the eagle — feb. 1, 2010

theEAGLEVOLUME 84 n ISSUE 32

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independent student

voice since 1925

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FEBRUARY 1, 2010

theEAGLE252 Mary Graydon Center

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Newsroom: 202-885-1402Advertising: 202-885-1414, x3

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SCENE page 5

A local workshop offers artists a chance to learn the grafi tti from

the District’s most talented.

COOL COLORS

TUESDAYHI 38° n LO 29°

TODAY’S WEATHER

HI 39°LO 25°

Mostly sunny and slightly windy

WEDNESDAYHI 41° n LO 26°

NEWS

New D.C. tax prompts some

students to forgo the bag

IS THAT YOUR BAG?

page 2

EDITORIAL

page 3

Alex Knepper claims campus

activists selfi shly exploit the victim.

SELF-PITY SCHOOL

SCENE

page 5

AU graduate Jen Corey takes a top ten spot in Miss America pageant

MISS AMERICA

page 6

Hoffman catches ups and downs

of lovein ‘Last Station’

LAST STOP

SPORTS

page 8

Kirk passes career milestone

in winover Lafayette

1,000 CLUB

By SARAH RUDNICKEagle Staff Writer

AU fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa has been charged with multiple re-cruitment and rushing violations by the Inter-Fraternity Council and will stand in front of the standards committee for a hearing in the near future, according to a statement re-leased by the IFC to Th e Eagle.

Th e IFC passed an updated con-stitution and bylaws last semester providing rules for the recruitment process and sanctions for violating them, according to the statement re-leased by the IFC on Saturday. PSK

has been charged with six violations: distributing alcohol during a recruit-ment event, holding an alternative event during another fraternity’s rush time, holding and distribut-ing alcohol at a recruitment event not recognized by the university, breaching social function guidelines, posting unauthorized fl yers and for conduct “unbecoming a fraternal or-ganization.”

“[PSK] is charged with violating these rules on numerous occasions, eff ectively tainting their recruitment process and the potential new mem-bers who were involved with it,” the statement reads.

Th e IFC will assemble a standards committee — which will serve as a judicial committee — to hear the case, which could happen as early as Wednesday, IFC Public Relations Chair Adam Tager said. If proven guilty, the committee will recom-mend sanctions, according to the statement.

“Phi Sig has been brought to our judicial board and one of the punish-ments that can be levied on them is losing a pledge class,” President of the IFC Seth Gilroy said. “Th ere is potential for that to happen.”

Th e IFC has also criticized the fraternity for having what it deemed

as inappropriate rush T-shirts. Th e council received several complaints from sororities and the AU com-munity about the shirts’ derogatory nature, Tager said.

“Since this is an ongoing judicial review, there is some confi dentiality surrounding exactly what happened. I don’t want to specifi cally say what the shirts said, because they do not represent greek life values,” Tager said.

At an IFC meeting held on Jan. 20, Director of Greek Life Curtis Burrill said the T-shirts read “’Don’t feed the sorority girls, Phi Sigma Kappa’s campus beautifi cation.’” As a general

standard, if mothers would not be comfortable reading it, it should not be on a rush T-shirt, he said.

“It’s not really the image we want to be portraying,” he said of the PSK shirt.

Upon inquiry, PSK President Mike Kaufman released the follow-ing statement to Th e Eagle:

“We have not received any notifi -cation on these charges through of-fi cial IFC or University channels at this time so therefore at this time we have no comment.”

You can reach this staff writer at [email protected].

Frat faces IFC allegations

By NICOLE GLASSEagle Staff Writer

Only half the 20 students in the School of Public Affairs’ pub-lic financial management pro-gram in Haiti have been account-ed for since the earthquake, and the program’s facilities have been destroyed, according to William LeoGrande, dean of SPA.

The students enrolled in the program are all Haitian, most of them young, entry-level employ-ees of the Central Bank and other government industries, Leo-Grande said.

“We’re still trying to get in touch with the students — we haven’t heard from all of them yet,” he said. “And we fear that one or more of them may have

been lost in the quake. We know some of our students lost family members. We’ve been in touch with about half of [the students] at this point.”

Originally, the idea for the program came from a faculty member who had worked at the Haitian Central Bank, which was interested in an advanced learning program for its younger employ-ees, LeoGrande said. The bank was looking for a public financial management program, prompt-ing faculty from both AU and the Haitian Central Bank to start the program. The year-long pro-gram consists of six courses and is worth about half of a master’s degree, according to LeoGrande.

When the earthquake struck, about six of the eight courses in public financial management had

been completed. Regardless of the destruction in Haiti, the program will be finished, possibly in an-other location, LeoGrande said.

“We’d be prepared to provide the final part of the program in the Dominican Republic or per-haps somewhere in the United States, like in Miami,” he said. “I have colleagues in various uni-versities in Miami that I’m sure would be happy to provide the space to finish the program.”

Mackenrood Lacour, a student enrolled in the program, who works for the Ministry of Infra-structure and Telecommunica-tions in Haiti, said it is more im-portant than ever to be educated in Haiti right now and to com-plete the program.

Unearthed jugs might point to larger arms cache

THE HOLE CALLED HADES? — Some are speculating that these glass jugs (bottom) are the ones seen in the photo (top). Sgt. Maurer is seen burying what is thought to be mustard gas in this 1918 photo.

Courtesy of ANONYMOUS

SPA program in Haiti suffers serious loss

By ALLIE MOONEYEagle Contributing Writer

Th e Undergraduate Senate voted 11-7-1 to sustain Student Govern-ment President Andy MacCracken’s veto of the recent Clean Energy Re-volving Fund bill on Sunday. Th e veto will allow the Senate to re-draft the bill, enabling the SG the freedom to express support for the fund.

CERF is an account created un-der the Offi ce of Finance, that will work towards funding renewable energy projects on campus. Th e savings accumulated through these projects will then revolve back into the fund, creating a self-supporting

fi nancial account that will enable the university to achieve its sustainabil-ity goals.

Th e bill passed last week and sponsored by Senator for the Class of 2010 Steve Dalton, proposed “no money from any student account can go into the Clean Energy Re-volving Fund.” Th is means that SG would be powerless to contribute any money to the fund, whether through Student Activity fees or reallocated money from surplus.

Brett Atanasio, senator for the class of 2013, said he supported MacCracken’s veto.

“[Th e new bill] is removing the CERF legislation of its teeth,” he said.

“Without it [CERF] doesn’t have any authority, it doesn’t do anything.”

For this reason, MacCracken chose to veto the bill.

“I believe everyone supports [CERF],” he said. “But I do believe that this was passed in haste last week and didn’t get the proper sec-ond look to make sure that every single line in here did what we want it to do.”

Aft er debate was repeatedly ex-tended, MacCracken and the Under-graduate Senate will have a second chance to draft the new CERF bill.

You can reach this writer at [email protected].

By CHRISTOPHER COTTRELLEagle Staff Writer

The Army Corps of Engi-neers unearthed three broken glass jugs on Monday, Jan. 25 at their “Pit 3” investigation at 4825 Glenbrook Rd. N.W., a Corps spokesman told The Eagle.

The find has generated ques-tions as to whether a long sought-after munitions cache, known as the “Sgt. Maurer burial pit,” has finally been located.

An environmental specialist for the District Department of the Environment’s Toxic Substance division, Dr. Richard Albright, told The Eagle that rumors of the munitions cache have been based on aerial photography and World War I-era photos depicting Army Sergeant C. W. Maurer standing amid approximately 30 glass jugs similar to the ones found last Monday and possibly filled with the chemical agent mustard.

A hand-written caption on the back of one of the photos identifies the pictured jugs to be filled with “mustard.” Mau-rer wrote that he was burying the jugs in “Death Valley,” in this “hole called Hades,” according to Albright.

Albright said nine or 10 photos exist in all, some of which show sheds in the background that are known to have been used as toxic chemical storage facilities.

When Albright and a col-league from the Environmen-tal Photographic Interpretation Center obtained copies of Mau-rer’s photos in 1997, they ana-lyzed them along with old aerial photography and determined the pit’s location to be somewhere within the 4825 Glenbrook Rd.

N.W. property.This analysis played a cen-

tral role in convincing the Army Corps to pursue further investi-gations in Spring Valley, Albright said.

Corps spokesman Clem Gaines said he could not specu-late if the recent find was actu-ally part of a larger cache.

“The answer is we really don’t know,” he said. “We could have [found it], or it could have been someplace else.”

An initial analysis revealed no chemical traces on the jugs, which will be treated as normal glassware debris, according to Gaines.

“We have always said that at-tempting to name a pit the ‘Sgt. Maurer pit’ is a difficult task,” he added. “It could be Pit 1, 2 or 3, or it could be a pit that over the years has been demolished by all the development in the Glen-brook Road area.”

Pits 1 and 2 refer to past Army Corps investigations at 4801 Glenbrook Rd. N.W. — across the street from the 4825 property.

But Albright believes that dur-ing World War I, the Army used the area as a larger disposal pit for laboratory and munitions de-bris rather than just a pit for the glass jugs, and that most of the debris has not been found.

“I don’t think they got hauled away,” he said. “I think that the bulk of that pit [the workers] didn’t get to.”

He said it is likely the con-struction workers who erected the building at 4825 Glenbrook Rd. ran into World War I-era glassware but reburied it under-neath or beside the house’s foun-

Undergrad Senate votes to uphold MacCracken veto

n see HAITI on page 2

n see DIG on page 2

By CHARLIE SZOLDEagle Staff Writer

Th e AUTO program, which was temporarily halted at the end of last semester, was re-launched today, according to Student Gov-ernment executives.

Th e program, which usually provides nine vans to student clubs and organizations, will only off er four vans from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Th e remaining vans will be brought into operation in the fu-ture aft er more changes are made to the program.

“I really do think the program is going to be improved,” SG President Andy MacCracken said. “Th ese are not short-term fi xes; these will be viable solutions to the sustainability of the program.”

AUTO was temporarily taken

out of commission aft er AUTO Commissioner Nicholas Russot-to decided, in consultation with administration and SG offi cials, that the program needed a seri-ous overhaul. Concerns had been raised beforehand about the safety of the vans, unclear channels of communication and the billing system, Th e Eagle previously re-ported.

In response to AUTO’s fail-ings, Russotto, SG Treasurer Alan Chang and MacCracken draft -ed an AUTO program manual, changed the billing process from a mileage-based charge to an hourly fee and reworked the certifi cation process.

Previously, it cost 30 cents per mile to rent an AUTO van — bare-ly enough to cover gas, according to Chang. Students renting vans

will now be charged $3 per hour. Drivers who have maintained a clean record for over a semester’s worth of use will be charged $2 per hour. Th e charge increases to $5 an hour aft er violations of the AUTO policy.

“Th is is to encourage organi-zations to use safer drivers, that have a good record instead of just getting anyone to drive for them,” Chang said.

Th e certifi cation process will also be changed to emphasize a driving test over a written test. Previously, to become a certi-fi ed AUTO driver there would sometimes be a video shown, sometimes not; sometimes there would be a driving test, some-times not, Chang said. Th e process will now be standardized. Every

AUTO takes test drive with new rules, repairs

n see AUTO on page 4

theEAGLE 2newsFEBRUARY 1, 2010

Megabytes Café

Now Introducing….!! Sandwiches.!!

Nova lox Steak & Cheese Reuben Turkey Avocado

Prepared on your choice of White, Whole Wheat, Rye bread.

Next to Chevy Chase Bank (In the Tunnel)

By NICOLE FEDERICAEagle Contributing Writer

Aft er making a second semester visit to CVS, AU freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences Claire Stapleton said her initial reaction to being told she would be charged fi ve cents for every plastic shopping bag included a few phases.

First, Stapleton reacted with con-fusion. Why did she have to pay for plastic bags? Confusion was fol-lowed by irritation as she attempted to carry loose items out of the store, fumbling shampoo bottles, a gallon of milk, and other dorm essentials.

As of Jan. 1, the D.C. government and the Anacostia River Protection Fund started the “Skip the Bag, Save the River” campaign to encourage residents and students to cut down on disposable bag use through taxa-tion. If shoppers choose to carry items out in paper or plastic, they must “contribute” 5 cents for every bag used, according to the D.C. gov-

ernment’s Web site.While Stapleton thinks the bag

tax is inconvenient, she also under-stands the importance in helping the environment, she said.

“Personally, I think it is a nui-sance more than anything. I’m all for saving the environment but it simply comes down to changing our habits and remembering to bring a bag ev-ery time we go shopping,” Stapleton said.

Th e manager of CVS, who said she was not at liberty to disclose her name or answer questions, said she saw a drastic change in the amount that people buy and how oft en they shop. Few were willing to give in to the 5-cent tax, she said.

On the AU shuttle, Stapleton said she was not the only student holding a selection of items in her lap. Many held an assortment of grocery items and essentials, including CAS fresh-man Daniel Goldman, who said he believes the tax to be a bit ridicu-lous.

“I think we should be able to carry our food in bags at our convenience. I shouldn’t have to remember to bring a canvas bag every time I want to buy something,” Goldman said.

Drew Veysey, environmental pol-icy adviser to Student Government President Andy MacCracken, said he believes the tax makes real behav-ioral diff erences.

“It shows how well something like this works; it reincorporates some re-sponsibility,” Veysey said. “People are not even paying for the entire cost of the bag when they pay the fi ve cents, and it is one-one hundredth of the cost the plastic bag has on the envi-ronment and society.”

Th e United States is not the only country doing this, Veysey said.

“Many other countries tax their plastic bags in hopes to have the same positive results we’ve seen here,” he said.

You can reach this writer [email protected].

By TAMAR HALLERMANEagle Staff Writer

Adjunct Professor Robert Lehrman teaches speechwriting in the School of Communica-tion. He worked as a speechwrit-er for many Democratic politi-cal figures, most notably former Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore. Lehrman recently penned the book “The Political Speechwriter’s Com-panion.” He also wrote a State of the Union response in 1989 when George H.W. Bush was president.

Q: Was Obama’s State of the Union address successful?

A: Yes, except for people hos-tile to him. It was compelling only at times, but remember, it’s hard to make a speech compel-ling when you have to tick off a billion proposals one after the other. And he should have short-ened it. Seventy minutes is too long unless you’re Fidel Castro. As for success? He needed to do three balancing acts: one, admit blame to mollify the disappoint-ed but remind us of success; two, refocus on the issues — like jobs — that sent Scott Brown to the Senate, but show that he hasn’t given up on the issues that got him to the White House and three, show people we don’t just have a cerebral president but a likeable one. I think he did all three.

Q: How effective was he at getting his message across?

A: Well, what was his mes-sage? In the narrow sense, you might say it was that the econo-

my and jobs come first. He made that clear from the start. But the larger issue was this: that he has faith we can recover. Some people compare that message to Reagan’s, especially in 1982, but actually every president express-es faith in the future. It’s a job requirement ... Not original, but pretty effective, I thought.

Q: In his speech, Obama made jabs at the Republican leader-ship as well as the recent Fed-eral Election Commission v. Citi-zens United Supreme Court case. Do you think he was being too aggressive?

A: Absolutely not. These are important issues and people in the chamber are grown-ups. They can take it. Obama was right to make the argument — and remember, he wasn’t just the editor of the Harvard Law Review, he taught law for ten years. He doesn’t just have some adviser briefing him; he’s an ex-pert. But I’ll tell you one thing I can’t understand: the criticism of [Justice Samuel] Alito for mouthing “not true.” I don’t like Alito’s opinion, but he took great care in reaching it. What’s wrong with a small, civil response about a huge issue after the president had just attacked him before 40 million people? I don’t get it.

Q: Since Obama spent the vast majority of his speech talking about jobs and/or the economy, do you think we can gauge this as a turning point in his presi-dency?

A: This moment might be — but not the speech. He’ll get a bump in the polls from this

speech. But people will judge him by his acts, not his words.

Q: Compared to his recent rhetoric, health care was only mentioned for a relatively small fraction of the speech. What can we take from that editorial posi-tion?

A: First, that he sees voters want him to focus on jobs. Sec-ond, that he hasn’t given up on it. Third, that he doesn’t want to lock himself into some concrete promise about it, this soon after Massachusetts. All sensible.

Q: ... As for Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s Republican re-sponse?

I once wrote one of those. It made me realize there’s not a single time in a president’s term where he goes head to head with the other side. That’s too bad and not necessary. They do it in England. Once a week the prime minister goes over to the House of Commons and takes ques-tions. No moderator, they just argue back and forth. You can actually see the real arguments — and whether they know things ... Why can’t we have that here?


Bag tax leaves District shoppers with arms full

BAG IT UP — A new 5-cent fee on each disposable bag shoppers take during checkout was implemented through-out the District on Jan. 1. The “Skip the Bag, Save the River” campaign was implemented by the D.C. government and the Anacostia River Protection Fund to cut down on the amount of plastic used in the District.

KELSEY DICKEY / THE EAGLE

SOC prof assesses State of the Union

FRI 5 SAT 6

THU 27Performance - Drag Show8:30 - 10:30 p.m.WHERE: Mary Graydon Center 2INFO: Th e Drag Show, hosted by Women’s Initiative, Queers and Allies and Eagle Nights, will fea-ture songs, dancing and other talents by local drag queens.CONTACT: For more information, e-mail Riley Fujisaki at [email protected].

MON 1 WED 3

THURS 4

Lecture - Cartoonist Rights8 - 10 p.m.WHERE: Ward Circle 2INFO: Th is KPU event, co-sponsored by Th e Eagle, is a discussion of the freedom of speech and its infl uence on cartoonists and their rights.CONTACT: For more information, e-mail Will Hubbard at [email protected].

Clubs - Spring Involvement Fair2 - 5 p.m.WHERE: Mary Graydon Center 4INFO: Clubs and organizations will be promoting their groups and future events at the Spring Involvement Fair, hosted by Stu-dent Activities. CONTACT: For more informa-tion, e-mail Student Activities at [email protected] or call 202-885-3390.

Exhibit - “Robert Devers: Cult of the Hand, Alan Feltus and Lani Irwin: Personal Interiors”11 a.m. - 4 p.m.WHERE: Katzen Arts Center, third fl oorINFO: Cult of the Hand is an exhibit featuring paintings, ceramics and installations inspired by maiolica glaze painting. Personal Interiors focuses on two-dimensional art featuring a fi gure in still, intimate spaces. CONTACT: For more information, e-mail the AU Museum at [email protected] or call 202-885-1300.

Event - Kogod Case Competition 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.WHERE: Mary Graydon Center 1INFO: Th e annual Kogod School of Business Case Competition features student teams competing with pro-posals for improvement of a compa-ny, judged by outside professionals. CONTACT: For more information, e-mail Tracey Landers at [email protected] or call 202-885-1982.

Workshops - Finding and Funding International Volunteer Experiences6 - 8 p.m.WHERE: School of International Ser-vice LoungeINFO: Th is workshop launches the SIS Career Week, sponsored by the Career Center and SIS. CONTACT: For more information and to RSVP, e-mail John Charles at [email protected] or call 202-885-1810.

TUES 2

By HOWIE PERLMANEagle Staff Writer

Th e federal government is tak-ing steps towards relinquishing control it has traditionally held over manned spacefl ights, accord-ing to Paul Lockhart, a NASA astro-naut who fl ew two missions to the International Space Station.

Lockhart, who spoke Jan. 27 at a Kennedy Political Union event, said he is expecting that President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fi scal year 2011 — released today — will contain funds for the development of commercial operations to carry astronauts into space.

“Th e Obama administration is embarking on a path of shift ing the responsibility for launching humans into space from the government to the commercial sector of our so-ciety,” Lockhart said. “Th ere isn’t a good or a bad element to this pos-sible shift , just a reorienting of who has the responsibility and the ac-countability for getting human bod-ies off the ground, into space and

bringing them back safely.”Obama has proposed to funnel

$6 billion towards private space-fl ight development in the proposed budget, according to Th e New York Times.

Th e private sector has a long way to go before any company would be able to safely transport humans into space and back for the types of advanced missions NASA has con-ducted, according to Lockhart. No private sector entity has ever coordi-nated a mission on its own involving a craft traveling at the velocity neces-sary to either maintain orbit around Earth or escape that orbit, he said.

SpaceShipOne, the fi rst and only commercially-owned manned spacecraft to have left Earth’s at-mosphere (it returned safely) had a maximum velocity of around 2,500 miles per hour, according to aero-space-technology.com.

Th e velocity required to main-tain an orbit around Earth and safely dock with the International Space Station is around 18,000 miles per hour, Lockhart said. Th e velocity

needed to escape Earth’s gravitation-al fi eld is around 25,000 miles per hour, according to a statement from NASA.

Jeff Leicy, a sophomore in the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences and a mem-ber of the Air Force Reserve Offi cer Training Corps, said he agrees with Lockhart that before NASA sends a mission to Mars or other parts of the solar system, it should send an-other mission to the Moon to hone the skills needed to send humans to other worlds. Th is is especially the case since the last lunar landing took place in 1972, almost 40 years ago.

“What the colonel said is ab-solutely true and necessary in my mind; you need to take the smaller steps fi rst to be able to reach those eventual, long-term goals,” Leicy said. “Th ere can’t be just a straight jump from Earth to Mars.”

Visit www.theeagleonline.com to check out an exclusive interview with Lockhart.


NASA astronaut discusses privatized space missions

in Haiti right now and to complete the program.

“I have a very strong determina-tion to complete this program re-gardless of the location,” he said in an e-mail. “It is my belief that the SPA program in Haiti is now more important than ever. As the coun-try goes through a painful new start, new policies must be defi ned to rebuild in a more sustainable way. A large number of able pro-fessionals will be needed for a long time to complete this task.”

Although Lacour wants to fi nish the program, he said he is not con-fi dent that all the other students will.

“I couldn’t speak on behalf of all participants,” he said. “We have all been aff ected by the terrible events that occurred, but some have suf-fered more than others, and deci-sions may diff er.”

LeoGrande said that AU would probably provide money for hous-ing.

“We would have to raise the money for that,” he said. “And we haven’t gotten to that point yet, but

if it means we need to devote some scholarship funds to that, I think the AU community would be will-ing to make some contributions in that direction.”

It is important for participants to receive support from AU in or-der to maintain good levels of per-formance, according to Lacour.

“We are determined not to let this tragedy prevent us from com-pleting it,” LeoGrande said.


n from HAITI on page 1

glassware but reburied it underneath or beside the house’s foundation.

“Th ey probably buried them in the deepest part of the pit,” he said, adding that while it is possible the contractors hauled away all the glass-ware they recovered, it is highly un-likely.

“I kind of think that quantity would’ve caused some real serious problems,” he said. “Some worker somewhere would’ve been over-

come, and you’d have dead bodies following the truck.”

Over the course of their Pit 3 investigation, the Corps has found debris ranging from harmless glass-ware to intact bottles fi lled with mus-tard agent and lewisite.

“When we do our operations, we want to fi nd these materials,” Gaines said. “We expect to fi nd debris, and our mission is to investigate, reme-diate and remove or clean up any debris left over from [Department of

Defense] activities.”Albright conveyed his sympathies

to AU, which volunteered its campus to be used as an experimental station for the Army’s chemical corps dur-ing World War I.

“Th ey tried to do the patriotic thing in 1917, and now I’m sure they’re still ruing that decision,” he said.


n from USACE on page 1

Aft er a stinging loss in Massa-chusetts, miserable polling and ever-lower expectations for the November midterm elections, there has been plenty of advice going around for Democrats. Last week, I counted no less than fi ve such articles and edito-rials in Sunday’s Washington Post.

Miraculously, President Barack Obama seems to be changing the game. His State of the Union address, high-speed rail announcement and “question time” at the GOP retreat were three powerful wins in a row for him and for the Democratic party.

But not all is well and good. To fully recover from the recent tailspin of negative coverage, one person in particular needs to straighten up. Th e Obama administration’s main spokesman for the press, Press Sec-retary Robert Gibbs, simply hasn’t been doing his job well. I’ve got some tips.

Dear Mr. Gibbs,

Quit pissing off the press. Sound complicated? It’s not.

It’s no secret the Obama White House has been getting more and more negative coverage by the press in recent days. Sure, there’s a lot of bad news being steered in your di-rection, but a press that gets along well with the press secretary might be a bit more inclined to break bad news more gently.

Th e press isn’t irritated with Presi-dent Obama himself. Nor are they against his policies. Many journal-ists, statistically speaking, lean left anyway. In fact, I’m sure they quite like him as a person, too. According to a poll from late December, 58 per-cent of all Americans hold a favor-able opinion of him personally.

Th is is all about the communi-cator. Th at’s you, Mr. Gibbs. You’re getting on their nerves, and because of that, you’re failing at your job to communicate White House policy

eff ectively. Two weeks ago Dana Mil-bank at the Washington Post wrote a scathing column criticizing your “usual mix of wisecracks of insults,” your “glib Gibbs gibes,” and referring to you as “smart-alecky” and “com-bative.” Not good.

Th en the weekend aft er that, lib-eral MSNBC news and radio host Ed Schultz told the nation about an un-pleasant encounter with you. He told you that you were “full of sh-t”, and then you dropped the f-bomb right back.

Now you’re saying Mr. Schultz was misleading viewers in order to “get viewers to watch his show.” Not cool, Mr. Gibbs. Not cool at all.

Th ere are three things you need to do to get out of the White House Press Corps’ doghouse.

First, quit being so political. You’re the press secretary. Yes, you should defend the administration, but you’re not campaigning any-more. Give them the news, answer the questions and spin as necessary. Don’t campaign — you already work in the White House; you can worry about re-election next year. Focus on your message, not everyone else’s.

Secondly, chillax. Not every ques-tion is an attack on Obama, and if you keep snapping at the media, they aren’t going to be nice to you in their columns that they write in newspa-pers with far more readers than this one.

Finally, give the press the respect they deserve. Th ese people are keep-ing you relevant. And for the most part, they’re also being nice to the Obama administration; in 2009 they gave you the most balanced coverage in history, about 49 percent positive and 51 percent negative, according to the Center for Media and Public Aff airs. If you want anything close to that in 2010, you’d better shape up.

Your bad attitude only results in one thing and that’s more columns like this. Obama’s doing a nice job re-covering — don’t ruin it for him.

Alex Priest is a junior in the School of Communication and Kogod School of Business and a liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at [email protected].

EDITORIALJEN CALANTONE n Editor in Chief

[email protected] WENNER n Editorial Page Editor

[email protected]

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

AU: A campus of victims?

Angry press, stalled agenda

Rushing for a sanction?With the IFC bringing multiple allegations against the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity,

administrators are presented with a delicate opportunity to further legitimize greek life.

Hearing the complaints of col-lege students, one might imagine himself to have wandered into the ghetto. Now, it may be confusing at fi rst glance to think that one of the most expensive universities in the country harbors anyone other than the luckiest 20-year-olds on Earth — or, in their own words, the most “privileged” - but this is silly talk. To understand the collec-tive psyche of university political culture, one has to realize that one walks among the oppressed, the damned, the downtrodden.

Most of us who have managed to remain grounded in something resembling sanity are familiar with someone who walked into college a political moderate and emerged as a radical one a year later. It’s inevi-table, really. From the second the freshman stumbles onto campus, he is introduced to a million and one reasons why he should feel slighted by fate. Th e mild-mannered DLC Democrat is transformed into a postmodern radical once he learns that the world is out to get him; the mainstream liberal woman be-comes a “radical queer feminist” once she understands that she is about to get raped (if not physi-cally, metaphorically). Th e vicious off enders at hand - Th e Man? - are everyone and no one; the problem is “institutional,” not anyone’s fault in particular. (Huh?)

For some reason inexplicable by standard logic, people want to be victims. When I explain the statisti-cal fallacies of feminist grievances, one would think that this would be a relief to the activists. Well, it’s not. Example: It is objectively incorrect to claim that women make 25 cents fewer than men for the same work. It is not a “debate.” One side is cor-rect, and the other side is incorrect. Th e fi gure at hand is obtained by

averaging the annual incomes of all men and comparing the result to the average income of all women, the problems of which should be obvious to anyone who has ever taken STAT-202 — or has a func-tioning brain. Th e proper response to such a revelation should be: “Oh, I didn’t realize that. Th ank you for clearing that misconception up.” Right?

Alas, that would remove the im-petus to march. One must under-stand that campus activists are not fi ghting for social justice, but for ice cream socials. Campus activ-ists stand for the interests of cam-pus activists, not of the oppressed. Piñatas are constantly being con-structed to hit: smash them and your guilt gets relieved! Feminists march for “a world without rape” because they know — as well as ev-eryone who witnesses their march — that a world without rape is im-possible. But this assures that their club — and their grievances — will never perish. Th e war against hu-man nature doesn’t end. (On sec-ond thought, concealed-carry laws would assure that rape becomes at least improbable, but feminists hate guns, the one Great Equalizer of the sexes).

Little gets done for people who have real problems. More money is spent on gaudy drag shows and the Vagina Monologues than on education — the one thing that can actually improve people’s lives. Th e rationalizations that they make — “it raises awareness!” — are as cynical as they are transparent. I might — might! – have a modi-cum of respect for them if they just came out and admitted that this is a giant charade to allow them to im-merse themselves in identity-based subcultures. Th at’s no great evil in itself. But please, please, let’s stop this patronizing nonsense about “social justice” being the impetus behind the recreation.

Alex Knepper is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and a classical liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at [email protected].

In a total of six allegations, the Inter-Fraternity Council has directed regulatory atten-tion toward AU fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa, and in doing so, has become even further in-volved in shaping the already dynamic greek scene on cam-pus. The charges against PSK stem from its practices during the ongoing fraternity rush process — most essentially PSK has been accused of taint-ing their recruitment process through various alcohol and conduct infractions, includ-ing behavior “unbecoming of a fraternal organization,” ac-cording to an IFC statement.

There has also been con-siderable controversy over shirts created by the fraternity to promote its fall rush. Ac-cording to Director of Greek Life Curtis Burrill these shirts read, “Don’t feed the sorority

girls, Phi Sigma Kappa’s cam-pus beautification.” Potential consequences and sanctions include the loss of a spring rush class if an IFC commit-tee finds the fraternity guilty of the charges.

There are several disparate issues here worthy of indi-vidual address. Some will ob-ject to the IFC’s intervention regarding the fraternity’s rush shirts, referencing the mem-bers’ right to express them-selves as they see fit. These objectors overlook the fact that while greek organizations on campus are private institu-tions, they are still under the jurisdiction of the university and are subject to the rules and regulations established by its administrators. The uni-versity cannot and should not implicitly support material that many find extremely of-

fensive, especially given that the shirt’s message directly contradicts the messages dis-seminated by positive univer-sity programming, such as en-deavors to promote a positive body image. The shirt’s slogan is tasteless and insensitive and its creation most certainly warrants the designation of conduct “unbecoming of a fraternal organization.”

The IFC’s desire to further legitimize and solidify greek life as a community structure dedicated to more than party-ing is certainly laudable. At-titudes are easily passed from older members to younger ones, and it behooves the IFC to protect the impres-sions and ideals of those just entering greek life. That said, the administration should be careful not to be overzealous in the implementation of his

plans to reform greek life on campus. If we’re to be honest, we should admit as a campus community that alcohol viola-tions and violations of recruit-ment policy happen regardless of whether they are caught and prosecuted by university administrators.

These administrators should be careful not to be so harsh on existing organiza-tions as to push these activities underground, where poten-tially more serious infractions can occur. A universal atmo-sphere of understanding and acceptance on the parts of the members involved would do much to facilitate campus functionality. For the IFC, that might mean being judi-cious in its implementation of discipline. For PSK, that might mean being more sensitive.

ON THE OTHER HAND

ALEX KNEPPER

ALEX PRIEST

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theEAGLE

MacCracken’s veto of SG CERF legislation draws praise

I have gone abroad this semes-ter, and can’t usually keep abreast of campus aff airs. But, one as-tounding thing which did manage to fl ash across my radar was a re-cent bill passed by the Undergrad-uate Senate on Jan. 24th. Entitled “A Bill to Express Support for an Appropriate Clean Energy Revolv-ing Fund,” this bill actually served to undermine the long-term ef-fectiveness of the Clean Energy Revolving Fund (CERF) because it precludes even a discussion of green fees or student government contributions down the line. CERF was designed to bring clean energy to this university in order to re-duce our environmental impact, and in doing so, to realize the vi-sion of AU as a leading institution for sustainability. Th is exact goal is articulated in the American Col-

lege and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment to which we became party in 2007 thanks to the hard work of EcoSense and for-ward thinking vision of our Presi-dent Neil Kerwin. Fulfi llment of the ACUPCC is further enshrined in the Strategic Plan adopted the following year. Th is same principle is echoed all around campus with signs boasting that Th e American Dream is Green. Ultimately, this act violates our university’s core ethos – “Ideas into Action. Action into Service.” In order to make our university the leading institution which it aspires to be, we need a strong CERF. For this reason, I ap-plaud SG President MacCracken’s veto of the bill. I further applaud the Undergraduate Senate for hav-ing ears and eyes open enough to realize their folly in passing the legislation last week, and decid-ing to uphold SG President Andy MacCracken’s veto in yesterday’s session. Clean energy is the way of the future. A strong, eff ective CERF will make AU a leader in re-

alizing that future.Each of the above referenced

documents is available for refer-ence on EcoSense’s new Web site at auecosense.com.

Alex ThorpSIS 2012

The Undergraduate Senate took AU in the right direction when it sustained SG President Andy MacCracken’s veto of the Appropriate Clean Energy Re-volving Fund bill on Jan. 31. The CERF promises to be one of the most exciting and beneficial community initiatives enacted in years, and the Senate had passed legislation in the previous session that would effectively prohibit student government from par-ticipating in the program. Mac-Cracken was right to veto this measure and the Senate deserves credit for working to invest in clean energy, lower our campus carbon footprint and make AU a

national leader in the movement to create a more sustainable so-ciety.

In 2006, a resounding 71 per-cent of AU students in a univer-sity-wide referendum expressed support for clean energy on cam-pus. The Undergraduate Senate heard the voices of AU students and delivered promising to write a new pro-CERF bill allowing SG to fundraise for clean energy on campus. These efforts should be commended but pressure on stu-dent leaders should not stop un-til meaningful steps are taken to make AU more environmentally friendly.

Together through Student Government, campus organiza-tions and students concerned about the environment, we can make AU a carbon neutral cam-pus, lead the way in clean energy innovation and invest in a sus-tainable future.

Stephen BronskillSPA 2013

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

theEAGLE 4newsFEBRUARY 1, 2010

By ANNA SCALAMOGNA Eagle Contributing Writer

AU received 16,800 applications for admission in the fall 2010 se-mester, an increase of 12 percent from last year, according to Greg Grauman, acting director of the Offi ce of Admissions.

Th e university is part of a larger trend in the D.C. area in which col-leges and universities received an increased number of undergradu-ate applications this year, accord-ing to college admission offi ces and college Web sites.

Th e surge in undergraduate ap-plications is partially due to current students’ positive feedback about their schools and families’ desire to choose from multiple options of fi nancial aid packages, accord-ing to admissions offi cers at both AU and the Catholic University of America.

Applying to more schools al-lows students the opportunity to see what schools can off er them fi -nancially, according to CUA Dean of University Admissions Christine Mica.

Graduate and law schools also received more applications for eco-nomic reasons this year from col-lege graduates unwilling to enter the job market due to the recession, Th e Eagle previously reported.

Th ough AU has not decided how many applicants it will admit for fall 2010, last year’s acceptance rate was 53 percent, according to Grauman.

At AU approximately 93 percent of need is met for fi nancial aid. Last year the average aid package was $33,429, according to the College Board Web site. Th e total estimated cost of attendance was $47,386, ac-cording to AU’s Offi ce of Admis-sions.

Grauman said he believes that the increase in applicants to AU is not just due to the economy, but also the result of positive experi-ences by current undergraduate students and the excitement of liv-

ing in D.C., he said.“Our current students are shar-

ing their positive experiences with friends and former classmates, who in turn are choosing to ap-ply,” Grauman said. “It is an excit-ing time to be in Washington, D.C., and prospective students know that if they enroll at AU, they will be at the heart of the action.”

CUA saw an even larger increase in applicants this year. Although the application deadline is not un-til February, they’ve already seen a 30.9 percent increase over last year, according to Mica.

“Families are eager to review fi -nancial aid and have as many op-tions as possible before committing to college this year,” Mica said.

CUA was voted a “best buy” university by Fiske Guide to Col-leges in 2009 and by WiseChoice, an online college guide. Fiske, a company that produces a series of college guides, designates “best buy” schools based on the quality of academics relative to the cost of tuition.

At Th e George Washington Uni-versity applications are up 3 per-cent, and at John Hopkins Univer-sity they have increased 13 percent this year, according to Th e Wash-ington Post.

GWU was ranked third in the country for its “average amount of need-based aid” by the U.S. News and World Report’s magazine, “2009 America’s Best Colleges.” Need-based aid refers to money awarded to students based on their fi nancial situation, not merit.

At GWU for the 2009-2010 academic year, the average fi nan-cial aid package for full-time un-dergraduates is $35,780, and the average need-based scholarship or grant for full-time undergradu-ates is $22,321, according to a 2009 GWU press release. Th e estimated total cost of attendance at GWU is $55,625.

You can reach this writer [email protected].

Bon Appétit tells all

Admissions sees 12 percent jump in applications

THE JUNGLE — AU students flocked to Bon Appétit’s presentation on sustainable and socially responsible buying practices in the food industry. East Coast Fellow Carolina Fojo spoke for nearly an hour before gourmet appetizers, such as sushi and quiche, were served.

KELLY BARRETT / THE EAGLE

By SARAH PARNASSEagle Staff Writer

Slavery still exists in the Unit-ed States today, and 10 percent of those slaves come from the ag-ricultural industry, according to Bon Appétit East Coast Fellow Carolina Fojo.

Fojo revealed this and other facts about the food industry while simultaneously touting Bon Appé-tit’s eff orts at socially responsible

buying practices to a room fi lled with AU students Th ursday, Jan. 28.

Bon Appétit, which caters to such businesses as Google and Ya-hoo, also works for AU and other college campuses throughout the U.S., according to Fojo.

Bon Appétit advertised the pre-sentation as the “story behind the food.” It consisted of a PowerPoint with pictures of lush vegetables, talking points about sustainabil-ity, potentially unsafe practices in the food industry and promotion of what the company has done to combat these hazards.

Fojo also touched on the benefi ts of locally-grown food, commercial salmon farming, the livestock and poultry industries, climate change and the plight of farmhands.

Fojo identifi ed farm workers’

rights as the concern dearest to her heart and important to her em-ployer, as well.

“For Bon Appétit, the farm worker issue is at the top of our plate,” Fojo said.

In the United States, 10,000 or more people participate in forced labor at any time, according to the Human Rights Center at the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley.

Jennifer Jones, president of EcoSense, said she invited Fojo to speak at the university on Th urs-day.

Th e room in the Mary Gray-don Center reserved for the pre-sentation was fi lled with students. Bodies lined the room, leaning on counters and against the glass walls.

Jones said she was happy with the turnout and thought Bon Ap-

pétit was “doing great” in their eff orts to go green. However, un-sustainable sugars were not men-tioned in the presentation.

“Th at might be something they could work on in the future,” Jones said. “Perhaps they already have some sort of program, I’m not sure. Continuing to be an innovator in that fi eld would be awesome.”

Aft er Fojo’s speech, she invited students to dine on hors d’oeuvres, including wild-caught salmon, sushi, tomato fondue with mozza-rella and crostini. Reusable glasses had been set out for beverages.

Th ere was not a plastic bottle of water in sight.


Local food a priority for company

driver must see a 30-minute video, take a 20-minute driving exam and pass a short written test.

In addition to these changes, fines will now be enforced more diligently.

“[Sometimes] vans get dam-aged and then the organiza-tions or the drivers driving at the time don’t really suffer any financial repercussions to help better themselves at driving,” Chang said. “The fines are there to make people aware that there are things to watch out for when using the vans and that they are responsible for the state of the

vans.”The rest of the AUTO fleet will

be made available once sched-uled maintenance is completed on the out-of-commission vans. Furthermore, Risk Management must approve the proposed man-ual before the program becomes fully operational.

The manual has been submit-ted to the administration and is awaiting approval by Student Ac-tivities and Risk Management.

Tony Newman, the director of Risk Management, refused to comment when contacted by The Eagle.

“[We want to] make sure that they look like vans and not war vehicles,” Chang said. “We don’t

have a set date for that because we are largely dependent on how soon we can get [AU workers] to fully repair them.”

Until the whole fleet is back in commission, priority will be given to clubs that fall under the direction of Student Activities. Organizations that are not under the Student Activities umbrella, such as intramural sports teams, will not be given priority.


n from AUTO on page 1

By MEG FOWLEREagle Staff Writer

Th e Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board of directors approved a decision Th ursday to add 10 cents to cur-rent Metrobus, Metrorail and Me-troAccess fares in order to gener-ate $9.6 million to help close its $40 million budget gap.

Th e board made the decision to increase fares instead of cut-ting back on services because it received written feedback from 596 D.C. residents who said they mostly preferred the fare increase, according to a statement from WMATA.

Students are already broke and WMATA’s decision to increase fares for Metrorail and Metrobus access March 1 through June 30 this year will be hard for them, School of Public Aff airs junior Alexandra Lilley said.

Th is decision could negatively aff ect some students, according to Washington College of Law stu-dent Abre Conner. Conner uses the Metrorail to commute from

Shady Grove every day, which costs her approximately $9 daily, she said.

“Th e 10-cent increase is going to even possibly make me think of alternative ways to get to school because it’s already expensive enough as it is,” Conner said. “For them to increase their prices and for us to not really see where the money is going ... is detrimental.”

While Lilley only uses the Me-trorail once or twice per week, she said that a 10-cent increase could add up.

“I guess it’s not going to have a huge eff ect until you look at it from a yearly perspective instead of a daily perspective,” she said. “But every little bit helps when you’re a student.”

Student Government Director of Student Community Relations Sami Green said the fare increase would be a big problem for AU students because Tenleytown is outside of the main part of the District.

“We all use it all the time ... It’s a little bit frustrating because ... it does take us a little bit lon-

ger and more money to get where we want to go,” Green said. “[Th e SG] recognizes the need for it to be easier for students to be able to use public transportation be-cause of parking problems and problems we have had with cars on campus.”

Shalia Sakona, a senior in SPA and the College of Arts and Sci-ences, works three to four days per week at the Spy Museum near the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro stop and takes the bus the other days of the week to school from Glover Park, she said.

Sakona said she did not think that 10 cents would be noticeable, and she prefers that to decreased services.

“Not a single member of this Board wants to increase fares or decrease service,” Chairman of the Board Peter Benjamin said in a statement released by WMATA. “But we need to take this tempo-rary action to balance the budget this year.”


Mind the gap: pay extra 10 cents for Metro ride

*@#!3*%!EAGLE RANTSTh e Centennivator makes living

on campus worthwhile.

To those of you in my philoso-phy class who glare at me every time I wear my letters - GET OVER YOURSELF! I have a 3.8, volunteer and intern. Stop pegging me in a little box and mind your own East Coast/hipster/pot smoking - self!

To the guy in my stats class who looks like a blonde Robert Pattin-son ... dont worry, you are much more attractive than him.

What’s with all the copycat Jer-sey Shore parties? Everyone just had to copy Pi Kapp.

@AU hipsters

protip: don’t complain about greek life and then come to our parties. So inauthentic. Go drink PBR in your Berkshire apartment.

HW assignment for every mem-ber of CASJ: Write a two page single spaced essay examining both the commercial and production his-tory of your outfi ts. Which fashion companies are profi ting off of you? How did their advertising cam-paigns cause you to purchase their product? How and where were your clothes manufactured, step by step? One inch margins and size 12 font. Use citations. E-mail your papers to [email protected].

Why it’s hard not to hate on greek life: When you’re together,

all you talk about is either getting drunk or apparently meaningless sorority/frat bureaucracy. To us, all you care about is greek life and par-ties. You’re always together, so it’s hard to get to know you. You were the cool kids in HS, we were not (yes, petty). Th e fact that you can aff ord to pay for friends and con-nections makes non-rich people feel alienated.

It drives me CRAZY that so many people appear to have nothing to do but drink, play video games and try to get into one another’s pants. Isn’t this supposed to be an institution of higher learning? And why am I the only one with homework?!

SEE MORE RANTS ONLINE!

Band brawls take fight to new venue: the Web

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

In middle school, many stu-dents learn that a fi ght can take place without any face-to-face confrontation. It becomes a war of words, snide comments and notes passed to others. Now some members of the music industry have taken passive-aggressive fi ghts to a whole new level with the help of the Internet.

My fascination with the subject of Internet brawls started a couple of weeks ago. Sure, I’d noticed the occasional non-confrontational catfi ght between celebrities in the tabloids, but nothing that caught my attention the way a piece on absolutepunk.net did.

It all began with a concert pre-view. Bill Chenevert, a reporter for Philadelphia Weekly, wrote a short paragraph in late December announcing an upcoming concert for the Starting Line. But rather than just simply mentioning the event, Chenevert began the piece “It’s hard not to root against local boys who’ve ‘made it’ ... unless it’s a band like the Starting Line.” Th e reporter continued the critique of the band, going as far as to say their music is an “insuff erable brand of whine” and called them the “obnoxious, angsty teenagers” of emo.

A bit harsh for less than 150 words, no?

While most bands blow off such bad reviews as the cost of be-ing in the music business, singer and bassist Kenny Vasoli decided not to take such insults sitting down. He took to the Internet, criticizing Chenevert for his “low blows” and saying the shows men-tioned in the piece gave the mem-bers of the band “an indescribable feeling of joy, one that I’m sure Mr. Chenevert will never experi-ence in his pathetic excuse of a ca-reer.” Aft er going on to make one or two other rather crude com-ments, Vasoli fi nished off the post with a succinct “I win.”

Vasoli’s response caused fans to descend upon the online version

of Chenevert’s article. A couple days later, another writer for PW, Michael Alan Goldberg, posted his response to the nonsense on his blog.

Although intending to quell the fi re, Goldberg’s blog wasn’t ex-actly unbiased. Protecting his col-league, Goldberg said he agrees with Chenevert’s general analy-sis on the Starting Line’s music and chastised Vasoli for his “im-mature crybaby” response. But his real problem with the whole situation was the response of the band’s fans. Aft er angrily criticiz-ing the commenters, he ended his post by saying that “based on their comments and reactions, Starting Line fans really are dipshits.”

It was just recently that I came across a story involving Franz Ferdinand that ended very dif-ferently than the Starting Line/Philadelphia Weekly confl ict. Th e confl ict began when frontman Alex Kapranos took to Twitter to vent about the fact that one of the band’s songs was being used on a McDonald’s Web site. Th e site, www.latenightmcdonalds.com, features music videos from artists such as the Fray and Incubus as well as Franz Ferdinand. Appar-ently, Sony approved the use of the song without the band’s consent. Kapranos, using many words that Th e Eagle would rather not print, redirected his initial rage at the restaurant to the label.

“Th e psychopathic corporation I am pissed off with is Sony who owns Epic who release our records in America,” Kapranos tweeted. “But not really surprised.”

Eventually, the singer calmed down and joked that his real rea-son for being angry is that he “had a sponsorship deal with White Castle on the cards which is now totally scuppered.”

But this tiff didn’t end there. Now, we as Americans, or maybe human beings in general, like to butt in where we don’t belong and give unwarranted advice on situa-tions that do not involve us. It is, simply put, how we do.

Scott Austin, CEO of Authen-tik Artists and blogger, composed a post entitled “Open Letter to Franz Ferdinand.” Th e blog began by criticizing the band’s wish to have indie cred despite being on a major label. Austin continued on, lecturing the musicians on com-

plaining while making millions of dollars and only wanting to look “cool” for their fans.

“You are ungrateful and two-faced,” Austin wrote, telling them to “have the ‘cred’ and take the hard road, or the money and keep your mouth shut.” Finally, Austin fi nished off by declaring that “now is not the time for millionaire rock stars to cry woe is me.”

Kapranos did not take this lightly. His response started off politely, explaining that his com-plaint centered on the lack of choice the band had in the use of their song. Kapranos then went insult by insult through Austin’s blog post and countered them, saying that it was “uncool” of him to tweet without thinking fi rst, but that’s all it was. Finally, he fi nished off the letter by NOT calling Austin a “pathetic bile-rid-den resentful poisonous ignorant yellow-livered inarticulate mor-ally-suspect avaricious failed-cor-porate-wannabe.” All in all, the response was surprisingly kind and straightforward.

However, Austin decided not to let it end there. While he asked non-sarcastically to be friends, he couldn’t let go of a few minor de-tails and wants to “parry and joust just a bit more.” Luckily, rather than continuing on the fi ght un-necessarily, his blog in response to that band’s letter was more of a long-winded apology by a guy who always needs to get in the last word.

Th e moral of these stories? Well, there are a couple morals.

Number one: Watch what you say on the Internet. Unlike an an-gry phone call or conversation, what’s tweeted or texted or e-mailed is in print. Th is means it’s easily copied and forwarded and commented on.

Number two: Be the bigger man (or woman). Seriously, let it go. If someone seriously attacks you and bases their argument on false facts, you can write a letter in response and not sink to their level.

Number three: Get over it. Just make music. Or write. Or produce. Or do whatever it is that you do. Th e music business drama is fun for maybe a day but it forces the actual music to take a backseat.

By BALKIS AWANEagle Contributing Writer

With a name like Th e Fridge, one would assume a cold, uninvit-ing vibe from the events held at the venue. However, this Capitol Hill art space is quite the opposite. Aft er visiting the gallery to attend their Sunday workshops, it is easy to warm up to Th e Fridge.

Walking in, it is hard to know exactly what to expect. Th e group’s most recent workshops, sponsored by a non-profi t organization dedi-cated to spreading the arts through diff erent interactive and participa-tory programs called Albus Cavus,

were both graffi ti-inspired. Th e workshops are an amazing display of artistic skill. Some of the artists appear to be regulars, and their work and relationships with the staff show it.

Th ough visitors who are not so experienced as artists may feel ner-vous, the kind staff and tight-knit community quickly make you feel right at home. At the start of the workshop, attendees went around in a circle and stated their names, and soon aft er engaged in a group activity. Artists began taking turns painting a large sheet of paper in order to demonstrate wheat-past-ing. Artists of all ages took their turn at the paper; some were as

young as 11-years-old; others were well into adulthood.

Each person then got to make their own work of art on the pa-per created by the workshop, and aft erward took liberty with paint rollers and pasted them onto a free standing wood wall. All ar-tistic skills were on display, from beginners to practiced artists. D.C. female graffi ti artist Decoy led the workshop, her energy and insight bringing both fun and inspiration to the workshop attendees.

Workshop participants were just as enthusiastic the next Sun-day, learning about graffi ti style and lettering. Each chose their own tag names, and through the guid-

ance of another local graffi ti artist, Ultra, learned basic lettering styles as well as shading. Having help in a hands-on environment made the workshop completely worthwhile, allowing each person to learn a lot about their own skills, as well as the skills and techniques of others artists, both local and non-local.

Th e space itself is pretty eye-catching — not what you’d expect from an art gallery advertised in the Capitol Hill area. It possesses an industrial and raw look, from the plain white walls to the raw wood details, that give the gallery an edge one would never expect from the District. Work from a re-cent art show remained on the wall

— drawings and paintings alike. It was small, but that only added to its charm. For those planning to visit the Fridge anytime in the very near future, they have several events coming up. You can access their calendar via their Web site, www.thefridgedc.com. Th ey also have a fl ickr page that anyone can access at http://www.fl ickr.com/photos/thefridgedc.

Th eir stream, which is constant-ly being updated, features all the fun people have had at past work-shops and events. Next Saturday, Feb. 6, they have a show opening titled “Empty Time,” with the re-ception starting at 8 p.m. Th e show “celebrates the quiet moments of

idle numbness and self-indulgence, in which time is not killed, but sa-vored,” according to the Fridge’s Web site. Artists included hail from all over the country, from California to Pennsylvania. Th e show closes March 3, so make sure to check it out before then.

Th e Fridge is located within walking distance of the Eastern Market Metro station. Bring a friend for an alternative, creative and cheap way to spend a week-end.


‘Fridge’ warms up D.C. art sceneICE ICE, BABY — The addition of The Fridge to D.C.’s art community brings a unique new venue to the District. The open, industrial space brings a distinct aesthetic that enhances the art held within. The graffi ti-inspired pieces result from a combination of both experienced artists and newcomers joining together to make one work. The space also offers classes that expand upon its unique fl avors of urban art.

Photos by VERONIKA K.

By SARAH PARNASSEagle Staff Writer

An AU alumna from the class of 2009 was a top ten fi nalist in the Miss America Pageant Saturday night.

College of Arts and Sciences graduate Jen Corey competed against contestants from all 50 states as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in the Las Vegas pageant.

Corey won the Miss District of Columbia title in July 2009, just two months aft er graduating from AU. Th at title enabled her to compete for the 2010 Miss America crown.

A panel of judges including sing-er Brooke White and conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh chose 11 of the remaining 15 semi-fi nalists. Another three were chosen by viewer votes.

“All pageantry aside, I want au-thenticity, a real girl,” White said during the contest.

Th e judges selected Corey as one of those 11.

Finally, the competitors them-selves chose the 15th semifi nalist. It was the fi rst time in pageant history contestants had been asked to do so, according to host Mario Lopez. Th e girls chose Miss Oregon CC Barber, who erupted in tears but did not progress beyond the next round of judging.

During the pageant, Corey stood above much of her competition as one of the tallest girls on stage. She strutted down the catwalk with vig-orous swinging of the hips during the swimsuit competition and graced the stage in a beautiful, fl oor-length black gown during the evening wear competition.

“Trying on [and] practicing in the dress and the swimsuit,” are the keys to avoiding “wardrobe malfunc-tions,” Corey said.

It was during the talent competi-tion that Corey’s individuality shined through. Only one other contestant chose opera as her talent.

AU alumna scores top 10 pageant spot

HERE SHE COMES — AU alumna Jen Corey beat out 42 of her fellow contestants to place in the top 10 in the 2010 Miss America pageant. Corey is a 2009 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Courtesy of MISS DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SCHOLARSHIP ORGANIZATION

n see PAGEANT on page 6

SCENESTER SPOTLIGHT

MAGGIE HOLLANDER

n see BRAWLS on page 6

THE EAGLE'S ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

theEAGLE the sceneFEBRUARY 1, 2010 6

Love burns out at ‘Last’By YOHANA DESTAEagle Staff Writer

With an all-star cast featuring the likes of Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy, “Th e Last Station” was bound to be the stuff of indie fi lm magic. Directed by Michael Hoff man (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), “Th e Last Station” focuses on the fi -nal year in the life of famed Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Based on the Jay Parini novel of the same name, “Sta-tion” takes on the most diffi cult as-pect in Tolstoy’s life at the time: his relationship with his erratic wife, Sofya (Mirren). While it ties together Tolstoy’s politics and philosophy, the fi lm mainly deals with love and how it cannot always be an idyllic romance; it’s about learning how keep romance alive when the love starts to falter.

Th e fi lm is seen through the eyes of Valentin Bulgakov (McAvoy), a nervous but kind-hearted student who comes to live with Tolstoy and learn about his philosophy. Bulgakov is a loyal follower of Tolstoyan ethics and wants to become a devout dis-ciple of his principles on life and love. Prior to that, he was taught under Vladimir Chertkov (Giamatti), Tol-stoy’s best friend and dearest admirer. Chertkov sends him to live with Tol-stoy with instructions to write about everything he sees and learns in a di-ary.

At the time, it seemed as though everyone around Tolstoy kept a di-ary, documenting the life of the gift ed philosopher. In addition, there was a constant camera crew outside of Tol-stoy’s bucolic mansion, always snap-ping pictures of him and his family. Chertkov was obsessed with keep-ing the memory of Tolstoy alive long

aft er he passed away, so he allowed people to take pictures and instruct-ed everyone, even Tolstoy himself, to keep a diary. An additional instruc-tion Chertkov gives to Bulgakov is to stay celibate; he felt that it would make matters worse should Valentin become involved with any women of the household like former students had done. Eager to please, Bulgakov agrees and sets off to live with Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya.

Upon meeting everyone, Tolstoy’s delicate relationship with his wife is revealed. Mirren masterfully plays So-fya, who carefully balances her loving side with her neurotic tendencies. As the fi lm progresses, it is clear Tolstoy is struggling between living a life of simplicity and dealing with his wife’s wishes for money and extravagance. Sofya is supremely against every one of Tolstoy’s friends, especially those who want him to give everything up and live a life of solitude. Th rough-out the fi lm, we see their relationship become strained and twisted, mostly due to Sofya’s melodramatic nature and dislike for anyone who fawns over her husband; she even despises her own daughter, Sasha. It is in this way that the fi lm depicts love in a stage that is not oft en seen.

Aft er so many years of whirlwind romance, how does a couple keep the fl ame alive when there are so many factors pulling them apart? Sofya wishes for Tolstoy to write a will and give the rights to his works to his family, while his friends push him to give his rights to the public in order to preserve his legacy as a man who catered to the needs of the people by sharing his philosophy of love.

Meanwhile, Bulgakov has person-al struggles following Tolstoy’s phi-losophy. Aft er meeting Masha (Kerry Condon), a caretaker who lives in the home, she and Bulgakov start to fall in love. It’s a parallel that director Hoff -man draws between young romance and love when it is near its fi nal stage.

Amidst all the drama going on at home, Bulgakov still remains loyal to Tolstoy, but starts to develop his own feelings about love from what he sees in the home.

In what might be Hoff man’s most poignant piece, “Th e Last Station” is an excruciating look at love and all its confl icts. Th e fact that it was based on Tolstoy’s life makes it all the more

dramatic, and evident that even the most loving of people must suff er to make a relationship work. It is a pain-fully real fi lm that challenges the idea that love does not necessarily con-quer all.


The battle for “The Tonight Show” host spot is far more en-tertaining than any VH1 reality series.

Jay Leno became host of “The Tonight Show” 17 years ago, succeeding Johnny Carson. Last May, Conan O’Brien took Leno’s spot as late-night funny man. Initially, Conan’s ratings were below Leno’s. When a new host takes over a show, ratings are expected to be low for the first year and a half. Conan was tak-en off air after seven months.

Five years ago, NBC prom-ised Jay Leno’s job to Conan. Leno would explore options on an original show while “The Tonight Show” became “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” “Saturday Night Live” alum Jimmy Fallon was pulled in to take over “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” which aired af-ter Leno’s “Tonight Show.”

As Conan pulled his weight on “The Tonight Show,” Leno was given a primetime show on NBC that was virtually the same as his previous program. The hour long “Jay Leno Show” aired at 10 p.m. With weak guests and low ratings, the show tanked; Leno’s audience never followed him to primetime. NBC thought the best way to help Leno was airing his show at O’Brien’s 11:35 slot, and push Conan back a half hour.

We like Conan’s comedy be-cause it’s crisp, and he never has to stoop low to get a laugh. However, when the network threatened to push Conan out of his own spot, the claws came out. Conan issued a statement saying he would not leave his 11:35 time slot to “participate in [the network’s] destruction.” NBC was faced with the choice of keeping Conan on “The To-night Show” at 11:35, or letting him go and having Leno return as the host. The network acted on instinct, as Leno was a suc-cessful host of “The Tonight

Show” for over 15 years.It was NBC’s mistake to doubt

Conan. He and side kick Andy Richter are a different breed of comedy, a type of funny that makes you feel good about your-self. Conan’s comedy is riskier than Leno’s, so the payoff is big-ger if it’s funny enough; Leno is much safer. On “Late Night,” Conan took viewers around the world to visit O’Brien castle in Ireland and to Helsinki to meet Finland’s female president who bears a striking resemblance to the ginger comedian. In time, Conan’s ratings would have risen, but NBC was too antsy to let something new come to frui-tion.

When Conan heard the news, he organized a spectacle of final shows, each costing NBC a ton of money. On his last Wednes-day show, O’Brien bought a Bu-gatti Veyron, the world’s most expensive car, and dressed it in mouse ears. He also featured the Rolling Stone’s “Satisfaction” on the show, a song that is quite expensive to license. Whether dressing up in a pimp costume or kicking the network in the gut, Conan will do anything for his audience. Conan’s final show featured an array of celebrity friends including Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. 10.3 million viewers tuned in to watch Conan say goodbye, sweet ratings that NBC will never taste again.

As viewers, we feel a tinge of guilt that Conan wasn’t given his deserved time. Do we watch Leno retake his old show or do we switch to Letterman? And what kind of world do we live in if Jimmy Fallon has a late night show and Conan O’Brien doesn’t? There’s talk of FOX picking up Conan, which he’ll probably accept, as the man is too hilarious to not be on tele-vision. As part of his contract with NBC, Conan cannot appear on television for seven months. Until then, Conan fans, we must turn to Hulu to get our fill. Tune in to FOX next season, where Conan will hopefully be wait-ing. I can assure you, he won’t disappoint.

You can reach this columnist at [email protected].

Fans anticipate return of CoCo to late night TVWEEKLY BOOB TUBE

MAISIE HOOPER

A-THE LAST STATION

ALL ABOARD — “The Last Station” is an impressive look into the tumultu-ous love life of Leo Tolstoy. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Jay Parini, the fi lm follows the story of Tolstoy’s followers and family.

STEPHAN RABOLD / SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

In a new gown — this one sweeping and deep blue — Co-rey sang the aria “O Mio Babbi-no Caro” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.”

Corey, who studied vocal performance at AU, has per-formed on stage before. She worked for the National Opera this year, when she was not en-during weekly mock interviews and daily fitness training. De-spite her touching performance on Saturday, both she and Miss Texas — the only other opera singer in the semi-finals — were eliminated following that round.

Prior to running for Miss D.C. during her sophomore year at AU, Corey had never competed in a pageant, she said. Corey said her voice professor and musician-in-residence at AU, Linda Allison, encouraged her to audition.

“I never really thought any-thing was going to happen with it,” Corey said. “I went because I thought it would be a fun audi-tion.”

For the Miss America Pag-eant, each contestant was re-

quired to raise $500 for the Children’s Miracle Network, a non-profit organization dedi-cated to serving children’s hos-pitals. This year, Corey raised over $12,000, placing her sec-ond among other contestants, according to the Miss D.C. Web site. That, in addition to the funds she accumulated for the charity during her time in the state competitions, brings her to a total of just under $20,000 raised in three years, she said.

Corey also worked with D.C. Goodwill as part of her platform on recycling. The campaign was called “Let’s Talk Trash.” A video of Corey demonstrating a unique way to go green by team-ing up with Goodwill Fashioni-sta, Gillian Kirkpatrick, can be found on The Eagle’s news blog at www.theeagleonline.com/newswire/.

Miss Virginia Caressa Cam-eron won the pageant. Cam-eron also sang during the talent portion of the competition, but her piece came from the movie “Dreamgirls.”


n from PAGEANT on page 5

The music needs to be the center of attention, or you’re not being an artist; you’re being Britney Spears.

In the end, this is really just a rant about a bunch of other peo-ple’s rants. But as entertaining as Internet brawls are to watch,

perhaps it is time for grown men and women in the music business to learn to vent on the phone to their friends and not trade insults via the World Wide Web. The Internet is clogged up enough as it is.


n from BRAWLS on page 5

By ALI GOLDSTEINEagle Staff Writer

Th e National Gallery of Art’s latest exhibit, “Impressionism to Modern-ism: Th e Chester Dale Collection,” sounds like the title of an art history survey course. In contrast to a typical exhibit that showcases the work of a single artist or movement, the NGA’s undertaking sweeps through periods, artists and styles of French art from the 19th and 20th centuries.

What’s remarkable considering the scope and diversity of the exhibit is that

the masterpieces all share the same thread: they were purchased and col-lected by the American couple Chester and Maud Dale. Th is exhibit features 83 of the more than 300 works donated to the NGA by the Dales, pulled from the Gallery’s permanent collection for the duration of the exhibit. Most of the works in this exhibit are both famous and familiar, making what’s compel-ling about this exhibit not what’s on display, but rather how it’s displayed.

Linking such a wide range of works — from Picasso’s blue period to Mary Cassat’s aff ectionate portraiture

— highlights the eye of the beholder. We are made to see through the eyes of Maud and Chester Dale to discover what they found beautiful in the works by these artists they championed. Or-ganizing an exhibit according to the sensibilities of such a famous art col-lecting couple makes the viewer of the art — typically a fl eeting role we step into when we stand before a work — the actual subject of the exhibit.

Chester Dale was a businessman who made it big on Wall Street during the 1920s. A passionate man, he fo-cused his energies on his incredible art collection. With his wife Maud, herself an artist with a keen eye for budding talent, Dale prodigiously collected 19th and 20th century French art, including some of the most iconic modern art-works. In the exhibit’s accompanying publication, photographs of the Dales’ New York apartment show the couple’s walls covered in modern art.

From Dale’s fi rst acquisition, Ma-tisse’s “Plumed Hat,” the couple came to play a crucial role in championing modern artists. Many of the artists they supported hadn’t yet achieved widespread contemporary acclaim. Matisse, for example, was still con-sidered something of a revolutionary when the Dales fi rst started collecting his work. Upon Dale’s death in 1962, he bequeathed his art collection to the NGA, completely transforming the Gallery’s French art collection.

Curator Kimberly Jones worked to achieve thematic unity in the exhibit’s presentation of the Dale couple’s pro-lifi c collection. Portraits of women

dominate one wall and portraits of men another. Nearly an entire room is devoted to landscapes. Taking such iconic works out of their traditional context and arranging them themati-cally is truly powerful. It becomes clear how the artistic contemporaries interacted and how they responded to similar changes in society and their physical surroundings.

An art museum’s typical insistence on grouping works of one artist togeth-er gives the impression that the artists worked in isolation. In this exhibit, however, placement allows for new connections. Situating George Bellow’s “Blue Morning,” next to Monet’s “Th e Houses of Parliament, Sunset,” high-lights the sensation of the artists’ ex-periments with light and color.

In total, 32 artists are represented in this exhibit, which is just a taste of the Gallery’s complete collection of Dale’s bequest. Seeing all these masterpieces side-by-side makes it hard to imagine the art world without the Chester Dale couple. Th e exhibit draws attention to the critical relationship between busi-ness and art, especially relevant amid today’s economic reality. Where would Matisse be, aft er all, if Dale had decid-ed to collect automobiles instead?

Th is new exhibit lets us see works anew, through the eyes of a couple that truly loved art. Th e exhibit, “From Im-pressionism to Modernism: Th e Ches-ter Dale Collection,” will be on display through July 31.


NGA shows off French art gems

By MICHAEL W. RICHARDSONEagle Staff Writer

J.D. Salinger, master of the short story and patron saint of disaff ected teenagers, passed away last week at the age of 91. From the time he published the short story “A Perfect Day for Ba-nanafi sh,” he was almost instantly add-ed to the canon of American literature — a new, distinct voice that sought insight into the urban ennui of youth and the young at heart. He would go on to put out a body of work that was both incredibly brief and incredibly infl uential.

Writers have been rushing to praise him, calling him the most important American writer since Hemingway or even Mark Twain, and those men and women may have a case. Critic Louis Menand wrote in the New Yorker ear-lier in the decade about how rewrites of “Th e Catcher in the Rye” had become “a literary genre all its own,” citing such highly respected work as Sylvia Plath’s “Th e Bell Jar” and the work of Hunter S. Th omspson. It is doubtful that mod-ern literature would be the same with-out the notorious recluse. We may not have had the same John Updike, Philip Roth or other chronicles of post-war America.

Of course, Salinger’s infl uence did not just spread over the literature of

the 20th and 21st centuries. His work has become a pop culture touchstone, becoming easy shorthand for teenage alienation and an insatiable need to create. So if one must mourn the loss of a great writer, it might hurt less to go back and enjoy the piece of pop that he inspired.

Salinger was famously antagonistic against the fi lm industry (even writing in “Th e Catcher in the Rye,” “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.” It’s a perfect summary of the author’s own feelings.) His estate was fi ercely protective of his work, denying any number of possible adaptations of his work. Even with big names like Marlon Brando pushing to make a movie version of “Th e Catcher in Th e Rye,” there was no give from the author. But that didn’t mean that Hold-en was kept from the big screen.

If one wants to see a fi lm version of Salinger’s characters, a quick peruse of Wes Anderson’s fi lm catalogue is all one needs. Th e Max Fisher of “Rush-more” is Holden in reverse. He’s much more socially extroverted, and sees his private school as a sanctuary rather than a prison, but his social alienation is sucked right out of Salinger’s tale. Th e Glass family — the protagonists of much of Salinger’s short fi ction — were the direct inspiration for “Th e Royal Tenenbaums,” but the mixture

of support and disappointment family can provide shoot through Anderson’s entire catalogue.

While it might be a stretch to say that any fi lm that includes an angsty teenager is homage to Salinger, there are many fi lms that use his rye humor as an integral part of their teenage dis-illusionment. His books have become visual shorthand — show a character carrying a copy of “Th e Catcher in the Rye,” and we generally have an idea of what’s going on in their head.

Th e music community had a simi-lar relationship with the author. While never as contentious as his relation-ship with the fi lm industry, the man who shunned pop culture must have had mixed feelings about his creations being co-opted for songs. Th at being said, some truly great music has been inspired by Salinger’s work.

Working backwards, “Catcher in the Rye” by Guns N’ Roses, off of “Chi-nese Democracy,” is a song about the most heinous event associated with the author’s work, the murder of John Len-non by Mark David Chapman. Chap-man claimed the book was his biggest inspiration, and that Lennon deserved death because he was one of the “pho-nies” that Holden decried. Th at trau-matic event has been captured in all media, but Axl Rose’s intricate ballad captures a mix of anger and sadness

that refl ects both the assassination and the anti-hero of Salinger’s book.

Other musical acts, from the Jonas Brothers to the Off spring, have used his characters as direct inspirations. Green Day’s “Who Wrote Holden Caulfi eld” is a tribute to literature’s big-gest punk icon. On the other side of the rock spectrum, Belle & Sebastian’s “La Pastie de la Bourgeoisie” is about a young bookish girl losing herself in “Th e Catcher in the Rye” and looking for a boy like Holden to call her own. Even Billy Joel calls out Holden Caul-fi eld as a generation-defi ning icon in “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (is there a greater honor?).

His ghosts remain on television. Who is our newest icon of youth re-bellion if not Bart Simpson? Could the claustrophobic ennui of “Mad Men” be traced right back to Salinger’s short fi c-tion? Matt Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men,” said he read Salinger as a way to hit the mannerisms of the ‘60s as accu-rately as possible. But it wasn’t just the mannerisms of a certain decade that was Salinger’s skill. He is so infl uential because he was able to tap into a sense of youth that everybody still searches for, in the world of pop culture and beyond.


FRENCH SEAS — A couple with an excellent eye for up-and-coming artists, Chester and Maud Dale, donated their personal collection to the NGA.

Courtesy of NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Author’s death leaves behind legacy

Check out The Scene’s LOST blog for insights on the show’s fi nal season.

theeagleonline.com/behindthescene

CLASSIFIEDSKUSHAN DOSHI n Business Manager

202.885.3593

FEBRUARY 1, 2010 7

By WILLIAM F. ZEMAN

Once upon a time, a man named Mustafa Kemal decided to make his people westernized. Aft er winning a war of independence, driving out foreign invaders and abolishing a corrupt sultanate and outdated Ca-liphate, he went further. Using his position as head of the army, as well as his personal popularity stemming from his military victories, he began transforming every aspect of his country’s society.

Th e fez was banned, replaced by Western hats. Islamic laws were banned, replaced with a French sys-tem of civil law. Power was vested in a parliament, whose authority to rule stemmed “from the sovereignty of the nation.” Plural marriages were banned. Th e call to prayer, which had echoed over the landscape for a millennia, was changed from its original Arabic to Turkish, the state’s vernacular. Th e Dervish lodges were banned. Th e holy relics of the Proph-et were carefully placed in storage, away from prying eyes and fanatical pilgrims. Freedom of and from reli-gion was established. Alphabets were changed, and last names were given to the people. Parliament gave the title “Atatürk” to Kemal, recognizing his importance in the new nation’s birth.

Th at creation may have been painful, with the removal of the nation’s religion a birth-pang hard to accept. But it was necessary, for from it emerged a new nation ready to take its place among the world’s great states. Indeed, no one could deny that Kemal’s reforms had been responsible for this great new begin-ning.

When I fi rst arrived in Turkey, I knew little of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Time and again, friends, neighbors and random men told me variations on this story. Atatürk created the na-tion. Atatürk’s work had made Turkey the force it is today. Some of Atatürk’s reforms may have been harsh, but no one could deny their need.

I like to think I heard these stories

with a critical mind, but as Atatürk’s successes were listed to me continu-ously, as I passed his statue multiple times on my school and work com-mutes, as his picture gazed at me from every shop’s wall, as his quotes littered the day’s conversation — it was hard not to be convinced. While I may not have become a Kemalist, my remarks about Atatürk were al-most entirely laudatory. What I con-ceived of Atatürk, my conceptions, like those of the Turks I lived with, were positive.

Now, I am no longer in Turkey. I have moved to Cairo. Once again, Mustafa Kemal began my introduc-tion to a new culture.

As other American students and I joined some locals for dinner along the Nile, conversation fl owed. As I ate, an Egyptian named Ahmed en-gaged me. “You don’t speak Arabic?” he said. I shook my head. Ahmed mentioned that Turkish and Arabic shared many words and I agreed, adding there had been more before Atatürk reformed the language.

“Atatürk,” Ahmed said loudly. “Th at guy was a dick.” As I looked around, momentarily thinking Turk-ish police would descend any second, Ahmed told me his view of Mustafa Kemal.

Once upon a time, there was a military dictator named Mustafa Ke-mal. Aft er throwing out foreign occu-piers, he refused to relinquish power to his land’s hereditary ruler, and instead abolished the sultan’s throne and a caliphate sacred since Islam’s dawn. Because Mustafa Kemal hated God and all believers, he banned the fez. He banned Islam’s sacred law, in-stead importing a cheap French sub-stitute unsuited to Muslims. Because he hated Arabic, the call to prayer was changed to Turkish.

Drunk on power, he went about trying to make his new kingdom re-semble the Europe he so desperately loved. Th e alphabet was changed. Western-style dress was adopted, and traditional styles banned. Women were not allowed to cover themselves. Mustafa Kemal turned his back on his Muslim brothers, caring about no people’s welfare but his own and that of his mistresses. Finally, he foisted upon himself the title “Atatürk.”

Neither of these stories is histori-cally accurate, both impacted ter-ribly by cultural bias. But they serve as reminders that this region, oft en considered monolithic from afar, remains a realm of diverse opinions, values and beliefs.


By KATRINA CASINOEagle Staff Writer

Of Montreal are actually not from Montreal, but that’s the least shocking thing about them.

Of Montreal are also not a band comprised of leotard-clad men in farm animal masks, but anyone who watched them take the stage at the 9:30 club on Thursday, Jan. 28 could have been fooled. In what their set list referred to as “Animal Intro,” the psychedelic, synth-pop, gender-bending rock-ers entered to a frenzied audience after being introduced by what appeared to be a man-pig on the drums, a man-chicken on guitar and a three-piece-suit-wearing tiger screaming into the micro-phone. Let there be no mistake: Of Montreal are not just a show, they’re a spectacle.

It’s not that they need to be; it’s just that they are. Hailing from the same Elephant 6 col-

lective that produced true ‘90s indie greatness like Neutral Milk Hotel and Beulah, Of Montreal are by no means short on talent. The band, led by perfectly butch/femme frontman Kevin Barnes, have released one album nearly every year since 1997, and each work takes listeners through an epic experimental sojourn laced with escapist tendencies, hopping bass lines, surprisingly introspec-tive lyrics and a flamboyance that results from what could only be blaring confidence — or insanity.

The band’s 9:30 set spanned the entirety of their lengthy career, but focused largely on their latest album, 2008’s “Skeletal Lamping.” “St. Exquisite’s Confessions” was theatrical, disturbing and vin-dicating all at once, which one could suppose was to be expected of any song that began with the line, “I’m so sick of sucking the dick of this cruel, cruel city.” The sultry guitar intro and the song’s

unique brand of angst were over-shadowed by a political statement against the Catholic Church, which of course to Of Montreal consisted of a man dressed as a priest relentlessly attempting to touch a man dressed presumably as a little boy in an outer-space onesie before being retaliated against and beaten by the heav-ily-eyelinered Barnes and the pa-jama-ed man-child.

The theatrics continued in “Metal Finds Troll,” which seemed to be part song, part spoken word comedy routine about a crazy man and a beta fish. “Oslo in the Summertime” was released from its dirty, cadenced nonchalance and transformed into a frenetic, rave-like trance with no lights except for those that spotlighted men in tiny, flesh-colored under-wear flexing, slow-motion fight-ing and lustily biting into apples.

“She’s a Rejecter” was Of Mon-treal’s grand finale from 2007’s

“Hissing Fauna, Are You the De-stroyer?” As yet another gang of leotard-wearing men wheeled a massive wooden apparatus onto the stage, the five-piece band blared out their rock-pop shout-along closer, which concluded with keyboardist Dottie Alex-ander seizing control of Barnes’ guitar, as the singer climbed onto their giant prop only to be mock-crucified and carried off the stage by — you guessed it — men in leotards.

Usually an on-stage crucifixion would be considered a downer, but as Barnes has performed sev-eral similar stunts — including staging his own hanging — the audience couldn’t do anything but raucously demand an encore-slash-resurrection. And as we all know, nothing brings a lead sing-er back from the dead quite like a cheering crowd guided by an angry tiger making obscene hand gestures at other farm animals.

And because there’s no en-core like a shirtless encore, Of Montreal returned to the stage with Barnes half-stripped (pre-sumably from the crucifixion) but still wearing his polka-dot-ted headscarf and skin-tight pink skinny jeans. The first song was “For Our Elegant Caste,” a reprise from “Skeletal Lamping,” but the true highlight was the band’s trib-ute to whom Barnes referred to as the “incredible, special” Michael Jackson in their cover of “I Want You Back.” Although the cover featured little variation from the original, Barnes’ falsetto served as the perfect pre-pubescent Jackson impression, as the band busted out the vintage party jam to end the night.

Unapologetically fanatical, somewhat offensive and always unpredictable, it is no surprise that Of Montreal have had such longevity and draws such rowdy and enthusiastic crowds to each show. Anyone who missed out on the festivities can hope for another tour coming up soon, as their new album, “False Priest/The Controller Sphere,” drops in September of this year.


Cultural bias colors lens of Turk history

Band stop 9:30 show

SHOW STOPPERS — Of Montreal are an Athens, Ga. band led by fl amboyant frontman Kevin Barnes. The band sprung from the Elephant 6 collective in the 1990s. Since 1997, they have released nearly one album per year and are now touring to promote their next album, “False Priest/The Controller Sphere.”

Courtesy of OF MONTREAL

By BRYAN KOENIGEagle Staff Writer

His status as a human notwith-standing, a Mel Gibson-helmed thriller about a father seeking jus-tice for the daughter who died in his arms sounds like an exciting idea. In practice, however, “Edge Of Darkness” is a middling and fruitless mystery that takes itself far too seriously.

In trying to add filler and in-crease the seriousness of “Dark-ness,” director Martin Campbell produced a film afraid to edit it-self. The better part of two very long hours involves whole scenes that seem to serve no purpose oth-er than to stroke someone’s ego. Plot points that are introduced and warrant further discussion are never satisfactorily addressed again, and whole subplots come and go under the audiences’ nose for seemingly no reason other than to satisfy the film’s obsession with trying too hard.

Among the film’s most over-done labors is trying to find and define itself as a movie. Billed as

a conspiracy and revenge thriller, it is mostly a mystery, but also a drama that occasionally decides it wants to be a thriller, masquerad-ing as a half-hearted conspiracy story.

Gibson plays Tom Craven, a Boston detective who watches his daughter Emma (Bojana Nova-kovic) get gunned down. His en-suing investigation into her death and the company for which she worked leads him down the tried

and, in this case, not-so-true path of government conspiracies and corporate cover-ups.

The film tries to be a thriller, oc-casionally bursting into gruesome violence that dissolves as quickly as it started. Interestingly enough, the few points of violence are too violent. Bullet holes gape and

blood gushes, and, while some-times movies don’t show enough gore, “Darkness” shows too much for what it bills itself as. Instead of focusing on the violence and ener-gy of the scene, the camera tends to linger on the wounded. When staring at the victims, one won-ders if the makeup artists were bored and begged the director for permission to make the corpses a great deal more viscerally mutilat-ed than they needed to be. Amid the gore, “Darkness” loses itself once again, not playful enough to be satire, not nearly suspenseful enough to be horror and certainly far too full of its own seriousness to be comedy.

Featuring a decent cast — in-cluding Ray Winstone as a gov-ernment operative who crosses paths with Craven — much of the character interaction feels forced. Virtually everyone speaks in a Boston accent, and almost no one seems to know their character or their scenes past the most artifi-cial level. Characters hug, reveal menace or express camaraderie, but rarely does it feel truly real.

Unfortunately, most of the two-hour film is not thriller, but instead supposedly dramatic mys-tery as Craven delves deeper and deeper into a world that becomes less clear and more boring as the film chugs ever-so-slowly along. At the end, we think we know what happened, but we don’t re-ally care.

This is Campbell’s second crack at “Edge of Darkness,” having di-rected a British series of the same name and virtually the exact same plot set in the United Kingdom back in 1985. A quarter-century later, very little of the core plot has changed and the achingly slow moving story has not aged well.

“Edge of Darkness” had every-thing going for it but ultimately failed to realize its own potential. The action is sparse, the admit-tedly capable cast moves along to a tedious plot and the sense of con-spiracy and intrigue induces more headache than interest.


DARKNESS FALLS — “Edge of Darkness” marks Mel Gibson’s re-entry into Hollywood as a father seeking justice after his daughter is killed. Despite a strong cast including Ray Winstone, the fi lm’s plot loses the audience and fails to develop all the plot lines.

Courtesy of WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Plot dulls Gibson’s ‘Edge’

“‘Edge of Darkness’ had everything going for it but ultimately failed to realize its

own potential.”

CEDGE OF DARKNESS

CROSS-CULTURAL DISPATCH

CAIRO

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the EAGLE

SPORTSANDREW TOMLINSON n Sports Editor

202.885.1404

FEBRUARY 1, 2010 8

By KATE GREUBELEagle Contributing Writer

Michelle Kirk acted as if Sat-urday’s women’s basketball win over Lafayette University was just any other game. However, she had just scored over 1,000 points in her career, the 12th AU women’s basketball student-athlete to hit the elite milestone. Kirk is a team player first and foremost.

“Obviously I’m happy about it, but we are 7-0 in leagues,” Kirk said. “[Our record] is a lot crazier, and I’m a lot more pumped about that.”

The junior from Painted Post, N.Y. entered Saturday’s game with 999 points, one point shy of the 1,000-point milestone. Solid, collapsing defense by the Lafay-ette Leopards deprived Kirk and her teammates of scoring op-portunities for much of the first half. As a result, Kirk made con-tact with the basket for the first time with 1:54 to go in the first half, hitting a deep three. She finished out the game with nine points.

“She is a really talented player and a very opportunistic scorer,” AU Head Coach Matt Corkery said. “When our team is at its best on the offensive end, it’s a lot because of her being aggres-sive and taking good shoots.”

Kirk said her versatility and high shooting percentage come from hard work both during the season and the off-season.

As a freshman, Kirk did not receive as many minutes as she wanted. The experience prompt-ed her to live on campus over the summer to grow as a player with

the help of the team’s strength coach, Jason Riddell.

“I think that in a lot of cases, disappointment is the biggest motivator and it really motivated me my freshman year,” Kirk said. “I wasn’t happy with it, so it mo-tivated me to just work all sum-mer at my game. It wasn’t just minutes, it was how I played and I just wasn’t at that same level.”

Two years later, Kirk plays the role of team offensive leader and is looked to for consistent de-fense. Kirk said her teammates look to her to generate plays and scoring opportunities for oth-ers.

“It’s fun to play with her. We feed off each other well,” team-mate Liz Leer said of Kirk. “To see her come out last year and this year and show what she can do and show what the Patriot League was missing her fresh-man year has been great.”

Also proud of Kirk are her parents, who make a five and a half hour trip from Painted Point to come to all of her games.

“They’re my biggest support system,” Kirk said. “They are my biggest fans.”

Now, halfway through confer-ence play, with a 7-0 conference record, the AU women’s basket-ball team is playing with a target on its back. Kirk, with an average of 19.8 points per game and 1008 career points under her belt, is sure to face extra coverage.

Luckily Kirk, like many of her teammates, is an unselfish play-er, so there will always be some-one open awaiting her pass.


By BEN LASKYEagle Contributing Writer

The AU men’s basketball team won in Easton, Pa. Saturday, beat-ing the Lafayette Leopards 76-66.

AU got off to a quick start, hit-ting their first four shots of the game to take a 10-5 lead. The dominance would not continue, as Lafayette went on a 10-0 run to give the Leopards a 25-23 lead. The game remained close throughout the first half with AU leading 35-33 entering halftime.

Nick Hendra scored AU’s first eight points of the second half to give the Eagles a 43-38 lead. The Eagles still could not put Lafay-ette away, as Leopards forward Jared Mintz scored eight points to tie the game at 53. The eight points were part of an 11-2 Lafay-ette run.

On the next possession, how-ever, AU guard Joe Hill drained a three to give the Eagles a 56-53 lead. Forward Stephen Lumpkins scored on AU’s next two posses-sions, extending the Eagles’ lead

to 60-55.Lafayette got back within

three points after guard Jeff Kari hit two free throws. On the next possession, Lumpkins hit a layup to put AU’s lead back at five with 2:49 left to go. A three from Vlad Moldoveanu with 1:04 left sealed the victory for the Eagles.

Moldoveanu led all scorers with 21 points. This comes after a 37 point performance against Navy on Wednesday, when he scored more than half of the Ea-gles’ points. He also recorded six

rebounds, one steal and one assist in 31 minutes of play on Saturday. Moldoveanu is now averaging 20.2 points on the season.

Lumpkins came two rebounds short of recording his fourth dou-ble double of the season. He also had a career high five assists.

With the win, AU moves into second place in the Patriot League with a 4-3 record in conference play.

Part of the team’s recent success can be attributed to their better shooting percentage. In their last

two games, they were shooting over 50 percent, something they

struggled with earlier in the sea-son. Saturday’s game also marked

the third straight game where AU had 20 or more assists.

AU’s next game will be at home against Lehigh on Feb. 6 at 2:00 p.m. Lehigh is 13-8 on the sea-son with a 4-2 record in Patriot League play. The team is coming off a loss to Bucknell on Thurs-day. AU and Lehigh are currently tied for second place in the con-ference.


Each year, the controversies sur-rounding All-Star games in profes-sional sports are more interesting than the actual games themselves, leading to a rarely asked question: are all-star games worth playing at all?

As a kid, I remember genuinely looking forward to All-Star games just to see all of my favorite players on the fi eld at once. When else do you get to see John Elway fake the handoff to Marshall Faulk before bombing it downfi eld to Keyshawn Johnson?

As I grew older, I discovered that sports aren’t all about super-stars. What makes sports so excit-ing to watch is the energy a player puts into winning the contest, not the name on the back of his jersey. Due to the fact that All-Star games

are usually meaningless, athletes have little incentive to put the same eff ort into them that they put into other games over the course of the season.

Major League Baseball recog-nized this problem and addressed it by awarding the winner of the All-Star game home fi eld advantage in the World Series. While this has certainly made things a bit more exciting, it didn’t fi x all the prob-lems surrounding All-Star games. Organizations still fear their stars will get pointlessly injured and try to discourage them from partici-pating. Some are so cautious that they instruct the All-Star coaches to only play their players for a spe-cifi c period of time over the course of the game.

Th is is of course assuming that a team’s star players even make the All-Star roster.

Every year, worthy players are left out of the festivities. Th is is in

part due to the absurd “fan vote” that leagues like using to pick all-stars. In theory, the fans should have a say in who they want to see play in a game completely tailored to their enjoyment. In practice, undeserving has-beens like Allen Iverson are anointed starters.

Th e “who got snubbed” dis-cussion aft er the release of every All-Star list is pointless and inane. Players get snubbed and fans get unnecessarily upset about it every year, this year is no exception. Of course some quality players got snubbed in this year’s NBA All-Star Game because nobody wants to see benches twenty players deep.

All-Star games are designed to be fun for fans, but the stars’ apa-thy make them anything but. Th ere are no furrowed brows of athletes trying to will their team to a cham-pionship like something out of a Gatorade commercial. Instead, you

see Peyton Manning lobbing some passes like he’s in the backyard and LeBron James strolling down the lane for a dunk because the other nine guys on the court know that’s what the fans want to see.

Th is apathetic attitude is best on display when it comes to the NFL Pro Bowl, which was played yesterday. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defi ed tradition and scheduled the game a week before the Super Bowl, as opposed to its usual slot a week aft erwards. While he claims to have his rea-sons for the switch, it seems like the commissioner is simply trying to get it over with already.

“We’re seeing a lot more atten-tion on the Pro Bowl than we’ve ever had before,” Goodell said in South Florida last Th ursday. “[Th e attention] in and of itself is a suc-cess.”

Unfortunately, the Pro Bowl is only receiving more attention be-

cause it has become the worst joke in professional sports. Th e Pro Bowl players on each conference champion squad, 14 in all, are ex-empt from playing in order to rest for the Super Bowl. Another 17 are not playing due to injury and countless others have reportedly turned down invitations to play. Th e product of this madness has been laughable at best, with play-ers like David Garrard (15 TD and 10 interceptions last season) sup-posedly “earning” Pro Bowl spots.

In “Th e Pro Bowl? Please,” Washington Post columnist Mike Wilbon said last week, “I wouldn’t even go to that if I was in Miami on Sunday aft ernoon with nothing to do.”

All of this leads to the con-clusion that All-Star games, as a whole, have outlived their useful-ness. Superstars, excluding those in baseball, could care less whether they win or lose because they have

no reason to have any feelings. For this reason, sports fans like my-self would rather nap than watch a Pro Bowl featuring Vince Young. When fans stop caring, the fan oriented nature of every All-Star game crumbles.

An easy solution would be to release the All-Star rosters, but don’t actually play a game. Essen-tially, this would be like the All-American squads in college foot-ball. Players would receive all the honor of being named one of the best without the garbage of playing in a meaningless game. Either they need to do that or sports leagues need to give all parties some sort of incentive to get involved. Moti-vation has certainly improved the MLB All-Star game, now it’s time to carry this idea over to other sports.


By TYLER TOMEAEagle Contributing Writer

Michelle Kirk became the 12th women’s basketball player at AU to join the 1,000 point club, while the Eagles defeated the Lafayette Uni-versity Leopards 53-31 Saturday at Bender Arena.

Th e win was behind a record-setting defensive eff ort as well as a balanced scoring attack.

With 1:54 remaining in the fi rst half, Kirk hit a three-pointer to push her over the 1,000-point plateau. Although Kirk was held to nine points in the game, her second lowest total of the season, AU Head Coach Matt Corkery recognized the magnitude of the achievement for the junior forward.

“I think it’s a great accomplish-ment,” Corkery said. “I’m very happy for her and very excited for her. Her versatility really gives her a lot of opportunities to score.”

Kirk said she was happy about the accomplishment, but she was more pleased with her team’s 7-0 start in conference play.

Th e Eagles held Lafayette to 31 points, setting a record for the few-est points allowed in program his-tory. Aft er scoring 18 points in the fi rst half, the Leopards only man-aged 13 in the second. Sophomore guard Ebony Edwards had three steals as AU forced 20 turnovers in the game.

Junior forward Liz Leer scored 15 points to lead all scorers in the victory. Lisa Strack, a sophomore guard, added eight points, while senior center Ohemaa Nyanin chipped in with eight points and

10 rebounds. Every AU player in the regular rotation scored at least six points. In the loss, Elizabeth Virgin paced Lafayette with 12 points.

“I noticed at the half that our at-tempts were pretty balanced out,” Corkery said. “Sometimes you just have to fi nd diff erent ways to score.”

Th e game was hotly contested in the fi rst half, as the Eagles led 13-12 with 8:39 left and 17-16 three minutes later. AU gained some separation heading into the locker room, as an 11-2 run put the Eagles in front 28-18 at halft ime.

Lafayette’s defense contained Kirk in the fi rst half, limiting her to just four points on 1-4 shoot-ing. Th is forced Leer, Nyanin and Strack to fi ll the void left by the Pa-triot League’s leading scorer. Leer led all fi rst-half scorers with eight points, while Nyanin had six and Strack had fi ve. LaKeisha Wright led the Leopards with six fi rst half points.

In the opening half, AU shot 35 percent from the fi eld on 10-28 shooting. Th e Eagles were 7-9 from the free throw line, but only hit one of nine fi rst-half triples. Lafayette shot 38 percent from the fi eld on 7-18 shooting, but had nine turnovers and shot under 50 percent from the line.

AU was in control through-out the second half, as the Eagles opened up a 38-23 lead with 11:25 remaining. Th e lead increased to 17 with 2:17 remaining and the Eagles cruised to their eighth con-secutive victory.

During the game, the 14 of-fensive rebounds AU recorded al-lowed them to take 20 more shots than Lafayette.

AU will next travel to Bethle-hem, Pa., for a key game this Sat-urday with the defending Patriot League champion Lehigh Univer-sity Mountain Hawks. Th e Moun-tain Hawks are 6-1 in the league and 19-3 overall. Earlier in the year, the Eagles defeated Lehigh

69-65 in overtime. “I think it’s an exciting oppor-

tunity for us to go on the road and play the defending Patriot League champion,” Corkery said. “It’s a road game and will obviously be a tough game.”

Saturday’s win improved the

Eagles’ record to 14-7 overall and 7-0 in the conference. Th e loss dropped Lafayette to 4-17 on the season and 2-5 in the league.


By MIKE DEFABOEagle Contributing Writer

AU senior wrestler Mike Can-non, whose major decision at 184 pounds tied him for second place on AU’s all-time wins list, led the Eagles to a 21-16 win over Bing-hamton University on Thursday, extending their win streak to five in a row.

The Eagles won six of their 10 matches and the first five of the meet. Jasen Borshoff, ranked 17th in the nation, picked up a major

decision at 125 pounds to start the meet, defeating Dan Riggi by a score of 17-6. Then, Thomas Williams and Jordan Lipp earned decisions at 133 pounds and 141 pounds respectively.

At 149 pounds Kyle Borshoff, ranked 12th in the nation, de-feated Donnie Vinson by a score of 6-2. Meanwhile, Steve Fittery, ranked 3rd in the nation, earned his 19th straight victory, with a major decision at 157 pounds to bring the score to 17-10 in favor of AU.

The Eagles dropped their next

two matches at 165 pounds and 174 pounds before Cannon took to the mat. The two-time All American earned a major deci-sion by the score of 22-8 over Binghamton’s Matt Beretta.

Binghamton fought back with two wins in the 197-pound and heavyweight division, but AU held on for the victory 21-16.

Cannon’s win moved him into a tie with 2007 NCAA National Champion Josh Glenn for second place on AU’s all-time wins list.

“I honestly had no idea that I had moved into the number two

spot on the wins list,” Cannon told AU Athletics. “It’s a great ac-complishment to have my name next to someone as famous in the sport of wrestling as Josh Glenn. He is truly someone I look up to and aspire to be like.”

Though Cannon is proud of the accomplishment, he is fo-cused on joining Glenn on more than just the wins list.

“There is still a lot of time left in the season, and I still have my eyes set on winning an NCAA national title and finishing with the most wins in AU history,”

Cannon said. “I feel like, if I can accomplish that then I will have completed what I set out to do five years ago when I walked on campus for the first time.”

The wins record is just one of many accomplishments for the 184-pounder this season. He claimed his fourth consecutive Keystone Classic title with a 9-0 major decision in November. His career record now stands at 110-18 and 18-1 on the season.

Fellow grappler K. Borshoff has a shot to join Cannon among AU’s all-time best. His victory

Thursday moved him one win short of tying Bret Ruth and Mark Snuffin for fifth on the all-time wins list and improved his season record to 17-4.

The team victory bumped AU’s dual meet record above .500 to 7-6 on the season. They will look to add a pair of victories next Sun-day when they take on George Mason and UNC on Sunday.


Kirk 12th in AU history to score 1,000

HIGH SCORING — Michelle Kirk drives the lane during AU’s 53-31 win over Lafayette on Saturday. During the game Kirk scored her 1,000th career point, becoming the 12th player in AU history to accomplish the feat. With the win, AU improved to 7-0 in the Patriot League.

PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE

AU stays perfect in PL

Wrestling pins Binghamton behind Cannon

AU: 53Lafayette: 31

Women’s Basketball

Washington, D.C.

SIDELINE SCHOLAR

TOM SCHAD

AU: 76Lafayette: 66

Men’s Basketball

Easton, Pa.

All-Star games add little to sporting world

Men upset Leopards on the road 76-66

the eagle — feb. 1, 2010

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