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Transcript of The Heights April 4, 2016
![Page 1: The Heights April 4, 2016](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020119/579076f91a28ab6874bb945f/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Vol. XCVII, No. 17 Monday, April 4, 2016
HEThe Independent
Student Newspaperof Boston College
www.bcheights.com
e s t a b l i s h e d
Russell Simons and Meredith McCaffrey won the election with 1,137 votes, 442 more than the second place campaign team.
Since April 1, students looking to
study on weekend nights have a whole
library at their disposal. The Office of
Student Affairs and O’Neill Library
have begun a pilot program that allows
for O’Neill to remain open all night on
Fridays and Saturdays.
In conjunction with UGBC leader-
ship, this initiative will allow students
to study on the first floor of O’Neill
over the next three weekends, until
the library begins its end-of-semester
exam hours.
The 24-hour, seven-days-a-week
initiative will differ operationally from
regular hours. Jim Kreinbring, director
FEATURESConference comes at crossroads of healthcare and humanities, A10
BEATING HEARTSARTS & REVIEWRobsham saw the return of the bOp! this last Friday night, B8
THE BOP! AWAKENSSPORTSThe brothers Fitzgerald are right at the heart of BC’s National Championship chase, B1
FITZY FRENZY
Th e Elections Committee announced
Friday evening that Russell Simons,
MCAS ’17, and Meredith McCaff rey,
MCAS ’17, will be the 2016-17 Under-
graduate Government of Boston College
president and executive vice president.
Simons and McCaff rey received 1137
votes, 442 votes above Matthew Ulrich,
MCAS ’17, and John Miotti’s, MCAS
’17, team. Nikita Patel, CSOM ’17, and
Joseph Arquillo’s, LSOE ’17, team came
in third place with 668 total votes. Patel
and Arquillo’s team was docked 70 votes
because of unsolicited Facebook mes-
sages concerning the election, Adam
Rosenbloom, co-chair of the Elections
Committee and MCAS ’16, said.
“I think the students got a good op-
portunity to hear a bunch of diff erent
ideas and really good ideas from very
diff erent teams,” Simons said.
Both Simons and McCaff rey have
been a part of UGBC in the past. Simons
currently serves as vice president of
student organizations in UGBC, while
McCaff rey is a member of the Senate.
Simons and McCaff rey, whose cam-
paign slogan was “Strength in Unity,”
focused their campaign on three goals:
quality, inclusivity, and accessibility.
Simons and McCaff rey hope to focus
on day-to-day improvements for BC
student life, while also continuing their
support for diversity and inclusion pro-
grams on campus. Th e duo also hopes
to increase the transparency of UGBC
in the coming year.
“Going forward, we hope to engage
the other candidates in greater conver-
sation about how to accomplish our
respective goals for next year, since we
hope this will allow students to be more
informed in their voting,” Simons said
in an email. “We believe in our mission
of ‘Strength in Unity,’ and are excited
to continue sharing our ideas with the
entire student body.”
Ulrich and Miotti’s campaign would
have worked to increase school spirit
through diff erent programming events,
and they also wanted to increase conver-
sation about mental health on campus.
Patel and Arquillo’s team wanted to
focus on fi nancial aid reform, support for
diversity programs, and create a campus
of administrative services in the Office
of the Vice President for Student Affairs,
said that because only the first floor of
O’Neill will be accessible during the
pilot weekends, students must enter
through the Maloney Hall side of the
library in order to gain access.
According to Kreinbring, while
printers will be available and opera-
tional on the library’s first floor, other
library services—such as course re-
serves and headphones—will not. Also,
to placate concerns for the safety of
students, the study area will be staffed
by a security officer between the hours
of 10 p.m. and 9 a.m.
“The goal is to provide more late-
night study space for students on week-
end nights—a suggestion that came
from UGBC,” Kreinbring said.
Caroline Monnes, Senator on the
Campus Improvements Committee
and MCAS ’19, noted that UGBC began
working on this initiative after reading a
column published in November in The
Heights, “A Call for Increased Weekend
Study Hours and Locations at BC.”
The author of the column, Mag-
dalen Sullivan, argues that exams and
papers are a weekly occurrence, and
so students should have the option to
study rather than be forced to deal with
noisy dorms.
“Right now, the library hours repre-
sent a surrender of the University to the
social life on campus—an acceptance
of bad student habits as opposed to
striving to fix it,” Sullivan wrote. “It’s
not about active campaigning against
drinking on the weekend—it’s about
simply giving students the opportunity
to opt-out.”
Much like Kreinbring, Monnes’ goals
with the pilot program focus on keeping
students’ best interests in mind.
Monnes said that this pilot will give
students a quiet space on the weekends
away from the noise of dorm rooms
UGBC Elections <<<
See UGBC, A3
Free expression, weight loss, and educa-
tion for African immigrants were all high-
lighted at this semester’s BC Talks. Modeled
after TED Talks, the event was held Sunday
night and featured eight Boston College
students who were each given 20 minutes
and an open platform to discuss issues that
were important to them.
Monica Coscia, MCAS ’17, started her
talk, “Th e Deafening Silence: Repression
of Free Expression at Universities,” with
an introductory quote that set the tone for
her speech.
“I disagree with what you say, but I will
defend to the death your right to say it,” Cos-
cia said, quoting Evelyn Beatrice Hall.
Coscia discussed the presence of free
speech on BC’s campus. She referred to the
Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines,
and highlighted the constitutional rights of
students in public schools to free speech.
“Free speech is seen the same as violence,
to suppress and fear it,” Coscia said.
She challenged the audience to break the
silence on issues at BC like the Demonstra-
tion Policy and Posting Policy, and to look at
the movements UGBC is pushing to change
these issues.
“Th ere is a certain mode in society that
you have to fi t in,” Toluwase Oladapo, MCAS
’16, said to start her talk, “Th e Outer Body
Experience: A Talk on Embracing Your
Right NOW.”
Th en, Oladapo spoke about her journey
to lose 70 pounds the summer before com-
ing to BC and her mindset and reasoning
while losing the weight.
She gave three reasons that she origi-
nally tried to lose the weight: to be desirable,
to stop being bullied, and to satisfy others.
Once she came back to BC she gained back
more than what she lost. Oladapo realized
that her reasoning for losing the weight was
superfi cial. She kept referring to her “desti-
nation happiness.” Now, Oladapo focuses on
ignoring society’s mold for women.
“If you don’t start in the now, you can
never hate yourself to love yourself,” she
said.
Shalin Mehta, CSOM ’16, began his talk,
“Your Network is your Net Worth: Culti-
vating Relationships and Discerning Your
Passion,” by focusing on how everything
revolves around relationships. He outlined
four major takeaways that he has discovered
in developing networks. First, your network
is your net worth. Money, grades, and status
come and go while relationships are con-
stant. Second, it is never too early to begin
making connections, and it will take time.
Th ird, people should ask for help when it
comes to relationships. By breaking down
the walls of being too proud or too shy, one
can develop their strongest self through
AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
The Undergraduate Government
of Boston College passed a resolution
to encourage the administration to
become more sex-positive, in part by
allowing student groups to use funds to
distribute sexual education materials or
contraceptives. The Student Assembly
(SA) debated the issue in its Sunday
night meeting.
The revised proposal that passed
in the SA has two parts: first , the
University ought to more publicly dis-
seminate materials regarding sexual
assault, and second, student groups
should be able to use their own funds
to provide contraceptives or materials
on sexual education. While its proposal
provided no concrete changes for the
future of UGBC, Collin Pratt, class of
2017 senator, director of policy for the
GLBTQ Leadership Council, and MCAS
’17, said the SA hopes to set a formal
state for the institution that provides
direction and stance for the future of
the advocacy body.
The debate opened with a statement
from Pratt explaining the mission of the
resolution and introducing its operative
text. In his formal written proposal,
Pratt stressed that “a large community,
if not a majority of the student body”
is sexually active and therefore in
need of sexual resources, ranging from
educational resources, safe spaces for
dialogue, and contraception.
Following Pratt’s initial presentation
of its mission, the proposal’s co-spon-
sors delivered a statement on the pro-
posal. Both co-sponsors, Meredith Mc-
Caffrey, MCAS ’17, and Connor Kratz,
MCAS ’18, stressed that this motion
did not conflict with the University’s
Jesuit ideals.
“This is not a debate about whether
students should or should not have
premarital sex,” Kratz said. “It’s an
acknowledgement that it is happening
at BC, and that we need to care about
those student’s safety.”
McCaffrey, the executive vice presi-
dent-elect, echoed his sentiment, stat-
ing that a large part of the Jesuit identity
is caring for the whole person.
“For a lot of people, that includes
sexuality and being able to talk about
sexual health,” McCaffrey said.
In the meeting , senator Hagop
Toghramadijan, MCAS ’17, proposed
an amendment to the original resolu-
See Library, A3
See Sexual Health, A3 See BC Talks, A10
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
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THE HEIGHTS
On Monday, film director Hubert Sauper will be showing his new documentary, We Come as Friends, about colonial-ism, war, and business in Africa today, in Devlin Hall 101 at 5:30 p.m. A discussion and question-and-answer session will follow. 1
Kristin Heyer will talk about contributions that scripture and the Catholic social tradition offer the immi-gration dialogue on Tuesday. The event, which is sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public LIfe, will be held on Tuesday at 12 p.m. on 24 Quincy Rd., Boisi Center. 2
Monday, April 4, 2016 A2
On Wednesday, Afaa Michael Weaver, a poet and playwright who writes about love and so-cial justice, will talk about his career path at 7 p.m. in Devlin 101. The lec-ture, which will address Weaver’s childhood poverty, is a part of the Lowell Humanities Series.
Top
things to do on campus this week
3 3
What is your biggest pet peeve?
NEWSBRIEFS
Diane Macedo, BC ’04, will
join ABC News as an anchor of
World News Now and America
This Morning and will be a New
York-based correspondent start-
ing today. Macedo previously
worked at WCBS in New York,
where she covered stories includ-
ing the death of Eric Garner, the
East Village building explosion,
the Philadelphia Amtrak derail-
ment, and the WDBJ shooting
in Virginia.
Prior to working at WCBS,
Macedo was a reporter and
anchor at the Fox Business Net-
work, as well as an editor for
FoxNews.com.
Macedo is the daughter of
parents who immigrated from
Portugal. She has been passion-
ate about news since a young
age—she would discuss news of
the day at the dinner table and
later learned broadcast news at
the local program NewTV while
studying at BC, according to
ABC News.
—Source: TheBoston College
Police Department
POLICE BLOTTER 3/30/16 - 4/1/16
Wednesday, March 30
9:59 a.m. - A report was filed re-
garding the issuance of a trespass
warning in the Lower Lots.
2:38 p.m. - A report was filed re-
garding a medical transport from
Gasson Hall.
Thursday, March 31
5:52 p.m. - A report was filed
regarding a suspicious circum-
stance at the Haley Carriage
House Day Center.
8:33 p.m. - A report was filed
regarding a medical transport
via ambulance from the Newton
Roadways.
Friday, April 1
12:27 a.m. - A report was filed
regarding vandalism to a residence
at Ignacio Hall.
Patrick Maney, a history professor,
recently published a book titled Bill
Clinton: A Gilded Age Presidency. The
book traces today’s political divisive-
ness and polarizing paralysis to the
Clinton presidency.
“The seeds had been sown in
previous decades but didn’t start
blooming until the 1990s,” Maney
said to the Office of News and Public
Affairs. “This is when Washington
politics became a blood sport, with its
‘take no prisoners’ mentality.”
Maney was drawn to write about
Clinton because they are of the
same generation. He also wanted
to understand why reactions to the
Clintons seemed out of proportion
to their actions.
“Sure, they rubbed a lot of people
the wrong way by supporting abor-
tion rights, affirmative action, gays
in the military, and gender equality,”
Maney said. “And, of course, stories
of the president’s infidelities under-
standably upset many. Still, most
of their views resided safely in the
political mainstream.”
Clinton was one of the most con-
servative Democrats to occupy the
White House due to his economic
and fiscal views, Maney said. The
former president hailed the end of big
government, was more pro-business
than pro-labor, presided over de-
regulation of the telecommunications
and banking industries, approved
more corporate mergers than Presi-
dents Bush and Reagan combined,
embraced his religion, oversaw cuts
in welfare, was tough on crime, and
had supported the Gulf War before
becoming president.
Maney believes the Clinton presi-
dency remains relevant today.
“Better than most of his contem-
poraries, Bill Clinton understood that
the United States was—and still is—in
the throes of a transformative period
not seen since the late 19th century,
the so-called Gilded Age so memo-
rably christened by Mark Twain and
William Dudley Warner,” Maney said
to News and Public Affairs.
Maney believes that Clinton de-
serves more credit for his foreign
policy accomplishments. During his
presidency, Clinton helped resolve
conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo while
diffusing others in Haiti, North Korea,
and between India and Pakistan.
“We don’t think of foreign policy
when we think of the Clinton adminis-
tration,” Maney said. “We should.”
Please send corrections to [email protected] with
‘correction’ in the subject line.
CORRECTIONS
By Sophie Reardon
Assoc. News Editor
The Mental Health Channel has
given the University Counseling
Services (UCS) of Boston College its
new documentary series, Stories of the
Mind, to show to students prior to its
official release on PBS in 2017.
On Tuesday, April 5, the Under-
graduate Government of Boston
College and UCS will be screening
the documentary series, which is
about people struggling with men-
tal health issues. The series is com-
posed of four short videos—each
about seven to 10 minutes—that
touch on a different mental dis-
ability, including depression and
bipolar disorder.
The creator of the show, the
Mental Health Channel, reached out
to UCS to see if it would be interested
in viewing its new show. The company
hoped to gain some feedback from BC
students, Downing said.
There will be three short films
showed in addition to the Stories of the
Mind series, which will also be about
mental health.
“It’s not just a speaker and a panel
that can get a little dry,” Tom Down-
ing, assistant director of mental health
programming in UGBC and CSOM
’18, said. “It’s a different way of spread-
ing our message.”
In addition to gaining feedback,
he said, the event will also encourage
dialogue on campus surrounding
mental health and educate students
about the resources available to them
on campus.
“We’re really just looking for
quality of life of students,” Connor
Marshall, assistant director of mental
health programming in UGBC and
MCAS ’18, said. “There’s definitely a
mental health issue on this campus.”
This event comes in a series that
UGBC has held to expand the dia-
logue on mental health at BC. The
goal, Downing said, is to destigmatize
mental health subjects. UGBC hopes
that seeking help for a mental illness
will be seen as seeking a doctor’s help
for a broken arm, he said.
Following the viewing, Craig
Burns, the interim director of
counseling services, will speak to
students about mental health on
college campuses, answering any
questions attendees may have and
facilitating discussion.
“I think this is part of a broad
and long-term effort to educate
and to spread information, and so
the effect we hope will come from
this is broader awareness and ac-
ceptance of mental health issues
and willingness to engage help both
from professionals and from peers,”
Burns said.
Other events that UGBC has host-
ed regarding mental health include
What I Be, a performance by activist
and comedian Kevin Breel, and a one-
woman show by Amy Albright.
“The response has generally been
very positive,” Downing said. “It’s
been great seeing that a lot of people
do care about advocating for mental
health resources.”
The wide response to these pro-
grams, Downing said, is further evi-
denced by the fact that the University
recently allocated funding for UCS to
hire more counselors.
These events, Downing said, also
aim to provide a space for students to
talk about what kinds of support they
want and need from BC with regards
to mental health.
“Students really do care about
helping everyone at this University
dealing with mental health issues,”
Downing said.
By Connor Murphy
Heights Editor
The lights were dimmed as people
walked around the track at Relay for
Life, dropping glowsticks into Lumi-
naria bags to honor and remember
friends and family in the fight against
cancer. It was a powerful moment in
the night, a sobering reminder of the
purpose of the night.
At Boston College’s ninth an-
nual Relay For Life event on Friday
night, over 1,500 participants from
126 teams raised about $133,000
for the American Cancer Society.
Held in the Flynn Recreation Com-
plex, the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. all-nighter
featured emotional testimonials
from cancer survivors and loved
ones, as well as some entertain-
ment from a hypnotist, singers, and
the Dance Organization of Boston
College (DOBC).
Since its inception, BC Relay
For Life has raised over $1 million,
making it one of the top 15 col-
legiate Relay events in the country.
Relay, whose slogan is “Celebrate,
Remember, Fight Back,” is the
American Cancer Society’s main
fundraising tool.
The donations period stays open
until August, so sponsors can contin-
ue to donate until the planning period
for next year’s Relay starts. Relay is
also DOBC’s designated charity, so
depending on how the group does
in competition the winnings will be
added to the fundraising total. Last
year, BC Relay raised about $157,000.
Organizers hope this year’s total will
eventually reach $150,000.
Teams set up stations in the
basketball court area of the Plex, and
the track runs around the edge of the
courts. Donors sponsor the teams,
who raise money throughout the year
and commit to having at least one
team member at all times walking
the track for the 12 hours.
Kat Murphy, MCAS ’18, par-
ticipated in the event last year and
said that this year was an improve-
ment, particularly with the comedy
group Asinine.
“The focus of the event is more on
remembrance and celebration rather
than sadness and melancholy,” she
said in an email.
About $5,000 was raised during
the event itself, much of it through
donations made directly to teams
and day-of registration. BC Relay
also partnered with about 25 outside
sponsors for the event, including the
Boston Red Sox and Chipotle. At BC,
the event is run by three event chairs
who oversee 10 subcommittees.
Altogether, about 70 students help
to organize BC Relay.
Claire Ritten, one of the three
event chairs and LSOE ’16, said
that the point of the overnight
schedule is to mirror a cancer
patient’s journey from diagnosis to
recovery—night to day.
One of the speakers at the event
was Kelley Tuthill, a news reporter for
the local TV outlet WCVB. Tuthill
was 36 when she was diagnosed with
breast cancer. She received aggressive
treatment and entered remission
in 2007.
“I’m living proof that research
is what saves lives,” Tuthill said
in the interview. “It’s not some
abstract concept.”
By Sophie Reardon
Assoc. News Editor
On April 14, the Boston College
Economics Association will meet
with state legislators to present
proposals for amendments to cur-
rent Massachusetts state laws at the
Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.
Prior to their date at the Statehouse,
the members of the Economics As-
sociation will hold a rehearsal open
to the BC community on Tuesday in
Merkert 127.
The members of the club will
be split into groups of four or five
people, with each addressing a
different issue.
“There will be reliance on statis-
tics and t-figures because it’s sup-
posed to be less based off of feelings
and emotions and more based off
of facts and logic,” Ian Wyllie, head
of the Economics Association and
MCAS ’18, said.
One such issue, Wyllie said,
is underage drinking. Currently,
underage drinking causes many
injuries and deaths because people
are scared to call for help when they
need it. They hope to change the
social incentives of underage drink-
ing by making it legal for people to
drink with their families on alcohol-
selling premises.
“The idea is to work to reduce
the social incentive of having it be
swept under the rug because it is
so prevalent on college campuses,”
Wyllie said.
Rohit Bachani, a member of
the Economics Association and
CSOM ’19, is part of a group that
has been researching opiate abuse
in Massachusetts.
The group decided that the
most effective means of curbing
the problem would be to monitor
prescriptions better. It found that
extended-relief naltrexone, which is
a medication that can be adminis-
tered once a month, is very effective
to prevent drug addiction. Finally,
it has some ideas for new inpatient
rehabilitation programs.
“I thought it was cool to parse
through the research on this because
I know that the state itself has been
trying to do a lot to reduce opiate
abuse,” Bachani said. “And I thought
it would be an honor to be able to
show this to professors and legisla-
tors and kind of be able to give our
own take on how we’re going to solve
these issues as college students.”
The Economics Association,
which Wyllie founded this past fall,
meets each week to go over current
issues and updates. Each group also
meets individually once a week to go
over its presentations.
Henry Menn, a member of the
Association and CSOM ’19, joined,
he said, because he thought it would
be interesting to find easy ways to
make changes to the laws.
“I thought the coolest thing
about it was finding small things
that are easy to change that no-
body really thinks about,” Menn
said. “I just found it to be a really
intriguing idea.”
Wyllie was able to set up the
event at the Statehouse, he said,
after talking to Jim Cantwell, the
Massachusetts state representa-
tive for the 4th Plymouth district
and BC ’88, who he knows from
previous work experience.
The event on campus on Tuesday
will allow the groups to give their
presentations to audience members.
BC professors will provide commen-
tary and students can ask questions
to the presenters.
“The goal of this presentation is
to get a good feel of how thorough
our research efforts have been so far
and get some feedback on what more
can be done to make our message
more concrete and how to make our
solutions more attractive to legisla-
tures,” Bachani said.
The Economics Association,
Wyllie said, aims to show the BC
community the work that they’ve
been doing over the past few months.
He also hopes that BC students will
become more interested in Massa-
chusetts public policy issues.
“It’s basically about spread-
ing awareness about our pro-
gram—about the possibilities
for students on BC’s campus to
work through us or on their own
accord,” Wyllie said.
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THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016 A3
Library, from A1
and lounges to study
for upcoming mid-
terms and finals.
BC Libraries
and UGBC will
also gauge stu-
dents’ demand
for the extended
hours in the first
weeks of the pilot
program.
“ Th i s w i l l
definitely appeal to
students who would rather get their work
done instead of going out and partying,”
Jason Lam, CSOM ’16, said. “For these stu-
dents, it must be tough trying to find a quiet
place to study on a Friday or Saturday.”
If this pilot program is successful and
draws enough attendance,
then these overnight hours
could continue into the next
academic year, Kreinbring
said.
“My only concern is
that there are not many
students that actually study
on Friday or Saturday,” Lam
said. “Even if there are—I
doubt that they would study
late into the night … maybe
closing at 1 or 2 a.m. would
be late enough.”
Sexual Health, from A1
text, which argued that the University
administration should shore up its ef-
forts against sexual assault and release a
public statement to outline the resources
available to victims.
In this text, Toghramadijan also said
that no individual should be subjected to
sexual activity that he or she is uncom-
fortable with, and that sex positivity is
the right to be open about sexual choices
as well as respectful of others’ choices.
In explaining his motivation for pro-
posing this amendment, Toghramadijan
stressed that the administration should
not be forced to adhere to a sexual health
policy that did not follow the Jesuit
institution of abstinence, even if it was
the chosen and preferred stance of the
majority of the student body.
“At its most basic policy implication,
this means we would not call upon the
administration to provide funds for con-
traception,” Toghramadijan said. “It’s not
part of their vision of healthy sex.”
This amendment did not pass, losing
in an 11-to-10 vote.
After the rejection of the proposed
amendment, the conversation returned
to the debate of the original proposal.
John Daniell, director of rules in the
student assembly, class of 2017 senator
and MCAS ’17, led the rebuttal, promot-
ing the University’s right to exclusively
endorse abstinence.
“The current policies that are in
place, as much as we disagree with them,
are in place for the University and by ex-
tension the Catholic mission sees them
as appropriate,” Daniell said in his first
remarks. “You wouldn’t force a vegetar-
ian to eat a hamburger, you wouldn’t
make an atheist buy a Bible, and you
wouldn’t make a Catholic university
fund contraception.”
Daniell went on to say that there are
resources available for sexual health
education within the Women’s Center
and Bystander Intervention programs.
His final emphasized point was that in
coming to a Jesuit, Catholic university,
students in some measure buy into tra-
ditional Catholic ideals, whether they
personally subscribe to the religion or
not.
Daniell’s remarks were met with vig-
or—hands flew up as the floor opened
to questions and commentary.
As the conversation continued, how-
ever, both those opposing and promot-
ing the new proposal grew closer to a
compromise. McCaffrey asked whether
Daniell was in favor of more sexual
education and more spaces for dialogue,
pamphlets, and education.
Daniell agreed to expanding those
resources.
In the final leg of the debate, Pratt
presented his own amended opera-
UGBC, from A1
guide for first-year students.
Simons and McCaffrey will address the
University’s strategic planning in the first few
months of their term. The duo plans to have
conversations with the administration about
the future of the University, Simons said.
Simons and McCaffrey will begin their work
in May and continue their plans throughout
the summer.
Simons and McCaffrey were also the win-
ners of the UGBC debate held March 21. The
team received the most popular votes from
the audience following its discussion of diver-
sity issues and policy implementation.
McCaffrey originally planned to run as
the EVP to the current EVP, Olivia Hussey,
MCAS ’17. When Hussey dropped out of
the race for personal reasons, McCaffrey
recruited Simons to be her running partner.
The team joined the ballot when the Elections
Committee decided to extend the nomina-
tion deadline to create more competition.
Prior to the original Jan. 29 deadline,
Simons thought about running for UGBC
president. He ultimately decided against
it due to his busy schedule, he said. When
presented with the opportunity to run with
McCaffrey, however, he changed his mind,
Simons said.
Simons believes the extended elections
period this year negatively affected the
teams because it was difficult for the entire
student body to stay attentive for so long.
A lot of the campaign’s messages were lost,
Simons said.
“I think all of us who were campaign-
ing wish it was a little bit shorter,” Simons
said.
By Becky Reilly
Heights Staff
Boston College has many weeklong
events in its calendar dedicated to
women’s issues, faith concerns, and cel-
ebrations of other cultures. This week
features a new addition to bring issues
of diversity to light.
The FACES Council, along with the
Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercul-
tural Center, Black Student Forum, and
UGBC’s AHANA Leadership Council
and GLBTQ Leadership Council, pres-
ents Embrace Week, a new initiative to
celebrate BC’s racial diversity.
“BC does such good work with
weeks—Love Your Body Week, CARE
Week, FAST Week—and they’re huge
events, and they go so well,” said Grace
Kim, FACES Council secretary and
LSOE ’16. “So we hope this will add
to that,”
The inaugural Embrace Week has
four governing themes—service, love,
faith, and expression—that represent
issues that concern members of minor-
ity races, and also confront most BC
students.
Joon Young Park, the moderator for
the Thursday event and MCAS ’18, ex-
plained that the need for Embrace Week
came from a common sentiment that
events dedicated to celebrating AHANA
students and exploring the implications
of race and racism were only preaching
to the choir.
Therefore, the group wanted to cre-
ate a week to expand its reach and also
to recognize the importance of diversity
by institutionalizing a week on campus
to spread awareness and celebrate in-
tersectionality, Park said.
The first event, called “The State of
Service: Why Race Matters,” is a panel
between Rev. Don MacMillan, S.J., from
Campus Ministry, Mary Troxell, a
professor from the PULSE program,
and Brinton Lykes, a professor in the
Lynch School.
Because of the huge prevalence of
participation in service among under-
graduates, the panel’s organizers wanted
to draw on the topic’s wide appeal to
discuss issues of race—in particular,
the relative lack of students of color in
groups like the Arrupe program and
Appalachia Volunteers.
“[Service at BC] does have so much
to do with race, especially since pro-
grams like 4Boston and PULSE are
mostly serving communities of color in
Boston, and there are a lot of strengths
and weaknesses about the service cul-
ture at BC,” Abby MacLean, co-direc-
tor of the FACES Council and MCAS
’16, said.
Tuesday, with its theme of love,
features a UGBC-inspired event named
“The Black Queer Experience,” part of
GLC’s efforts to put on an annual event
to discuss the intersection of race and
sexual identity.
The multi-year topic stems from
assertions by GLC members that white,
gay males are typically discussed more
than GLBTQ people of other races or
genders.
“Loving Thy Neighbor: Race and the
Church” will take place on Wednesday,
featuring Brother Mickey McGrath, an
artist who has researched Sister Thea
Bowman extensively.
As part of Thea Bowman Legacy
Day, he will address the history of race
in the Catholic Church and of women
of color specifically. The crowd will
then be able to break out into small
groups for discussion.
“We go to a Catholic Jesuit institu-
tion,” Kim said. “We have to take the-
ology. Faith, for a lot of students, is a
huge experience. It’s about looking at
it with a critical eye, looking at where
the church has its shortcomings with
regard to race, but also where does it
celebrate racial diversity and diversity
in general?”
Thursday’s event is a familiar one:
the fifth annual Speak for Your Change
show.
The theme of celebration of diver-
sity closes out the week with presen-
tations from dance, spoken word, and
other performance groups, many of
which are cultural groups.
This year ’s show includes per-
formances by Juice, Voices of Imani,
Dynamics, Conspiracy Theory, and
spoken word artists.
“I think it’s a huge celebration of
the strength of diversity and just a very
powerful event every year,” MacLean
said. “So we wanted to close the week
as a whole [with the event], and we
wanted that theme of celebration to be
present in the entire week.”
Finally, between noon and 2:00 p.m.
on Friday, various event organizers and
mentors will be available for further
discussion of the week and its topics in
the Bowman AHANA and Intercultural
Center lobby in Maloney Hall.
The event’s organizers hope that
the week will be integrated annually
into BC’s calendar of events and is
interested to see how it will change
thematically after the board’s many
seniors graduate this spring.
In the short-term, they hope to
promote discussion of issues of racism
and diversity as well as celebration of
BC’s own internal diversity.
Park expressed his hopes for the
week to open dialogue on campus.
“[Diversity] is a part of all of our
lives, as is being able to accept it and
being able to learn from it and grow
from it and celebrate it,” MacLean said.
“It really is a week for everyone.”
UGBC Senator Meredith McCaffrey hoped to open up a dialogue concerning sex on campus at the Student Assembly debate.
AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
—Jim Kreinbring, director of administrative services in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs
O’Neill Library is now open all night on Fridays and Saturdays, beginning on April 1.SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Simons and McCaffrey, whose campaign slogan was “Strength in Unity, focused their campaign on quality, inclusivity, and accessibility.
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
tive text, combining both sides of the
debate’s contributions in one final
argument.
The final proposal stated that sex
positivity is defined as the right to be
open about one’s own sexual choices and
the responsibility to respect other peo-
ple’s sexual choices. This includes every
individual and group being allowed to
promote and stand by their own beliefs
and choices about sexuality.
Pratt also included part of Toghra-
madijan’s proposal: the administration
should strengthen its efforts against
sexual assault and release a public state-
ment outlining the resources available
to survivors and the process in place for
addressing perpetrators.
Notably, the final version of the pro-
posal also encouraged the University to
allow student groups to use their own
funds to pay for materials on sexual
education.
The final amendment, and in turn the
proposal, passed unanimously among
non-abstaining members of the Senate.
“For too long UGBC has remained
silent on the topic of sexual health and
education and silently consented to the
values of the institution,” Pratt said.
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THE HEIGHTS A4 Monday, April 4, 2016
KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Fifteen girls, two years, and one court.
A relatively new team on the Heights,
Boston College women’s club basketball is
ringing in its second year in considerable
style—a trip to nationals for the first time
later this month.
After going through the process of be-
coming an official club team last year, the
team is well into its second year and put-
ting up consistently strong performances.
Comprised of 15 girls, 12 of whom play
and travel with the team, it is a tight-knit
group on and off of the court.
“We have a lot of fun, probably too
much fun,” Jenn Cillis, team treasurer and
MCAS ’16 said. “We joke around a lot. It’s
intense but not too intense.”
Speaking to that intensity is the con-
siderably long season in which the team
is competitively active. Beginning with
tryouts in October every year, the team
practices continuously throughout the
winter and into the early spring, ultimately
culminating in April’s tournament season.
With sights set on the future, the potential
for a second round of tryouts early in the
second semester is currently under consid-
eration by the team’s executive board.
Though the season is long, spanning
practically the entire academic year, be-
ing one of the newest club teams at BC
makes for an active and fresh environ-
ment with a young group of players. The
potential for growth is huge, and as the
team gains momentum toward becoming
a well-established club sport, many of the
returning players continue to take on es-
sential administrative duties and expand
the e-board.
Current point guard Martha Veroneau,
CSON ’17, started the team alongside
Maria Ferrari, BC ’15, in the spring of
2014. It initially began as an intramural
team that went to the club tournament and
greatly exceeded expectations, ultimately
reaching the championship game. The
following semester, fall of 2014, the team
was granted club status and has continued
to grow in talent ever since. The level of
play is in between that of intramural and
varsity, and many of the girls involved
played competitively at the high school
level but have ambitions to continue play-
ing at a collegiate level.
Following the founding of the men’s
club basketball team the year before,
there was immediately an overwhelming
interest in expanding club basketball to
include a women’s team. The reception
was very positive, and the level of talent
that the team attracted was appropriately
quite high.
The competitive tone was set immedi-
PHOTO COURTESY OF CATHERINE VERONEAU
LAYLA ABOUKHATER
Ed. note: In 2014, Layla Aboukhat-
er, like many Syrians, packed up her
life and escaped from the violence of
her home city, Aleppo, in search of a
peaceful existence. This exodus led her
to the United States and ultimately to
Boston, where she quickly applied and
was accepted into the class of 2018 at
Boston College.
At 3:15 a.m. I woke up to the most
beautiful sound: beeping. That beep
beep beep of the washing machine
would go on every time the power
went back on. I knew there would be
at least another 45 minutes of electric-
ity. As opposed to other cities in Syria,
in Aleppo no one knew when the
power would come on or go out, but it
was always at the hour mark.
To say that I jumped out of bed
would be an exaggeration. Sleeping
over two woolen sheets and under
four thick blankets, it took me a while
to untangle myself from the blan-
ket fortress I usually slept in during
the colder months. I rushed to the
kitchen, put a pot of water over the
electric stove and hurried to look at
my electric to-do list for the day. I
was hoping to get everything done
as fast as possible, to use whatever
time that was left before the power
went out again to continue Game of
Thrones.
The day before, the power went out
just as I was 10 minutes into a Game
of Thrones episode—things were get-
ting intense, and my man Jon Snow
was in trouble. I tossed and turned
that night, not because of the nearby
shelling and ground-shaking missile
strikes—you get used to that. What
you don’t get used to is how many
times dear Jon ends up in near-death
situations, so I lay there worrying
about him, and about Bordeaux.
Bordeaux was where we usually
went to party, and we had a party
there the next night, and I desperately
needed some electricity to prepare
myself. So motivated by my need to
look on-point that night while also
having some extra time before the
power went out again to check on Jon,
I started plugging in all my electronic
devices to charge. Next I printed out
eight copies of “50 Shades of Mad-
Libs” for the sleepover after the party,
a fail-proof way to pee your pants
laughing. I turned on the electric
heater and directed it on an upturned
chair, on which my damp laundry
hung. Next: beautifying. I turned on
the flat iron in an attempt to straight-
en my wild hair for the upcoming
party, and attacked my constantly
growing unibrow with the tweezers
while the iron heated.
I usually don’t put myself through
the excruciating pains of hair straight-
ening, but that day I had calculated
that the party wasn’t going to be a hot,
sweaty one. It was December, freezing
outside, and whatever electricity the
generators were going to muster up
was going to be used for the lights, the
surround sound system, and mak-
ing sure that the bar was bright to
attract as many customers as possible
because the unenforced drinking age
was 18. No power would be wasted
on heating, which was perfectly fine,
because I knew that the masses of
YOLOers like me would warm the
place with body heat as we danced to
the usual mix of Arabic and English
music. One moment we’re singing
along with Mohamad Iskandar as he
exuberantly serenades the woman who
reigns his heart, next we join Sia as
she screams about being bulletproof.
Looking back, I’m glad ISIS didn’t take
us too literally.
As I straightened my hair, typi-
cally, my dad walked in just as Renly is
going down on Loras. I burnt myself
with the flat iron trying to switch off
the show quickly, but I don’t think I
was fast enough. After he turned on
the water pump, which I always forgot
to do, he awkwardly said goodnight
and went back to bed. I got to see
Arya rescue A Man, aka Jaqen H’ghar.
In retrospect, I wish she had left
him to burn. But the power went out
before I could see the last 10 minutes
of the episode, leaving me worrying
about Arya’s fate now—another sleep-
less night. Keeping up with the Starks
was taking its toll on me.
I accepted my defeat and decided
to call it a night. I went to get my
clothes hoping they had enough time
to dry, only to find that the cat and the
dog thought the makeshift drying rack
was a nest for them, so I pulled out my
now not only damp, but fur-covered
clothes from underneath their groggy
butts. The water was ice cold because
in my hurry I forgot to turn the stove
on, so I decided to skip the shower.
Besides, I could shower at my friend’s
house—she owed me three showers
so far. At this point my hair was half
straight, half electrical-shock style, my
laundry was soaking wet, covered in
fur, and smelled like wet dog, and my
dad thought I was into medieval gay
porn. Perfect.
I dug back into my blanket fortress,
hoping to sweat off the straight half
of my hair, and fell into a fitful sleep
dreaming about Jon Snow straighten-
ing his beautiful, messy, black locks
that caused The Wall to melt, and
The Islamic State of White Walkers
charged in and bombed everyone with
RPGs and wildfire.
But other than the bad dreams,
everything went well that Saturday
night: we partied—hard—my hair
was a mess (but let’s face it, that’s
just how I look), and we drank cheap
vodka mixed with pineapple juice. As
usual, we sang along with Iskandar
and Sia, peed our pants with laughter
during the sleepover, and Sunday was
morning Mass and then cramming for
upcoming tests—life just went on as
usual.
A few days later, a funeral proces-
sion for a fallen soldier went through
our street, shooting their kalash-
nikovs into the air, and a kid got hit
with a cold bullet and died. A funeral
and two midterms later, the Aleppo
University bombings took place at the
architectural school down the street
from my home. We got off easy, some
of our windows and doors burst out of
their frames, and my mom and Roxy,
our lab, who were in the garden, were
able to run inside before the hail of
rocks and debris covered where they
had been. But the bombings killed at
least 82 people, including students
and children. For two days people
were searching for a Carmelite nun
and the kid who ran errands for the
local supermarket, both of whom
had disappeared around the time of
the bombing. People were hoping to
find them misplaced in a hospital or
to find their remains. But nothing
was found of the nun because there
nothing was left to be found— she
happened to be right at the detonation
spot. As for the boy, his remains were
found on the roof of a nearby build-
ing. This all happened on the first day
of final exams. They got pushed back
two weeks, but afterward we went to
another party celebrating the end of
the delayed exams—life just went on
as usual.
Back to the present, and it’s three
weeks until the season six premiere,
three more weeks filled with anxiety
about Jon Snow’s fate again. But this
time I’m in the States, where the pow-
er situation is more reliable, and I’m
actually looking forward to being able
to watch an entire bloody episode in
one sitting. I’m at Boston College now,
where most of the action in my life is
courtesy of drunk seniors setting Iggy
on fire every other week, Netflix, the
BC movie Web site and the Fenway
Regal theater, where I get my healthy
dose of violence, gun shooting, and
explosions from movies like The 13th
Hour and Deadpool, from the safety of
the very comfy reclining chairs.
So yes—compared to Syria, it is a
bit safer and, therefore, lame, but if
you take the danger thrill away, it’s
exactly the same—underage drink-
ing and sweaty kids crammed into an
overcrowded space with cheap vodka
and awesome music.
Strong underclassman talent and senior leadership make the women’s club basketball team a formidable force on the court.
ately at its inception as a club sport—35
extremely qualified girls tried out for only
18 spots. This initial competitiveness
continues to grow and develop as the
team does, and the team boasts a group of
extremely active athletes, many of whom
participate in intramural teams as well.
Among the nuances of being a new
club team, open tryouts attracted players
from all grades, noted Cillis. Being an up-
perclassmen and participating in a newer
sport with no definitive precedent to work
with was, in her words, unexpected. Being
a junior leader on a competitive team has
been a novel and learning experience.
“Not a ton of seniors are on the team,”
Cillis said. “And not a lot of people get to
do that junior year.”
Despite this unique structure of senior-
ity that is indicative of the team’s infancy,
the athletes on the younger end of the
spectrum show a remarkable amount of
promise. It is understood that the key to
longevity is underclassman talent, and in
this regard the future is bright.
“We have a really strong group, espe-
cially freshmen,” Veroneau said. “They are
all coming off of their senior seasons of
high school basketball.”
Also crucial to the the team’s hot start
and continued success is its leadership
on the coaching and administrative side
of the ball.
At the helm as coach is Margaret
Brown, BC ’12, an older sister to team
members Martha and Catherine Veroneau
known for her intense and highly motiva-
tional halftime speeches. Though this po-
sition is Brown’s first coaching experience,
her basketball resume boasts a plethora
of intramural basketball championships
during her time at BC.
Also on the administrative side of
things, the e-board consists of president
Amanda Dames, LSOE ’16, vice president
Shea North, CSON ’18, treasurer Jenn Cil-
lis, MCAS ’16, and secretary Kara Foley,
MCAS ’17, as well as a team of campus
representatives.
As is the case with many club teams,
however, this structure of administration
doesn’t necessarily translate to a hierar-
chy within the team. When it is out on
the hardwood, everyone has an equally
important role.
“We are there to formally organize
stuff,” North said. “It isn’t divided at all.”
In addition, tryouts occur annually, and
there are no guaranteed spots for return-
ing players, even for former members of
the e-board. This competitive atmosphere
and rate of turnover creates a fluid and
dynamic atmosphere in which everyone
is treated equally on the team.
As far as competition is concerned, the
team competes mostly locally—Boston
University, Harvard University, Northeast-
ern University, and similar schools in the
Boston area are their primary opponents.
This competition takes place within the
National Intramural-Recreational Sports
Association (NIRSA) league, a national
governing body for club-level intercol-
legiate athletics.
The team’s guaranteed spot in NIRSA
Nationals comes after a recent victory over
rival BU in the championship game of the
NIRSA Regional Tournament at BU this
past March.
Though this qualification for the na-
tional tournament is impressive, it merely
follows a precedent set by last year’s debut
team. Last year’s team was able to secure
a spot in the national tournament, but it
did not have the funding to make the trip
due to its insufficient budget as a small,
first-year club team.
This year, however, things are differ-
ent. Properly funded and determined to
make a name for themselves, all sights are
firmly set on NIRSA Basketball Champi-
onships.
The team will travel to Ohio State
University from April 22 through 24 to
represent BC on the national stage.
The goal, in short?
“We plan to reel in the hardware, all
while finessing,” North said.
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THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014 B5
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THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014 B5THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016A6
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THE HEIGHTS A7Monday, April 4, 2016
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Ian Appel, assistant professor of fi nance
at the Carroll School of Management, is
fi ghting for the little guy. His most recent
paper, titled “Passive Investors, not Passive
Owners,” challenges the traditional percep-
tion of “passive investors” in the fi nancial
marketplace and is awaiting publication in
Th e Journal of Financial Economics. Co-written with the University of
Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business
faculty members Todd Gormley and Don-
ald Keim, the paper and its authors have
been recognized with signifi cant praise by
the Investor Responsibility Research Center
Institute (IRRCI).
The paper pushes back against the
traditional notion that people who invest
their retirement funds and other forms of
monetary wealth in large, passive institu-
tions like The Vanguard Group, which
hold trillions of dollars in assets acquired
through investors’ money and then invest
in other fi rms, hold little infl uence when it
comes to the corporate governance of the
fi rms that this money fi nds its way to.
“Th e paper is looking at these passive
investors,” Appel said. “Th ere’s a perception
among many people that these investors
don’t really matter in terms of how com-
panies are run, and so what we’re showing
in this paper is that they actually play an
important role.”
Appel explains that individuals who
invest their wealth in massive passive
institutions like Vanguard actually hold
more infl uence than traditionally thought,
and that this is a part of the reason why this
paper has gotten such liberal coverage and
positive attention.
“A big part of the jobs of me and my col-
leagues is doing research,” Appel said. “We
want to do really good research, and I think
it’s good for the school and so I think, not
just limited to this paper, that discoveries
and research like this are very important
to the University as a whole.”
Appel’s work has been nationally recog-
nized by professors at Harvard Law School,
Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal,among others, and has been presented at
many of the best business schools in the
nation.
Th ere are also broad implications that
this new method of thinking could have
around the world.
“Th ere is a growing trend towards lots
and lots of people investing their money
with institutions like Vanguard, and we
question what eff ect this has on the com-
panies that Vanguard invests in,” Appel said.
“And there’s this thinking that this could be
good for companies or this could be bad for
companies.”
Th ese passive investors were tradition-
ally believed to hold a lot less infl uence
than those who could buy and sell bigger
portions of stock in a fi rm itself, coined
“active investors.”
Appel explained that institutions’ con-
trol of assets worth almost as much as the
GDP of the world’s wealthiest nations has a
signifi cant impact that must be addressed.
“We’re showing that, at the end of the
day, there is a significant effect on the
corporate governance of how companies
are run because institutions like Vanguard
are playing an increasingly bigger role,” he
said.
CSOM Professor Ian Appel’s publication has received national acclaim for its comprehensive look at investor behavior.
KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Abrahamic religious texts—The
Bible, The Quran, and The Torah—are
often incorrectly cited to justify any
controversial action and give these ac-
tions a spot in the realm of “political
correctness.” Some behaviors, because
of common misconceptions rooted in
the improper citation and interpreta-
tion of the Abrahamic religious texts,
have developed a negative stigma.
Certain groups of people have been
mistreated and discriminated against
over interpretations of content within
the Abrahamic religious texts. Michael
Davidson, a Jesuit involved in Boston
College Campus Ministry, examines the
relationship between his fellow Jesuits
and the greater BC student body.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Davidson
was introduced to Catholicism by at-
tending church with other members of
his community, though his own family
was not religious.
We had a short conversation about
his job and his role campus ministry. I
cut the conversation off to progress to
an issue that has been close to my heart
for some time. I asked him about his
views on the LGBTQ community here
on campus. After countless encounters
with people who identify as LGBTQ,
I have listened to a plethora of heart-
wrenching stories, stories of hatred and
deprecation.
The LGBTQ community and the
Catholic community have historically
been at odds with each other, but Da-
vidson believes it is his role as a Jesuit in
the 21st century to serve as a mediator
between the two parties.
“Well, I think , like every other
student, they are students of Boston
College, and I don’t see them as any dif-
ferent,” Davidson said. “I mean, I don’t
care about people’s sexual preference.
I’m here to serve all people.”
This, to me, seemed like the proper
answer, the right answer. But it seemed
rehearsed. It was too politically cor-
rect. The dialogue of LGBTQ accep-
tance has been perpetuated for many
years, requiring tireless efforts and
even government intervention. Even
at acclaimed schools such as BC, many
refuse to respect the preferences of
others, using the content in religious
texts as their justification to degrade. I
wanted to know what Davidson really
thought about the LGBTQ community
here on campus.
“Our belief is founded in the Gospel,”
Davidson said. “Ignatius asked us to
find God in all things. And of course
there are some Jesuits who are liberal
and some who are conservative, but the
main fact is that all Jesuits are compan-
ions of Jesus.”
Davidson went on to explain that
this companionship with Jesus should
act as a bridge or facilitator for other
human relationships. Rather than alien-
ate people, this relationship with Jesus
is meant to unify—to lay a foundation
for fundamentally meaningful connec-
tions.
“When you’re a companion of Jesus,
you build a relationship, and that rela-
tionship helps you build other relation-
ships out of love,” he said. “It can’t be
built out of fear. It can’t be built out of
hate. It can’t be built on distrust. It can’t
be built on suspicion or judgement.”
Davidson, as well as other Jesuits, set
the example for the campus philosophy
as a whole. Davidson emphasizes that
Jesuits should not be confined to the
closed-minded stereotype to which they
often fall victim, just as he hopes that
other demographics are understood to
be a diverse group of individuals.
For those who currently struggle
with their sexual orientation and feel
negative external pressures, Davidson
has a message.
“I think that they have not come
to love themselves and to value them-
selves,” he said. “Like I said to you, you
cannot change other people—and if you
continue to let the people around you
not allow you to love yourself, then you
will live a very unhappy life. And God
didn’t call us to be unhappy. He created
us, and he wants us to be happy.”
Davidson used an analogy to sum up
how he believes the world should act in
light of disagreement or controversy,
effectively summarizing what Jesuits
and BC stand for and explaining why
love is a power.
“For example, [let’s say you don’t
like your boss],” Davidson said. “You’re
not going to sit there and say [‘I hate
my boss’]. You are going to say to your-
self, ‘All right, I can change me. I can’t
change him.’”
To Davidson, a healthy discourse
within oneself is crucial to building and
maintaining genuine and caring exter-
nal relationships with the people we
surround ourselves with. To be loving
in thought is just as important as it is
to be loving in action, and the two are,
undoubtedly, directly correlated.
“Making noise is feeding into that
particular [aggressive] type of behavior,”
Davidson said. “If he’s mean to me, I’m
not going to be mean to him.”
Davidson encourages people to
acknowledge when they are faced with
antagonism.
“I want to show him kindness. Love
begets love.”
To start, a quick PSA: if any col-
lege-aged student overhears his or
her parents talking about a long-haul
drive to Florida for the winter—shut
it down.
With the graduation of my younger
brother last year, I am most certainly
hearing these grumblings and, regret-
tably, I didn’t act fast enough.
This past winter, my parents made
the retirement-aged pilgrimage to
Southern Florida for what I thought
was a brief stint of three months.
Coming from a place where the
long-term Florida resettlement of
empty-nesters is as common as Equi-
nox memberships, I was aware of the
inherent dangers of this “trial” trip.
Countless friends who had ex-
perienced the reality of having their
parents vacate their childhood home
warned me of the long-term impli-
cations of this first foray into the
Sunshine State.
I can even remember the ignorant
bliss of helping my friend pack up his
childhood when his newly empty-
nester parents made the definitive
decision to permanently vacate his
local address and make the migration
to warmer climes.
For me, deciding whether to keep
or discard his childhood artwork was
an entertaining afternoon activity, but
I realize now that for him it was more
of a closing of a chapter in his life.
But again, I was pretty fearless
at the time—my parents had it too
good back home, and the dog, who
had more of a say in this matter than
my brother and me combined, would
definitely never approve.
So it came to pass, and between
semesters my brother and I found
ourselves thoughtlessly packing a
winter’s worth of clothing and gear
into the family car for a nearly 1,300-
mile journey south.
As we affixed the bike rack and
picked up the dog’s Xanax prescrip-
tion from the pharmacy (no, actually),
I can confidently say that the thought
of our days in Connecticut beginning
to be numbered never occurred to us.
As the mile markers and exits on
I-95 became less familiar and the air
around us slowly became warmer, I
started to think back to the uninhabit-
ed house that had long since departed
from our rearview mirror.
For the next three months, the only
activity within those walls in which I
grew into myself would be the product
of timers on lamps and the heat set on
a low hum.
Almost like a life-support system
for a house, the heat would be just
warm enough to prevent the pipes
from freezing.
The twice-a-day flick of the lights
and the low purr of the boiler were
finally starting to hit me. The thought
that this year those walls would miss
out on birthday cakes from our favor-
ite bakery and brightly colored Easter
pants began to haunt me.
It occurred to me that our mail
forwarding would mean that even the
mailbox would spend three months
without human touch. The same
mailbox in which I received my first
report card, or my first paycheck,
or even my acceptance letter to my
dream school would remain cold and
empty for the first time in my 20 years
of existence.
At that moment, the big envelope
from BC that arrived three years ago,
the envelope that began the slow two-
person exodus from the house, began
to seem more like a death sentence.
This train of thought was inter-
rupted by a fit of rhythmic highway
sleep, and, looking back, the same fit
of sleep kept it off my mind for the
duration of my short stay in Florida
with my family.
The warm sun and wide spectrum
of bright colors that Connecticut
lacked at the time kept me woe-
fully unaware of the life I was leaving
behind, and the rhythmic waves of the
ocean lulled me into a trance.
I flew out of the small local airport
and watched paradise shrink below
me, and with that ascension I woke
from this trance and remembered my
life, past and future, just a few degrees
of latitude north.
Though now, my mind a little more
tanned and a little more salt-washed,
had never felt farther away.
For the time being, my childhood
house is in the clear. The Florida
experiment was merely a rental, and,
like my brother and I, my parents with
their bike rack and my dog with her
Xanax made the trek back to those
empty walls. For one more spring and
summer, there will be lights and cakes
and flip-flops.
I suppose that all of these things
exist where family is, but still, the
sentimentalist in me cannot help but
wonder—whose report cards and
paychecks and acceptance letters will
inhabit that mailbox this time next
year?
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THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016A8
HEIGHTSTh e Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
THE
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”
-Edgar Allen Poe, Eleonora
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Th e Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity,
accuracy, and to prevent libel. Th e Heights also reserves the
right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accom-
pany pieces submitted to the newspaper.
Letters and columns can be submitted online at ww
bcheights.com, by e-mail to [email protected],
person, or by mail to Editor, Th e Heights, 113 McElro
Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.
EDITORIALS
The views expressed in the above editorials
represent the official position of The Heights, as
discussed and written by the Editorial Board. A list
of the members of the Editorial Board can be found
at bcheights.com/opinions.
In 1989, columnist Maria Sevilla advo-
cated for better sexual health education
in a column in Th e Heights. In the 27 years
since then, the issue of sexual health educa-
tion in relation to Jesuit Catholic ideals has
been consistently discussed on campus.
Citing Jesuit values, the University does
not distribute contraceptives on campus,
nor does it allow student groups to distrib-
ute them. Th is policy has come under fi re
in recent years, especially in the spring of
2013, when the University’s policies became
an issue of national concern. Th e New York
Times reported on Boston College Students
for Sexual Health (BCSSH), an unoffi cial
student group that has been working to
distribute contraceptives on campus since
2009. After this report was released, Uni-
versity administrators wrote a letter to par-
ticipating students urging them to desist and
threatening disciplinary action. Since then,
BCSSH has not become a registered group,
and progress for sexual health education has
largely stagnated on campus.
On Sunday night, the Undergraduate
Government of Boston College passed a
proposal to encourage the Boston College
administration to promote sexual positiv-
ity on campus, in part by allowing student
groups to use their own funds to discuss
sexuality and distribute contraception. Th e
proposal was passed with 22 members vot-
ing in support of it and three abstentions.
Funds given to student clubs are controlled
by the Student Organization Funding Com-
mittee, a student-run body that is separate
from UGBC. Funds disseminated by this
group come from the student activities fee
collected each year. Th e proposal asks the
administration to ease restrictions on how
that money—from the students—is spent.
So, the proposal does not ask the administra-
tion to directly use University funding, but
rather money directly from students.
In addition to easing control on student
funds, the proposal asks the administration
to release a public statement outlining the
resources available to survivors of sexual
assault and to create a place for address-
ing perpetrators. Th e Women’s Center and
programs such as Bystander have already
made eff orts to address sexual assault, and
in recent years the sexual assault policy has
been thoroughly—and successfully—re-
vised. But the University ought to issue a
statement clearly outlining its resources. If
UGBC, a representative body, believes that
the University has not been clear with its
sexual assault policies, BC needs to consider
issuing information on its resources publicly,
perhaps on a regular basis.
The original version of this proposal
lost in the Student Assembly and was then
revised to become more conservative and,
therefore, more likely to fi nd administrative
approval. As advocates for the student body,
UGBC is saying that students want to talk
about this issue.
Unlike other UGBC proposals that could
be said to only affect a portion of the stu-
dent body, sexual health affects virtually
everyone. This is a conversation students
want to have. And UGBC’s proposal makes
it possible for the administration to en-
courage a conversation on health without
using its own money to compromise its
Jesuit values.
UGBC’s proposal is not asking the ad-
ministration to condone students who are
sexually active, but rather saying that the
University should recognize that a discus-
sion on sexual health is necessary on col-
lege campuses. After years of struggling
to bring these issues to light, the proposal
is a positive step for the future of UGBC’s
executive council.
Stories of the Mind, a new documen-
tary series from PBS, will be screened
April 5 by University Counseling Services
(UCS) prior to its release.
This program is meant to show stu-
dents the difficulties of mental illness and
work to decrease the stigma surround-
ing it, something that the Undergradu-
ate Government of Boston College has
been advocating for this past year. UCS
and other mental health initiatives at
Boston College have received consider-
able attention recently as appointments
with counseling services increase and
students advocate for increased mental
health resources. Screening this series
is an effective program that provides a
necessary platform for increased aware-
ness of mental health.
The screening comes soon after the
announcement that UCS will be adding
two more full-time staff members: a staff
psychologist and a clinical postdoctoral
fellow. There has been a considerable call
for these new positions, which were made
possible through both University funding
and an anonymous donation.
This increase in counseling staff is
much needed, as demand for counseling
services has increased by 25 percent over
the past three years. The waiting period
for an appointment with UCS can be up
to two weeks during busy times of the
year—without increased staffing, this
shows no sign of changing.
As use of these services consistently
increases, it has been abundantly clear
that more staff members are a necessity
if UCS is to keep up with demand. The
addition of two new full-time staff mem-
bers is a good step toward this, but there
is still more that should be done.
Thomas McGuiness, associate vice
provost and previous director of UCS,
has said, “You could double the staff and
they’d still be busy,” in reference to UCS.
In the future, available funds should be al-
located to this service, as demand shows
no signs of decreasing. BC is just now
entering a new master plan cycle, as a
committee investigates University needs
and determines fund-raising goals.
Part of this new investigation is the
University Student Planning Initiative
(USPI), a group meant to determine
which parts of student life require in-
creased funding.
USPI should take into account that
mental health remains a prevalent issue
on campus and future fundraising efforts
should specify funds for UCS and other
mental health programs.
By designating funds for these pro-
grams BC would demonstrate engage-
ment with students and would help
provide much-needed resources for an
understaffed UCS and the students who
are increasingly seeking its resources.
Students and student groups should con-
tinue to advocate for this cause and push
for programs such as the documentary
screening as well as further increases in
staff size.
GABE PASTEL / HEIGHTS STAFF
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recommendations cut down the information
overload into digestible portions and make
the Internet a friendly place populated by
things we are familiar with.
The implications change drastically,
however, when the subject changes from
embarrassing searches to politics. As has
been widely documented, the Internet has
severely altered the face of politics in in-
numerable ways. Many pundits have said it
is at fault for many of the quirks of this year’s
presidential election, such as the prevalence
of outsiders and its fierce discourse. While I
believe there are many other factors at stake,
like the extreme erosion of the middle class,
the violent rhetoric has been encouraged
and intensified by how people are digesting
their political news.
While traditional media still reign su-
preme, an increasing number of people solely
receives political news from the Internet,
especially in younger demographics. The
traditional narrative has been that this revolu-
tion in media has given us access to every
little bit of information about politics: every
speech, policy proposal, bill, interview, and
tweet. Thus, we are able to come to a more
informed, nuanced view about the current
political issues facing our country. Yet, despite
the deluge of information at our disposal, our
browsing habits and web sites’ algorithms
often pave the way for us to enter an echo
chamber of political views, an insulated safe
zone in which differing opinions fall to the
wayside. This reverberation of agreement
strengthens our preconceived worldview and
solidifies our entrenchment into what we
think we know as truth.
Many people on the Internet, and on Face-
book especially, are constantly inundated with
evidence to support their worldview without
recognizing that they are in a curated medium.
Since Facebook will promote posts that we
will be more likely engaged with, a Bernie bro
will find abundant Sanders memes awaiting
him aside ads for free-range yoga mats, while a
Trump fan will see videos decrying the unfair
media coverage of the Donald next to an ad for
wall-building materials. Jokes aside, we often
find ourselves cordoned off from dissenting
opinions online without realizing the absence
of an alternative worldview. Algorithms dic-
tate what we see, ensuring we are complacent
in remaining steadfast to our political ways.
The very form of online political
discourse further exacerbates the cybernetic
echo chamber. Rather than encouraging
rational analysis about a candidate’s proposed
policy, our blistering pace of online consump-
tion paves the way for sound bites and quick
jokes that leave no room for nuance. We
converse in memes where you are either in on
the joke or not. You either “like” something or
ignore it. If you “like” it, you’ll see more of the
same. If you don’t, that point of view will fade
into the depths of your feed. The Internet’s
digital skeleton is adopted by our mind’s
framework, as our opinions become binary,
our worldview turning into an algorithm sift-
ing for supporting information and disregard-
ing the adversarial rest.
Of course, the corporate media filtered
content and established a political narrative
long before the Internet ever existed, and
it would be misleading to characterize the
Internet as the only entity that moderates its
content based on its consumers and advertis-
ers. We want to believe in an unbiased Web,
though. Our generation desperately wishes
that our incessant Internet usage is a force
for good, a way to free our minds from the
confines of simple times in media, in which
the only source of information lay in a syn-
dicated columnist or radio host. Yet we fall
victim to our arrogance and find ourselves
within the digital echo chamber, knowingly
or otherwise. In order to break free from our
online political prisons, we need to challenge
ourselves to game the algorithms driving our
consumption. Click on something that makes
you uncomfortable. Like something you dis-
agree with. Recognize that whatever you do
online will come back like a boomerang, so in
order to have a diverse feed, you need to have
diverse online consumption habits. Break the
binary. Crack the algorithm. It’s really not that
difficult to … oh, look! I gotta go watch this
video of Bernie hitting the quan!
THE HEIGHTSMonday, April 4, 2016 A9
MIKE LUPICA - Sometimes you’re just
sitting at your desk, thinking about
things to write for your thumbs up/
thumbs down column, when best-
selling sportswriter and BC alumnus
Mike Lupica walks in and shakes
your hand. Seriously. He wrote for
this paper years ago and randomly
stopped by this week. I don’t even
care about maintaining the second-
person voice thing for this. It was
one of the most unexpected mo-
ments I’ve ever experienced.
STROLLING - Walking is for your av-
erage chump. Pacing is for the neu-
rotic consumed with thoughts and
responsibilities. Promenading is for
an overweight man in a flowing robe.
But strolling is something entirely
different. The casual stroll is for the
profound and awe-inspiring. When
you’re really getting your stroll on,
everyone will know it. They’ll say,
“Now that’s a go-getter if I’ve ever
seen one, someone who knows what
life’s all about, you know what I’m
saying, Veronica?” Yes, Veronica
knows exactly what you’re saying.
READ RECEIPTS - These prove that
you’re an honest and trustworthy
human being. Letting your many
acquaintances, companions, and
school chums know that you’ve read
and carefully considered their mes-
sage of text is the best step to estab-
lishing trust. It can also be used to
blatantly dismiss and insult people.
Yes, I did read your message and
frankly, it didn’t impress me enough
to warrant a response. Come back
when you have something important
to say. Snort.
BACK SWEAT - Lugging around a back-
pack during a humid day often leads
to a thick layer of moisture stretch-
ing from in between your shoulder
blades to your entire back. It’s gross,
and you can’t escape it. Even when
you stop sweating, its cold, clammy
touch constantly reminds you of its
presence. You are forced to live out
the rest of the day as a disgusting,
sweaty mess, ashamed of your many
failures.
FORGETTING THE ‘WORKS CITED’ PAGE - When you turned in that
10-page paper on the pre-colonial
development of post-revolutionary
trigonometry, you were sure you’d
just secured yourself a big, fat A.
Now you’re just sitting in your room
eating bags upon bags of generic
poofy chips and watching election
coverage. But then you realize some-
thing horrible. You grab your laptop
and open the file. No works cited
page. Nothing. Not a single source
documented. You fool. The points
are already lost, child. You’ve failed
everyone.
FORGETTING THINGS - There’s noth-
ing more frustrating than crossing
campus, backpack over your shoul-
ders and Clint Eastwood-esque
expression on your face, prepared
to deal with some bidness. But then
you arrive at your destination, reach
into your backpack, and realize that
you’ve forgotten the most important
thing of all: the mayonnaise. Now
you’re going to have to walk all the
way back to your room because
there’s no way to take care of bidness
if you don’t have the mayonnaise.
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?
Follow us @BCTUTD
What’s a Boston College education
worth? In the Welcome #BC2020 video,
several important numbers for the latest crop
of Eagles didn’t make the cut.
For the class of 2020, tuition and fees to
attend BC will total $51,826 next year, with
cost of attendance at $68,294. Assuming tu-
ition-increase rates hold constant, it will cost
$79,328 to attend BC by the time the incom-
ing class of freshmen makes it to senior year.
Which brings us to the bigger question:
how are they going to pay for it?
The typical BC student takes on less in
direct federal loans than the average Massa-
chusetts graduate, with a median burden to-
taling $19,000 for those who accepted these
loans. But for many seniors sitting down at
their exit interviews in coming weeks, this
number will come as a bit of a shock. This
direct loan total, which is most commonly
used to represent total debt, is increasingly
at odds with the real borrowing trends of
undergraduates.
As reported this week in the Wall Street Journal, BC is among a group of colleges that
increasingly rely on loans taken on by parents
to cover the cost of attendance—even advo-
cating for lenders to create such loans. Parent
PLUS loans (which are federal loans taken on
by family members) and private loans are in-
creasingly common finance options excluded
from student debt statistics reported in the
Department of Education’s college scorecard.
For many families, particularly those with a
good credit history, these alternatives can be
an alluring supplement to traditional federal
direct loans, as they allow for more bor-
rowing and, in the case of private loans, can
come at a lower interest rate.
According to Title IV data on loan
disbursement by institution, 700 Parent Plus
loans were originated for BC families last aca-
demic year, at an average value of $24,815. The
$17.4 million in Parent Plus loans originated
dwarfed the $15.5 million originated in direct
loans over the same period—and yet their ex-
istence often goes unreported in most federal
and University resources on student debt.
At BC, where graduates earn well over
the national average starting salary for college
graduates, there’s a strong argument to be
made that taking on such debt is justified, but
for prospective members of the class of 2020,
the troubled state of student lending is a real-
ity often discarded in the marketing materi-
als. The national delinquency rate on federal
loans is now at approximately 17 percent,
with nearly 7 million Americans having not
made a payment on their loans in over 360
days. Private lenders, which largely fled the
student lending business in 2008 as default
rates spiked, are re-entering the market. And
families are increasingly assuming the debt
burden of their children’s educations.
The long-term viability of institutions like
BC depends on the sustainability of student
lending practices. In this time of relative
economic growth, families may be able to
assume private and federal debt to finance
their children’s educations, but we seldom
acknowledge the role these methods of fund-
ing play in increasing tuition prices—or how
it will be impacted should we enter another
recession. If universities are coming to expect
that parents take on some debt, they should
also do all in their power to educate students
and parents on this new “normal.”
Good information on the total debt taken
on by students and their families can protect
prospective students from predatory private-
lending practices and offer a clearer picture
of what their total debt will most likely look
like by graduation. Data on private and Parent
PLUS lending is equally important to stu-
dents whose parents do not qualify for such
loans, as there’s a chance they will need to
take on more personal debt than advertised.
The federal government should begin
including more than just median direct loan
disbursement in its College Scorecard and
encourage universities to disclose the same
in their financial aid statistics. Statistics that
get at the distribution of debt assumed, for
all types of federal and private loans, would
better prepare families for the financing
demands of a college education. It would
also keep universities and their stakeholders
honest about the economic risks assumed in
accepting exponential tuition growth as the
default for their institutions.
Three thousand six hundred fifty days:
the standard term for a federal student loan.
Ten thousand nine hundred fifty days: the
maximum term for Parent PLUS federal
loans. How will the class of 2020 be spend-
ing its days paying down the debt on its BC
education? Prospective students and their
parents deserve the entire picture.
might not have a taste at all. At that point,
when the service has lost its stimula-
tion, we’re forced to consider whether
our motivations are strong enough.
How much do we care about kids whose
parents have cancer? How willing are we
to field the seemingly endless calls at a
suicide center? Like in any relationship,
the spark of service can be revitalized
and even made stronger by commit-
ting ourselves to those being served.
Regardless of how we feel, the priority of
service generally remains the same: the
individuals being served, not those serv-
ing. It’s great that I may feel better about
myself for giving someone a sandwich,
but that act isn’t about making me feel
better—it’s literally about feeding the
other person. If my actual intention is to
improve my mood or opinion of myself,
then my relationship with service will
most likely prove an ill-fated one.
Our relationships with service are es-
sentially relationships with the people being
served. I might not be able to consistently
connect with the issue of homelessness, but
I can strengthen my connection with Alex at
his corner outside the Boston Public Library.
Volunteering at the same place consistently,
making personal connections, and attempt-
ing to understand people through varying
perspectives is what reminds us of the worth
of service.
The worms wriggling on the sidewalk
bother me for many reasons, but what
upsets me most is the knowledge that I can
become used to them—they can easily be-
come sliding lines, lifeless as the rain. When
I came to Boston for the first time, I would
worry about every person I saw sleeping on
the street. Now I find my eyes sliding past
them. I used to care too much, and then I
cared too little, and now I simply forget to
consider them. We can’t account for every
creature, so maybe it’s best that we forget
the worms. But humans—shall I state the
obvious?—are not worms. We’re the most
conscientious species, the only one that can
boast of being more than animals. In form-
ing relationships and honoring them, we
assert this humanity: both in ourselves and
in those we serve.
focusing so much on the worms around me,
might I run the risk of neglecting a greater
issue? Staring at the ground means I’m not
looking at the world around me. If I run to
one extreme in service, however well-in-
tentioned, I run the risk of later swinging to
the other extreme. Some days I spend a few
minutes helping out the worms—and other
days I don’t bother to think about them.
The struggle here isn’t about lack of
interest or empathy, but rather about
sustaining the two. It’s a problem that, at
least at first glance, doesn’t seem to concern
BC students, considering our tendency to
serve. Most of us are involved in some form
of service, if not several: Arrupe, Camp
Kesem Chestnut Hill, St. Joseph Project,
Jamaica Magis, 4Boston, APPA, BC Bigs,
Campus School, and PULSE, to name a
few. Competition is often fierce for these
opportunities because so many BC students
genuinely desire to serve. And graduating
from BC doesn’t necessarily mean that we
graduate from these commitments—many
BC students join the Jesuit Volunteer Corps,
the Peace Corps, or Teach for America. As
far as service is concerned, we millennials
appear to be cresting the wave.
But there’s another side to this, as well.
I’ve seen one service organization at BC
peak at 40-50 active members on a single
day—and now, a year later, maybe half a
dozen show up. With all of the service-ori-
ented organizations I’ve joined on campus,
I’ve noticed a tendency in the student body
to be intimately involved at times and no-
tably absent at others. In opening ourselves
up to new perspectives, personalities and
connections, we make ourselves vulnerable
to pain and joy alike. That’s to be expected.
What we don’t expect is the numbness of
boredom. And irritating fellow volunteers.
And distractions. And personal problems
that make working at the soup kitchen seem
unimportant. The honeymoon period fades,
and we struggle with our relative weakness
in the face of a hugely complicated world.
As we become more accustomed to service,
whether it be charity or justice, we see with
less idealism and more practicality: the
social situation is a snarled mess of knots,
hardened by rain and time.
A real relationship requires effort and
perseverance. It has sustenance, and because
of that sustenance, it doesn’t always have an
exciting or even enjoyable taste. In fact, it
I don’t like to look at the sidewalk after
rainstorms because of the dying worms. If I
see them on the ground, wriggling help-
lessly, I feel obligated to move them. And
the second I kneel to reach one worm, I
spot another in a similar predicament. It
once took me 10 extra minutes to get to the
Plex because I continued to discover worms
in distress. I do this even though I know
that inevitably, we all die—worms far more
quickly than humans. A worm that I move
at noon could easily be dead by 12:03 from
any number of causes. It seems like a futile
attempt, and I struggle with that decision
every time it rains.
Partially, my feelings are founded in
compassion. I was a vegetarian for nearly
five years. I based that lifestyle on the belief
that if I could avoid causing harm to other
organisms and still live a well-balanced life, I
should do so. I’m not a vegetarian anymore,
but that philosophy hasn’t changed. It’s
illogical and possibly immoral for me to
prevent the natural course of life and death,
but to some extent, I also realize that life
should be appreciated. And if moving one
worm from the sidewalk to the grass nearby
means that I’ve reduced the possibility of an
unnecessary death, I think that’s an action
worth taking.
And, I want to maintain my identity.
I’d rather be ridiculous and compassionate
than risk becoming practical and callous.
It’s important that I consider myself a good
person and an individual. I’ve been taught to
believe that the leaders of tremendous social
change, the great writers and revolutionar-
ies, are the oddballs who embrace their
oddities. I like to think there’s something
great in my saving the worms, in particular
because the task seems so worthless.
But to some extent, I have to decide the
healthy limits of my beneficence. I can stop
and move one worm from the sidewalk,
or maybe two, or maybe three—but if I’ve
stopped 10 times to move worms from the
sidewalk and I’m missing class as a result,
I’ve begun to act against myself. And if I’m
Based on your browsing history, this
article would be perfect for you! How many
times have we seen this phrase flashing
across our screen, prompting us to enjoy yet
another blurb based on last week’s Internet
surfing? Even if it isn’t explicitly stated, our
Facebook feed and Google searches are often
influenced by our online habits. Sometimes,
Facebook gets it right, and we find ourselves
on a never-ending binge of Harry Potter-re-
lated Buzzfeed quizzes. Other times, we wish
the Internet would forget about that one time
we accidentally searched for body chocolate,
cringing each time it comes across our Ama-
zon “For You” section.
For better or for worse, the way we experi-
ence the Internet is always influenced by our
previous history on it. Facebook’s algorithm
shows us posts that we’re more likely to click
on, Google will present pages in our searches
related to our browsing history, and ads all
over the Internet will be reminiscent of our
online habits. Our interests cause similarly
related items to pop up and thus reinforce
what we have already been attracted to, send-
ing us in the same direction we were already
headed. In a way, we corner off a little piece of
the Internet as ours, and stay safe behind the
walls of what’s known to us: columns, pages,
videos, and sites related to our previous likes,
shares, searches, and clicks.
There are certainly issues with advertis-
ers tracking our every online movement and
possibly grave consequences of governments
harnessing this power, but the ramifications
for the everyday college student are relatively
benign. Sure, reminding us of that acciden-
tal body chocolate search on our family’s
Amazon Prime account may result in some
awkward dinner conversations, but recom-
mendations on what to read or watch are
extremely helpful in the infinitely expanding
global network that is the Internet. These
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For something that sounds like an oxymoron,
the field of medical humanities has been able to
delve into the creative minds of health care profes-
sionals and provide a glimpse into the human side
of medicine. On Saturday, April 16, from 10:30
a.m. to 3 p.m., the medical humanities minor at
Boston College will host its first medical humani-
ties conference, entitled Body, Voice, Narrative:
An Interdisciplinary Discussion in Medical Hu-
manities. Medical humanities minors Katherine
Carsky, MCAS ’16, Abigail Dryer, MCAS ’17, Emily
Sokol, MCAS ’17, and Nicholas Raposo, CSON
’18, organized the event with the help of Rachel
Ernst, GMCAS ’19, over the course of an entire
year. The conference will explore the intersection
between medicine and the humanities and will fea-
ture presentations of submissions by writers from
around the Northeast, concluding with a keynote
address by Jonathan Adler, associate professor of
psychology at both Olin College of Engineering in
Needham and Wellesley College.
Over the past 40 years, health care has incor-
porated the unique perspectives offered by other
disciplines for an increasingly well-rounded ap-
proach to medicine. The 1970s and ’80s saw a social
revolution in the field, with people challenging the
traditional ways of learning medicine and clinical
practice. The term “medical humanities” came
from the desire for a more humanistic approach
to health care, treating the whole person instead
of focusing only on the illness.
To meet this demand, universities soon began
offering medical humanities programs—however,
these courses were usually only offered at the
graduate level to medical school students. Fifteen
BC faculty members, representing a wide range of
academic fields, collaborated to develop a medical
humanities program for the University modeled
after existing programs at other institutions. The
BC medical humanities program soon took on
its own form—it remains one of the few medical
humanities programs in the nation to be offered
exclusively at the undergraduate level and draws
on the University’s commitment to ethics and
social justice.
After two years as a pilot course, the minor
became a permanent offering to students in 2014.
Students take courses in global health, ethics, nar-
rative medicine, natural science, and social science
through different departments to form a more
holistic view of health care and the person.
“Medical humanities minors are interested in
immersing themselves in humanistic approaches to
health care,” Amy Boesky, director of the medical
humanities minor, said, noting that students drawn
to the minor have also been influenced by strength
of the humanities at BC. The minor supplements
the standard courses students would take for
their major and asks them to consider health care
through a multidisciplinary lens.
“The medical humanities minor is one of the most
important things I’ve done,” Carsky said. “It’s some-
thing I didn’t realize I was missing until I was actually
getting involved with these different classes. They’re
things I wouldn’t have done otherwise and have really
brought my whole education full-circle.”
The minor prepares students for the collabora-
tion they can expect in their professional careers,
especially in health care.
“Health care is, in its nature, interdisciplinary
and involves teamwork,” Boesky said. “Students
like having that approach in the classroom and in
their extracurriculars, eventually [preparing them
for] their professional lives.”
The idea for the conference came in the form
of an email, in which Boesky asked Carsky, Dryer,
Sokol, and Raposo, who were all in the same Intro-
duction to Medical Humanities class, if they would
be interested in organizing the event.
Ernst, who had previous experience prepar-
ing a conference for her graduate class, helped
to call for submissions, book a venue, and handle
finances. The speakers selected to present at the
conference are a diverse group consisting of both
undergraduate and graduate students from BC and
other institutions.
“Considering what the minor is and what the
students want to get out of the experience, the
event will be useful to both our students and stu-
dents at other schools,” Ernst said. “It’s a personal
narrative-driven conference—they can appreciate
the breadth of projects and share in other people’s
experiences, which will hopefully open up discus-
sion and dialogue.”
Carsky emphasized that medical humanities is
what the individual makes of it. “For those who’ve
never had the exposure to medical humanities, it’ll
be a really neat opportunity to see how much more
there is to medicine,” she said.
As indicated by its title, the conference is cen-
tered on three themes. The first—“Body: Living
with Adversity”—features panelists Kyle Carr and
Salijooq Asif, MCAS ’15. Carr, a Ph.D. candidate
in sociology at BC, previously worked with indi-
viduals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a
disease of the central nervous system that disrupts
communication among the nerves within the brain
and throughout the body. His research interests in
medical sociology and aging, along with his knowl-
edge of MS, inspired his presentation, entitled “‘MS
Warriors’: The Idiosyncratic Identity Process for
Individuals Diagnosed with MS.” Asif is currently
pursuing a master’s degree in narrative medicine
at Columbia University. His background in health
journalism, interest in the media’s portrayals of
race, gender, and socioeconomic class in regard
to health care, and ABC Family’s Switched at Birth inspired his presentation, entitled “Neither
Illness nor Disability: Deaf Gain in ABC Family’s
Switched at Birth.”
The second theme, “Voice: Cultural Percep-
tions of Illness, ”features artwork by Karolina
Mieczkowska, MCAS ’17, writing by Derek Mc-
Cracken, and photography by Emily Simon, MCAS
’15. Mieczkowska will present “Staring,” a personal
narrative based on her experience with a benign
tumor.
A medical humanities minor, Mieczkowska
plans to become a physician and works to main-
tain a literary presence along with her regular
science classes. McCracken is currently pursuing
a master’s degree in narrative medicine at Co-
lumbia University and uses public health narra-
tives as a platform to advocate for marginalized
communities and victims of sexual assault. His
presentation, entitled “Checking in on the Czech:
Macho Medicine Metaphors in ‘The Prostate
Czech’ PSA” raises awareness about men’s sexual
health. Simon, a Ph.D. candidate in English at BC
and account management executive for Emerald
Group Publishing in Cambridge, is interested in
the search for identity and the portrayal of the
female body in 20th-century American literature
and visual art. Her presentation, entitled “‘Very
little is about their everyday lives’: Terminal Illness
and The Everyday in Nixon’s AIDS Photography,”
features work by photographer Nicholas Nixon
chronicling the struggle to find one’s identity in
everyday life.
The third theme, “Narrative: Health Care Ex-
periences,” features poetry from Colleen Brady,
MCAS ’16, Sarah Ramsey, CSOM ’18, and Mc-
Cracken about their experiences handling illness
face-to-face. Brady uses creative writing as a
reflective outlet.
Her volunteer work with children, the elderly,
and the homeless was the inspiration for her
presentation, entitled “What Matters in the End,”
a poem about the stages of dying based on her
volunteer experience in hospice care. Ramsey is
an editor for the BC Medical Humanities Journal and runs a food blog named Sweet Olympia. She
plans to pursue a health career in nutrition and
exercise and will present her poetry on aging and
the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. McCracken
will present “A View from the 25th Floor,” a series
of poems on chronic illness.
What began as a collaborative effort among
BC faculty has begun to bear fruit in the form
of student-led initiatives promoting the medical
humanities to a greater audience.
“I’m excited by the way in which the students
have been able to do innovative program planning,”
Boesky said. “That’s where the interdisciplinary
work really happens.”
THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016 A10
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
—Katherine Carsky, MCAS ’16
networks with others. Additionally, Mehta gave the example of The
Law of 33 Percent—how 1/3 of every person’s time needs to be spent
with mentors, peers, and mentees.
“Find those who enable you, and be someone to enable others,”
Mehta said, leaving the audience with these final thoughts.
Rob Mudge, CSOM ’16, started his talk, “A Reflection On Reflec-
tion: Why a Jesuit Education Places So Much Importance On Self
Introspection,” with the audience taking part in an examen reflection.
Mudge highlighted how programs at BC use reflection as a way to
focus on what each program provides. By understanding its Jesuit
Catholic identity, students at use reflection in activities and groups
that aren’t necessarily religious, but choose to look at how to answer
the “why,” Mudge said. He asked the audience to see how the St.
Ignatius statue on campus depicts St. Ignatius as a pilgrim, not as a
saint. He was on a journey, and every journey takes time, Mudge said.
Finally, Mudge focused on comparing two types of people, and asked
the audience members to see themselves as the pilgrims.
“A pilgrim is not a tourist,” Mudge said. “A tourist goes on a jour-
ney for the destination. A tourist goes through the city, a pilgrim lets
the city go through them.”
“HOOPs!,” a talk given by Teresa Schwarz, Vienna University ’17,
was named after the program that stands for Helping Overcome
Obstacles in Peru and seeks to guide those in Peru through a special-
ized program. In Flora Tristán, Peru, HOOPPeru tries to alleviate the
cycle of poverty in the town through child education, adult education,
health and social work. Some of the lessons discussed were “you
can’t do it alone,” “lead the development,” and “be flexible!” Schwarz
focused on explaining to the audience her path to cofounding this
NGO and her experience working in Peru.
James Kale II, LSOE ’16, discussed how the achievement gap in
the United States needs to be defined and looked at with educational
measures in his talk, “The Lagging Duckling: Opportunity in the
African Diaspora.” Kale focused on how there is a direct link between
education and self-identity.
“A strong sense of self-identification helps someone lead to who
they are, through connection with others,” Kale said.
He highlighted how second-generation immigrants of African de-
scent decline in education as they assimilate to American culture.
“Opportunity is now here,” Kale said.
Christopher Keegan, CSOM ’18 talked about his ADHD and
how that has affected him in his lifetime and his journey to BC in his
talk, “Time and a Half in Time.” He focused on the disorder itself, by
highlighting its terms and the connotations of the deficit. By breaking
down the label, Keegan drew attention to how in society we’ve created
someone who doesn’t fit into a mold and is put aside. Keegan also
explained the distinction between involuntary and voluntary atten-
tion, as well as what each means. Finally, he spoke about his journey
in school to understanding his acknowledgement of his ADHD and
how he has to deal with peers and friends who looked at ADHD as
an advantage in a higher-level academic environment due to abuse
of ADHD medication such as Adderall.
“There is no extra time in the real world,” Keegan said. “Those
with ADHD have to work twice as hard.”
Lucas Allen, MCAS ’16, delivered the thesis of his speech, “Pan-
demic under Patent: How Brazil Broke the Rules to Change HIV/
AIDS,” by breaking down the use of patents in the pharmaceutical
world. After his six-month study abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Allen saw
how Brazil approached the HIV/AIDs pandemic by administering
free and equal access to treat those with the disease.
He then challenged the audience to imagine what a world would
look like where health is a human right. We are far from that type
of lifestyle, Allen said, but challenged the audience to look at how
patents are used.
“Do we really need patents for innovation?” Allen asked.
BC Talks, from A1
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INSIDE SPORTS TU/TD...................................B2Sports in short............................B2Lacrosse................................B2THIS ISSUE
SPORTS B1
MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016
As 2015 starts to drift into the rear-
view mirror, Boston College football has
attempted to look for signs for optimism
moving forward. On Saturday, the Eagles
received that good news.
Two of BC’s key players—quarterback
Darius Wade and running back Jonathan
Hilliman—have each received redshirts
for their injury-plagued sophomore
seasons, according to an update on BC’s
official website. This guarantees Wade
and Hilliman an extra year of eligibility
for the 2018 season.
Wade entered 2015 as BC’s starting
quarterback. His season was cut short in
the third game against Florida State, after
defensive tackle Nile Lawrence-Stemple
sacked Wade and broke his left ankle.
Wade ended with 21 completions on 42
attempts, two touchdowns, one intercep-
tion, and 232 passing yards, as well as 73
yards on the ground.
Throughout spring practices, Wade
has gone in full contact and pads, and
appears to have the same strength on
that ankle that he had before the injury.
He is expected to play behind graduate
transfer Patrick Towles, who is from the
University of Kentucky. After Towles’
one season, however, the starting job
should be Wade’s to lose—he’ll only have
to compete with incoming freshman
Anthony Brown.
The news regarding Hilliman is even
bigger for the Eagles. The Plainfield, N.J.
native broke onto the scene as a fresh-
man with 860 yards on 230 attempts and
13 touchdowns. In 2015, Hilliman had
an up-and-down start in his first three
games before exploding for 119 yards
on the ground against Northern Illinois.
But as soon as Hilliman appeared to be
hitting his stride, his season was over
as well.
In that game against the Huskies,
Hilliman broke his left foot—an injury
he doesn’t even remember sustaining.
Typically, to receive a medical hardship
waiver, a football player must appear in
less than 30 percent of his games—with
only 12 games in BC’s season, Hilliman
appeared in four, or 33 percent. Never-
theless, the exemption was granted.
After this season, seniors Myles Willis
and Tyler Rouse will depart. With no run-
ning backs in BC’s 2016 recruiting class,
that would leave Hilliman and Richard
Wilson as the only guaranteed players
at the position in 2017. With Hilliman’s
extra year of eligibility, this puts less
pressure on head coach Steve Addazio to
scour the nation for an impressive fresh-
man back in his 2017 class.
C olu m n : N F L Up i n Sm o keAssoc. sports editor Riley Overend argues that the NFL and Big Tobacco are a lot alike.....B2
Baseball: Snow-bitten Sweep The Eagles were swept by FSU after snow cancelled games on Saturday and Sunday....B4
DREW HOO / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Running back Jonathan Hilliman (32) gained 119 yards against NIU before breaking his foot.
FOOTBALL
MEN’S HOCKEY
Ryan Fitzgerald has had a flair for the dramatic this post-
season.
Vermont (and its faithful fans who trekked down from
Burlington) nearly took down Kelley Rink early in overtime
during the final game of a best-of-three series with Boston
College men’s hockey with a shot that almost crossed the
goal line. Now on the brink of a third-consecutive Hockey
East Quarterfinal collapse, BC used the momentum of the
Catamounts’ missed opportunity to bombard goaltender Packy
Munson. One by one, the freshman turned each of the Eagles’
opportunities away.
Until Fitzgerald stepped up.
The junior blasted a shot from between the circles that
caromed off several Vermont defensemen and into the back of
the twine. With his stick in the air and a small fist pump with
his left hand, Fitzgerald was mobbed by his teammates. For the
first time since 2013, the Eagles would have an opportunity to
play a third game at TD Garden.
In the Northeast Regional, Fitzgerald did it yet again—
though he wasn’t expecting this time to be so crucial.
Entering the third period up 2-0 on Minnesota Duluth and
with Thatcher Demko showing no signs of letting up, BC looked
destined for a trip to Tampa. But Fitzgerald, never satisfied,
aimed to make his goaltender’s job a little easier.
“You’re never comfortable with a 2-0 lead,” Fitzgerald said
after practice this week. “You always want a third.”
Fitzgerald measured up 6-foot-6 defenseman Brenden
Kotyk, skating slowly to his right while deking back and forth.
When he wound up, Kotyk lost his balance and lunged in front
of Fitzgerald’s incoming shot. The junior exploited a screen in
front of Duluth’s Kasimir Kaskisuo to sneak the puck just past
his left arm. The goal gave BC the cushion it would need to
ALL IN THE FAMILY
See Fitzgeralds, B3
DREW HOO / HEIGHTS EDITOR
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
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THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016B2
BERMUDAN BALLER While
students returned to campus
from Easter Break last Tuesday,
midfi elder Zeiko Lewis was in
Havana representing his home
country of Bermuda—which
runs the infamously elusive
Bermuda Triangle off ense—in
an international match with
Cuba.
OH, BROTHER The national
championship game will hold
a little more weight for Nova’s
Kris Jenkins and UNC’s Nate
Britt. Jenkins and Britt are ad-
opted brothers who played high
school ball together. There’s
nothing better than winning a
national title AND beating your
brother, right?
SPRING HAS SPRUNG- Can
you smell it in the air? Freshly
mowed grass, hot dogs, beer,
and another heartbreaking year
for the Chicago Cubs? Baseball
season is back, baby.
DEATH BY BUNT - With a runner
on second and no outs, Jake
Palomaki laid down a bunt to
advance the runner and help
erase Birdball’s one-run defi cit
to FSU. Th e bunt resulted in an
out at third, killing the rally with
yet another small-ball gaff e.
YEAR OF “ALMOST” - Lacrosse’s
15-14 loss to UVA marked
the third time this season that
the team suffered a one-goal
defeat to a ranked opponent.
Th e Lax gods are not looking
down kindly upon the Eagles
right now.
SPRING HASN’T SPRUNG - The
weather played a nice April
Fool’s Day trick on everyone
when it gifted us with a shorts-
and-sandals sunny day before
bringing a weekend of snow
and rain. Th e elements caused
cancellations of both base-
ball and softball games against
Florida State and Virginia, re-
spectively.
THUMBS
UP
THUMBS
DOWN
Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?
Follow us @HeightsSports
“We have one essential job—
which can be simply said: Stop
public panic … Th ere is only one
problem—confi dence, and how
to establish it; public assurance,
and how to create it.”
Go on, take a guess. Was
this quote from Big Tobacco, a
climate-change denier, or the
NFL?
Th e above excerpt was
actually taken from the tobacco
industry’s leading PR fi rm, Hills
& Knowlton, in 1953. In the face
of concrete evidence that linked
smoking cigarettes to lung
cancer, Philip Morris and other
cigarette companies orches-
trated a marketing campaign
that smeared credible science in
order to conceal the dangers of
America’s favorite addiction.
As countless indisputable
fi ndings emerged that linked
cigarettes to health risks, the
industry and its lobbyists
struggled to maintain the image
of the classic tobacco brand.
Finally, by the 1990s, a legal
blitzkrieg demanding billions of
dollars in damages threatened
to bankrupt Philip Morris and
its competitors, exposing the
cover-ups and teen-targeted
marketing schemes that plagued
the industry.
It took over three decades,
but science prevailed over cor-
porate interests. For a moment,
at least.
It wasn’t long before a
nonsensical, climate-change
denialist crusade gained traction
and peaked around the turn of
the century. Phony scientists,
cozy in the pockets of fossil
fuel giants, published studies
downplaying global warm-
ing and labeling the scientifi c
consensus as alarmist. Worried
about government regulation in
response to the environmental
EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Emily Fahey / Heights EditorCupicatuidet L. Fulessedo, querfecta, nihilicii ineri fic
SPO
RTS
in S
HO
RT Numbers to Know ACC Football Standings Quote of the Week
Getting on the southbound
bus to Virginia, Boston College
lacrosse knew it was in for a
fight, as it is with most confer-
ence adversaries. This week’s
opponent: the Virginia Cavaliers,
a team that, like BC (6-5, 1-4
Atlantic Coast), has struggled
to find conference wins this
season.
As the season begins to reach
its final stretch, this was a great
opportunity for both teams to
notch a conference win. No. 10
BC had its opportunity to add
its second conference win of the
season on Saturday but failed.
The Eagles came into the
game fresh off of a loss at home
in a barnburner to the UNC
Tar Heels, and looked to re-
gain some momentum against
No. 15 Virginia (6-6, 1-4) in
Charlottesville, Va. Winning in
Klockner Stadium is a tall order
under any circumstances, and
BC had to fight hard to keep the
game close.
In this high-scoring shoot-
out, BC found itself playing
catch-up from the beginning,
as the Cavaliers struck early
and often in each half to extend
their lead. And while the Eagles
battled back fiercely, UVA held
on just enough to seal the vic-
tory, beating the Eagles by a
score of 15-14.
The scoring started very early
on in this matchup, with UVA
drawing first blood a mere 13
seconds into the game with a
goal from Maggie Jackson. Seven
minutes passed before Jackson
notched her second goal of the
game for the Cavaliers, giving
UVA a 2-0 lead. Caroline Mar-
golis responded for BC three
minutes later, scoring her first
goal of the game. UVA and BC
then exchanged goals, keeping
the score close at 3-2. BC also
posted two more goals in the
half, but only to be outdone by
three UVA goals that brought
an end to the half, with a score
of 6-4.
The second half featured
an offensive breakout by both
teams. UVA again struck first,
posting the first three goals of
the half. But the Eagles broke the
Cavalier’s 4-0 run with a goal by
Kenzie Kent. This didn’t disrupt
the UVA offense, however, and
the Cavaliers poured on another
three goals to lengthen their lead
to 12-5.
But BC came alive and began
its response with three goals,
two of which came off the stick
of Kate Weeks. Jackson scored
again for the Cavaliers, but the
Eagles then went on their biggest
run of the game, scoring four
straights goals. Sarah Mannelly
scored two unassisted goals dur-
ing the streak to bring BC within
one goal of tying the game, set-
ting the score at 13-12.
But two more UVA goals
followed, the second following
the first by only 51 seconds,
and the latter goal would prove
to be the game winner for the
Cavaliers. But BC also posted
two more goals before the end
of the game, courtesy of Tess
Chandler and Mannelly to set
the score at 15-14. BC couldn’t
notch an equalizer goal to send
the game to overtime.
BC has had some trouble
winning conference games this
season, posting a 1-4 record on
the year. ACC competition is
tough annually, and so the Eagles
will need to work on starting
games off with more intensity
to find success.
The team has also struggled
when playing away from Newton,
with a current road record of 3-4.
The Cavaliers have struggled in
conference play as well, and the
win over the Eagles is their first
ACC win of the year. Though BC
put together a solid comeback
bid in the second half, it wasn’t
enough to overcome the Cavalier
lead that they had built early in
the game.
LACROSSE
movement, conservative think
tanks hopped onboard the train
of skeptics. So did the media.
Marc Morano, climate deni-
alist talking head and Rush Lim-
baugh protege, made 30 TV ap-
pearances between 2009-2014,
once even claiming that climate
scientists “deserve to be publicly
fl ogged.” A pattern of granting
equal coverage to illegitimate
claims bred biased reporting.
Today, despite increasing sup-
port for an international agree-
ment regulating greenhouse gas
emissions, the U.S. remains one
of the least concerned nations
regarding global climate change.
What does this all have to do
with football?
Well, it appears as if the
corporate attack on science has
found a new battleground on
the gridiron.
New data gathered by the
New York Times has revealed
that the NFL skewed concussion
data to whitewash the severity
of the problem, omitting over
100 diagnosed concussions be-
tween 1996 and 2001. To make
matters worse, the league shared
lawyers, consultants, and lobby-
ists with the grandfather of fake
science: Big Tobacco.
Th ese fi ndings support
Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve
Fainaru’s assertions in League
of Denial, that the NFL repeat-
edly discredited independent
concussion studies in favor of its
own distorted data.
Th e news should hit close to
home for Patriots fans who wit-
nessed the Defl ategate scandal—
a controversy regarding the air
pressure of footballs during the
2015 AFC Championship game
against the Colts—and the ensu-
ing Wells Report that accused
Tom Brady & Co. of cheating.
But a closer look at the
investigation raises questions
about its validity. Ted Wells, the
attorney tasked with leading the
“independent” evaluation, has a
history of defending high-profi le
clients and major corporations
in messy scandals, including
tobacco giant Philip Morris. For
research, he hired Exponent,
Inc., a consulting fi rm accused
of generating results benefi -
cial for its clients. In 1989, it
defended Exxon in the Valdez
oil disaster.
More recently, the company
argued that unloading oil waste
in the Ecuadorian rain forest
does not increase cancer rates.
Exponent’s largest shareholder
was also a member of the board
of Chevron Corp., which com-
missioned the study.
Perhaps worst of all, the fi rm
helped perpetuate the myth that
secondhand smoke does not
cause cancer.
As environmental consultant
Cindy Sage told the Los Angeles
Times in 2010, “Th e fi rst thing
you know is that when Exponent
is brought in to help a company,
that company is in big trouble.”
Th e NFL is in big trouble. For
decades, the league has waged a
war on science, with an aim of
profi ting from misleading the
public. Not only has the ploy
been a disservice to fans, but it
has purposefully slowed prog-
ress in the fi eld of concussion
research by disguising the NFL’s
phony fi ndings with a cloud of
legitimacy.
But while Big Tobacco’s
marketing eff orts and Big Oil’s
battles against climate change
felt their appropriate blowback,
the multi-billion dollar industry
that is the NFL has remained
rich as ever, despite the con-
troversy. What’s worse, public
opinion of the league doesn’t
seem to be taking a bit hit.
I don’t sense a wave of anger
toward the NFL that is deserved
during a scandal of this mag-
nitude. I don’t think the public
realizes how much they’ve been
duped, and how many lives
are at risk because of it. And I
believe that the pattern of busi-
nesses attempting to discredit
science for monetary gain—and
succeeding—is one of the sad-
dest traditions in this country.
Granted, there’s only so
much we can do. Maybe
recent events will open the
door for more lawsuits against
the league. I wish boycotting
Goodell & Co. was as tangible as
spurning cigarettes or choosing
more eco-friendly alternatives,
but I’m not sure that changing
the channel from NFL RedZone
on Sundays solves the problem
(plus, it may very well be part
of my future job description
to regularly watch football).
Most of the troubles lie within
the league’s leadership, not the
sport itself.
Are we accessories to the
crime by supporting a corrupt
industry with our fandom?
I don’t know. But if history
has shown anything, it’s that
more than a legal slap on the
wrist is needed to reform an
organization like the NFL. It has
taken decades of activism and
a collective movement to make
any dent in the profi ts of the
tobacco and fossil fuel indus-
tries. Th e same may be needed
to eff ect change in the most
dangerous sport in America.
When it comes to concus-
sions in the NFL, the league’s
policy has been, “If the facts
don’t fi t the theory, change the
facts.” It’s time for America’s
favorite sport to change its ap-
proach to prioritize player safety
and save lives.
Instead of, as Big Oil and Big
Tobacco would say, establishing
confi dence in its industry, the
NFL needs to establish some-
thing far more important: the
truth.
ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS EDITOR
The NFL’s concussion cover-up campaign has been exposed at last. Where’s the appropriate wave of anger?
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THE HEIGHTSMonday, April 4, 2016 B3MEN’S HOCKEY
Ryan
goals
23
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITORJULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
survive a Duluth onslaught in the game’s waning
minutes, moving on to the Frozen Four with a 3-2
victory.
BC couldn’t have gotten to this point without
Fitzgerald. But Ryan couldn’t have gotten the glory
without his little brother, Casey.
Maybe it’s just a matter of luck that the younger
Fitzgerald, a freshman defenseman, is on the ice at
the same time as Ryan. Yet on both of those critical
goals, the play began on Casey’s stick. In fact, fi ve
of Ryan’s goals this season have begun with an assist
from his brother. Th at’s more than any other BC
defenseman, and only behind Ryan’s two linemates
for most of the season: Colin White and Matthew
Gaudreau (eight assists each on Ryan’s goals).
Two of those fi ve goals were Ryan’s game-win-
ners in the playoff s. But, never to be outdone, Casey
has found the back of the net with Ryan’s help twice
this year. One came in the Beanpot opener against
Harvard. Th e second was in a 5-5 tie in North An-
dover, Mass. against Merrimack, just minutes after
Casey had assisted Ryan on a goal of his own.
When they’re not creating clutch plays for each
other, they’re doing it for their teammates. Twice
this season, Ryan and Casey have assisted on goals
scored by another Eagle. Both have come in the
playoff s, most notably J.D. Dudek’s game-tying—and
fi rst-career—goal in the third game against Vermont
that helped put BC into overtime.
Casey believes their chemistry comes naturally.
Th e two took to the streets to play hockey while
growing up in North Reading, Mass., alongside
their younger brothers Brendan and Jack. Th ey also
played together at Malden Catholic, where they won
the Super Eight Tournament together in 2011-12.
When both are on the ice, the two seem to mesh in
a big way for BC.
“He’s a pretty good player, so I try to get the puck
to him and see him get the job done,” Casey said.
It’s certainly not a surprise that the Fitzgerald
brothers are contributing big minutes and plays
for the Eagles in the 2015-16 season. But how far
they are exceeding their preseason expectations
has been a key reason for BC’s jump from border-
line contender to a nation’s-best 25th trip to the
Frozen Four.
Start by taking a look at the younger Fitzgerald.
After committing to BC in his freshman year, Casey
played with the U.S. National Development Program
(USNTDP). In 57 games for the U-18 team, Casey
notched 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) and had
the highest plus/minus of any player during the
United States’ gold-medal-winning campaign in
the 2015 IIHF U-18 Men’s World Championships.
Nevertheless, at only 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, Casey
went undrafted as an undersized defenseman.
Th e fact that NHL teams weren’t looking to take
a fl yer on Casey caused some alarm at BC, where
it was anticipated that minimizing shots aimed
toward Demko would be the team’s Achilles heel
in 2015-16. After losing Noah Hanifi n and Mike
Matheson to the allure of the NHL, the Eagles were
depleted among the defensive ranks. Th ey’d return
three stalwarts in Ian McCoshen, Scott Savage, and
Steve Santini. Teddy Doherty’s status was uncertain
given that he shuffl ed between forward and defense
last season. Th at left Travis Jeke to break in the two
freshmen: Casey and Josh Couturier.
Yet when Brendan Silk went down in the fi rst
game of the season, Jeke had to move up and take his
place on the fourth line. Casey, who didn’t expect to
play much, was now thrown fully into the fi re. Head
coach Jerry York moved him onto the fi rst defensive
pairing with McCoshen, and Casey thrived. He and
the defense became one of the country’s tough-
est units. Casey believes that everyone telling the
defense that it couldn’t do it without Hanifi n and
Matheson only drove it to work harder.
“We just looked around and said, ‘You know
what? We’re a pretty good D corps,’” Casey said.
“We can do it without them.”
Ryan isn’t shocked at Casey’s fast development.
He believes that Casey was merely limited with
the USNTDP and needed a bigger chance to play.
Even Casey didn’t see this much success coming. He
loves to keep the off ense in the front of his brain,
citing puck movement to BC’s excellent forwards
as his most polished skill. Th at’s certainly proven
true—Casey’s 26 points (four goals, 22 assists) lead
the team’s defensemen.
“Yeah, I’m having a pretty good year, I would say,”
Casey said with a laugh.
While Casey’s rise was necessary to keep BC func-
tioning, Ryan’s jump from a good second- or third-line
player to one of college hockey’s most feared goal scor-
ers has propelled BC to sunny and scenic Tampa.
Th at’s not to say he wasn’t performing before
this season. Ryan had steady production in his fi rst
two years. As a freshman under the guidance—or
in the shadow—of Johnny Gaudreau, Kevin Hayes,
and Bill Arnold, Ryan quietly compiled an impres-
sive campaign with 13 goals and 16 assists, the most
out of BC’s freshmen. In his sophomore year, Ryan
became more of a force on the Eagles. He led the
team with 17 goals and earned his reputation as a
high-quantity shot producer, with 125. During that
season, he earned his mark as a clutch performer
with BC’s most recent hat trick and an overtime-
winner against Harvard in the consolation game of
the 2015 Beanpot.
Yet, according to Casey, Ryan said that this
year was going to be his year. He worked hard this
off season, both at home with his brother and at the
development camp for the Boston Bruins, the team
that drafted him in the fourth round back in 2013.
Now, Ryan has become the complete player that he’s
always wanted to be.
Th ough he primarily plays left wing, Ryan has
showed his skill as a center. On JY1K Night against
New Hampshire, Ryan’s linemate, White, had to leave
with an upper-body injury. Th e situation was not ex-
actly ideal for the Eagles: a faceoff in their own zone,
up by one, 10 seconds remaining, and two of Hockey
East’s most dangerous scorers—Andrew Poturalski
and Tyler Kelleher—on the ice. Instead of going with an
established master off the draw, like Austin Cangelosi,
York rode the hot hand in Ryan Fitzgerald.
Ryan’s left-handed shot allowed him to perfectly
win the puck and dish it to safety, giving BC a victory.
It’s just one of many faceoff wins in a secret skill for
the left winger. He has 170 wins to only 128 losses,
a .588 success rate that’s 26th-best in the nation and
second on the Eagles only to Cangelosi.
It’s his scoring that elevated Ryan to the All-
Hockey East and All-New England First Teams.
With one (or, ideally for BC, two) games remaining,
Ryan leads the Eagles with 23 goals and 23 assists.
His 23 goals are eighth-most in the country. Ryan’s
15 goals in Hockey East play were the most in the
conference, and his 31 points in HEA play overall
had him tied with White behind only Poturalski,
BU’s Danny O’Regan, and Northeastern’s Zach
Aston-Reese. His fi ve game-winning goals and three
shorthanded goals each lead the team. And, with
that game-winner against Duluth, Ryan now has 100
points for his career. To Casey, it was only fi tting.
“Th ere’s no better time to get your 100th point,”
Casey said.
Most notably, Ryan ranks fi fth in the country in
shots, with 160. BU’s Ahti Oksanen, Robert Mor-
ris’ Greg Gibson, Vermont’s Mario Puskarich, and
Michigan’s Tyler Motte all have more than him.
But of those top fi ve in players who take aim at the
net, Ryan is the best at actually getting the puck on
the goaltender. At a 62-percent clip, Ryan creates
scoring attempts with rebounds more eff ectively
and more frequently than any player in the nation.
When informed of that stat, Ryan laughed and said
he was pleased to hear it.
“I try to only take smart shots,” Ryan said. “I’m
not just shooting to shoot.”
But it all comes back to succeeding in the most
important situations. Between Ryan’s two goals
against UMass Lowell that earned BC the No. 1
overall seed in the Hockey East Tournament and
clinched a share of the conference’s regular season
title, or his game-winners in the playoff s, the Fitzger-
alds merely want to win. After all, it runs in their
blood. Th eir father, Tom, was an integral part of the
Florida Panthers during their run to the Stanley Cup
in 1995-96 and now works in the front offi ce of the
New Jersey Devils. Keith Tkachuk, one of the best
U.S.-born hockey players, is a cousin, as well as his
son, Matthew, who Casey has played alongside on
the USNTDP. Th eir other cousins, Kevin and Jimmy
Hayes, have won national championships at BC.
Now, it’s their turn. After Ryan took a backseat
in 2014, he has the fi re to get another star on the
BC sweater. And it all starts with a business trip to
the Amalie Arena.
“You grow up watching BC win all the national
championships, and you want to be a part of it,” Ryan
said. “My freshman year we came up short, and you
kind of have that feeling in the back of your mind
that you know what it takes to win it the second
time around.”
ROUND UP BY ANNABEL STEELE | ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Women’s rowing took on Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday, where every Eagles’ boat fi nished before every MIT boat. BC’s varsity-8 boat beat MIT’s by almost eight seconds, while the fi rst boat in the second varsity-8 defeated MIT by more than 20 seconds. Th e margin of victory in the varsity-4 race was highest, however, as BC beat MIT by exactly 50 seconds.
Boston College golf traveled down to Salem, S.C., for the Clemson Invitational this
weekend. Th e men had a rough start and fi nished the fi rst day with a score of 302, earning
them 10th place out of 12 teams. Th e Eagles could not improve, fi nishing the tournament
still in 10th place after shooting 57 above par. BC fi nished with a score of 921—meanwhile,
fi rst-place Clemson was three below par with a score of 861. Th e women also failed to
succeed early, falling to 12th place after one day. BC dropped to 13th out of 14 teams after
the tournament’s end with a score of 916, good for 52 above par. ROW
ING
Boston College sailing had a busy weekend, competing in four regattas over several days. On Saturday, the Eagles had strong, second-place fi nishes in the 35th Annual Lynne Marchiando Trophy Team Race Regatta and the Central Series 3 Fleet Race. In the Lynne Marchiando Re-gatta, the Eagles were unable to defeat Yale, while in the Central Series race BC was three points away from fi rst-place Tufts. Sailing also competed in the Boston University Trophy Fleet Race, and the women raced in the Dellenbaugh Women’s Trophy competition. Th e Eagles fi nished seventh out of 16 teams in the BU race and seventh out of 18 in the Dellenbaugh race.
GO
LF
SAIL
ING
Boston College men’s tennis couldn’t overcome Clemson University in a close match on Friday. Victories from the doubles teams of Aidan McNulty and Alexandre Th irouin and Jeff Melvin and Kent Mukai gave BC the doubles point. On the singles side, Mukai and Kent Workman picked up matches of their own, bringing the Eagles a total of three points on the day. Alex Favrot, Luke Johnson, Robert Dudley, and Arturo Pinazo won singles matches for the Tigers to clinch the 4-3 victory.M
. TEN
NIS
W. T
ENN
IS
Women’s tennis was able to claim a 4-3 victory over the University of Pittsburgh on Friday.Th e Eagles dropped the doubles point after Wan-Yi Sweeting and Heini Salonen were the onlyteam to win its match, but BC made up for it in the singles matches. No. 86 Asiya Dair, No.113 Lexi Borr, Emily Safron, and Jackie Urbinati each defeated their Panthers counterparts tosecure the victory for BC. Dair and Safron won in straight sets. Sweeting and Salonen eachforced her singles match to a tiebreak before ultimately losing to Pittsburgh’s Gabriela Rezendeand Amber Washington, respectively.
casey
assists
23points
46goals
4assists
22points
26
Women’s track and fi eld headed to Stanford, Calif., to compete in the Stanford University Invitational this weekend. Several runners qualifi ed for the ACC Championships after strong performances at Stanford. Liv Westphal, Isabelle Kennedy, Molly McCabe, and Danielle Winslow each earned berths in the ACC Championships in the 5000-meter event, 800-meter event, and steeplechase, respectively. TR
ACK
Fitzgeralds, from B1
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THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016 B4
After Florida State took a 1-0 lead in
the fifth inning, Boston College catcher
Nick Sciortino punched back, scorch-
ing a line drive
down the right-
field line for a
double to begin the bottom of the fifth
inning. The hit energized the Eagles,
providing hope against one of the best
teams in the country.
The next play, however, sent head
coach Mike Gambino and the Eagles’
bench into a frenzy. The leadoff hitter,
Jake Palomaki, sent a bunt down the
third-base line that pitcher Mike Comp-
ton fielded and fired to third baseman
John Sansone. After Sansone sold the
play and recorded the out, Gambino
furiously chewed into the third-base
umpire. He obviously disagreed with the
questionable call and let the umpire hear
about it for a few tense minutes as the
Eagles faithful let out roars of disgust.
The next batter, Joe Cronin, flied out
to right field on a play that would have
easily scored Sciortino from third base
to tie the game, further antagonizing
the Eagles.
“It’s a tough one,” Gambino said.
“You saw the discussion that I had with
the umpire afterwards. I obviously dis-
agreed. It could have gone either way.
That’s one of the ones you wish you could
look on replay. It didn’t end up costing
us the game, obviously.”
No. 7 Florida State (19-6, 7-1 Atlantic
Coast) sent its ace, Mike Compton, to
the mound in the first game in a three-
game series in Chestnut Hill. The senior
entered the game with a 3-1 record in
six appearances. The Eagles (14-10, 3-7)
countered with the team’s own ace, Mike
King. Yet, while the junior pitched well,
it wasn’t enough in a 3-0 BC loss.
Unsurprisingly, this game was a
pitchers’ duel, with both aces allowing
contact but efficiently recording outs.
Both starters recorded only one strike-
out, but they kept their pitch counts in
good shape and trusted their defenses to
make plays. Compton lasted five innings
after throwing 69 pitches and surrender-
ing only three hits and three walks. King
allowed the Eagles’ bullpen to rest for
longer, recording all but two outs after
tossing 101 pitches.
The Seminoles had the first opportu-
nity of the game to score and it came in
the third inning, as the team had a runner
on third base with two outs. To keep the
game scoreless, shortstop Johnny Adams
nabbed a tough chopper, and first base-
man Mitch Bigras scooped the throw
out of the dirt to record the final out of
the inning. BC’s first legitimate chance
at a run came in the fourth inning, as
the Eagles had the bases loaded with two
outs after one single and two walks.
The rally ended with a soft ground
ball up the middle that Florida State
shortstop Taylor Walls handled with
ease.
Starting pitchers usually have more
trouble later in the game because batters
have had a couple opportunities to see
what the pitcher is throwing and make
adjustments, and that was the case in this
game. Both teams posted exciting fifth
innings as each hitter faced the start-
ing pitcher for his second or third time.
Florida State got on the board first due
to a two-out rally.
As King looked to record a 1-2-3 fifth
inning, Matt Henderson laced a ground
ball in between the first and second base-
man. Bigras managed to glove the ball,
but he could not complete the toss to
King, as the speedy Henderson pressured
him into releasing the ball quickly. Walls
made the Eagles pay—he lined a ball
deep into left center for a double, allow-
ing Henderson to score from first base. In
the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles
nearly responded, but the controversial
call hampered the team’s efforts.
After that heartbreaking fifth inning,
the Eagles could not muster another hit
for the rest of the game, and Florida
State relief pitchers Jim Voyles and
Tyler Warmoth dominated for the final
four innings. The Seminoles added two
insurance runs in the ninth inning after
doubles from Jackson Leuck and Ben
DeLuzio and an error by Cronin.
The Eagles will face the Seminoles
again on Saturday, and Gambino comi-
cally stated that the revised game plan
was to “score more runs.” As for King,
he’s still proud of his team’s effort, yet
knows that the Eagles will need more of
it going forward.
“I think we set the tone that we are
not going to go away easy, and it’s not
going to be an easy series for them,” King
said. “They are obviously a great team so
they can win on talent alone … we just
have to keep firing at them.”
Florida StateBoston College
30
BASEBALL
FOR DAILY UPDATES,
GET YOUR BC
NEWS ONLINE AT
BCHEIGHTS.COM.Directions: The Sudoku is played over a 9x9 grid. In each
row there are 9 slots, some of which are empty and need to be filled.Each row, column and 3x3 box should contain the numbers 1 to 9. You must follow these rules:· Number can appear only once in each row · Number can appear only once in each column · Number can appear only once in each 3x3 box· The number should appear only once on row, column or area.
MICHAEL SULLIVAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR
After his double put the Eagles in scoring position, Nick Sciortino (7, top left) attempted to take third on a Jake Palomaki bunt (N.P.), but when a bang-bang throw nailed him at third, manager Mike Gambino (5, top right) exploded.
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THE HEIGHTS B5Monday, April 4, 2016
Director Richard Linklater has
a knack for creating films that harken
back to a different era, but nonetheless
explore universal sentiments. Dazed and Confused (1993) fleshed out
the vicious cycles of high school in
the mid ’70s, as students old and
new grappled with transitioning to
a new place and a fresh sea of faces.
Boyhood (2014) attempted to capture
that same sentiment of change and
transition for one boy over 12 years.
In his latest endeavor, Everybody Wants Some!!, Linklater hits many
of the same notes of his previous
films, while philosophizing during
some of the small moments of life,
between batting practice and bong
rips. Growing up is rough in any
capacity. The world continues to
shift and shape itself around us as we
hastily crawl into new chapters of our
lives. It is a game of catch up, all about
getting there. But where is there?
Set in the last days of the
summer of 1980, Everybody Wants Some!! follows Jake (Blake Jenner),
a collegiate freshman baseball
pitcher, as he moves in and meets
his teammates in their shared team
house. As the team begins to bond,
the freshmen begin to enter the fold.
Through antics at various clubs, in
the house, and about the town, Jake
and the other newbies set to establish
themselves in college. Delving into
the treacherous grounds of lust
and love, Jake and others find their
insatiable libidos and fascination with
girls hard to quell. Going after women
makes for a challenge as exhilarating
as their penchant for competition
in baseball. Everyone in the film
searches for who he is, what he wants,
and where he is going. Everybody
wants some. But what is some?
The setting and characters hit
the proverbial nail on the head for the
this film’s intentions. To its very core,
Everybody Wants Some!! oozes an ’80s
vibe. From the moment the viewer
gets a glimpse of Jake sporting long
sideburns, cruising down a college
town road seeing high-waisted jeans,
big hair, and cars of the era dotting
the streets, the audience is almost
sucked into the ’80s. Coupled with its
soundtrack which continually pumps
out the hits and latest jams of the age,
the look of the film creates a complete
atmospheric feel.
The performances are excellent,
and each character evinces his own
status within the team dynamic. As
each guy chases success and a good
weekend, his respective methods and
personality shine through and the
dynamic of the team is felt strongly
in every scene. Viewers will be able
to feel the friendship and tension at
play.
As the film begins to extend
its reach deeper into characters’
personalities, the existentialism of
Everybody Wants Some!! comes into
view. A refreshing aspect of the film
lies in the characters’ responses to all
the big talk of their life plans. They do
not change. In spite of all the things
discussed, plans and dreams that had
not come to fruition, the guys remain
more or less themselves.
As one night transitions from a
disco club to a county bar, Finnegan
(Glenn Powell), expresses concern
about their identities shifting so
quickly. Had the disco fever really
fallen away that fast? Who were they?
Are they country boys now?
“So you’re not coming,” one of
the guys adds, as the gang is about to
leave the disco to go to the country
bar. “That’s not what I said,” Finnegan
replies. The next shot is of him riding
a mechanical bull.
This scene illustrates the
capacity to question and choose. In
their pursuit of a good time, did the
characters compromise who they
were, or did they become adaptable,
evolving entities? When you let the
good times roll, you better keep up
for fear of getting left behind.
This kind of philosophizing
does not bog down the film, but plays
right into the existential crux it seeks
to extrapolate. As characters explore
a different, more transcendent reality
through drugs and big ideas, the
film offers a beautiful counterpoint
to the seemingly mindless pursuits
of fun and hedonism. Sitting on
the carpet, bong in hand, the
stoner pitcher Willoughby (Wyatt
Russell), proselytizes to the group
as his shaggy, blonde hair whips
about his head with each eccentric
movement. Music quietly playing
in the background, Willoughby
explains that the music does not
mean anything. He continues stating
that the artists only give you the
notes to songs and that you must
find the meaning that lies in between
them. Projecting that same kind
of mentality into the actions of the
characters, their quests seem a little
less mindless. Party-crazed. Sex-
crazed. Life-crazed.
The film really is a big sign
reading “Who the hell are you?”
The characters, just as we do, search
for the answer, but never let it get
in the way of living. Growing up
anytime is rough. We have a lot of
questions and a lot of them can never
really be answered. Everybody Wants Some!! does a great job of asking the
question, while ecstatically saying all
at once, like shagging fly balls, “Go
get it!”
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THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016B6
Arguably, the most Californian band
of all time is the Beach Boys. Sunny and
carefree, it’s like you can hear the rushing
ocean in the Beach Boys’ immaculate vo-
cal harmonies, and their luscious string
arrangements seem to mimic the feel of
sand between your toes. Many bands have
tried to recapture that sunny feeling, but
few have succeeded, in large part because
they forget that under that sunny facade
was sadness—a sadness that stemmed
from being told what to do or having your
girl leave
you.
I t i s
because
o f t h i s
under-
lying
sadness
that the Beach Boys’ co-founder Brian
Wilson’s most direct heir might be—
gasp—an East Coaster: Weezer’s lead
vocalist and guitarist Rivers Cuomo.
Although Cuomo is from Connecticut,
he has always been a little Hollywood,
with songs like “Buddy Holly” and “Island
in the Sun,” that showcase his knack for
bright melodies and his love of Califor-
nian themes.
For Weezer’s new album, Weezer
(White Album), Cuomo returns to the
surf grunge sound that produced some
of the band’s biggest hits, like the afore-
mentioned “Holly.” But this time, he revs
up the West Coast themes, like the engine
of a T-bird, with nearly every song on
the record referencing something in the
Golden State. Cuomo does, however, also
manage to imbue the songs with both an
East Coaster’s stresses and a millennial’s
social anxieties (Cuomo went on Tinder
dates to get ideas for songs).
This mix of anxieties and happiness is
best exemplified in the first track, “Cali-
fornia Kids,” Cuomo describes the wor-
ries of everyday life—”When you wake
up / Cobwebs on your eyelids / Stuck in
rigor mortis”—over muted guitar chords.
Then, in the chorus, the music explodes
with hopefulness and so do the lyrics, as
Cuomo assures listeners that, “It’s gonna
be alright / If you’re on a sinking ship /
The California kids / Will throw you a
lifeline.” It’s the perfect opener to what
Cuomo called “a beach album.”
On “Thank God for Girls,” Weezer
proves that even the Beach Boys can be
musically updated, adding together a
crunchy, drum-machine beat and a light
piano melody. While Weezer shows that
it can revamp the Beach Boys’ sound,
it fails to prove that it can do the same
with the Beach Boys’ themes. Cuomo,
singing so staccato on the verses he is
nearly rapping, muses on gender roles,
which, according to him, haven’t changed
much since the ’60s: “And when you
come home, she will be there / Waiting
for you with a fire in her eyes / And a big
fat cannoli to shove in your mouth / And
that’s why you / Thank God for girls.”
While Cuomo did say the song inten-
tionally played with gender stereotypes,
it is still a little cringeworthy. And yet,
the lyrics prove just what a sharp—and
weird—wordsmith Cuomo can be, even
when riddled with anxiety.
“(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” is
seemingly devoid of angst. Shamelessly
borrowing nearly everything from a
Beach Boys song—the jangly tambourine
and otherworldly strings at the begin-
ning—Cuomo sings about having such
a good thing, he “doesn’t see it ending.”
That is, of course, until the bridge, when
he declares the woman he’s singing
about, “scares [him] like an open win-
dow.” So, he “chalks it up to Stockholm
Syndrome.”
The one thing that holds this entire
album together, other than its lyrical
themes, is Cuomo’s ability to create a
nearly irresistible melody. If you didn’t
listen to the lyrics, you’d be sure this
was a happy album. Even when the lyr-
ics take a more explicitly dark tone—like
on “Jacked Up,” during which he laments
“why do my flowers always die”—it is
hard not to sing along when he gets to
the high note at the beginning of the
refrain.
Cuomo is not afraid to make things
catchy, but he is also not afraid to be
sad or anxious, even at the beach. It
is because of this deep melancholy
that Weezer’s White Album cements
Cuomo’s claim to Brian Wilson’s surf-
rock crown. After all, Wilson was so
riddled with mental woes that he never
learned to surf.
“Mama never told me there’d be days like
this / It all started out with a little kiss.”
Th e fi rst lines off of Cheap Trick’s latest
album, Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello, much like
the title, speak to the nature of the album as
a whole. Cruising on the basslines, with a kiss
of its past,
Cheap
Trick
starts with
a bang on
“Heart On
Th e Line,”
which
dusts off the boots of the aged pop-guitar
champions. Zooming about, creating new
sounds foreign to Cheap Trick, the album
leads to an end that sees listeners right to the
door. As the band prepares to be inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this album
seems to say, “Hello, Cheap Trick is here.”
Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello is the fi rst al-
bum in the history of the band without iconic
cigarette-smoking drummer Bun E. Carlos.
1
BIG MACHINE RECORDS
TITLE WEEKEND GROSS WEEKS IN RELEASE
1. BATMAN V SUPERMAN 52.3 2
2. ZOOTOPIA 20.0 5
3. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 11.1 2
4. GOD’S NOT DEAD 2 8.1 1
5. MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN 7.5 3
6. ALLEGIANT 5.7 3
7. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE 4.7 4
8. MEET THE BLACKS 4.0 1
9. EYE IN THE SKY 4.0 4
10. DEADPOOL 3.5 8
SOURCE: New York Times
1. FOOL ME ONCEHarlan Coben
2. PRIVATE PARISJames Patterson
3. THE NEST Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
4. PROPERTY OF A NOBLEWOMANDanielle Steel
5. ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE Anthony Doee
6. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Paula Hopkins
7. SUMMER BEFORE THE WARHelen Simonson
8. THE NIGHTINGALE Kristin Hannah9. OFF THE GRID C.J. Box10. THE GANGSTER Clive Sussler
HARDCOVER FICTION BESTSELLERS
3
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
THE WHITE ALBUMWeezer
Weezer embraces surfer grunge tones on the ‘White Album’, as Cuomo crafts melodies that are irresistably catchy and infectious.
ATLANTIC RECORDS
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REPORTWARNER BROS. PICTURES
2 3
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
and infectious chorus, again sounding
markedly diff erent from the rest of Cheap
Trick’s repertoire.
On a slower note, “Sing My Blues Away”
showcases Zander’s vocals more heavily and
off ers up, arguably, the most interesting lyr-
ics of the album (“It’s a long way home in the
dark”). It is an emphatic bluesy rock melody
that will demand multiple listens as it washes
over listeners. Th e backing lyrics are a high
point and perfectly complement Zander’s
drawling voice.
Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello is a safe album,
but this does not detract at all from its overall
eff ect, because it’s masterfully executed at the
hands of a band whose work spans over four
decades. As Cheap Trick looks to the future,
it looks not like an aged, dying group, but a
continually evolving one. Th is album, as tes-
tament, proves Cheap Trick will not become
stale, but will rather pump freshness and
variety into the air waves. For fans of the band,
the changes may seem strange. But hey, Cheap
Trick has always seemed a little weird.
Even with an immense musical library, Cheap Trick puts forth a succinct and distinct album.
BANG, ZOOM, CRAZY...HELLO
Cheap Trick
HBO
use their programs to have meaningful po-
litical discussions that these hosts take rather
seriously. When Maher goes off on a crusade
to get Democrats to use the phrase “Islamic
Extremists” to describe terrorists, he needs to
acknowledge that he is trying to have a credible
voice in political discourse.
Maher is the master of his unique pro-
gram. He understands how to guide his
panel’s conversation and how to challenge
guests into critically thinking about the
topic at hand.
Especially with the 2016 election right
around the corner, the types of discussions
happening on Maher’s program are neces-
sary and substantive. Th ough his opinions
are clear and he doesn’t shy away from say-
ing what’s on his mind, Maher never lets his
personality take over a conversation, at least
for too long. In today’s confusing, debilitated
political apparatus, Real Time remains a
haven for honest political debate, thanks to
the range of opinions invited to participate
in the conversation.
Host Bill Maher opens up the conversation to the many opinions in American politics.
REAL TIME WITHBILL MAHER
HBO
Watching commentators from the power-
houses of the 24-hour news cycle (CNN, MS-
NBC, and FOX News), it is often easy to gloss
over the many factors belonging to any issue
at hand. Shows like Th e O’Reilly Factor and
Th e Rachel Maddow Show are imbued with
a certain opinion by their hosts. Th e hosts of
these shows speak well and with authority,
making
i t e a s y
for view-
ers to be
sucked
i n t o a
certain
w a y o f
thinking without critically analyzing issues
themselves. With this thought in mind, it’s
becoming more important for news outlets
and commentators to facilitate a discussion
between analysts holding a wide range of
beliefs and ideals. Real Time with Bill Maher
has long been such a program and continues
to adapt itself to fi t in the volatile political
landscape. No conversation, on the other
hand, is without its fl aws.
As a host, Maher is one of more intricate,
intriguing fi gures in late-night programming.
Maher, a Libertarian, often appears to side
with the liberal-leaning view on most topics
the panel discusses, but he also has views that
go against more conventional liberal ideals. For
example, Maher is extremely against religion.
Sure, he would say that you should be able to
practice whatever you want, but he attacks
the idea of organized religion at least once on
every episode, usually in a very aggravated
tone. Maher is also extremely against political
correctness and has recently spent segments
of his program bashing examples of social
hypersensitivity, talking with Jerry Seinfeld
about avoiding performing for sensitive col-
lege students or lampooning kids that felt
threatened by Donald Trump supporters at
their school.
Th ese biases that Maher manifests can
be expressed in blunt, inaccessible terms,
and Maher’s guests often disagree with his
thinking. This conflict leads to intriguing
discussions that a less opinionated host
would never fi nd himself in. Late-night hosts
like Trevor Noah or Stephen Colbert cannot
really delve into religion’s role in the confl ict
in the Middle East, and though one might
not agree with Maher’s views on the subject,
his thinking introduces the topic to a panel
of critical, sophisticated analysts that further
the conversation in a meaningful way. Th at’s
what’s so interesting about Real Time—no one
has to agree with Maher to walk away from the
program with some meaningful insight.
Taking a brief moment of his program
to address the recent brouhaha in the media
over Ted Cruz and Trump’s “attacks” on each
other’s wives, Bill Maher said that the media
exhibits, “a complete lack of self-awareness
that they are the problem.” Th ough he only
focused on the Cruz/Trump debacle for a
minute or two, Maher tried to clarify why
his program could discuss similar issues but
programs on MSNBC and CNN shouldn’t.
“Th ey’re news networks,” Maher stated, “this
is an entertainment program.”
Th is scene is emblematic of a problem that
has spread throughout the late-night political
satire programs. Maher and other comedians
(Jon Stewart and Colbert) hide behind their
satirical set-up when they see fi t, but often
After a lawsuit stipulating his removal, the
band replaced him with Daxx Nielsen, son
of guitarist Rick Nielsen. Th ough Carlos is
still offi cially a member of the band, he is not
allowed to contribute to the recording process
or play on tour. His absence had caused some
fans to wonder if the album would lose some
of the quintessential Cheap Trick fl avor it
garnered with Carlos behind the kit. Bang,
Zoom, Crazy...Hello would suggest Cheap
Trick can make do without him, and delve
into new musical territory.
After the bumping beats and guitar
shredding of “Heart On Th e Line” fade away,
“No Direction Home” off ers up a decidedly
diff erent feel. Th e uppity track is a simple and
unchallenging piece, but it leaves a lasting
impression of fun and mounting excitement.
It seems a very inoff ensive radio song that
encapsulates catchy movement and fl ow.
“When I Wake Up Tomorrow” is a song
unlike any other Cheap Trick song. As many
of the older bands enter into their later years,
it is interesting to see it adopt similar elements
and strike resoundingly similar tones. “When
I Wake Up Tomorrow” is tonally similar to
much of David Bowie’s fi nal album, Blackstar.
Its darker lyrics—“Please be here when I wake
up tomorrow”—and equally somber, simple
chord progression make this song stand out
on the album as such.
“Long Time No See Ya” and “Th e Sun
Never Sets” have upbeat rhythms that exude
a more fast-paced feel, erring on the side of
rock rather than pop. “Th e Sun Never Sets”
feels like the album’s rock ballad, as its catchy
chorus and elevated harmonies bring the song
into a full and gripping sound. Th ese kinds of
diff erences see Cheap Trick showing more
signs of speeding up its music rather than
slowing down.
Th ese kinds of fast pieces use Robin
Zander’s more aged and worn vocals in a
more nuanced and sleek way. Th is creates
music that fi ts the style of the voice, ef-
fectively elevating its strengths and hiding
its weaknesses.
Songs that show more variety and
distinction from the rest of Cheap Trick’s
discography are “Do You Believe Me?” and
“All Strung Out.” Each brandishes its own
types of guitar rips and riff s courtesy of
Rick Nielsen. “Blood Red Lips” off ers up
another fun and safe chord progression
![Page 17: The Heights April 4, 2016](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020119/579076f91a28ab6874bb945f/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
THE HEIGHTSMonday, April 4, 2016 B7
’16, on trumpet, gave the audience a
performance that was easy on the ears
and exemplified another style of jazz
music that contributed to BC bOp!’s
rich display of the night.
Of course, one cannot have a jazz
concert without more traditional jazz
pieces as well, and BC bOp! delivered
with numbers like “Emancipation
Blues” and “Billie’s Bounce.” With
performances from Marie Peduto,
MCAS ’18, on saxophone, Zack Downey,
MCAS ’16, on trumpet, and Christian
Wilson, MCAS ’18, on the vibraphone,
the band achieved vibrant and zestful
renditions of these classic pieces and
showcased the dynamic quality of the
ensemble as a whole.
“Jazz Wars: the bOp! Awakens”
displayed everything from classic jazz
music, to innovative takes on modern
pop tunes, and everything in between.
From the colorful performances of all
of the group’s vocalists and talented
musicians, the audience was treated to
a memorable exhibition of jazz music
in all of its spirited glory.
Following enthusiastic shouts of “Make
us proud, dude!” and “Hey everyone,
that’s my roommate!” bellowed by some
hyped-up members of the audience, Josh
Behrens, MCAS ’18, gave a brief salute
to his supporters and sauntered up to his
spot at the microphone. Once the cheers
and lighthearted laughter had subsided,
Behrens quietly cleared his throat. Behind
him huddled the remaining members of
the Boston College Acoustics, keeping
their eyes trained on president Matt
Michienzie, MCAS ’17, to give them
their cue.
On Saturday night, McGuinn 121
played host to the annual Acoustics Spring
Cafe, its theme a witty wordplay on the
absurd 2006 action-thriller Snakes on a Plane. The co-ed a cappella group regaled
its audience with debut performances,
entertaining covers of popular songs
and comical skits strewn throughout
the night’s rather extensive program.
Thanks to the high-energy atmosphere
provided by the fun-loving group, “Stix
on a Plane” was this weekend’s must-see
music event.
A debut duet of The Civil Wars’ song
“Barton Hollow” kicked off the show with a
comforting, folksy vibe. The soulful vocals
of Keri DiBattista, MCAS ’17, and Alex
Rougeau, MCAS ’18, made for a perfect
opening performance that established
the mellow tone necessary to silence a
chatty audience and captivate everyone’s
attention. The duet invited the audience
to sit back, relax, and settle in for a night
of powerful vocal riffs and infectious
background beats.
The show was strewn with special
performances of popular songs that
encouraged audience members to sing
along with the skilled a cappella crooners.
The “Girls’ Project,” a medley of Miley
Cyrus’ greatest hits complete with
blonde wigs and wacky costumes, was
an entertaining interpretation of Cyrus’
transformation from innocent country
sweetheart to the wild and rebellious pop
star she is today. Not to be outdone, the
guys in the group matched their female
counterparts’ efforts to create an inventive
medley all their own—this time, however,
the performance featured a collection of
theme songs from America’s most beloved
television series.
The debut performances won the
night, for the the fresh, new songs sung
by various Acoustics members showcased
the group’s vocal diversity and impressive
versatility. The chosen tracks perfectly
complemented each featured singer’s
unique style. Margaret Dauer, CSON ’18,
quieted the room with an empowered
rendition of Sara Bareilles’ “Bright Lights
and Cityscapes” that showed off the
sophomore’s impressive vocal range. Hailey
Reinhart’s “Hit the Ground Runnin’” was
yet another impressive debut. The yearning
tone and emotion-heavy performance by
Kayley Okst, MCAS ’19, was met with
thunderous applause and a series of hugs
from her fellow Acoustics.
Dispersed throughout the performance
were short skits meant to break up some of
the somber songs with a little comic relief.
Following along with the night’s Snakes on a Plane theme, the skits playfully poked
fun at some of BC’s other a cappella crews,
as well as at the Acoustics themselves.
One of these scenes features a visibly
shaken Michienzie, who slips into his
best George Bush-turned-commercial-
pilot impression and frantically informs
Snakes actor Samuel L. Jackson (played
by Rougeau) of some shady shenanigans
onboard. “There’s a Yankee a cappella
group from up north causing trouble on
this plane,” Michienzie shouts, “and I need
you to save the day.”
Of a l l the impress ive covers
and medleys, Behrens’ enthusiastic
performance of Billy Joel’s classic “Piano
Man” perfectly encompassed everything
the a cappella crew is about. Swinging
the microphone stand around the stage
in a flurry of exaggerated emotion and
genuine enjoyment, Behrens seemed
as though he was having the time of his
life. Enthusiastic, teeming with talent,
and just plain fun, Behrens’ performance
perfectly embodied the jubilant Acoustics
spirit—one that fuses the passion and
lightheartedness so integral to the a
cappella group’s identity.
The Acoustics delivered an array of
eclectic performances, each song vastly
different from those that came before it. The
group tends to jump drastically from genre
to genre, bravely treading into virtually every
musical genre imaginable. “We ‘Stix’ pride
ourselves on the diversity of our repertoire,”
the group’s facebook description proclaims,
explaining their style accurately as “wailing
away on ’70s rock, ’80s pop, ’90s jams, and
millennial miscellany.”
And boy, does this group deliver.
would have been incredibly complicated
considering all the other running plotlines
in the show, and killing Lexa was the easiest
way to avoid that problem.
Yet I have to believe there was
another way to solve that problem without
destroying all of the progress The 100 had
made within the queer community in one
fell swoop. The writers got lazy and fell into
an outdated trope without realizing how
harmful that cliche is to the demographic
it entails. Jason Rothenberg, the show’s
executive producer, admitted in a statement
that the episode was, “the perpetuation of
the disturbing ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope.” He
then apologized, saying, “our aggressive
promotion of the episode, and of this
relationship, only fueled a feeling of betrayal.”
While many fans packed up and
quit watching after Lexa’s death, I’m still
watching. Recent episodes have felt nearly
apologetic—a new gay couple has been
introduced, and Clarke is still in contact
with Lexa’s “soul,” but I’m still disappointed.
After The 100 made such strides for LGBT
inclusivity and positivity, Lexa’s death
destroyed the fragile progress that the show
had made. Now I really am just watching for
the plot, reluctantly stuck wondering what
path the show will take next.
AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
WARNER BROS. TELEVISION
Jazz Wars, from B8
Guest performances from the female Taiko drumming team, Genki Spark, and j-pop group AAA deliniated from the show’s more serious moments.
SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR
‘The 100’ made huge strides for LGBT characters, but made a fatal mistake with one death.
The Jazz Ensemble returned to Robsham with an eclectic setlist and an enthusiastic spirit.
After a year of resisting my friends’
requests to start watching the series, and
constantly scrolling past photos of the
main characters on Tumblr, this month I
finally caved and started watching The 100.
Immediately after I started the first season,
I came down with a terrible sinus infection,
leaving me with no choice but to binge-
watch the two seasons available on Netflix
and download the iTunes season pass for the
third season currently airing. I was on bed
rest—I really didn’t have a choice.
While I started watching The 100
simply for the plot, I was struck by the
progressive nature of the show concerning
its characters’ sexualities. The main
character of the series, Clarke Griffin, has
a variety of love affairs with both males
and females, yet her sexuality is never
even addressed as significant—and in
the post-apocalyptic version of Earth her
people inhabit, there’s no need for it to be
discussed. Prejudices are set aside as the
human race struggles to survive in this
hostile environment, and as Clarke and a
slew of other LGBT characters find love,
their choices of partners are considered
unquestionably valid.
Now, queer representation isn’t
necessarily the problem in modern
television—it’s the reduction of queer
characters to only their sexuality. Glee’s Kurt
Hummel, played by Chris Colfer, served as
a perfect example. Every episode central to
his personal plotlines revolved around his
sexuality in some fashion, stressing either
his love life, his strained relationship with his
father, or the bullying he faced as a result of
being gay. While other characters did have
similar concerns with relationships—it is a
high-school drama, after all—at least some
episodes revolved mainly around grades,
sports, or other pursuits outside of glee club
that had nothing to do with their sexualities
whatsoever.
The 100 bypasses the over-involved
version of queer representation for a realistic
one, making LGBT interactions such a
non-event that the viewer questions their
own surprise. For two and a half seasons,
The 100 garnered a huge LGBT following
and was for many a sign of long-awaited
progress. The show also made huge strides
in promoting bisexual visibility, with a
bisexual main character that has never been
portrayed as “going through a phase.”
Unfortunately, The 100 is too good
to be true. In the seventh episode of
season three, Commander Lexa, played
by Alycia Debnam-Carey, is killed by a
stray bullet meant for Clarke. Lexa has
been described as one of the best female
characters on current television—she is
incredibly brave and powerful, without
being unrealistically cold, and openly gay.
Universally respected by her subjects, she
still maintains her femininity and personal
relationships in a way that is often sacrificed
in order to present strong women as
infallible. Lexa’s death came as a huge blow
to the community watching The 100 for
its portrayal of women—especially since
the bullet flew in the very same episode
that Clarke and Lexa finally admitted their
feelings for each other and consummated
their relationship.
This was especially painful for the
queer community, as the “lesbian death”
trope becomes almost inescapable. TV and
media Web sites call it the “Bury Your Gays”
trope when describing the phenomena,
almost always in a tone of disappointment.
In modern media, LGBT characters are
not allowed a happy ending, often dying
immediately after pursuing an LGBT
relationship or dying in a heroic sacrifice to
save a straight character. The most common
method of death? A stray bullet. Lexa was
far from the first to suffer her fate—in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tara Maclay died at
cause of a stray bullet, and in The Walking Dead, Alisha felt the same at the hands of
a 12-year-old girl. Social media sites such
as Tumblr and Reddit have exploded with
recognition of this trend within the past
few weeks, as Lexa’s death finally lit the
waiting fuse of outrage in response to this
discriminatory trope.
Seeing the writers kill Lexa in such
a tragically stereotypical and borderline
offensive way was awful, especially after
a full season of tension between her and
Clarke had finally been alleviated. Truly,
it felt like a cop out—figuring out a way to
maintain Lexa and Clarke’s relationship
LEIGH CHANNELL
excited when Ken Leszkowicz, MCAS
’16, walked onto the stage. As co-
president of JCBC, Leszbowicz is a
well-known figure in the community.
His mid-range croon captivated the
audience and brought out bursts of
cheer and laughter.
One of the night’s highlights came
from guest performers Genki Spark.
This multi-generational, pan-Asian
women’s collective performed Japanese
Taiko drumming. The performance was
uncompromisingly powerful. Harkening
back to Kwan’s earlier sentiment, Genki
Spark was outspoken in regards to
claiming and embracing its members’
cultural narratives. The group was
started and served as an avenue for both
Asian and women’s empowerment.
Many of the members discussed
feelings of alienation and separation
growing up in American society. Genki
Spark started as a way to take back
control and become more active in the
shaping of the multicultural American
experience. This mission statement
went well with the actual content
of the performance. The drumming
sounded like undiluted power. It wasn’t
something that the performers could
hide behind. Rather, each of the women,
while positioned behind her drums,
seemed to brim with self-confidence
and poise. After a few songs and
demonstrations, the group sought out
audience participation.
Genki Spark seemed to capture the
theme of the night: building a broader
community of cultural acceptance.
While the night was dedicated to
exploring and displaying Japanese
culture, it also sought to acknowledge
the multicultural condition of BC’s
campus . Many of the performers
came from a wide, often multicultural
background.
AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
On Saturday nIght, the Boston College Acoustics gave their audience an entertaining a cappella show to remember with “Stix on A Plane,” a performance of hilarious skits, dazzling duets, and a slew of powerful vocals.
JCBC, from B8
![Page 18: The Heights April 4, 2016](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020119/579076f91a28ab6874bb945f/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Boston College’s jazz ensemble, BC bOp!,
returned to Robsham Theater last Saturday
with its Star Wars-themed, “Jazz Wars: the
bOp! Awakens.” The show offered roughly 20
high-energy, entertaining performances that
were immensely enjoyable even if they weren’t
clearly related to the program’s intergalactic
theme. With a nice mix of old favorites and new
performances, BC bOp! brought viewers a spirit-
lifting spectacle that had the audience tapping
its feet all throughout the show.
The show began with grand, swinging tunes
like “Almost Like Being in Love” with vocalist
Amber Glavine, MCAS ’17, and “Corner Pocket”
that quickly immersed viewers in the snazzy
world of jazz music. From there, the concert
progressed into a sprawling piece, “Moanin’,”
artfully arranged by drummer Sanjay Pamaar,
MCAS ’16, which showcased the talents of
numerous musicians including Justin Solle,
MCAS ’16, on the piano, Lucas Allen, MCAS
’16, on the guitar, and Isaiah Anderson, MCAS
’17, on bass.
BC bOp! has an aptitude for covering
mainstream chart-toppers, as it did at the
concert with its cover of Ariana Grande ft. Iggy
Azalea’s “Problem.” The lovely vocal talents
of Marian Wyman, MCAS ’18, and BC bOp!’s
artful reinterpretation transformed the song
into a version that was arguably more enjoyable
than the original. Another cover appeared with
Nina Simone’s crowd-pleaser, “Feeling Good,”
in which jazz vocalists including Adam Fung,
MCAS ’16, created a sensational presentation
offering a fantastic version of the well-known
tune.
One of the most fun performances of the
night appeared with “Mack the Knife,”when the
audience clapped joyfully along with the band
from the very first moments of the song. Vocalist
Michael Mastellone, MCAS ’18, brought the
whole song to life, and his spirited rendition had
the audience on its feet in a standing ovation.
Another playful song came with “Oh, Lady
Be Good,” which featured amazing vocals from
Greta Ritzenthaler, MCAS ’17, and Ryan Silva,
MCAS ’17, and was all over the map in the most
entertaining, jazziest way possible. Later in the
show, “Dangerous Precedent” featured some
stellar solos from Kyle Murray, CSOM ’16, on
guitar, Max Warwick, CSOM ’16, on drums, and
Matt Passanante, MCAS ’17, on saxophone, all
of whom showed that the musical range BC bOp!
can reach is beyond its crowd-pleasing yet more
traditional jazz songs.
BC bOp!’s concert also included some
performances that took a break from its
energetic, blaring numbers. “Kiss From a
Rose” showcased soft vocals and a stunning
melody. The group also presented an a cappella
performance with “I’ll Be Seeing You,” featuring
the beautiful vocals of Anne Wilder, CSOM
’16, in a way that granted the concert a smooth
interlude in the midst of its other, louder
performances. Additionally, another wonderful
song appropriately titled “In a Mellow Tone” and
showcasing the talents of Paul Schwartz, CSOM
&MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
INSIDEARTS ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’Th e latest period piece from director Richard
Linklater hit theaters this weekend, B6THIS ISSUE
‘Real Time with Bill Maher’Th e HBO talk show is more relevant than ever
with the upcoming 2016 election, B6
Weekend Box Offi ce Report.........................B6Hardcover Bestsellers....................................B6Th e Acoustics..................................................B7
We have all thought, maybe for just a
moment, that it would be cool to live in
another time. We glorify the past and how
things used to be. As we look at our favorite
music, television, and movies from times
past, our beliefs seem to confi rm themselves.
Sometimes we wonder what life would be
like if we had grown up in a diff erent time.
To experience Star Wars on opening night,
to see the long-since-disintegrated band
live, or to live among a culture that has been,
temporally, completely obliterated. Th ough
a manner of speaking may have fallen away,
hairstyles have died, movies have been
made, and records have been released, the
memory of these times call out to us and
bring us to a diff erent time and place.
We have the remnants of time always
before us. Our libraries span time. As we
look back at the ’80s, we imagine Ash slaying
demons in Th e Evil Dead and David Lee
Roth belting out “Hot for Teacher” off of Van
Halen’s latest album, 1984. Maybe in the late
1970s we’d tune into the original Battlestar Galactica and relish in the “state of the art”
special eff ects and recognize its topical Cold
War undertones. Maybe we would like to
sit in a club just outside of Hollywood in the
1940s, listening to Frank Sinatra sing “You’ll
Never Know” with a cigar and newspaper
in hand. Th ese things take us places, places
we may have never been. Th ese small pieces
hold enough to paint a picture of a place, or
at least a part of one.
Today, turning on the television and
watching fi lms would have us believe that
the past was the place to be. It may seem
at times that everything and everyone who
was anyone had already had his or her time
in one way or another. Mad Men displays
an old-school style of force and chauvin-
ism. Th at ’70s Show may have us reeling
at the styles of the time, while trailers for
the upcoming Th e Nice Guys fi lm have us
taken aback at that same style and tenacity.
Something is fascinating about another time.
While we look at the future with uncertainty
and wonder, sometimes we look back at
times past with the same amount of wonder-
ment.
Th is idea is an interesting one mostly
because we have no idea what kind of rabbit
hole we may enter when we look back to the
past. Th ough living in the Roaring Twen-
ties would surely be a trip, would we have
the capacity to live in the time? Could you
sound the bee’s knees? What would life be
like amid the counterculturalism of the ’60s?
How would we react to Th e Beatles embark-
ing to America and the “British Invasion.”
Could we grasp, cope, or comprehend the
bizarre styles of the ’70s?
I had always been a fan of ’90s music
and culture. It was not the most foreign or
out-there, and its similarities to the current
age were more apparent than styles of other
decades. It shares enough in common with
the modern age to remain mostly relatable.
I seemed to just miss living in the time by a
decade or so. But the more I think about it,
I only comprehend a sliver of what the time
was all about. For the most part, I ignore or
am ignorant of the faults of the era because I
have been able to cherry-pick its best parts. I
get to take it. Not live it.
Moreover, as an individual, I am a prod-
uct of my environment. Nature and nurture.
Changing any of that would certainly change
who I am and what I like. Th at makes all
that happens now, though it might not be
all we hoped it would be, our time. Th e time
is now. Th ough we long for a fashion that
is long gone and though we may wish we
could have lived in another age, we would
do well to appreciate what is happening all
around us.
So go see that movie while it is still in
theaters. Remember that new song while it
is still new. Turn it up. Before we turn into
antiquity, we ought to make memories about
this time. Who knows? Maybe someone in
the future will wish to live in our time.
Instead of wishing for another day, we
could all make time for today. We only get
one shot at it.
Bob Dylan, a man from another time,
says as much in “Open the Door, Homer.”
“Take care of all your memories / For you
&MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016
ARTS REVIEWB8
See Jazz Wars, B7
The Japan Club of Boston College’s
annual Harumatsuri, a Japanese spring
festival, was a nightlong celebration of
culture and art. Before the performers
took to the stage, JCBC’s culture chair
Yoyo Kwan, MCAS ’18, asked a simple
question.
“How many of you in the audience are
Japanese?”
About a third of the 150 or so audience
members raised its hands. While a sizeable
group, it was obvious that perhaps a
majority of the attendees came from a
variety of cultural backgrounds. According
to Kwan, the night’s event was not just
for those of Japanese descent. Rather, the
event catered to all individuals who have
been touched or infl uenced by Japanese
culture. Kwan advocated for individuals
to become cultural allies, or persons
who support and foster growth within
a community—Japanese heritage isn’t a
requirement for JCBC membership. Th e
club exists to help all individuals claim
their personal narratives and explore the
intersection of traditional culture and the
American experience.
Th e fi rst performance of the night was a
Kabuki theatre rendition of six scenes from
Th e Lion King. Kabuki is a genre of Japanese
drama that involves highly stylized dance
sequences, songs, and body movements.
Although the performance lacked dialogue,
the intensity of the drama was portrayed
through exaggerated gestures and forceful
vocal expressions, and the choreographed
dancers moved across the stage with ease
and fl uidity. With this style, the performers
thrilled the audience with renditions of
famous scenes such as the death of Mufasa
and “Hakuna Matata.”
Another crowd favorite was a rendition
of “Sound of Love and Rainy Skies” by the
popular J-pop group AAA. Th e performance
was full of energy and enthusiasm. It started
with a single vocalist on stage, and with the
addition of each verse came the entrance
of another singer. Th e backdrop included
a lyrics sheet written in English, so non-
Japanese speakers could follow along with
the music. Th e crowd seemed particularly
SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR
See SASA, B7
AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
The Japanese Club of Boston College’s fifth annual spring festival, Harumatsuri, invited the school’s broad demographic base to join in a night of Japanese dances, songs, and performances.
See JCBC, B7