Movie ReviewCoraline

Is the movie version as good as the book? Check out Inferno’s review to fi nd out.ENNTERTTAAINMENT page 21

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WHAT’S INSIDENews......................2-5

Editorials..............8-11

Features.............14-17

Entertainment....19-23

Comics................26-27

Sports.................29-36

TORCH GRAPHIC/ZACH DAVINO

Managing Board LXXXV

GREGORY LEPORATI, Editor-in-Chief

EVERTON BAILEYNews EditorPASQUALE PASSARELLA

Editorial Page EditorPATRICE BENDIGFeatures EditorCAITLYN NOLANEntertainmentEditor

ANTHONY MORREALE

Sports EditorLAURA AMATOPhoto EditorJONNATHAN COLEMAN

Online EditorZACH DAVINOArt Director

ELIZABETH JALONSCHI

General ManagerSARA RHODESLayout EditorELLEN CAREYAdvisor

Directory

Business (718) 990-6576 Advertising990-6756Editorial Board990-6444

Features 990-6445 Letters990-6445News990-6444Sports990-6444

Special thanks to Richard Rex Thomas for assisting in the design of The TORCH

FeaturesValentine’s Day

With Feb. 14 only days away, the TORCH helps you fi nd the best ways to celebrate affordably.

Features pg. 13

Video GamesGhostbusters

Inferno gives readers a heads up on the best games of 2009. See which games, including Ghostbusters, are worth playing.

Inferno pg. 23

Men’s BasketballQuite a struggle

The Red Storm shot just 31 percent from the fl oor in their 60-47 loss to Louisville on Sunday.

Sports pg. 34

Awaiting the river card: Students at the Fantasy Casino Night, held on Feb. 6, hold their breaths as the fi nal card is dealt in their round of Texas Hold’em Poker. Campus Activities hosted the event, and made sure that students could only bet fake money.

ILLITERACY OPINION PG. 8

FOR MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: 718-990-6756 The TORCH is the offi cial student newspaper of St. John’s University. The Torch is written, edited, designed and produced by students of the University. All contents are the sole responsibility of the editors and the editorial board and do not nec-essarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of St. John’s University unless specifi cally stated.

This copy of The Torch is worth $ .75.

To contact The TORCH by mail:The TORCH, St. John’s University8000 Utopia ParkwayQueens, NY 11439

The TORCH is typically published on Wednesdays, approximately 20 issues throughout the academic year. Circulation per issue is 3,500 copies distributed free on campus.

MATT CHOQUETTE

Chief Copy Editor

CHRISTINA HEISER, Managing Editor

TORCH PHOTO/JORDAN SEGAL

Olympian featured in spring lecture series

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Issues outside the classroom are the focus for this semester’s Spring Academic Lecture Series.

The theme for this year’s series, which began on Feb. 5, is “Issues Affecting America: Responsible Citizenship” and lecture topics range from homeland security to social behav-ior.

Dan DeVivo, a Harvard graduate and fi lm-maker, kicked off the Queens campus portion of the lecture series on Feb. 10 in the Storm Center with “Crossing Arizona,” a fi lm show-ing and discussion on the trials and tribulations faced by undocumented immigrants crossing into Arizona due to heightened security in Texas and California.

On Feb. 25, also in the Storm Center at 5 p.m., Dr. Ronald Walters, director of the Afri-can American Leadership Institute, will pres-ent “The Social Contract.” In this lecture, Wal-ters will discuss expectations for the Obama administration and a look back on Nov.’s his-toric election.

Olympic Gold Medalist and U.S. women’s softball pitcher Jennie Fitch will be the head-lining speaker during the Women in Sports Day Celebration Awards Ceremony and Din-ner Recognition at 4 p.m. at Marillac Terrace on Feb. 28. Fitch will speak on breast cancer and other issues effecting women today.

Frank Warren, creator of the blog Post Secret, reveals the inspiration for his popular Web site during “Post Secret: What’s Your Secret?” in Marillac Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Mar. 19.

Marillac Auditorium hosts “An Evening with Nikki Giovanni” on Apr. 2 at 7 p.m. fea-turing poet Nikki Giovanni, a winner of the NAACP Image Award and Langston Hughes Medal for poetry.

“Joy and Justice: The Challenge for Teach-ing in an Age of Inequality, Resurgent Segre-gation and Relentless Testing” is going to be a lecture given by Jonathan Kozol, an author and educator, on Apr. 8 at 3 p.m. in the Little Theatre.

This semester’s lecture series wraps up with “Anatomy of Prejudice,” on Apr. 23 at 5 p.m. in the Little Theatre. Jane Elliott, a teacher, will discuss society’s responsibly to identify and help eliminate prejudices.

THOMAS CARNEVALEStaff Writer

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Who’s got school spirit?Well, that depends on who you ask.Students seem to be divided over

the amount of enthusiasm and support exhibited for University functions, particularly St. John’s sporting events.

Some feel school pride is at an all-time high.

“School spirit has gotten a lot better,” said senior Kareem Tyree. “I think students over the past few years are going to more events and activities on campus and adding to the college atmosphere here.”

But, others have a different point of view.

“School spirit defi nitely used to be better,” said graduate student Rodney Mercado. “I think there should be more advertising for events, people just don’t know what’s going on around here.”

Steve Bua, a senior, shared similar concerns.

“Overall, I think school spirit among students, as a whole, can improve,” he said. “I know things are being done to try and work on it, but there could be more enthusiasm on campus.”

John Kelly, vice president for Student Government, Inc., has an optimistic view on school spirit.

“I have noticed a marked change in school spirit and pride at St. John’s in my four years here,” said Kelly, a senior. “Students are far more involved and connected to St. John’s and all that it has to offer today as opposed to four years ago.”

Kelly cites a 400 percent increase in Men’s Soccer attendance from 2005 to 2008 and a raise in Men’s basketball season ticket holders from 100 in 2005 to over 700 in 2008 as examples of an upward trend of support.

“Student Government and Redzone took the early lead in increasing attendance and school spirit, and recently the rest of the University has rallied

behind us and taken its own steps to increase school spirit through student engagement,” he said.

Christina Zaccarelli, SGI Chair for School Spirit, mentioned activities centering around student and student-athlete interactions as a method used to raise St. John’s pride.

“In the past, we’ve done mini-pep rallies where students get the opportunity to meet with and talk to some of the players before games. We’ve also had programs where students have dinner with the players after the games too,” she said.

“We did all this to help bridge the gap between students and student-athletes with the belief that the more students get to know the players, the more they would be willing to provide support for the players at the games because you are now rooting for people you know.”

Recently, more incentives have been added to help increase student attendance for St. John’s events.

For a Feb. 5 St. John’s Men’s Basketball road game against Seton Hall University, 250 students were bused to New Jersey’s Prudential Center to watch the Red Storm play and were given a voucher that could be exchanged for two free movie tickets and a metro card. In addition, students received free food and a free t-shirt.

Zaccarelli said similar away game trips are being planned for the upcoming baseball, softball and lacrosse seasons.

Free movie tickets and metro cards were also offered in exchange for attending Feb. 8’s St. John’s Men’s and Women’s basketball games at Madison Square Garden.

Also, the student organization that signed up the most members to attend the Seton Hall game received $1,000 towards their group’s earned income account.

Zaccarelli said the inclusion of the added enticements left her pleased with the student turnout.

“It was exciting because a lot of people came that I had never seen before,” she

said. “It brought out a lot of people who may have not come out otherwise, so it was a good thing.”

Every student that attends the fi nal fi ve St. John’s basketball home games will be entered into a raffl e, where fi ve chosen students will have their $500 housing deposit towards waived.

“We’re hoping this gets a lot of resident students to the games,” she said.

Although Zaccarelli acknowledged that attendance and a team’s success generally go hand-in-hand, she also stressed that student participation for sporting events should not depend on a team’s win-loss column.

“It shouldn’t be about whether we’re winning or losing, it should be about continuing the tradition of supporting our teams,” she said.

EVERTON BAILEYNews Editor

Students split over SJU school spirit

TORCH PHOTO/ANTHONY MORREALE

Christina Zaccarelli, SGI School Spirit chair, is helping to lead the effort to increase student participation at sporting and campus events.

A number of events are taking place this Feb. on the Queens campus to celebrate Black History Month, and after the recent inauguration of Barack Obama as president, students say they are more enthused to learn about African American history than in past years.

“To me, Obama kind of gave that extra push,” said senior Deidre Sears, a member of Haraya, the Pan-African Student Coalition, and a committee chair on the Caribbean Students Association.

Senior Jason Black, director of Activities for CSA, agreed.

“It just shows change, and that’s why Obama is on all of the Black History Month advertisements,” he said. “It shows that now we’re heading into a new era. It shows opportunity, that we’re slowly accomplishing goals and ways to break down barriers.”

Nashia Whittenburg, assistant director of Multicultural Affairs within Student Life, helped organize the events that are planned for Black History Month and, like many of the students, has noticed a renewed energy and interest in the events in the wake of Obama’s inauguration.

“In past years I’ve walked around and seen ads for our events on the ground or scattered around,” she said. “This year, with the beautiful Obama image on them, I haven’t seen any, so I know people are picking them up.”

Like in past years, Whitenburg helped plan the events for Black History Month alongside the Black History Month Committee – a group of 20 students, many of them active members in Haraya.

In all, there are 19 events planned throughout Feb. in honor of Black History Month.

There have already been four events, and the reception has been positive so far.

“I was anticipating low numbers for

the fi rst event, but we had a fairly decent turnout for Groove,” Whittenburg said. “It might be because the coffeehouse series has been set in stone by Campus Activities, so that has gained a lot of momentum.”

Groove, held on Saturday Feb. 7 in the UC Storm Center, featured various poets, and was sponsored in conjunction with Campus Activities.

Other upcoming events include the MLK Dinner on Thursday, Feb. 19 in Marillac Terrace and the “South Africa Benefi t Concert: What Makes Your Heart Bleed?” on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Many students seem enthused about the upcoming panel discussion, called “Terminology; Black or African American,” which is set to be held on Feb. 11 in Council Hall at 5 p.m.

“To be able to sit down and see everyone’s opinion on the word ‘black’ and what other people feel about that word, not only just African Americans, but people of other races and cultures, is

so interesting,” Sears said. Whittenburg added that the panel

discussion has received some of the most buzz of any of the events.

“I’ve gotten a lot of e-mail correspondence about the panel discussion,” she said. “It’s a pretty hot topic. I’ve gotten calls from alumni, media relations, different entities on campus wanting promotional matierials, wanting to know what’s going on. We have so much interaction with faculty – that’s what really makes the difference. Faculty will be participating in the two different panels.”

Junior Jose Bererra thinks the events planned this year are interesting, and he plans on attending a few.

“I always try to get involved in activities no matter their affi liation,” he said. “I’m more inclined to go to a Black History Month event.”

GREGORY LEPORATIEditor-in-Chief

Additional reporting by Thomas Carnevale

Slew of events planned for Black History Month

St. John’s students have been running out of excuses on reasons not to recycle.

For the past three weeks, St. John’s has been among more than 500 universities from across the country taking part in Recyclemania, a 10-week national recycling competition sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that judges schools on their recycling habits.

Some of the more notable schools also participating in this year’s Recyclemania include Cornell University, Florida State University, and Northwestern University.

According to Thomas Goldsmith, director of Environmental and Energy Conservation, recyclable material counted in the competition is divided into three categories: cardboards, mixed paper, and bottles and cans. Schools are judged based on the largest amount of recyclables, the highest recycling rate and the largest and smallest amounts of recyclables per capita.

The overall winner of the Recyclemania Tournament, which began on Jan. 18 and will end on Mar. 28, will be given a trophy to display on their campus for one year.

“We thought this would be a good idea to include here at St. John’s because it’s another way for us to focus on and improve the recycling culture on campus,” said Goldsmith.

For the last three weeks, Goldsmith said recyclables from eight different locations on campus are collected from Sundays through Saturdays. Once collected, the volumes of the materials are recorded, converted into pounds and then those fi gures are submitted to Recyclemania offi cials to be included in the school’s progress.

Although St. John’s national ranking within the competition has still not been announced, over the past three weeks, Goldsmith said the University has reported 15,972 lbs. of mixed paper, 13,780 lbs. of cardboard and 6,650 lbs. of bottles and cans, said Goldsmith.

Overall, the Director of Environmental and Energy Conservation said he has seen improved recycling habits among the St. John’s community.

“I think students are catching on,” he said. “Recycling has been up 400 percent in the last year.”

Many students said they were pleased St. John’s joined the national competition.

“I’ve never heard of this tournament, but I always make sure to recycle my trash,” said student Kalina Lau. “It is just

a normal part of my everyday routine.”Others said they were previously

unaware that the school was participating in Recyclemania but were still willing to do their part to help.

“I didn’t know St. John’s was competing against other universities in this tournament, but it does not change the way I recycle because I have always done so,” said junior Anna Carey. “But, I think a lot more students will get involved because of this.”

Matthew Ponte, a senior, said he was familiar with the Recyclemania competition and said he was rooting for the University to have a strong showing.

“I would defi nitely like to see St. John’s win this year,” he said.

Goldsmith said that although the school’s chances of winning this year are slim, he has high hopes that wherever St. John’s ranks among other institutions national, it will reap the benefi ts.

“We realize that maybe we won’t be in the top fi ve this year, because there are other schools who have been doing this longer, but our focus is for us to improve recycling at St. John’s as much as we can to make us a more environmentally conscious community,” he said.

More than 100 students brought their best poker faces to Council Hall Feb. 6 for Fantasy Casino Night.

The event, sponsored by Campus Activities, hosted numerous casino mainstays, such as blackjack, roulette, and poker.

This was the second time a Casino Night event has been held this school year. Campus Activities sponsored a previous event last fall during Homecoming Week.

“It was a great night, there was a big turnout and the students all seemed to enjoy themselves,” said Noebeth Toro, coordinator of Campus Activities. “We’ve been trying to improve the weekend culture here on campus to give students more fun activities to do over the weekend and Fantasy Casino Night was one of those activities.”

Participants started with $50,000 in chips, which increased or decreased based on a player’s performance in the games.

The chips could then be exchanged for raffl e tickets with one ticket earned for every $10,000 in chips.

At the end of the night, students submitted raffl es to enter drawings to win a variety of prizes including an Xbox 360, Sony digital camera, two Broadway tickets for Avenue Q and other giveaways.

“We know students have different interests, so we made sure to offer a wide selection of prizes so that there would be something for everyone,” said Toro.

Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on some students at the event.

Andrew Bartley said he made most of his winnings from playing roulette, despite

never playing the game before, and was able to win a Fender acoustic guitar for his efforts.

“In my case, I guess luck is much more important than skills,” said Bartley.

Other students said they enjoyed having

a roll of the dice, at least for one night.“It was fun,” said student Keshia Jones.

“They should have more Casino Nights to bring in more people around campus.”

Toro mentioned although the nature of the event was festive, she felt it was still important to warn students of the dangers of gambling.

“We wanted to emphasize that this was all for fun, so we handed out pamphlets about gambling addiction for students,” she said.

ALYSSA LEUNGContributing Writer

Casino Night proves to be a safe betto

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We’ve been trying to improve the weekend culture

here on campus to give students more fun activities to do over the weekend and

Fantasy Casino Night was one of those activities.

-Noebeth Toro

”eth Toroeth Toro

TORCH PHOTO/JORDAN SEGAL

Students try their luck at blackjack during Fantasy Casino Night in Council Hall Feb. 6. An Xbox 360 and digital camera were some of the event’s top prizes.

EARL BENJAMINContributing Writer

SJU does spring cleaning thanks to recycling contest

Campus Activities event draws more than 100 students for night of fun and ‘gambling’

St. John’s Weekly Recyclemania

Totals

(through the 1st three weeks)

Cardboard

Week 1 [Jan. 18 - Jan. 24] - 5,020 lbs.Week 2 [Jan. 25 - Jan. 31] - 4,920 lbs.

Week 3 [Feb. 1 - Feb. 7] - 3,840 lbs.

Mixed Paper

Week 1 [Jan. 18 - Jan. 24] - 4,356 lbs. Week 2 [Jan. 25 - Jan. 31] - 5,324 lbs.Week 3 [Feb. 1 - Feb. 7] - 6,292 lbs.

Bottles and Cans

Week 1 [Jan. 18 - Jan. 24] - 1,600 lbs.Week 2 [Jan. 25 - Jan. 31] - 1,850 lbs.Week 3 [Feb. 1 - Feb. 7] - 3,200 lbs.

Additional reporting by Everton Bailey

Additional reporting by Everton Bailey

A photographic archive of the New York City Fire Department from the 1900s to the present is now on display in the Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery of Sun Yet Sen Hall.

The gallery hosted an opening reception of the exhibit, “Images from the FDNY Photo Unit,” on Feb. 10. The display is a collection of snapshots taken by the FDNY Photo Unit, a group consisting of city fi refi ghters, civilians and professional photographers who chronicle memorials, fi res and other signifi cant events in the history of the FDNY through pictures. Some moments captured on fi lm in the exhibit include pictures from the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the recent landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River and other pictures from the early 20th century.

The exhibit will be available for viewing until March 7.

Ben Cotton, a former photographer and archivist for the FDNY Photo Unit, helped organize the exhibit and said he felt it was important to give the average person a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a fi refi ghter.

“I wanted them to see how far we’ve come along from when the FDNY fi rst started,” said Cotton, who is also a retired FDNY fi refi ghter. “When [fi refi ghters] fi rst started, they were wearing rubber

coats. Today, we’re completely covered from top to bottom in special gear.”

“It’s a great way to really see our history and take a look at New York City history as well.”

According to Belenna Lauto, associate professor of Photography in the Department of Fine Arts at St. John’s, the exhibit’s conception began years ago during a conversation with Cotton, a friend of her’s for almost 25 years.

The pair spent a year and a half looking through more than years of negatives, which Cotton believes is a result of a picture being taken everyday since the Photo Unit was fi rst created more than 50 years ago.

Even before the group’s inception, the Photo Unit also has about 80 years of glass and large format negatives that were taken. Many of the photos on display at Sun Yat Sen Hall are large digital contact sheets that were scanned from many of these glass negatives.

“I think the negatives really show a nostalgic look of New York and are my favorite of the pictures I helped pick for the exhibit,” said Lauto. “But, what you have to remember is that this is just a small percentage of the numerous images the Photo Unit has on fi le, some which date back to 1859.”

Students said the older photographs left the biggest impression on them as well.

“Of all the images I’ve seen, the ones that really struck me were the black and white ones,” said freshman Justin Lau. “They make me think about what it must have been like for fi refi ghters back then and made me really appreciate everything we have now that helps fi ght fi res.”

Lauto said she hopes students who visit the gallery not only note the history behind each photograph, but also their signifi cance today as well.

“Even back then disasters were being dealt with, whether they were big or small, people had to deal with tragedy and that is still happening today,” she said. “Photographers then and now put themselves in the line of duty to bring us snapshots of important events and that’s what these pictures represent -- important snapshots of our history that we will look back on and remember.”

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“Photographers then and now put themselves in the

line of duty to bring us snapshots of

important events and that’s what these pictures represent -- important snapshots

of our history that we will look back on

and remember.

-Belanna Lauto

”r and a halfr and a ha

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FDNY: Pics capture moments in time AMANDA MORALESStaff Writer

TORCH PHOTOS/SARIKA PERSAUD

“Images from the FDNY Photo Unit,” an exhibit featured in Sun Yet Sen Hall until Mar. 7, showcases a collection of pictures detailing the history of New York fi refi ghters and other experiences along the way. This is the fi rst time these photos have been displayed in an art gallery.

GREGORY LEPORATIEditor-in-Chief

CHRISTINA HEISERManaging Editor

EVERTON BAILEYNews Editor

PASQUALE PASSARELLAEditorial Page Editor

Illustrator’s Corner:

A Spirited AttemptIt’s probably fair to say that St.

John’s is a basketball school. A single visit to the newly revamped Carnesecca Arena lobby is evidence of that. The St. John’s basketball program has a proud history that goes back more than 100 years.

That said, it’s sad that attendance at games in the past few years has sunk so low.

Maybe it’s a simple matter of the team’s failure to meet expectations. Or maybe there’s more to the story.

In essence, the backbone of stu-dent support for sports teams, campus events, and programs is school spirit. Without this somewhat intangible sub-stance, the student body would have no force to rally behind. For whatever reason, St. John’s seems to be suffering from a recession in spirit.

It’s hard to see a school with such a rich history suffering from a lack of school spirit.

Reasons for this are hard to pin down, as no single cause could or should receive all of the blame. Student indifference has become a serious issue in this nation.

This has been illustrated many times in the past few years, particularly by disinterest in national politics in the most recent presidential election. In the last few elections less than 50 percent of voters between the ages of 18-24 have cast a ballot.

While a study conducted by the Fo-rum for Youth Investment has shown that the youth of this generation wish to be the ones shaping, rather than witnessing history, this seems hard to believe when students won’t even be bothered to get involved in the life of their university.

Participating in events on campus is an outlet for students to express pride in their schools.

However, problems as complex as declining student involvement are like-ly to have multiple sources. Participa-tion is a two-way street. While students need to fi nd the motivation to attend sporting events and other programs, the University needs to do a better job of planning and promoting them.

A perfect example took place on Feb. 5.

At 1:32 a.m. the morning of a men’s basketball away game that would take place at Seton Hall, an e-mail was sent to the St. John’s Central account of ev-ery SJU student. It advertised the game, promising free admission to the fi rst 250 students to sign up.

On top of that, the e-mail offered two free movie passes and a free met-rocard to any student who attended the event. The gifts would be given out after the students returned from the game.

There was also some added in-centive to organizations to round up students, as the organization that brought the most students to the game would receive $1000 for their Earned Income Account.

It seems as if the school was almost bribing students to attend the game, which says a lot about school spirit at St. John’s. However, a serious fl aw can also be found in the e-mail itself. It was sent less than 24 hours before game time. This left students with very little time to rearrange their schedules.

As with many of the University’s attempts to improve the school, the good intentions are certainly there. Unfortunately, it is in the execution of these attempts where St. John’s has fallen short.

Rather than smelling like school spirit, it would seem that St. John’s pro-gram to increase attendance at basket-ball games stinks of desperation.

Editorial Board LXXXVI

FLAMES OF THE TORCH

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Mail letters to:The TORCH Letters, St. John’sUniversity, 8000 Utopia Pkwy,Jamaica, NY 11439

E-mail letters to:torcheditorials@gmail.com

EDITORIAL POLICY

TO CONTRIBUTE

Editorials are the opinions of the Edito-rial Board of The TORCH. Columns are the opinions of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of The TORCH. Opin-

ions expressed in editorials, columns, letters or cartoons are not necessarily those of the student body, faculty or ad-ministrations of St. John’s University.

Please include your full name, year, and college (or department). Letters have a limit of 350 words and may be edited for content, grammar, or space. Unverifi able or anonymous letters will not be published. All letters are subject to the approval of the Editorial Board of The TORCH.

TORCH CARTOON/MIKE WIRSCH

To the Editor:

I’m a commuter student who spends most of her time in the library catching up on homework and reviewing in between classes. I am appalled by the lack of respect and the insensitive students on the 3rd fl oor of the library.

These students just congregate in the back quiet section of the library while laughing and speaking loudly. We are in college and in a library for crying out loud. On numerous occasions I have noticed how students place their backpacks and become cubby/table squatters.

They walk up and down the aisles laughing and texting or talking on their cell phone. I hear other students and myself po-litely asking noisy students to keep it down.

Their response is “sure no problem.” Two minutes later, whispers turn into mumbling conversations and then into loud bursts of laughter.

Those students who are in the printing/photocopying room do not realize that their loud chatter/cell phone conversations are echoing throughout the library.

If you’re one of those noisy students: please do everyone a favor and be respect-ful. Use your common sense. Do we really need to resort to elementary school behav-ior of “Shhing?” Or should we place quiet signs throughout the library (indicating that their voices project from here)!

Saba AhmedClass of 2009

College of Professional Studies

Letters to the Editor

Sometimes I wish this were a sports column.

Sure, I’d be forced to provide com-mentary on the nature of sport each week, and that would undoubtedly prove an-noying after a while. But, on the fl ip side, I’d fi nally have an adequate soapbox to stress my growing frustration over the St. John’s men’s basketball team.

If this were a sports column, I could call out coach Roberts when I notice the team registering more turnovers than should be legally allowed. I could rant about how much the team misses transfer Larry Wright, and how his lack of playing time in 2008 could very well have con-tributed to his decision to leave the Uni-versity. And this week, I’m sure I’d write about the team’s apparent lack of prepa-ration last Sunday for Louisville’s trade-mark full-court press, which played a huge factor in the Storm’s 13-point loss.

But I am not a sports columnist. In-stead, I write a column that appears in the opinion section – a part of the TORCH that students, administrators, and faculty typically fi nd while reading their papers from left to right, far removed from the articles chronicling the dismal fate of the Red Storm.

I’ve treated this weekly rant as a means of writing about St. John’s as a whole, oftentimes calling out question-able University practices. And this week will be no different, though after the ugly loss to Louisville this past weekend, I

can’t help but indulge my inner sports columnist a bit. So bear with me as I wade into unfamiliar waters, as I make my fi rst attempt to weave sports into “Odds With-out Ends.”

First, let’s get something straight: St. John’s and I both want to see the men’s basketball team excel, but not because we’re simply fans of good sport. Rather, it’s a moneymaker for the University; the income earned from the Red Storm can-not be denied. But lately, the team has un-derperformed to such an extent that atten-dance at games and interest in the team is poor, at best.

For example, 6,128 people attended the Louisville game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. The arena, during basketball games, can hold around 19,000 fans. It’s sad that the Red Storm fi lls up MSG to less than one-third of its total ca-pacity, and to think of how this might af-fect our future contracts with the “world’s most famous arena” is cause for concern.

To fi x the low attendance at games, administrators have tried to add entic-ments for students to come cheer on the Storm. Most recently, they offered stu-dents a chance to travel to New Jersey last week to watch St. John’s in an away game against Seton Hall. University dol-lars went towards shipping students to the game, providing them with incentives like free movie tickets, free dinner, and free snacks, in addition to a special of-fer of $1,000 to the student organization that could rally the most students to come along.

I have the utmost respect for the ad-ministrators trying to improve school spirit. But I have just one pertinent ques-tion: is shipping students to New Jersey and spending money on unnecessary and random incentives really the best way to be spending University dollars?

The Red Storm is costing the Uni-versity money for two reasons: fi rst, the team is underperforming. Second, admin-istrators have failed to realize where their money should really be spent to revitalize the team.

It’s admirable that the school wants to raise support at away games, but pro-viding unnecessary incentives is no way to truly foster school spirit around a failing team.

I recommend that St. John’s cuts back on its spending in that area; it should hold onto the money and either spend it towards actually rebuilding the basket-

ball team (hiring more coaching staff, improving facilities to attract more re-cruits, etc.), or save the money for when the school gets hit harder by the current economic crisis.

Though it was almost embarrassing to watch the men’s team mishandle the ball against Louisville last week, hear-ing about administrators’ mishandling of money hits even closer to home.

As you can see, a column about the Red Storm does not just have to focus on the nature of college sport, on calling for Norm’s head, or on speculating whether Larry Wright could have improved our conference record this year. Rather, it’s important to remember the signifi cance of the men’s basketball team, as both a means of generating school spirit and as a fi nancial juggernaut for the University.

Let’s make sure that necessary funds are directed towards improving the team. Only by landing top-notch recruits and fi ll-ing the sidelines with impressive coaches will the team get better, school spirit ac-tually increase, and the Red Storm start earning the school more much-needed money.

It doesn’t take a sports columnist to know that a failure to spend money in the right areas could lead to more losing seasons for both the Red Storm and St. John’s University as a whole.

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Gregory Leporati is a senior English major. He can be reached at: torcheic@gmail.com

Misplaced enthusiasm

STUDENTSPARKSWhat do you think of the performance so far of the men’s basketball team?

I think they did good at the home games. I don’t like how they play on the road.

They are working hard every game. I think the effort is there. They are giving it their all.

They are all right. They look a little unorganized.

Rob Parvez Jayson Castillo Iashawn Robinson

COMPILED BY THOMAS CARNEVALE

Recyclemania is a good step toward a greener planet

In the past year, St. John’s has dramatically increased its recycling efforts and taken a strong stance in the green move-ment to help protect and sustain the environment.

As a large university with on-campus housing and two large dining halls, the growing empha-sis on recycling around St. John’s is not only a much-needed move, but also an environmentally responsible one.

Last spring, resident students saw blue and green plastic recy-cling bins adorn the hallways of the dorms in an effort to increase the recycling of cans, bottles, and paper.

In addition to residential buildings, almost every other building on campus saw special recycling stations appear for the collection of recyclables.

The distribution of these col-lection bins throughout the Resi-dence Village and within admin-istrative and academic buildings is a great feat for St. John’s recy-cling and environment sustain-ability program which, accord-ing to the St. John’s Web site, pledges to, “Integrate sustain-ability responsibilities into con-struction of new facilities, op-eration of existing facilities and working/learning activities.”

And now St. John’s is tak-ing their efforts to a new level as they compete in Recyclemania, a national competition in which more than 400 colleges and uni-versities compete for 10 weeks

to improve their habits. The program is aimed to

promote waste reduction, and participating schools will shoot to report the “largest amount of recyclables per capita, the larg-est amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recy-cling rate,” according to the Re-cyclemania Web site.

The program began in 2001 at Ohio University and Miami University. This year, the num-ber of schools has doubled from last year’s 201 participants. This is an important program to ac-knowledge because of what it will be accomplishing long after the fi nal day of competition.

Recyclemania is spreading awareness in the administra-tive offi ces of dining halls and bringing reform to campuses all

across the country.While the Recyclemania

competition is new to St. John’s, the conservation and waste re-duction effort is nothing new to Montgoris Dining Hall, which has been monitoring food waste and initiating programs to save food and water for years.

Many students on campus have expressed their delight in the recent efforts of Chartwells to help protect the environment, and rightfully so.

So with a newly-inspired spirit of conservation we should all do our best to support the Re-cyclemania movement. While some students are adamantly against trayless days and other Montgoris conservation reforms, there are still ways that we can help.

For example, avoid wasted

food by not taking more than you really need. Efforts like this will amount to more conservation than the withholding of trays. If it’s not enough to change your habits for the good of the envi-ronment, then do it for those less fortunate who don’t have ac-cess to the extra food we waste so freely.

Overall, this initiative to protect the environment should not be overlooked. It’s not hard to rethink and restructure the simple ways we live in excess, and in becoming aware of our environmental footprints we can be less of a toxic force in the world.

The Recyclemania competi-tion will run until March 28. For more information you can visit their Web site at recyclemaniacs.org.

JUSTIN THRIFTStaff Writer

Improving the basketball team will benefi t the entire university

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Michael Phelps is only human after allTORCH CARTOON/ZACH DAVINO

In a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, “Week-end Update” anchor Seth Meyers had a novel sugges-tion for parents who don’t know what to tell their kids about Michael Phelps’ use of marijuana: “Just say ‘You can [too], right after you win twelve Gold Medals for your country.’”

Joking aside, though, the uproar from the Ameri-can public over a personal decision made by the Olym-pic hero deserves a closer look: do we really have any right to bash Phelps for what he himself has called “regrettable”? Doesn’t he have enough to worry about without being told that he owes it to his fans to never make a mistake?

Give the guy a break. Despite what his feats in the swimming pool might suggest, he is, after all, human.

I might even understand the public outcry if Phelps played for a major league team. Guys like Ricky Wil-liams, Todd Bertuzzi and Alex Rodriguez, though re-ferred to as “pro athletes” in the popular lexicon, are re-ally something different.

They are professional entertainers, and as such, their

relationships with the fans who cheer them on are a vi-tal part of their value. When Williams announced pub-licly that he will never stop smoking marijuana, when Bertuzzi violently attacked a defenseless opponent in a hockey game, and when Rodriguez chose to take perfor-mance enhancing drugs, each did signifi cant damage to that relationship.

Furthermore, when an athlete such as A-Rod is being paid a quarter of a billion dollars to play a game, it’s not out of order to ask him to set a good example for the kids while he does it. A diminished reputation directly affects entertainment value, and that, literally, is the bottom line in professional team sports.

Phelps, though, is an athlete in the purer sense of the word. He competes for his country every four years, but more often, he competes for himself. For the most part, he has only himself to answer to and only him-self to depend on, and his personal choices should be his business.

That’s not to say that he is exempt from the conse-quences his decisions bear. When Kellogs announced that they would not renew Phelps’ endorsement contract due to his behavior, they were well within their rights. As was USA Swimming when it decided to suspend him for three months; these organizations have professional standards, and Phelps, basically an employee of both,

should conform to them or be punished.It is not, however, his duty to conform to any stan-

dards placed upon him by the American public or swimming fandom. They may choose to support him or not, but either way, it is not to them that he owes his success.

When Phelps makes a decision that he knows could affect his health, his reputation and his earnings poten-tial, he is the one that will have to deal with the results. In this case, Phelps has admitted that he made a mistake. He’s right about that, but it’s a mistake no worse than many of his critics have also likely made, and few have faced a backlash as severe as what Phelps has received. Surely, he will learn from it, and his reputation, with time, will recover.

So if you fi nd yourself wondering what to tell your children when they ask you about Michael Phelps’ mis-take, consider a response more rational than the one that Meyers proposed: tell them that Phelps is a great athlete, but he’s also human.

BRYAN BURTNERStaff Writer

Can’t get enough TORCH editorials? Visit our Web site for

online exclusives.torchonline.com

Writers welcome.Photographers, graphic designers, cartoonists, editors, and businesspeople welcome too.

If you have an interest, the TORCH has a role for you.Come visit us for our next meeting of the semester, on February 17 during Common Hour in the UC room 29.

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John’s University

The looming threat of illiterate AmericaTORCH CARTOON/KATRIN ASTARITA

Ninety-eight percent of the world’s non-literate population lives in develop-ing countries such as India or on the Afri-can continent.

But while many Americans are aware of the illiteracy rates that exist abroad, it may come as a surprise to many that the United States’ illiteracy rate has been growing in the past two decades.

According to the National Institute for Literacy, more than 50 million Americans cannot read or write at an eighth grade level. That’s more than twice the popula-tion of New York State.

The U.S. Education Department re-cently concluded that at least 32 mil-lion of those people are completely il-literate – that is, entirely unable to read or write a sentence in their primary language.

The prospect of growing illiteracy is scary for more reasons than you might

initially think. Besides the fact that an illiterate person will live an extremely diffi cult life, the deeper danger is in how that person will affect their offspring, and overall, the country.

The National Institute for Literacy stated that illiterate adults make up al-most 50 percent of the American welfare system, 75 percent of the unemployment population, and 70 percent of the current inmate population, while close to 90 per-cent of all juvenile offenders suffer from some form of illiteracy.

If this comes as shocking news, it may help to learn that the U.S. has a high school dropout rate of approxi-mately 29 percent; contrast that with Ja-pan’s 5 percent and Russia’s 2 percent and it is easier to account for all these illiterate Americans.

But according to many who study national illiteracy patterns, the prob-lem is rooted deeper than elevated high school dropout rates. In fact, 20 per-cent of graduating high school seniors are mildly illiterate upon receiving

their diplomas, according to the National Right to Read Foundation.

With the number of illiterate American adults increasing by nearly 2.25 million every year, according to the foundation, it is clear that some persisting problem is causing these literacy issues; but it re-mains unclear what this problem is.

Some people quickly blame insuffi -cient education funding from the govern-ment, but this is a weak argument because education funding has doubled in the last decade.

It may be time to analyze and ques-tion the way instruction is carried out in American schools, and learn from those countries practicing different reading comprehension and linguistic education methods.

It’s no coincidence that American children are signifi cantly less likely to learn a second language unless they live in a bilingual home.

This is not so in many European countries, where multiple languages are instilled during primary and second-

ary education. Also, many European and Asian children test higher in math and comprehension skills than do the majority of American children, accord-ing to a recent article in the Agence France-Presse.

In addition to planning for the future with educational reform, it is equally im-portant that we reach out to those battling illiteracy in the present.

Many illiterate American adults live their lives in turmoil and keep their hand-icap a secret. Literacy institutions and tutoring centers need to be more widely accessible in areas with higher concentra-tions of illiterate citizens.

Those interested in learning more about illiteracy statistics in the U.S. or inquiring about other information on the subject should research the Na-tional Right to Read Foundation, the National Institute for Literacy, or the CIA’s world fact book Web site. The best way to help improve our country’s illiteracy rate and make a difference is to get involved.

JUSTIN THRIFTStaff Writer

Obama’s sweeping stimulus plan may not be the answer

In times of crisis, the worst thing a person can do is stand idly by and watch the chaos ensue. At the same time, rushing into a situation without looking careful-ly at what the repercussions could be can also end in disaster. With the introduction of his economic stimu-lus package, President Barack Obama could very well be facing the latter.

Obama’s stimulus plan is incredibly large, and some are estimating its cost to be around $1 trillion. The most immediate impact of the package is expected to be the infl ux of cash into the economy from tax cuts and direct spending for those who need it.

These emergency funds will be put toward help-ing out citizens with social security and prevent-ing people from losing their homes due to foreclo-sure. In the short term, these emergency efforts could calm a still-panicked country and help to level out the economy.

For long-term efforts, Obama plans to introduce a new system of public works, which is to be the great-est investment in the nation’s infrastructure since the highway system was introduced in the 1950s. These

public works include allocation for standard proj-ects such as roads, as well as new initiatives. Among these are plans to update government buildings to be more energy-effi cient and investments in alternative fuel research.

All of the ideas outlined in Obama’s plan are aimed at generating both short-term and long-term fi xes to the problems that have been plaguing the economy along with other facets of life.

However, it is unclear whether or not these measures will be enough to prevent further deterioration of the economy. All of the measures seem to have been created with the best intentions, but it is impossible to tell if the stimulus package can generate enough of a boom to get the country out of its current crisis. Critics have com-plained that many of the provisions within the stimulus package are just examples of the Democratic Party’s penchant for overspending.

Comparisons have been made between Obama’s stimulus package and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, the plan that was enacted in the 1930s to help pull the country out of the Great Depression.

Although Roosevelt’s plan is remembered by many historians through rose-colored glasses, those who look closely at its effects can clearly see that although it helped, it did not pull the country entirely out of the

depression. Entering WWII did much more for the economy than the New Deal could have hoped for. This means that perhaps the single greatest stimulus pack-age ever unleashed into the world was only a partially successful act.

That knowledge makes it easy to question the vi-ability of this new stimulus package, and many have done just that. However, they seem to be overlooking some key differences in the situations that called for these packages.

The most important difference is that the pres-ent economy is in much better shape than the one that Roosevelt was trying to save. His package was only partially successful, but the country was in an absolute state of disaster. If the New Deal had been enacted dur-ing the present economic crisis, it may have been able to do much more.

Overall, it is hard to tell if the stimulus package will work. History can provide no perfect comparison, and economists continue to disagree on the possible effects of stimulus plans. However, it is certainly hard to bet against it. While critics claim that there may be some fl aws in the stimulus package, the future is still open for President Obama to correct any mistakes in upcoming bills. More importantly, it is nice to see that at least he is not just standing idly by and watching.

Illiteracy is a growing, yet preventable problem in the U.S.

MARK MCDONALD Staff Writer

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It’s that time of the year again, when single people become thoroughly depressed and cou-ples agonize about what gifts to give to their beloveds. Valentine’s Day is only three days away, but has probably been on many people’s minds since the beginning of the month.

It is nearly impossible to step into any store without being bombarded with stuffed animals holding boxes of chocolates, and candy hearts overfl owing store shelves.

Pressure to make the Feb. 14 the best day in your signifi cant other’s life, and buying the best present can cause just as much stress as fi nals (maybe even more).

This can make a holiday that is supposed to about loved ones and happiness stressful and displeasing.

But there are plenty of fun, enjoyable activ-ities that you and your sweetheart can do that won’t break your bank account.

Going out to dinner is a great way to spend the evening, and can offer a change of pace from having the featured meal at Montgoris. Union Turnpike has countless of small, inti-mate restaurants that are reasonable in price.

Acquista Trattoria located on 178-01 Union Turnpike, offers a wide selection of Ital-ian dishes (such a fettuccini alfreado, eggplant parmesan and fried calamari), pizza freshly out of the oven, and heroes.

After a delicious dinner, treat yourselves to one of the mouthwatering desserts offered, such as tiramisu.

Dinner for two with an appetizer, two en-trees and one desert can cost as little as $35, which is well worth it for the quality of food that is served in the intimate setting.

If Italian food isn’t your thing, try Kyoto Sushi Japanese and Thai restaurant, located at 153-11 Union Turnpike.

This authentic restaurant offers a wide as-sortment of sushi, including specialty rolls such as Dragon Rolls, Rainbow Rolls, and Union Rolls.

Japanese and Thai appetizers are also avail-able, which are quite different than what most regular college students are used to.

Desserts are also a specialty, including decadent treats such as Tempura ice cream, Cheesecake Tempura and Dragon Eggs (coco-nut ice cream bon bons).

A couple can dine here for around $40 (that includes two appetizers, two entrees, drinks and a dessert), which is much less than one would pay at most places in New York City.

The fun doesn’t have to stop after dinner. If you prefer a night out, than head to Manhattan to enjoy the sights and sounds of the night-life free of charge.

Walk around Times Square, window shop at stores where items cost more than tuition, stop into Starbucks for coffee as a treat- Times Square is one place where you will not be bored.

If you plan ahead and buy student tickets at Campus Concierge, you can go to the movie for only $6.

Just being together and doing something that is out of your regular routine is refreshing and romantic.

Maybe going out into the city isn’t your thing, but staying in your room can be just as romantic and especially intimate.

Have a movie night with your special some-one, playing a mix of both of your favorite fi lms and don’t forget to pop some popcorn.

Snuggling up on the couch with just your boyfriend or girlfriend is a great way to relax and have a special time between the two of you without worrying about how much money you have left on your credit card.

As for the whole gift giving situation, talk about it with your boyfriend or girlfriend and set a price limit.

This way both of you will spend the same amount of money and not feel guilty about not spending as much as the other person.

If you really don’t have the cash to buy a present, which is a very real possiblity for a college student, be honest with him or her.

Let them know that you do not have a lot of cash right now, but promise to do other fun things with each other. Odds are, your counter-part will understand.

When trying to fi nd the right gift, think about what would mean the most. Buy a pic-ture frame, and put a photo of a fun day that the two of you spent together.

If your girlfriend has an obsession with dogs, buy her a stuffed dog with a box of choc-olates in its mouth.

If your boyfriend is really into movies, buy him a movie that you can watch together. Just the idea that you thought of him or her will make your signifi cant other feel special.

These ideas are not only for people in re-lationships, but to anyone who has people in their lives that they care about.

Go out with your friends and enjoy a nice meal, without the anxiety over fi nding the per-fect gift or who’s paying for the meal.

Buy Valentine’s Day cards for all the peo-ple in your life that you care for, and give them out on the special day.

It will make you feel good because you’re doing something positive, and your loved ones will have their day brightened by receiving a Valentine.

Hopefully by having an upbeat outlook on Valentine’s Day, you and the special people in your life will be able to enjoy the holiday, and leave behind all the stress for more serious things such as midterms and term papers!

Features 3SectionThink Outside...

PATRICE BENDIGFeatures Editor

Vanishing Valentine woesFollow this guide to ensure a stress free romantic holiday

Iguanas GrillLocated on 179-11 Union Turnpike

Iguanas Grill offers a wide range of Mexican cusine, and diners have the

option of sitting down or just going into the bar area for a quick drink.

Sabatino’sLocated on 176-11 Union Turnpike

Sabatino’s offers a great array of italian dishes, including pasta and pizza. The

restaurant also delievers for those who do not feel like going out to eat.

Sly Fox InnLocated on 177-23 Union Turnpike

The Sly Fox Inn has a friendly atmosphere, and serves exceptional burgers, ribs and

steak. There is also a bar area for a quick drink.

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More dining venues:

With a new president recently tak-ing offi ce, many wonder what his top priorities will be while on the job. And with the country currently in a fi nancial crisis, many believe Obama’s main focus will be repairing the economy. But where does this leave the military, and more specifi cally, where does this leave mili-tary programs designed for students, such as the Army Reserve Offi cers’ Training Corps (ROTC)?

The ROTC fi rst began in 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Defense Act. There are current-ly more than 20,000 Cadets in the ROTC. There are more than 270 host programs and more than 1,000 partnership and af-fi liate schools around the nation.

At St. John’s, the ROTC has been

around since 1968. Every year, there are around 12 members who become Lieu-tenants for the Army, Army Reserve and National Guard in all of the branches of the Army. Students from other universi-ties in New York City can also join the ROTC at St. John’s.

According to Brian Clark, 1st Lieuten-ant and recruiting offi cer for the ROTC at St. John’s, Obama sees the benefi ts of the program and is “very much in favor of ROTC programs.”

Clark explained that being part of the ROTC offers students the opportunity to develop leadership skills and is “a great way to get an education.”

He also mentioned a public service forum where Obama spoke at Columbia University, along with Sen. McCain, in Sept. while both were still vying for the presidency.

At this event, Obama shared his dis-appointment in Columbia for not having

an ROTC program.“I recognize that there are students

here who have differences in terms of military policy,” he said. “But the notion that young people here at Columbia or anywhere, in any university, aren’t offered the choice, the option of participating in military service, I think is a mistake.”

Some students in the ROTC here at St. John’s have faith in Obama’s commit-ment to ROTC programs and the military in general.

Rodney Leach, a sophomore, said that he believes Obama does care about edu-cation, which may cause him to increase funding for ROTC programs.

But Leach said he does believe that there are more pressing issues right now.

“He defi nitely should and will be fo-cusing on the economy,” he said. “The military is going to be second.”

Another member of the ROTC, Jay Fong, a sophomore who goes to Brook-

lyn College, said that he thinks Obama is “putting the military as one of his top priorities.”

Clark added that Obama would be “misguided if the military wasn’t a prior-ity.”

He said that during the election, ROTC members based their votes on a number of issues, not just the military.

“Opinions were split on both sides,” he said, but only “some of it has to do with the military.”

However, Clark stated that the fi rst line of the Oath of Enlistment calls for members of the military to “protect the Constitution of the United States.”

The oath also states, “I will obey the orders of the President of the United States.”

Like Clark said, as a member of the military you must “follow any orders given to you,” regardless of your political affi liations.

ROTC embraces Obama adminstrationCHRISTINA HEISERManaging Editor

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A group of close to 30 St John’s students and fi ve administrators volunteering their services on a recent plunge in the hurricane ravaged New Or-leans stood true to St. John’s unwavering Vincen-tian heritage.

Led by the Catholic Charities and Operation Helping Hands, the group consisted of members of various organizations including Student Gov-ernment representatives, university orientation leaders, Resident Assistants, fraternity and soror-ity members and other student leaders from both the Queens and Staten Island campuses. The New Orleans Plunge visit, which took place Jan. 5-10, tried to bring hope to those affected by Hurricane Katrina by making repairs on buildings that des-perately needed it.

To aid in the ongoing rebuilding efforts after the hurricane, the students were split up into four teams each with a group leader from the Catholic Charities. The fi ve days spent rehabilitating New Orleans had the students occupied with daily tasks such as weeding, washing windows, painting and caulking the exterior of the seven homes.

At St John’s, service to the community is not only a long standing tradition, but can leave a life-long impression on those who serve. Students like Jacquelyn Torres, for example were affected by what they saw in the Lower Ninth Ward.

“The front doors on the homes and abandoned

buildings still had the ‘X’ mark left from the storm it seemed as though they were never forgetting what happened, you could also see the founda-tion and where the homes were located, it was still freshly done,” she said.

As profound as the laboring work results were what was most lasting were the emotional connec-tions the group made with the local residents and homeowners.

Lauren Len, a senior, felt that St. John’s stu-dents made a difference in the lives of the resi-dents of New Orleans.

“We came to the realization that each of our small tasks count toward something larger and that we have the ability to make a difference,” she said. “St. John’s truly made a difference when we painted the house of Ms. Jenkins, as she, too, affected our lives when she referred to us as her family.

“When she painted over the symbols marking that her house had been inspected after Katrina hit, it signifi ed a new beginning for all involved.”

At the end of each day of service, the students participated in a refl ection sharing period where they voiced their desires to help those who still suffer the effects of the storm.

Natalie Maio, associate director of Leadership Development, found the experience to be eye-opening as the tragedy still lingers on with home owners and residents of New Orleans.

“This trip gives you the chance to see life in a different way and really appreciate what and who you have in your own life,” she said.

A helping hand

CHANEL DRUMMONDStaff Writer

Various student organizations take part in New Orleans Plunge

Students work hard to make repairs to damages.

St. John’s students refl ect on the experience of the New Orleans Plunge in January 2009.

TORCH PHOTOS COURTSEY OF CENIA SANTANA

TORCH PHOTOS COURTSEY OF CENIA SANTANA

Anything Neil Gaiman writes is bound to be a twisted and dark story, even when he is writing for younger readers. Gaiman is best known for The Sandman comics and recently Coraline. Continuing in the trend established by Coraline, Gaiman’s newest novel, The Graveyard Book, is a spooky tale meant for his young adult au-dience.

The Graveyard Book tells the story of a boy whose entire family was murdered when he was an infant. Nobody “Bod” Owens, as he comes to be called, is taken in by the ghosts who live in the graveyard near his family’s house.

He grows up as a special inhabitant of the graveyard. He is a living child, but he is granted the “Freedom of the Grave-yard” to allow him some of the powers of the dead.

As Bod grows up, he attends lessons from different ghosts who teach him read-ing, writing, and how to haunt. Growing up in a graveyard obviously presents a few challenges for Bod. His friends are

dead and never change as he gets older and taller.

He is not allowed to leave the grave-yard because the man who assassinated his family is still after him.

However, how do ghosts stop an ad-venturous and curious boy from leaving? Throughout the story, Bod has different adventures involving various members

of the graveyard, much like Mowgli did in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling which partly inspired this novel.

The Graveyard Book is a quick read, not only because it is meant for young-er readers, but because it is hard to put down.

Gaiman has a knack for creating an-ticipation and telling stories a little out of the ordinary for normal life but perfectly acceptable for his characters.

It makes sense in the context of the story to have a boy who grows up in a graveyard have lessons in how to Fade and Dreamwalk because Gaiman’s story transcends the boundaries of normal life

Making the book even more interest-ing are Dave McKean’s black and white illustrations that add to the haunted and gray ambiance of Bod’s life.

The power of his illustrations to em-phasize the intensity of the story starts on the fi rst pages of the novel.

On an entirely black two pages, there is the chapter title and a single sentence printed in white next to an illustration of a man’s hand holding an incredibly sharp knife.

Illustrations similar to these continue throughout the book, sometimes taking

up more of a page than the text and some-times giving the text its shape.

The incorporation of the illustrations makes the novel seem more like a chil-dren’s book, but the real purpose is to convey the graveyard to the reader.

One thing that needs to be kept in mind is that The Graveyard Book is not Coraline.

Fans of Gaiman who pick up this book expecting it to be like Coraline will have some incorrect preconceptions and expectations.

The Graveyard Book is a novel meant for the same audience as Coraline, but it is not quite as scary of a story.

Coraline is faced with a dangerous alternate universe in which nothing is ex-actly what it seems, which provides for more suspense.

Bod’s story is more about the unique-ness of a life lived with the dead than about thrills or suspense. However, this does not make it any less of an amazing story for readers of any age.

In fact, The Graveyard Book was just awarded the John Newbery Medal by the American Library Association to recog-nize its excellence and contribution to children’s literature.

SARA RHODESLayout Editor

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

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Going away to college is a huge adjustment. Leaving a bed you have know for 18 years, the familiar neigh-borhood you grew up in, and having your family right down the hall are all things that change the minute you move into your dorm room. New surroundings and peo-ple around every corner can be overwhelming and even painful for some.

Imagine not only adjusting to a new environment, but a new culture which may include a foreign language, new behaviors, unusual foods and people who look noth-ing like you. This is what more than 1,000 international students at St. John’s experience.

The number of international students at St. John’s has reached its highest population of enrollment in 2008, with 1,236 students from more than 102 foreign countries in attendance. More than half of the popula-tion hails from countries such as India, China, Trinidad and Tobago, South Korea and Bulgaria. According to the Offi ce of Institutional Research’s Fact Book, the current freshman class has students from 44 countries, the ma-jority here from China and South Korea.

In order for the University to gain popular demand all over the world, various programs exist to enhance the opportunity. St. John’s has four international recruit-ers, with a fairly recent program based in regions such

as Rome, Italy, Cairo, Egypt and the states. Heavy re-cruiting is currently taking place in the Middle East and Asia.

“We take students in terms of they’re coming here for a whole program of study and we also welcome stu-dents for short term exposure for the U.S. education,” said Singee Lam, senior associate director of Interna-tional Admissions.

In addition, the University works with agents who set themselves up to campaign on behalf of the students. There are also companies that organize tours, fairs and high school visits for further awareness.According to Clare J. Lloyd Jones, international recruiter from the Of-fi ce of Admissions, there is a new program called Eye of The Storm.

Once students apply and are admitted, they gain ac-cess to a social networking site, similar to Facebook. There, they can blog, set up a profi le with the opportu-nity to speak to student ambassadors and even admin-istrators. Topics range from places to eat on campus to even favorite pizza toppings.

But the reason why students from across the world choose to attend St. John’s is based on personal prefer-ence. Location and academic rigor can also be a key ele-ment as a choosing factor.

“America has the most advanced education system in the world,” said Jiwei Peng, a junior from China. Some-times the competition can’t compete with a deal hard to resist. Zalika Timothy, a junior, came from Trinidad to

America to attend St. Johns three years ago. “St. John’s gave me the best scholarship,” said Timo-

thy. “That was a big consideration for me because the year I was trying to go away, that’s the year our uni-versity [University of the West Indies] was free to all students.”

The University is not shy from staying true with its Vincentian mission, as refl ected in its core values.

“The scholarship piece is so valuable to helping us recruit international students because we can provide them with some kind of fi nancial resource,” said Jones.

“The scholarships we offer international students, depending on their grades and SATS, is a full academic scholarship and half housing. Very few universities offer that level of scholarship to international students.”

Today, Timothy enjoys balancing her time with a handful of organizations she’s involved with that have helped her to meet new people, all the while remaining confi dent in her chosen path towards success. Or take it from Peng, who made sure to buy the latest Lebron James sneakers from his favorite American NBA team, the Cavalliers.

From being engulfed in the American culture, the benefi t of a decision to become a part of a global uni-versity is a trip worth taking. Although the busy lifestyle that many international students acquire and have to adapt to can be a complete transformation from where they call home, the opportunity for that cultural dialogue and experience is priceless.

MELLISA ENAJAEStaff Writer

St. John’s off ers students from all over the world a chance at an educationInternational students grow

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Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I am so sick of my best friend. She always takes the side of my boyfriend when we are in arguments. It’s like there is a funnel from his mind to her mouth.

She just keeps on defending him and never backs me up. It’s so annoying! Isn’t a best friend supposed to be on my side? What good is she if she never helps me out in arguments?

Do you have any ideas about how I could get her to be on my side for once? It’s just annoying to have a best friend who keeps stabbing me in the back.

Sincerely, Concerned Caesarina

Dear Caesarina,

It just so happens that I have exactly the advice you need. There is a very simple technique that you can get your best friend to agree with you.

I call it Devil’s Advocate Mind Persuasion, or D.A.M.P. (I know, I know—I am trying to fi gure out a better name for it, but that’s the best I’ve got for now!) Anyway, this technique is easy and it should start work-ing right away.

All you need is a frying pan. Or a baseball bat. What you are going to do is sneak up behind your friend with her knowing and hit over the head extremely hard.

It’s very important that you sneak up on her because she can’t know it was you that hit her. Hopefully, when she regains consciousness she will have amnesia. She won’t even know what happened. That’s when you swoop in and say, “You were just telling me how correct I am to be angry at my boyfriend and how proud of me you are for not apologizing to him.

Then this frying pan just fell from the cupboard onto

your head!” Then again, you could just be happy that you have a best friend who has the courage to let you know when she thinks you are wrong.

You could value her input to the situation as an un-biased third party. You could realize that she is trying to help you understand the situation from another point of view. You could stop making her feel bad about her-self for not “being on your side.” You could do all of those things, but that would just be too diffi cult for you, wouldn’t it?

Sincerely, Devil’s Advocate

Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I’ve got a problem that’s been bothering me for a while now. I’m a 23 year old pharmacy student.

This sounds a little pathetic now that I am about to write it out, but I guess I will just get to the point: I can’t grow a beard. I know it’s a stupid thing to be upset about. I know! But, I just can’t help it. My friends all call me names like “Patchy” and “Baby Face.” It really doesn’t bother me much, but every now and then I get sick of it. I wish I could just grow a sweet beard! Do you have any ideas that could help me grow some more facial hair?

Sincerely,

Baby Face

Dear Baby Face,

First of all, you should consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to shave everyday! That’s probably why

your friends make fun of you. They are just jealous! So, maybe you should reconsider your wish for a sweet beard.

But if you really want to grow a beard, then I might be able to give you some advice.

First, you should visualize yourself with a beard ev-ery night while you are falling asleep. Visualization is very powerful and it can trigger unconscious parts of the brain to do your conscious bidding.

You should also go through the process of shaving every morning even if you don’t have any hair. This will “train” your facial hair to grow faster and thicker.

Lastly, you should massage your face several times throughout the day. This will stimulate beard growth and coaxes each hair out of its follicle.

Plus it feels good!Oh yeah! There is one more thing. I made all of that up.

None of it really works. You don’t need any of it. What you need to do is to learn to be comfortable with yourself the way you are.

Don’t try to be someone you’re not. You are not ZZ Top or Papa Smurf. So, you shouldn’t try to grow beards like them.

Be confi dent. If someone makes fun of your inability to grow facial hair, just laugh it off and turn the tables. Make fun of his beard. Say it makes them look like Abra-ham Lincoln.

You should never change something about yourself solely because you think that’s what other people want. You can’t let other people defi ne who you are. You have to defi ne yourself and be your own person.

Sincerely,

Devil’s Advocate

Chicken is one of the most popular meats that people eat on a daily basis. There are countless recipes that chicken can be used in, including cro-quettes, sandwiches, casseroles, and salads.

Since chicken can be a little dull after a while, there is an easy way to add a bite to your poultry and make a tasty treat that friends and family will eat up, literally!

Chicken salad is a great recipe that can least for a few days, and can be eaten as lunch or dinner. It goes perfect in a sandwich with potatoes chips, on club crackers, or plain if you prefer.

Instead of spending money at the cafeteria, or at work for lunch, whip up a batch of chicken salad and bring it to work to have a delicious deli style lunch.

Co-workers will be envious that your home-made chicken salad is fresher than their store brought sandwich, that costs double the about that yours did!

The grapes in the salad gives the chicken salad a sweet taste as the fl avor of the grapes enriches the bite of the marinated chicken- and leaves you with an abundance of fl avor.

At fi rst, the combination of all these things may sound a bit strange at fi rst, but you will not be able to have any other chicken salad after you make this different dish.

Chicken salad with a kickPATRICE BENDIGFeatures Editor

What You’ll Need:

-1 lb. chicken breast

-Mixing bowel

-2 tablespoons mayo

-One cup of Italian dressing

-Pepper

-20 firm green grapes cut in quarters

-half cup of French onion toppers to add crunch

What To Do:

- Soak chicken in Italian dressing for at least four hours

-After chicken is soaked, cook chicken in a pan o grill till cooked all the way,

-Let it cool, then cut it into bite size pieces.

- Add grapes, mayo and pepper. Mix ingridents to-gether till it is blended.

-When ready to serve, add French Onion toppers to the salad for crunch.

Need advice? Please send your inquiries to the Devil’s Advocate at torchfeatures@gmail.com

Professor shares passion

Dr. Robert Forman is in his offi ce in St. Augustine Hall. The professor of the Clas-sics is a small, 62-year-old man in a small, 45-year-old room on the southern wing of St. John’s University’s library.

His offi ce is decorated as eclectically as it is neatly.

A small bust of Homer sits dead center atop a bookshelf, while the blind Greek’s epic, The Iliad, is unopened on his desk.

On one wall hangs an unframed abstract painting that Forman saved from a dumpster behind St. John Hall ten years ago.

An unsigned painting of the Blessed Mary with child hangs on another. Near a single window, a dictionary is open to a page somewhere in the F’s.

His above-average intelligence is obvi-ous, not just from his room’s décor, but from the quiet confi dence that graces his every word.

He speaks slowly, and with a sagacity that would rival the world’s wisest men. Though, the professor remains incredibly humble.

“I probably won’t say anything pro-found,” he warns from behind his desk.

But it doesn’t take very long before he has done just that. “I have a theory that I like to tell my students,” he said.

“Time is not only relative, but it moves in gyres; in sort of stream-like fashion. It’s infi -nitely extendable and infi nitely contractible.

“I ask my students to recall a time that seemed as though fi ve minutes took fi ve hours and another time that it seemed that fi ve hours took fi ve minutes. It seems as though time and history are like that.”

Forman offers, as evidence, the striking similarity in the faces of Vespasian, the bru-tal Roman emperor infamous for lighting the Appian Way with crucifi ed, burning Chris-tians, and President Lyndon Johnson, a man who Forman says he’s never forgiven for continuing the slaughter of the Vietnam War.

“Even though we are not talking about identical likeness, you have a feeling that you’ve seen this sort of thing before,” he said.

“I think it probably takes living for about half a century and then you begin to see like-nesses in everything. History itself becomes one big vegetable soup.”

It may be Forman’s life itself that works as his best evidence of time’s spiraling na-ture. He’s a man that has called the same Ja-maica, Queens house his home for his entire life.

A self-described, “hopeless romantic” for New York City, his passion for the city has been a lifelong constant.

He recalls his mother’s eagerness for her young son who loved reading to go beyond the books and venture out into the metropolis of information that New York is.

When he was 12, she gave him a subway token and pushed him out the door. He began taking regular, exploratory trips into Manhat-tan and by high school he was a regular at the Metropolitan Opera House.

“I used to like opera the way most young men liked baseball,” he said.

“I’d literally follow all the singers who were singing, and all the oratory, and God knows what else.”

Forman has been at St. John’s for 45 years. The building that houses his offi ce now was brand new in 1964, the very same year that he began his studies at St. John’s as an undergraduate.

He graduated in 1968 with a degree in the Classics and by 1970 he earned his Masters from New York University in the same dis-cipline.

Soon after he was hired by Dr. Jack Fran-zetti, a man who has since become his friend, as a professor at St. John’s and has been there ever since. (By 1973, he had earned his Ph.D. in the Classics, also from NYU).

“It’s a very strange thing,” he said. “In many ways, I’ve known St. John’s better than I’ve known my own father.”

And though Forman remembers St. John’s as a very different university in 1968 (it was a much smaller school of just 8,000 students who were almost entirely white Catholics), he sees major similarities in the students themselves.

In the year of Forman’s graduation, St. John’s was home to a group of radical stu-dents called the Liberal Students for Democ-racy (L.S.D.) and the Vincentian yearbook was released with a psychedelic theme.

This radical edge is something that he says has been ever-present in his time at St. John’s.

“The student leaders always have had a kind of push-the-envelope attitude,” he said.

Over his years Forman has taught more classes than “could be counted on four arms and four legs.”

But, his recent energies have been focused on the Honors College program, for which he has served as director for three years.

His passion for New York City no longer takes the shape of adolescent subway token adventures.

Rather it manifests itself in his instruc-tion in the University’s Discover New York program, during which he guides his students on six walking tours of Manhattan neighbor-hoods during the semester.

And Forman isn’t a stagnant old, intellec-tual stuck in his ways either.

He appreciates the improvements that the internet has made on classroom instruction and says he now uses a computer in all of his classes. His Discover the World class even comes with a blogging requirement.

“It’s the one thing I do well: teaching,” he said. “It’s the one thing I love more than I’ve ever loved anything.”

I like the whole process of teaching be-cause I feel like I’m so made for it. Sooner or later you feel as though you were made to do something. I was created to teach. I was made for it; I do it so naturally.”

So what possible fear could a man who has found so much success through the gyres of time possibly have?

“I hope I’m not pompous,” he said. “It’s the last thing I want to be and I don’t want to ever have any allusions about myself. I’m not a great mind, I’m certainly not Einstein, I’ve had very few original thoughts, but I think, on the whole, students like me.

“And I think they like me because they know I like them. I’ve rarely encountered a student that I didn’t like and the odd thing is I even like those that do not seem to like me.”

Campus Spotlight Dr. Robert Forman

Dr. Forman teaches students about the Big Apple ANTHONY MORREALESports Editor

Dr. Forman has taught countless students in the last 45 years.TORCH PHOTOS/LAURA AMATO

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They say that New Yorkers are a diverse group, but the City itself also comes in many shapes and sizes. This is a collection of some of the most compelling forms that

New York has to offer. It was shot in various locations in midtown Manhattan during early December.

- Anthony Morreale

a photo essay by Anthony Morreale

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CORALINE PG 21

A Whole Different World

PHOTO COURTESY OF PASTEMAGAZINE.COM PHOTO COURTESY OF BOSTON.COM

CORALINE- OUT OF 4 STARS

FANBOYS- OUT OF 4 STARS

PHOTO COURTESY OF IESB.NET PHOTO COURTESY OF RUSHISABAND.COM

JESSIKAH HACKETTStaff Writer

ALTHOUGH IT LACKS SOME OF THE SUSPENSE FOUND IN THE BOOK, CORALINE STILL ENTERTAINS

Bringing Out Your Inner GeekWITH THEIR OBSESSIVE LOVE OF STAR WARS, FANBOYS CHARACTERS ARE RELATEABLE TO MANY

LIZ WALSHContributing Writer

Coraline, the new fi lm by innovative stop-action animation artist Henry Selick (director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach) turns Neil Gaiman’s disturbing children’s fantasy into a brightly-

colored spectacle that jumps off of the screen. Literally. Coraline is the fi rst stop-action animated fi lm to be presented in 3D. It is also the fi rst 3D movie that doesn’t depend on jumpy “in-your-face” effects and annoying, repetitive tricks. Henry Selick uses the 3D animation effect to bring his audience into Coraline’s world, creating a surreal atmosphere that moves from charming to spooky as the story continues.

Eleven-year-old Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) moves with her parents to a new town where she spends most of her time bored, searching for an adventure. Her busy parents are constantly trying to keep her out of their hair, and her eccentric neighbors are annoying. When Coraline fi nds a small door in one of the rooms of her house she thinks that she might have found the adventure that she had been looking for. Despite the strange warnings that she receives from various characters about the sinister nature of her house, she fi nds a way to go through the door. Inside, Coraline discovers a much-improved version of her world.

Along with a better house, better neighbors and better food, Coraline fi nds a better version of her mother. Her “other mother” (Teri Hatcher) is fun-loving and attentive. Her only strange fl aw is the black buttons that she has sewn over her eyes. Only after the other mother demands that Coraline sew the buttons into her eyes as well does Coraline realize that this world might not be as perfect as it seems.

Coraline captures Henry Selick’s recognizable artistic

style and modernizes it for a new group of movie-goers. While the movie closely followed Neil Gaiman’s fairytale, it didn’t manage to establish as much of the suspense and intensity that was present in the book. Selick also added a new character, Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey, Jr.), a neighbor who drops hints about the strange history of the house and helps Coraline talk through her understanding of what is going on. For audience members who haven’t read the book, Wybie serves as a way to fi ll in some of the background information needed to understand the story.

Coraline is the ideal animated movie—appropriate for younger audiences but still interesting enough to entertain older viewers as well. It’s a fresh, unusual fairytale fi lled with twists and surprises. With an engaging plot told with extraordinary animation, Coraline is the perfect addition to Henry Selick’s impressive repertoire.

What is the geekiest thing about you? Can you point out one particular characteristic or interest within your personality that allows you to distinguish it as something others would consider to be socially

unacceptable? If so, you are not a fanboy. The geekiest thing about a fan boy is their very title, their defi nition, their all-encompassing devotion to science fi ction and fantasy, their fanatical commitment to a particular aspect of the comic book industry.

In Fanboys, directed by Kyle Newman, it is the characters’ enthusiastic and obsessive attraction to the fi lm trilogy known as Star Wars that infl uences them to entertain the idea of traveling across America, Kerouac style, breaking into the heavily protected Lucas Ranch, George Lucas’ renowned private recording studio, and obtaining a copy of the not-yet-released Star Wars: Episode I in the year 1998. The infamous anthem of the ‘90s, “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba, opens the movie, setting the tone for hilarious and memorable songs and references of the 1990s littered throughout the fi lm. This is but one of the welcome surprises within the endearing and refreshing experience that is Fanboys, another of these marvels being the several recognizable cameo appearances by prominent actors and actresses who seemingly clamored to be in such a charming fi lm.

Including the hilarious and unexpected presence of William Shatner, as himself, the emergence of several stars was one of the highlights of the fi lm. It makes up for the inability of a portion of the jokes to resonate with the audience due to minor holes in the otherwise solid script. One of the most interesting sequences within the fi lm included Seth Rogen’s dual roles: Rogen as a Star Trek superfan, or a “Trekkie,” and Rogen as an uncivilized Star Wars superfan, this duality eventually culminating in the two characters’ struggle over the epic rivalry between

these two factions. Other appearances include the original Princess Leia from the Star Wars fi lms, Carrie Fischer, the infamous duo of Jay and Silent Bob played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, Pineapple Express’ Danny McBride, Joe Lo Truglio and Craig Robinson, SNL’s Will Forte, and countless others.

Fanboys cleverly plays upon the main characters’ obviously awkward physical features in order to accentuate the concept of the fi lm. The four main characters, referred to as Linus, played by Chris Marquette, Windows, played by Jay Baruchel, Hutch, played by Dan Fogler, and their estranged best friend Eric, played by Sam Huntington, embark on their cross-country adventure in pursuit of an opportunity to commit several crimes against the state in order to obtain the privilege of watching the newest Star Wars production in more than a decade, and hilarity ensues. The expected road trip mishaps fail to overcome the cliché movie norm, but somehow Fanboys is able to pull off this trite plot with new fl are, enveloping the audience in an apparent sense of warmth. Ultimately, a fi lm about people who feel so passionately about something so much bigger than themselves is worth watching.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THEGAMEREVIEWS.COM

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Something for EveryoneHERE’S A LOOK AHEAD AT WHAT FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME GAMERS CAN LOOK FORWARD TO

ALEX QUEVEDOStaff Writer

CHRISTOPHER OTISStaff Writer

Comic Con Gets Thumbs UpNEW YORK COMIC CON DOES NOT DISAPPOINT INFERNO WRITER, SAYS THERE’S ROOM TO GROW

As the fans sort through their collected free swag, putting their new shirts on and their posters on the wall, and as the most reclusive of fans crawl back into their holes, it is clear another New York Comic Con has passed.

The lines at the Jacob Javits Center are cleared and the center no longer reeks of geek and sweaty beard. But after a long three-day weekend, NYCC has gone over pretty well.

Things technically kicked off Thursday February 5 with a preview event, but the real thing got going on Friday the 6. Fans poured into the Javits centered eager to get their hands on mainstream and indie comics. Others lined up to play preview demos of upcoming games such as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Prototype, Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the ultraviolent Wii game Mad World. In between booths on the fl oor, fans had the chance to go into the meeting halls and IGN Theater to check out the numerous panels the Con had

to offer.One of the premier panels happened on Saturday

(Saturday is typically the busiest of Comic Con days, whether it be San Diego or New York) and presented a solid 18 minutes of the upcoming Watchmen fi lm. As followers of the fi lm might expect, the line to get into the theater was enormous, but fans were pleased. Very pleased. One fan, a student from the Fashion Institute of Technology, said there is nothing moviegoers need to worry about. The graphic novel comes alive in all the right ways and does not feel the least bit cheesy.

Other panels included Terminator: Salvation, Friday the 13th, Seth Green’s Robot Chicken, Disney’s Surrogates (starring Bruce Willis) and plenty of material from Marvel and DC. One of the clearer things to see was that the focus is still very much on comics, surely to the delight of comic book fans. And with so much space in the back, there were plenty of chances to get some autographs from authors and artists.

But now to switch gears a little bit. On Saturday, we were able to be part of the 300 people in the lengthy preview screening of Disney/Pixar’s Up. With the fi lm mostly done, the director and one of the producers

showed off 46 minutes of the fi lm, due out at the end of May. From what we were able to see, we were pleased. The fi lm follows Carl Fredrickson (voiced by Ed Asner), an old man who has lost his wife and is on the verge of losing his home too. Both he and his wife had always dreamed of going on an adventure in South America, but were never able to make it. When pressured into moving into a retirement home, he ties thousands of balloons onto his home and attempts to make it to South America.

For a Pixar fi lm, it is an oddity. There are a few things that are a little dark for being Pixar. But the most obvious potential problem is its randomness. The initial concept is good, but once Carl leaves on his journey, it seems they are throwing in as much random happenings as they can to fi ll the void. Perhaps the fi nal fi lm will bring everything together more cohesively, but for now, this will not hit the mark the way Wall-E and other previous projects have.

In all, New York Comic Con provided a lot of good content over the weekend. There is defi nitely some room to grow. Perhaps next year will provide some of that, but on the whole, it was a good show for those in attendance.

Two thousand and nine is here and with it comes the pledge of another great year in the video game industry. But out of the hundreds of titles that are certain to be of the highest quality, only a few carry with them the sort of hype which

demand the attention of even the most disinterested of players.

1. God of War III – the rage-full Spartan warrior turned god of war, Kratos, marched onto the Playstation 2 with the ferocity and unapologetic fervor only capable of a vengeful deity of Greek mythology. The polish and prowess by which his games showcased both the (then believed to be aging) PS2 hardware and the uniqueness of a franchise that delved i nto a culture barely touched upon in video games before easily reserved its place among Zeus’s pantheon. The third iteration appears to be no different from its predecessors as fans agonize over the wait for the PS3 fi nale of Krato’s siege on Mt. Olympus.

2. Killzone 2 – Back in 2005 when the hype wars between Sony and Microsoft were in full swing and both companies were campaigning for their respective next-gen consoles, Sony whipped out the show-stopper which was Killzone 2’s premier trailer. Brandishing nearly photo-realistic graphics (for what Sony falsely claimed to be images rendered in real-time) set the bar for the game’s expectations to the point where most believed it could never live up to its promise. This is no longer the case as extensive footage of the game has showcased detail and graphics reaching way beyond the limits of its original

debut and has brandished Killzone 2 as the must-have fi rst-person-shooter of=2 0this year.

3. Street Fighter 4 – Ryu, Ken, Guile, and Chun-Li; these names hold some of the sweetest memories for those who cherished the by-gone days of the arcade parlor and the harassing of one’s parent’s for just one more quarter. After a number of remakes and unsuccessful spin-offs, the series has fi nally come back with a sonic-boom worthy of our favorite broom-haired combatant in a fourth sequel years in the making. While enveloped in a new art style and bookended with original anime story elements, the game promises to retain the same 2D-fi ghting character’s we’ve howled “hadoken!” with countless of times before.

4. Resident Evil 5 – The Resident Evil series has been around since the days of the original Playstation and very few other series have succeeded in making its audience terrifi ed of the dark as it has. Borrowing from the play mechanics pioneered in the franchise-revitalizing Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5 intends to take the terror of its audience to the next level by making the day just as chilling as the night.

5. Ghostbusters – “Who ya gonna call?” If you know the answer to that question then you’re probably among the millions of fans craving for more of the famous slime-covered patrolmen of the paranormal. Ghostbusters the video game seems to be just that as the likes of Peter, Ray, Egon, Winston, and Slimer make their return to the world of pop-culture with their new game set to come out this summer. Add the fact that the original actors will be reprising their roles for the game and that Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis (the writers of the two movies) are penning the script as the offi cial third chapter in the Ghostbuster cannon, and you have a game worth crossing the streams for.

TORCHCOMICS11 February 2009

Geek Zach Davino

I Can’t Draw Alex Reyes

Ethel & Wilfred Chris Lauto

Short Shorts Tim Olwell

MORECOMICS11 February 2009

Controlled Chaos Catharine Corrigan

Quarter-Life Crisis Preston Palmer

1-800-ARMSTACO Jonathan Roman

Cloyster Matt Brown

PHOTO COURTESY OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONSAlyssa Clark returns to the lineup after missing much of the last two seasons.

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Kemp leads with a smile

Softball heads for warmer weather

Before the new gates of Jack Kaiser Stadium open for the 2009 St. John’s baseball season, three things need to fall into place.

Some warmer weather would be nice. The club must replace the talent of the fi ve Red Storm pitchers selected in the MLB draft last summer. And most importantly, the team needs to establish leadership to defend their second-consecutive Big East regular season title.

Luckily, head coach Ed Blankmeyer doesn’t have to worry too much about the last item on that to-do list.

Outfi elder Brian Kemp has been selected as a co-captain by the coaching staff, that says the junior’s stats are not the sole reason for the honor. Kemp did lead the 2008 squad with a .360 batting average and 16 stolen bases, but it’s his intangible skills that will lead the Storm this year.

“They way we go about our captains,” said Blankmeyer, the 2008 Big East Coach of the Year, “it’s our decision, but [Kemp and fellow captain Nick Luisi] were clearly, by vote of the players, the choice. And the

coaches feel they are very good choices.

“[Kemp] does the right things off the fi eld,” Blank-meyer added. “He’s a very good student. He does all the right things.”

Despite working out with the team since Jan. 18, Kemp is feeling the itch to get back on the diamond.

The leadoff man says that the 2007 and 2008 Red Storm are the best teams he’s ever been a part of.

But naturally, Kemp fi gures 2009 to best both of those years, which won’t be an easy task. St. John’s won a school-record 42 games last season, and their 20 conference wins tied the club’s best mark since their inception in the Big East.

“We had great pitching last year and now we have a lot of new guys,” Kemp said. “They didn’t pick us too high in the Big East [they were picked fourth in the coaches’ poll]. That’s not going to happen; I can guarantee that. Our pitching has straightened out real well.”

The pitching staff has been the major concern over the off-season with seven hurlers mov-ing on, including strikeout lead-ers, staff aces and a shutdown closer.

While the current Red Storm pitchers certainly appreciate

Kemp running down fl y balls in centerfi eld, there is not much interaction beyond that.

That’s where Luisi comes in.

“Nicky, as a captain, has a lot to do with that,” Kemp said. “We talk all the time if I see something I don’t like, and if he sees something from a position player, he can tell me and I can do something about it.”

For Blankmeyer, Kemp’s game is valuable in two con-texts. When he went down with an injury last season, the coach admits the offense suffered without their catalyst.

“Offensively with him, we can score runs without get-ting hits, mainly because of his speed,” he said.

The other aspect of his game is the way he plays it.

Some captains are vocal leaders and some are inspira-tional leaders. While playing baseball for St. John’s, Kemp just lets the smile on his face do the talking.

“I’d say I lead more by ex-ample, but I’ll get vocal if I have to,” Kemp said.

“I love the game; I think it’s the most fun thing in the world to do, so I try to show that I’m having a blast. If other people see me having fun, I fi g-ure they’ll enjoy it as much as I do.”

The women of the St. John’s softball team won’t have to deal with all the snow on the ground in February: they’re fl ying south for the winter.

The team will open the 2009 season with four tournaments in warm-weather states beginning this weekend with its fi rst ap-pearance in the FIU Tournament and culminating in the Hawaii Spring Fling set to take place over Spring Break.

“It’s exciting,” head coach Amy Kvilhaug said. “Our fi rst time on dirt will be our fi rst game.”

Despite the excitement, that should raise a red fl ag to fans of Red Storm softball. Because of the limited resources northeast base-ball and softball programs have during the winter months, return-ing to midseason form may take until the midseason to actually ac-complish.

All the more reason the pro-gram scheduled to play tourna-ments in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Hawaii before con-ference play starts.

However, senior outfi elder Al-yssa Clark is confi dent that by the

time the team plays its fi rst game in the FIU tournament Friday against Temple, it will be ready to compete at a high level.

“Communication is the num-ber one thing we need to work on,” Clark said. “Right now our facili-ties are limited-we have Belson [Stadium], DaSilva [Field], and [indoor practices]. We’ve been working so hard to come together as a team before we step foot on the fi eld.”

Both Clark and Kvilhaug feel these tournaments are more impor-tant than just wins and losses by the end of the season. They each feel that the team needs to work through the ‘kinks’ and layoff of the offseason.

But coming together imme-diately may not be as easy as it sounds. The 2009 Red Storm softball team will introduce eight freshmen, and Kvilhaug estimates that fi ve or six will be in the start-ing lineup. Kvilhaug says that playing in these tournaments will tell a lot about the new faces.

“We knew their strengths and weaknesses when we recruited them,” Kvilhaug said. “It’s tough to tell what kind of mental toughness the player brings to the table.”

In addition, Clark is coming off an estimated seven surgeries in the last three years, stemming from a

foot injury suffered during a tour-nament in her freshman year. She is well aware that this season she will likely fi ght for as many at-bats as she can get.

“Since this is my senior year, I just want to be out there and be with the team,” Clark said. “I want to help and contribute on the fi eld, but I also help and contrib-ute on the bench and contribute by being a leader and as a senior on the team.”

Aside from evaluating their own talent this preseason, Kvil-haug and her staff will be keeping an eye on Georgetown, who they play February 15 at FIU and for the fi rst time this year as the Hoyas join the Big East conference.

“We’ll gather as much infor-mation [about them] as possible, their pitching tendancies and play-ing style,” Kvilhaug said. “They’ll be doing the same to us.”

Two weeks ago, Big East soft-ball coaches gave the Red Storm a preseason ranking of 10th in the conference, ahead of only Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Georgetown.

Neither Kvilhaug nor Clark is taking it personally. In fact, Clark sees it as motivation to play well early in the season.

“If we execute the way we want to execute as a team,” Clarke said, “that’s success to us.”

MATT CHOQUETTEChief Copy Editor

BILL SAN ANTONIOStaff Writer

PHOTO COURTESY OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Brian Kemp led the Red Storm with a .360 batting average in their school-record 42 win season last year.

I hate to be left out. So, as seemingly every other New

York area sports writer has been allowed, I ask you to please afford me the oppor-tunity to weigh in on our fair city’s most famous steroid user.

I’ve read many opinions in the City tabloids on the allegations of Alex Ro-driquez’s steroid use, and I’ve even thumbed through a few columns com-menting on the polarizing Yanks admit-tance to those allegations.

I’ve read that the Yankees need to bite the bullet and eat the slugger’s brand new, monster contract, using the recent head-lines as an excuse to get out of a contract that they should never have gotten them-selves into in the fi rst place. I’ve even read that those damn Yankees have gotten exactly what they deserve for allowing a prima donna with obvious anxiety issues to become the face of the most storied franchise this side of McDonald’s.

But there is a different spin to all this A-Rod business here in Queens, one that every mother since Eve (or at least my own enough for them all) has preached to their kin: we must always remember to appreciate what we have.

I am reminded now of my fi rst oppor-tunity to voice my opinion on the world of college sports in this newspaper. I wrote a column about the beauty of the sport of baseball on its most elemental level.

“But there is an escape,” I wrote. “There is a place to see baseball in its pur-est strain, and it’s on the arm of [former Red Storm starter Ryan] Cole and off the bats of his teammates. The sport’s lasting beauty was never in its commercial suc-cess anyway; it was and remains in its simple grace, melodic pace and its seam-

less integration of bat, ball and glove.“What’s lasting about baseball isn’t

the big business, big homerun, big muscle state of the MLB - it’s the shortstop turn-ing to his centerfi elder with his index and pinky fi nger raised and a smile after turn-ing a perfect double play.

“And that, along with everything else we can still respect, will be on display from now until the end of the summer at the little league parks, the high school fi elds and at the Jack Kaiser Stadiums.”

I have been the fi rst in many circles to voice my discontent about where the Red Storm men’s basketball program is and where many believe they should be, but let me take my mother’s advice for just once here.

Though Norm Roberts has been criti-cized for just about everything else, no one has ever denied the job he has done in building a program of character athletes.

Athletes that, though they sometimes struggle to notch W’s, deserve much more respect than even the uber-talented A-Rod and for a much more important reason.

I have gotten the sense over the past two seasons that the basketball team’s core group of sophomores is a core group of some really great guys.

It was obvious in a press conference after their Super Bowl Sunday victory over South Florida. Malik Boothe, Paris Horne and D.J. Kennedy spoke about how close they’ve grown in just two years and how much they enjoy playing with each other. They were genuine, there were no traces of any foreign substance detectable in their words or they’re laughter. They were excited to watch the Super Bowl, to-gether as a team.

But before they did that, they spoke about their coach: a man with his job on the line.

“Besides coaching, he’s like a father-fi gure to all of us,” said Kennedy. “If we need anything or we need to talk to some-one he is right there and helps with the situation. He tries to be there as best as he can for each one of us.”

I am glad that we are surrounded at this school by athletes who are concerned even more with being genuinely good people than with being genuinely good athletes.

I am glad that when Malik Boothe smiles as he passes me on his way to class in Marillac, he genuinely means it.

That is not something we always get with our sports stars in this city. And though D.J. Kennedy may have a few more tattoos than Father Harrington prob-ably approves of, I’ll take his character over A-Fraud’s any day of the week.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Daryl Homer was recently named a national fencer of the week.

At age 11 Daryl Homer had a choice to make: base-ball or fencing? Wisely he chose the latter, a decision that has propelled him to in-ternational heights.

Hailing from the Bronx, baseball was the popular choice, but the freshman star of the St. John’s fencing team hasn’t looked back on the decision that he made seven years ago, one that launched his fencing career.

“I actually played base-ball when I was nine,” Hom-er said. “And then, when I turned 11 my mom told me I had to choose between the two because Yury [Gelman, St. John’s head fencing coach], my coach wanted me to train fi ve days a week. So I started fencing and I knew I had to keep fencing.”

Homer has been fencing ever since, and he is starting to get noticed for his out-standing work.

During the week of Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 he was named one of CollegeFencing360.com’s fencer’s of the week as its inaugural recipient.

“I was pretty shocked [about receiving the award],” said Homer. “First of all I didn’t know there was like a

national fencer of the week award, but a lot of the guys are older than me too and more experienced so it was pretty nice to hear.”

Homer has developed a great relationship with his coach Gelman because un-like most college athletes, Homer has been coached by Gelman since before his col-lege career began.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Homer. “Sometimes we talk about experiences when I was younger; I compare my-self to some of the young kids and ask him about it, it’s pretty cool.”

That “cool” relationship was one of the main reasons Homer decided to stay in New York and come fence for the Red Storm.

“I spoke with Yury [Gelman] and I really want-ed to stay in New York, that was defi nitely my decision,” Homer said.

One of four sabres on the team, Homer’s efforts this season have helped St. John’s earn the No. 9 rank-ing in the nation in the lat-est USFCA College Fencing Coaches Poll.

Although Homer is will-ing to always put the team fi rst, his lofty goals range much larger than just colle-giate fencing.

“I really wanted to stay with Yury [Gelman] and

train for the next Olympics,” said Homer.

Homer was optomistic about his chances of making the 2012 games.

“I have a pretty good chance,” he said. “The guys are maybe fi ve or six years older than me and they have more experience but I go back in fourth with them in practice, so those are guys that are top in the world.”

Homer’s regimen in-cludes training twice a week on campus with the St. John’s fencing team, and traveling to Manhattan fi ve days a week to train for international and national competition.

With all the hours of training Homer has put in to become one of the best, he is still able to focus on school and his other main goal: be an NCAA Champion.

“We have NCAA’s, and I hope I can win that,” he said..

Although fencing isn’t the most well-known sport, Daryl Homer is trying to stick the competition and lift him-self to the level of an NCAA Champion, and beyond.

MATT PASCONEStaff Writer

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Listen to the full interview with Daryl Homer

podcasted ontorchonline.com

Homer may be Storm’snext great Olympian

PHOTO COURTESY OF GAWKER.COM

Luckily, we don’t have any A-Frauds here at St. John’s.

A-Rod news should teach to appreciate SJU athletes

Madison Square Garden has become the friendliest of locations for the St. John’s women’s basketball team, as it has won two of its three Big East vic-tories in the historic arena and remain undefeated there.

Senior guard Kelly McManmon re-corded a career-high 20 points for the Johnnies as they defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday evening. The Red Storm now move to 15-7 (3-6 Big East).

The Johnnies overcame two 14-point leads by the Bearcats and wouldn’t gain a stronghold on the victory until the fi nal minutes of the match.

“I’m proud of the way we battled back,” head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “We could have faded there at times and we really fought back. We got after them with our pressure and we defended like crazy.”

The Johnnies shot poorly in the fi rst half as a result of the Bearcats’ effec-tive full-court pressure, only connect-ing on six baskets and shooting a dismal 23 percent from the fi eld. Neither team performed well in the fi rst half, but the Bearcats would make a 12-3 run to close the half with a seven point advantage on the Storm, 28-21.

The Bearcats would start the second half the same way they fi nished the fi rst, starting the half on a 7-0 run. By the 17 minute mark, the Bearcats led by 12, and it seemed likely the Johnnies would suf-fer yet another conference loss.

The Johnnies’ awakening began as they turned quick turnovers into easy baskets and began to erase the double-digit defi cit. Behind the sharp shooting of McManmon and the dominant post play of freshman Da’Shena Stevens, the two would spark a 16-2 run that would lead to an eventual 39-39 tie at the 11 minute mark.

Two key three-point shots by Mc-Manmon may have been the dagger in the Bearcats side. A seven-point lead with less than three minutes to go would turn into a twelve point turnaround victory for the Storm.

The Johnnies full court pressure in the second half allowed them to score 25 points off 23 Cincinnati turnovers.

Stevens scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half and Sky Lindsay fi nished with eleven points in the victory.

“I had an advantage over the smaller player, so I just took advantage of that in the second,” Stevens said.

The night’s leading scorer McMan-mon surpassed her previous career high of 19.

The Johnnies victory came without the success of their leading scorer Mo-nique McClean, who fi nished with fi ve points and shot 1-12 from the fi eld.

“I’ve tried to keep the team motivated and confi dent, said Head Coach Barnes-Arico, “but losing tough games has killed our confi dence.”

“We’re taking it game to game, and not worrying about who we have next,” she said.

The Johnnies hope to continue the success, as their next matchup comes against the number one team in the con-ference and country.

The Storm will host the Connecti-cut Huskies in Carneseca Arena where they are 9-1 this season, Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

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Garden party (ladies only)Senior guard McManmon netted her career high against Cincy on Sunday at the Garden

TORCH PHOTO/LAURA AMATO

Kelly McManmon scored a career-high 20 points in the Red Storm’s third conference victory.

CHRIS HARRISStaff Writer

CINCINNATI 53

ST. JOHN’S 60

Looking ahead to ConnecticutThe No. 1 Connecticut Huskies

will storm into Carnesecca Arena to-night with a perfect 23-0 record and a 9-0 mark in Big East play and coming off an 83-49 blowout of Marquette.

Maya Moore led all scorers with 22 points on 9-13 shooting, her 24th consecutive game in double fi g-ures for the 59th of her career. Tina Charles, a Jamaica, Queens product, had three rebounds, moving her into seventh place all-time in rebounding in Connecticut history.

Geno Auriemma’s team is playing basketball at an extremely high level, and expects nothing less than a dou-ble-digit victory against St. John’s.

When the two clubs met last year in Stoors, the Huskies were also ranked No. 1, nearly breaking the

century mark against a St. John’s team that had three scorers in double fi gures.

Kelly McManmon led the John-nies with 15 points on 5-8 shooting in the 98-41 loss, and her fi ve threes game were good for 10th best all-time in a single-game performance in St. John’s history.

Tiina Sten and Sky Lindsay each had 10 points in the loss.

Connecticut led 52-27 at the half and never looked back, establishing a 25-point lead with nine seconds to go in the fi rst half.

For the Red Storm to be in any kind of upset position, it will need one McManmon’s best shooting nights, building off her career-high 20 points against Cincinnati on Feb. 8.

The St. John’s men’s bas-ketball team lost their 8th con-ference game Sunday in ugly fashion, shooting just over 30 percent from the fi eld while be-ing held to under 50 points for the fi rst time all year.

The Red Storm entered the second half with a surprising 22-19 lead after shooting just 9-39 against No.5 Louisville, but failed to close the door on the Cardinals in the second half.

Though the Red Storm held the Cardinals to less than 40 percent shooting, Jerry Smith scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the fi nal frame for the Cardinals, matching his team’s entire fi rst half total.

“Jerry [Smith] did a great job of understanding how they were playing him defensively [and] going back door,” Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said. “And he learned a very valuable lesson tonight…because he basi-cally won the game with his of-fensive display down the stretch. I’ve been trying to tell him since his freshman year that I always judge the best players by who plays in the last fi ve minutes of the game when it’s close.”

St. John’s was still up in the game with less than 10 minutes to play, but the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run to turn a 36-34

defi cit into a 43-36 lead of their own.

Louisville’s fullcourt press was effective in frustrating Red Storm point guard Malik Boothe and ending any chances of a Storm comeback. The Johnnies

turned the ball over 12 times in the game, many of which were a product of the Cardinal press.

“We just got away from what we’d been doing – being scrap-py, tough, going after loose balls with two hands,” Boothe said.

“We were going after them with one hand, and they started going after them with two hands.”

“With Louisville you don’t know where they will come from,” said Red Storm head coach Norm Roberts. “They

come from all different places. We probably got a couple of turnovers out of fatigue. But you have to fi ght through that. It’s part of the game.”

Justin Burrell struggled to fi nish down low throughout the game and went just 5-17 from the fl oor, including a 1-12 mark in the fi rst half.

“I wasn’t frustrated with the shots I was taking, I was just frustrated with the fact that I was letting my team down,” Bur-rell said. “When they throw it into the post they expect me to do something with it. I was just more frustrated with that.”

Even Paris Horne, who has been the Storm’s leading scorer and spark plug on the court, struggled offensively. He went just 4-15 and managed less than 10 points for only the 4th time all season.

Sophomore forward Sean Evans may have been one of the lone bright spots on St. John’s half of the box score. He fi nished with 12 points and nine boards.

ANTHONY MORREALESports Editor

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Cardinals fl y through Storm

TORCH PHOTO/LAURA AMATO

Malik Boothe played all 40 minutes for the second-straight game on Sunday.

Trevor MichaelsenLacrosse

Paris HorneMen’s Basketball

Brian KempBaseball

Priscilla FrederickTrack and Field

Will you be celebrating Valentine’s Day? Yes, but unfortunately

by myself.

I would celebrate it, but we have a game on Valentine’s Day.

I will be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year with a beautiful girl on the women’s soccer team, Ni-cole Doran.

It’s my birthday as well on the 14th, so I defi nitely will be celebrating.

What’s your favorite comfort food? Chocolate chip muffi n,

toasted with butter Snow crab legs Either my mom’s chicken parm or dad’s steak.

Vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles, it makes me happy.

What’s the last good movie you saw? Death Race Taken Step Brothers, hilarious Bolt, that was an amazing

movie.

What’s your favorite place on campus? Carnesecca Arena The gym

Cliché, but I would have to say Jack Kaiser Stadium be-cause of the amount of time I spend there.

Carnesecca, I feel really comfortable just hanging out with all the other ath-letes.

What do you think about the A-Rod situation?

It’s disappointing for baseball.

I really don’t care about the A-Rod situation.

It’s unfortunate, but I do still consider him one of thegreatest players ever to play the game.

I am actually not surprised. I mean, I love A-Rod, but I’m very disappointed in him. He should have made better decisions.PHOTOS COURTESY OF

ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

ST. JOHN’S 47

LOUISVILLE 60 “”

I wasn’t frustrated with the shots I was

taking, I was just frustrated with the

fact that I was letting my team down.

-Justin Burrell

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TORCH SPORTS

Blowin’ in the Wind

“ ”I’d say I lead more by

example, but I’ll get vocal if I have to.

-Brian Kemp

Leavin’ their Mark

Around the HorneThe St John’s University Track

team had its legs pumping double time this weekend, splitting squads and placing in two separate meets at the New Balance Invite on Friday and at the Princeton Open on Satur-day. The team earned seven postsea-son qualifying marks, highlighted by three Big East times, fi ve ECAC qualifi ers, and an NCAA provisional distance.

On Friday senior Phobay Kutu-Akoi’s superb 7.47 in the 60-meter dash was ECAC caliber, while fel-low senior Paula Rennalls ran a 7.67. Both ran ECAC qualifi ed times in the 200-meter dash, with Rennalls leading at 25.0 and Kutu-Akoi right behind at 25.02. The 4x400 squad of junior Asia Nettles, sophomore Kim Piard, sophomore Lauren Wynter, and Rennalls took fi rst in the event, winning the New York-New Jersey State Championship for the third time in school history.

“We were very happy to fi nish the day with this win, especially in this event,” said head coach Jim Hurt.

In distance running, senior Tyneka Greene ran a 3:03.71 in the Champi-onship round, good for 29th overall. On Saturday in Princeton, New Jersey sophomore Sarah Sudbury won the 800-meter run, fi nishing with a sea-son best time of 2:19.73. Sophomore Shakira Best fi nished third at 2:24.45. Senior Rakibat Abiola placed fourth in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:17.80.

Headin’ this Way

Feb. 19Feb. 22Feb. 24Mar. 3

Men’s Basketball:

Women’s Basketball:Feb. 11Feb. 14Feb. 25

DukeSeton HallSyracuseGeorgetown

7 p.m.5 p.m.7:30 p.m.7:30 p.m.

ConnecticutSyracuseSeton Hall

7 p.m.2 p.m.7 p.m.

CASTSTORM

Red Storm home games

Expectations will certainly be higher for the St. John’s men’s lacrosse team this year. Coming off a 2-11 2008 season, there is nowhere to go but up.

And despite graduating 10 seniors af-ter last season head coach Jason Miller doesn’t expect anything less but winning from his team this year.

“My expectations are that we just start winning games.” Miller said. “I think that were doing a lot of good things on and off the fi eld, just in the way as we con-duct ourselves as a program as a whole and I think that the only thing that we are missing is the ability to win games against good teams on a consistent basis.”

The success of Miller’s squad for the 2009 season will be heavily dependant on the leadership of the senior class. This year the Red Storm will have a new look, with many new faces and a lot of depth.

“The faces are going to be different and were going to have to gain a lot of experience quickly,” Miller said, “but in a lot of ways were going to be better in a lot of positions, despite not having the big names.

“We have a lot of guys that don’t have a lot of experience under their belt, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t be better.”

The DefenseAfter graduating the starting defense

– with the exception of junior goalkeeper Gavin Buckley – the defense has become one of the most vulnerable parts of the Red Storm.

Coach Miller believes he has a solid rotation for the defense. Buckley will start between the pipes while junior Jerry Nev-in, along with sophomores Dan Cremens and Mike Sherry will start around Buck-ley. Redshirt freshman Carlin Cornetta will be in the mix for playing time.

“Between, me, Mike Sherry, and Jerry

Nevin, we all have experience,” Cremens said. “We defi nitely have a good feel for each other and we will all be able to gel to-gether. With Carlin [Cornetta] redshirting, he’ll defi nitely fi t in with us well, and with the four of us together- well be okay.

“The big thing is this year is that were all too young. This year, were going to surprise people.”

Buckley, who earned ECAC honors and kept the Red Storm in many games last year, is expected to have another big season.

“I expect to be very good, but I don’t expect to be the most spectacular goalie in Division I,” said Buckley. “I’m just trying to put my team in the best position to win every game.”

The AttackAnother area that was hit hard due to

graduation was the attack. After losing the team’s leading scorers due to gradua-tion, most of the offensive burden will be placed on senior Drew Schanen.

Schanen, who hasn’t seen much play-ing time over the past three years, has had a productive offseason and has been named by many of his teammates as the player that will surprise everyone this year.

“Drew is a guy who fi nally has come around,” Miller said. “He’s gotten himself in the kind of shape that he needs to be in to play. He had an opportunity and he seized it. He’s completely changed the way he approaches practice, and the way he approaches a season. He’s going to start and he’s going to surprise a lot of people because they don’t know who he is. He is a very capable guy; he’s one of our big-gest scoring threats. Don’t be surprised if he scores a lot of goals.”

Along with Schanen, sophomore Ter-ence Leach and rookie Harry Kutner will round out the inexperienced starting at-tack, while sophomore Joe Bagnasco and senior Bobby Fitton will also be in the mix for time.

The Midfi eld The strongest area of the Red Storm

will be its midfi elders, due mostly to its depth. Miller said that they could go as deep as eight or nine guys into the rotation.

Seniors Trevor Michaelsen, Malcolm Miles and rookie Carl Iacona will start for the Red Storm. They will be supported by senior captain Jamal Jones, seniors Tom Manes and Pat McClay, rookie Matt Hurst, junior Garrett Mitchell and sopho-more Mike Iorio.

In the defensive midfi eld position, all eyes will be on senior captain Matt Vis-cusi. With a hard work ethic, the lone re-turning captain, has been a solid example to all of his teammates.

“Our work ethic has grown each year,” Viscusi said. “We just go out and work hard every single day, opposed to two years ago when things weren’t that great for us. We’re starting to see that and were doing whatever we can to become a better team.”

Along with Viscusi, senior captain Dom DeNapoli will be another force in the midfi eld. DeNapoli will be all over the place for the Red Storm, as he will start both as a long stick midfi elder and at the face-off.

“The seniors bring better leadership to the table,” Miller said. “We show that in a lot of areas, in the classroom, on and off the fi eld. Those things have been great this year, and it’s a credit to those guys. They lead by example each day, especially my three captains, Dominick DeNapoli, Jamal Jones, and Matt Viscusi. I picked those guys because those are the three guys that I felt have never taken a day off in any shape or form.”

The Red Storm will open up the 2009 schedule, on the road against Holy Cross on Saturday. They have seven home games this year, including a senior day show-down with national powerhouse Duke.

Despite a diffi cult schedule, Buckley echoed his coach.

“We expect to win, to do better than last year, and to make the postseason,” he said. “We don’t expect anything less. We have to improve on last season.”

KATIE BECKMANNStaff Writer

SJU expects improvement

PHOTO COURTESY OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Junior Gavin Buckley kept the Red Storm in a lot of games last season and will need to do the same in 2009.

Lacrosse:Feb. 21Feb. 28

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LACROSSE

11 FEBRUARY 2008 | VOLUME 86, ISSUE 15 | TORCHONLINE.COM

SPORTS

Now entering its second season of ECAC play, the lacrosse team is looking to improve on a disappointing 2-11 record in 2008.

page 35

The women’s basketball team remained undefeated at Madison Square Garden with a win over Cincinnati on Sunday.

page 33

TORCH PHOTO/ LAURA AMATO