact on my outlook and attitude toward the film and the subject. It was a well-made documentary and it seemed that [Mark Devries, the movie’s director], made a conscious effort not to edit anyone’s opinions just to please the audience. That is what made the film respectable.” TVAN is not the only social activist group on campus that employs the use of films, particularly documentary films, to incite social change. React to Film is a Main Campus group that focuses on screening documentary films related to a wide assortment of social issues. Like TVAN, RTF is a relatively new group, being just one year old. It was founded by vice president Kara Lieff, a junior film and media arts major. RTF has three screenings per semester, the films being
films PAGE 7
chosen and provided by the official React to Film organization. President of RTF, Julisa Basak, a senior FMA major, said since the group is new and not well known, turnout has been relatively low, but she hopes attendance improves as time goes on. All the members of RTF are also involved in community activism groups outside of Temple. “Expose, engage and inspire is our mission statement,” Lieff said. “So first we want to expose people to different issues through the documenta-
ries, we want to engage them in the topic – so we don’t want to just screen the documentary and say, ‘bye.’ We want to have supplemental activities. This semester for our first screening we had the director of Philadelphia CeaseFire come and speak afterward about the topic, and this past screening we had a performance beforehand and a Philadelphia muralist speak afterward.” “And for ‘inspire,’ we just hope that people will leave the event with something in their head that they can think or
talk about in order to make a change,” Lieff added. Basak added, “[To] ‘react to film’ is to be able to react after the film, and just to pick up the social and political issues that are going around the nation. Try to be more involved in the community – that’s our ultimate goal. And the good thing about film is that it’s a very good medium to get more people inspired because visual and audio medium is important for people to seep the message in, as opposed to simply just reading an article or something.
It’s inspiring when you can see people who’ve actually gone through these situations and then take a stand. When you see a documentary you just feel empowered and want to do something about whatever issue is presented.” RTF’s next and final documentary film showing for the semester, is the Oscar awardwinning “Searching for Sugar Man,” will be screened on April 17, at 6 p.m. in Anderson Hall Room 14. Marcie Anker can be reached at martha.anker@temple.edu.
Alex Melonas, a political science graduate student and interviewee in “Speciesism: The Movie,” discusses the film with students on March 19 in Tuttleman Hall. | dalexis peguero TTN
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
LIVING
Page 17
Everyday life contains Feminist label should be multitude of monitors adopted by more males
CHRIS MONTGOMERY superuser do
I
Montgomery addresses the relationship we have to different screens.
t’s probably safe to say I live most of my life through the rectangular frame of one screen or another. Whether that rectangle is called a laptop, a desktop, a smartphone, a tablet, a camera, a projector or sometimes even a television, many of my experiences are mediated not only by my senses – go figure – but also by the effects of computer vision. I wish I didn’t have to choose between making my human body do things in beautiful sunny fields – with puppies – and making not-alive things do alive things behind smudgy sheets of glass. But the idea of running across a field while watching Tarkovsky or Cronenberg films on an iPad just seems ridiculous to me. And, for the love of all that is breathing, I hope that it seems ridiculous to you, too. Ah, Cronenberg. He made one of my favorite movies, “Videodrome.” Starring James Woods of that one episode of “The Simpsons” fame and Debbie Harry of “Heart of Glass” fame, “Videodrome” is a deeply disturbing sci-fi body horror film from 1983. Woods’ character is a producer for a Canadian soft-core “pr0n” television network looking for something a little edgier. He discovers the Videodrome broadcast – let’s categorize its content as beyond sado-masochism – but it quickly becomes obvious that the violent hallucinations and body mutations are connected. It’s probably best if I stop
describing the plot of “Videodrome” now, but the main reason I’ve seen it so many times is for the enigmatic wisdom of the film’s wise-yet-weird sage character, Professor Brian O’Blivion. O’Blivion makes it a point to only appear through a television screen – at one point in the film, he is speaking through a television screen as a guest on a talk show, and you’re watching this whole thing through another screen. In his own words, “the television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye” and “whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it.” So what happens to us who fall asleep with the television on, lulled into a false dreamland by the rapid-fire newspeak of witching-hour televangelists and insurance-loving geckos? No doubt it’s the closest thing to an American dream that we will ever experience. I have vivid memories of walking the streets of Havertown, Pa., long past my bedtime, my gaze drawn into bedrooms and living rooms by flashing blue lights reflecting off the walls from an unseen source. I could only assume those rooms were inhabited by the ubiquitous glowing rectangles. When I sometimes inhabited these rooms in my own territory, even my friends comfortably bathed in the glowing emissions of the beloved rectangles. But I was rarely comfortable in these blue rooms – Friday nights became tinged with depression and random angst, painted by the dancing light like a bad acid trip. Blue glow is obviously a theme here. In my column about jailbreaking iOS, I described a tweak called f.lux that alters the white balance of the device’s screen to match that of the ambient light after sunset. The developers of f.lux, which is also available for Windows, Mac, Android and Linux, justify the need for their tweak with a plethora of research studies proving the detrimental effects of blue light on sleep patterns. And glob knows, we sure have messed-up sleep patterns. My adolescent fears have been validated, to some extent. Yet still, no matter where I go, I’m drawn to those damned
glowing screens. I can be in the middle of a life-changing conversation at El Bar – where many of my life-changing conversations happen – but the flashing and the jumping of the figures on the wall-mounted television never fail to take my eyes off of my life-changing friends. I’d rather my life be changed by a conversation than by pixels understood to represent a football game. The light itself is only the beginning. While I’ve always been a fan of great films, I never fully realized why so many films in the realist tradition have rejected the traditional psychological acting and plot continuity of Hollywood cinema. But then I signed up for a course in international realist film studies this semester, and I began to make a lot more realizations about the media we consume every day. One of Hollywood’s most powerful devices is the “suspension of disbelief,” the audience’s deliberate and unquestioning surrender to the world of the film. Face it: despite how awesome “Star Wars” might be, the dialogue is badly written. But really, the first problem is that it is written, and that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are merely following instructions. Most cinema is composed of shots, scenes, sequences and sound edited and pulled together in post-production to cover for the fact that it is cinema. Leonardo DiCaprio did not actually sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a lie that we blissfully accept as truth because otherwise what’s the point and where’s the fun? Some cinemas break the traditional rules of film, so as to jar the audience out of complacency. One of the more wellknown techniques is the jump cut, a slight change in camera angle that appears less as a different shot from another perspective and more as a leap forward in time. The fragmented nature of cinema is exposed. The audience is breathless. Remember: you will never see “reality” in a screen. Ever. Chris Montgomery can be reached at chris.montgomery@temple.edu.
JACOB HARRINGTON
Harrington reflects on his self-proclaimed feminism and why he thinks others should join him.
M
arch celebrates women everywhere and their place in society and history. There is not a men’s history month. If you are a man, it would probably not be a good idea to complain about the lack of a men’s history month. Patriarchy is a very real thing, so on behalf of the male population I am more than willing to let it slide that we do not have a dedicated month to us. “Patriarchy” is one of those fancy words like “hegemony.” It carries a lot of sociological meaning, it is hard to pronounce and it results in a lot of people – women, mainly – getting a bad deal. A patriarchy is a society functioning with women at a disadvantage. Women have gotten the short end of the stick throughout history. You can tell by how many female presidents America has had. Though I am not a woman, I would imagine that being a woman is very difficult. Being a human being, after all, is the most difficult thing that I have ever done. It would be a lot harder if society were kind of slanted against me because of my gender. It would anger me that men working the same job were making more money than me. It would anger me if men tried to legislate what I could do with my body or my birth control. It would be traumatic to fear sexual harassment and sexual assault on a walk down
my street. It would drive me absolutely insane to be called a slut or get accused of putting a guy in the “friend zone” because I did not behave exactly the way I was expected to. For women, these are things to deal with every day, and I would imagine that stuff gets old pretty fast. Men don’t face these issues. Seth MacFarlane glistened his way through his gig as Oscar host recently, delivering lots of vaguely misogynistic jokes to get that coveted “Family Guy” fan base to tune in. Geena Davis cited his performance as how “tone deaf” attitudes toward women can be, and lamented the fact that the host’s material was disrespectful toward women. Recently, you’ve had to have heard someone say that a war on women is taking place at the state and federal level. One needs to look no further than “transvaginal ultrasounds” to see the evidence: women are the victims of a lot of stupidity on the part of men. The first time I heard a dusty old male politician say “transvaginal ultrasounds,” I felt like a feminist. I felt a pang of disbelief that men would do something so awful and senseless and that our government would let something like this happen without exiling the responsible parties for proposing government-sanctioned rape. On Sunday nights I like to stay in. I have a TV date. “Girls” is one of the most original and well-made shows on television right now. Women are portrayed as manic-pixie girls in film and television. Always the girlfriend, never the realistically portrayed and humanistic female character. The women shown in ads and media are rail thin and shaped like hourglasses and Victoria’s Secret models. Lena Dunham is depicting a character like no one else on television – a woman so real that it makes some people uncomfortable. She is not afraid to go nude for entire scenes, and this draws ire and criticism against her. I think it is refreshing to see a woman on television act like a woman and not like a woman written by a man with an idea of how women should act. Hannah Horvath is one of my favorite fictional characters in existence, right behind Beatrix Kiddo.
I am a feminist, because I think women are wonderful people and they deserve to live without patriarchy hanging over their heads. Everyone can be a feminist. Male feminism is a whole thing on its own, full of disagreement over whether or not men have any business being feminists. Women are not always feminists. Feminism doesn’t mean that women cannot be feminine or be wonderful at cooking or that men should be afraid to tell a woman she is pretty. To me, it just means equality. Feminism can be a complicated concept. False ideas and preconceptions of feminism chalk it up to being about hating on men and burning bras, but that is nonsense. Feminism is about equality. If you think your mom and your sister are human beings and you want them to be treated as such, you are a feminist. If you think men and women should treat each other like people and that everyone deserves equality, you are a feminist. In my opinion, humans should be feminists. To be a feminist is to be a pro-humanity human being. To me, my feminist beliefs come from the fact that I think treating women, men and your fellow human beings badly isn’t acceptable. Feminism is not a radical notion; it is a perfectly logical one. Everyone should advocate for equality and unity between people, not gender bias and division. Men and women are different people. We have inherently different life experiences. We do our best to understand each other. For men to be feminists is for men to be aware of patriarchy and decidedly against it in support of equality for women. Or because it is just the nice thing to do. Be nice to fellow humans, no matter their gender. Jacob Harrington can be reached at jacob.harrignton@temple.edu.
Feminist presence, health resources offered on campus feminism PAGE 7 Class titles include “Women in Literature,” “Black Lesbian Writers and Filmmakers” and “Gender, War and Society.” Students can major in women’s studies, minor in it or earn a certificate – or they can minor in LGBT studies, which falls under the umbrella of the department. Women’s studies and LBGT studies professor Aishah Shahidah Simmons, who teaches courses like “Gay and Lesbian Lives” and “Audre Lorde: The Life and Work of a Silence Breaker,” notes the importance of college campuses to the feminist movement. “There are a lot of young people who are involved in it and I think it’s important in terms of growth that you always are having new blood, and the nice thing about the university setting is that every four-to-six years there’s a whole new crop of people who are going to be coming,” Simmons said. “As a result, I appreciate what FMLA is doing; there are young women’s conferences, or they’re organizing emerging leaders on campuses.” The women’s studies department can be found on the eighth floor of Anderson Hall, recognizable by the wall hangings featuring female leaders
like Phillis Wheatley and Frida Kahlo.
Wellness Resource Center
Located on the bottom level of Mitten Hall, the center is an information hub for topics like dating violence, alcohol abuse, stress management and safe sex. H.E.A.R.T. peer educators and professional staff alike can offer guidance about a plethora of mental and sexual health topics – or, if a question is outside of their range of expertise, they can point in the right direction for the answer. Visitors can also sign up for individual wellness consultations or rapid HIV testing. Of course, it would be wrong to write about the center without mentioning what is arguably its biggest draw: 10-cent condoms. How do these topics relate to feminism? Sex positivity has become a growing force in the modern feminist movement, “positivity” meaning that sex is seen as both natural and powerful. I can’t think of a better way to promote this than encouraging explicit education about the body. Additionally, H.E.A.R.T. officially sponsors the yearly “Vagina Monologues” performances, which celebrate feminine sexuality through a series
of humorous and serious monologues varying in topic from rape to cultural differences to “If my vagina could talk, what would it say?”
them, have changed – or maybe not. “I find feminists or independent, political and outspoken women and men all over campus by simply being vocal Conversation Sounds obvious, right? Not about what I care about,” said so much. In the age of the In- Darragh Dandurand Friedman, a junior comternet, I’m under munication the impression Not only the studies major that most people take to the writ- issues, but the way and women’s studies minor. ten word – or the we communicate “Here at [Tem.gif, or the blog them, have ple] I think re-post – to comthere is a fair municate their changed – or amount of dismorals and politics. Maybe I say maybe not. cussion from students, but that because it’s not nearly enough that ignites what I do. I know that I can find news stories of interest on my action. There seems to be a lowFacebook feed because those hanging fog around taking up posting are limited to my group the good fight and getting out of friends, most of whom share there.”
“
”
some of my cares. Why else would we be friends? However, this microcosm of the public sphere also limits the number of conversations that can be had. One of my professors likes to talk about the good ol’ days of the 1970s when students rallied on college campuses all over the country to protest the nuclear bomb. I can’t see that happening for any subject today. Not only the issues, but the ways we communicate
The Internet
Temple feminists have an active online presence, from themed Facebook groups to critical essay sites to blogs. One group of Temple alumni that started its own feminist Tumblr last May is Foxjuice. Some of those things, as listed on the site’s mission page, include “honest discussion of feminism, sex, gender expectations, media, and quality cheese and beer pairings.” Administra-
tors post personal stories, such as a first-person encounter with Plan B birth control, a la typical blog style. But there are also statistics, pictures and news stories about feminist issues. Because the Foxjuice writers united at Temple, they can speak to the state of feminist speech on Main Campus during their four years. “My first year, [FMLA was] a much smaller group and had a much smaller impact on campus, but by the time I graduated there was a greater interest from people in wanting to join or come to events and it was a much bigger group,” alumna Liz Pride said. “I think part of that was definitely due to the learning curve and FMLA members just getting better at organizing events and reaching out, but the fact that ‘feminism’ became a word that people heard all the time in pop culture rather than something they associated with stereotypes.” Through Foxjuice, they are doing their part in promoting the acceptance of that word in the mainstream. So, what of the state of feminism on Temple’s campus as a whole? Simmons, a traveling documentarian and lecturer, offered a comparison to other universities.
“I think it’s really hard [to find here]. I’ve only been here a year in August, so I’m new,” Simmons said. “[But] in comparison to other campuses, I don’t feel a strong feminist presence. I understand this is a huge campus, it’s not a contained campus like a small liberal arts school, but even in some of those larger campuses that I’ve been on like UMass Amherst, I just kind of feel it.” She also cites Temple’s lack of a women’s center or rape crisis center as problematic. “Where is the physical location where students can [say], ‘This is the place where we can go’? It’s not here,” Simmons said. To be clear, this list is not exhaustive. There may be pockets of feminism hidden from public view but making a difference on Main Campus. Hopefully feminist students, female or not, will be inspired to make their voices heard and incite a growth of the movement. As Shoshanna of Girls puts it so aptly: “I am woman, hear me roar.” Julie Zeglen can be reached at julie.zeglen@temple.edu.
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
In A-10 finale, Twin pitchers still ‘work in progress’ Owls hopeful TWINS PAGE 20
TRACk PAGE 20 the Owls will have a little more year, and that way our team will than a month to fine-tune times continue to get better and betand relay combinations in prep- ter.” aration for championship seaThe women’s team will son, which starts with the two- be looking to repeat as A-10 day conference meet May 4. champs in its final season in the “I want to see continued conference. progress in our training,” Mo“That’s always what we bley said. “We have to keep focus on and what [Mobley] working hard and we’ll contin- has us focused on,” sophomore ue to work to get better through- middle-distance runner Jenna out the season.” Dubrow said. “If we all come “I want improvements together and run our best, I throughout the definitely think we whole entire have a shot.” year,” MobIn their latley added. “I est campaign, the just want us to women will be get better and highlighted by better toward sophomore Margo the end of the Britton, a winner season. That of three conferprogress will ence shot put titles show we’re – two indoor, one training, and outdoor – and an that we’re Eric Mobley / coach A-10 title in the trying to get discus throw a better later on year ago, along down in the with top distance year.” runners junior Anna Pavone, The men will look to a sophomore Jenna Dubrow and young distance group for clutch senior Tonnie Smith, among points. Sophomores Davis and others. University of Florida transfer For both the men’s and Alex Izewski head a young core women’s sides, individual talent of distance runners that features mixed with the camaraderie of a five freshmen, three sopho- close team could yield success a mores and two juniors. month down the road. For Mobley, performances “I can’t say this team is such as sophomore Matt Kacy- definitely better than last year, on’s winning mark of 9 minutes, but we’re pretty much like a 25.77 seconds in the 3,000-me- family,” Davis said. “We’re ter steeplechase and a fourth- really close. Everyone knows place, 4:04.29 performance in each other. A lot of track teams the 1500-meter run from Davis get split up into event groups, in the Weems Baskin invita- but I think we’re a lot closer of tional March 22-23 is a taste of a team than anyone out there in what to expect from his mixed the conference.” team of youth and elders. “Whenever there’s a prob“Hopefully our senior guys lem, the team leaders will set up can inspire our younger guys meetings with each other, which to push [themselves],” Mobley we did this past winter when we said. “That’s what tends to hap- weren’t running well,” Davis pen. The young guys start train- added. “I think we have a pretty ing with the older guys and they good attitude and a lot of great see them take it to the next level leaders on this team that help and so the younger guys think, make this year’s team pretty ‘Hey, I can take it to that level good.” too.’” Andrew Parent can be reached “We always want freshmen at andrew.parent@temple.edu to come in and contribute and or on Twitter @daParent93. they definitely can,” Mobley added. “That’s what we’re looking for. We’re trying to bring in better and better freshmen every
“Hopefully
our senior guys can inspire our younger guys to push [themselves].
”
while Patrick is listed as 6 foot, 3 inches, weighing 190 pounds. “We are both two completely different pitchers,” Eric said. “[Patrick’s] best pitch is his changeup, while my best pitch is my curveball. He also throws left-handed, which makes us completely different.” In Patrick’s eyes, being compared to twin brother Eric is more of an insult than a compliment, he said, jokingly. “I do not compare myself to my brother at all,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to ever compare myself to him.” In their freshman seasons in 2012, the Peterson brothers did not compare very evenly on the statistics sheet. In 17 appearances (three starts), Eric compiled a 1-1 record with a 5.29 ERA in 49.1 innings pitched. The right-handed pitcher allowed 29 earned runs and 54 hits while recording 19 walks and 35 strikeouts. As for Patrick, he earned a 3-4 record in 15 appearances (13 starts) with a 3.51 ERA in 2012.
The left-handed pitcher allowed 33 earned runs and 74 hits in 84.2 innings pitched. While Patrick allowed 28 walks, he also led the Owls in strikeouts with 68 a year ago. “I think [Eric and Patrick] both have the chance to be very good college pitchers and maybe play beyond college,” pitching coach Brian Pugh said. “They have the potential to be a really good one-two punch for the next three years and we are excited about that, especially as they continue to develop and mature even more on the mental side of things. I think if they increase their understanding of how to pitch, the future is very bright for them.” Patrick has been inconsistent recently, Wheeler said. Eric is still a work in progress as he is still adjusting to the starting rotation, Pugh said. “I think they are both young men that can put themselves on the radar for some major league scouts,” Wheeler said. “But
right now they are just above average pitchers at the college level and if they want to go to the next level they are going to have to be great pitchers. They are going to have some bad innings and they are going to get hit. They have got to be able to settle in and just pitch and that is what will take them to the next level to be a great pitcher.” This season as starting pitchers, Eric and Patrick have been two of the strongest members of the Temple starting rotation as their statistics show. Patrick leads all Owls’ starters with five starts and has compiled a 1-3 record with a 5.33 ERA. The left-handed pitcher also leads Temple with 25.1 innings pitched, allowing 23 hits while recording 12 walks and 22 strikeouts. “I am by far,” Patrick said with a smile when asked which sibling is the better pitcher. “Overall, I am just better than [Eric].” “It’s probably me,” Eric
said. “At this point right now, I would say I am definitely better than he is, although I know he will disagree with me.” In six appearances this season – three starts – Eric has earned a 2-0 record with a 2.96 ERA. In 24.1 innings of work, the right-handed pitcher has allowed 16 hits and eight earned runs while recording six walks and a team high 23 strikeouts. Regardless of who is the better pitcher, Wheeler has expressed the importance of having the two in the rotation, as they are expected to bring a solid performance with each start. “They both bring a tremendous amount of confidence to the table whenever they are out on the mound,” Wheeler said. “To be honest, without Eric and Patrick right now, I don’t know that we would be in some of these ball games the way we are.” John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or on Twitter @JohnMurrow12.
Senior shooting woes doom Temple SENIORS PAGE 20 that happens,” Dunphy said. “He tried his very best. Sometimes you try too hard. But he’s someone you’re going to stay with and ride, and he’s my son. I feel badly that he didn’t make a couple of shots. He had a great year and a great career.” “I’ve had days like this,” Randall said. “The only thing that was going through my head when I was missing is keep shooting and do other things to try and help my team. As of now, you can’t really do too much about it. It already happened, so just got to move forward.” Randall was effective in other areas, getting a game-high nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. “He did other things,” Dunphy said. “He helped us in so many other ways. It’s just one of those things that happens, and he needs to just remember it, but move on as well. He’s been a great guy to coach for five years.” O’Brien struggled with foul
trouble, getting called for four fouls in 13 minutes. He was 0-for-4 from the field, including three misses from behind the arc. “It was frustrating, picking up those early fouls and coming out in the second half with four and not being able to return,” O’Brien said. “Just knowing you can’t do much but watch. It was really frustrating for me. I wish I could have done more.” “It’s disappointing for Jake,” Dunphy said. “I thought he got a couple calls that just didn’t go his way, including the fourth one. I thought he played about as good as he could play on the defensive end there. It would have been nice to have him for more minutes in the second half. Maybe we could have gotten
him an open look.” DiLeo did not score, but played solid defense in 21 minutes. “We were still getting pretty good looks toward the end of the shot clock,” DiLeo said. “Some of them weren’t falling today. But I think that was definitely one of our parts of the game plan, to manage the game.” Despite the team’s struggles on offense, the Scootie Randall / graduate forward Owls held Indiana to just 58 points. The Hoosiers average 80 points a game, the thirdhighest mark in the country. “I thought we competed like crazy today,” Dunphy said. “I don’t know how good a defensive team we could have been all year long. We weren’t as good as we needed to be in
“The only thing
that was going through my head when I was missing is keep shooting.
”
a number of games...I couldn’t have been more proud with how this team competed today.” Ultimately, the five graduating players will all be remembered for different reasons, and have moments to be proud of. That may take some time, though. “Maybe a couple weeks down the road,” DiLeo said. “Months or years down the road, we’ll look back at it and be proud of what we did. But right now, it still hurts knowing that we could easily be in the Sweet Sixteen now. I’m proud of all these guys, that’s all I can say.” Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.
Shared space brings gymnastics teams together Teams enjoy camaraderie, but are limited in space. SAMUEL MATTHEWS The Temple News Since the gym isn’t large enough to hold the necessary equipment to have a full practice, both the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams have to practice together side by side in connected gyms located at McGonigle Hall 143 and 144. Although members from both the men’s and women’s gymnastics team admit that sharing practice space and equipment can be challenging at times, both parties have said that it is not something that distracts them from their performances. Rather, the chemistry built from having both teams practicing together every day contributes to the notion that they are not separate entities, but one big team competing together. When asked if practicing simultaneously with the women’s gymnastics team can be a distraction, men’s co-captain and graduate student Taylor Brana said the contrary. “I would say it’s the opposite,” Brana said. “I really think one of the cool things about both teams working out at the same time is the fact that there is so much movement going on
GYMNASTICS
and it’s just a room of activity. women’s teams have to share And so when I see a girl going equipment. In gymnastics, on bars doing her stuff, it kind both men and women compete of motivates me to do my own in vault and floor exercise. At thing.” Temple, the vault and floor have “Whereas if there were less to be shared. bodies and less action in the “Sharing the equipment gym, it’s not as motivating to does get tough sometimes,” work out,” he added. Murphy said. “It does get a little Although men’s gymnastics frustrating. There are some days is mainly a sport of power and where I’ll say ‘I wish the guys strength while women’s gym- weren’t here so we could utilize nastics contains more finesse everything the way we want.”’ and performance, members of “Having to share the floor both team said they are capable and vault definitely creates some from learning from each other. issues on some days,” Tighe “There are certain skills said. “Especially when we’re that are pretty similar,” wom- in meet season and everyone en’s coach Aaron Murphy said. is trying to get ready for their “There are times own meet, and that I’ll have the the girls need girls stop for a something and second and I’ll the guys need say, ‘Hey watch something, it him up there. does create Watch him do some conflicts this release move but we do our because he does best to work it right and I around it.” need you to do In order to that. I want you work around to mimic it,’ so Taylor Brana / graduate student it, a scheduling it’s great they are rotation is used able to see that by the men’s and learn it visuand women’s ally.” teams to minimize any conflict “It goes both ways,” senior in sharing. Alex Tighe said. “Sometimes “We have arranged a way the girls have a good technical to share vault and floor,” men’s correction that we wouldn’t see, coach Fred Turoff said. “For exand vice versa so it does benefit ample if [men] have floor first in some respect.” on Monday, Wednesday, FriHowever, the men’s and day, then [women] have it first
“If there were
less bodies and less action in the gym, it’s not as motivating to work out.
”
The men’s and women’s gymnastics teams practice together at McGonigle Hall. Though practice creates a sense of team unity, the Owls are forced to share space. | ABI REIMOLD TTN on Tuesday, Thursday and vice versa, and when [women] are on floor, [men] are on vault.” Overall though, the atmosphere at a Temple gymnastics practice is as if both teams are really just one big team. “The guys cheer for the girls, the girls cheer for the
guys, we are one big family,” Murphy said. “We are absolutely a family at Temple,” Brana said. “And I haven’t seen this at any other schools, the fact that the men’s and women’s team have a very strong relationship, we get along with each other really
well, and I definitely think that it is one big team rather than two separate teams.” Sam Matthews can be reached at samuel.matthews@temple.edu.
sports
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Page 19
Wyatt performs memorably in exit WYATT PAGE 20 to me and me to him,” Dunphy said. “We didn’t hit it off all that great when he was a freshman, but he hung in there and stuck with it.” Wyatt emerged as the Atlantic 10 Conference Sixth Man of the Year in 2011 before solidifying himself in the starting lineup in 2011-12 season. After being named to the Second Team All-A-10 Conference as a junior, Wyatt entered his senior year as the team’s top scoring option. Wyatt’s body of work in his senior season included seven 30-point games, a scoring average of 20.5 points per game and an A-10 Player of the Year award. In two NCAA tournament games, Wyatt showed why he was so valuable. “I just want to go out there and seize the opportunity,” Wyatt said on March 21. “You’re on a national stage and a lot of people are watching, you get a chance to show the world what you can do. You don’t get chances like this very often, so you just want to go out there and make the most of it.” Wyatt did. Leading the team to the victory against North Carolina State, Wyatt played the majority of the second half with an injured left thumb. While he was in obvious pain, he was able to score six of Temple’s final eight points. “He’s got ice water in his veins,” Dunphy said. “He’s as tough as a competitor as I’ve had the opportunity to coach. He just wants the moment.” Wyatt’s next moment came against No. 1 Indiana. The Hoosiers deployed junior guard Victor Oladipo, the Big 10 Conference Defensive Player
of the Year, to slow down Wy- ‘What are you doing?’” Dunphy att. Wyatt however, scored 20 said. “All of the sudden the ball points in the first half and 31 on goes in the basket because that’s the day. In a game where three the kind of player he is...you Temple players hit field goals, live with what Khalif gives you. Wyatt had the Owls within two Most of it is good, and there’s minutes of shocking the nation. some that will drive you a little While the upset bid fell short, bit crazy.” While Wyatt was able to his teammates’ praise did not. “I think everyone gave their jump into the national spotlight effort,” graduate forward Jake four years after being buried on O’Brien said. “Khalif carried as the Temple bench, he said taking moral vicmuch as he could. tories, at this It just really came juncture wasn’t down to making possible. shots. They made “It really their shots, we doesn’t do anydidn’t make our thing for me, shots when they not right now counted.” at least,” WyWyatt exatt said. “We celled all season competed rewith his ability to ally hard, we hit big, acrobatic Fran Dunphy / coach battled...it was and seemingly fun while it impossible shots when it counted. While he shot lasted, we just didn’t come out 41 percent from the field on the on top. It is really disappointing year, his ability to get to the free but I’m just proud of our year throw line led to finishing the we had and just try to keep our year with 204 made free throws, heads up.” Despite seeing five players a Temple record. His ability to hit shots that other player’s play their final game at Temple wouldn’t take earned him praise after the Indiana loss, the loss of from his teammates and coach- Wyatt, Dunphy’s four-year project, most likely comes with the es. “I know my teammates biggest emotional toll. “Now he’s a very lowtrust me, and I know my coaches trust me,” Wyatt said. “They maintenance guy,” Dunphy are always encouraging me said. “Early in his career he was when I’m missing shots, when killing me with the high mainteI’m not shooting the ball well, nance. But I’m glad it all worked to keep shooing. They need me out. He’s going to be graduating to score. They need me to take from Temple University in May, big shots. As long as I know I and I couldn’t be more proud of have my teammates and my him and how he has turned out coach’s trust, it’s really up to me as a man.” to just go out there and play.” Ibrahim Jacobs can be reached “Over the course of his caat ibrahim.jacobs@temple.edu reer, there have probably been a or on Twitter @ibrahimjacobs. hundred times when I have said,
Team hopes Matt Teesdale brings stability to lineup.
has raved about Teesdale since signing him out of Montgomery Community College. Although Teesdale struggled this past weekend in his first time out, Quinn knows the talent he has in the 6-foot-3-inch sophomore. “It’s huge, we now have five kids that can step up at any time. For the first event they did a really nice job,” Quinn said. “Matt has a lot of fire power, he had a double-bogey and followed that up with a birdie. Between him and Brandon [Matthews] it gives us an advantage that not a lot of other teams have.” Quinn said Teesdale is a raw player who hits the ball a long way off the tee. He’s working to better manage his game within 100 yards. “He’s kind of a gunslinger which is good in some ways, we want to polish his game a little bit, he’ll learn to manage accordingly,” Quinn said. “We’ll work on his wedges a little bit to get him more birdie opportunities. That’s when the game really gets fun.” Teesdale agreed with his coach, stating that his wedge game needs work if he wants to compete at the level he expects from himself. The sophomore credits Quinn with his steadily improving game during his time at Temple thus far. “Coach is teaching me how to manage my game a little bit better to help shoot lower scores,” Teesdale said. “I want to work on my wedges and become a little more consistent from 120 yards into the green.” Freshman Brandon Matthews, who won two individual tournaments last semester, had high praise for Teesdale’s game. Matthews talked about Teesdale’s talent level being able to help the Owls round out their starting lineup. In the fall season it was rare for the team’s No. 5 starter’s score to count in any event.
“[Wyatt is]
as tough as a competitor as I’ve had the opportunity to coach.
”
Khalif Wyatt scored more than 30 points in the first two games of the NCAA tournament. He’s the fourth player in the past 10 years to accomplish that feat. | HUA ZONG TTN
Sophomore transfer Softball pitching unstable adds depth for golf at season’s halfway point ANTHONY BELLINO The Temple News Throughout the fall GOLF golf season, sophomore Matt Teesdale spent his time practicing with the Owls but was forced to watch when it came time for matches due to NCAA transfer restrictions. Teesdale began his career as a member of the golf team this past weekend at the Furman Intercollegiate held in Greenville, S.C. While it may not have been the result the Horsham, Pa., native was looking for – finishing in 58th place with a score of 11 over par – he said it was good to finally get a taste of competition after watching for the entire fall season. “It was awesome and well worth the wait, I was definitely nervous on the first tee but it was a lot of fun,” Teesdale said. “I struggled a little bit in the first round but I settled down and played a little better after that.” Teesdale, a graduate of Hatboro-Horsham High School was forced to sit out last semester despite being a student at Temple due to NCAA transfer rules. The sophomore who has threeand-a-half years of eligibility, coach Brian Quinn said, was one credit short of being able to compete in the fall portion of the schedule. “There was definitely some rust in my game,” Teesdale said. “It’s a completely different game playing tournament golf compared to just going out and playing with some friends.” Throughout the fall season, the Owls constantly came up one good score short of making a run to the top of tournament leader boards as a team. Quinn
“The biggest thing was we The five-pitcher staff didn’t really have a fifth man in the fall, now anyone can step has compiled an up and score,” Matthews said. ERA of 6.31. “Now if one of us is having a bad day anybody in the lineup JAKE ADAMS can step up and pick each other The Temple News up, it’s a huge feeling.” Matthews added that it was SOFTBALL Coach Joe DiPietgreat to see Teesdale make his ro used Sunday’s double-header debut. The duo were recruited against St. Francis, of Loretto, together and became very close Pa., as auditions for the second during this past fall season. spot in the pitching rotation. “It was nice to see him out After 23 games, Temple’s there, he just needed to shake out staff is far from settled, with the some of the rust in his game,” top slot sewn up and nothing but Matthews said. “He played re- question marks after that. ally well Sunday, throughout the The Owls (9-14, 1-1 Atyear he’ll be great for us.” lantic 10 Conference) sit in the Like Teesdale, the Owls as a bottom half of the A-10 in team team had to shake off some rust earned run average, with 6.31. in the first round of the Furman They have sent five pitchers to Intercollegiate. The team battled the mound this season and just rain and wind in South Carolina one, freshman Kelsey Dominik en route to a tie for 15th out of has a sub-three ERA. 21 teams. In the first round, the “Her ball moves and she’s Owls found themselves in last able to hit her spots,” DiPietro place after shooting 312, before said. “The girls like playing bebattling back with team totals hind her because she works fast of 296 and 300 in the final two and she doesn’t walk people.” rounds. “I don’t think she came in “We struggled the first day, expecting to pitch a lot and so we were a little rusty,” Quinn she kind of had a clear mind said. “Outside of that, we played and went after it,” junior pitcher solid. The weather was brutal. It Brooklin White said. was cold and rainy and really DiPietro has four listed tough to play in.” pitchers – Dominik is listed as Teesdale and the Owls will an infielder – with two being continue their quest toward the juniors. But the elder statesAtlantic 10 Conference Cham- men of the staff, White and Kypionships on April 1, when they lie Kristovich, have the team’s compete in the Wildcat Invita- worst ERA. Kristovich has only tional held in Malvern, Pa. pitched two innings this season, but has surrendered five runs. Anthony Bellino can be reached Pitching has been the at anthony.bellino@temple.edu team’s weak link through the or on Twitter @Bellino_Anthony. first 23 games. Temple has the fourth-leading offense in batting average (.272) in the A-10 and is third with 115 runs scored. The Owls’ glove work has also been top notch, boasting a conference-leading fielding percentage of .966. La Salle, which Temple split a double-header with Saturday, is second with .959.
The onus is on a pitching staff searching for its identity. DiPietro said Dominik has earned the role of the top spot in the rotation as long as she keeps producing at this level. Through Sunday’s games Dominik had pitched 39.2 innings, surrendering 42 hits, 16 walks, 15 earned runs while striking out 22 for a 3.40 ERA. “Every time I put her out there she competes and gives us a chance to win, so right now she’s our No. 1 pitcher,” DiPietro said. “I knew that he had confidence in me so I guess that kind of helped me,” Dominik said. “When I go out there and pitch I just go out there and hit my locations and spin the ball. And if I feel something’s not working I go up to the catchers.” DiPietro said he is still looking for the answers. Fellow freshman Jessica Tolmie is second on the team with a 5.24 ERA but has pitched just 22.1 innings, fourth on the team. Sunday was an audition for her to grab the second spot in the rotation, DiPietro said before the games. “I’m thankful that we have younger pitchers that can take control because I know how frustrating it probably is on the fielders,” White said. Sophomore Jessica Mahoney has all but pitched her way out of the top spots in the rotation after losing her eighth game Saturday against the Explorers. She has no wins and an 11.49 ERA with 34 walks allowed. But the biggest disappointment has been White. Last season, White posted a 14-11 record in 28 appearances, striking out a team-leading 98
batters in 150 innings of work. She allowed 87 earned runs, good enough for a 3.36 ERA, second on the team. This season has been a different story for the most experienced pitcher on the club. “It’s all how you start,” White said. “Last year I had a good start and it took me through the season...and this year I didn’t have a good start and it kind of made me doubt myself a little bit.” While she did go the distance in the first game against St. Francis, White’s seaJoe DiPietro / coach son has been far from solid. She’s 2-5 in nine appearances with an ERA of 10.49, having struck out 11 while allowing 30 walks and 52 hits. “She’s fighting it mentally,” DiPietro said. “It’s all mechanical with her. When she’s right mechanically, her ball moves and she throws it where she wants to throw it. We spent a lot of time with her this week, really hands on with her.” “I know my mechanics are off and I’m working on that, I’ll be fine,” White said. “There’s only so much you can do physically, but if you don’t have it all together mentally then it’s not going to work.” She’ll have to figure it out quickly. DiPietro and the offense are depending on the pitching staff finding its groove sooner rather than later. With only two consistent pitchers in the rotation so far, the job is that much more challenging.
“I’m thankful
that we have younger pitchers that can take control.
”
Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu or on Twitter @jakeadams520.
SPORTS temple-news.com
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The One That Got Away Temple’s season, Wyatt’s career ends in heartbreaker. IBRAHIM JACOBS Assistant Sports Editor
A
DAYTON, Ohio – s the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, Khalif Wyatt didn’t cry. Unlike many prolific players who realize their time has come to an end, the senior
guard was uncharacteristically not emotional. Wyatt walked to his right and high-fived a referee before getting in line to shake hands with the Indiana players. It wasn’t until after the huddle with his teammates, his final huddle, that his emotions got the best of him. He walked off the court embracing freshman forward Daniel Dingle. Wyatt scored 31 points in each of Temple’s games in the NCAA tournament. In the second-round win against North Carolina State on March 22, Wyatt propelled Temple to its
second tournament win in 12 years. Wyatt also scored the most points in a tournament game for an Owl since 1991. When he equaled his total in a loss to No. 1 Indiana two days later, Wyatt became the fourth player in 10 years to score 30 or more points in the first two games of the NCAA tournament. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. When Wyatt and his 6-foot, 4-inch, 210-pound frame entered Temple in 2009, he managed 19 minutes and five points off the bench throughout the course of the
season. While he only officially gained five pounds in his four-year stint at Temple, his coach described the transformation as a mental journey. “In the beginning he had his way of doing things and I had mine,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “We were trying to get together on it, but he was a pain in the butt sometimes, and he’ll be the first to tell you. But he’s grown, and that’s what happens.” Wyatt’s abrasive and emotional personality clashed initially with Dunphy. “He was just getting used
wyatt PAGE 19
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Loss ends run for five seniors Senior shooting woes doom Temple, allow Indiana’s comeback. EVAN CROSS The Temple News DAYTON, Ohio – Sunday’s loss to the top-seeded Indiana Hoosiers ended the collegiate careers of five players: senior guard Khalif Wyatt, senior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, graduate forwards Scootie Randall and Jake O’Brien and graduate guard T.J. DiLeo. Those five players knew going into the tournament that every game could be their last at Temple. Coach Fran Dunphy showed a lot of faith in them, only playing two other players, sophomore guard Will Cummings and redshirt-sophomore forward Anthony Lee, in two tournament games. On Sunday, March 24, against Indiana, however, not all of the veterans rose to the occasion.
Wyatt stepped up, scoring 31 points, including 20 of Temple’s 29 first-half points. However, the other four departing members combined for just 11 points on 4-for-25 shooting. Hollis-Jefferson was the only one to make a shot from the field. “We didn’t make shots,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think they keyed in on Khalif like many teams do. The game comes down to making shots, and we didn’t.” Temple shot 21-for-62, a shooting percentage of 33.9 percent. Only in the loss to Kansas on Jan. 6, when they shot 30 percent, did the Owls shoot worse this season. The worst shooting performance of the day was Randall’s. He did not make a single field goal despite taking 12 shots, six from outside the three-point line. Through his lackluster shooting, he played 38 out of 40 minutes. “It’s one of those things
seniors PAGE 18
Owls set eyes on Atlantic 10 title The track & field teams have a month to prepare for A-10’s. ANDREW PARENT The Temple News Eric Mobley wants an Atlantic 10 Conference championship. After guiding the Temple women to the conference title a year ago, the fifth-year coach wants the men’s team to follow suit in its final A-10 season. “Our goal every year is to win the conference meet,” Mobley said. “We do everything in our power to try to win the conference. We’ve gotten second on the men’s side before, and we got third last year.” The men’s team has never secured an A-10 title in its 30year affiliation with the conference, and will have its final opportunity to do so in May after
TRACK & FIELD
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taking third place a year ago. Not only is Mobley set on winning the conference title this spring, it’s a goal that has been drilled into Temple runners time and time again. “Our team is always looking to win the [conference title],” sophomore middle-distance runner Cullen Davis said. “We always compare ourselves to what the A-10 meet is going to be like in these early meets, and if we’re ever behind where we’re supposed to be, we know we have to step up our game. We have enough talent on this team to win the conference meet. We have really good individuals with every event, and we have strength in 5k and 10k [distance] races. I think we have a good shot at winning as long as we keep our confidence and do what we have to.” Sporting a mix of young talent with veteran leadership,
TRACK PAGE 18
After adjustments, Peterson twins show promise Eric Peterson joins his brother, switches to starting pitcher. JOHN MURROW The Temple News Sophomore pitchBASEBALL ers Eric and Patrick Peterson may be twins, but it’s hard to confuse the two on the diamond. Their styles are anything but identical. In their second season with Temple (8-11, 1-2 Atlantic 10 Conference), the two have solidified themselves in coach Ryan Wheeler’s starting rotation; Patrick as a left-handed pitcher and Eric as a right-handed pitcher. “[Eric Peterson and Patrick Peterson] both have good stuff and they are quality arms,” Wheeler said. “I think the team feels good when either one of
them is on the field.” While Patrick entered the 2013 season as a starter in the Owls’ rotation, Eric was expected to be used primarily as a reliever in the back end of games. “I think last year I proved myself that I could be a starter in this rotation,” Patrick said. “I came in this season, had a few good starts and I believe I have proved myself [to the coaches] that way.” Although he believed he was capable of being an immediate impact starter in the Temple rotation, Eric opened the season as a relief pitcher, a position he said he was never quite satisfied with. “The coaches have us throwing 70-80 pitch bullpens in case anything were to change so I believe I was prepared from the start to be in the rotation,” Eric said. “I prefer to go out there and start because I like the
SOFT PITCHING, p. 19
The five-person staff of the softball team has compiled an ERA of 6.31 through 23 games. Sports Desk 215-204-9537
game to be in my hands. I want to go out there and take control of the game from the beginning.” With a fastball, curveball and a newly developed changeup this season, Eric had the potential to be the guy in the back of the bullpen who can close down a game, but because many times the team is not getting to that point in games, Wheeler said he made the decision to move Eric into the rotation. “At first we thought [Eric] was going to be a closer,” senior leftfielder Allen Stiles said. “I don’t think he was necessarily happy with that but he wanted to do whatever he could to help the team. He has proved he could do what he needed to do and has always put us in a position to win.” Eric is listed as 6 foot, 4 inches and weighs 215 pounds,
TWINS PAGE 18
Patrick Peterson is the left-handed twin brother on the baseball team. | AJA ESPINOSA TTN
LET’S WORK IT OUT, p. 18
The men’s and women’s gymnastics teams work out together at McGonigle Hall. Sports@temple-news.com
FILLING IN THE FIVE, p. 19
The golf team is hoping transfer Matt Teesdale can provide stability to the lineup.
