Vol. 40, No. 23 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 nyunews.com

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWSNYU’s Daily Student Newspaper

Union Sq. hosts annual green event

Initiative offers minoritysupport

GREEN continued on PG. 3

Lead performances drive Sundance hit ‘Smashed’

NYU Toms club opens students’ eyes to visual impairment

SMASHED continued on PG. 5

PROGRAM continued on PG. 3

By ZUHA JAMIL

Union Square became a bit greener on Wednesday.

Grow NYC, a non-profit, environment-oriented organi-zation, returned to the Union Square Greenmarket for its sev-enth annual New Green City event. City agencies, nonprofit organizations and green-mind-ed businesses gathered to show-case their efforts to make the city more sustainable and to ed-ucate New York residents about how to be environmentally conscious.

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

Wearable Collections, an orga-nization that recycles unwanted clothing to prevent them from

By TANAY HUDSON

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

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

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

The Young Men’s Initiative aims to provide access to mentor-ing and educational programs,

By DREW GREGORY

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

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate, an elementary school teacher in her 20s who drinks beer in the shower and takes swigs from a flask before class. After puking in front of her stu-dents and accepting crack from a woman whom she drunkenly drives home, Kate begins to re-alize she might have a problem. Kate’s husband, Charlie (Aaron

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

Winstead and Paul’s portray-als burst with a human qual-ity rarely seen in movies dealing with addiction or marital strife. They know how to show happi-ness and energy as authentically as intense sadness. Kate is the friend who makes a party fun;

By KRISTINA BOGOS

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

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

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

group will speak to students and the community about providing aid to people with eye disease, and distribute sunglasses pro-

vided by LiveWell NYU, a uni-versity public health initiative.

The members of NYU Toms will acknowledge World Sight Day.

COURTESY OF DERRICK BURNETT

New Yorkers gathered at the Union Square Greenmarket to learn about sustainability.BRITTANY ELIAS FOR WSN

TOMS continued on PG. 4

ON THE SIDE COMPILED BY THE WSN STAFF

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

Editor-in-Chief AMANDA RANDONE

Managing EditorJAEWON KANG

Web Managing Editor

AMY ZHANG

Deputy Managing Editor

EMILY YANG

Assistant Managing Editors

HANQING CHEN DANIEL HINTON

Creative DirectorMERYLL PREPOSI

SENIOR STAFFuniversity GENTRY BROWNcity/state TONY CHAUarts STEFAN MELNYKfeatures NICOLA PRINGmultimedia JAMES KELLEHERcopy JORDAN MELENDREZ senior editors HANNAH BORENSTEIN, CARRIE COUROGEN, JULIE DEVITO, BRIDGETTE DORAN, JONATHON DORNBUSH, CHARLES MAHONEY, COLE RILEY

DEPUTY STAFFuniversity TATIANA BAEZcity/state KAYANA JEAN-PHILIPPEbooks/theater CLIO MCCONNELLfilm JEREMY GROSSMANentertainment SAMANTHA RULLOmusic JOSHUA JOHNSONfeatures KATYA BARANNIK beauty & style HILARY PRESLEYdining LAVYA YALAMANCHI special issues ESHA RAYsports MARY JANE DUMANKAYA, SARA LEVY, SEBASTIEN VAN HEYNINGENmultimedia GLORIA LEE, JONATHAN TANforeign correspondent RICHARD ZHANGsocial media agent NICOLE GARTSIDE

OPINION PAGEopinion editor CHRIS DINARDOdeputy opinion editor JESSICA LITTMAN

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SALES REPRESENTATIVES ELLEN MCQUEEN, MELISSA YNEGAS

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ADVISING

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

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EDITORIAL ADVISER

KEITH LEIGHTY EDITOR-AT-LARGE

FRANCIS POON

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

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

NYUNEWS.COM

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

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

PHOTO BY FRANCIS POON

SNAPSHOT ON THE WIRE

Real-life doll houseSince the 1980s, Southampton-native Dan Knowlton, 41, has been collecting Cab-bage Patch Kids. Today, his collection amounts to more than 600. He makes clothes for the dolls and spends hours changing and dusting them, as well as cleaning their beds, chairs and shelves. Three rooms in his apartment are dedicated solely to the dolls, which Knowlton calls his children. Apparently, Knowlton is not alone in his Cabbage Patch fanaticism. Joe and Pat Prosey boast a collection of 5,000 Cabbage

Patch Kids, on which they have spent approximately $1 million. Their only daughter, Vikki, said she has “always tried to distance [herself]” from the dolls.

— THE HUFFINGTON POST

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER

CU-Boulder to host marijuana symposium Wednesday— COLORADO DAILY

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

GU eyes secondary U.S. campus— THE HOYA

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Oct. 11-14, 7:30 p.m.Ailey Citigroup Theater | 405 W. 55th St.DANCE GALLERY FESTIVAL

Von Ussar Danceworks presents their sixth an-nual Dance Gallery Festival, which will feature

the talented work of dance companies and choreographers from around the country. Tickets

are $15 with student ID.

Oct. 13, 6:30 p.m. Roseland Ballroom | 239 W. 52nd St.

SANTIGOLD CONCERTGet ready to dance the night away with Santi-

gold as she plays her energetic, eclectic pop hits like “Lights Out” and “L.E.S. Artistes.” Tickets

are $32.50 from Ticketmaster.

Oct. 11, 7 p.m.Museum of Arts and Design | 2 Columbus Circle

DORIS DUKE’S SHANGRI LAPanelists, including NYU professor Mosette Broder-ick, will discuss architecture, landscape and interior design. An exhibition titled “Doris Duke’s Shangri

La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art” is cur-rently on display at the MAD. The lecture is free.

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NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS 3

ending up in the landfills, was present at the event.

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

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

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

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

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

Christine Black, founder and executive director of The Sus-tainable Restaurant Corps, shared how her company aims to maintain sustainability by evaluating restaurants through-out the city.

“We aim to post these ratings

on sites like Yelp, Zagat and Open-Table,” Black said. “This will help consumers make bet-ter choices by identifying res-taurants that operate in eco-friendly ways.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zuha Jamil is a contributing writer. Email her at cstate@nyunews.

Union Square holds annual event to raise awareness of sustainability

GREEN continued from PG. 1

as well as employment and civic and commu-nity engagement opportunities, in an effort to lower poverty, reduce crime and lower unemployment and dropout rates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

themselves because they made a mistake [at a young age] but knowing that they have a chance to get back out there is awesome.”

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

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

Tanay Hudson is a contributing writer. Email her at cstate@nyunews.com.

Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative successful in ethnic communities

PROGRAM continued from PG. 1

Biology department welcomes new prof.

Bloomberg’s intiative offers job opportunities.COURTESY OF YOUNG MAN’S INITIATIVE

By NICOLE BROWN

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

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

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

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

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

“He was a great mentor and so knowledgeable and dedicated to his research,” Culbert said. “He’ll be a great addition to the biology depart-ment at NYU.”

He said his first impressions of working at NYU have been mixed because he was once a student at the university.

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

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

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

Along with rest of the biology de-partment, Mazzoni is conducting research to understand the differ-entiation of embryonic stem cells. He said his goal is to develop pro-tocols to create new organs from these cells.

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

Justin Blau, professor of Biology and Neural Science, said he is thrilled to have Mazzoni return to NYU.

“Esteban Mazzoni is a very cre-ative scientist and an excellent hu-man being,” he said. “It is not that long since he was here as a Ph.D. student, but even then, our interac-tions were those of colleagues rath-er than a mentor and a student.”

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

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

Community Board 6 approves plan for new park

By BEN WATANABE

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

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

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

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

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

Earlier plans laid out by the Parks Department allotted $500,000 to transform Asser Levy into a play space, but these funds would have done little more than block off the street to traffic. Therefore, city councilman Daniel Garodnick allocated an additional $1 million in city fund-ing, making the total budget for construction $1.5 million.

NYU adjunct professor of planning Sarah M.

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

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

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

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

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

Sepersky choose to neither support nor op-pose the proposal because of the lack of a pub-lic voice at the last meeting when the proposal was first brought up.

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

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

Ben Watanabe is a contributing writer. Email him at cstate@nyunews.com.

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

FEATURES EDITED BY NICOLA PRING FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kristina Bogos is a staff writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.

NYU chapter of Toms shoes informs NYU about World Sight Day TOMS continued from PG. 1

Artist extracts own blood for latest installation

BY DELIA KEMPH Vincent Castiglia’s artwork gives

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

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

“I fell in love with it,” Castiglia said. “I felt a harmony with the medium for the first time ... using blood was that missing link.”

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

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

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

The dark themes in Castiglia’s work have led some to deem it horror art. His paintings contain explicit nudity, decaying bodies and images that con-vey pain and suffering. Despite the potentially controversial subject mat-ter, however, Castiglia said he has not encountered any negative feedback from critics or the public.

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

CAS freshman Katie Moore visited the exhibit and was struck by the light-er themes present in Castiglia’s art. She said she appreciated the intense connection the artist had with his work, and the subtle undertones of eas-ily accessible themes like motherhood and pregnancy.

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

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

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

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

“Resurrection” is on display at the Sacred Gallery through Oct. 31 at 424 Broadway, second floor. Delia Kemph is a contributing writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.

By OLIVIA WEISS

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

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

The sophomore shows WSN what’s in her bag.

1. WALLETScott never goes anywhere without her wal-

let. “It has everything I need,” she said. Along with money and her NYUCard, she keeps pho-tos of her best friends and an accumulation of fortunes from fortune cookies. One of her favorites says, “Your first choice is always wis-est to follow.” Both her wallet and her bag are from Frances, a locally owned store in Phoe-nix, Ariz. that sells mainly handmade items.

2. IPODWhen Scott is walking around the city, she

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

3. NOTEBOOKScott always keeps her notebook close by.

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

4. SUNGLASSESScott’s favorite green sunglasses are from

Flashback, a vintage store in California. She has had them for five years and isn’t looking to replace them anytime soon. “I bought them because they’re very ’60s and I’m very into that ... and they remind me of Janis Joplin,” she said. Scott cited Joplin, along with Twiggy, Edie Sedgwick and Blake Lively as her style icons. She is also heavily inspired by anything from the 1960s and ’70s.

5. POETRY BOOKScott’s passions include reading and lit-

erature, and she keeps a poetry book by Rumi, a medieval Persian poet, in her bag. “As little kids, my mom used to read it to my brother and I,” Scott said. Her most valued Rumi insight: “‘Why talk about all the known and the unknown, see how un-known merges into known.’”

Olivia Weiss is a contributing writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.

LSP sophomore Carson Scott keeps souvenirs from her many travels in her bag.KAITLIN CHRISTY FOR WSN

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

BRYAN NELSON FOR WSN

WHAT’S IN YOUR BAG?

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NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS 5

ARTSEDITED BY STEFAN MELNYKARTS@NYUNEWS.COM

she’s charming and crazy, both ridiculous and hilarious when drunk. This makes it all the more startling when the laughter stops. The audience, though not the ine-briated Kate, feels this transition as the smiles fade and the discom-fort takes over. Ponsoldt and his cinematographer Tobias Datum intelligently show this transforma-tion with tight close-ups that Win-stead and Paul completely own.

As Kate gradually commits to sobriety, it becomes appar-ent that, for her, a life without alcohol is a mundane one. Or, more accurately, if your mar-riage and friendships are cre-ated when drunk, they will fal-ter when sober. Kate has to face the fact that she is not married to Charlie. Rather, drunk Kate is married to drunk Charlie. So-ber Kate does not care for her husband very much when she is not drunk.

When the supporting charac-

ters take centerstage, however, the story begins to waver. At this point, “Smashed” becomes purely about alcoholism and feels both familiar and false. The supporting cast of Offerman, Megan Mullally and Olivia Spencer contribute lit-tle to the film’s strong points. The one exception here is Mary Kay Place, who plays Kate’s mother. In one scene, Place wonderfully contextualizes the problems Kate struggles with throughout the rest of the film; this scene is es-sential for framing Kate’s journey.

Without taking itself too se-riously, “Smashed” still works. An upbeat indie score and plenty of laughs anchor this story of alcoholism in the real world, acknowledging both its greatest moments and the hangovers that follow.

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

‘Smashed’ spotlights alcoholism with exceptional depth

SMASHED continued from PG. 1 ‘Nashville’ needs to find voice,still has potential

By TOBIAS KEUNECKE

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

The storyline — an aspiring star in the country music scene trying to wedge out the current reigning-but-aging star — feels tired thanks to an abundance of clichés. “Nashville” looks and feels like the 2010 Hollywood film “Country Strong,” albeit with better execution.

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

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

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

Panettiere, on the other hand, seems to be trying

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

The other actors tend to fade into the background, as their importance to the main plot thus far is limited. Additionally, the cheap-looking greenscreen effects employed periodically feel unprofessional.

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

Tobias Keunecke is a contributing writer.Email him at entertainment@nyunews.com.

Panettiere and Britton co-star in “Nashville.”VIA MASHABLE ENTERTAINMENT

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

By DYLAN JARRETT

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

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

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

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

tures food and drinks, providing interesting Alice-themed cocktails and snacks.

Unfortunately, like its source material, “Then She Fell” fails to provide a cohesive narrative. In addition to telling Alice’s story, it attempts to shed light on Lewis Carroll and his relationship with Alice Liddell, the girl who allegedly inspired the book. Carroll joins the cast of characters, and there are a number of his letters to Alice scattered throughout the set.

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

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

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

Dylan Jarrett is a contributing writer. Email her at theater@nyunews.com.

Winstead and Paul shine in Ponsoldt’s Sundance hit.COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

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

THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD & DAILY SUDOKU

Across 1 Didn’t wait

to make the decision

6 Be a couch potato, say

9 Bawls out14 Brings on15 “My life is ___!”17 Hoffman who

co-founded the Yippies

18 Culturally ahead of the times

19 Italian hangout21 What a raised

hand may signify22 There’s one

between the ulna and the radius

23 Free26 Tennis’s Sánchez

Vicario27 Minor hits?28 Goons29 Succeeds31 Long-distance

call?32 Creator of

U.P.C.’s

35 Home security measure

36 It was created by two volcanoes

38 Italian city associated with the real-life Saint Nicholas

39 Tumbler locale40 “The ___

Commandments” (1958 hit)

41 “I agree 100%”42 Fire ___43 “___ qué?”44 Uses a powder

puff on, say46 Facetious words

of enlightenment47 Sources of some

tweets48 Hardly an

instance of modesty

52 Finally cracks54 Blink of an eye54 Nitpicked56 Print producer58 Town in a Hersey

novel

60 Composer Camille Saint-___

61 Cap site62 ___ Island, Fla.63 College

application need64 Wilfred Owen’s

“Dulce et Decorum ___”

65 Pentium source

Down 1 Fictional

character who says “I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer”

2 Domestic relationship

3 Protection for a mechanic, say

4 Opposite of morn 5 What Ariz. and

Hawaii are the only two states not to have

6 Clouds, e.g. 7 Choice 8 Suburb of Cairo 9 Indian nobles10 Jet11 Somewhat12 Flirt13 ___ high

standard16 Poet who made

radio broadcasts in support of Mussolini

20 Actor Lew22 Setup for a

surprise party24 Six-footer?25 Performed

pitifully27 “Twilight” girl28 Queens’s ___

Stadium

30 As it might be said

32 2001 Sean Penn film

33 Splinter33 Routine with

a one-handed freeze, say

34 Diner giveaways37 Houston ice

hockey pro

38 Hotties43 Pursue some

e-mail chicanery45 Sacked out46 Like craft shops,

typically48 Actual, after “in”49 Info on college

applications50 Some stadium

cries

51 Editor Brown52 Impales53 Dawn55 Jean Renoir’s

field57 Some winter

wear58 “___ wrong?”59 Writer Brown

Puzzle by Ben Pall

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Supreme Court should hold previous rulings on affirmative action

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NEIGHBORHOOD

SoHo noise complaints ironic for college students

Spirituality not substandard form of religionSPIRITUALITY

NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS 7

EDITORIAL BOARD: Chris DiNardo (Chair), Jessica Littman (Co-Chair), Christopher Drake, Sanchay Jain, Sasha Leshner,

Peter Murphy, Raquel Woodruff and Richard Zhang.

By SAMEER JAYWANT

CNN, notorious for the occasional less-than-academically sound article that makes eyes roll, recently published an opinion piece by Alan Miller titled, “‘I’m spiritual but not religious’ is a cop-out.” Complete with an incredibly stereotypi-cal picture of a shirtless, beer-bellied, probably unemployed white guy with hippie dreadlocks praying on a beach, Miller’s article makes an unreasonably ineffective argument for why individu-als who identify as spiritual but not religious represent “some of the most retrogressive aspects of contemporary society.” Highlights of Miller’s whiny, outdated and often offensive argument include his assertions that independence from religious institutions is falsely pro-found, and spiritualists are cowards of thought because they do not advance a positive explanation of the God ques-tion. It is difficult to decide where to start tearing down the ignorant and, ironically, retrogressive wall Miller has built between religion and spirituality.

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

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

What is most disquieting about the anti-spirituality argument is its attempt-ed invasion of the minds of those who self-identify as spiritual and the attack that somehow their individual relation-ship to any sort of higher being — or lack thereof — is inherently less profound than the same relationship for Chris-tians, Jews, Muslims or even atheists. But one of the most useless arguments in the history of man is one individual trying to convince another that his faith is wrong and his beliefs are flawed. This

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

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

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

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

The University of Texas at Austin is arguing that Fisher does not have grounds to sue because she has not suffered the damages necessary for a lawsuit. We agree that Fisher has no right to sue under these circumstances. Although she was not able to attend the university, she attended and graduated from Louisiana State University and now has a job in Austin — clearly not getting into the university did not ruin her life. In addition, it is im-possible for Fisher to prove that her rejection from the university was based on race — it might have been, but this is impossible to prove in court.

The University of Texas guarantees acceptance to Texan applicants in the top 10 percent of their class. This policy already accounts for three-quarters of the students admitted annually, so the university does not consider race as an admissions factor for any of these applicants.

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

Affirmative action programs are important in help-ing minority students receive a college education. Most students admitted through affirmative action programs are as qualified as any others to attend the university, but they are simply given an admissions advantage because of disadvantages they have likely suffered earlier in life.

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

By SASHA LESHNER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sasha Leshner is a contributing columnist. Email her at opinion@nyunews.com.

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

SPORTS EDITED BY THE WSN STAFF SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM

Violets win first Tear It Up match at Coles

By NICO CANTOR

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

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

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

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

Incredible blocking from Ste-

vens’ senior Maggie Kowalska gave the Ducks the upper hand to begin the second set. Kowal-ska was hitting around NYU’s triple block in the middle and double block on the outside. But as NYU began to take the lead, the spotlight turned to sophomore hitter Alexandria Mao who totaled 10 of her 19 kills by the second set.

Rallies were short, kills were being won off of the Violets’ untimely blocks and noth-ing was going NYU’s way because of Kowalska.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nico Cantor is a contributing writer. Email him at sports@nyunews.com.