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BAR GUIDE The Temple News highlights a portion of the city’s bar culture worth exploring in its annual insert.
temple-news.com VOL. 91 ISS. 24
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
ARTIST WITHOUT BORDERS, p. 7 Gustavo Garcia has had his work influenced by Mexico, Rome and his home in the U.S.
RUN OR DIE, p. 9
The Zombie Run, a 5K in which runners are chased by zombies, is coming to Philly April 7.
WITHOUT WYATT, p. 20
The men’s basketball team will face new challenges without its top players next season.
Design contract close for library The Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta is expected to sign a deal to be the designer of the university’s new library on North Broad Street. JOHN MORITZ Assistant News Editor
W
hile no official contract has been signed, the university expects to formalize a deal
with the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta within days to design the next library. The firm, based in Oslo, Norway, has designed projects around the world, including the Oslo Opera House, the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Caro-
lina State University, the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Egypt and the museum pavilion at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. No design has been submitted for the building, which is expected to be located on North
Broad Street at the current site of the Pavilion, and is slated to be the university’s “signature building.” In March 2012, the Board of Trustees approved a $17.5 million budget for the project’s design, as part of a $190 mil-
lion project budget that will be funded in part by the state and in part by bond debt. Before the Board of Trustees approves construction of the new library, it must view the completed design and estimated costs.
Of the funds, $140 million of the funds has been guaranteed from the state, with $90 million coming from the university’s regular annual allocation and $50 million from a onetime special allocation from
LIBRARY PAGE 3
TSG tickets discuss initiatives, hopes
From left: Anthony Torres, Danube Johnson and Patricia Boateng. | ABI REIMOLD TTN
DIAMOND NATION LAURA DETTER The Temple News Diamond Nation, one of the tickets campaigning for for Temple Student Government executive office, looks to create a Be Our Guest program, continue Adopt-a-Block and improve non-traditional and transfer student experiences as it campaigns on a platform based on three pillars: community, opportunity and diversity. Diamond Nation’s ticket is comprised of candidate for student body president Anthony Torres, candidate for vice president of services Patricia Boateng and candidate for vice president of external affairs Danube Johnson. Torres is a junior human resources management major and currently serves as the TSG director of local and community affairs and works for the Campus Safety Services.
Torres said he will focus on the opportunity pillar – specifically non-traditional and transfer students – due to his experience transferring from Burlington County College after his freshman year. According to its platform, Diamond Nation plans to be present at each transfer orientation to “provide better opportunities for transfer students and commuters to become more involved in the Temple University community.” The community pillar of the platform focuses on connecting university students with the North Philadelphia neighborhood through the Be Our Guest program and the continuation of Adopt-a-Block. “The way I see it there are two different North Philadelphias,” Johnson said. “There is Temple and there are the local residents. I am trying to combine the two and make it one,
and that is my vision.” Johnson, a philosophy and religion double major, was the TSG liaison for the Queer Student Union last year and is currently training as a peer mentor in the Russell Conwell Center. The Be Our Guest program aims to generate 1,000 hours of community service by encouraging student organizations to volunteer at charitable organizations and soup kitchens around the North Philadelphia community. “This has been a problem Temple has had for a long time, cultivating relationships with the community and that is something we are really trying to do,” Johnson said. Diamond Nation plans to continue and expand the Adopta-Block program started by Torres this year. According to the platform, Diamond Nation
DIAMOND PAGE 3
From left: Cree Moore, Sonia Galiber and Darin Bartholomew. | ABI REIMOLD TTN
TEMPLE UNITED LAURA DETTER The Temple News Temple United’s main platform points are making Owl Cards a form of SEPTA payment, improving the stars and diamonds program, implementing a Food Recovery Network and helping students graduate in four years by improving academic services. Candidate for student body president Darin Bartholomew is joined by candidate for vice president of services Cree Moore and candidate for vice president of external affairs Sonia Galiber. Together, they make up the Temple United ticket. “Our ticket name is Temple United for a reason,” Galiber said. “We cover such a large and broad demographic. I am from out of state, Cree is from the city and Darin is from in-state, and we come from such varying organizations.”
“Despite all these differences we have, I continue to be blown away by how functional and how much we’ve been able to build this well-oiled machine,” she said. One of the main points on Temple United’s platform is working with SEPTA to accept the university identification cards as a proper form of payment. The current Owl Cards contain radio frequency identification technology and would be compatible with SEPTA’s new contact-less payment program, ticket members said. “We have a 20,000-plus population that uses SEPTA heavily, Temple is one of the largest employers in the region, and we have a very large base of people and students that have become life-long SEPTA users. We need to use that as leverage for SEPTA to come to the bargaining table and make that happen,” Bartholomew said.
Bartholomew, a junior management information systems major, is currently TSG director of government affairs, and said he plans to help the university students graduate in four years by advocating for more online and hybrid summer classes and less restrictions on transfer credits. “Say you are from out of state and you go home for the summer and want to take a summer class, it should be able to easily transfer back into Temple. We need to make sure it is not a difficult process,” Bartholomew said. Temple United has said it’s building a platform that would benefit both current and future students. “It would be selfish to think about the students that are here and not the future students to come. Even though we want to get votes from the students,
UNITED PAGE 3
TUCR hosts congressman, plans for spring’s end Rep. Pat Meehan gave advice to students pursuing law, political careers. JOE GILBRIDE The Temple News The Temple University College Republicans discussed its plans for the rest of the se-
mester at last week’s meeting, which includes a trip to a local gun range and a visit to Mike Huckabee’s talk show. Chairman Erik Jacobs said TUCR has been ramping up its events as the semester comes to a close. On March 27, TUCR and the Temple Law Republicans hosted Republican U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan at a meeting at Beasley School of Law.
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Meehan, a law school alumnus, talked about his experience as a law student at Temple and offered advice to students wishing to pursue a career in law or politics. “It’s all about getting out the door and getting involved,” Meehan said. “Take your experience and get engaged in something you don’t normally do.” Meehan said his experience talking with classmates
from different backgrounds and with a variety of beliefs helped form his desire to go into public service. He recounted his journey from Temple Law to the U.S. House of Representatives, bouncing from one opportunity to the next until he made it. “When I got to Congress,” Meehan said, “because of my experience as a lawyer, I had an appreciation for the nuances of the law. There’s a lot of political
NEWS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
play on both sides, but my job is to get [a bill] through and get it passed.” Ed Furman, a law student who previously worked on Meehan’s campaign, said the representative’s speech was encouraging. Other students applauded Meehan’s advice on using opportunities to go out and get the career they want. Jacobs said members appreciated the rare opportunity to
get up close and personal with a congressman. “It was a great opportunity to hear a Republican member of Congress,” Jacobs said. “It was interesting to hear him talk about his time at Temple, about law school and his career path.” Looking ahead, Jacobs said he was excited for TUCR’s plans for the semester. Later this
TUCR PAGE 2
NEWS temple-news.com
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Financial literacy courses introduced by administration As a part of the university’s effort to curb student financial debt, Temple recently rolled out new courses in financial literacy. Four classes will be part of the university’s aim to increase financial literacy for students including a onecredit course taught by the Bursar’s Office and another course, “Inve$ting in the Future,” taught by professor Jonathan Scott, according to university communications. For a full recap of these courses, pick up The Temple News on April 9. -John Moritz
Seventh fire since mid-February at Morgan Hall Campus Safety Services confirmed another incident of arson in Morgan Hall last week. Investigations Captain Edward Woltemate said the fire, which occurred March 27, about 1:15 p.m., was located on the east-side garage level of the complex’s 27-story high-rise. Although the location is a shift from previous incidents, all of which occurred above the 10th floor on the tower’s west end, Woltemate said that last week’s minor fire bore distinct similarities to the arson incidents that have plagued the site for more than a month. Woltemate said that no incendiary devices or accelerants were used, and no damage was reported. The fire was discovered by construction workers who extinguished the fire immediately and notified their supervisor, who then alerted authorities. Temple Police were made aware of the incident at 2 p.m. “It’s another annoying fire that we believe the same individual or individuals are doing,” Woltemate said. “When they do get caught, they’re going to be charged and arrested, probably at the federal level.” Officials said that there are no witnesses and no new leads at this time.
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
Fox’s MBAs Scholarships undergo change held in central repository online
“The greatest challenge we face is providing international immersive experiences that are career enhancing,” Moshe Porat, dean of Fox, said. “This requires that we choose our partners carefully in countries targeted for global immersion MARY SMITH experiences.” The Temple News Students enrolled in the new MBA program will be reLast month, the Board of quired to complete courses that Trustees approved a proposal include electives, experimental to renovate Fox School of Busilearning and global immersion ness’ Masters of Business Adcourses, professional developministration Program that will ment courses and business core impact students in future semescourses. ters. “This is going to be a very Fox will be terminating unique and innovative program, some of its current MBA proI think this would differentiate grams, consolidating them into Fox from business schools in the a single degree program along area and nationwide,” Anderson with establishing a concentrasaid. tion in financial management. Anderson, who is also a The newly structured program finance professor and finance will offer students the freedom chair member, said Fox faculty to pursue their members will be goals while required to take engaging in a new courses in wide variety preparation for of disciplines, the new curricuMBA Regenlum, which may eration Cominclude new teachmittee member ing methods. Ronald Ander“Delivery son said. mode will change, It will refaculty will have quire 48 to 54 to teach in shorter credit hours time periods and for completion perhaps deliver Ronald Anderson / mba and will be ofregeneration committee member more in online fered as both a format,” Anderson part- and fullsaid. time program. The preparation and planThe programs being terning process for the program minated include an MBA in has been going on for approxiinternational business administration, MBA and Masters of mately 18 months. The concenScience in international busi- trations being offered along with ness and an MBA and Masters the current program will be terof Science in information tech- minated after Spring 2013 and students currently enrolled in nology management. Fox will also be terminating these programs have until May six of its under-enrolled MBA 2017 to complete their degree concentrations, which include requirements. U.S. News & World Report accounting, financial manageranked Fox’s full-time MBA ment-investment management, program No. 58 in the nation, financial management-corporate second in Philadelphia only to financial management, internathe University of Pennsylvania’s tional business management, Wharton School of Business. pharmaceutical management
The Board of Trustees approved numerous changes to the MBA programs.
A new office is in charge of scholarship advising for students. MARCUS MCCARTHY The Temple News
The daunting task of finding a scholarship and seeing through the application process will now be aided by a new office. The Office of Scholar Development and Fellowships Advising was established Jan. 15, to exclusively notify Temple students of scholarships available and aid in the process of obtaining the aid. “Every scholarship I’m aware of is here,” Dana Dawson, program director, said. “There’s a great variety of opportunities.” Scholarships are divided into two categories, those of which are coming from colleges or departments within the university and those coming from individuals or institutions externally. All of these have been organized into a central location on the office’s new website. Links to the appropriate sources for internal scholarships are provided while external scholarships are more of the office’s specialty. External scholarships can vary from a few hundred dollars to paying for an entire year or more of higher education. With these rewards comes high competition. Despite this, students have been successful in winning these nationwide scholarships. A Temple student won one of the prestigious Harry S. Truman scholarships last year and two students are finalists this year. Ruth Ost, director of the honors program, is optimistic about what the new office can do to further this success. “We really can expand the Mary Smith can be reached at mary.eliza.smith@temple.edu. number of students winning these scholarships and knowing Laura Ordonez contributed to this about them,” she said. report. Previously, advising for scholarships was separated between different staff members, such as Ost, in addition to the
“I think
this would differentiate Fox from business schools in the area and nationwide.
”
and risk management. “I’ve enjoyed the current program so far and I’ve definitely learned a lot academically and as a person, but I think some of the upcoming program changes are a good idea,” first-year MBA student Caitlin Barry said.
existing requirements of their own jobs. Now, Dawson is committed full time to advising for scholarships. “We have wanted this and needed this for a long time,” Ost said. “The sky’s now the limit.” Prior to being chosen for this new office, Dawson was the director of the McNair Scholars Program. Dawson urged students interested in any scholarship to start preparation a minimum of two months in advance. The more competitive scholarships will also have a deadline of up to 10 months in advance of the payment. “For some of these, students need to think a year ahead,” Dawson said. “It’s really time consuming, but I would certainly make time for more people,” Dawson added. “What could be better than helping students win things?” She said her office is open to those interested but unfamiliar with either internal or external scholarships. The number of scholarships is high, so the options are vast. “They don’t need a perfect 4.0 GPA,” Ost said. “They can get a scholarship for having a 4.0 of activism or a 4.0 of causes they’ve pushed for.” In the future, Dawson plans to develop the office’s website to work through a database of all scholarships. The user would enter his or her information through a form and would then be told all the scholarships which apply. This system would then make it so that an interested student can look for his or her target scholarship prior to coming in. Dawson said that submitting this form would also make it so that she could know more about the student’s situation before meeting, helping her in advising them. This idea is slated to be developed during the Fall 2013 semester and won’t be available for a year. Marcus McCarthy can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu.
Trustees approve facilities proposals Several changes were approved by the executive committee. LAURA ORDONEZ The Temple News The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees approved several changes to the university’s facilities during the public session of its meeting on March 27. A Facilities Management report indicated that air handling units in Gladfelter and Anderson halls as well as 1700 N. Broad St. provide poor temperature control and waste energy. Among the items approved to be upgraded are the units, fans, housings, piping, trim and asbestos insulation. The Ritter Hall Annex fire alarm and sprinkler system will be upgraded. The report states that most of the building lacks sprinkler protection and fire alarm devices in the mechanical rooms. The third floor of the Bell Building, which houses the TECH Center, will have a new sprinkler system. The empty space within the floor will be renovated to provide well-designed work environment to house more than 250 Temple employees. Facilities Management will also transform 10 classrooms in two colleges on three campuses into smart classrooms. The conversion of these classrooms is part of a long-term plan to increase the percentage of smart classroom from 77 percent to 80 percent. The committee also approved improvements to the Center City Campus. Temple is currently renegotiating its contract with Barnes & Noble and is considering opening a cafe within the Center City bookstore. The committee estimates that these projects will be completed in three to six months. Laura Ordonez can be reached at laura.ordonez@temple.edu.
Rep. Meehan speaks of pursuing dreams TUCR PAGE 1
-Ali Watkins
Student trying to bring mentoring program to Temple History and education major Matt Cahill is trying to bring a mentoring program that pairs college and high school students with a learning disability with a middle school student with a similar disability. Cahill said in an email that he hopes to strengthen ties with Temple, North Philadelphia and the disability community through this program, named Eye to Eye. Pick up The Temple News on April 9 for a full profile of the program. -Sean Carlin
(Left) Temple University College Republicans Chairman Erik Jacobs stands with Rep. Pat Meehan and Temple Law Republicans President Lisa Haggerty. (Right) Meehan speaks to students at Klein Hall on March 27. | DALEXIS PEGUERO TTN month, TUCR will take a trip to a local gun range as part of its ongoing efforts for Second Amendment appreciation. Jacobs said since last year’s gun range trip, members have been anticipating another group visit. “Everyone’s excited for this trip because we have a great time while exercising our Second Amendment rights.” At the end of April, TUCR members will visit Mike Huckabee’s Fox News show, “Huckabee,” and sit in the live studio
audience. TUCR made the same conservative politics.” trip last year; JaJacobs said cobs said memTUCR’s members had a great bership has time seeing the increased this show and getsemester, with ting to meet the more young former Arkansas Republicans engovernor. ergized and get“They wantting involved in ed us to come politics around back this year,” campus. Erik Jacobs / TUCR chair Jacobs said. “We’re av“They liked how eraging around we’ve been very active in young 30 people a week,” Jacobs said.
“They liked how we’ve been very active in young conservative politics.
”
“Around the election we were in the high 40s.” Finishing off its plans for April, TUCR will also go on a skeet shooting trip and will have a table set up for Spring Fling. Joe Gilbride can be reached at joseph.gilbride@temple.edu.
CORRECTIONS
The Temple News strives to be a newspaper of record by printing factually correct and balanced articles. Accuracy is our business, so when a mistake is made, we’ll correct it as soon as possible. Anyone with inquiries about content in this newspaper can contact Editor-in-Chief Angelo Fichera at editor@temple-news.com or 215.204.6737.
NEWS
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
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TSG tickets face-off in election’s first debate
Temple United, left, and Diamond Nation debate during Temple Student Government’s General Assembly meeting yesterday, April 1. | JAZMYNE ANDERSON TTN
The first debate was marked by some contentious remarks. LAURA DETTER The Temple News The first debate between Temple United and Diamond Nation focused on how the cam-
paigning TSG executive office tickets would address the current structure and initiatives of the organization – and on each candidate’s qualifications. At the General Assembly meeting yesterday, April 1, Temple United, led by candidate for student body president Darin Bartholomew faced Diamond Nation and candidate for student body president Anthony
Torres in a debate that at times became heated. The first questions inquired into how the two tickets planned to build upon the successes of the current administration, led by TSG Student Body President David Lopez, and the effects the candidates hoped to have on TSG. Diamond Nation members said the team would start a
shadowing program for newly elected directors and create secretary and co-chair positions within TSG committees. Temple United highlighted its plan to continue to make the allocations process more transparent through posting approved forms online. The debate became intense during the third question, when Elections Commissioner Fallon Roberson-Roby asked each ticket about changes they would make to the allocations process. Bartholomew outlined plans to change the stars and diamonds program to focus less on mandatory workshops and more on the organizations’ activities and events. During the rebuttal period, Torres said Temple United’s change to the stars and diamonds program would “make student organizations basically lazy.” Torres was not available for comment after the debate, but Diamond Nation candidate for vice president of external affairs Danube Johnson said: “Anthony’s passion seems to kind of come off more aggressively than we would like at some points.” “Basically what he was saying was that not forcing
student organizations to go to workshops and stuff like that, you are essentially making it easier for them to have a better ranking and by virtue of that you are making the whole effort of being a substantial student organization easier.” The intensity continued when the candidates were asked how their experiences have prepared them to become student leaders. Torres spoke about his experience coordinating and implementing the Adopt-a-Block program and Diamond Nation’s candidate for vice president of services Patricia Boateng’s efforts as the current director of academic affairs. He continued by expressing that Bartholomew and Temple United candidate for vice president of services Cree Moore were not active TSG directors. “I’m coming at the two directors that basically have one major initiative, I’m sorry, one opponent with one major initiative, not the other one,” Torres said during the debate before he was stopped due to time limits. Moore immediately responded to Torres’ claims. “You say that you want to be student leaders, of course, so we should understand that we
should be students involved in student organizations, not just Temple Student Government because TSG is literally only a small percentage of Temple University as a whole,” Moore said. Bartholomew, who is the current director of government affairs, pointed out after the debate that he organized the annual Owls on the Hill Day and initiated the first-ever Owl Academy. Moore is the current director of recruitment and retention and is responsible for promoting TSG during various initiatives including open houses, getting freshmen involved in committees and recruiting students to signup for events. “Our main goal is to always run a clean race and speak on our pros and not their cons. We don’t want to make it seem like choosing the [better] of two evils when it is really choosing the overall best candidate,” Moore said. Temple United and Diamond Nation will face off in a second debate on Monday, April 8, at 6 p.m. in the Student Center Atrium. Laura Detter can be reached at laura.detter@temple.edu.
Diamond Nation aims to Temple United hopes to up community service allow ID use for SEPTA DIAMOND PAGE 1
wants to increase student organization participants in TSG from 22 to 50 organizations by the end of Fall 2013 semester and reach 2,500 community service hours next year. Boateng looks to celebrate the university’s diversity and encourage student organizations to communicate and collaborate better. “We always talk about being diverse, but we never really talk about doing anything with the diversity we have,” Johnson said. “We just kind of compare people instead of celebrating contrast, which is something we are trying to institute.” Boateng, a junior psychology major, is currently TSG director of academic affairs, secretary of the Organization of African Students and a resident assistant in 1300 residence hall. Initiatives to encourage collaboration amongst student organizations and collaboration of TSG directors with student organizations are the ways Diamond Nation plans to promote diversity. Specifically, Diamond Nation plans to reach out to students in Tyler School of Art and Boyer College of Music and Dance.
“We highlighted those two schools because we felt like those two were schools that really just focus on their own projects instead of collaborating with other student organizations,” Torres said. “Obviously, we cannot force anyone, but we can promote diversity and that is what we are trying to do.” Boateng also has plans to advocate for the extension of student services, including Tuttleman Counseling Service and Student Health Services, until 7 p.m. on weekdays and additional hours on weekends. “As college students, we go beyond the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and with Morgan Hall coming we have such an on-campus population of students living in residence halls. Having those services available to them can just really, really add to student life,” Boateng said. That change would require action by top levels of the university. Diamond Nation plans to make changes within TSG that include the addition of a cochair and secretary positions on each committee and the selection of more committed directors. “When we are building up the committee we want our
committee members to feel obligated to the committee and obligated to TSG and feel like they are making a difference,” Torres said. Torres, Boateng and Johnson plan to hold extensive director interviews for potential candidates to avoid selecting directors who are not fully committed, as Boateng and Torres have both seen in the past. “Other directors were in Temple Student Government just to be in Temple Student Government, and they didn’t really establish anything,” Torres said. Although Diamond Nation set a goal to win the election, it also has a goal to promote student voting in the TSG election. “We want this to be a record-breaking year in terms of students voting,” Torres said. “As students, I really want everyone to do their homework on both platforms, really come out to the debates, really meet us on a personal level, invite us to their student organizations and I want them to choose.” Laura Detter can be reached at laura.detter@temple.edu.
UNITED PAGE 1
most definitely, but at the same time we are not just thinking about the time we are in office,” Moore said. Galiber said she has plans to improve the relationship with the North Philadelphia community through the continuance of the Adopt-a-Block program and transitioning the university to become a Food Recovery Network. The Food Recovery Network, started at University of Maryland, would take the leftover perishable food on campus and donate it to charitable organizations in the neighborhood. “It alleviates two issues that are key in the area: hunger and food waste,” Galiber said. Galiber is a junior political science major who serves as president of the Japanese Conversation Club and was the liaison between the Obama campaign and Temple College Democrats during the 2012 election. Galiber is the only candidate on the Temple United ticket that does not have previous TSG experience, but Galiber and Bartholomew said they don’t believe that it’s a weakness. “I am not as familiar with a
lot of the intricate workings of role, Moore will focus more TSG like Cree and Darin are, on the internal workings of the but they have taught me every- university and has goals to rething I needed to know along design the stars and diamonds the way. I don’t feel underpre- program. pared by any means because “All of us, from being in of my lack of experience with different organizations, unTSG in the past,” derstand the Galiber said. difficulty of B a r the stars and tholomew said diamond prohe asked Galgrams,” Moore iber to become said. “We want his running mate to make it an because of her easier way for experience with you to turn in Temple College information and Democrats and for it to be upexperience with dated weekly.” Sonia Galiber / junior political President Barack M o o r e science major Obama’s 2012 said he plans election camto eliminate a paign. portion of the mandatory work“We thought she would be shops and reward organizations a good person for external af- more for the community service fairs, because she is really in and work it completes. touch with what is going on Moore is a junior mechaniin the outside world,” Bar- cal engineering major, current tholomew said. TSG director of recruitment and Galiber also has plans to retention and brother of the Alwork with the university to cre- pha Phi Alpha fraternity. ate a more accurate record of Laura Detter can be reached at where students are living off laura.detter@temple.edu. campus to help evaluate the current campus boundaries that Temple Police and Philadelphia Police patrol. In contrast to Galiber’s
“Our name is
Temple United for a reason. We cover such a large and broad demographic.
”
Contract with firm to yield designs for Broad Street library LIBRARY PAGE 1
the state. In addition, Temple has borrowed another $50 million in bond debt to cover the remaining costs, said James Creedon, senior vice president for facilities, management and operation. The approved design costs of the project include the costs of initial construction management, zoning and permit costs as well as the payments to the architectural and design firms, Creedon said, adding that final costs to be approved by the Board of Trustees will include everything from books to furniture and art on the walls. The new library, which has yet to be named, will replace Paley Library as the centerpiece of Temple University Libraries. As part of Temple’s 20/20 plan, which also included the renovation of Pearson and McGonigle Halls and the construction of the new Architecture Building,
Science and Technology Building and Mitchell and Hilarie Morgan Hall, the new library will also be a focal point of the changing face of Main Campus. Planned to be a “signature building” on North Broad Street, the new library is the last announced project in the 20/20 plan, which also aims to increase the amount of green space as part of a redesigned campus. Creedon said that the firm was selected from a pool of three candidates that were decided on out of 30 proposals. After interviewing the three firms on Aug. 21, 2012, a committee made up of Creedon, University Architect Margaret Carney, representatives from the Board of Trustees, the School of Architecture, the Provost’s Office and library staff, along with representatives from the state, chose to select Snøhetta for their recommendation to the state.
“They have incredible experience with libraries,” Creedon said. “They really impressed us with their ideas, and not so much with the specific idea’s of what we should do, but how they would help us reach a consensus here on what we ought to do.” Snøhetta will partner with Stantec Consulting Services, a Philadelphia company, to design the library. No preliminary terms of the contract have been released, including how much the university will pay the firm. Creedon said the university will begin the first phase of the design, which is programming the university’s needs into the project, when the contract is announced. That phase will likely take place throughout the summer, Creedon said. John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu.
An early conceptual drawing of Temple’s new library highlights the vision for the structure. A design contract will likely yield a developed rendering. | COURTESY TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
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, APRIL 2, 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
Simplifying scholarships
O
ne week before the start of the semester, Temple created the Office of Scholar Development and Fellowships Advising. Before this office was established, information about scholarships was scattered across various schools and colleges’ websites throughout the university. Now, with the help of the office, departmental and external scholarships are gathered in a central location on the office’s website. Though this seems like a low-grade, common-sense improvement, consider the difficulty students have while searching for scholarships that aren’t in one location. This consolidation not only reduces the burden on students looking for ways to ease the financial load of college, but also rewards them for accomplishments achieved while in school. Perhaps the most notable addition from this office is fulltime advising for students applying for scholarships. As Marcus McCarthy reports on P. 2, the job of advising students on scholarships was split between other staff members on top of
back in time, whether that be channeling a fourth grade birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese’s or a speakeasy during the Prohibition era. Your quarter hoarding for laundry machines may be at risk after reading about some bars that cater to an arcade atmosphere, and your flapper theme-party costume might come in handy when exploring the underground speakeasy scene. On P. B3, you’ll find Q&As with bartenders and a column from a student bartender, all of who give their best stories from behind the bar. At temple-news.com, we provide our print guide on the go, so you’ll never be without some well-tasted guidance. The Temple News does not promote underage drinking, but it encourages students 21 and over who enjoy a nice brew to try a new bar, talk to a new group of people, experience a new scene and maybe even set a new high arcade-game score.
University efforts to improve scholarship accessibility mark successes. their main jobs. Now there is a full-time adviser, which allows students to work with someone who is exclusively focused on scholarships. More importantly, the move to create this office and a central repository for scholarships speaks to an administration that has often spoke about the need to ease higher education’s burden on students and is living up to its mission. Beginning with last year’s base tuition freeze, the administration has implemented a slew of measures aimed at aiding students financially. From a $100 million campaign for student scholarships to the end of registration cancellation, the administration has consistently been living up to its goal. The Temple News looks forward to more initiatives to curb student debt and encourages Temple to continue implementing measures to ease the financial impact of college on students.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
“The amount of times I’ve
plotted a quick escape route or complimented a gentleman on his eyepatch are more than people who generally care about my safety and well-being would like to know.
”
Zack Scott / P. 8
JULIANA COPPA TTN
PHOTO COMMENT
Fergal Barry, a junior from Galway, Ireland, helped the men’s crew team’s Varsity 8+ boat place third at the Murphy Cup in Cooper River in Camden, N.J.
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?
POLLING PEOPLE
Visit temple-news.com to take our online poll, or send your comments to letters@ temple-news.com.
Of the changes to the financial aid policies, which are you happiest to see?
07% 67%
No more washout period.
Waitlists for filled classes.
20% 06%
New financial agreement holds students accountable for classes they register for.
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.
I preferred the old system.
*Out of 15 votes.
CITY VIEW
College students, living on credit Students with credit card debt
Repaying borrowed dollars A 2007 study found that 45% of teens know how to use a credit card, but only 26% understand credit card interest and fees. Paying debt back can be a big expense for young people.
The average undergraduate student has $3,173 in credit card debt – up 41% from 2004 – while the average graduating senior has $4,100, according to a 2009 study.
30%
of the monthly income of those 18-24 is spent on debt reduction.
$4,100
P
ut down the 40. You heard me. This is an intervention. Step away from the High-Grav. Give up your place in the kegstand line. It doesn’t have to be like this. With hundreds of bars in Philadelphia, there’s no reason students possessing IDs – one’s that weren’t ordered online – should be spending each weekend with the same group of people, gripping cheap beer in crowded North Philly apartments. This city has a diverse bar culture – one that will even allow you to stick to your 40-ounce budget if you do your research. There is an abundance of bars with happy hour specials and unique specialities worth exploring. Each Spring, The Temple News highlights Philly’s bar scene with its Bar Guide insert – four extra pages that you’ll find in this week’s issue to help you on your bar-hopping quests. Bar Guide 2013 is comprised of profiles of establishments that transport patrons
The Temple News presents its annual Bar Guide insert to help of-age students.
$3,173
Bar guide rescue
t r tuden s senio e t g a n i u t ua rgrad Grad Unde
For commentary, see Allen Habtamu’s column on P. 6. Source: credit.com / ANGELO FICHERA TTN
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
COMMENTARY
Policy overhaul overdue
A
JESSICA SMITH
Smith argues that recent changes to financial aid policies will benefit students while also holding them responsible.
t the end of last month, Temple released the official details about its changes in handling financial aid and course selection that go into effect immediately with the Summer 2013 registration period. Washout is an occurrence of the past and students are now eligible for undergraduate course waitlists. Washout – or registration cancellation – dropped students from any enrolled classes if they didn’t pay the minimum requirement to the university. This method essentially weeded out students who didn’t plan on attending the university. After the washout date, students would have to scramble to make payments and re-register for courses. Now, according to the statement issued by the Office of the University Registrar, a “student remains financially obligated for the course unless he or she drops the course by the prescribed deadlines for dropping and adding courses...Students who do not drop classes by the end of the official drop/ add period remain financially obligated for the amount due.” In addition, students must
accept Temple’s Financial Responsibility Agreement, which lists all the terms and conditions before they can register for courses. Instructors are also encouraged to issue letter grades for students registered on the class roster, even if they don’t attend. Temple has taken its generosity one step further with the creation of undergraduate course waitlists. Previously, if classes were closed, students would have to continually check back and cross their fingers that a spot would open up. Now, through Self-Service Banner, students can opt to be waitlisted for a closed class. Waitlisting is only used for completely closed courses – it can’t be used for specific sections within a course. If there’s an opening, an email notification is sent and a spot is saved for 72 hours until the student confirms the spot or removes him or herself from the waitlist. Overall, I say everyone at the Office of the University Registrar deserves a high-five. At first glance, the new system as outlined in the registrar’s statement seems harsh with its threats of failing grades and financial responsibility. But it’s
really a godsend for students struggling to make ends meet. The washout date was primarily used to get rid of the students with no serious plans of attending the university, but it punished those who honestly couldn’t pay on time. Now they’re given more breathing room and don’t have to worry about being kicked out of their required courses. And is anyone honestly surprised they have to pay for college? We’re not children anymore. The new system expects that we’re adult enough to know what we want. The act of registration creates a bill. If you don’t plan on paying it or taking the courses, don’t register and leave room for those that will. It’s as simple as that. This may pose a problem for those few people who want to explore their options for higher-learning institutions. Temple no longer makes assumptions or does the work for them. Their suffering is easily avoidable, however, due to the expected email reminders about the drop period for registered students. This gives students plenty of opportunities to set aside a few seconds to drop a course and move onto other tasks.
Additionally, there seems to be no complaint whatsoever about undergraduate course waitlists. Finally there’s an end to the frantic and constant check-backs to courses and the everlasting hope that at least one student will drop and you’ll be lucky enough to snag the open seat. Waitlists have brought much-needed laziness back to course enrollment. With proper planning, it’s much easier to get on a waitlist and hope for an email than to get online every five minutes, perpetually oblivious to the registration activity. It also gives the school insight about the most popular classes, so it can assess the need to open additional sections instead of requiring student petitions to argue for them. This is the dawn of the new era of Temple registration that favors the penny pinchers and early enrollers and will probably spawn the creation of scores of “Disasters: Geology vs. Hollywood” sections stretching as far as the eye can see. Change is good. Jessica Smith can be reached at jessicasmith@temple.edu.
Big chairs present sizeable issues
F
HUMOR COLUMN
or the past six semesters, my family and I have made the conscious choice to send a sizeable portion of our life savings to Temple, in the hopes that I both gain a practical education and that our commitment to the Cherry and White is one day repaid in the form of two JERRY IANNELLI comically oversized novelty Twentysomething Adirondack chairs being bolted Handbook directly into the ground at the busiest part of campus. Iannelli discusses As such, I would like to take this time right now to thank his concerns about Temple’s gracious front office the #TUBigChairs for letting me live out my dream phenomenon. of sunbathing at Hagrid’s summertime beach hut and emasculating myself by foolishly attempting to sit in a beach chair made for a half-giant. I would also like to thank Temple’s Facilities Management department for not spending the hundreds of dollars that these chairs cost on something frivolous, like help-
ing my friends not have to drop out. Likewise, I’m glad the people running Temple are “hip” and “with it” enough to paint the hashtag “#TUBigChairs” directly onto the side of the seats in question. How else would any of us young academics have ever known what to call the new “big chairs” on Main Campus? I’m glad no one decided to hold any sort of naming contest for the new decorations, though. I would’ve hated for a creative name like “Big Chairs” to have gone to waste in favor of #WasteOfMyTuition, #BallSoHard or “Wait, You Mean Temple Spent a Few Hundred Dollars of My Money on Chairs That Nobody Can Sit In Instead of Reducing My Loan Debt?” For the few of you that may dislike the hashtag, allow me to ask you this: If you bolt a brightred, 300-pound chair into the ground, and someone in Cool
Ranch-scented sweatpants and male Uggs isn’t around to take a duck-faced selfie in front of it, did you really bolt a bright-red, 300-pound chair into the ground at all? Didn’t think so. Point for #TUBigChairs. Furthermore, I’m really glad those few hundred dollars didn’t go to waste on anything other than hashtagged, unusable chairs. I’m sure Temple’s brass all sat together for hours in a bare-bones, stuffy boardroom, ordering Chinese takeout and debating options into the wee hours of the morning. I can only imagine that the conversation went something like this: “Should we give this money away?” they surely asked themselves, eventually finding the idea of donating back surplus tuition dollars into the student body of a state-run institution as ludicrous as the rest of Temple’s population must. “How about we round up all of the stray
cats in North Philadelphia, give them vocal lessons, teach them all some basic dance choreography and put on a bi-weekly musical cat revue entitled, ‘Les Meowserablés’? Too ludicrous? How about some sort of giant prism sculpture that only refracts Cherry-and-Whitecolored beams of light directly into the eyes of oncoming bicyclists? Too avant-garde? You guys definitely don’t just want to save this money though, right? What’s that? You want to permanently bolt the single most inconvenient structures that we can possibly build into the busiest thoroughfare on Main Campus? Where do I sign?” Perhaps these chairs weren’t built for me at all. Perhaps these were the chairs guaranteed in the final prophecy of Russell Conwell himself as he lay dying in a hospital bed in
IANNELLI PAGE 6
Rankings have inherent limits
W ZACK SCOTT
Scott argues that lists that aspire for objectivity render themselves unusable to subjective humans.
hether it’s rattling off the top-ranked public universities, most affordable colleges or the institutions of higher learning where you’re most likely to have your wallet stolen, someone is always out there trying to quantify Temple. In but the latest example of this list-centric list-mania, U.S. News and World Report released its latest rankings of medical, law and graduate schools. You may have heard something about it. Temple’s medical school was ranked second best in the city; a rank it undoubtedly earned. Admittedly, this may not be too big of a deal for the average student. But I absolutely adore lists. They’re just a natural intersection of my interests in random areas of pop culture,
ordinal structuring and arguing about stuff. Ask any one of my coworkers and they’ll tell you. I’ve managed to avoid hours of work by engaging in conversations about each NBA franchise’s all-time starting five, the pantheon of great TV shows and the Top 10 greatest hip-hop albums of all time. And I mean “engaging” less like how you would begin friendly banter and more in the sense of combat. Yes, this might surprise some of you, but I’ve never struggled to express my opinions, and lists give me the perfect forum to do so. But even I have to admit that sometimes lists sort of corrupt the central concept of themselves. Take, for example, U.S. News and World Report’s lists of graduate programs. As someone wrapping up this daunting process, I will readily admit
the first place I went to try and untangle the massive web of information about the hundreds of programs that are out there was that very publication. It really helped me get a grasp on what exactly I was doing in the first place. But what worries me is the inherent stench of objectivity that lurks around the whole thing. After all, U.S. News and World Report doesn’t just pick names out of a hat or rely on a system of smoke signals. It has standards. It has a methodology. One that includes, “two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statisti-
cal indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students” and “surveys of administrators at more than 1,250 programs and more than 13,000 academics and professionals.” All of that combines to equal an ordering that is meant to be as far removed from arbitrary as it can possibly be. So as a consumer of this list, the only tool I should really need to decide where to invest the next sizeable chunk of my life – theoretically – is basic arithmetic. Which number is
“And I mean
‘engaging’ less like how you would begin friendly banter and more in the sense of combat.
”
SCOTT PAGE 6
PAGE 5
SOMEONE ELSE’S
OPINION
“A high school student who is fascinated by science is a fantastic contribution to our region. However, a high school student who also understands recombinant DNA techniques; genomic pathology; microbial biotechnology; plant, animal, and forensic biotechniques; and who experiences the fun and pride of scientific discovery is truly priceless.”
Shirley Greening and Cheryl Feldman, on philly.com in “Connect students with careers”
“We are also being told that the ‘assault weapons’ ban originally introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein is not happening. We can only hope. But in Washington, D.C., bad ideas often have a strange way of coming up again.”
Sen. Rand Paul,
on washingtontimes.com in “A duty to preserve the Second Amendment”
“Why would those seeking to redefine marriage to include homosexual monogamy play right into the hands of those Draconian religious fundamentalists who think they and their alleged ‘God’ have the authority to narrowly define love among consenting adults? Why aren’t those arguing for ‘marriage equality’ being inclusive by including marriage among multiple consenting adults as well?”
Steve Deace,
on usatoday.com in “A modest proposal for polygamy”
“The rise in ‘gray divorce’ is a product of dramatic changes in the meaning of marriage in America over the last half-century. Today, we live in an era of individualized marriage, in which those who wed have high expectations for marital success. Americans expect marriage to provide them not simply with stability and security but also with selffulfillment and personal satisfaction. Roles are flexible; the traditional breadwinner-homemaker model is no longer the status quo. Good spouses engage in open communication and are best friends.”
Susan L. Brown,
on latimes.com in “A ‘gray divorce’ boom”
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
“Do you ever comment
on things online? If so, do you ever do so with the intent to ‘troll’ people?
”
IAN WATSON TTN
OPINION DESK 215-204-7416
“I’ll procrastinate by trolling some of my friends’ Facebooks.”
“Sometimes I comment on things online, but I try not to troll people.”
“Yes and yes, but I only troll my friends.”
RYANN MCHALE
RACHEL COMLY
ENRIQUE RUBIO
JUNIOR | NEUROSCIENCE
JUNIOR | PSYCHOLOGY
SOPHOMORE | SPANISH
LETTERS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
OPINION
PAGE 6
on the
WORD WEB...
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
temple-news.com
Unedited for content.
JOE SAYS ON “CRAIG: LEGAL DRINKING COMES WITH HITCHES” ON MARCH 28 AT 12:07 A.M.
Great article, man. Really enjoy your work. But if a bar exists somewhere in the world where you wait three hours for a drink, I haven’t heard of it.
Online comments can’t claim to meet dialogue objective
TOM SAYS ON “HARRINGTON: FEMINIST LABEL SHOULD BE ADOPTED BY MORE MALES” ON MARCH 27 AT 10:28 P.M.
Your thoughts, while valid, are more accurately reflected by the notion of egalitarianism. In response to Brandon’s needlessly aggressive comment — yes, racism is an issue, classism is an issue, but that’s not what this article is about. There is more than one kind of inequality and just because one is not being addressed in a particular instance, does not mean that it is less worthwhile than another (March = Women; February = Black).
D SAYS ON “ACTIVISM SPARKED THROUGH SCREENINGS” ON MARCH 27 AT 5:29 P.M.
Great article! It’s good to hear about student groups using film as a medium for education and critical discussion of social justice issues.
MARGIE BREWER SAYS ON “HARRINGTON: FEMINIST LABEL SHOULD BE ADOPTED BY MORE MALES” ON MARCH 27 AT 9:22 A.M.
I really liked your column. I was your grandfather Doyle’s niece. He was a feminist before his time. He would have been so very proud of you. Just wanted to pass that along to you, even though we don’t really know each other. Doyle and I spent many a day talking at my Mom’s kitchen table during the 50’s and 60’s. He was only 11 years older than me, so we spent a lot of time together. God Bless you, and I’d love to read your opinions, again.
Financial smarts require individual commitment
A ALLEN HABTAMU
Habtamu argues that National Financial Literacy Month is the perfect time for students to learn to manage their money.
lthough finances are seen as a somewhat taboo topic, let’s bring it out into the open: College students are bad with money. You often hear of students saying they’re broke, and maybe that’s just symptomatic of a lack of financial knowhow. As teenagers transform into budding young adults, the question becomes whether or not they can actually make the right financial choices. Will they learn to live within their means, or take advantage of a litany of opportunities to rack up debt? Ultimately, it comes down to an undertaught and undervalued skill: financial literacy. Financial literacy is extremely pertinent when dealing with budgetary matters, a fact that was echoed by Temple’s decision to create two new courses on the subject and classify them as fulfilling the Quantitative Literacy general education requirement. The newfound sense of freedom for young adults can be especially tempting for some, whether it’s establishing a new line of credit to make large purchases or taking out a small personal loan, the pressure to borrow can be overwhelming. Credit card companies and other financial institutions view young adults as a cash cow because they are unable to fully meet their payments, thereby trapping them in a cycle of debt. A lack of financial IQ on the part of students is one of the reasons why they are seen as exploitable. They don’t recognize the need to make payments in full and on time. The marketing approach by some credit card companies to entice young consumers into taking out credit cards on college campuses drew national attention, causing the govern-
ment to pass the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which would help mitigate the outcry on unclear practices. The role of credit card companies on campuses would be diminished, and in compliance credit card issuers had to disclose their terms and conditions in “plain English.” In addition, it prevented young adults under the age of 21 from getting one, unless they have a co-signer or the issuer bases it on the individual’s source of income. A 2009 study by Sallie Mae titled “How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards” found that 91 percent of undergraduates have at least one credit card and that 50 percent have four or more credit cards, illustrating just how rampant a problem credit usage can be. Of course, credit cards aren’t a problem if students are paying off their debts in a timely manner. But that isn’t the case. That same study also found that the average undergraduate carries $3,173 in credit card debt, and that number tends to rise with the years. By senior year, the average shoots up to $4,100. While 92 percent of those surveyed said they used their cards to pay for “education expenses,” another 30 percent said they have paid a portion of their college tuition on a credit card. National increases in tuition will most likely drive these figures higher. Those statistics might not reflect the spending habits of every young adult, but 84 percent of the undergraduates polled insisted the need for greater financial literacy. Plenty of students wanted it to be mandatory as well: 64 percent said they would have liked some formal fiscal lessons in high school and another 40 percent said it would have benefited them to receive it as college freshmen. Yes, having this instruc-
tion would be nice. But college students shouldn’t be relying on the educational system for every bit of information. April is National Financial Literacy Month, and the issues surrounding financial literacy should absolutely gain more prominence. Students should take this opportunity to make sure that they understand the repercussions that the monetary decisions they make today can have on their future. It’s easy for us to lose track of our spending habits subconsciously as we engage in various but simple transactions that see our money come and go. It’s always a good idea to reassess where our money actually goes and how an increased effort can help ensure financial stability. Bad credit can hinder one’s ability to take out a mortgage or a car loan. Often, employers perform credit checks to assess an applicant’s responsibility before making hiring decisions. That’s why it’s extremely important to be informed now. The earlier the better. It’s the perfect time while in college to understand financial principles that can help to reshape the way you view money. So while having additional courses at Temple and incentivizing students to actually take them is certainly a good sign, students need to practice proactivity. There are plenty of books and resources on the Internet about financial literacy. These resources are easily accessible. It might be really wise to take a look. It could stop you from falling into financial ruin, or even help you get out of it. Allen Habtamu can be reached at allen.h@temple.edu.
HEND SALAH
Salah argues that comments revel in maliciousness and changes must occur.
A
s a writer who posts her work publicly, feedback is very important to me. It helps me improve my writing and catch mistakes that I hadn’t seen before. I enjoy seeing those comments. Sometimes, it’s pretty interesting what people have to say. However, when someone uses the comment section to be condescending and rude, it’s questionable whether this section is useful. I have often wondered if it’s even a good idea to actually have a comment section. What good can come of it? The article has been posted. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees will neither contribute to its existence nor make it disappear. No matter what the comment is, it becomes a gateway for a fight, which sometimes turns extremely hostile. This is particularly true when the subject being commented on is controversial. Yes, controversy is made to spark conversation, but this only applies when people can be respectful about their opinions. For an example on a large scale, look no further than the fallout of Philadelphia magazine’s “Being White in Philly.” When this article was first published, it caused a huge uproar. I was fortunate – or perhaps unfortunate – enough to find it online. After I finished, I scrolled down to see what people had to say. I have never seen anything more vicious in my life. Obviously, there were a lot of people who were charged with fury after reading something so provocative. The entire argument turned into a battle of races, and the most disgusting accusations and racial slurs I have ever read were thrown back and forth. Did any good come of having a section for opinions on this website? No. Nothing that was written there had any real value or substance. This is especially true on humor websites. Why is it necessary to have a section for comments on a picture that is only meant to make you laugh and move on? It’s just a photo, not a
serious subject that is important for everyone to weigh in on. At this point, you might want to yell at me about freedom of speech and how everyone has a right to express his or her point of view. You would be correct. Everyone does have that right. However, you can’t allow such abuse and label it as OK because it’s “freedom of speech.” It becomes an opening for a vicious display of homophobia, religious persecution, racism and sexism. There has to be a limit because – let’s face it – people are mean. Actually, mean is an understatement. People are malicious. And cruel. And obnoxious. No one word can stress enough just how much evil exists inside the little blood-pumping organs that live inside some members of the human race. I also want to point out just how cowardly people are. Most of the comments made on these websites are posted either anonymously or via Facebook, the former being the easiest way to display just how rotten a person is without being outed as the complete jerk they actually are. But aside from all that, my No. 1 description of the general public is that they are extremely creepy, especially those who are actively using social networks. The comment section is the perfect place for such creepers to have a field day, especially because many comments link back to the commenter’s profile. The section creates a new, easy method for cyber stalking. I once posted a comment on a picture of Lindsay Lohan, because I was annoyed at how many people were personally attacking someone they don’t even know. One guy actually replied to me by saying, “Why do you care? You’re Muslim.” What freaked me out was that neither my picture nor my name showed up with my comment. Ignoring the fact that what he said made absolutely no sense, I’m still trying to figure out how on Earth this man figured out my religious affiliation. I’m not saying websites should do away with the comment section completely. Using the humor sites as an example, it’s the people who visit those websites that submit content, which is screened before it’s displayed. If it’s possible to be selective about those posts, the same should be done for the comments. In regards to websites like Philly mag that do have a screening process, then whoever judges what is acceptable and what is not should learn to be more selective of what is posted. Hend Salah can be reached at hsalah@temple.edu.
Lists are useful tools, but humans No sitting through create flaws through subjectivity chair controversy SCOTT PAGE 5
lowest should be the only question on my mind. But of course that’s not the way it works out in practice, because this attempt at objectivity is like a square peg in the round hole of my innate subjectivity. We’re just not compatible. It can throw around all the “statistical indicators” it wants, but that really doesn’t apply too well to my individualized level. Lists like this have, by necessity, clearly defined parameters that allow them to function as reliable sources of information for the greatest number of people possible. But it’s exactly
those parameters that prevent it from adapting to my personal needs and it’s exactly those parameters that essentially render them useless past the initial stages of data gathering. And that stubborn objectiveness, I believe, is where I have to draw the line. When I originally realized that a list was insufficient for my needs here, I began to worry that maybe this meant that I had dedicated so much of my time and enthusiasm to a broken system. But I’ve come to believe that the system itself is fine, so long as the user knows how to utilize it properly. Lists have
myriad purposes behind their shared structure – helpful, categorized bits of data, conversation starters and seriously anything to let me avoid actually working being just a short list of examples. You can’t appropriate a one-size-fits-all mentality to them no more than you can list all the various reasons that they’re great. Zack Scott can be reached at zack.scott@temple.edu or on Twitter @ZackScott11.
IANNELLI PAGE 5
1925 of apparent moustache poisoning, lest we forget. “He and she who sitteth in the mighty Temple-made thrones of Bell Towerdom shall be destined to travel the world sharing affordable education and decent-to-great men’s basketball to all that walk these fine lands until their dying day. So speaketh the prophecy,” Conwell uttered before drawing his final breaths. I believe that his speech is inscribed somewhere in Founder’s Garden. Maybe I’m just bitter, because I have sat in both of these fine chairs and hashtagged their name across the digital sky to no
avail. At no point was I swept up in an angelic higher education-based vortex, immediately growing a fine handlebar moustache, the wings and talons of an ornery barn owl and the comedic stylings of Bill Cosby. I am not the chosen one. But one of you lucky students may be. Sit in these chairs, enjoy them and make merry. Until the chosen Owl returns, they are all we have. Yours truly, Jerry Iannelli Jerry Iannelli can be reached at gerald.iannelli@temple.edu or on Twitter @JerryIannelli.
LIVING temple-news.com
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
PAGE 7
Behind the tickets vying for Temple Student Government’s executive office, presidential candidates share personal stories.
LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN
Torres attempts to Bartholomew tests adopt new position political aptitude LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN
ERIN EDINGER-TUROFF The Temple News
T
emple Student Government Student Body presidential candidate Anthony Torres found a true passion with student organizations after transferring to Temple in Fall 2011. Torres said he hopes to increase involvement and interaction between the two if his Diamond Nation ticket is elected to office. Torres believes in his platform. He describes his strong belief that individuality is celebrated by Temple’s diversity, but that student organizations are what make students of different backgrounds unite. “Even though Temple is so diverse, sometimes when class is done, you stick to your own kind of people,” Torres said. “That’s understandable, that’s human nature. But student organizations push everyone together, and I think that’s the real definition of being united.” The now third-year student’s decision to come to Temple disagreed with his family’s wishes, as his mother and sister both attended Rutgers University in his home state of New Jersey. Regardless, Torres transferred into Fox School of Business’ accounting program before deciding to switch his major to human resource/management. “I wanted to make my own legacy,” Torres said. He added that his family’s experiences with
the economic downturn made him much more aware of the value of his education, and his motivation in classes began once his father lost his job of almost 10 years at a printing company. “I saw the real picture,” Torres said. “I see how hard my father works, and he’s always there for me.” From that point on, he said, he knew that being part of his college community and emerging as a leader to help his peers get the optimal educational experience was important. First involved with the Institute of Management Accountants, Torres quickly transitioned to become TSG’s director of local and community affairs after realizing that human resources was more up his alley, as a person interested in working with others. Torres is also currently a student worker for Campus Safety Police, something he said he sees as very important in Temple’s community, on and off campus. As part of Diamond Nation’s campaign, he hopes to work toward integrating Temple’s student body with the Philadelphia community. In his spare time, Torres said, he enjoys playing basketball, his favorite sport, with friends. He and a friend also recieved approval for a new Temple student organization, Student Hip-Hop Organization or SHHO, which will become an official group next school year. He said he began it due to his love of music.
TORRES PAGE 16
B
DIANA DAVID The Temple News
eavis and Butt-Head, Benjamin Franklin and Bill Gates. What do they all have in common? A prospective candidate for student body president is a fan of all four. These details are just a small checklist in getting to know Darin Bartholomew. Bartholomew, a junior management information systems major, loves hanging out with friends and exploring Philadelphia during his spare time. When he’s not delving into the history of Philadelphia or campaigning for the upcoming Temple Student Government election, he interns for U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). With the election approaching on April 9 - 10, both tickets are making their rounds to as many student organizations as possible to discuss their platforms. Bartholomew and his team, which includes Sonia Galiber for vice president of external affairs and Cree Moore for vice president of services, can often be spotted on Main Campus with TSG pins on their lapels, shaking hands with potential voters. Although, that small interaction is only a snippet of what Bartholomew does and enjoys. As an East Stroudsburg, Pa., native, living near the Poconos, Bartholomew never learned how to master the slopes during his employment at the Shawnee Mountain Ski Area. Coming from a place where deer are prominent to North Phila-
delphia, Bartholomew stepped out of his shy and reserved comfort zone to join the Temple College Republicans as a general member, launching his student organization career from there. “What better way to get good at talking to people than calling them up at random times of the night and asking them to vote for who we want them to vote for?” Bartholomew said. Bartholomew’s hobbies include making time for his friends and consuming the news. “I’m a pretty big nerd, so I’m constantly watching the news – CNBC [especially] – and reading the Wall Street Journal every night,” Bartholomew said. “I like to hang out with my friends and go to Temple games. It sounds so standard and boring, but it’s what I do.” Apart from serious news, Bartholomew said his guilty pleasure is the TV show “Beavis and Butt-Head.” “The show ended this past November, but I hope they continue another season. They’re so stupid it’s hard not to watch,” he said. His explanation for his role models is far from standard. “[One of my role models is] Bill Gates. I follow everything he does for his foundation and everything he did for Microsoft. I have a huge amount of respect for him,” he said. “As a Microsoft senior student partner here at Temple, I would love to work for his IT department one day.” Another role model, he said, is Benjamin Franklin.
BARTHOLOMEW PAGE 17
Art explored across borders, mediums Gustavo Garcia has experienced art through the role of student and teacher. LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ Living Editor In the Mexican state of Michoacán in a third-grade art class, an 8-year-old Gustavo Garcia was told to cut an animal-shaped bottle in half and then pour plaster into the makeshift mold. This was Garcia’s first foray into the art world. “That’s how I learned mold making, before I even knew what mold making was,” Garcia, a senior printmaking major, said. Two years later, for another project, Garcia was instructed to pour plaster into a shoebox, then carve shapes into it and paint into the carving. Although the fifth-grade Garcia didn’t know it, he was doing a technique called “secco.” Born in the town of Rincon
del Chino, Garcia came to the U.S. when he was in seventh grade. “It’s free, it’s freedom,” Garcia said of his rural hometown. “We lived far away from people. I grew up where I could do anything. If I wanted to start a fire, I did. If I wanted to break bottles, I did. If I wanted to run around, I did.” Garcia described the town as having a population of 1,000 people, but being very spread out. “My dad had been coming [to the U.S.] since 1978, illegally at first, and he started coming to California, and he’d go for six months at a time and then come back for six months,” Garcia said. “Then in the Reagan era, there was the amnesty [program] that passed in the 1980s. During that time he got a visa to come in and out of the country freely. After that he put in an application for his whole family, which included myself and [my] three brothers [and one] sister.” Garcia’s father applied for
his family to come to the U.S. in 1994, but it wasn’t until seven years later that the family was approved for an interview to get considered for entry, which still didn’t guarantee they’d get to join his father. During the waiting period, Garcia’s father would still go back and forth from the U.S. to Mexico. In 2001 Garcia and his family arrived in New Oxford, Pa., where he was able to explore his artistic side. It wasn’t until he entered the eighth grade, however, that Garcia made a conscious decision to pursue art, he said. “When I came to the states and started school here that’s when I started art,” Garcia said. “I came into seventh grade, and I barely remember any of the projects. What really stood out to me was when the high school kids came to visit and showed us their art projects. Then I thought, ‘I want to take art classes next year.’” Despite being new to the country and not knowing English, Garcia said he found the
Gustavo Garcia, a senior printmaking major, currently student-teaches at Philadelphia High School for Girls. | LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN English as a Second Language program too easy for him. “They phased me out because I was complaining too much,” Garcia said. “It helped me because it put me at the same level as the [English speaking students] and I actually ended
COMEBACK TOUR, p. 8
“Victory for Tyler,” at the Crane Arts Center, is an exhibit that showcases alumni work. LIVING DESK 215-204-7416
LIVING@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
up doing a lot better than some of them in English which was surprising.” In his art class, language was no hindrance, and Garcia was able to explore different mediums with more ease. The first thing Garcia said he learned
was drawing still life, and then moving onto other mediums like clay. Pencil drawings, he said, were his strong suit. Toward the end of his high school career, Garcia had completed all of the art classes his
GARCIA PAGE 16
DOMINO EFFECT, p. 16
Sara Patterson discusses the “Rob Portman Effect” and the benefits of coming out.
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music Ofo Ezeugwu Students from middle school to college can find use in Ezeugwu’s programs. LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ Living Editor Although Ofo Ezeugwu ends his term as Temple Student Government vice president of external affairs in a few weeks, he doesn’t plan on walking away from programs he began, such as Kids-to-College, a program that puts local middle and high school students in touch with current college students; and Whose Your Landord, a website where students can rate their satisfaction with their current landlords. The Temple News caught up with Ezeugwu to find out what he gained this past year and his plans for himself, and the future of his programs, once he graduates in May. The Temple News: How has this past year been for you as part of TSG? Ofo Ezeugwu: This past year has been a blessing. We accomplished a lot of the things we set out to [achieve] last spring and not only that, it’s been really fun getting to know people. I’m a really goal-oriented person, so setting out and having all of these goals to achieve along the way and really [accomplishing] mostly all of them is the best part of my TSG experience. We have a solid team and we’ve proved it day in and day out. We’ve really been visible. People see us all the time and more people know what [TSG does] as opposed to pre-
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
Ofo Ezeugwu created Whose Your Landlord, a website where students can rate their satisfaction with their landlords. He also started the Kids-to-College program. | LUIS FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ TTN vious years. TTN: What’s been the most rewarding experience for you? OE: I’d say it’s getting people to see how important it is to help other people. The Kids-to-College program, making sure people vote and know where to vote, speaking in Harrisburg on behalf of students fighting for funding. TTN: How did Whose Your Landlord do since its launch last semester? OE: It went really well. We launched on Oct. 24. We were able to get covered in Philadelphia on TV and on KYW news radio. Temple was good about [cooperating too], giving us receipts from their actual accounts. It’s been phenomenal. Now we look to expand more outside of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and move on to New York in the next couple of months. We’re all still students, we’re all super involved and we all have other endeavors outside of school but we were able to accomplish a lot with the [website] and it’s only been a few months. TTN: What do you have planned for the future of Kidsto-College? OE: As the program has been going on I’ve been getting more emails about people looking to get involved and people have been sending me their résumés. Administrators reached out to me, too, about either moving the program forward or what they could do to help. In the future we’ll be thinking more about the 20/20 scholarship program and how students from Philadelphia can apply for that program. It’s kind of like a call for action. The program will grow. I think the focus for the next year and the next administration will be how do we then get those students more engaged, more involved. We should make it so they can reach out to us as mentors. TTN: How do the students respond to Kids-to-College? OE: The kids have been phenomenal. I think [as you get older] you always look up to and want connect with the person one step above you. So when you’re in high school you can’t wait to be in college, and when you look at the college students they can’t wait to get on their own. The students ask questions about things like financials and how they can plan [for] college, and they also ask us things about our [everyday life] like, “What’s North Philly like on a social level?” So far it’s only been positive feedback and after our first
group [visited Main Campus] for a tour, and I got an email two hours later [from a teacher] saying, “Thank you, Ofo, for running that program. I was talking to the students on the bus and they all agreed that was the best part of the day.” When you hear stuff like that you realize you do make a difference. TTN: What are you going to do to make sure Kids-toCollege and Whose Your Landlord continue once you graduate in May? OE: What we’re doing now is putting together our transition reports, that will convey to the next person in line [for our positions] what they need to focus on, areas that we need to see grow, things to do better and what didn’t work. That would only be the first step. The second step would be to sit with [the new administration] and walking them through the process of [running these programs]. I would even love it if I could come in next year and be a part of these panels and talk about life after college. I plan to still be involved pretty heavily but I also realize it’s a role to let people take up – and I’m happy for that. TTN: What are your plans after graduating? OE: I’m actually moving to Brooklyn at the end of May when my lease runs out here. I’ll be doing acting and modeling. I’m [represented by] Wilhelmina Philadelphia right now. I’ll also be running my own business Untapped, Inc. TTN: How did you get involved in acting and modeling? OE: I got involved in November 2011. People always ask me about how I got into it expecting a story like I was sitting on a train and somebody walk by me and said, “Hey! You should be a model.” There was a week-and-a-half period where [people would tell me] I should model. So instead of reacting to what people were saying and going right to it, I went home and did my research. I found the top modeling agencies in Philadelphia because I figured I’d be here for a couple more years. I ended up going with Wilhelmina. It’s kind of crazy how that happened because when I went there to fill out my application I heard someone call out, “Ofo!” I turned around and my best friend from home’s cousin was actually working for Wilhelmina. I ended up signing with them, and it’s all been [going up] since then. Luis Fernando Rodriguez can be reached at luis.fernando@temple.edu.
Exhibit showcases variety of alumni “Victory for Tyler” allows alumni to showcase their artwork post graduation. MATTHEW HULMES The Temple News The Crane Arts Center is holding its “Victory for Tyler: Victory for All 2013” alumni art exhibit between March 27 and April 13. The exhibit, founded in 2007 to the Tyler School of Art, will display artwork of all types – paintings, photographs, sculptures and more, all from Tyler alumni. The exhibit is free and open for anyone with an interest in art. The public will have a chance to walk around and examine the different pieces of work from 38 different artists, which are diverse, from recent graduates of Tyler’s program to graduates from the ‘80s, ‘70s and ‘60s. There will also be an opening reception that will take place on April 6 from 6-8 p.m., which is also free and open to the public. There is a large variety of artwork being displayed in the exhibit, including artwork to work that’s more extravagant, such as a giant, pink man standing in the center of a room. Lines are painted on the body, so it looks like it’s displaying the muscle system of the human body.
Photography is also a part of the exhibit, like a picture of a man’s hand on the steering wheel and a truck in front of him on a highway, crafted by James Maiello and called “20/20,” named for the numbers on the back of the truck. Rebekah Callaghan, one of the artists showcasing her paintings and a 2008 alumna, speaks highly of the exhibit and Tyler. “I think it really speaks to Tyler, that it has such a strong program that people are keeping up their practice long after they’re in school for it,” Callaghan said. “It also speaks to the strong community that the school has.” Callaghan also explained that the exhibit is open to any Tyler alumni if they want to apply and showcase their work. A few of the pieces being shown are from students who have graduated very recently, including in 2012. The paintings that Callaghan had done for the show, titled “Clouder” and “Untitled (jk),” were abstract works, made from mixing different pieces of color. “They come from parts of previous paintings,” Callaghan said. “It’s almost like I zoomed in on one portion of what was a pretty representable painting, and zooming in that one moment, repainted it, and it became abstract moments. They’re all deriving from and building a history of its own.” John Costanzo, a 1949
John Costanza graduated from Tyler School of Art in 1949. His work includes jewelry and sculptures that feature the use of disks. | ABI REIMOLD TTN alumnus from Tyler who graduated in 1949, had one of his sculptures on display, titled “Terpsichore #3.” It looked like a connection of disks, moving in an uneven line. Costanzo said he made it by combining Apoxie, a sculpting compound, and gravel to “give it its textual effect.” He then sprayed it with automobile paint. Dona Nelson, a professor at Tyler for painting, was at the exhibit, observing some of the work done. She spoke about
her thoughts on the exhibit and the relative fullness of the room given its large size. “It’s interesting to see how people make art after they graduate,” Nelson said. “To see the art change ... it’s interesting to see that mature.” Callaghan expressed her excitement, seeing former students keep up with their process so long after Tyler. “I would say it’s a really nice representation of the community that Tyler supports,”
Callaghan said. She explained how the program always has a different curator. The one for this show is Paulina Pobocha, an assistant curator in the department of painting and sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art. “That’s was really exciting to have someone from New York looking at the images and choosing the show,” Callaghan said. The exhibit is a credit to Tyler’s program, Callaghan added.
“I can’t speak highly enough of Tyler and what it taught me,” Callaghan said. “It also speaks to how art can continue to grow and connect people from different areas of life.” The Crane Arts Center is located at 1400 N. American St., and the exhibit is being held in the back of the center, in a space called the Ice Box Project. Matthew Hulmes can be reached at mhulmes@temple.edu.
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT temple-news.com
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The Running Dead Runners in the Zombie Run 5K will be chased by volunteers dressed as zombies. ERIN EDINGER-TUROFF
R
The Temple News
unners in need of a little inspiration to get through a race only have to look behind them – at least at the Zombie Run, where actors dressed as zombies chase participants to the finish line. The Zombie Run, a 5K created by college sophomores Andrew Hudis, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dave Feinman, of Bucks County Community College, will debut at Franklin D. Roosevelt Park on April 7, with 3,000 runners already signed up to “run for their lives.” Feinman and Hudis, friends from high school who ran their first marathon together, have created a unique race experience that makes runners truly believe the setting. The extensive backstory of the Zombie Run garnered interest from local runners and horror aficionados alike. As created by the minds of Feinman and Hudis, “Compound 894,” an experimental biochemical military strategy to heal injured soldiers,
actually brought back the dead, hence, a zombie apocalypse. The race course will be transformed into a zombie apocalyptic world, complete with military fall out stations, fake severed limbs, “blood” spraying machines and, most importantly, zombies. Runners must even be wary at water stops, where they will be handed cups labeled “trial vaccine.” “The whole time you’re running in the race, we want you to feel that you’re being chased by zombies, and you’re part of [that world],” said Feinman, who said he will be transferring to Fox School of Business this fall. Along with those who sign up as humans, the other available option that sets apart the Zombie Run from other 5Ks is the opportunity to be a zombie. Those who sign up to be part of the undead team must arrive two hours before the race’s start time of 8 a.m., at which time they will receive a Hollywood quality makeover and training for zombie behavior. “We’ll have a giant zombie transformation center,” Hudis said. “Then a zombie training station. [To get] your limp down, learn how to crawl...it’s basically Zombie 101.” It may seem painful to take a class on zombie etiquette at 6
College sophomores Dave Feinman (left) and Andrew Hudis are the creators of the Zombie Run 5K, an event in which runners are chased by volunteer actors. Zombie volunteers will get a Hollywood makeover prior to the race. | AJA ESPINOSA TTN a.m., but the zombie crew has already been capped due to enthusiastic Philadelphians. Once participants are fully transformed into undead beings, they will be stationed at different points throughout the race. As human runners advance
in the race, zombies will attack to keep them on their toes. The goal of the zombies is to pop the humans’ “life balloon,” which symbolizes their survival of the apocalyptic setting. Even with a popped balloon, runners should still finish the race, Hudis said.
“We still wanted to appeal to less competitive runners,” Hudis said. “We didn’t want people to worry that they were just going to be trampled by zombies within the first few minutes. That’s why we invested in making the whole course
feel like an experience.” Along with the race itself, the Zombie Run’s creators said they knew that participants would need to celebrate their survival after the finish line. To address this, a post-race party
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Tap into Exhibit helps Jersey Shore artist rebuild studio Philly dive bar culture A “Rebuilding the Jersey Shore” exhibit will be at Bluestone Fine Art Gallery starting April 5. CHEYENNE SHAFFER The Temple News
ZACK SCOTT
I
Scott shares his love of dive bar culture in Philadelphia.
have been to the land of the cheap swill on tap. I have seen the mountain of empty Red Bull cans. And I have to say, college bars are not for me. I can’t feign total disgust, however, for that would cross over into self-loathing. I’m guilty of stopping by for the occasional brew. How can you avoid it? With a location in such close proximity to my current abode, the convenience factor has never been overlooked. So for me to turn up my nose at the unkempt masses who swarm these locations under the pretenses of karaoke or “White Girl Wednesday” would be vigorously hypocritical. That said, I think it’s important to remember that there are alternatives out there, and some are tragically underrated. Sports bars, Irish pubs, wine bars, speakeasies, barcades – the city is littered with excit-
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As the force of Hurricane Sandy struck the Jersey Shore, Mary Tantillo’s thoughts were fixated on her art studio. The days following were spent trying to reach the area, but roads full of debris prevented her from getting very far. After receiving permission from the mayor of Long Beach Island to be driven by police to her shop, Tantillo saw through the door, which was forced open by water, that the ceiling had crumbled and the space was flooded. “I didn’t go back for 11 days after that,” Tantillo said. “At that point, I basically took everything out of there in a day and a half. I threw a lot of stuff away, it was pretty heartbreaking.” The Jersey Shore is still suffering from the impact of the hurricane, a problem that may make it difficult for some vacationers to visit this summer. To celebrate the beach’s importance and help Tantillo return to normalcy in the place she calls home, Bluestone Fine Art Gallery in Old City is hosting a benefit exhibit titled “Rebuilding the Jersey Shore: One Artwork at a Time.” About 75 photographs and oil paintings by Deborah Mix and Linda Ramsay, who are both New Jersey artists and beach enthusiasts, will be featured at the Old City gallery. Tantillo, a glass artist, will also be exhibiting some of her work.
A CUP OF JOE, p. 10
Coffee chain Joe Coffee is opening its first location in Rittenhouse Square today, April 2. A&E DESK 215-204-7416
The show’s opening reception will be April 5 from 5-9 p.m. “Although the hurricane only slightly impacted my Long Beach Island studio, many other businesses and residences along the shore were not as lucky,” Ramsay said. After the hurricane, she and Mix met with Bluestone gallery owner Pam Regan to create an exhibit focusing on Jersey Shore images and paintings, from Cape May to Long Beach Island. The artists also took the show as an opportunity to help fellow artist and friend Tantillo. Mix and Ramsay each chose a work that, when sold, its profit will go to Tantillo; a percentage of the sales from the exhibit will go to the Long Beach Island native. “When [Ramsay] first approached me, she was like, The “Rebuilding the Jersey Shore” exhibit features art depicting scenes from the Jersey Shore. ‘We’re having this benefit The proceeds go toward rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. | CHEYENNE SHAFFER TTN show at a gallery and, by the way, you’re the benefit,’” Tan- sey Shore,” said Pam Regan, boardwalk landscape or a child ing feel to it. You could picture tillo said. “I was like, ‘That’s so Bluestone Fine Art Gallery crouching next to a pail, staring it in your house, in an office or nice, I just don’t know, are you owner. “They have reached out at the ocean. anywhere, and I like that about sure? I’m sure there are people to just about anybody on the Mix gives her photographs them. With their art, you see in more need than I am.’ I do- Jersey Shore – all the different of the shore more depth by tak- what you get.” nate so many things to auctions, art communities, art galleries. ing the shot and printing it on When not getting ready for it’s just weird to We’ve contact- metallic linen, then tinting it by the exhibit, Tantillo is also prebe on the received the marinas hand with oil pastels. The pro- paring to reopen her shop. Now ing end. I’m very and anyone we cess gives the photograph the that the space has electricity, grateful for them. can think of to texture of a painting. and plumbing will soon return, It’s such a nice attend or sup“Local landmarks or icons she hopes to get back to work thing they’re doport the exhibit. of a community are a recurring by May. ing, I’m just in a I’ve been work- theme, along with beach bikes “The worst thing now is different position ing with them and beach umbrellas, because that a lot of the people who work than I normally for a while, and they are so colorful and fun to for me don’t have anywhere to am, but I’m acthey’re friends paint,” Ramsay said of her art- live, so I may have staffing iscepting what and wanted to work. sues this summer until houses Mary Tantillo / artist people want to do an exhibit Regan said that the atmo- get renovated,” Tantillo said. give me and am together...They sphere the two artists evoke in Despite the difficulties, grateful for it.” wanted to do the exhibit is ideal for the com- she remains optimistic. “It’s On April 21, Ramsay will the two-person exhibit about ing months and sunny weather. going to be tricky, but I feel make a plein air painting, which Hurricane Sandy, because they “[Ramsay’s] art is warm, good about the summer. A lot of will be done outside during the do mostly beach-type art. It just it’s welcoming, it brings mem- people really want to be down Artists’ Reception from 11 a.m. worked.” ories to everybody. [Mix] en- here.” to 2 p.m. A silent auction will The artists’ works depict hances her photography, but you also be held during the exhibit. familiar beach scenes, such wouldn’t recognize it’s been Cheyenne Shaffer can be reached at “These two women have as a Ferris wheel, a crowded altered. It just has this comfortcheyenne.shaffer@temple.edu. really worked the whole Jer-
“I’m accepting
what people want to give me and am grateful for it.
”
ROCK N’ RESTORATIONS, p. 11
Philly rock band Restorations will be playing at the First Unitarian Church on April 5. ARTSandENTERTAINMENT@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM
LIVE IN PHILLY, p. 12
Checkout photos from an acoustic show at the Maggot House on Saturday, March 30.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
Dive bar scene offers character, familiar faces ing alternatives to locations where the bartender is wearing a backward baseball cap. Some of them have even avoided being featured on “Bar Rescue.” But among them is an undervalued and unappreciated genre of alcohol establishment. Dive bars, I’ve noticed, seemingly come with a reputation for being shady locales amongst my collegiate peers. As a frequent patron, I can certainly understand where that impression comes from. The amount of times I’ve plotted a quick escape route or complimented a gentleman on his eyepatch are more than people who generally care about my safety and well-being would like to know. But where others see sketchiness, I see character. Dive bars just have a certain familiar – even familial
– flair that you just can’t find elsewhere. One of my most frequent haunts features a 38-yearold bartender who points at me and says “trouble” every time I walk in the door. You’re not going to find that sort of customer knowledge elsewhere. And no, this isn’t just a ploy to get more tips – although it does totally work like that. One time I was dragged in there by an eager friend when I was just overcoming the type of stomach bug that would normally turn my choice poison from bourbon to “whatever will make the pain stop.” The bartender, being the wonderful example of a human being that she is, recognized right away that something was wrong, asked me about it and then offered to give me some juice free of charge. She was legitimately worried about me, and it showed. My own mother
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isn’t that kind and generous, and she also can’t mix a drink half as well. Think about that next time you’re at Maxi’s, where they serve pizza that seems to be actively trying to kill you. Whether it’s because of the size or just general atmosphere, I don’t necessarily know, but I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered as welcoming a drinking environment as I have in a good dive bar. I’ve had back-and-forths with the bartenders and my fellow colleagues of hooch where we just ripped on each other, mocking the very notion of sacrosanct and recanting on earlier eyepatch-related compliments. I’ve had some stimulating and productive discussions on a plethora of topics, varying from politics to economics to a critical and scholarly presentation into the exact origins behind why
New York coffee shop to open Philadelphia location Joe Coffee opens its first Philadelphia shop today at 18th and Walnut streets. PRISCILLA WARD The Temple News Joe Coffee, a New Yorkbased coffee shop, will open its doors in Philadelphia today, April 2. The artisan coffee shop will become part of the Rittenhouse Square streetscape, on 18th and Walnut streets. Philadelphia developers approached Jonathan Rubinstein, co-founder and proprietor of Joe Coffee, about bringing the coffee shop to the city. This will be the first location outside of New York. “We had a couple of different cities listed – Philadelphia, Boston and D.C.,” Rubinstein said. “We kept an open mind, and it just opened up for us to come to Philadelphia.” There are currently eight Joe Coffee shops in New York, including one at Columbia University; Rubinstein said this is one of the busiest locations. Expansion plans include bringing the coffee shop to Drexel University later this year. “When deciding where we would be expanding to, we kept thinking about how the brand would transfer over to another city,” Rubinstein said. Rubinstein passed the vision of the New York-based coffee shop to Amy Hattemer, the director of Joe Coffee Philadelphia. Hattemer is working to ensure the vision of Philadelphia’s Joe Coffee is as transparent as New York’s. “I started in New Zealand. There was a lot of pride surrounding coffee. When I came back, my best friend worked at Joe in New York, and I asked her about job opportunities,” Hattemer said. She was hired to work at Joe Coffee in Grand Central, one of the busiest locations, Hattemer said. Rittenhouse patrons, residents and business people are eager for the Philadelphia coffee shop opening. Greg Stevenson, Philadelphia Joe Coffee construction manager, said the 10,093-square-foot shop will feature both indoor and outdoor seating. The site included reclaimed wood counters and a rotating showcase of photography from local artists. “I’m excited, because it’s close. My daughter lives in Manhattan, and she said it’s fabulous, and I’m a coffee connoisseur, so I can’t wait until it opens,” Dawn Balog, an actuarial consultant, said. Joe Coffee shops are on a
Joe Coffee at 18th and Walnut streets, will be the first Philadelphia location. The company plans to open a location on Drexel University’s campus. | DALEXIS PEGUERO TTN mission to become viable members of the communities they inhabit. “We like to build a coffee community around us. We like to work with other places doing good for the community,” Hattemer said. Joe Coffee has started fundraising initiatives involving the coffee community, including Haiti relief, “Baristas for boobs” and Hurricane Sandy relief. The cafe will offer drip coffee and espresso beverages using a selection of its own Joe beans, roasted in New York City, and Intelligentsia Black Cat beans for espresso. “We offer quality mixed with hospitality. Our menu is really basic, people would never feel intimidated,” Rubinstein said. “We hope to establish brand loyalty with our customers in Philadelphia.” Joe Coffee will serve tea and a variety of baked goods, including selections from Philadelphia’s Brûlée Bakery and custom Joe treats from Brooklyn’s Ovenly. Prices will range from $2 to $5. “Joe Coffee is not your deli coffee, and they don’t pretend to be,” Rubinstein said. “We did some research on the market, and these prices are about average for coffee in Philadelphia.” The coffee shop serves organic and direct trade coffee. “Direct trade coffee is purchased straight from the growers by the importers and roasters, cutting out the traditional middleman. We like it, because
it allows us to develop a close working relationship with the growers,” Rubinstein said. Communicating both value and quality to customers extends to the way baristas are trained. There will be 14 baristas working at the Rittenhouse Square location. “Baristas come from area colleges. They’re artists and musicians,” Hattemer said. “We train our baristas in on several topics: approximately 12 sessions on espresso theory, then practical teaching, then milk theory, then milk steaming and then combining all those elements. Each barista has to pass a test for a panel to determine whether or not the drinks are up to Joe standards,” Rubinstein said. Rubinstein anticipates that the planned Drexel University location of Joe Coffee could be the company’s busiest location in Philadelphia. The company is planning to hire a larger pool of staff there than at the Rittenhouse location. “Since I moved here in January, I’ve been blown away by the food and beverage scene in Philadelphia. I’m excited that Joe Coffee is joining that world,” Hattemer said. Priscilla Ward can be reached at priscilla.ward@temple.edu.
[insert other city’s sports team here] sucks with such immeasurable force. And I’ve done it all while having just a really good time, the intent of which I worry gets misplaced by my collegiate peers sometime after the pregame. You may have noticed that, up until this point, something would seem to be missing in this column of mine. I have named the shockingly low number of zero dive bars. My only rejoinder is that a part of dive bar culture is only sharing your favorite places with people you genuinely like. I’m sure you, precious reader, are not a bad person. But I can’t say the same about the other guy. When I mentioned this column to an acquaintance of mine, I got cursed out. She was terrified that I was going to name
a place she had shown me. A place that is very near and dear to her heart. A place that I fell in love with somewhere between my first $5 glass of whiskey and that beautiful moment when “Mojo Hand” by Lightnin’ Hopkins played from the jukebox. Of course both she and I want that place to succeed. It’s a tremendous bar with a great atmosphere and a knack for pouring liquor into glasses just the way I like. Neither of us wants it to struggle for customers. But we also don’t want it to be filled with undesirable patrons. I want people to discover it independently of my recommendations and decide that it’s the kind of place they fit in. I want those people to bring their friends – people they know will also fit in – and convert them. I want it to be like a community that welcomes outsiders, which
2013 SUBARU CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL MONDAY, APRIL 1 - THURSDAY, APRIL 4 NOON ROTUNDA AT LIBERTY PLACE 1625 CHESTNUT ST. CENTER CITY FREE Instead of limiting your Asian appreciation to 3 a.m. egg rolls from China House, head into the city for the authentic Asian experience. And no, I’m not talking about Chinatown. Celebrate Japanese Culture Week inside the Shops at Liberty Place. While you’re munching on lunch in the food court, broaden your international horizons at the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival. Presented by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, the festival features daily activities such as origami, calligraphy, Japanese paper doll making and ikebana, which is the art of flower arrangement. Assistant Director Aaron Dilliplane urges students to take advantage of the educational event. “This is the best way to experience Japanese culture without a 14-hour plane ride,” Dilliplane said. “It’s also significantly less expensive. We have a ton of fun demonstrations planned for the community.” If you aren’t sold, maybe you’ll trust your fellow Owls. Temple’s Asian Students’ Association has volunteered over the years to guide par-
GAME NIGHT FRIDAY, APRIL 5 5 P.M. CHEMICAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION 315 CHESTNUT ST. OLD CITY FREE Even if you agree with Billy Madison that chlorophyll is bore-ophyll, give chemistry another shot at game night. As part of Philadelphia’s First Friday program of offering free activities to the public each month, the Chemical Heritage Foundation will transform its museum into a funhouse. History and sciencethemed board games, scavenger hunts and other fun activities are scheduled.
is completely different than a place that just sees a revolving door of new faces. And I want you to be a part of the larger dive bar culture. I want you to decide to go check out that small place you walk by on your way to work instead of deciding that the Draught Horse is easier just because you don’t have to change out of your sweatpants. So I encourage you to step out of your normal comfort zone – if you haven’t previously at least – and find a place like the ones I’ve talked about. If you have more fun than you expected, don’t worry about saying thanks. Just cover my next round. Zack Scott can be reached at zack.scott@temple.edu or on Twitter @ZackScott11.
ticipants through the intricate art processes. “The TUASA has contributed up to 45 helpers in the past, which certainly makes a difference for the staff as well as the attendees,” Dilliplane said. “We take good care of our people.” If you want to try on a kimono, arrive early tomorrow, April 3. Only a few lucky visitors will be allowed to don the garment. And yes, guys can, too. No matter how shabby your artwork appears, you’ll be able to bring home your keepsakes and hang them on the refrigerator. The JASGP established this gala to honor the Land of the Rising Sun and enlighten Philadelphians on its tradition. The free demonstrations are designed to whet your appetite for the main event of the festival, Sakura Sunday. On April 14, Fairmount Park’s Horticulture Center will host a day-long Japanese jubilee consisting of martial arts, dance performances and Harajuku fashion. Messages will be sent to victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Northeast Japan. Dilliplane is proud of his organization and hopes that everyone who comes out will take away something valuable. “It is a really great time for people to learn and enjoy the Japanese culture,” Dilliplane said. “Expect some giveaways and a couple other surprises.” If you want to aid in the festival’s preparation or execution, check out subarucherryblossom.org/volunteer. For the complete listings of all festival events, the calendar can be found at subarucherryblossom.org/events/calendar.
PHILADELPHIA INVITATIONAL FURNITURE SHOW SATURDAY, APRIL 6-SUNDAY, APRIL 7 10 A.M. 23RD STREET ARMORY 22 S. 23RD ST. $12 While your dorm room beanbag chair is no doubt “totally rad,” discover artisan quality furnishings and interior design at the Invitational Furniture Show. For 19 years, the most recognized furniture craftsmen have been exhibiting their state-of-the-art pieces at Philly’s premiere home design event. Check out rugs, beds, lamps, clocks and much more, but don’t forget to bring your checkbook if you’re interested in some new upholstery.
“WARNING!” OPENING RECEPTION FRIDAY, APRIL 5 7-11 P.M. BODY GRAPHICS PORTSIDE PARLOR AND ART GALLERY 30 S. 2ND. ST., PHILADELPHIA PA. 19106 FREE Not brave enough to get inked or pierced, but love the vibe of a tattoo shop? Give yourself an excuse to check one out at the opening reception of “WARNING,” an art show featuring the work of Alice White and Joy LessPosh. Forget the canvas – the show’s mixed media painting are on pieces of cut wood and will be available for purchase. If you miss the opening reception, don’t fret – the show will run through May 30.
- John Corrigan
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
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Restorations JARED WHALEN TTN
Philly rock band Restorations talks about its new album and upcoming tour. JARED WHALEN The Temple News In the modern mash-up of genres where any noun can be followed by “core” and a new music style is born, few bands are content being called good old rock ‘n’ roll. But Philadelphia’s Restorations isn’t trying to be anything it’s not. Veteran to the Philly music scene, Restorations is composed of developed artists who have more to offer than just chugs and four-chord songs. The band is comprised of Jon Loudon on guitar and vocals, Dave Klyman on guitar, Ben Pierce on guitar and keyboard, Dan Zimmerman on bass and Carlin Brown on drums. Feeding local punks a taste of quality songwrit-
ing since 2008, Restorations is about to release its second fulllength album titled “LP2.” Without getting into the politics of genres, Restorations can be characterized by melodic guitar leads, catchy song structure, raspy low vocals that manage to keep pitch and even an organ. Restorations has a style that remains familiar but will constantly keep you guessing. Restorations will be playing at the First Unitarian Church on Friday, April 5.. The Temple News: How’d you guys get started? Jon Loudon: We started this band as a project to just hang out locally. We were all in hardcore bands for the longest time before this band and had toured extensively and were looking to do something kind of low key and close to home and that escalated to what we’re doing now, I guess, for better or for worse. TTN: How’d you guys
meet each other? JL: I’ve known [Klyman] the longest. Dave Klyman: We met in college. JL: We went to shows together – that sort of thing. And once we were both in bands, all of our bands played together. I met Ben at the second show of my first band. DK: Playing shows together. Ben Pierce: I met [Brown] the day I joined the band, and that was the day [he] joined the band. TTN: So you guys are from Philly? JL: Yeah, [Klyman and I] went to Temple. [Pierce] went to Drexel. Jeff, our old drummer, went to Temple. We played shows there for the longest time. TTN: Any good stories out of the Philly scene? JL: I don’t know. It’s been a long crazy trip. [Klyman], any good show stories?
DK: The freshest one in my mind is Paint it Black hitting us up the day of a secret house show and being like, “Hey, can you guys do this?” and us being, “I think?” JL: But that’s sort of the way Philly rolls every now and again. You get phone calls every now and they’re like, “This is going to be the best show ever!” TTN: What have you guys been up to recently? JL: Hanging out. We are putting out a new record April 2. That’s been done since the fall, so we’ve been hanging out figuring out what is we are going to do. TTN: What’s that album called? JL: “LP2.” TTN: What was the writing process behind that album? JL: It was pretty easy. We kind of just hung out on this one. We had a year to write it. DK: Put the five of us in a
room and see what happens. JL: It was a lot of fun. Kind of laid back. DK: We don’t think we actually knew that we were working toward something. JL: We were just writing songs. Carlin Brown: We would write something and then throw it away and then bring it back and then rewrite it. DK: Then it became apparent that we should probably make a cohesive record. TTN: How would you describe the style of music you are trying to go for? JL: It’s just rock ‘n’ roll to me, man. We sound exactly what we are. We’re just a bunch of old punks playing rock ‘n’ roll music. TTN: What’s next for you guys? JL: Put the record out. We have a record release show... which is really awesome. Really looking forward to that. And
then we’re playing a couple of one offs. We have a tour coming up this summer that I can’t talk about yet, unfortunately. Dan Zimmerman: It’s not with Rush. JL: We’re not touring with Rush. That’s pretty much all I can say about it. TTN: Where did the band name Restorations come from? DK: It was supposed to be Shirley Temple of Doom. JL: No it’s true. [Klyman and I] sat in a bar for about two hours spit balling band names. The only thing that stuck was Shirley Temple of Doom. So we called the band Restorations, because it was the only serious name that we had. TTN: Anything you guys want to throw out there? DK: I just can’t believe that we aren’t touring with Rush. Jared Whalen can be reached at jared.whalen@temple.edu.
Dreaming of superpowers reflects what humans need
MATT KIRK Captain Kirk
Kirk explores the idea of wishing for a superpower.
I
asked more than 20 people a simple question. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Most people wanted to fly. So, there goes the originality of my first choice. Coming in at a
close second was time travel, which leads me to believe too many people have been taking “YOLO” to heart. Wrapping up the Top 3 was super speed, followed by another time-saving transportation related power, teleportation. But whether your desire is to heal the sick, change the weather, walk through walls or simply avoid traffic, we all have an answer. All of us wish to become more than our mortal selves, to change our potential, our history, our fate. The allure of escaping the inescapable bonds of mortality and becoming a god among men is such that dreaming for just a second can lead non-readers into the fantasy world comics create. The stories illustrated in the realms created by Marvel, DC and various comic labels guide readers to answer a simpler, yet much harder, question. Who am I? With each character and each journey comes a lesson, a message, for only the reader to in-
terpret. Through allegorical fantasy all topics can be presented to an audience for a philosophical analysis. However, the most common is the use of power. A wide variety of powers and unique abilities can be found within comics, each one possessing its own parallels to issues humans face in daily life. Through vivid storytelling, comics explore the various ways to face the problems of the actual world. Different powers manage different struggles. Time travel deals with issues of regret. The ability to fix the mistakes you have made in life brings to light the question of whether or not it is right, fair or healthy for one person to avoid pain and consequence. Suffering from personal mistakes fosters the learning and enhancement of one’s self. If you were able to avoid most negative outcomes in life, would you be capable of managing the temptation to put personal happiness above the wellbeing of
others? Would life maintain its meaning and significance if there was more to experience than the here and now? Personally, time travel is the last power I want. I know at some point I would get hung up trying to accomplish something impossible and transform into Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.” The ability to heal the living and revive the lifeless deals with the issue of death. The pain and finality of a loved one leaving this world so great that comic heroes, like humans, will do almost anything to stop it. The Lazarus Pit in the DC realm of comics provides interesting insights about the consequences of attempting to escape mortality. The pit possesses the power to restore youth to an aging body and, in some cases, resurrect the dead. Similar to a comatose patient on life support, those who enter the pit do not frequently return back to their original selves. In many cases the results of the pit become so warped in
mind, body or both that the following events resemble Stephen King’s “Pet Cemetery.” With each action comic characters take they make the choice of how to use their power/powers to alter their mortal lives. The daily struggle of responsibility and morality is ever present for comic characters and uniquely handled by each individual. Whether he or she uses his or her ability for recreation, personal gain, the assistance of others or neglect it entirely says something about the character’s personality. Whether he or she becomes a symbol of heroism, honor and wisdom or victims of greed, pride or wrath, is entirely dependent on the nature of his or her persona. Each character will face a crucial moment, in which he or she will decide in what manner to direct his or her abilities. This decision is often a defining moment, determining the character’s destiny or fate. Power has a duality to it. It can bring out the best or the
worst in people, make life easier or fundamentally change its meaning. When asked what superpower you would want to possess I believe one should consider whether or not he or she wants that kind of power in life. Would you trust yourself to remain headstrong and use that power sensibly? Comics may be fantasy but they teach us about something real. We may not be able to fly, smash through walls or read minds, but we have the power to change the world that we live in. We decide how we impact the world. To channel Batman: It’s not who you are, but what you do that defines you. Ultimately, real power lies in strength of character. Some give in to greed among other temptations, but some rise to the challenge of using their power to benefit the world. Matt Kirk can be reached at matthew.kirk@temple.edu.
College sophomores create zombie-themed 5K race ZOMBIE RUN PAGE 9 will unite humans and zombies for dancing and photo ops. Jacky Bam Bam from local radio station 93.3 will serve as the disc jockey, Feinman said. The Zombie Run offers even more than just entertainment value and exciting exercise, as it is has a tri-fold charitable arrangement that entrance prices contribute to. Its major charitable partner, Active Heroes, a national charity based in
Louisville, Ky., supports military families of returning soldiers experiencing any difficulties, whether financial, physical or emotional and mental stress. “[The Active Heroes creator] is a really personable guy,” Feinman said. “He’s told me a lot of stories of military families that they’re helping.” Active Heroes seemed like a good fit as a charitable partner, particularly with the militaristic
backstory and theme of the race, he added. Along with donating significantly to Active Heroes, Feinman and Hudis extended their charitable outreach in two other directions. In every city throughout the country that the Zombie Run takes place, a local charity will be supported. In addition, any person with a charity can register a group of runners in its name and receive support
from the Zombie Run. “We’re telling people that we’re donating their money,” Hudis said. “So we want them to really know where it’s going. Who are we to tell people where they should donate their money to?” The charitable outreach of the Zombie Run may account for the first time zombies have ever benefitted society, and that won’t end after Philadelphia’s
upcoming race. The Zombie Run is already scheduled to take place in many other cities across the country, including Miami and Seattle. Not everyone may have a passion for running, but one thing is indisputable – zombies are spreading across the country. The Zombie Run claims to be far from the typical hometown 5K and may be just the key to overcoming that mid-race fa-
tigue. There’s nothing quite like being chased by a brain eating zombie to push through that last kilometer. Erin Edinger-Turoff can be reached at erin.edingerturoff@temple.edu.
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North Philly music venue the Maggot House hosted an acoustic show on March 30, featuring performances from Mariah Welch, Salvatore Rex and Roof Doctor. | IAN WATSON TTN
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Tiny Desk Concerts host big talent in NPR office
I
JOEY CRANNEY Honorable Mention
Cranney lists his favorite Tiny Desk Concerts.
have a great way to distract myself from being productive. It involves public radio, live music and a tiny desk. With its so-called “Tiny Desk Concerts,” the music office of National Public Radio has created what is simultaneously my favorite vessel for listening to music online and the most common diversion keeping me from doing work. For those who are unaware of the tiny desk, the concept is simple: NPR invites bands – new and old – to come into its
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office and perform a 3-to-4 song set that is recorded and put online. It’s a well shot, intimate and charming series, with nearly 200 videos dating back to 2008. It’s also my go-to for music to listen to while writing, which can be as much of a detriment as it is a pleasure. Though, really, my struggle to write while listening to music has been an ongoing one. I used to have a go-to playlist on my iTunes, cleverly titled “For Writing” that was more than 125 songs long and spanned a bizarre combination of genres. On shuffle, “A Horse With No Name,” by America might skip to “Changes,” by 2pac. I gave up on that playlist a long time ago. I also haven’t fully embraced the evolving technology of online music, like Pandora. To me, Pandora falls short because it manages to be predictable despite having a platform based on randomness. For proof, go to classic rock radio and start hitting next. I’d be willing to bet whatever it costs to update to Pandora premium that you’d hit “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” or “Sympathy for the Devil” by the six-click limit. That limit of skipping no more than six songs really is one of the more insulting aspects of online listening. A listener isn’t satisfied with what he/she is hearing, but in pursuit of something better, Pandora treats you like you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. “You can have another one in an hour, Joey.” When I’m online listening, I pick and choose. I’m a proponent of Google Music, which is a far-too-unknown feature that allows you to sync your iTunes to Google and play it from any computer. But when I want something new and something
that I like, I don’t often stray away from the confines of the NPR Music office and its tiny desk.
10. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS
I’m convinced if I asked John Darnielle to write a song about something as mundane as a list column in a student newspaper, he would still find a way to make it charming, inventive and relatable. Anyone ignorant to Darnielle’s brilliance need only watch his opener, “Color in Your Cheeks” from his 2010 set behind the tiny desk to become totally hooked.
9. AMANDA PALMER AND THE GRAND THEFT ORCHESTRA
Amanda Palmer sings a six-minute epic about playing a ukulele. In the opening of her September 2012 set, she rubs two knives together as an instrument. At one point during “Want It Back,” she takes off her shoe and starts banging it on the desk. Though the tiny desk is small, it somehow contains the sheer magnitude of Palmer’s ability as a performer.
8. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE
In a four-song set from 2011 that lasts 14:30, Fountains of Wayne demonstrates why its one of the most underrated bands in the world. The band gets it right by playing two standouts from 2011’s “Sky Full of Holes” and chooses two fan favorites in “Valley Winter Song” and “Troubled Times” to close out the set. By going with a career-spanning set list, Fountains of Wayne showcase its ability to tell stories through catchy-as-hell pop rock.
7. ALT-J
I hadn’t heard of Alt-J before I stumbled onto the band’s December 2012 tiny desk performance, but I immediately knew what I had been missing by the time they finished their three-song set. Alt-J coolly navigates through its pointed
melodies in one of the sleekest sets that I’ve seen behind the tiny desk. The set’s closer, “Matilda,” will get inside your head and stay there.
6. MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS
In a rare appearance from a rap act, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis turn the tables on the tiny desk with an enthralling set. The group brings “Thrift Shop” to the NPR office and dance on the table in their closer, “Can’t Hold Us,” in two energetic, rousing performances. But the set’s opener, “Same Love,” steals the show as Macklemore demonstrates his lyrical ability in an emotional song about gay rights.
5. JIMMY CLIFF
Jimmy Cliff brings the same charm and innocence that made him a legend in the reggae community in his 2010 set. Cliff plays two classics - “Sitting in Limbo” and “You Can Get It if You Really Want” – and a new song, “I Got to Move On,” that would fit right in on his 1972 classic “The Harder They Come.” More than anything, Cliff’s set indicates his music is still as universal today as it was in his hey day.
4. THE AVETT BROTHERS
The Avett Brothers make excellent, seemingly calculated song choices for its 2009 set that lasts 15:56. The band opens with “Laundry Room,” a sublime album cut from their major-label debut “I and Love and You.” Following “Down With the Shine,” a song that eventually appeared on 2012’s “The Carpenter,” The Avett Brothers close with “Bella Donna,” a track from a 2008 EP that hasn’t been widely released. The band’s beautiful, understated performance of the closer begs the question: Why not?
3. ADELE
Adele gave the NPR office
a taste of her raw talent with a three-song set in 2011, a few months after her certified-diamond breakthrough “21” debuted. Adele opens with “Someone Like You” in a stunning, near a capella performance. She picks “Chasing Pavements,” the best song from her 2008 album “19” to follow, and closes with the future mega-hit “Rolling in the Deep.”
2. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH
A mega talent with an acoustic guitar, The Tallest Man on Earth is one of the most natural fits behind the tiny desk. So it seems only natural that his three-song set from 2009 is one of the first recorded in the NPR office. With guitar picking skills that don’t seem humanly possible and lyrics that are so good they’re painful, TMOE mesmerizes as a live performer. His tiny desk set is no different.
1. BOOKER T. JONES
The man who made the Hammond B3 Organ famous with “Green Onions” brings both behind the tiny desk in the greatest video that the series has to offer. His performance, which also includes “Born Under a Bad Sun” and “Down in Memphis,” is perfectly executed, but it’s the dialogue he exchanges with the NPR staff that makes Jones’ concert the best. NPR should recognize the opportunity it has when it invites famous musicians into its office, and would do well to treat more Tiny Desk Concerts like interviews. Honorable Mention: Anais Mitchell, Foster the People, Antibalas. Three sets that I wish were better: Dr. Dog, Passion Pit, Ben Gibbard. Joey Cranney can be reached at joseph.cranney@temple.edu or on Twitter @joey_cranney.
BAR GUIDE temple-news.com
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
PAGE B1
presents
The Temple News presents its annual Bar Guide – a guide to help the 21-plus student population decide how and where to spend a night out. This year’s edition focuses on bars that take you back to a different time – whether that be bars offering complimentary candy or channeling the 1920s era. Cheers!
Steven Stroud, an employee at Sugar’s in Old City, pours a cocktail. | ABI REIMOLD TTN
PHILLY BARS SPEAK TO INNER CHILD
Old City’s Sugar’s offers sweet deals Barcade scores with customers The quirky basement bar at 225 Church St., offers a fun, youthful interior. JENELLE JANCI A&E Editor Somewhere between the third and fourth drinks, the bar-goer might feel his or her hand wander to the small dish on the bar, most likely filled with some type of salty snack – probably not a Dum Dum lollipop. However, that’s exactly what patrons will retrieve at Sugar’s in Old City. The bar and wooden counters scattered throughout the establishment are adorned with dishes full of goodies reminiscent of childhood, including lollipops and plastic frogs that would feel at home in a goodie bag from a kid’s birthday party. The sweet adornments were added to the bar as a replacement for something less youthful – smoking. “We started that because you used to be able to smoke
down here,” bartender and former Temple student Steven Stroud said. “Once smoking stopped, we put out Dum Dums and toys on the tables instead of ashtrays.” Complimentary candy isn’t the only childlike feature
“It’s definitely
kitschy. That’s what we’re going for, too.
”
Steven Stroud / bartender
of the bar – the brick walls are covered with circus-themed decorations, such as large portraits of clowns and large, lit letters that read “LAUGH.” A pony statue is perched by the bar, and a pinball machine begs to test your reaction time after a few beers. Even the menus are designed with illustrations of giraffes, dogs and owls donning formalwear with poise. “It’s definitely kitschy,”
Stroud, an employee of Sugar’s for nine years, said. “That’s what we’re going for, too.” What’s Stroud’s favorite quirky piece? “Probably the predator mask that [the owner] has behind the bar,” Stroud said. The bar hasn’t always been called Sugar’s, however. Formerly SugarMom’s, the establishment dropped the maternal half of its name about a year ago, Stroud said. “We all used to call it Sugar’s [while] working here,” Stroud said. “I think it was a part of that.” Sugar’s is located in the basement of 225 Church St. in Old City. The quirky dive bar undoubtedly stands out from its atmosphere, but Stroud said its unusualness and historic draw only does it good. “This building has been here since the 1840s,” Stroud said. “A lot of people are just sort of drawn to it.” If the ornate interior isn’t the main attraction to customers, it’s likely that the specials are. Open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 2 a.m., Sug-
SUGAR’S PAGE B4
The Fishtown bar draws a variety of patrons for beer and arcade games. KEVIN STAIRIKER The Temple News The lights are dimmed, and the music is blaring. Although drinks are flowing freely, bar patrons’ faces are lit up for entirely different reasons. Some of those popular reasons go by names like “Burger Time,” “Galaga” and “NBA Jam.” Barcade, located at 1114 Frankford Ave., aims to serve customers as a combination of a friendly neighborhood bar as well as a friendly neighborhood arcade. Within the shell of a former electrical warehouse, Barcade houses roughly 35 refurbished arcade cabinets, from big names like “Donkey Kong” and “Ms. Pac-Man” to fan favorites like “Rampage” and “Smash TV,” all costing 25 cents per game. The Philadelphia version of Barcade is the third of such establishments, with the first
opening in New York City in 2004 and second in Jersey City in 2011. The Philadelphia branch opened soon after. Bartender Neira Jackson sees patrons drawn to Barcade evenly for its collection of old video games and robust selection of craft beers. “It definitely depends on the day, but on Sundays especially, I see a lot of people walk straight past the bar to the video games,” Jackson laughs. “But on Friday and Saturday nights, it’s more of a 50/50 split.” Near the “Asteroids” machine, Jay Rodriguez, a Barcade first timer, was grinning widely at the sight of all the games assembled. “I’m from Brooklyn, and I had heard of the Barcade there, but this is pretty incredible,” Rodriguez said. “I’m a big fan of ‘80s video games, and [Barcade’s] got almost everything.” The lack of admission charge for the arcade half of Barcade is a draw to patrons. Rodriguez turned back to attempt to destroy as many asteroids as possible, and as the night wore on, he would eventually play nearly every game,
a testament to the pull an arcade can still conjure. Manager Sean Hallion prides himself on Barcade’s beer selection, noting that Barcade is “strictly a draft beer bar, with no bottles or cans.” Current favorites with patrons include Southern Tier IPA and Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre, though it’d be best to check with the website before you go, as the drafts are switched each day. Nate Gullo, a 2007 alumnus and Barcade first-timer, was excited to visit because of the bar’s wide selection of microbrews. He did, however, have a problem with its lack of name brand beers. “I tried to order a Miller Light, and they didn’t have them or any light beers,” said Gullo, who was at Barcade for a friend’s 30th birthday. Coupled with fancy beers, Barcade offers variations of standard bar food, with “$1 Taco Mondays” and “$2 Slider Tuesdays,” both popular among regulars. The rest of Barcade’s menu deals entirely in assorted finger foods like Cuban Pork sandwiches and
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BAR GUIDE
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TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
Arcade bar atmosphere mixes youth with adulthood BARCADE PAGE B1
Located at 1114 Frankford Ave., Barcade blends the worlds of draft beer and arcade games without a cover charge. The bar is available to host special events and parties. | IAN WATSON TTN biodegradable materials to its bar – playing lots of Black SabKorean-spiced cheesesteaks, Barcade itself holds beer- The bar has also been known open to ideas. the other is furiously moving a related events frequently, often to partner with its friends down Another marker of Bar- electricity, which is powered by bath, no less – in the next room, joystick. inviting different brewing col- the street in Art Machine Pro- cade’s independent-mindedness wind tunnels. allows patrons to be an adult Barcade has exclusively and to challenge for the high Barcade also is available lectives to show off their wares, ductions, most notably holding is its commitment to being enfor community events. People such as Clown Shoes Brewing an after party for an art showing vironmentally sound. As with vintage arcade cabinets from score of “Ms. Pac-Man” at the can rent out Barcade for a few from Massachusetts. On April the tattoo shop held in July. It the other locations, Philadel- the mid ‘80s to the early ‘90s, same time. hours at a time for parties or em- 4, there will be a similar event hasn’t held many video game- phia’s Barcade strives to be which means no pinball maKevin Stairiker can be reached ployee get-togethers. with Weyerbacher Brewing. centered events as of yet but is eco-friendly, from its use of chines or “Dance Dance Revoat kevin.stairiker@temple.edu. lution.” The fact that there’s a
Patrons say, “Cheese!” at Tigerbeats The Barbary’s Monday-night “Tigerbeats” features a photobooth, Photobot 3000. JULIE ZEGLEN The Temple News Tigerbeats is not your typical Monday night. The Barbary’s weekly “indie dance party” features two floors of drinks and music from the likes of Sleigh Bells, Major Lazer, Icona Pop and MGMT, as well as all of the facial piercing and asymmetrical hairstyle variations Philadelphia has to offer. Anna Snapp, a senior theater major and Tigerbeats regular, said its appeal is its dance atmosphere. “I think it’s different from other nights at the bar, because it’s designed specifically for young 20-somethings from all over the city,” Snapp said. “You have recent college-grads, Temple students, an even mixture of girls and guys, and the best part is everyone likes to have fun and dance when they get there. It’s almost like there’s no shame or self-consciousness at Tigerbeats; everyone is just there to have a blast.” Located at 951 Frankford Ave. in Northern Liberties, the intimate 200-person venue may not look like much, with its plain brick exterior and black and white sign pronouncing simply, “Barbary.” But the entrance offers three options: go straight up the stairs to one bar and DJ, turn right for another bar and DJ or
turn left for the photobooth. Yes, a photobooth – or, as it is better known, Photobot 3000. For better or worse, those drunken pictures from last night are no longer confined to your phone’s camera roll. Attendees can operate the open-air booth simply by pressing the big red button on the camera, then they can gather around the large projection screen placed at the back of the lower-level area to view their pictures. “The self-serve aspect of the booth is really what makes it special,” Photobot 3000 owners Scott Ackerman and Brian Kimmel said in an email. “You’re free to take as many pictures as you’d like and seconds later they’re up on the big screen for everyone to see. The Photobot instantly infuses a room with a sort of exhibitionist/voyeur dynamic.” Additionally, all photographs are posted online the next day. Senior psychology major Lauren Fleisher cites that as a major draw for attending. “My friends and I definitely take advantage of Photobot; we probably abuse it,” Fleisher said. “I guess it’s just an excuse to be silly. I don’t mind that [the pictures are] put on Facebook. Besides, I only tag myself in the ones that I want people to see. I’ve had pictures of me put up on Facebook without my knowledge or consent. At least with Photobot, I’m the one pushing the button.” However, Snapp admits that having the pictures posted online does have its drawbacks. “I think it’s kind of great in the sense that you can document
your night with friends, but I do think it’s a bit of a trap,” Snapp said. “There are lots of college students drinking, and a lot of them may regret the choices they make in Photobot later on.” As for the craziest picture Ackerman and Kimmel have ever seen in the Photobot catalogue, they said, “Let’s just say we’re not on Facebook’s good side. We’ve had more suspensions for ‘indecent content’ than [we] can count.” Another draw for younger Philadelphians is the first hour’s open bar. For the cover price of $3, attendees can enjoy unlimited free Pabst Blue Ribbon beer during the open bar, then $1 PBRs for the next hour. “It appeals to the cheap college student that I am,” senior film major Sarah Roethke said. When not hosting the Monday night dance jam, The Barbary runs a number of other theme nights. For instance, March saw “Through Being Cool,” an “emo and pop punk dance party,” as well as “MMP!” featuring the sounds of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. The Barbary also doubles as a music venue for touring artists. In the past, it has hosted such major acts as Best Coast, Odd Future and Japandroids. Tickets can be purchased on the R5 Productions and Live Nation websites. The Barbary hosts Tigerbeats every Monday night from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m. Julie Zeglen can be reached at julie.zeglen@temple.edu.
Beer and billiards offered in Old City Buffalo Billiards in Philadelphia’s Old City offers games, beer specials and a game-day hangout. KEVIN HARKINS The Temple News At a glance from the outside, Buffalo Billiards looks like most other bars located in Philadelphia’s Old City district. A glass emblazoned logo, neon signs and an overall quaint feel make it blend in nicely with many other shops and eateries in the area. Those similarities end at the front door, however. Buffalo Billiards Philadelphia, the company’s third U.S. location, is much bigger than the average bar. Opened in 2000, Buffalo Billiards’ website boasts a capacity of up to 600 patrons for parties. The interior is part dive bar, part sports bar, and the mixture is pulled off with class. Bare brick walls are adorned with retro-style advertisements. The bar itself is decorated with artifacts from the Old West, antique coins and brochures looking for ranch hands. The lighting is dim and unassuming, which lends itself to the overall laidback atmosphere. There are two floors, each featuring a fully stocked bar with 10 beers on tap at all times. There’s no drink menu and no set beer list at Buffalo Billiards, as they feature a continuously rotating selection of craft beers on draft. “We’ll go through about two kegs with each beer and then switch them out, so that’s always changing,” Celeste Ahern, event coordinator and Buffalo Billiards employee since 2011, said. “We like to keep things fresh.” The main draw of Buffalo Billiards, however, has nothing to do with the drinks that are served. The large space inside isn’t occupied with dance floors or DJ booths but rather a variety of bar games to keep patrons entertained. With eight pool tables, five dart boards, shuffleboard tables and even skeeball lanes, Buffalo Billiards seems to have something to appeal to the kid in everyone. As its name and location might suggest, pool is the most popular activity at Buffalo Billiards.
“Pool tables fill up like that day and Monday, from 9 p.m. every day,” Ahern said. “On until 2 a.m., it holds SIN, or serbusy nights, there isn’t any time vice industry nights. On these when we don’t have a five-or- nights restaurant workers from six person wait list.” around the city are offered free Since pool is so popular, pool and discounted drinks with Buffalo Billiards has taken the proof of employment. need to have quarters on hand On Wednesday nights, out of the equation. Patrons pay from 9-11 p.m., Buffalo Bilan hourly rate ranging from $6 liards offers $3 Modelo Espeto $10 per person to play. This cials and half-priced chicken is pro-rated by the minute, to or fish tacos. Thursday from ensure no time or money is 9-11 p.m., it’s $3 local drafts wasted. and half-priced burgers, and the Darts, a traditional bar bar’s Saturday special is always game, draws a fair number of changing. Currently, it’s offercustomers nightly as well, but ing $3 Yuengling lager drafts the lesser-known shuffleboard from 2-5 p.m. has grown in popularity as of Buffalo Billiards is also late. Charged at a game-day the same rate as hangout. There pool, Buffalo are 17 full-HD Billiards has had plasma televito make changes sions distribto accommodate uted throughthe new trend. out the bar. For “We actufootball fans, ally just took it has Direcout some pool TV’s “Sunday tables upstairs Ticket.” Durto put in more ing Sunday shuffleboard,” football games, Ahern said. “I Yu e n g l i n g don’t think that’s Celeste Ahern / event coordinator drafts and dosomething that mestic bottles you see a lot around the city.” are $3 each. It offers the same Skeeball has always been deal during all Philadelphia Eaan arcade standby, but in recent gles night games and $3 Budyears it has become a trendy weiser and Bud Light bottles complement to the local bar. during Phillies games. It’s no longer uncommon to In the next few weeks, find patrons in friendly com- Buffalo Billiards will be dopetition for the highest score. ing a full upheaval of its food At Buffalo Billiards, however, menu. Ahern wouldn’t disclose it’s not all fun and games, as any details about the new menu it runs two skeeball leagues items, other than to say it will throughout Philly Social Sports. diverge from the typical wings The playoffs of the Thursday and potato skins barroom fare. league’s sixth season took place Above all else, Buffalo on March 21, so another sea- Billiards values a welcoming son of competitive four-on-four atmosphere. When asked what skeeball may be just around the type of crowd the bar typically corner. Registration was $30 per drew, Ahern said that everyone team this past season and can be can find something fun to do completed in Buffalo Billiards there. or online at www.phillysocial“We get everything from sports.com. 22-year-old kids on the weekBuffalo Billiards also fea- ends to businessmen during tures happy hours for beer lov- happy hours,” Ahern said. “I ers. From 6-8 p.m., Monday think everyone feels really through Friday, it offers all 10 comfortable, because we don’t of its draft beers for $3 each. have a certain niche. Everyone “We have all craft beers can hang out, everyone can on draft, so you’re not just get- play games. All different styles ting Miller Lite on draft, you’re of people just feel comfortable getting tasty, expensive beers,” here.” Ahern said. Kevin Harkins can be reached Buffalo Billiards also ofat kevin.harkins@temple.edu. fers half-price appetizers and $3 well drinks during happy hour, and that’s not the only special that runs regularly. Every Sun-
“We get
everything from 22-year-old kids on the weekends to businessmen during happy hours
”
BAR GUIDE
PAGE B3
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
Snapshots: Meet the mixers and shakers
MIKI NEUMAN With 30 years experience, Neuman has served multiple celebrities. TJ CREEDON The Temple News From serving Mel Gibson and friends to reopening bars for late night parties with Harry Kalas, bartender Miki Neuman has seen her fair share of interesting experiences during her almost 30 years in the industry. The University of Pennsylvania alumna’s connection to Temple is evident: her father and brother both have taught classes and her nieces have both studied at the university. Neuman currently works at The Union League of Philadelphia, but she has also worked in the Rittenhouse Hotel and other establishments throughout the city. The Temple News: How did you start bartending? What drew you to it? Miki Neuman: It’s good money. I started as a bus person, and I got a job at a restaurant. My dad had a friend who was his patient who was staffing up a restaurant and I was like 18 years old looking for a job so he gave me a job. And it’s interesting because I actually bartended for his son’s wedding last year... just by coincidence. It was pretty cool. TTN: So you work at The Union League of Philadelphia. What’s it like working there compared to other places you’ve worked? MN: It’s a little bit different, because for a long time I worked in bars in restaurants in high school and college, and then after I got out of college I migrated over to the hotel industry, which is great, because it’s a more professional environment. They treat you better, and it’s just a better class of people that you’re work-
ing with. Then I went to [ The Union League], which functions as a hotel, but it’s actually a private club. When I worked at the Rittenhouse Hotel, we also had condominiums there, so we had a lot of regulars there, which would be the equivalent to what we have as members [at The Union League], but during the week I’m almost always working with members who are the same faces all the time. TTN: Is there a good mix of people, or is it a bunch of old, white guys? MN: It’s very mixed. That’s an old perception of the league... We have a reputation of being a club for old, white, Republican men, and it’s so not true. It’s been a good 30 or 40 years since they started accepting minorities and women as members, and our outgoing president was a woman – first one, but still. I mean, we’re there. The interesting thing about it is it’s not because people have been more liberal, it’s really more a question of survival in the industry. TTN: What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened while you were bartending? MN: I can say one really odd thing was that the first wedding I worked at The Union League, the bride’s uncle dropped dead of a heart attack on the dance floor...We were pretty shook up, and the people at the wedding were so traumatized that they got so drunk. TTN: Because you work in Philadelphia, have you ever been surprised to come across any famous people sitting at your bar? MN: Not really surprised, but I did get a lot of celebrities at my bar at the Rittenhouse Hotel. There was this time – this was the most surreal thing that ever happened to me while bartending. Norman Lear, the producer, had bought one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, so he put together this whole all-star cast of celebrities to read from the Declaration on the steps of the National Constitution Center when it first
opened, and they were all staying in my hotel. The leading person, the director, that worked on it with [Lear] was Michael Douglas, and part of that whole crew was Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, maybe five others, I can’t remember who they all were, all showed up in my bar at the same time. Joaquin Phoenix was there, but he was one that I saw fairly often, and Mel Gibson lived in the hotel for a while, so he came and sat at my bar every Tuesday night for five months. TTN: Did you interact with him a lot, or did he prefer to be left alone? MN: I did talk to him a lot. And he’s really not a bright guy and surprisingly [does not have] really good verbal skills, but he reads from scripts. But that was crazy that one night, because there were at least 10 A-list celebrities sitting in or on the first row of tables by my bar...that doesn’t happen in Philadelphia. TTN: What’s one thing that you have learned from being a bartender so long? MN: The thing that you get most from it is being able to tolerate a lot of really annoying stuff without losing your patience or losing your cool, because if you do lose your patience...you’re going to lose your job...I think it’s been good for me...in my property management. It helps me be able to tolerate a difficult tenant or a difficult situation with a tenant, or just dealing with people in general. I can’t tell you how many times I’m working in a meeting, say it’s a real estate group or a bunch of lawyers or a bunch of doctors, and they’ll start talking to me and they’ll say, “I was a bartender in college and grad school, and I took a lot away from that. I think it really helped me deal with people better.” But I think most lawyers forget that really quickly.
ALEX SALTER
Junior legal studies major Alex Salter bartends at a Center City bar. REBECCA ZOLL The Temple News Alex Salter has been bartending for eight months at R2L, a swanky, fine dining establishment in Center City. He got into bartending because it’s a job that is easy to find almost anywhere – plus it’s a lot of fun, he said. The Temple News: How did you learn to bartend? Alex Salter: I went to bartending school in Allentown, Pa., and then from there I got a job at a restaurant and learned as I worked. TTN: What is the scene like at R2L? AS: It’s a pretty fine dining place. We usually get a lot of business clientele, so a lot of guys come during happy hour. On weekends we get some young professionals. It’s not a college bar. It’s a lot of upper class. We get regulars who live in the building. It’s like a restaurant bar. TTN: How did you get the job at R2L? AS: I pretty much stumbled into it. I was in Center City looking for a bartending job before school started. I stopped at one place that was supposed to be hiring, but they weren’t looking for anybody anymore, but they knew the manager at R2L was looking for someone. They gave me the directions. I talked
to the managers [at R2L], and I was actually hired before I left that day. TTN: What is the most difficult drink to make? AS: Speculoos. It’s based off of a cookie. TTN: What do you enjoy about bartending? AS: I enjoy the creative part, like when people come in and don’t know what they want, and you go through the process of what they like. Then making them a drink they really enjoy. TTN: What do you dislike about bartending? AS: The people are jerks. It’s mainly the people that have never worked in the service industry and expect you to wait on them like a butler. TTN: What are some examples of bartender lingo? AS: “Shakin’” is when you see a bartender put a martini or a margarita in the shaker, and they shake it. “Up” is when the drink is poured into a stemmed martini glass. “On the rocks” is on ice. “Jigger” is a measuring tool. If you jigger a drink, you’re measuring out the proportions of the liquor. TTN: What is your craziest story dealing with a customer? AS: New Year’s Eve. We had this guy throw a fit because we stopped serving him after two [drinks], and he freaked out and started cursing at everybody and throwing chairs across the room. We couldn’t really do
anything. We just kept saying, “OK sir, I’m sorry you’re going to have to leave now.” The manager made sure he didn’t get too out of hand. TTN: If you could bartend anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? AS: On a cruise ship, because you probably get a lot of the same clients but changing crowd. You get to travel around the world. You probably also make pretty good money, I imagine. TTN: How long do you plan on bartending? AS: Bartending will be what I keep doing until I get a “big person job.” TTN: Does your family support your bartending? AS: My family was really behind me getting my license and everything like that. They thought it was a good idea, and they really liked that it gave me something to fall back on in college. TTN: What have you learned from bartending? AS: It’s definitely humbled me. You get to see a lot of powerful people. A district attorney comes in to eat on a regular basis. The Flyers and Eagles come to eat. A lot of people can be jerks, and then you have other people who are just well off. Some of them are actually decent people and nice guys.
“I enjoy the
creative part, like when people come in and don’t know what they want...then making them a drink they really enjoy.
”
Rebecca Zoll can be reached at rebecca.zoll@temple.edu.
TJ Creedon can be reached at tcreedon@temple.edu.
Bartender Miki Neuman works at the Union League of Philadelphia. She has had more than 30 years of experience in the industry. | COURTESY MIKI NEUMAN
Junior legal studies major Alex Salter has bartended for eight months at R2L, a restaurant in Center City. He went to bartending school in Allentown, Pa. | KATE McCANN TTN
Bartender gets served memorable customers CHELSEA THOMPSON
Thompson recalls notable suitors – both the flubs and successes.
A
s a female bartender, it’s interesting to see how men return to their primal instincts and display a mating ritual that has evolved from grunting and banging hairy chests to pathetic pick-up lines and crude remarks. When I initially started bartending, I gave out my number to every guy that asked in
fear they would not return to the bar. My phone was full of “Thing 1’s” and “Thing 2’s.” Some of these suitors stick out in memory more than others. An older man, probably in his late 40s, would come in for a couple beers every time I worked. He always had a smile from ear to ear and even bought me a beautiful pair of Swarovski earrings for Christmas, which I tried to decline politely. Then he asked for my number. Because he was nice enough to go out of his way and buy me something for Christmas, my naivety thought the least I could do was be his friend. To be clear, I told him that we were only friends, thinking that maybe he just needed someone to talk to every now and then. Wrong. The texts I received were something along the lines of “I love you,” or “I’m thinking of you.” I began to think he would ran-
domly pick out a candy heart each day and send me whatever endearing sentiment was on it. I thought I was just being paranoid when I felt him staring at me while eating on my break, but he confirmed this by blatantly saying, “I’m watching you.” Later, even after meeting my boyfriend, he told me that he loved me and was persistent in explaining to me that we were meant to be together. I finally had enough and told him: One, he was too old. Two, I loved my boyfriend. And three, even if we did break up, I would never be with him. Thankfully he got the hint, but unfortunately his ego wasn’t bruised. He still comes in and stares. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy coming to work, and bartending can be fun, but I work to pay my bills and get through school. The last thing I want is to come to work and be hassled by men that are not even re-
motely close to my age who waste my time trying to flatter me when I could be dedicating that time to other customers. Another man who was a regular offered me the chance to flip houses with him. He had never bothered me – until I gave him my number. I had worked in a real estate office before college, so I had a very basic background on selling and buying homes, but he told me that he wanted me to grow with his company and eventually sell the houses he flipped. On the fourth switch of my major, still not knowing what I wanted to do, this sounded like a great jumpstart. Unfortunately, his texts soon suggested he was having a mid-life crisis, and I was his spontaneous motorcycle purchase. The regular was genuine in wanting me to work for him. I met clients with him, and I even visited a few abandoned houses he had bought, but the texts be-
came too uncomfortable, and I wasn’t getting paid. Time is money. Money may also come in the form of a vacation. One of my daytime regulars suggested that we go to a tropical island together. He was a professional scuba diver and brought in pictures as evidence for my doubts – so why the hell not go? I wanted to learn how to scuba dive, and he was going to pay for everything. I let it swim in my mind for a while before realizing that I was being baited into a compromising situation. Let me also add that he was 20 years my senior, and kissing a man who is the same age as my father was crossing that thin line of morals that I still had. So, I went for a man that was only 10 years older than me. Contrary to popular belief, screaming, “excuse me” across the bar will not get you a drink any quicker. If anything, we no-
tice how rude you are and continue serving other people. However, I must confess that I fell for one of those rude, drunk people. I fell for the two things I hate: being hassled by older men and yelling across the bar for my attention. To his defense, he did not hassle me for my number – just for a drink – but when I asked what he wanted to drink, he couldn’t remember. For some reason, his blank response made me blush and, after tipping me well over what was necessary, this love became more than platonic. A year later, I’m still with the lush and managed to still go on vacation to a tropical island – all expenses paid. Chelsea Thompson can be reached at chelsea.thompson@temple.edu.
BAR GUIDE
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
Walking Tall and Speaking Easy How to get yourself in the coolest underground bars. 1. SAVE UP
Many of the bars inspired by the opulence of the 1920s style don’t exactly price their drinks for the budget-minded student. It’s best to save your pennies and make this a special trip.
2. GO IN SMALL GROUPS
Speakeasies are trying to create an intimate drinking atmosphere, so showing up with 20 of your closest friends is a sure way to be left out in the cold. Pick your favorites to share in the secret.
3. MAKE IT YOUR FIRST CHOICE
Don’t expect to just stumble into a speakeasy for last call. The bartenders put a lot of care into their specialty cocktails, so show up a little earlier and avoid the lines.
4. TALK A BIG GAME
Some bars will ask you how you heard about the place before they let you in. Speakeasies during Prohibition relied on word of mouth, so maybe tell them a friend (and not The Temple News) sent you.
5. DRESS THE PART
Depending on which establishment you choose, you may want to dress with a touch of class. You wouldn’t want to feel out of place among the leather-bound books or velvet wallpaper.
6. FOLLOW THE RULES
Snap a picture inside a certain Chinatown speakeasy, and you are going to find yourself back out on the curb. Play along and enjoy yourself, because these bars are all about the experience.
-Rachel McDevitt
PAGE B4
City’s modern speakeasies offer nostalgia, exclusivity Mystery and complex cocktails surround Philly’s speakeasy bars. RACHEL MCDEVITT The Temple News You coax your friends to put on a pair of nice pants and ride with you into the night. You ring the bell outside of an ornate, unmarked door on a busy street and wait. Others mill around on the sidewalk with you. They’re are all waiting, too. Eventually a man appears at the door and opens it cautiously. He looks you over, asks how many are in your party and quickly disappears again. You hand over your ID the next time you see him and murmur something about friends when he asks you how you found out about this place. It seems to be good enough. Once inside, you sit on benches and listen to the man go over a list of rules: no photos, no phone calls – this place is nothing like what you have heard. You feel your head nodding in agreement. With your anticipation at its peak, you are finally led around the corner into a cavern of a room filled with chatting couples at low tables and waiters in white shirts milling about with their free hand tucked delicately behind their backs. Candlelight flickers over the wallpaper and exposed brick. The air is full of gin and promise. You’ve made it into a speakeasy. “Speakeasies were the center of a cultural movement in the 1920s,” Sarah Winski, an exhibition developer for the National Constitution Center, said. Winski said going out to these bars with friends from the opposite sex may seem like a completely normal thing to do now, but before the era of Prohibition and speakeasies it was unheard of. “When drinking was pushed underground it brought everybody together,” Winski said. “We see this change in society completely fueled by the speakeasies.” Now there seems to be a new movement emerging, with rumors flying of bars that don’t exactly hang a sign out front. Pair that with the buzz surrounding TV shows like “Boardwalk Empire,” the new blockbuster remake of the 1920s quintessential “Great Gatsby” and fashion’s recent nod to flapper glamour, and it seems as if people in
the present day are obsessed with life a century ago. “Fascination with the 1920s is something that has always been simmering in the American conscious,” Winski said. “Now there is just a resurgence.” “It’s exclusive, but it’s kind of cool,” senior neuroscience major Mariza Esperanza said of her experience with speakeasies in Philadelphia. “If you wanted a bar that you can just walk into, you can go down the street. You get in [to the speakeasy], you feel special.” Hopeful patrons to the Franklin Mortgage and In-
vestment Company, a 60-seat, speakeasy-inspired lounge, stood idly on the sidewalk until they could feel special too. Phillip Pantuso and Kristin Knoll were just two of the crowd of people waiting their turn in the early evening hours. They were visiting from New York, and the Franklin came highly recommended to them. “It’s a more focused drinking experience,” Pantuso said. “It’s quieter, private. They put a lot of care and attention into the presentation.” These styles of bars pay so much attention to their cocktails, some might even call it a craft. John Miller, the general manager of the speakeasy-in-
spired Ranstead Room, stressed just how focused the bartenders are on crafting the drinks, which are served to perfection. “Everything from the ice to the juice to the way we measure the liquor,” Miller said. “It’s about respecting all our ingredients to bring you the best possible finished product.” The specialty cocktails served at so many of the speakeasy-style bars: gin, grapefruit and mint at a Chinatown hideaway; applejack, lemon and champagne from the Stephen Starr back-alley joint; or punch made with bourbon, pineapple and cinnamon at The Frank-
lin, all seem ironic at bars that channel the vibe of Prohibition, an era some claim “ruined the cocktail” with poorly-made alcohol masked by various mixers. Not all original speakeasies were like these modern, shiny tributes to an era gone by. Winski said the illegal bars in the 1920s could vary from dirty, basement bars to high-rolling, members-only clubs that only served the finest food and booked the best bands for their patrons. “It wasn’t illegal to drink during Prohibition, just to sell it,” Winski reminded. “The speakeasies were trying to fill a need. It all depended on the
clients.” With ever-more-specific clientele, there are even more variations on the speakeasy of the 1920s today. Betty’s Speakeasy, an intimate café and BYO in South Philadelphia, puts everything right out in the open. “It’s something that’s kind of a pun,” co-owner of Betty’s, Dylan Snow, said. “We can always ‘speak easy’ about the food we serve. Everything on the menu we know where it came from, how it’s made and quite a bit of history.” Betty’s is like a traditional speakeasy, because it doesn’t advertise or keep regular hours. It specializes in hosting private dinners for small parties, providing the same exclusive feel as the candlelit bars around Center City. “We’re big on the experience and toasting society standards,” Miller said of Ranstead. “You can come in with friends, raise cocktails together and enjoy your evening.” Also waiting to enter the exclusive Franklin Mortgage were friends Juli Monette and Kim Harvey. They visit speakeasies in every town they go to, but they don’t hear about them by word-of-mouth. “I did my research,” Monette said. “You just type in ‘speakeasy’ and start reading reviews.” The information highway has certainly proved its usefulness, but it begs the question: can a bar be called a speakeasy if it is in the public eye? “It’s hard, because it’s modern day and alcohol is legal. It’s not a secret,” Esperanza said. “I don’t know if there can be a real speakeasy with the Internet.” It’s only when you look too closely that you realize the exposed bricks in the speakeasy look a little more like plastic, and that the wallpaper was cut so that it only seems like it is peeling away from the walls. You become suspicious that the books on the shelves are nothing but hollow bindings, and a terrible image of how cheap the bar would look if it was out in the sunlight enters your mind. This isn’t a real speakeasy. You arrive to the point of outrage before you remember: It’s not about what’s real. It’s about the experience. Rachel McDevitt can be reached at rachel.mcdevitt@temple.edu.
Three to See Here’s three speakeasies for those brave enough to try to get in. FRANKLIN MORTGAGE AND INVESTMENT COMPANY 112 S. 18TH ST., PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103 This underground cocktail bar has 60 seats, and thus, caps out at 60 people. Lines start forming in front of the bar by 6 p.m. some days, with people yearning for old-fashioned drinks served over one big rock of ice. This “drinking establishment” was named after the real, Prohibition-era bootleggers who went by “Franklin Mortgage” to cover up transporting their liquor on the railways. Lucky for you, you won’t have to hide your joy when you finally get that table.
BETTY’S SPEAKEASY 2241 GRAY’S FERRY AVE., PHILADELPHIA, PA 19146 If it is true exclusivity paired with locally sourced food that you crave, then this tiny BYO in a trendy stretch of South Philadelphia gives you the chance to rent out its dining area for groups of 8-19 people. It specializes in private events but will also let you to pop in during the day for a taste of its delicious homemade fudge and some tasty food history.
RANSTEAD ROOM 2013 RANSTEAD ST., PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103 Intricately patterned, velvety wallpaper envelops you in a conversation-inviting atmosphere. The general manager describes it as “a 1950s, Las Vegas homage to the 1920s.” It feels smoky without any actual smoke, almost like a gentleman’s club; a sense only heightened by the choice of nudes in the decor. If you find yourself overwhelmed by the opulent selection of craft cocktails at the bar, the manager recommends a traditional concoction of apple brandy, lemon juice and house-made grenadine known as the Jack Rose. -Rachel McDevitt
ILLUSTRATION EMILY HURLEY
Candy and cocktails served up at basement bar SUGAR’S PAGE B1 ar’s aims to please not only the half-price drafts from 5-7 p.m. night owl but also the lunch and from 10-11 p.m. The bar crowd. Burgers also offers a and veggie burgPabst Blue Ribers are only $3 bon pounder on Wednesdays with a shot of and Thursdays Jameson whisfrom noon to key for $7 – a midnight. During deal Stroud enthe same time courages visiperiod, Shock tors to try. Top beer or a red, “It’s betwhite or blue Kater than a Citymikaze cocktail wide [special] is $3, and pierobecause it’s a gies go for 50 heavier shot,” cents each. Steven Stroud / bartender Stroud said. “A lot of The bar has people come in here during also seen its fair share of celeblunch just to hide and have a rities enjoy its many specials beer before they go back to and fun atmosphere, Stroud work,” Stroud said. said. Sugar’s also offers many “A lot of bands and stuff drink specials. On Fridays and roll through here,” Stroud said, Saturdays, patrons can enjoy such as Mike Patton from Faith
“A lot of people
come in here during lunch just to hide and have a beer before they go back to work.
”
Sugar’s, located on Church Street in Old City, began putting candy bowls throughout the bar when it stopped allowing patrons to smoke inside. | ABI REIMOLD TTN
No More. Despite its occasional celebrity clientele, Sugar’s is undoubtedly a casual bar, fitting for a night when jeans and a Tshirt seem most appropriate. “The bartenders will probably be wearing the same thing,” Stroud laughed. The long tenures of employees like Stroud are a testament to the laid-back mentality and fun atmosphere that Sugar’s has to offer. “I enjoy working here,” Stroud said. “Everyone that has been working here for the most part has been working here for a long time. There’s a little family mentality here.” Jenelle Janci can be reached at jenelle.janci@temple.edu or on Twitter at @jenelley.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Migrant workers give artist perspective garcia PAGE 7
high school had to offer and then began to put his portfolio together for art schools. “My portfolio had ceramics, pencil drawings, charcoal drawings, pen drawings and paintings,” Garcia said. “[Tyler School of Art’s] five drawing rule requires you to have five drawings in your portfolio.” Garcia said all Tyler students need to show five drawings in their portfolio despite their intended concentration because drawing shows an understanding of visual elements. “When a [Tyler] counselor came to my high school I laid everything out for him and he said, ‘Very nice I’m just going to review your portfolio right now and get it out of the way,’” Garcia said. His portfolio passed the impromptu review for consideration into Tyler and he eventually got accepted. Garcia entered in Fall 2008, which was the last semester the art school was located in Elkins Park, Pa., before
the school moved to Main Campus. He is the first of his six siblings – of which he is the second youngest – to go to college, and the first of his extended family as well. Garcia described his parents as supportive of his choice to go into the arts. “It was my extended family that would say, ‘You should be a lawyer, you should be a doctor,’” Garcia added. In his sophomore year Garcia was accepted to Temple Rome. Garcia chose to take classes for a full academic year as opposed to the standard one semester. Staying for the full year allowed him to gain a visa for a longer period of time and have the opportunity to come and go as he pleased, he said. “I continued to take printmaking courses there, and I took a lot of art history and drawing,” Garcia said. “In the spring I took an independent study. It was kind of cool because you find yourself back in your freshman
year when you almost don’t know anybody because you’re in a different place. You get a chance to look back, reflect a little bit and find your new self.” While in Rome, Garcia was reminded a lot of his life growing up in Mexico. “I lived there until I as about 12 [years old],” Garcia said. “A lot of the stuff, like the markets and even the landscapes outside the city reminded me of the country. You can reflect a lot on your family because you’re so far away from them. There’s hardly any [washing machines there], there’s no microwaves, you have to do everything by hand. I was kind of used to it.” Upon returning to the U.S. Garcia was approached by Migrant Education Technological Center for Adults and their Families in Gettysburg, Pa., to teach a photography course to migrant parents. The center also offered courses in basic computers skills and ESL. The students were supplied
with Canon Powershot cameras and Garcia taught the adult students how to use the cameras’ manual settings, with instruction in both English and Spanish. “It’s so easy to think about things in English, since I was used to learning photography in English,” Garcia said. “So I had to translate a lot of the technical terms, which would get confusing.” Garcia added: “The migrant workers were a challenge because most of them were parents. It was like when you try to teach your mom or dad how to use the remote.” Part of the program involved the students documenting their daily lives with disposable cameras, an effort that culminated into the publishing of a book featuring the work of the migrant workers, and a photo exhibit that took place in Gettysburg last October. “I think I learned a lot,” Garcia said. “Not just from
the classes, but [also] from the parents and the story they had. You learn you don’t know your country until you meet somebody else from a different region because they can tell what they do where they’re from and the customs they do that you don’t do. So you kind of have to leave Mexico to understand it.” Currently, Garcia said, METCAF had to cut the program due to budget cuts and it is only offering English courses. The directors of METCAF are currently writing grants to reboot the program. Garcia’s teaching career didn’t end with METCAF as he is also pursuing a teaching certificate. He currently student teaches at Philadelphia High School for Girls. “They’re very eager to learn and receptive to [learning],” Garcia said of his current students. “You end up secondguessing yourself since you’re really not that far from them [in age] but you’d be surprised how
far you are mentally.” In his final semester, Garcia is working at Brandywine Workshop where some of his responsibilities include cataloguing work, organizing exhibits and reaching out to potential artists in residence. Upon graduating in May, Garcia plans to stay in Philadelphia and at Brandywine Workshop. Garcia said he hopes to continue to explore different mediums and his own culture. “My interest has moved to learning what assimilation does to your culture,” Garcia said. “What you choose to keep, what aspects go away. Seeing what new immigrants bring with them and what immigrants that have been here for more than one generation retain.” Luis Fernando Rodriguez can be reached at luis.fernando@temple.edu or on Twitter @theluisfernando.
Visibility, diversity benefit LGBT right movement
SARA PATTERSON QChat
Patterson discusses the “Rob Portman Effect” in regard to support for same-sex marriage.
I
have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married,” Republican Senator Rob Portman said in an OpEd column last month. “As a congressman, and more recently as a senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way. Two years ago my son, Will, then a college freshman, told my wife, Jane, and me that he is gay.” “LGBT Americans are our
colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a video released by the Human Rights Campaign last month publicly announcing her support of same-sex marriage. “Like so many others, my personal views have been shaped over time by people I have known and loved.” This endorsement fueled a slew of 2016 presidential run rumors. “My views on this subject have changed over time, but as many of my gay and lesbian friends, colleagues and staff embrace long-term committed relationships, I find myself unable to look them in the eye without honestly confronting this uncomfortable inequality,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) posted on her Tumblr last week. It has been an exciting month in the fight for marriage equality. Not only did the Supreme Court of the United States hear arguments about the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, two acts that legally define marriage as between a man and a woman, but many high-profile politicians, like Portman, Clinton and McCaskill have publicly announced their support for samesex marriage. Looking at their statements, you can’t help but notice a commonality among them. While
explaining his or her shift in opinion, each politician pointed to people that they knew personally: family, friends and colleagues. It’s no surprise that knowing a gay person makes someone more likely to support gay rights. It takes it from a political or religious issue to a personal one. CNN has dubbed it “The Rob Portman Effect.” A poll released by the network on March 25, the day before the Supreme Court held its hearing, found that 57 percent of Americans have a close friend or family member who is gay, a percentage that is very close to the amount of Americans who support same-sex marriage. The swell of support on the issue is visible not only through polls, but through Facebook profile pictures. If you’re like me, you’ve been pretty confused the past week as to who exactly commented on your post because everyone has a red equal sign set as their profile. The Human Rights Campaign urged people to change their profile picture to show their support for marriage equality and, boy, did they. My news feed has been covered in that picture for the past week, mostly from my heterosexual friends. Now, I’m not saying that their views on the matter were decided simply because my name happens to be on their friend list, but I hope that reading my statuses or the stories I
post or just knowing that their friend/niece/cousin/co-worker/ high school classmate is among the nearly nine million gay Americans whose rights are being debated by the Supreme Court played a factor. I’ve always thought that having diversity in your own life is the best way to keep an open mind. I was lucky to go to an incredibly diverse high school. My relatively small graduating class of around 120 students was made up of just about every race, religion, economic class and personality you could think of, something that is pretty rare in a city as segregated as Philadelphia. This is true even among my smaller, tight-knit group of friends. Once, while eating in the food court at Liberty Place, a woman came up to us and told us “how nice it is to see all the different colors sitting next to each other.” The diversity and openmindedness among my friends is, without a doubt, one of the major reasons I am so comfortable with my sexuality. There are statistics that say that one in 20 people are gay, maybe even one in 10. Well, among the 10 to 15 friends I’ve kept in touch with from high school, I was not the first to come out as gay. I wasn’t even the second. I was likely the third or fourth. Whether or not my straight friends support gay rights isn’t even a question. For them, the idea of same-sex marriage isn’t
a foreign concept and it isn’t “Once they realize that we are some hypothetical political de- indeed their children, that we bate. They want their friends to are indeed everywhere, every get married. They want to dance myth, every lie, every innuendo at our weddings. They want to will be destroyed once and for all.” be our bridesmaids. The “Rob Portman Effect” Sara Patterson can be reached is not a new phenomenon. Thirat sara.patterson@temple.edu. ty-five years ago, gay icon Harvey Milk summed it up nicely in a speech, imploring people to 2 Col x 6-5 MC3 Summer Ad_Layout 1 1/12/13 2:38 PM Page 1 have the courage to come out:
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Torres emphasizes doing community service torres PAGE 7 Torres, who was a Boy Scout growing up, continues to value volunteer work at Temple. As the program coordinator for Adopt a Block, a volunteer program dedicated to cleaning up the streets of North Philadelphia, Torres achieved at least 100 hours more than his initial proposal of 1,000 service hours through TSG and other participating student organizations. “I think I am one of the most passionate directors at TSG,” Torres said. “I’ll set a goal, but I’ll always try to exceed it.” Volunteering and involvement in the community is something he would push amongst student organizations as student body president, he said. He and the rest of Diamond Nation hope to improve TSG not only pursuing its own agenda in office, but by establishing a solid foundation for the next administration. Torres said he recognizes that everything he wants to accomplish for Temple can’t be accomplished all in one year, but he doesn’t want his
followers to be “starting from scratch.” “When we leave, people may not remember who I am,” Torres said. “But they will remember what we established, the programs and projects.” As a transfer student, Torres knows all about trying to make the best of a new position and starting without much footing. He said he was dissatisfied with his own initial introduction to Temple, as he felt that transfer students didn’t receive the same welcome and induction into the Temple community that incoming freshmen do. “You need to engage when someone first comes to Temple,” Torres said. “College is so much more than just going to class. I’m trying to make that easier for everyone else.” Part of Diamond Nation’s campaign is to improve the nontraditional college experience, from transfer to commuting to foreign students. Torres credits both family and friends as his support and motivation in deciding to run
for student body president. Ofo Ezeugwu, TSG’s current vice president of external affairs, has been a role model for him and encouraged him to pursue the position, Torres said. Danube Johnson, running with Torres as candidate for vice president of external affairs, said she was unsure about committing to the ticket until she met with him personally and was convinced by his passion and belief in his campaign. “We’ve come together very quickly,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of good, dedicated people on our team.” Torres agreed, noting that he believes the best way to convey Diamond Nation’s passion is to have a cohesive, bonded team. “Temple is my life,” Torres said. “We want Philadelphia to be integrated and be proud to have Temple University here in [its] community.” Erin Edinger-Turoff can be reached at erin.edinger-turoff@temple.edu.
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LIVING
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
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Institute’s play gives voice to disabled “A Fierce Kind of Love” attempts to tell stories from an intellectually disabled community. KATE TROWBRIDGE The Temple News Lisa Sonneborn, an alumna of the master of fine arts program in film media arts, has spent more than 15 years finding ways to tell the stories of the intellectually disabled community. Recently, with the help of a playwright, director and five actors – some of whom are intellectually disabled themselves – she has undertaken writing a play based on interviews with the disabled and their loved ones. Temple’s Institute on Disabilities wants to change the way people view those with disabilities, as well as inform those of the history of the intellectual disabilities movement. The institute is attempting to do this
through several ways: through its website, through its program, Visionary Voices, and through its in-progress play, “A Fierce Kind of Love.” Sonneborn, the project coordinator for the Visionary Voices program at the Institute on Disabilities described the play as “oral history meets memoir meets folk music.” “The focus primarily is to bring the history of the intellectual disability movement to new audiences,” Sonneborn said. “This is really a hidden history for many people. It really is the Civil Rights Movement that people have never heard about so we think it’s also important to engage communities who otherwise don’t know about our issues.” Another reason the Institute wanted to create the play was because it wanted to better engage people with the movement. “When you view our oral history online, [it can be] a very solitary experience,” Sonneborn said. “You watch the video in front of your computer and
that’s great, that’s wonderful are getting older and they are in [and] we encourage people to danger of losing their stories.” do that but it doesn’t allow for Sonneborn noted that it was an exchange or dialogue. Public Pennsylvania’s unique history performance gives us the oppor- with the intellectual disability tunity to do that.” movement as what prompted Sonneborn herself devel- Feinstein to pursue Visionary oped “A Fierce Kind of Love,” Voices. with the help “We were of playwright the first state in Suli Holum and the country to director David allow children Bradley. A colwith intellecleague of Sontual disabilities neborn’s also to go to school. played an imWe were one of portant part in the first to close the creation of institutions and the play. people Lisa Sonneborn / project move “The idea with disabilities coordinator [for the play] into the commuwas mine, but it nity, and to what was really inspired by a project we believe [is] their rightful here called Visionary Voices, place in the community,” Sonwhich I produce,” Sonneborn neborn said. said. “Of course that project Thus, from Visionary came from our co-executive di- Voices, came about the idea rector, Celia Feinstein. Celia be- for a play. The first reading of came concerned a couple years “A Fierce Kind of Love” took ago that these histories, these place on March 18, and aside untold stories were being lost from minor technical difficulbecause people who made the ties, it went off without a hitch history that we’re talking about and opened to a sold-out crowd,
“It really is the
Civil Rights Movement that people have never heard about.
”
Sonneborn said. The first reading also had an interactive broadcast with the University of Pittsburgh as well as a live online stream, which managed to reach viewers from Melbourne, Australia. “We did do evaluations [after the reading] and the response was, I would say, incredibly positive,” Sonneborn added Michael McClendon, one of the actors in “A Fierce Kind of Love,” said he particularly enjoyed his experience at the reading. “My experience with the play was a lot of fun, and I had a whole lot of energy to put into it, you know, to make me better for who I am and what I can do out there once I act,” McClendon said. The play contains three different components: oral interviews that Sonneborn has conducted, the archival preservation of documents that are significant to the movement and public performance. “What Suli, my playwright, is doing, is essentially taking the transcripts of my oral history in-
terviews with people and using them verbatim, [but] obviously structuring them differently, but using as the basis for this play,” Sonneborn said. “Our actors are speaking people’s real words, which is a really interesting process.” The institute’s goal is to branch out from the readings, and turn “A Fierce Kind of Love,” into a full-on play equipped with singing. “We want it to be a theatrical event by 2014. That’s our goal,” Sonneborn said. She added that, overall, she has been pleased with the reading and the play’s development and noted that it has affected the actors and others involved on a much deeper level. “I feel like everyone who has been a part of the development of this piece has felt changed by the piece, both as individuals and as artists,” she said. “And it’s been very exciting for all of us.” Kate Trowbridge can be reached at kate.trowbridge@temple.edu.
Candidate crosses party lines with running mates Bartholomew PAGE 7 “As a kid, I used to read about Ben Franklin all the time, and I actually wrote a five-page paper about him and the history of Philadelphia in fifth grade. I was such a nerd,” Bartholomew said with a laugh. “As far as politics go, my favorite politician is John Huntsman, the former Utah governor. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination. That gives people an idea of where I come from [in] a political standpoint,” Bartholomew said.
Political standing is one thing he does not have in common with his entire ticket. “Something that’s incredibly unique about our ticket is that it’s very bipartisan,” Galiber, a sophomore political science major, said. “I’m very Democrat, and [Bartholomew’s] very Republican, so you would think that conventionally we wouldn’t get along, but I find that Darin and I get along beautifully.” “I met him when he was on a panel with my president
of [Temple] College Democrats to discuss the issue of race in the 2012 election and I was really struck by his demeanor and sense of respect for everyone’s perspectives regardless of how much they contrasted from his own, which I think in the world of politics is harder and harder to find,” Galiber said. Galiber added that Bartholomew’s experience as the director of government relations for TSG opened her eyes to different career paths in politics. “Darin has experience on
campus as well as out in the real world,” Galiber said. “He’s a straight shooter because he knows what he needs to do and how to do it and gets it done the best he can.” Since their initial meeting, Galiber and Bartholomew have worked together on many projects for the betterment of Temple. A significant event that stands out to Galiber is one where they traveled to Harrisburg to lobby for the students of Temple and get their voices heard in front of numerous leg-
islators. “Owls on the Hill was definitely one [event] that I was excited to participate in that he was running,” Galiber said. “Despite our political ideologies, which aren’t as different as people would think, advocating for Temple was something that we were united on. Prior to that, Darin and I have participated in a number of student org events pre- and post-election to discuss the election issues with different organizations as different voices. During those events, we both
had a broad spectrum of ideas, thoughts and reflections of the political atmosphere.” Bartholomew reiterated the diversity of his is a strong suit. “I’m a Republican, Sonia’s a Democrat and Cree’s a frat boy. East Stroudsburg, Maryland, North Philadelphia, male, female, business, liberal arts, engineering, in state and out of state. We represent such a wide range of students,” Bartholomew said. Diana David can be reached at diana.david@temple.edu.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Inexperience could hurt Owls in transition season BBALL PAGE 20
uted, but no one has carried the able to manage the game his team like Rahlir [Hollis-Jeffer- way,” Lee said. “A lot of people son], Jake [O’Brien], Khalif and that are on the team now are Scootie [Randall].” people that like to run the floor. “We will be ready to pick Obviously you have to control up the pieces,” coach Fran Dun- the tempo and be under control, phy said. “That’s the great chal- but we are going to get out in lenge in college basketball is transition.” that you are going to lose some The returning players are really good players from year to not without talent. In one of year.” Dunphy’s most highly-touted Lee and Cummings will recruiting classes, the three most likely have to come into freshmen all were rated as 87 or different roles next season. The higher by ESPN recruiting, with tandem will be Dingle being a the only returnthree-star prosing starters and pect. must go from folThe freshlowing the lead men played of five seniors, limited minto guiding a team utes, with guard of talented, yet Quenton Deinexperienced Cosey receiving players. the most time “I pretty with 195 minmuch control the utes converted game and coninto 53 points. Fran Dunphy / coach Dingle and fortrol the tempo,” Cummings said. ward Devontae “Everything is pretty much Watson played 38 and 12 minon my shoulders now as far as utes, respectively, and scored 13 controlling the game and being and 9 points on the year, respeca leader; providing leadership tively. None of the freshmen to the young guys and different elected to take a redshirt before things to expect when playing the season and retain a year of basketball at this level.” eligibility. Cummings, who started “I actually thought I was at the point guard position last going to play more,” Dingle year, frequently split time with said. “Things didn’t work out T.J. DiLeo in addition to Wyatt how we planned. It was definitewho frequently carried the ball ly a good year and I decided I up the court. Cummings said he wasn’t going to redshirt. Someknows his game must change body could have gone down and next season as he prepares for an opportunity could have come more responsibility and playing up.” time. When a player elects to “I expect to play a lot,” take a redshirt for the season, he Cummings said. “Just know- has the option of un-redshirting ing that I am the only one with and playing the rest of the year, that experience, it’s all about however this uses a year of elipreparing myself and getting in gibility. While some players do shape and having more stamina this in the event of a player beto be able to last that long in the ing injured, it is uncommon and game.” results in lost playing time. Lee will also be asked to “It’s a combination of evanchor an inside game that erybody involved, whether it is was aided by the presence of the family, the student-athletes, O’Brien, Randall and Hollis- the coaches,” Dunphy said. “If Jefferson. With less big bodies that was something where they and a smaller team, he said he came to me and said that is what expects the pace and tempo of they wanted to do, then that the game to change. would have been fine by me.” “The pace last year was In addition, Temple will catered toward how Khalif was bring in Josh Brown, a recruit
“We will be
ready to pick up the pieces. That’s the great challenge in college basketball.
”
Coach Fran Dunphy (top) will manage a lineup next year that will include two returning starters. The Owls will lose five seniors after this season. | TTN FILE PHOTOS
from St. Anthony High School, who has already drawn praise from Dunphy. “Josh Brown will be as ready to go as any freshman that we have had in quite some time,” Dunphy said. While NCAA rules prevent players and coaches from speaking on behalf of players that have not yet committed to a school, guard Rysheed Jordan is still reportedly considering Temple. Ranked No. 22 on the ESPN 100 list, the five-star recruit would likely be the most notable recruit of Dunphy’s career. Jordan is also considering St. John’s, who was unable to make the NCAA tournament, and UCLA, who recently fired coach Ben Howland. Ultimately, Temple is also a team in transition. The Owls will be changing conferences and headed to what was the Big East Conference, amid questions regarding not only what the conference will be named, but how they will fare against teams they haven’t faced before. “It is going to be a big adjustment next year,” Cummings said. “Coming from the A-10 we had a good knowledge of teams and the kind of offenses they ran. It is going to be a different experience playing teams for the first time not really knowing what they like to do on the court and not really knowing how their coach coaches and things like that. It is going to be a learning process and we will watch a lot more film than we normally do for A-10 teams so that we can prepare better.” While Temple has months before the season starts, many practices and pickup games separate the team from the season opener. Who will be starting and how the players adjust to playing with each other is still yet to be determined. “I know my guys and I know myself and we are working hard,” Dingle said. “We are going to be ready.” Ibrahim Jacobs can be reached at ibrahin.jacobs@temple.edu or on Twitter @ibrahimjacobs.
Coach credits team for Booth’s move highlights conference high honor concerns with offensive line A surprised Aaron Murphy won ECAC Coach of the Year. SAMUEL MATTHEWS The Temple News AarWOMEN’S GYMNASTICS on Murphy was sitting on the bleachers at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships, not even thinking about the awards ceremony that was taking place in front of him. “One of the other coaches and I were chatting and I think both of our minds were strayed away from the announcements that were going on,” Murphy said. “Then they said my name and that really just caught me off guard.” Murphy, the coach of the women’s gymnastics team, won the ECAC Coach of the Year award at the ECAC Championships on March 23. It was the second time in his seven years as coach that he won the award. “I’m just very honored. I’m very proud of my team,” Murphy said. “It’s very humbling too. Overall it is probably the proudest I’ve been all season.” Murphy was named coach of the year despite the fact that the Owls only managed six wins throughout the season. Several times throughout the season Murphy had to adjust his lineup due to injuries. The Owls won eight weekly ECAC awards and came in fourth at the ECAC Championships. Still, the award was a bit of
a shock to Murphy and the team. ECAC Championships, the only “My first reaction was sur- team at the championships to prise,” senior Jean Alban said. score a season-high to finish out “None of us were really expect- the year. Even though students on ing it because we didn’t have our best season, but we had a the team were a little surprised lot of girls taken out of meets. in Murphy winning the award, Our lineups always changed and they said he was fully deserving [Murphy] always knew how to of the accolade. “I know our team had a react to that and he put up the best lineup that he could in ev- little bit of a rough year starting out,” freshman Mary Kate ery meet.” “I think he worked with Walch said. “But by his encourwhat he had,” she added. “We agement, and he just continued to push us to had our best meet keep our attiat the ECAC tudes positive Championships and I really and we had our think that’s top girl on floor why we ended and vault injured on such a hard in the training sesnote, so I think sion.” that he defiMurphy crednitely earned ited his team as the award.” the reason for his “I think win. it’s a really “I told the honor team that I truly Aaron Murphy / coach great and it shows believe that I received this award really because a lot on what we have going of such a great team that I have for the program,” junior Sylthis year,” Murphy said. “We vie Borschel said. “I think he’s didn’t win [a] conference or a great coach and that he helps anything like that, but I think all of us improve and he really our team was just noticed by ev- knows how to motivate us on an eryone in the conference on how individual level.” steadily we climbed throughout Samuel Matthews can be the entire year. We started with reached at a really low score at the George samuel.matthews@temple.edu. Washington Invite to start the season, and then we did nothing but increase our score all the way to the very end.” Temple ended its season with a season high team score performance of 192.175 at the
“I told the team
I truly believe that I received this award really because of such a great team that I have this year.
”
FOOTBALL PAGE 20 However, the biggest concern that Booth and Rhule have with his switch to the offensive line is his weight. Booth came into spring listed at 255 pounds, about 50 pounds less than Temple’s average offensive lineman. Rhule said he would like to get him around 300 pounds by the end of August. “It’ll get worse before it gets better for him,” Rhule said. “I think he’ll buy into, by August, being at 295300 pounds. Last year we played with Zach Hooks in the Big East at 270 pounds. Cody’s already that big right now. What we need is five tough, strong, physical offensive linemen. We’ll give Cody a shot. If he can’t get the weight put on, he’ll go back to being a 280-pound tight end.” Rhule said Hooks is now closer to 285 pounds, and has set a 300-pound goal for him by the start of the season, as well. “Zach’s very talented. He’s starting to put on the weight,” Rhule said. “We’re going to get back to having a big, strong offensive line and I think Zach is buying into it now.” Booth said adding weight has been the most difficult part
of the process, but he’s been guided by offensive line coach Allen Mogridge, who also switched from tight end to offensive lineman in college. “It’s been pretty tough,” Booth said. “As far as eating goes, a lot of discomfort. A lot of calories going in. But as far as football goes, I get a lot of support from the team and my coaches. I use [Mogridge] as a role model.” Even if Matt Rhule / coach Booth is able to put on weight and learn the system, it’s unclear if he’ll receive significant playing time next season. He said he’s been practicing with Friend, Roorda and Hooks, in addition to redshirt freshman Brendan McGowan and senior Evan Regas. Regardless of Booth’s status, the biggest question with the offensive line heading into next season is Boyle. Boyle started the first seven games of 2012 before injuring his left shoulder. He missed the previous two seasons with injuries to his right shoulder. Rhule said Boyle will be
“It’ll get worse
before it gets better for him... what we need is five tough, strong, physical offensive linemen.
”
out all camp due to complications with his left shoulder, and the decision for him to play this season will be left to Boyle. “We love Sean. He’s done everything for the program,” Rhule said. “We’re going to work with him. If he wants to be here, we’d love to have him.” Joey Cranney can be reached at joseph.cranney@temple.edu or on Twitter @joey_cranney.
Spring Notebook Newsome moves to backfield Kevin Newsome has agreed to move from quarterback to an H-back position in the backfield, coach Matt Rhule said at spring practice on Friday, March 29. The position, which is a running back/wide receiver hybrid, could be suited to Newsome, who was a three-star recruit out of Hargrave Military Academy and was praised for his athletic abilities. Newsome played in 16 games in three seasons at Penn State before transferring to Temple last year.
sports
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Page 19
Florida transfer runs distance Rams’ tennis future at stake
Alex Izewski returns home to run for the track & field team. ANDREW PARENT The Temple News
Alex Izewski TRACK & FIELD has made two collegiate decisions in his lifetime, and the driving force behind both lies close to home. Having grown up roughly an hour outside of Philadelphia, the Doylestown, Pa., native drew the attention of NCAA Division I programs during his four years at Central Bucks East High. National track & field superpower University of Florida lured Izewski not only due to its nationally regarded program, but because his brother, John, was a rising sophomore on the team. Izewski, a sophomore distance runner, went to the Gainesville, Fla., school full of optimism and hope in embarking on a brand new journey, and had the helping hand of his own brother to guide him along with every step. “I had a lot of interest going to [Florida] because of my brother,” Izewski said. “He’s a fifth-year senior now and that played into my decision a lot to go there. I lived in a house with him and a couple other guys from the team and we were all
very close.” Despite settling into Florida, he soon found his experience on the track was not going to be so smooth. After a cross country season that saw Izewski drop his eight-kilometer time by more than a minute, he was redshirted for the indoor season along with several of the freshman members on the team. A quadriceps injury he developed in the spring kept him off the track for the rest of the 2011-12 season. Despite the hard-luck winter and spring in Florida, his struggles with track were not the ultimate factor that brought him back up north. “It didn’t work in the way I thought it would there,” Izewski said. “I just felt far from home being all the way down in Florida. When I was coming to the decision that I wanted to transfer, I really wanted to make the whole transition as soon and smoothly as possible.” This time it was his sister, Nicole, playing the pivotal role in Izewski’s eventual decision to transfer to Temple in September. “My sister was a senior at Temple, and I decided I was going to go to Temple because of her,” Izewski said. “We have an apartment together. It made the transition very smooth and she helped me a lot in making the transition as soon as possible.” Though Izewski started his
Pasquale skills on display in streak streak PAGE 20 “She can flat out hit, first of all. She’s a natural hitter,” DiPietro said. “She can take the ball to leftfield, left-centerfield. She’ll pull the ball if you throw her inside. She’s got great power, obviously.” One of Pasquale’s keys has been her knack for not striking out. Only one pitcher has succeeded thus far this season and few were able to accomplish that feat last year when she struck out just seven times in 138 at bats. DiPietro said that though it’s impossible for Pasquale to avoid hearing about stats like that, she has managed to keep a level head on her shoulders. “There’s so much social media nowadays that if they’re fifth hardest strikeout in the country those kids know it,” DiPietro said. “So she started to hear all the things that were said about her, being a tough out, striking out, that she went to the plate being OK with if she didn’t strike out that was OK.” This season, Pasquale has worked on keeping her thoughts on the game at hand, not on how she’s perceived by her opponents, she said. “I think I tried to press a lot last year,” Pasquale said. “I think I’ve become a lot more disciplined at the plate, making sure my hands are back, making sure my weight’s back.” The Owls (11-14, 3-1 A-10) are in the midst of their best stretch thanks in part to Pasquale’s streak. Temple is 5-4 during the streak, coming off five straight wins in games against La Salle, St. Francis, of Loretto, Pa., and Charlotte. The last time she didn’t reach base was against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in a 9-3 loss on March 10. The last time she didn’t get a hit was five days later in a 9-0 shutout against Valparaiso. During her hitting streak Pasquale is hitting 14-for-27 with five runs scored, seven RBI, five doubles and two home runs. She’s boosted her average 49 points to .429, all while hitting in the cleanup spot. “She hits in that four spot because she can do a lot of dif-
ferent things,” DiPietro said. “With her sitting there if you’re the opposing pitcher and you have the bases loaded and she’s coming to the plate...sometimes pitchers they squeeze the ball a little bit more and they make a mistake and she makes them pay.” Pasquale currently sits second in the conference in batting average among batters with at least 50 at bats. She is also tied for fourth with 33 hits, tied for second with 11 doubles and is fifth with 59 total bases. “We work out good and with [senior centerfielder Ali Robinson and freshman leftfielder Annie Marcopolus] at the top of the order they’ll get on base for us, and the way it’s been working [junior shortstop Sarah Prezioso] hits one of them in and I get up and hit the other one in,” Pasquale said of hitting behind Prezioso. DiPietro said the combination of Prezioso and Pasquale in the three and four spots has been critical for both of them and for the team. “With her and Sarah Prezioso I have two kids that bat one after the other that other coaches don’t want to see come up with runners on base,” DiPietro said. “Having those two backto-back is really key to us, we go how they go for the most part,” DiPietro added. “Having [Pasquale] in the middle of the lineup is just awesome for me.” It’s something the Owls hope to see for the remainder of the season. While the streak may not last into May, DiPietro said he thinks the production won’t wane. “This is definitely not out of the ordinary for her, she’s definitely capable of doing this the whole year,” DiPietro said. Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu or on Twitter @jakeadams520.
academic career at Temple with the dawn of the spring semester in January, he had already contacted Adam Bray, then the Owls’ cross-country head coach and track assistant, about running competitively once again. “I didn’t start thinking about going out for the team until November,” Izewski said. “I wanted to still compete for a team and I figured I’d send Bray an email and he gave me his number. We communicated back and forth for five weeks until he left, but he did everything in getting me in with the team.” In racing competitively for the first time in more than a year this past winter, Izewski hardly lost a step as he worked his 3K time down to eight minutes, 21 seconds by the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America championship meet, just shy of the Temple record. “It’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Izewski said. “I’ve got a lot of people here making the transition smooth. From my first meet in January to how I closed indoor, I feel like I was really able to get better quickly and do everything I need to do to help my team as much as possible.” As a freshman on a perennial Top 5 program at Florida, Izewski found himself in an uncharted role at the bottom of the team totem pole.
“It’s a hard transition from high school to any college and when I got down [to Florida], it was tough,” Izewski said. “You have to be ready to run every workout and some of those runners are the best in the country. I was a small fish in a big pond down there and it was tough.” Now at Temple, Izewski’s role for the distance team could not be more different. “I came up here, and it’s a good group of guys but they still push me,” Izewski said. “Being up in the front in workouts and stuff kind of helps me lead the team and help some of the younger guys.” Izewski came into the season as a top recruit in a new 2012-13 class of newcomers that brought an influx of five freshmen and newfound energy to a distance team in dire need of it. After an up and down start to his collegiate track & field career, Izewski has finally found his niche back close to home. “I’m just trying to help this team be the best they can be and finish up strong in the Atlantic 10 [Conference],” Izewski said. “No matter what happens next year with the conference move, I’m just going to try to help the team get better.”
RAMS PAGE 20
singles you have to play more.” Since Rams is the only upperclassman and the teams’ best player when healthy. The Owls are 4-9 this spring, with a 2-3 Atlantic 10 Conference record. “I have to say that [Rams] didn’t perform up to his capabilities because of his injury,” sophomore Kristian Marquart said. “Of course it’s affected our team, because he is our No. 1 [player]. We would be much better off if he didn’t have an injury. We would have won a few more matches. We still appreciate his effort this year.” Rams’ coach and teammate both said that he has still had a positive influence on the team despite not playing well. “He’s still our captain,” Mauro said. “He’s still doing a good job with that. He’s still out trying to help the team the best he can.” In the past, Rams has said he wanted to try and play professional tennis after he graduates from Temple in May. He still wants to try. “My first plan is to get healthy,” Rams said. “Once I get done [with school], maybe I will have more time to think about Andrew Parent can be reached other stuff.” Mauro once said Rams has at andrew.parent@temple.edu or on Twitter @daParent93. a “realistic” chance at playing professional doubles. Now, he is changing his stance.
“It’s so tough,” Mauro said. “He’s a good doubles player, but there’s so many good players.” Rams, a finance major, has been named to the A-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll five times in his career, and is a member of the Temple Director’s Honor Roll. According to his E-Portfolio on Temple’s website, he has a 3.77 GPA and is in the honors program. Rams said he doesn’t have a job lined up for when he graduates. “Yeah, I think he would be better,” Mauro said when asked if Rams would be better suited to enter the business world after graduation. “He’s a smart kid, he does very well in school. I think the area of business is where he’ll probably pursue.” Despite his bright future, Rams and everyone around the tennis team wish he were healthier right now. “It’s tough finishing out the senior year not playing,” Mauro said. “It’s tough on our team, being the only senior on the team. We have such a young team, we’re kind of counting on his guidance.” Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.
Hall helps bring stability to lineup hall PAGE 20 day starter and a key contributor to the Owls’ 2013 success. “A lot of it had to do with mindset,” Hall said. “Last year didn’t go as planned. I expected a lot of myself, maybe a little too much from the beginning. I went back to some of the old techniques that had gotten me in trouble in the past and I didn’t stop.” In his first at bat last season, Hall suffered a torn labrum which took an extended period of time to recover from. In 33 games played in 2012 and 13 starts, Hall batted .133 with eight hits in 60 at bats. Hall added 7 RBI and one home run to his 2012 total. “I’ve always been able to do things on the field, but I definitely struggled at the plate,” Hall said. “Last year was not a good show of my abilities.” Prior to the arrival of Wheeler, Hall’s freshman season was a brief showing of the potential the outfielder had. In 13 games played in 2011, Hall recorded eight hits in 19 at bats with one double, one triple, and one home run, accompanied by three RBI which led to a team leading .421 batting average. “With all of the changes [at Temple], mentally he just got caught up trying to impress me,” Wheeler said. “He couldn’t get out of his own way. Now, he has relaxed a little bit and let his ability take over. He has really been a better player since.” This season, Hall has compiled his best season at the plate. In 20 games and 12 starts, Hall is fifth on the team with a .291 batting average with two doubles, two triples, one home run and 15 RBI. Hall is also third on the team with a .455 slugging percentage. “No, not at all,” junior right-fielder Bobby Heitzman said about whether Hall’s success this season is surprising. “I think we all knew it was just a matter of time until he started to blossom into the player he could be. He has a lot of tools and it was just a matter of time until he broke out.” “[Hall] is a very good teammate all of the time and even when he struggled last season, he kept his head up,” senior leftfielder Allen Stiles said. “He is
Junior infielder Derek Peterson (right) beats a throw to first base. Coach Ryan Wheeler said Peterson “sets the table” for David Hall, who bats sixth. | AJA ESPINOSA TTN always working hard and leads gled at the plate was difficult. by example in the outfield.” Primarily known as a defensive Although Hall is a 6-foot- staple in centerfield, Hall took a 3-inch batter with a lot of pow- new approach to the 2013 seaer, he has found himself typi- son to bring his bat back to the cally batting sixth in Wheeler’s level he knew it could be. lineup. “I just needed to simplify a “I didn’t want to pressure few things,” Hall said. “When [Hall] to drive in runs,” Wheeler things aren’t going your way, said. “Both Dereveryone looks ek Peterson and toward the meMatt Elko are chanics, but doing fine jobs I had always in the middle of had descent our lineup now. mechanics. I Those two are needed to come setting table and to the plate Hall at the botexpecting the tom half of the Ryan Wheeler / coach right outcome. lineup is picking The coaches [at up those runs and sparking our Temple] have instilled in us to offense.” hit the ball hard if you get your Hall said he doesn’t care pitch. It is something I am lookwhere he is batting in the lineup. ing for in the beginning of every “I love playing the game, at bat until I have two strikes and with the success that we are on me. It is really helping me having, I wouldn’t mess with mentally at the plate with my anything as far as the lineup is approach.” concerned,” Hall said. “I can Although Hall struggled at count on the player behind me the plate last season, Wheeler to get it done if I don’t and that told Hall this offseason that if is huge. My philosophy is that he is swinging the bat well, he if something isn’t broken, don’t will stick with him. try to fix it.” “David Hall has got a treFor Hall, coming off of a mendous amount of ability,” season in which he tried to im- Wheeler said. “He is a young press Wheeler and didn’t have man that is a very legit prospect much confidence as he strug- for professional baseball. He is
“David Hall has
got a tremendous amount of ability.
”
just a very talented young man.” After graduation in 2014, Hall plans to pursue a career in physical therapy and credits Owls’ trainer Marc Proto for inspiring such a career path. Hall added that if he is given the opportunity to play professionally, it would be a dream come true. “Just a shot,” Hall said. “All I need is a professional team that is willing to take a chance with me. It would be such a special experience for me, but for right now my goal is to help [Temple] to win games. As long as we are winning and I am contributing, that is what I would consider a successful season for me personally.” As of right now, Hall said he hopes to remain a fixture in Wheeler’s lineup while remaining healthy and effective. “I hope that the one word to describe me is productive,” Hall said. “Batting averages will go up and down and you will always have good days and bad. Hopefully I can continue to be productive and help the team earn a spot in the Atlantic 10 tournament.” John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or on Twitter @JohnMurrow12.
SPORTS temple-news.com
page 20
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Rams’ injury worse than speculated
Kacper Rams could miss the rest of the season due to nerve damage. EVAN CROSS The Temple News Kacper Rams began having arm problems in October 2012, the week before the ITA Atlantic Regionals in
MEN’S TENNIS
Charlottesville, Va. He had to withdraw from his first singles match in the tournament due to pain in his right arm. “I will take a couple weeks off. It should get better in time,” Rams said at the time. “Everything should be fine starting in the spring season.” At the same time, coach Steve Mauro downplayed the significance of the injury, claiming that “with the proper rehab,” he would be fine.
It’s now April, and Rams, a senior, is not fine. He has nerve damage in his right arm, his back and his neck. He wears a neck brace and uses a sling for his right arm. Rams is winless in 11 singles matches this spring, his final season as a collegiate player. He has not played in either of the last two matches, and his tennis career may be over for good. “I don’t even know if he’s
going to get back in the lineup,” Mauro said. “It’s very difficult because he’s pretty much been injured all year.” Rams said there is no official timetable for his return, and there hasn’t even been any official diagnosis. “I’m waiting for tests,” Rams said. “Since October, [the doctors] don’t know what to do with me.” Rams, a right-handed player, has experienced pain since
Owls row their way to third-place finish at Murphy Cup.
October, even when simply holding a racquet. He could not take a medical redshirt because he had already played in some fall tournaments before sustaining the injury. Rams has played 11 matches at top flight this spring. He has lost 10 of them, and the remaining match against St. Francis, of New York, was ended early because Temple had already gotten the four points necessary for a team victory. Rams was
leading senior Tita Mba 6-2, 4-1 when the match was halted. While Rams has struggled with singles play, doubles has been easier on him. He is 3-6 this spring in doubles. “Doubles are OK,” Rams said. “It’s less playing. It wasn’t that difficult to play, but it’s still pretty challenging. If you’re good you can only hit a few balls and that’s good enough. In
RAMS PAGE 19
Rhule moves Booth to bolster O-Line have started a game and most of whom have never received game time at all. Booth, with 15 career starts at tight end, is being thrown into the mix in the hopes of adding stability to the inexperienced bunch. Coach Matt Rhule said he JOEY CRANNEY made the move partly to benefit Sports Editor the team, but also in looking out FOOTBALL A senior tight end for Booth’s future. Rhule said that is moved to offensive tackle the switch to the offensive line for spring practice, Cody Booth was an inevitable one for Booth, said the biggest thing he’s fo- who has 19 receptions in three cused on amid his transition is years, but was mostly used as a blocking tight end. eating. Rhule compared Booth’s “Keep eating and keep track to that of former Owl Steve learning,” Booth said. “That’s Maneri, who played tight end at the only thing I can do, is to try Temple but was drafted into the and get better.” NFL as an offensive lineman. Booth is being tried at Booth said Rhule told him he tackle in an attempt to bolster could be a next-level lineman if an inexperienced offensive line he works hard that is hampered enough at it. with injury. Of the “When returning members coach said it, of the offensive I was a little line who had sigs h o c k ed,” nificant playing Booth said. time in 2012, two “But I’m open of them are seto opportuniniors and a third ties. I see this – graduate student as another opSean Boyle – has a portunity, and chance of not playI’m going to ing this year afattack it.” ter complications Cody Booth / senior tackle B o o t h from multiple said he’s been shoulder surgeries. working on understanding the Seniors Jeff Whittingham system of the offensive line and Scott Roorda return as starting left and right guards, respec- since spring practice started on tively. Sophomore Zach Hooks March 22. Booth said the runstarted in all 11 games last year block system is essentially the at left tackle, and his classmate, same, but he is adapting to the Kyle Friend, played in 11 games nuances of pass blocking, like one-on-ones with a defensive at guard and center. Other than that, the Owls end on the edge.
Cody Booth switches from tight end to tackle to bring experience up front.
“I’m open to
The Varsity 8+ boat of the men’s crew team rowed to a third-place finish at the Murphy Cup in Camden, N.J., on Saturday, March 30. The women’s rowing team finished fourth in its Varsity 8+ finals. | ABI REIMOLD TTN
Inexperience could hurt Owls in ‘13 Men’s basketball returns two starters next year as it makes conference move. IBRAHIM JACOBS Assistant Sports Editor
O
f the seven players on the men’s basketball team who saw action in the NCAA tournament, two will be on the
team’s roster next season. Perhaps more troubling is the degree at which the team will be different when the opening tip occurs in approximately seven months. Temple will be losing five players from its team that was within two minutes of a Sweet Sixteen berth this season. Those five players accounted for 4,665 of the 6,800 minutes played this year, and 1,787 of the 2,456 points scored, good for 69 percent and 73 percent, respective-
ly. Most significantly, the Owls will be without the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year, Khalif Wyatt. “You really don’t replace those guys,” freshman forward Daniel Dingle said. “You just try to go out there and play your game and do the best of your ability. Maybe your best ability is better than what they had done.” Redshirt-sophomore forward Anthony Lee and sophomore guard Will Cummings
will be the only returning players next year that started more than one game this season. The other six returning players combined for one start, 580 minutes and 159 points – 6 percent of the total – last season. “People are already doubting us, and it’s cool. It doesn’t faze us at all,” Dingle said. “No one on the team is a proven player, no one dominated. Anthony and Will, they contrib-
BBALL PAGE 18
opportunities. I see this as another opportunity, and I’m going to attack it.
”
have 11 offensive linemen competing for a spot, none of whom
FOOTBALL PAGE 18
Pasquale streak Hall’s stellar season impresses coach hits nine games The Owls are 5-4 during catcher’s ninegame hitting streak. JAKE ADAMS The Temple News SOFTBALL Kanye West, Roy Jones and Owl City pulse through a small pair of ear buds. So do AC/DC and Fun. Stephanie Pasquale exchanges some texts with her brother. It’s all part of the same routine the catcher has before every game, a routine that has helped her settle into a rhythm the past few weeks. Pasquale, a junior catcher on the softball team, is in the
midst of a nine-game hitting streak, and has reached base in 11 straight games. “It’s nice, but I haven’t really noticed it,” Pasquale said. “Sometimes it’s better that you haven’t noticed it. I read the [game recap] and it said I was on a nine-game hitting streak and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, really?’ Sometimes if you just roll with it you’re more successful.” Neither coach nor player knew about the streak until after the win against Charlotte (1411, 2-2 Atlantic 10 Conference) on March 29. Coach Joe DiPietro said he isn’t surprised, however. His four-hole hitter, who is a left-handed hitter, had a 14game hitting streak last season.
STREAK PAGE 19
AWARDED COACH, p. 18
Aaron Murphy was surprised to hear that he won the ECAC gymnastics Coach of the Year award. Sports Desk 215-204-9537
David Hall makes case to be everyday starter in centerfield. JOHN MURROW The Temple News
Whenever a team BASEBALL gets a new coach, sometimes the mindset for a player is to try to impress that coach in order to show them that you are the player the coach will want in their lineup. David Hall, a redshirt-junior centerfielder, not only expected a lot of himself, but wanted to show new coach Ryan Wheeler the kind of player he knew he was last season. Now with a new outlook and approach to the game, Hall has proven to Wheeler that he can be an every-
hall PAGE 19
Redshirt-junior centerfielder David Hall is fifth on the baseball team with a .291 batting average with two doubles, two triples, one home run and 15 RBI. | AJA ESPINOSA TTN
TRACK TRANSFER, p. 19 Alex Izewski transfers from the University of Florida to help run distance for track & field. Sports@temple-news.com
SPRING PRACTICE, ONLINE
Watch the Owls talk about Cody Booth’s move to tackle at temple-news.com/multimedia.
