the stony brook press - volume 33, issue 3

8/3/2019 The Stony Brook Press - Volume 33, Issue 3

1/32

Vol. XXXIII, Issue 3

Tuesday, October 11, 2011


2/32

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Nick Statt

MANAGING EDITOR Carol MoranASSOCIATE EDITOR Evan GoldaperBUSINESS MANAGER Siobhan Cassidy

PRODUCTION MANAGER Mark Greek

NEWS EDITOR Inquire WithinFEATURES EDITOR Alyssa MelilloCULTURE EDITOR Alexa RubinsteinMULTIMEDIA EDITOR Vincent Barone SPORTS EDITOR Vincent BaroneCOPY EDITOR Lauren DuBois

OMBUDSMAN Carolina Hidalgo

LAYOUT DESIGN Nick Statt

STAFF

Christine Boucher, Arielle Dollinger,Amanda Douville, Sarah Evins, John

Fischer, Jasmine Haefner, Liz Kaempf,Samuel Katz, Nicole Kohn, Matthew Mur-ray, Frank Myles, Howie Newsberkman,

Vanessa Ogle, Anna Too, Matt Willemain

e Stony Brook Pressis published fort-nightly during the academic year and twiceduring summer session by e Stony BrookPress, a student run non-pro t organization

funded by the Student Activity Fee. eopinions expressed in letters, articles and

viewpoints do not necessarily re ect thoseof The Stony Brook Pressas a whole. Ad-

vertising policy does not necessarily re ecteditorial policy. For more information onadvertising and deadlines call (631) 632-6451. Sta meetings are held Wednesdays

at 1:00 pm. First copy free. For additionalcopies contact the Business Manager.

e Stony Brook PressSuites 060 & 061Student Union

SUNY at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 11794-3200

(631) 632-6451 Voice(631) 632-4137 Fax

Email: [email protected]

CULTURE

FEATURES

NEWSp. 6

West Apartments Work Orders

M U S I C

Blink 182 - Neighborhoods

Interested in joining e Stony Brook Press?

Meetings are every Wednesday,1 p.m. in the

Union Basement Room 060.

Or do you think were a bunch of hacks and would rather send insome angry feedback? E-mail us your thoughts and concerns at

[email protected].

2 SB PRESS Tuesday, October 11


COMICS!

p. 24-25

AA E-Z INE p. 29 -31

p. 8

Non-TraditionalSTAC Memberp. 10

Yellow Ostrich p. 12-13 M O V I E S

p. 23

50 Laughs For 50 Tears,50/50 Review

p. 22

Anyone WhoKeeps LearningStays Young

p. 11


3/32

3SB PRESSTuesday, October 11

E DITORIALS

F F T

This was unanimously voted on byall members of Occupy Wall Street last

three more underway, that will likely bereleased in the upcoming days: 1) A decla-

-

This is a living document. You can receive

by emailing [email protected].

As we gather together in solidarity

must not lose sight of what brought ustogether. We write so that all people whofeel wronged by the corporate forces of

the world can know that we are your al-lies.

As one people, united, we acknowl-edge the reality: that the future of the hu-

members; that our system must protect

system, it is up to the individuals to pro-tect their own rights, and those of their

derives its just power from the people,

extract wealth from the people and the

Earth; and that no true democracy is at-tainable when the process is determinedby economic power. We come to you at a

-

and oppression over equality, run our gov-ernments. We have peaceably assembledhere, as is our right, to let these facts beknown.

They have taken our houses through

an illegal foreclosure process,despite not having the originalmortgage.

They have taken bailoutsfrom taxpayers with impunity,

exorbitant bonuses.They have perpetuated inequality and

age, the color of ones skin, sex, gender

They have poisoned the food supplythrough negligence, and undermined the

-

-

They have held students hostage withtens of thousands of dollars of debt on

They have consistently outsourced la-bor and used that outsourcing as leverageto cut workers healthcare and pay.

achieve the same rights as people, with

none of the culpability or responsibility.They have spent millions of dollars on

legal teams that look for ways to get themout of contracts in regards to health insur-ance.

They have sold our privacy as a com-modity.

They have used the military and po-lice force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to

recall faulty products endangering lives in

They determine economic policy, de-spite the catastrophic failures their poli-

duce.They have donated large sums of

forms of energy to keep us dependent onoil.

of medicine that could save peoples livesin order to protect investments that have

They have purposely covered up oilspills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and

They purposefully keep people misin-formed and fearful through their controlof the media.

They have accepted private contractsto murder prisoners even when presentedwith serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism athome and abroad.

and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

ernment contracts.To the people of the world, We, the

ing Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge youto assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably as-semble; occupy public space; create a pro-cess to address the problems we face, and

and form groups in the spirit of direct

posal.Join us and make your voices heard!*These grievances are not all-inclu-

sive.

First Ofcial Statement

from Occupy WallstreetCourtesy of ZNET

We...urge youto assert

your power


4/32

EDITORIALSVol. XXXIII, Issue 3


I touched the car with my hand, pushedagainst it as the driver frustratedly stoppedto let myself and my fellow protesters run

We, Stony Brook students and alumni,

running in the middle of theBrooklyn Bridge during the#occupywallstreet march on

October 1.Were making history!

someone shouted as we ran

the police would later referto as bodies. Bodies thatthey didnt know what todo with, because we were

on us. As I shouted withmore emphasis with the

were making history, I wasaware of how each moment would factorinto my memory of this day. I was happyto be involved in this moment that would

into the mainstream news as part of the

I learned a lot from that experience,beginning with my trust for the communitythat was marching with me, the peoplewho risked exactly the same things thatI was and proudly marched for what we

context highlighted how important thesestruggles are. It is so important for us, as

back. 1

I felt so proud that the protesters

the movement by responding with calm

messageto emphasize ourselves as being

in danger or at risk of arrest, helped uscommunicate by surveying the crowdand conveying messages from one end of the trapped protesters to the other. Theyshowed their support and made clear their

right side of history, and thanking us for

had, just moments earlier, pushed us into

each other from both sides on a bridgefrom which we now recognized we had

fear and didnt respond to the cops withviolence. Everyone worked together to

elsethat everyone around them wasokay. I took the hand of my friends, Stony

Brook students, and heldon as the crowd swayedwhile the police reachedinto the front of the crowd

protesters who were calmlystanding there. Complete

examples of themselves bykeeping each other relaxed

catching each other when

losing balance, and tellingus that even if we werearrested, we would all beokay.

It was a young personriding his bike throughthe crowd as we marchedonto the Brooklyn Bridgewho shouted Take the

bridge, take the bridge! Of the peoplewho have been living in Wall Street for

sector, the majority are young. Thepeople who have organized a society

an anarchist society. There has been an

establish child-friendly areas, emphasizewomens voices and opinions, respect

have proved, thus far, a radical approachto a movement that includes, rather than

dispelled common stereotypes about

A L MBy Jessica Rybak


5/32

EDITORIALS



new society at Wall Street, where they

that they have to comfort one anotherand keep each other safe. In the tense

each other calm, reminding each other of the ways to be successfulexert peace,

The establishment of #occupywallstas a leaderless, anarchist movement isprofound because it takes the fear awayfrom the term anarchy, In essence,

anarchy. By being leaderless, they allowme, someone who hasnt been able topermanently occupy Wall Street because

the same sense of unity in the movementas someone who has been occupyingWall Street every day and night since it

new supporters and occupiers to becomeinvolved whenever they are able to. Itallows someone who wants to contribute

how important they are in this movement.2

that are being and have been won andwaged, I recognize that the ability formasses of people to demonstrate andassert their civil rights, as well as their

of those rights, is a privilege. However,

and the police are, in my opinion and in theopinion of many protesters, oversteppingtheir boundaries, using aggression andviolence where it is unwarranted. That

truly free;one in which everyone marches together,in whatever capacity they are able to, tocreate a society where everyone has equalrights. We, as Stony Brook students, faculty,

compelled to educate ourselves about themovement and why it is important that webecome involved. 3

* * *

1. What can you do to help? Everyonein the area can help to sustain and support#occupywallstreet, and anyone outside of the area can begin occupying their own

besides the one in Wall Street. If youre atStony Brook and are interested in joiningthe movement, youre more than welcometo. Students are organizing rides andcommunity members from Stony Brookto Wall Street, and people are also happy

direct you to the area and introduce you

and go according to your level of interest

or comfort. Stony Brook students whohave spent the night at the camp at WallStreet recommend the experience for thesolidarity and comfort it brings. Otherwise,you can spend the day there, observing itor engaging with others.

to hand to the occupiers every Sundayfrom 6-8 p.m. outside of Kelly Quads

will be popping up around campus, as thenumbers of student organizers increase.

Center to further discuss outreach toeducate the Stony Brook communityand support the occupiers. Contact usat [email protected] to see how you

occupying Wall Street.3. Suggested news sources to

#occupywallstreet include: for livestream video of

for constant, reliable


6/32



e West Apartment buildings, whichstand in their own secluded area just pastthe edge of Stony Brook Universitys Kelly Quad, are abuzz with student complaints of a few not-so-picturesque aspects of collegeliving -- unexpected in an area of campusthat costs more to live in than any other oncampus.

According to Director of ResidentialOperations, John Sparano, there has beena slight increase in mold complaintsthis year, compared with the number of complaints in past years, speci cally in theuniversitys West Apartment buildings.

e mold, Sparano said, is the resultof air conditioning units that were le onnext to open windows in several roomsthat were unoccupied for a period of time. With the resulting condensation, hisenvironment was perfect for mold to grow,he said. Some of the rooms with the mold,he said, were located and cleaned, but somewere missed and reported by residents.

Mike Lopizzo, a junior business majorliving in West D, found mold in his roomand his suites common room, kitchen andbathroom.

Lopizzo, an athlete on Stony Brookstrack and eld and cross country teams,moved in a week before the start of thesemester for preseason. When he found themold, he and a suite mate spent $50$25eachon cleaning supplies, and cleanedthe apartment.

We bought a Swi er, Lopizzo said.

What men buy Swi ers unless they haveto?

And mold was not the only roomdefect; Lopizzo also mentioned foodremains from prior residents, a brokenshower, a broken pipe that directed waterstraight to the oor and dirty mattresses.

A mold-damaged lampshade wasnot replaced, Lopizzo and his suitematecleaned the food remains, the shower was

xed three days later and the broken pipe

and mattress problems were solved only a er Lopizzos mother called the CampusResidences o ce to complain.

ey eventually sent someone to

clean, Lopizzo said. ey took a dirty mop, and they wiped it on my oor, andthe oor was lthy a erwards; and we hadto clean it a er they came.

Chris Lin, a senior majoring inbusiness management at Stony Brook, isa Resident Assistant in West G. Lin saidthat he receives complaints about roomcondition from his residents all the time,but we refer them to [the] work orders site

like every RA does.None of his residents have complained

of mold, however, and Lin personally sawno mold in his apartment. e issues onhis oor were mainly involving bugscrickets, in particularcoming in throughthe air conditioning units.

We have to refer them to that sitebecause we cant do anything about it, hesaid, unless its a dangerous amount. If itsa dangerous amount of mold, we have to

displace them and have it cleaned.e university is now investigating

some alternative controls, whichwould eliminate the possibility of mold

development, Sparano said. e optionsinclude thermostatic/cooling limits,occupancy sensors and window sensors.

Some students have also beendissatis ed with the amount of timebetween the placement of work orders andtheir ful llment.

Holly Stehle, a junior majoring inbusiness management, said that she hasput in three work orders for her broken air

The Mold & the Beautiful: Welcome to the West Apartments

By Arielle Dollinger

They took a dirty

mop, and they wiped it on myfloor, and the floor was filthy

afterwards...


7/32

NEWS



conditioner within the past three weeks andhas received no response. Stehle also put inwork orders for a broken shower hose anda window leak.

[I] had put a work order for thebroken hose in the shower in August, andthey just came and xed it on ursday,Oct. 6, Stehle said. [I] put in a work orderover two weeks ago for the window leak inthe living room; still nothing.

Campus authorities had mixedresponses.

One maintenance worker employedby Campus Residences, who asked toremain anonymous and not be quoted forfear of reprisal, said that the reason for thefrequent delays in work order ful llmentis the fact that the work order requests gothrough many channels before they reachthe hands of the maintenance workers whowill handle them.

Sparano, however, said the opposite. e work order ow is quite simple

and does not go through many levels of authorization/distribution, Sparano saidin an e-mail. If a resident puts a work order into our system, it will be prioritized,cra designated, and individual assignedby the zones Facility Manager and given tothe crews supervisor to complete.

He explained that the maintenanceorganization is broken up into zones,and that work orders are taken care of by

separate sets of employees. e Residential Operations

maintenance organization is zonal instructure, said Sparano. Schomburg andWest Apartments comprise one zone of four total, and is maintained by a multi-trade crew.

e zones each have an estimated tentrade employees and a separate heating, ventillation and air conditioning (HVAC)

mechanic and cleaning crew made up of contract and state employees, he said.

On average, each zone could haveapproximately 200 work orders open atany given time, with a response time of lessthan six days, Sparano said.

In a later e-mail, however, Sparano

said that the response time is eight days orless, depending on the priority and time of year, altering his original statement.

Several policies dictate the eligibilitystandards for students looking to live in theWest Apartments, according to the Stony Brook University website. e buildingsthat comprise West house undergraduatestudents of U3 and U4 standing. istranslates to a minimum requirement of 57credits.

Students living in West must alsomaintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 andbe in good judicial standing with theUniversity.

e cost of residency in any of the WestApartment buildings is also higher thanthe cost of living in regular undergraduatedormitories on campus.

It is for these reasons that somestudents living there are disgruntled by two aspects of campus life: problems withtheir rooms that needed resolving, and theamount of time that it takes for CampusResidences to resolve those problems.


8/32



South P Lot is a sea of cars. Hondas,Fords and Volkswagens in a variety of colors occupy the parking spaces whilestudents snooze away in their classes atStony Brooks main campus.

But in this expanse of vehicles, onein particular has many students headsturning. Its a 1993 silver Toyota Previa,although it doesnt set itself apart from othercars simply because its an old minivan.

Suzie Digioias van is more like amobile mural than an automobile. Itscovered in paintings and sayings and lookslike it belongs in the 1970s rather than the21st century. Called the Shaggin Wagon,its a collection of ideas and symbols thatDigioia says inspires her.

e junior says as she stands outsideof the van, looking over the artwork, Justthings that have shaped me, things that Icare about.

It is a canvas, she continues. It was just asking to be something more.

e Previa was in Digioias family long before her parents gave it to her thesummer a er her sophomore year of highschool. When she got it, her mom toldher she could paint it to make up for the

vans old, grungy appearance. But by paintshe meant something other than chippingsilver, Digioia says. We took it to anotherlevel.

So with a bunch of pearl paints, Digioiaand two friends spent a week during thesummer of 2007 creating the images thatmake up the Shaggin Wagon.

e drivers side is almost completely

devoted to the 1960s, the decade inwhich Digioias parents grew up and laterincorporated into their daughters life.

eres a Piet Mondrian-inspired jumbleof red, yellow, blue and orange rectangleslike those on the tour bus in e Partridge

Family; the classic 3 Days of Peace andMusic Woodstock poster; a peace sign

lled in with patriotic colors surrounded by green vines and tiny white daisies; the wordlove, a ower serving as the letter O anda heart as the letter V, which Digioia saysshe saw on an old poster; and a dancingrainbow bear known as an icon for theband e Grateful Dead.

And then theres a large pair of rosy red lips, the top one biting the bottom, withthe phrase A di erent set of jaws writtenunderneath, a symbol of the 1975 lm eRocky Horror Picture Show. Next to theWoodstock poster is a pro le of a long-haired person surrounded by bubbles,sketched in purple and white. Digioia sayspeople assume its Steven Tyler, but that itsreally no one in particular. Above the back window is Ghandis infamous quote Bethe change you want to see in the world,written in lilac cursive. Its clich, Digioiasays. Everyone knows it, but we do have todo something to see change.

e passenger side is home to morepersonal artwork. Towards the back of the van is a landscape of an ocean wheretwo boats sail side-by-side in front of a

By Alyssa Melillo

It is a canvas.It was just

asking to besomething

more.


9/32



lighthouse, a representation of Digioiasfathers love for sailing and the summersher family would spend on the water. Nextto it is an extravagant painting of a sunand a moon, the suns ames swirls of goldand blue. e celestial bodies are uni edand surrounded by stars, and their facialexpressions coincide with the word peacethat is written amongst the suns beams. egold stars fade into green and purple onesfor the next imagetwo hands enclosingthe Earth with the phrase go green writtenbeside them. Digioia says her parentsstress the importance of environmentalresponsibility, and at one point her fathereven bought the family motorized scooters

that got 95 miles to the gallon. And next tothe Earth is a portrait of Melanie Sa a, amusician from the Woodstock era of whomDigioia is a fan. Sa a is outlined in violetand surrounded by suns and owers andhearts and swirls.

On both sides of the van are paintingsof faceless dancers, well-known imagesfrom the 80s and 90s. ey are the work of a gay pop artist named Keith Haring,

someone Digioia is also a fan of. Othersmaller paintings are on the van too, suchas a purple paisley design, a Buddhist ohmsymbol, a songbird with musical notesthat represents Digioias sister, a rainbowof colors on the hubcaps and the wordSukie, the nickname her mom calls her,written in tiny letters above the passengerdoor handle. On the door of the gas tank isa nozzle that drips blood, and underneathit $4.37 is written: the highest gas priceDigioia ever saw that summer.

e vans name is painted within aburst of colors on the door of the trunk.But Digioia didnt get the title of ShagginWagon from at 70s Showor Dumb and

Dumber her friends would joke aroundand call it that when her mom drove it. ey would say, Here comes Donna in theShaggin Wagon, Digioia says. at kindof just stuck.

e one part of the Shaggin Wagonthat isnt painted, however, is the front.Digioia says its a work in progress.

ats the rst thing you see, she says.You want to make something of it. She

says she plans on painting a bigword backwards, like the way theword ambulance is written, but it

hasnt come to her yet. Sometimesyou need to nd the right one.

Digioias life is as colorful athe artwork on the van. Shes abeliever, a dreamer and a free spirit.

e concept of painting the carwas a way her mom let her expressherself a er she got kicked out ofCatholic high school her freshmanyear for drug use. is was a bigthing my mom let me do, she says. is is where the trust was built.

And the van doesnt gounnoticed. Digioia says she getsnotes le on her windshield aboutthree times a week, and peopleo er to buy it from her all thetime. When shes at stoplights,people in cars next to her willhonk and give her a thumbs-up.She recalls one of her favoritememories of the Shaggin Wagon,which occurred last semester a er

she parked illegally in the Stadium Lot.Digioia had come back to an envelope onher windshield, which she knew right awaywas a ticket, and when she opened it shefound onealong with 30 dollars and anote that read, is car is too awesome toget a ticket. Pay it forward.

at was the coolest thing anyonecould do, she says. And she took the ticket-givers advice. Ive been trying to. We altry to.

Digioia also doesnt take credit forall of the artwork on the Shaggin Wagon.She says she owes some to her friends thathelped paint it, along with the people that

inspired her. I dont want this to be my work, she says. I feel like its a communitything.

e personality of Digioias 18-year-old van screams uniqueness and individuality, just some of the messages she tries toconvey. I dont think its one message. Ithink it ranges from have fun, let loose,to do something, she says. Screw it. Youcan.

Suzie Digioia standing next to the Shaggin Wagons left side that displayss some of the more personal artworkfeatured on the vehicle - celestial bodies that represent the environmental responsibility instilled in Digioia by


10/32

Vol. XXXIII, Issue 3 FEATURES


Allie Trevisan was in her rst yearat Loyola Marymount when a badinjury ended her dance career. A erextensive surgery, she transferred to Stony Brook University to be closer to home. Lastfall, it was on crutches that she took her rststep on campus, and it was with the helpof those crutches that she began her lasting

relationship with Students Taking Aim atChallenges (STAC).

STAC, a club at Stony Brook University that has worked to advocate for studentswith disabilities for more than 20 years,now has a new president, Sara Kaer. Butthis leadership turnover wasnt the only change recently reshaping the group. ey now have a new focus: reaching out tostudents without disabilities.

Currently, Trevisan is the only clubmember with no physical or mentaldisability. A er she nished her timeon crutches, she not only continued toparticipate in STAC, but is now its secretary.

I guess since I was on both sides, Iknow how it feels to be on campus with adisability and just have people be nasty toyou, said Trevisan. I would be crutchinginto Javits and people would close the doorright in my face.

Removing this negative stereotype

is exactly what Kaer hopes to do. Every Wednesday during Campus Lifetime, sheand about 15 members of STAC meet insidethe Disability Support Services (DSS) o ce.

ey sit in couches and chairs and vote onplans for holding campus-wide events to

help raise awareness.[STAC] gives students the opportunity

to learn leadership skills, to work withother clubs and then to have an interestand pursue it, said Peggy Perno, AssistantDirector of Disability Support Services andSupported Education Counselor.

Events in the past have ranged frommovie nights, where the club has screened

lms like A Beautiful Mind or Autism: e Musical , to art therapy sessions, where

students can listen to calming music as they paint. is year, Kaer wants to have shirtsmade and add new events to past yearssuccesses.

eres such a negative stigmaattached to the word disabled, said Kaer.And I get so frustrated by how peoplerespond to it.

Last week at Stony Brooks InvolvementFair, STAC members stood at their boothand handed out iers while collectingcontact information from potential newmembers. Even though at the end of theevent they had almost 90 names, Kaer saidit wasnt easy.

At the club fair I had people give meback the ier once they heard the club haddisabled people in it, said Kaer.

But it was far from all negative. eyalso had students approach their tabletelling them they wished they had heardabout the club earlier in their academiccareer. And at the following weeks meeting, ve new members attended.

Although there have yet to be any newmembers without a disability, Trevisan hascontinued to encourage those around her,hoping they will be able to knock down thebarrier the same way she didminus thecrutches.

By Hallie Golden

A Dance Move Gone Amiss,

But A Barrier

Kicked Down

Theres sucha negative stigmaattached to theword disabled...


11/32

FEATURES



O n ursday at 5:20 p.m., JacoboSchmidt took a seat at the back of a classroom on the third oorof Stony Brook Universitys Humanitiesbuilding. During the next hour andtwenty minutes, Schmidt took a quiz onSpanish prepositions and took part in aclass discussion about Julio Cortzars

Continuidad de los Parques . Schmidtattends this SPN 321 class every Tuesday and ursday. He is 74 years old.

Schmidt, who immigrated to theUnited States from Germany in 1966,is now married with two sons and fourgrandchildren. He is a retired professor of biochemistry at Stony Brook whose ownwork focused on neurochemistry and latergene regulation. He studied biochemistry at the University of California Riverside,did postdoctoral work at CalTech and cameto Stony Brook in 1973.

Over the past four years, Schmidthas taken seven mostly-Spanish classesas a non-matriculated student. oughhe receives no credit for the courses thathe takes, Schmidt does not fall under theclassi cation of an auditor, according tothe University website. Students who auditclasses, the site says, are restricted to only taking certain courses. Foreign language,physical education, laboratory, studio art,

English literature, Health Sciences Centerand online courses are o -limits.

As a non-matriculated student,meaning that he is not working towardanother degree, Schmidt takes his classesseriously and for the sole purpose of learning something new, he said. Heparticipates in class, does all homework

assignments, takes all exams and receivesgrades and feedback, just as a matriculatedstudent would.

Originally, Schmidt said, he wantedto learn Spanish so that he could read theliterature of magic realism in the originaltext. He has since lost interest in GabrielGarcia Marquez and that branch of Latin-American literature, so that is no longer hisfocus.

I have learned Spanish, to someextent, Schmidt said. At least I canformulate sentences and read enough so as

to go o to a Spanish-speaking country andget by.

e teacher-turned-student said thathe has had no problems in his interactionswith his classmates, despite the agedi erence.

I have had only positive experienceswith my classmates who are o en half a century younger than myself, saidSchmidt. e natural and unselfconscious

acceptance by my fellow students has beena wonderful experience.

Brian Macpherson, a junior double-majoring in business and Spanish at Stony Brook, has been in two of Schmidts Spanishclasses, including his SPN 321 class thissemester. e two o en talk to each otherwhen the class is doing group work.

Jacob brings a whole other level ofknowledge and experience to the studentbody, which I have found to really add tomy own learning experience, Macphersonsaid.

Joy Marie Virga, another student in theSPN 321 class, said that she has taken otherclasses with students like Schmidt as well.

I have a lot of classes with [non-traditional learners], usually moms, saidJoy Marie Virga senior woman studies,political science double major with aSpanish minor, and even though they

have kids and a job, they tend to be the beststudents.

Schmidt, for one, takes his classes noless seriously than do the younger studentsaround him, and puts in much e ort.

When asked for how long he willcontinue to attend classes, Schmidt replied,I have no plans to stop.

By Arielle Dollinger

Anyone Who KeepsLearning Stays Young


12/32


13/32


14/32


15/32

CULTURE



Photos by Jenifer Chiodo


16/32


17/32

CULTURE



dashing h grader who could practicelong division and yo-yo with the best of em. Alas, record-breaking walk-the-doglengths didnt help me climb the socialladder of my elementary school. Why not,really?

ere were a few kids my age livingon the block. Wed chalk up bases and play baseball in the street with tennis balls andancient, 38-ounce wooden bats that ourparents passed down from their little league

heydays. e bats were comically oversized

and their knobs were chipped down fromus tossing them to the concrete as weheaded to rst. is made the bats far moreelusive during our backswings and every so o en they would escape our grips andsmack into the sides of cars. Wed scrambleinside as the alarms went o and neighborscame to their windows.

A er a ve-game series of tennisbaseball, wed re up my PS2, which wasas loud as my neighbors vintage hot rod,

open the disc tray, which seemed like itwas fashioned out of toothpicks andbubblegum, and slid in, what else, butMVP Baseball. ese summers weremulti-media baseball extravaganzas.We couldnt get enough.

I released before I startedwriting this that most seriousgamers will be very upset that I willnot be talking about Final Fantasy , Metal Gear or SOCOM . I didntreally dabble in those kinds of videogames. Well, okay, I only really played sports games. Sorry, guys.And although I hit more virtualhome runs than completed quests,stomped on mushroom men, orplayed charmed utes, I still spenta signi cant amount of my youthwith these silly sports games. usthe Playstation 2 bizarrely managedto notch an important role in my

adolescence. Next to baseball cards andReeses Pu s cereal, it holds a special placein my 13-year-old heart.

e Playstation 2 Lifestyle

e Birth Of Chill Gaming

Certainly, the most impressive facet of the Playstation 2 is that it was the rst chillsystem ever made. e basis of this theorylays completely in the fact that it playsDVDs. Sony had tremendous foresightin this regard. Gamers have an insatiablehankering to game, no doubt, but they are at least a bit more complex than that.Egads, they might also like movies, Sonyhad gathered, while Nintendos GameCuberead mini disks and Microso s Xbox wayet to be birthed.

e Loading Screen

Sony was always lambasted for itssystems loading screens. Put-o gamerswould revert to alternative consoles, but thewaiting times were prime opportunities toactually get to know my friends. Wed spendeach a ernoon on our contrived eldsobsessing over the world of professionalsports from the night before. And while Icould learn a lot about my friends by where

they thought Mike Piazza stood in baseballlore, we hardly uttered anything about ourpersonal lives.

For instance, the parents of one of my close gaming friends were going througha six-month-long nasty divorce, completely unbeknownst to me. It wasnt until a er themonths of legalities and paperwork, duringa fateful loading screen for a game betweenthe 2003 New York Yankees and KansasCity Royals that my sullen buddy brokethe news to me. His dad had moved outthe day before, I was told as my Playstation

2 moaned, always grinding earnestly torender our athletic arenas. (It may have alsobeen the hardest working console, actually.)

Nonetheless, I walloped my friend, intrue poppa Barone style. Yanks won 9-3.Jason Giambi launched a grand slam in the

h and I couldnt believe that my friendsliving situation hadnt been brought to lightsooner. I told him I was sorry.


18/32


19/32


20/32


21/32


22/32

CULTURE



If youre looking for self-deprecation,sex and crude dick jokes (Happy Holidays,You Bastard, anyone?) youre not going to

nd them here. Its been eight years but theboys of Blink-182 are back with the smartand energetic new album, Neighborhoods.

e album de nitely maintains thefast and loud punk rock music and biting,quirky lyrics that have come to be expectedfrom Blink-182. Althoughit follows in similarconceptual footsteps as theself-titled album of 2003,theres something morethoughtful in the way it wasconstructed. Its technically sound and the musicalsections, transitions andoverall themes show thateight years gave the guys

plenty of time to grow assongwriters and musiciansand to get themselves back into their groove as a band.

Not only did they growin the technical aspects of their musicality, but thelyrics have taken a turnfor the mature as well.Whereas several years agoyou may have found anoverabundance of songs lled with explicitcursing and extreme bluntness about sex,

backstabbing, cheating girlfriends andfeeling like a stupid kid, the songs onthe new album demonstrate a sense of understanding that can only come throughliving and learning. Between marriages,having kids, TV shows, side music projectsand a nearly-fatal plane crash, the guyshave a bank vault worth of experiences topull from. Now they do it in an intelligentand poetic manner that lies on the opposite

end of the spectrum compared to albumslike Enema of the State and Take O Your Pants and Jacket .

Up All Night, the rst single releasedfrom Neighborhoods, is quintessentialBlink-182. Travis Barker, probably one of the best drummers in the genre, if not thebusiness, leads the guitarists seamlessly through several musical transitions and

the alternating vocals from line to line,between vocalists Tom and Mark, make

it feel like old times. e song has anunapologetic, anthem-like feel that theband always seems to lean towards whilethe heaviness and darkness of its tone are very similar to tracks on the last album.

anks to the magical, mystical powersof satellite radio I had time to fall in lovewith some songs early. e catchy chorus of Natives had me at the rst listen and thesong is reminiscent of feeling like youre

being pushed out of a place where youalways thought you belonged. Hearts AllGone is a hard-hitting track that denotesthe lies told in love and relationships.

One of my favorite things aboutNeighborhoods is that I feel like I haveoptions. Of course, its a tight rock album

worthy of the increased volume of yourheadphones or being blasted out of yourcars stereo, but it also leaves room forinterpretation. is is an album that can belistened to passively or put up for criticalanalysis. e songs are also not di cultto relate to real life. A er Midnightcan easily remind listeners of a chaoticrelationship destined to end ugly whileWishing Well, with its upbeat tempo andsweet light-heartedness, keeps you on thesunny side of life.

And if you are going to spring for thealbum, de nitely go for the deluxe edition

with three bonus songs includingthe perpetually dirty, but clever, joke that is Snake Charmer andthe instrumental Hearts All GoneInterlude.

e album in its entirety isheavy on the high-pitched vocalsand exasperated phrasing of TomDeLonge, much to my chagrin. See,I have a much greater fondness forthose deep and sexy Mark vocals.Dont judge. I had two huge crushesgrowing up: Mark Hoppus andNick Carter. Every girl loves a goodboy band but that doesnt mean Idont appreciate it all just the same.

So if youre upset that thisalbum no longer presents the boysof Blink-182 as those dumb, angsty punk kids and you dont want tolisten to their new stu , then goput Duderanch back on and stop

complaining. But if youre the type of person that grows up with a band instead of

growing out of them, then Neighborhoods will make you feel right at home.

PRESSRATING 8.5

Blink 182:

NeighborhoodsBy Liz Kaempf

ALBUM REVIEW


23/32

CULTURE



Cancer isnt funny. But that doesntmean the journey to beat it cant be.

In 50/50, a new dramedy starringJoseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen,one mans battle to beat the disease allowshim a few moments of enjoyment as hestruggles with the very real prospect thathis life could end before he knows it.

Gordon-Levitt plays Adam, an overly

cautious 27-year-old journalist for SeattlePublic Radio who, a er nally seeing adoctor about a persistent backache, learnshe has an unpronounceable form of spinalcancer with even odds of survival. e restof the movie deals with Adams struggle tobeat the disease before it beats him. Alongthe way he deals with his smothering andoverbearing worrywart mother (AnjelicaHuston), cheating and manipulative

girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), andinsensitive oncologist (Andrew Airlie).However, thanks to his boorish andtrash-talking best friend Kyle (Rogen),new friends and fellow cancer su erersAlan (Phillip Baker Hall) and Mitch(Matt Frewer) and a somewhat buddingromance with his therapist Katherine(Anna Kendrick), the battle is just a little

bit easier to handle.What really makes this movie standout is its ability to balance an extremely sensitive and delicate topic with anotherbig Ccomedy. e bulk of the comicrelief is provided thanks to Kyle, whoinsists that getting laid will solve all of Adams problems (and of course givehimself the bene t of scoring as well);even when he seems crude and immature

and like the last person Adam could really use in his life, hes also a truly wonderfulbest friend who is there for him every step of the way, whether its secretly

trying to better understand the disease,getting the timid Adam his prescriptionof medical-grade marijuana, helping himshave his head, or calling out his cheatinggirlfriend. No matter what, hes there forhis buddya true friend, and Rogen doesa phenomenal job playing this character.While it isnt really distant from his norm,these few moments allow him to come o in a slightly di erent light.

Kendrick, as Katherine, is superb. Anangel for Adam in a lot of ways, she tries sohard to be a therapist for the sick, but stillallows her vulnerabilities and emotions toshow, giving her an endearing tenderness.Kendrick does a spectacular job in thisrole, perhaps giving herself a chance (albeita small one) of another supporting actressOscar nod (she was previously nominatedfor Up in the Air ). She also has incrediblechemistry with Gordon-Levitt, anotheractor who has proven over the years thathe too can handle roles where charactershave immense emotional depth in Stop-Loss, Mysterious Skin and (500) Days ofSummer . He too does an impressive jobhere playing Adam, and when he andKendrick get together, its a marvel to seehow well they work.

Perhaps what gives the movie an evenmore poignant touch is that it is based onits screenwriters own real-life diagnosisat the age of 25. Will Reiser, an old friendof Rogens, inspired the project. oughthe basis is fairly loose, the fact that itgenuinely comes from experience drawnfrom real life gives it even more powerto pack the one-two punch that the best

dramedies have.Overall, the lm is superb, one of theyears best. It brings a little bit of fresh airto the life-or-death drama that is cancerby nature, but without being insensitiveto the disease. It also manages to make theentire audience cry, and by the time they leave the theater, there isnt a dry eye in thehouse. It truly is a must-see.

50 Laughs

For 50 TearsBy Lauren DuBois

MOVIE REVIEW


24/32


25/32


26/32


27/32

SPORTS Vol. XXXIII, Issue 3


Its October again, or as the Mets liketo call it, A month o . at means playo baseball!

Hey, what do e New York Yankeesand Siegfried and Roy have in common?

ey both know what its like to get mauledby Tigers.

A er a great performance by A.J.Burnett (try saying that without a double-take) in Game Four, the Yankees could notcome through and win the series in thedeciding h game. e Yankees season

came to a disappointing end with an AlexRodriguez strikeout, his third of the game.Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers.

You know youre relevant when all it takesis a good start to the football season forthe normally abysmal Detroit Lions to bemaking more headlines than the baseballteam that is four wins away from a WorldSeries berth.

If the Tigers didnt happen to beat theYankees, theyd be talked about as much asthe Brewers or Diamondbacks. Who?

Its not fair, but thats the way it is.

Why in the world do more people know

A.J. Burnett than Clayton Kershaw? eRed Sox poor September got a hundredtimes more coverage than the AtlantaBraves similar collapse. e Mets lineupis probably much better known than theDiamondbacks, and the Mets havent wona championship since we were in the Cold

War, Kurt Cobain was still alive, and the

Macho Man Randy Savage was defendinghis Intercontinental Championship againstGeorge the Animal Steele.

Imagine that ESPN is Fox News andeverything that happens outside of NewYork and Boston is Ron Paul. You canalmost feel the anchors tremble when they

have to read a story o the teleprompterabout the Cincinnati Reds. Its time ESPNhopped out of bed with New York andBoston and covered sports legitimately.

e representative for the AmericanLeague this year will either be the TexasRangers for the second straight year or theDetroit Tigers for the rst time since 2005.

e biggest bit of news in the NationalLeague is that during Game Four of the Phillies-Cardinals series, a squirrelinterrupted game-play by running acrossthe eld in the middle of an at-bat.Fortunately, the situation was taken care of and the squirrel now currently resides onthe face of Cardinals relief pitcher, JasonMotte.

ere is no New York or Boston teamle in the playo s soenjoy all the NFLcoverage on ESPN, and the occasionalreluctant and uncomfortable mentions of the MLB Playo s.

If Its Not New York or Boston,It Didnt HappenWait, is this ESPN?

By Matt Maran


28/32


29/32


30/32

AA E-ZINE




31/32


32/32

the stony brook press - volume 33, issue 3

Documents