The Heights April 4, 2016

Vol. XCVII, No. 17 Monday, April 4, 2016

HEThe Independent

Student Newspaperof Boston College

www.bcheights.com

e s t a b l i s h e d

Russell Simons and Meredith McCaffrey won the election with 1,137 votes, 442 more than the second place campaign team.

Since April 1, students looking to

study on weekend nights have a whole

library at their disposal. The Office of

Student Affairs and O’Neill Library

have begun a pilot program that allows

for O’Neill to remain open all night on

Fridays and Saturdays.

In conjunction with UGBC leader-

ship, this initiative will allow students

to study on the first floor of O’Neill

over the next three weekends, until

the library begins its end-of-semester

exam hours.

The 24-hour, seven-days-a-week

initiative will differ operationally from

regular hours. Jim Kreinbring, director

FEATURESConference comes at crossroads of healthcare and humanities, A10

BEATING HEARTSARTS & REVIEWRobsham saw the return of the bOp! this last Friday night, B8

THE BOP! AWAKENSSPORTSThe brothers Fitzgerald are right at the heart of BC’s National Championship chase, B1

FITZY FRENZY

Th e Elections Committee announced

Friday evening that Russell Simons,

MCAS ’17, and Meredith McCaff rey,

MCAS ’17, will be the 2016-17 Under-

graduate Government of Boston College

president and executive vice president.

Simons and McCaff rey received 1137

votes, 442 votes above Matthew Ulrich,

MCAS ’17, and John Miotti’s, MCAS

’17, team. Nikita Patel, CSOM ’17, and

Joseph Arquillo’s, LSOE ’17, team came

in third place with 668 total votes. Patel

and Arquillo’s team was docked 70 votes

because of unsolicited Facebook mes-

sages concerning the election, Adam

Rosenbloom, co-chair of the Elections

Committee and MCAS ’16, said.

“I think the students got a good op-

portunity to hear a bunch of diff erent

ideas and really good ideas from very

diff erent teams,” Simons said.

Both Simons and McCaff rey have

been a part of UGBC in the past. Simons

currently serves as vice president of

student organizations in UGBC, while

McCaff rey is a member of the Senate.

Simons and McCaff rey, whose cam-

paign slogan was “Strength in Unity,”

focused their campaign on three goals:

quality, inclusivity, and accessibility.

Simons and McCaff rey hope to focus

on day-to-day improvements for BC

student life, while also continuing their

support for diversity and inclusion pro-

grams on campus. Th e duo also hopes

to increase the transparency of UGBC

in the coming year.

“Going forward, we hope to engage

the other candidates in greater conver-

sation about how to accomplish our

respective goals for next year, since we

hope this will allow students to be more

informed in their voting,” Simons said

in an email. “We believe in our mission

of ‘Strength in Unity,’ and are excited

to continue sharing our ideas with the

entire student body.”

Ulrich and Miotti’s campaign would

have worked to increase school spirit

through diff erent programming events,

and they also wanted to increase conver-

sation about mental health on campus.

Patel and Arquillo’s team wanted to

focus on fi nancial aid reform, support for

diversity programs, and create a campus

of administrative services in the Office

of the Vice President for Student Affairs,

said that because only the first floor of

O’Neill will be accessible during the

pilot weekends, students must enter

through the Maloney Hall side of the

library in order to gain access.

According to Kreinbring, while

printers will be available and opera-

tional on the library’s first floor, other

library services—such as course re-

serves and headphones—will not. Also,

to placate concerns for the safety of

students, the study area will be staffed

by a security officer between the hours

of 10 p.m. and 9 a.m.

“The goal is to provide more late-

night study space for students on week-

end nights—a suggestion that came

from UGBC,” Kreinbring said.

Caroline Monnes, Senator on the

Campus Improvements Committee

and MCAS ’19, noted that UGBC began

working on this initiative after reading a

column published in November in The

Heights, “A Call for Increased Weekend

Study Hours and Locations at BC.”

The author of the column, Mag-

dalen Sullivan, argues that exams and

papers are a weekly occurrence, and

so students should have the option to

study rather than be forced to deal with

noisy dorms.

“Right now, the library hours repre-

sent a surrender of the University to the

social life on campus—an acceptance

of bad student habits as opposed to

striving to fix it,” Sullivan wrote. “It’s

not about active campaigning against

drinking on the weekend—it’s about

simply giving students the opportunity

to opt-out.”

Much like Kreinbring, Monnes’ goals

with the pilot program focus on keeping

students’ best interests in mind.

Monnes said that this pilot will give

students a quiet space on the weekends

away from the noise of dorm rooms

UGBC Elections <<<

See UGBC, A3

Free expression, weight loss, and educa-

tion for African immigrants were all high-

lighted at this semester’s BC Talks. Modeled

after TED Talks, the event was held Sunday

night and featured eight Boston College

students who were each given 20 minutes

and an open platform to discuss issues that

were important to them.

Monica Coscia, MCAS ’17, started her

talk, “Th e Deafening Silence: Repression

of Free Expression at Universities,” with

an introductory quote that set the tone for

her speech.

“I disagree with what you say, but I will

defend to the death your right to say it,” Cos-

cia said, quoting Evelyn Beatrice Hall.

Coscia discussed the presence of free

speech on BC’s campus. She referred to the

Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines,

and highlighted the constitutional rights of

students in public schools to free speech.

“Free speech is seen the same as violence,

to suppress and fear it,” Coscia said.

She challenged the audience to break the

silence on issues at BC like the Demonstra-

tion Policy and Posting Policy, and to look at

the movements UGBC is pushing to change

these issues.

“Th ere is a certain mode in society that

you have to fi t in,” Toluwase Oladapo, MCAS

’16, said to start her talk, “Th e Outer Body

Experience: A Talk on Embracing Your

Right NOW.”

Th en, Oladapo spoke about her journey

to lose 70 pounds the summer before com-

ing to BC and her mindset and reasoning

while losing the weight.

She gave three reasons that she origi-

nally tried to lose the weight: to be desirable,

to stop being bullied, and to satisfy others.

Once she came back to BC she gained back

more than what she lost. Oladapo realized

that her reasoning for losing the weight was

superfi cial. She kept referring to her “desti-

nation happiness.” Now, Oladapo focuses on

ignoring society’s mold for women.

“If you don’t start in the now, you can

never hate yourself to love yourself,” she

said.

Shalin Mehta, CSOM ’16, began his talk,

“Your Network is your Net Worth: Culti-

vating Relationships and Discerning Your

Passion,” by focusing on how everything

revolves around relationships. He outlined

four major takeaways that he has discovered

in developing networks. First, your network

is your net worth. Money, grades, and status

come and go while relationships are con-

stant. Second, it is never too early to begin

making connections, and it will take time.

Th ird, people should ask for help when it

comes to relationships. By breaking down

the walls of being too proud or too shy, one

can develop their strongest self through

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Undergraduate Government

of Boston College passed a resolution

to encourage the administration to

become more sex-positive, in part by

allowing student groups to use funds to

distribute sexual education materials or

contraceptives. The Student Assembly

(SA) debated the issue in its Sunday

night meeting.

The revised proposal that passed

in the SA has two parts: first , the

University ought to more publicly dis-

seminate materials regarding sexual

assault, and second, student groups

should be able to use their own funds

to provide contraceptives or materials

on sexual education. While its proposal

provided no concrete changes for the

future of UGBC, Collin Pratt, class of

2017 senator, director of policy for the

GLBTQ Leadership Council, and MCAS

’17, said the SA hopes to set a formal

state for the institution that provides

direction and stance for the future of

the advocacy body.

The debate opened with a statement

from Pratt explaining the mission of the

resolution and introducing its operative

text. In his formal written proposal,

Pratt stressed that “a large community,

if not a majority of the student body”

is sexually active and therefore in

need of sexual resources, ranging from

educational resources, safe spaces for

dialogue, and contraception.

Following Pratt’s initial presentation

of its mission, the proposal’s co-spon-

sors delivered a statement on the pro-

posal. Both co-sponsors, Meredith Mc-

Caffrey, MCAS ’17, and Connor Kratz,

MCAS ’18, stressed that this motion

did not conflict with the University’s

Jesuit ideals.

“This is not a debate about whether

students should or should not have

premarital sex,” Kratz said. “It’s an

acknowledgement that it is happening

at BC, and that we need to care about

those student’s safety.”

McCaffrey, the executive vice presi-

dent-elect, echoed his sentiment, stat-

ing that a large part of the Jesuit identity

is caring for the whole person.

“For a lot of people, that includes

sexuality and being able to talk about

sexual health,” McCaffrey said.

In the meeting , senator Hagop

Toghramadijan, MCAS ’17, proposed

an amendment to the original resolu-

See Library, A3

See Sexual Health, A3 See BC Talks, A10

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

THE HEIGHTS

On Monday, film director Hubert Sauper will be showing his new documentary, We Come as Friends, about colonial-ism, war, and business in Africa today, in Devlin Hall 101 at 5:30 p.m. A discussion and question-and-answer session will follow. 1

Kristin Heyer will talk about contributions that scripture and the Catholic social tradition offer the immi-gration dialogue on Tuesday. The event, which is sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public LIfe, will be held on Tuesday at 12 p.m. on 24 Quincy Rd., Boisi Center. 2

Monday, April 4, 2016 A2

On Wednesday, Afaa Michael Weaver, a poet and playwright who writes about love and so-cial justice, will talk about his career path at 7 p.m. in Devlin 101. The lec-ture, which will address Weaver’s childhood poverty, is a part of the Lowell Humanities Series.

Top

things to do on campus this week

3 3

What is your biggest pet peeve?

NEWSBRIEFS

Diane Macedo, BC ’04, will

join ABC News as an anchor of

World News Now and America

This Morning and will be a New

York-based correspondent start-

ing today. Macedo previously

worked at WCBS in New York,

where she covered stories includ-

ing the death of Eric Garner, the

East Village building explosion,

the Philadelphia Amtrak derail-

ment, and the WDBJ shooting

in Virginia.

Prior to working at WCBS,

Macedo was a reporter and

anchor at the Fox Business Net-

work, as well as an editor for

FoxNews.com.

Macedo is the daughter of

parents who immigrated from

Portugal. She has been passion-

ate about news since a young

age—she would discuss news of

the day at the dinner table and

later learned broadcast news at

the local program NewTV while

studying at BC, according to

ABC News.

—Source: TheBoston College

Police Department

POLICE BLOTTER 3/30/16 - 4/1/16

Wednesday, March 30

9:59 a.m. - A report was filed re-

garding the issuance of a trespass

warning in the Lower Lots.

2:38 p.m. - A report was filed re-

garding a medical transport from

Gasson Hall.

Thursday, March 31

5:52 p.m. - A report was filed

regarding a suspicious circum-

stance at the Haley Carriage

House Day Center.

8:33 p.m. - A report was filed

regarding a medical transport

via ambulance from the Newton

Roadways.

Friday, April 1

12:27 a.m. - A report was filed

regarding vandalism to a residence

at Ignacio Hall.

Patrick Maney, a history professor,

recently published a book titled Bill

Clinton: A Gilded Age Presidency. The

book traces today’s political divisive-

ness and polarizing paralysis to the

Clinton presidency.

“The seeds had been sown in

previous decades but didn’t start

blooming until the 1990s,” Maney

said to the Office of News and Public

Affairs. “This is when Washington

politics became a blood sport, with its

‘take no prisoners’ mentality.”

Maney was drawn to write about

Clinton because they are of the

same generation. He also wanted

to understand why reactions to the

Clintons seemed out of proportion

to their actions.

“Sure, they rubbed a lot of people

the wrong way by supporting abor-

tion rights, affirmative action, gays

in the military, and gender equality,”

Maney said. “And, of course, stories

of the president’s infidelities under-

standably upset many. Still, most

of their views resided safely in the

political mainstream.”

Clinton was one of the most con-

servative Democrats to occupy the

White House due to his economic

and fiscal views, Maney said. The

former president hailed the end of big

government, was more pro-business

than pro-labor, presided over de-

regulation of the telecommunications

and banking industries, approved

more corporate mergers than Presi-

dents Bush and Reagan combined,

embraced his religion, oversaw cuts

in welfare, was tough on crime, and

had supported the Gulf War before

becoming president.

Maney believes the Clinton presi-

dency remains relevant today.

“Better than most of his contem-

poraries, Bill Clinton understood that

the United States was—and still is—in

the throes of a transformative period

not seen since the late 19th century,

the so-called Gilded Age so memo-

rably christened by Mark Twain and

William Dudley Warner,” Maney said

to News and Public Affairs.

Maney believes that Clinton de-

serves more credit for his foreign

policy accomplishments. During his

presidency, Clinton helped resolve

conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo while

diffusing others in Haiti, North Korea,

and between India and Pakistan.

“We don’t think of foreign policy

when we think of the Clinton adminis-

tration,” Maney said. “We should.”

Please send corrections to [email protected] with

‘correction’ in the subject line.

CORRECTIONS

By Sophie Reardon

Assoc. News Editor

The Mental Health Channel has

given the University Counseling

Services (UCS) of Boston College its

new documentary series, Stories of the

Mind, to show to students prior to its

official release on PBS in 2017.

On Tuesday, April 5, the Under-

graduate Government of Boston

College and UCS will be screening

the documentary series, which is

about people struggling with men-

tal health issues. The series is com-

posed of four short videos—each

about seven to 10 minutes—that

touch on a different mental dis-

ability, including depression and

bipolar disorder.

The creator of the show, the

Mental Health Channel, reached out

to UCS to see if it would be interested

in viewing its new show. The company

hoped to gain some feedback from BC

students, Downing said.

There will be three short films

showed in addition to the Stories of the

Mind series, which will also be about

mental health.

“It’s not just a speaker and a panel

that can get a little dry,” Tom Down-

ing, assistant director of mental health

programming in UGBC and CSOM

’18, said. “It’s a different way of spread-

ing our message.”

In addition to gaining feedback,

he said, the event will also encourage

dialogue on campus surrounding

mental health and educate students

about the resources available to them

on campus.

“We’re really just looking for

quality of life of students,” Connor

Marshall, assistant director of mental

health programming in UGBC and

MCAS ’18, said. “There’s definitely a

mental health issue on this campus.”

This event comes in a series that

UGBC has held to expand the dia-

logue on mental health at BC. The

goal, Downing said, is to destigmatize

mental health subjects. UGBC hopes

that seeking help for a mental illness

will be seen as seeking a doctor’s help

for a broken arm, he said.

Following the viewing, Craig

Burns, the interim director of

counseling services, will speak to

students about mental health on

college campuses, answering any

questions attendees may have and

facilitating discussion.

“I think this is part of a broad

and long-term effort to educate

and to spread information, and so

the effect we hope will come from

this is broader awareness and ac-

ceptance of mental health issues

and willingness to engage help both

from professionals and from peers,”

Burns said.

Other events that UGBC has host-

ed regarding mental health include

What I Be, a performance by activist

and comedian Kevin Breel, and a one-

woman show by Amy Albright.

“The response has generally been

very positive,” Downing said. “It’s

been great seeing that a lot of people

do care about advocating for mental

health resources.”

The wide response to these pro-

grams, Downing said, is further evi-

denced by the fact that the University

recently allocated funding for UCS to

hire more counselors.

These events, Downing said, also

aim to provide a space for students to

talk about what kinds of support they

want and need from BC with regards

to mental health.

“Students really do care about

helping everyone at this University

dealing with mental health issues,”

Downing said.

By Connor Murphy

Heights Editor

The lights were dimmed as people

walked around the track at Relay for

Life, dropping glowsticks into Lumi-

naria bags to honor and remember

friends and family in the fight against

cancer. It was a powerful moment in

the night, a sobering reminder of the

purpose of the night.

At Boston College’s ninth an-

nual Relay For Life event on Friday

night, over 1,500 participants from

126 teams raised about $133,000

for the American Cancer Society.

Held in the Flynn Recreation Com-

plex, the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. all-nighter

featured emotional testimonials

from cancer survivors and loved

ones, as well as some entertain-

ment from a hypnotist, singers, and

the Dance Organization of Boston

College (DOBC).

Since its inception, BC Relay

For Life has raised over $1 million,

making it one of the top 15 col-

legiate Relay events in the country.

Relay, whose slogan is “Celebrate,

Remember, Fight Back,” is the

American Cancer Society’s main

fundraising tool.

The donations period stays open

until August, so sponsors can contin-

ue to donate until the planning period

for next year’s Relay starts. Relay is

also DOBC’s designated charity, so

depending on how the group does

in competition the winnings will be

added to the fundraising total. Last

year, BC Relay raised about $157,000.

Organizers hope this year’s total will

eventually reach $150,000.

Teams set up stations in the

basketball court area of the Plex, and

the track runs around the edge of the

courts. Donors sponsor the teams,

who raise money throughout the year

and commit to having at least one

team member at all times walking

the track for the 12 hours.

Kat Murphy, MCAS ’18, par-

ticipated in the event last year and

said that this year was an improve-

ment, particularly with the comedy

group Asinine.

“The focus of the event is more on

remembrance and celebration rather

than sadness and melancholy,” she

said in an email.

About $5,000 was raised during

the event itself, much of it through

donations made directly to teams

and day-of registration. BC Relay

also partnered with about 25 outside

sponsors for the event, including the

Boston Red Sox and Chipotle. At BC,

the event is run by three event chairs

who oversee 10 subcommittees.

Altogether, about 70 students help

to organize BC Relay.

Claire Ritten, one of the three

event chairs and LSOE ’16, said

that the point of the overnight

schedule is to mirror a cancer

patient’s journey from diagnosis to

recovery—night to day.

One of the speakers at the event

was Kelley Tuthill, a news reporter for

the local TV outlet WCVB. Tuthill

was 36 when she was diagnosed with

breast cancer. She received aggressive

treatment and entered remission

in 2007.

“I’m living proof that research

is what saves lives,” Tuthill said

in the interview. “It’s not some

abstract concept.”

By Sophie Reardon

Assoc. News Editor

On April 14, the Boston College

Economics Association will meet

with state legislators to present

proposals for amendments to cur-

rent Massachusetts state laws at the

Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.

Prior to their date at the Statehouse,

the members of the Economics As-

sociation will hold a rehearsal open

to the BC community on Tuesday in

Merkert 127.

The members of the club will

be split into groups of four or five

people, with each addressing a

different issue.

“There will be reliance on statis-

tics and t-figures because it’s sup-

posed to be less based off of feelings

and emotions and more based off

of facts and logic,” Ian Wyllie, head

of the Economics Association and

MCAS ’18, said.

One such issue, Wyllie said,

is underage drinking. Currently,

underage drinking causes many

injuries and deaths because people

are scared to call for help when they

need it. They hope to change the

social incentives of underage drink-

ing by making it legal for people to

drink with their families on alcohol-

selling premises.

“The idea is to work to reduce

the social incentive of having it be

swept under the rug because it is

so prevalent on college campuses,”

Wyllie said.

Rohit Bachani, a member of

the Economics Association and

CSOM ’19, is part of a group that

has been researching opiate abuse

in Massachusetts.

The group decided that the

most effective means of curbing

the problem would be to monitor

prescriptions better. It found that

extended-relief naltrexone, which is

a medication that can be adminis-

tered once a month, is very effective

to prevent drug addiction. Finally,

it has some ideas for new inpatient

rehabilitation programs.

“I thought it was cool to parse

through the research on this because

I know that the state itself has been

trying to do a lot to reduce opiate

abuse,” Bachani said. “And I thought

it would be an honor to be able to

show this to professors and legisla-

tors and kind of be able to give our

own take on how we’re going to solve

these issues as college students.”

The Economics Association,

which Wyllie founded this past fall,

meets each week to go over current

issues and updates. Each group also

meets individually once a week to go

over its presentations.

Henry Menn, a member of the

Association and CSOM ’19, joined,

he said, because he thought it would

be interesting to find easy ways to

make changes to the laws.

“I thought the coolest thing

about it was finding small things

that are easy to change that no-

body really thinks about,” Menn

said. “I just found it to be a really

intriguing idea.”

Wyllie was able to set up the

event at the Statehouse, he said,

after talking to Jim Cantwell, the

Massachusetts state representa-

tive for the 4th Plymouth district

and BC ’88, who he knows from

previous work experience.

The event on campus on Tuesday

will allow the groups to give their

presentations to audience members.

BC professors will provide commen-

tary and students can ask questions

to the presenters.

“The goal of this presentation is

to get a good feel of how thorough

our research efforts have been so far

and get some feedback on what more

can be done to make our message

more concrete and how to make our

solutions more attractive to legisla-

tures,” Bachani said.

The Economics Association,

Wyllie said, aims to show the BC

community the work that they’ve

been doing over the past few months.

He also hopes that BC students will

become more interested in Massa-

chusetts public policy issues.

“It’s basically about spread-

ing awareness about our pro-

gram—about the possibilities

for students on BC’s campus to

work through us or on their own

accord,” Wyllie said.

THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016 A3

Library, from A1

and lounges to study

for upcoming mid-

terms and finals.

BC Libraries

and UGBC will

also gauge stu-

dents’ demand

for the extended

hours in the first

weeks of the pilot

program.

“ Th i s w i l l

definitely appeal to

students who would rather get their work

done instead of going out and partying,”

Jason Lam, CSOM ’16, said. “For these stu-

dents, it must be tough trying to find a quiet

place to study on a Friday or Saturday.”

If this pilot program is successful and

draws enough attendance,

then these overnight hours

could continue into the next

academic year, Kreinbring

said.

“My only concern is

that there are not many

students that actually study

on Friday or Saturday,” Lam

said. “Even if there are—I

doubt that they would study

late into the night … maybe

closing at 1 or 2 a.m. would

be late enough.”

Sexual Health, from A1

text, which argued that the University

administration should shore up its ef-

forts against sexual assault and release a

public statement to outline the resources

available to victims.

In this text, Toghramadijan also said

that no individual should be subjected to

sexual activity that he or she is uncom-

fortable with, and that sex positivity is

the right to be open about sexual choices

as well as respectful of others’ choices.

In explaining his motivation for pro-

posing this amendment, Toghramadijan

stressed that the administration should

not be forced to adhere to a sexual health

policy that did not follow the Jesuit

institution of abstinence, even if it was

the chosen and preferred stance of the

majority of the student body.

“At its most basic policy implication,

this means we would not call upon the

administration to provide funds for con-

traception,” Toghramadijan said. “It’s not

part of their vision of healthy sex.”

This amendment did not pass, losing

in an 11-to-10 vote.

After the rejection of the proposed

amendment, the conversation returned

to the debate of the original proposal.

John Daniell, director of rules in the

student assembly, class of 2017 senator

and MCAS ’17, led the rebuttal, promot-

ing the University’s right to exclusively

endorse abstinence.

“The current policies that are in

place, as much as we disagree with them,

are in place for the University and by ex-

tension the Catholic mission sees them

as appropriate,” Daniell said in his first

remarks. “You wouldn’t force a vegetar-

ian to eat a hamburger, you wouldn’t

make an atheist buy a Bible, and you

wouldn’t make a Catholic university

fund contraception.”

Daniell went on to say that there are

resources available for sexual health

education within the Women’s Center

and Bystander Intervention programs.

His final emphasized point was that in

coming to a Jesuit, Catholic university,

students in some measure buy into tra-

ditional Catholic ideals, whether they

personally subscribe to the religion or

not.

Daniell’s remarks were met with vig-

or—hands flew up as the floor opened

to questions and commentary.

As the conversation continued, how-

ever, both those opposing and promot-

ing the new proposal grew closer to a

compromise. McCaffrey asked whether

Daniell was in favor of more sexual

education and more spaces for dialogue,

pamphlets, and education.

Daniell agreed to expanding those

resources.

In the final leg of the debate, Pratt

presented his own amended opera-

UGBC, from A1

guide for first-year students.

Simons and McCaffrey will address the

University’s strategic planning in the first few

months of their term. The duo plans to have

conversations with the administration about

the future of the University, Simons said.

Simons and McCaffrey will begin their work

in May and continue their plans throughout

the summer.

Simons and McCaffrey were also the win-

ners of the UGBC debate held March 21. The

team received the most popular votes from

the audience following its discussion of diver-

sity issues and policy implementation.

McCaffrey originally planned to run as

the EVP to the current EVP, Olivia Hussey,

MCAS ’17. When Hussey dropped out of

the race for personal reasons, McCaffrey

recruited Simons to be her running partner.

The team joined the ballot when the Elections

Committee decided to extend the nomina-

tion deadline to create more competition.

Prior to the original Jan. 29 deadline,

Simons thought about running for UGBC

president. He ultimately decided against

it due to his busy schedule, he said. When

presented with the opportunity to run with

McCaffrey, however, he changed his mind,

Simons said.

Simons believes the extended elections

period this year negatively affected the

teams because it was difficult for the entire

student body to stay attentive for so long.

A lot of the campaign’s messages were lost,

Simons said.

“I think all of us who were campaign-

ing wish it was a little bit shorter,” Simons

said.

By Becky Reilly

Heights Staff

Boston College has many weeklong

events in its calendar dedicated to

women’s issues, faith concerns, and cel-

ebrations of other cultures. This week

features a new addition to bring issues

of diversity to light.

The FACES Council, along with the

Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercul-

tural Center, Black Student Forum, and

UGBC’s AHANA Leadership Council

and GLBTQ Leadership Council, pres-

ents Embrace Week, a new initiative to

celebrate BC’s racial diversity.

“BC does such good work with

weeks—Love Your Body Week, CARE

Week, FAST Week—and they’re huge

events, and they go so well,” said Grace

Kim, FACES Council secretary and

LSOE ’16. “So we hope this will add

to that,”

The inaugural Embrace Week has

four governing themes—service, love,

faith, and expression—that represent

issues that concern members of minor-

ity races, and also confront most BC

students.

Joon Young Park, the moderator for

the Thursday event and MCAS ’18, ex-

plained that the need for Embrace Week

came from a common sentiment that

events dedicated to celebrating AHANA

students and exploring the implications

of race and racism were only preaching

to the choir.

Therefore, the group wanted to cre-

ate a week to expand its reach and also

to recognize the importance of diversity

by institutionalizing a week on campus

to spread awareness and celebrate in-

tersectionality, Park said.

The first event, called “The State of

Service: Why Race Matters,” is a panel

between Rev. Don MacMillan, S.J., from

Campus Ministry, Mary Troxell, a

professor from the PULSE program,

and Brinton Lykes, a professor in the

Lynch School.

Because of the huge prevalence of

participation in service among under-

graduates, the panel’s organizers wanted

to draw on the topic’s wide appeal to

discuss issues of race—in particular,

the relative lack of students of color in

groups like the Arrupe program and

Appalachia Volunteers.

“[Service at BC] does have so much

to do with race, especially since pro-

grams like 4Boston and PULSE are

mostly serving communities of color in

Boston, and there are a lot of strengths

and weaknesses about the service cul-

ture at BC,” Abby MacLean, co-direc-

tor of the FACES Council and MCAS

’16, said.

Tuesday, with its theme of love,

features a UGBC-inspired event named

“The Black Queer Experience,” part of

GLC’s efforts to put on an annual event

to discuss the intersection of race and

sexual identity.

The multi-year topic stems from

assertions by GLC members that white,

gay males are typically discussed more

than GLBTQ people of other races or

genders.

“Loving Thy Neighbor: Race and the

Church” will take place on Wednesday,

featuring Brother Mickey McGrath, an

artist who has researched Sister Thea

Bowman extensively.

As part of Thea Bowman Legacy

Day, he will address the history of race

in the Catholic Church and of women

of color specifically. The crowd will

then be able to break out into small

groups for discussion.

“We go to a Catholic Jesuit institu-

tion,” Kim said. “We have to take the-

ology. Faith, for a lot of students, is a

huge experience. It’s about looking at

it with a critical eye, looking at where

the church has its shortcomings with

regard to race, but also where does it

celebrate racial diversity and diversity

in general?”

Thursday’s event is a familiar one:

the fifth annual Speak for Your Change

show.

The theme of celebration of diver-

sity closes out the week with presen-

tations from dance, spoken word, and

other performance groups, many of

which are cultural groups.

This year ’s show includes per-

formances by Juice, Voices of Imani,

Dynamics, Conspiracy Theory, and

spoken word artists.

“I think it’s a huge celebration of

the strength of diversity and just a very

powerful event every year,” MacLean

said. “So we wanted to close the week

as a whole [with the event], and we

wanted that theme of celebration to be

present in the entire week.”

Finally, between noon and 2:00 p.m.

on Friday, various event organizers and

mentors will be available for further

discussion of the week and its topics in

the Bowman AHANA and Intercultural

Center lobby in Maloney Hall.

The event’s organizers hope that

the week will be integrated annually

into BC’s calendar of events and is

interested to see how it will change

thematically after the board’s many

seniors graduate this spring.

In the short-term, they hope to

promote discussion of issues of racism

and diversity as well as celebration of

BC’s own internal diversity.

Park expressed his hopes for the

week to open dialogue on campus.

“[Diversity] is a part of all of our

lives, as is being able to accept it and

being able to learn from it and grow

from it and celebrate it,” MacLean said.

“It really is a week for everyone.”

UGBC Senator Meredith McCaffrey hoped to open up a dialogue concerning sex on campus at the Student Assembly debate.


—Jim Kreinbring, director of administrative services in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs

O’Neill Library is now open all night on Fridays and Saturdays, beginning on April 1.SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Simons and McCaffrey, whose campaign slogan was “Strength in Unity, focused their campaign on quality, inclusivity, and accessibility.


tive text, combining both sides of the

debate’s contributions in one final

argument.

The final proposal stated that sex

positivity is defined as the right to be

open about one’s own sexual choices and

the responsibility to respect other peo-

ple’s sexual choices. This includes every

individual and group being allowed to

promote and stand by their own beliefs

and choices about sexuality.

Pratt also included part of Toghra-

madijan’s proposal: the administration

should strengthen its efforts against

sexual assault and release a public state-

ment outlining the resources available

to survivors and the process in place for

addressing perpetrators.

Notably, the final version of the pro-

posal also encouraged the University to

allow student groups to use their own

funds to pay for materials on sexual

education.

The final amendment, and in turn the

proposal, passed unanimously among

non-abstaining members of the Senate.

“For too long UGBC has remained

silent on the topic of sexual health and

education and silently consented to the

values of the institution,” Pratt said.

THE HEIGHTS A4 Monday, April 4, 2016

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Fifteen girls, two years, and one court.

A relatively new team on the Heights,

Boston College women’s club basketball is

ringing in its second year in considerable

style—a trip to nationals for the first time

later this month.

After going through the process of be-

coming an official club team last year, the

team is well into its second year and put-

ting up consistently strong performances.

Comprised of 15 girls, 12 of whom play

and travel with the team, it is a tight-knit

group on and off of the court.

“We have a lot of fun, probably too

much fun,” Jenn Cillis, team treasurer and

MCAS ’16 said. “We joke around a lot. It’s

intense but not too intense.”

Speaking to that intensity is the con-

siderably long season in which the team

is competitively active. Beginning with

tryouts in October every year, the team

practices continuously throughout the

winter and into the early spring, ultimately

culminating in April’s tournament season.

With sights set on the future, the potential

for a second round of tryouts early in the

second semester is currently under consid-

eration by the team’s executive board.

Though the season is long, spanning

practically the entire academic year, be-

ing one of the newest club teams at BC

makes for an active and fresh environ-

ment with a young group of players. The

potential for growth is huge, and as the

team gains momentum toward becoming

a well-established club sport, many of the

returning players continue to take on es-

sential administrative duties and expand

the e-board.

Current point guard Martha Veroneau,

CSON ’17, started the team alongside

Maria Ferrari, BC ’15, in the spring of

2014. It initially began as an intramural

team that went to the club tournament and

greatly exceeded expectations, ultimately

reaching the championship game. The

following semester, fall of 2014, the team

was granted club status and has continued

to grow in talent ever since. The level of

play is in between that of intramural and

varsity, and many of the girls involved

played competitively at the high school

level but have ambitions to continue play-

ing at a collegiate level.

Following the founding of the men’s

club basketball team the year before,

there was immediately an overwhelming

interest in expanding club basketball to

include a women’s team. The reception

was very positive, and the level of talent

that the team attracted was appropriately

quite high.

The competitive tone was set immedi-

PHOTO COURTESY OF CATHERINE VERONEAU

LAYLA ABOUKHATER

Ed. note: In 2014, Layla Aboukhat-

er, like many Syrians, packed up her

life and escaped from the violence of

her home city, Aleppo, in search of a

peaceful existence. This exodus led her

to the United States and ultimately to

Boston, where she quickly applied and

was accepted into the class of 2018 at

Boston College.

At 3:15 a.m. I woke up to the most

beautiful sound: beeping. That beep

beep beep of the washing machine

would go on every time the power

went back on. I knew there would be

at least another 45 minutes of electric-

ity. As opposed to other cities in Syria,

in Aleppo no one knew when the

power would come on or go out, but it

was always at the hour mark.

To say that I jumped out of bed

would be an exaggeration. Sleeping

over two woolen sheets and under

four thick blankets, it took me a while

to untangle myself from the blan-

ket fortress I usually slept in during

the colder months. I rushed to the

kitchen, put a pot of water over the

electric stove and hurried to look at

my electric to-do list for the day. I

was hoping to get everything done

as fast as possible, to use whatever

time that was left before the power

went out again to continue Game of

Thrones.

The day before, the power went out

just as I was 10 minutes into a Game

of Thrones episode—things were get-

ting intense, and my man Jon Snow

was in trouble. I tossed and turned

that night, not because of the nearby

shelling and ground-shaking missile

strikes—you get used to that. What

you don’t get used to is how many

times dear Jon ends up in near-death

situations, so I lay there worrying

about him, and about Bordeaux.

Bordeaux was where we usually

went to party, and we had a party

there the next night, and I desperately

needed some electricity to prepare

myself. So motivated by my need to

look on-point that night while also

having some extra time before the

power went out again to check on Jon,

I started plugging in all my electronic

devices to charge. Next I printed out

eight copies of “50 Shades of Mad-

Libs” for the sleepover after the party,

a fail-proof way to pee your pants

laughing. I turned on the electric

heater and directed it on an upturned

chair, on which my damp laundry

hung. Next: beautifying. I turned on

the flat iron in an attempt to straight-

en my wild hair for the upcoming

party, and attacked my constantly

growing unibrow with the tweezers

while the iron heated.

I usually don’t put myself through

the excruciating pains of hair straight-

ening, but that day I had calculated

that the party wasn’t going to be a hot,

sweaty one. It was December, freezing

outside, and whatever electricity the

generators were going to muster up

was going to be used for the lights, the

surround sound system, and mak-

ing sure that the bar was bright to

attract as many customers as possible

because the unenforced drinking age

was 18. No power would be wasted

on heating, which was perfectly fine,

because I knew that the masses of

YOLOers like me would warm the

place with body heat as we danced to

the usual mix of Arabic and English

music. One moment we’re singing

along with Mohamad Iskandar as he

exuberantly serenades the woman who

reigns his heart, next we join Sia as

she screams about being bulletproof.

Looking back, I’m glad ISIS didn’t take

us too literally.

As I straightened my hair, typi-

cally, my dad walked in just as Renly is

going down on Loras. I burnt myself

with the flat iron trying to switch off

the show quickly, but I don’t think I

was fast enough. After he turned on

the water pump, which I always forgot

to do, he awkwardly said goodnight

and went back to bed. I got to see

Arya rescue A Man, aka Jaqen H’ghar.

In retrospect, I wish she had left

him to burn. But the power went out

before I could see the last 10 minutes

of the episode, leaving me worrying

about Arya’s fate now—another sleep-

less night. Keeping up with the Starks

was taking its toll on me.

I accepted my defeat and decided

to call it a night. I went to get my

clothes hoping they had enough time

to dry, only to find that the cat and the

dog thought the makeshift drying rack

was a nest for them, so I pulled out my

now not only damp, but fur-covered

clothes from underneath their groggy

butts. The water was ice cold because

in my hurry I forgot to turn the stove

on, so I decided to skip the shower.

Besides, I could shower at my friend’s

house—she owed me three showers

so far. At this point my hair was half

straight, half electrical-shock style, my

laundry was soaking wet, covered in

fur, and smelled like wet dog, and my

dad thought I was into medieval gay

porn. Perfect.

I dug back into my blanket fortress,

hoping to sweat off the straight half

of my hair, and fell into a fitful sleep

dreaming about Jon Snow straighten-

ing his beautiful, messy, black locks

that caused The Wall to melt, and

The Islamic State of White Walkers

charged in and bombed everyone with

RPGs and wildfire.

But other than the bad dreams,

everything went well that Saturday

night: we partied—hard—my hair

was a mess (but let’s face it, that’s

just how I look), and we drank cheap

vodka mixed with pineapple juice. As

usual, we sang along with Iskandar

and Sia, peed our pants with laughter

during the sleepover, and Sunday was

morning Mass and then cramming for

upcoming tests—life just went on as

usual.

A few days later, a funeral proces-

sion for a fallen soldier went through

our street, shooting their kalash-

nikovs into the air, and a kid got hit

with a cold bullet and died. A funeral

and two midterms later, the Aleppo

University bombings took place at the

architectural school down the street

from my home. We got off easy, some

of our windows and doors burst out of

their frames, and my mom and Roxy,

our lab, who were in the garden, were

able to run inside before the hail of

rocks and debris covered where they

had been. But the bombings killed at

least 82 people, including students

and children. For two days people

were searching for a Carmelite nun

and the kid who ran errands for the

local supermarket, both of whom

had disappeared around the time of

the bombing. People were hoping to

find them misplaced in a hospital or

to find their remains. But nothing

was found of the nun because there

nothing was left to be found— she

happened to be right at the detonation

spot. As for the boy, his remains were

found on the roof of a nearby build-

ing. This all happened on the first day

of final exams. They got pushed back

two weeks, but afterward we went to

another party celebrating the end of

the delayed exams—life just went on

as usual.

Back to the present, and it’s three

weeks until the season six premiere,

three more weeks filled with anxiety

about Jon Snow’s fate again. But this

time I’m in the States, where the pow-

er situation is more reliable, and I’m

actually looking forward to being able

to watch an entire bloody episode in

one sitting. I’m at Boston College now,

where most of the action in my life is

courtesy of drunk seniors setting Iggy

on fire every other week, Netflix, the

BC movie Web site and the Fenway

Regal theater, where I get my healthy

dose of violence, gun shooting, and

explosions from movies like The 13th

Hour and Deadpool, from the safety of

the very comfy reclining chairs.

So yes—compared to Syria, it is a

bit safer and, therefore, lame, but if

you take the danger thrill away, it’s

exactly the same—underage drink-

ing and sweaty kids crammed into an

overcrowded space with cheap vodka

and awesome music.

Strong underclassman talent and senior leadership make the women’s club basketball team a formidable force on the court.

ately at its inception as a club sport—35

extremely qualified girls tried out for only

18 spots. This initial competitiveness

continues to grow and develop as the

team does, and the team boasts a group of

extremely active athletes, many of whom

participate in intramural teams as well.

Among the nuances of being a new

club team, open tryouts attracted players

from all grades, noted Cillis. Being an up-

perclassmen and participating in a newer

sport with no definitive precedent to work

with was, in her words, unexpected. Being

a junior leader on a competitive team has

been a novel and learning experience.

“Not a ton of seniors are on the team,”

Cillis said. “And not a lot of people get to

do that junior year.”

Despite this unique structure of senior-

ity that is indicative of the team’s infancy,

the athletes on the younger end of the

spectrum show a remarkable amount of

promise. It is understood that the key to

longevity is underclassman talent, and in

this regard the future is bright.

“We have a really strong group, espe-

cially freshmen,” Veroneau said. “They are

all coming off of their senior seasons of

high school basketball.”

Also crucial to the the team’s hot start

and continued success is its leadership

on the coaching and administrative side

of the ball.

At the helm as coach is Margaret

Brown, BC ’12, an older sister to team

members Martha and Catherine Veroneau

known for her intense and highly motiva-

tional halftime speeches. Though this po-

sition is Brown’s first coaching experience,

her basketball resume boasts a plethora

of intramural basketball championships

during her time at BC.

Also on the administrative side of

things, the e-board consists of president

Amanda Dames, LSOE ’16, vice president

Shea North, CSON ’18, treasurer Jenn Cil-

lis, MCAS ’16, and secretary Kara Foley,

MCAS ’17, as well as a team of campus

representatives.

As is the case with many club teams,

however, this structure of administration

doesn’t necessarily translate to a hierar-

chy within the team. When it is out on

the hardwood, everyone has an equally

important role.

“We are there to formally organize

stuff,” North said. “It isn’t divided at all.”

In addition, tryouts occur annually, and

there are no guaranteed spots for return-

ing players, even for former members of

the e-board. This competitive atmosphere

and rate of turnover creates a fluid and

dynamic atmosphere in which everyone

is treated equally on the team.

As far as competition is concerned, the

team competes mostly locally—Boston

University, Harvard University, Northeast-

ern University, and similar schools in the

Boston area are their primary opponents.

This competition takes place within the

National Intramural-Recreational Sports

Association (NIRSA) league, a national

governing body for club-level intercol-

legiate athletics.

The team’s guaranteed spot in NIRSA

Nationals comes after a recent victory over

rival BU in the championship game of the

NIRSA Regional Tournament at BU this

past March.

Though this qualification for the na-

tional tournament is impressive, it merely

follows a precedent set by last year’s debut

team. Last year’s team was able to secure

a spot in the national tournament, but it

did not have the funding to make the trip

due to its insufficient budget as a small,

first-year club team.

This year, however, things are differ-

ent. Properly funded and determined to

make a name for themselves, all sights are

firmly set on NIRSA Basketball Champi-

onships.

The team will travel to Ohio State

University from April 22 through 24 to

represent BC on the national stage.

The goal, in short?

“We plan to reel in the hardware, all

while finessing,” North said.

THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014 B5

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THE HEIGHTS A7Monday, April 4, 2016


Ian Appel, assistant professor of fi nance

at the Carroll School of Management, is

fi ghting for the little guy. His most recent

paper, titled “Passive Investors, not Passive

Owners,” challenges the traditional percep-

tion of “passive investors” in the fi nancial

marketplace and is awaiting publication in

Th e Journal of Financial Economics. Co-written with the University of

Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business

faculty members Todd Gormley and Don-

ald Keim, the paper and its authors have

been recognized with signifi cant praise by

the Investor Responsibility Research Center

Institute (IRRCI).

The paper pushes back against the

traditional notion that people who invest

their retirement funds and other forms of

monetary wealth in large, passive institu-

tions like The Vanguard Group, which

hold trillions of dollars in assets acquired

through investors’ money and then invest

in other fi rms, hold little infl uence when it

comes to the corporate governance of the

fi rms that this money fi nds its way to.

“Th e paper is looking at these passive

investors,” Appel said. “Th ere’s a perception

among many people that these investors

don’t really matter in terms of how com-

panies are run, and so what we’re showing

in this paper is that they actually play an

important role.”

Appel explains that individuals who

invest their wealth in massive passive

institutions like Vanguard actually hold

more infl uence than traditionally thought,

and that this is a part of the reason why this

paper has gotten such liberal coverage and

positive attention.

“A big part of the jobs of me and my col-

leagues is doing research,” Appel said. “We

want to do really good research, and I think

it’s good for the school and so I think, not

just limited to this paper, that discoveries

and research like this are very important

to the University as a whole.”

Appel’s work has been nationally recog-

nized by professors at Harvard Law School,

Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal,among others, and has been presented at

many of the best business schools in the

nation.

Th ere are also broad implications that

this new method of thinking could have

around the world.

“Th ere is a growing trend towards lots

and lots of people investing their money

with institutions like Vanguard, and we

question what eff ect this has on the com-

panies that Vanguard invests in,” Appel said.

“And there’s this thinking that this could be

good for companies or this could be bad for

companies.”

Th ese passive investors were tradition-

ally believed to hold a lot less infl uence

than those who could buy and sell bigger

portions of stock in a fi rm itself, coined

“active investors.”

Appel explained that institutions’ con-

trol of assets worth almost as much as the

GDP of the world’s wealthiest nations has a

signifi cant impact that must be addressed.

“We’re showing that, at the end of the

day, there is a significant effect on the

corporate governance of how companies

are run because institutions like Vanguard

are playing an increasingly bigger role,” he

said.

CSOM Professor Ian Appel’s publication has received national acclaim for its comprehensive look at investor behavior.

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Abrahamic religious texts—The

Bible, The Quran, and The Torah—are

often incorrectly cited to justify any

controversial action and give these ac-

tions a spot in the realm of “political

correctness.” Some behaviors, because

of common misconceptions rooted in

the improper citation and interpreta-

tion of the Abrahamic religious texts,

have developed a negative stigma.

Certain groups of people have been

mistreated and discriminated against

over interpretations of content within

the Abrahamic religious texts. Michael

Davidson, a Jesuit involved in Boston

College Campus Ministry, examines the

relationship between his fellow Jesuits

and the greater BC student body.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Davidson

was introduced to Catholicism by at-

tending church with other members of

his community, though his own family

was not religious.

We had a short conversation about

his job and his role campus ministry. I

cut the conversation off to progress to

an issue that has been close to my heart

for some time. I asked him about his

views on the LGBTQ community here

on campus. After countless encounters

with people who identify as LGBTQ,

I have listened to a plethora of heart-

wrenching stories, stories of hatred and

deprecation.

The LGBTQ community and the

Catholic community have historically

been at odds with each other, but Da-

vidson believes it is his role as a Jesuit in

the 21st century to serve as a mediator

between the two parties.

“Well, I think , like every other

student, they are students of Boston

College, and I don’t see them as any dif-

ferent,” Davidson said. “I mean, I don’t

care about people’s sexual preference.

I’m here to serve all people.”

This, to me, seemed like the proper

answer, the right answer. But it seemed

rehearsed. It was too politically cor-

rect. The dialogue of LGBTQ accep-

tance has been perpetuated for many

years, requiring tireless efforts and

even government intervention. Even

at acclaimed schools such as BC, many

refuse to respect the preferences of

others, using the content in religious

texts as their justification to degrade. I

wanted to know what Davidson really

thought about the LGBTQ community

here on campus.

“Our belief is founded in the Gospel,”

Davidson said. “Ignatius asked us to

find God in all things. And of course

there are some Jesuits who are liberal

and some who are conservative, but the

main fact is that all Jesuits are compan-

ions of Jesus.”

Davidson went on to explain that

this companionship with Jesus should

act as a bridge or facilitator for other

human relationships. Rather than alien-

ate people, this relationship with Jesus

is meant to unify—to lay a foundation

for fundamentally meaningful connec-

tions.

“When you’re a companion of Jesus,

you build a relationship, and that rela-

tionship helps you build other relation-

ships out of love,” he said. “It can’t be

built out of fear. It can’t be built out of

hate. It can’t be built on distrust. It can’t

be built on suspicion or judgement.”

Davidson, as well as other Jesuits, set

the example for the campus philosophy

as a whole. Davidson emphasizes that

Jesuits should not be confined to the

closed-minded stereotype to which they

often fall victim, just as he hopes that

other demographics are understood to

be a diverse group of individuals.

For those who currently struggle

with their sexual orientation and feel

negative external pressures, Davidson

has a message.

“I think that they have not come

to love themselves and to value them-

selves,” he said. “Like I said to you, you

cannot change other people—and if you

continue to let the people around you

not allow you to love yourself, then you

will live a very unhappy life. And God

didn’t call us to be unhappy. He created

us, and he wants us to be happy.”

Davidson used an analogy to sum up

how he believes the world should act in

light of disagreement or controversy,

effectively summarizing what Jesuits

and BC stand for and explaining why

love is a power.

“For example, [let’s say you don’t

like your boss],” Davidson said. “You’re

not going to sit there and say [‘I hate

my boss’]. You are going to say to your-

self, ‘All right, I can change me. I can’t

change him.’”

To Davidson, a healthy discourse

within oneself is crucial to building and

maintaining genuine and caring exter-

nal relationships with the people we

surround ourselves with. To be loving

in thought is just as important as it is

to be loving in action, and the two are,

undoubtedly, directly correlated.

“Making noise is feeding into that

particular [aggressive] type of behavior,”

Davidson said. “If he’s mean to me, I’m

not going to be mean to him.”

Davidson encourages people to

acknowledge when they are faced with

antagonism.

“I want to show him kindness. Love

begets love.”

To start, a quick PSA: if any col-

lege-aged student overhears his or

her parents talking about a long-haul

drive to Florida for the winter—shut

it down.

With the graduation of my younger

brother last year, I am most certainly

hearing these grumblings and, regret-

tably, I didn’t act fast enough.

This past winter, my parents made

the retirement-aged pilgrimage to

Southern Florida for what I thought

was a brief stint of three months.

Coming from a place where the

long-term Florida resettlement of

empty-nesters is as common as Equi-

nox memberships, I was aware of the

inherent dangers of this “trial” trip.

Countless friends who had ex-

perienced the reality of having their

parents vacate their childhood home

warned me of the long-term impli-

cations of this first foray into the

Sunshine State.

I can even remember the ignorant

bliss of helping my friend pack up his

childhood when his newly empty-

nester parents made the definitive

decision to permanently vacate his

local address and make the migration

to warmer climes.

For me, deciding whether to keep

or discard his childhood artwork was

an entertaining afternoon activity, but

I realize now that for him it was more

of a closing of a chapter in his life.

But again, I was pretty fearless

at the time—my parents had it too

good back home, and the dog, who

had more of a say in this matter than

my brother and me combined, would

definitely never approve.

So it came to pass, and between

semesters my brother and I found

ourselves thoughtlessly packing a

winter’s worth of clothing and gear

into the family car for a nearly 1,300-

mile journey south.

As we affixed the bike rack and

picked up the dog’s Xanax prescrip-

tion from the pharmacy (no, actually),

I can confidently say that the thought

of our days in Connecticut beginning

to be numbered never occurred to us.

As the mile markers and exits on

I-95 became less familiar and the air

around us slowly became warmer, I

started to think back to the uninhabit-

ed house that had long since departed

from our rearview mirror.

For the next three months, the only

activity within those walls in which I

grew into myself would be the product

of timers on lamps and the heat set on

a low hum.

Almost like a life-support system

for a house, the heat would be just

warm enough to prevent the pipes

from freezing.

The twice-a-day flick of the lights

and the low purr of the boiler were

finally starting to hit me. The thought

that this year those walls would miss

out on birthday cakes from our favor-

ite bakery and brightly colored Easter

pants began to haunt me.

It occurred to me that our mail

forwarding would mean that even the

mailbox would spend three months

without human touch. The same

mailbox in which I received my first

report card, or my first paycheck,

or even my acceptance letter to my

dream school would remain cold and

empty for the first time in my 20 years

of existence.

At that moment, the big envelope

from BC that arrived three years ago,

the envelope that began the slow two-

person exodus from the house, began

to seem more like a death sentence.

This train of thought was inter-

rupted by a fit of rhythmic highway

sleep, and, looking back, the same fit

of sleep kept it off my mind for the

duration of my short stay in Florida

with my family.

The warm sun and wide spectrum

of bright colors that Connecticut

lacked at the time kept me woe-

fully unaware of the life I was leaving

behind, and the rhythmic waves of the

ocean lulled me into a trance.

I flew out of the small local airport

and watched paradise shrink below

me, and with that ascension I woke

from this trance and remembered my

life, past and future, just a few degrees

of latitude north.

Though now, my mind a little more

tanned and a little more salt-washed,

had never felt farther away.

For the time being, my childhood

house is in the clear. The Florida

experiment was merely a rental, and,

like my brother and I, my parents with

their bike rack and my dog with her

Xanax made the trek back to those

empty walls. For one more spring and

summer, there will be lights and cakes

and flip-flops.

I suppose that all of these things

exist where family is, but still, the

sentimentalist in me cannot help but

wonder—whose report cards and

paychecks and acceptance letters will

inhabit that mailbox this time next

year?

THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016A8

HEIGHTSTh e Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

THE

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

-Edgar Allen Poe, Eleonora

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Th e Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity,

accuracy, and to prevent libel. Th e Heights also reserves the

right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accom-

pany pieces submitted to the newspaper.

Letters and columns can be submitted online at ww

bcheights.com, by e-mail to [email protected],

person, or by mail to Editor, Th e Heights, 113 McElro

Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

EDITORIALS

The views expressed in the above editorials

represent the official position of The Heights, as

discussed and written by the Editorial Board. A list

of the members of the Editorial Board can be found

at bcheights.com/opinions.

In 1989, columnist Maria Sevilla advo-

cated for better sexual health education

in a column in Th e Heights. In the 27 years

since then, the issue of sexual health educa-

tion in relation to Jesuit Catholic ideals has

been consistently discussed on campus.

Citing Jesuit values, the University does

not distribute contraceptives on campus,

nor does it allow student groups to distrib-

ute them. Th is policy has come under fi re

in recent years, especially in the spring of

2013, when the University’s policies became

an issue of national concern. Th e New York

Times reported on Boston College Students

for Sexual Health (BCSSH), an unoffi cial

student group that has been working to

distribute contraceptives on campus since

2009. After this report was released, Uni-

versity administrators wrote a letter to par-

ticipating students urging them to desist and

threatening disciplinary action. Since then,

BCSSH has not become a registered group,

and progress for sexual health education has

largely stagnated on campus.

On Sunday night, the Undergraduate

Government of Boston College passed a

proposal to encourage the Boston College

administration to promote sexual positiv-

ity on campus, in part by allowing student

groups to use their own funds to discuss

sexuality and distribute contraception. Th e

proposal was passed with 22 members vot-

ing in support of it and three abstentions.

Funds given to student clubs are controlled

by the Student Organization Funding Com-

mittee, a student-run body that is separate

from UGBC. Funds disseminated by this

group come from the student activities fee

collected each year. Th e proposal asks the

administration to ease restrictions on how

that money—from the students—is spent.

So, the proposal does not ask the administra-

tion to directly use University funding, but

rather money directly from students.

In addition to easing control on student

funds, the proposal asks the administration

to release a public statement outlining the

resources available to survivors of sexual

assault and to create a place for address-

ing perpetrators. Th e Women’s Center and

programs such as Bystander have already

made eff orts to address sexual assault, and

in recent years the sexual assault policy has

been thoroughly—and successfully—re-

vised. But the University ought to issue a

statement clearly outlining its resources. If

UGBC, a representative body, believes that

the University has not been clear with its

sexual assault policies, BC needs to consider

issuing information on its resources publicly,

perhaps on a regular basis.

The original version of this proposal

lost in the Student Assembly and was then

revised to become more conservative and,

therefore, more likely to fi nd administrative

approval. As advocates for the student body,

UGBC is saying that students want to talk

about this issue.

Unlike other UGBC proposals that could

be said to only affect a portion of the stu-

dent body, sexual health affects virtually

everyone. This is a conversation students

want to have. And UGBC’s proposal makes

it possible for the administration to en-

courage a conversation on health without

using its own money to compromise its

Jesuit values.

UGBC’s proposal is not asking the ad-

ministration to condone students who are

sexually active, but rather saying that the

University should recognize that a discus-

sion on sexual health is necessary on col-

lege campuses. After years of struggling

to bring these issues to light, the proposal

is a positive step for the future of UGBC’s

executive council.

Stories of the Mind, a new documen-

tary series from PBS, will be screened

April 5 by University Counseling Services

(UCS) prior to its release.

This program is meant to show stu-

dents the difficulties of mental illness and

work to decrease the stigma surround-

ing it, something that the Undergradu-

ate Government of Boston College has

been advocating for this past year. UCS

and other mental health initiatives at

Boston College have received consider-

able attention recently as appointments

with counseling services increase and

students advocate for increased mental

health resources. Screening this series

is an effective program that provides a

necessary platform for increased aware-

ness of mental health.

The screening comes soon after the

announcement that UCS will be adding

two more full-time staff members: a staff

psychologist and a clinical postdoctoral

fellow. There has been a considerable call

for these new positions, which were made

possible through both University funding

and an anonymous donation.

This increase in counseling staff is

much needed, as demand for counseling

services has increased by 25 percent over

the past three years. The waiting period

for an appointment with UCS can be up

to two weeks during busy times of the

year—without increased staffing, this

shows no sign of changing.

As use of these services consistently

increases, it has been abundantly clear

that more staff members are a necessity

if UCS is to keep up with demand. The

addition of two new full-time staff mem-

bers is a good step toward this, but there

is still more that should be done.

Thomas McGuiness, associate vice

provost and previous director of UCS,

has said, “You could double the staff and

they’d still be busy,” in reference to UCS.

In the future, available funds should be al-

located to this service, as demand shows

no signs of decreasing. BC is just now

entering a new master plan cycle, as a

committee investigates University needs

and determines fund-raising goals.

Part of this new investigation is the

University Student Planning Initiative

(USPI), a group meant to determine

which parts of student life require in-

creased funding.

USPI should take into account that

mental health remains a prevalent issue

on campus and future fundraising efforts

should specify funds for UCS and other

mental health programs.

By designating funds for these pro-

grams BC would demonstrate engage-

ment with students and would help

provide much-needed resources for an

understaffed UCS and the students who

are increasingly seeking its resources.

Students and student groups should con-

tinue to advocate for this cause and push

for programs such as the documentary

screening as well as further increases in

staff size.

GABE PASTEL / HEIGHTS STAFF

recommendations cut down the information

overload into digestible portions and make

the Internet a friendly place populated by

things we are familiar with.

The implications change drastically,

however, when the subject changes from

embarrassing searches to politics. As has

been widely documented, the Internet has

severely altered the face of politics in in-

numerable ways. Many pundits have said it

is at fault for many of the quirks of this year’s

presidential election, such as the prevalence

of outsiders and its fierce discourse. While I

believe there are many other factors at stake,

like the extreme erosion of the middle class,

the violent rhetoric has been encouraged

and intensified by how people are digesting

their political news.

While traditional media still reign su-

preme, an increasing number of people solely

receives political news from the Internet,

especially in younger demographics. The

traditional narrative has been that this revolu-

tion in media has given us access to every

little bit of information about politics: every

speech, policy proposal, bill, interview, and

tweet. Thus, we are able to come to a more

informed, nuanced view about the current

political issues facing our country. Yet, despite

the deluge of information at our disposal, our

browsing habits and web sites’ algorithms

often pave the way for us to enter an echo

chamber of political views, an insulated safe

zone in which differing opinions fall to the

wayside. This reverberation of agreement

strengthens our preconceived worldview and

solidifies our entrenchment into what we

think we know as truth.

Many people on the Internet, and on Face-

book especially, are constantly inundated with

evidence to support their worldview without

recognizing that they are in a curated medium.

Since Facebook will promote posts that we

will be more likely engaged with, a Bernie bro

will find abundant Sanders memes awaiting

him aside ads for free-range yoga mats, while a

Trump fan will see videos decrying the unfair

media coverage of the Donald next to an ad for

wall-building materials. Jokes aside, we often

find ourselves cordoned off from dissenting

opinions online without realizing the absence

of an alternative worldview. Algorithms dic-

tate what we see, ensuring we are complacent

in remaining steadfast to our political ways.

The very form of online political

discourse further exacerbates the cybernetic

echo chamber. Rather than encouraging

rational analysis about a candidate’s proposed

policy, our blistering pace of online consump-

tion paves the way for sound bites and quick

jokes that leave no room for nuance. We

converse in memes where you are either in on

the joke or not. You either “like” something or

ignore it. If you “like” it, you’ll see more of the

same. If you don’t, that point of view will fade

into the depths of your feed. The Internet’s

digital skeleton is adopted by our mind’s

framework, as our opinions become binary,

our worldview turning into an algorithm sift-

ing for supporting information and disregard-

ing the adversarial rest.

Of course, the corporate media filtered

content and established a political narrative

long before the Internet ever existed, and

it would be misleading to characterize the

Internet as the only entity that moderates its

content based on its consumers and advertis-

ers. We want to believe in an unbiased Web,

though. Our generation desperately wishes

that our incessant Internet usage is a force

for good, a way to free our minds from the

confines of simple times in media, in which

the only source of information lay in a syn-

dicated columnist or radio host. Yet we fall

victim to our arrogance and find ourselves

within the digital echo chamber, knowingly

or otherwise. In order to break free from our

online political prisons, we need to challenge

ourselves to game the algorithms driving our

consumption. Click on something that makes

you uncomfortable. Like something you dis-

agree with. Recognize that whatever you do

online will come back like a boomerang, so in

order to have a diverse feed, you need to have

diverse online consumption habits. Break the

binary. Crack the algorithm. It’s really not that

difficult to … oh, look! I gotta go watch this

video of Bernie hitting the quan!

THE HEIGHTSMonday, April 4, 2016 A9

MIKE LUPICA - Sometimes you’re just

sitting at your desk, thinking about

things to write for your thumbs up/

thumbs down column, when best-

selling sportswriter and BC alumnus

Mike Lupica walks in and shakes

your hand. Seriously. He wrote for

this paper years ago and randomly

stopped by this week. I don’t even

care about maintaining the second-

person voice thing for this. It was

one of the most unexpected mo-

ments I’ve ever experienced.

STROLLING - Walking is for your av-

erage chump. Pacing is for the neu-

rotic consumed with thoughts and

responsibilities. Promenading is for

an overweight man in a flowing robe.

But strolling is something entirely

different. The casual stroll is for the

profound and awe-inspiring. When

you’re really getting your stroll on,

everyone will know it. They’ll say,

“Now that’s a go-getter if I’ve ever

seen one, someone who knows what

life’s all about, you know what I’m

saying, Veronica?” Yes, Veronica

knows exactly what you’re saying.

READ RECEIPTS - These prove that

you’re an honest and trustworthy

human being. Letting your many

acquaintances, companions, and

school chums know that you’ve read

and carefully considered their mes-

sage of text is the best step to estab-

lishing trust. It can also be used to

blatantly dismiss and insult people.

Yes, I did read your message and

frankly, it didn’t impress me enough

to warrant a response. Come back

when you have something important

to say. Snort.

BACK SWEAT - Lugging around a back-

pack during a humid day often leads

to a thick layer of moisture stretch-

ing from in between your shoulder

blades to your entire back. It’s gross,

and you can’t escape it. Even when

you stop sweating, its cold, clammy

touch constantly reminds you of its

presence. You are forced to live out

the rest of the day as a disgusting,

sweaty mess, ashamed of your many

failures.

FORGETTING THE ‘WORKS CITED’ PAGE - When you turned in that

10-page paper on the pre-colonial

development of post-revolutionary

trigonometry, you were sure you’d

just secured yourself a big, fat A.

Now you’re just sitting in your room

eating bags upon bags of generic

poofy chips and watching election

coverage. But then you realize some-

thing horrible. You grab your laptop

and open the file. No works cited

page. Nothing. Not a single source

documented. You fool. The points

are already lost, child. You’ve failed

everyone.

FORGETTING THINGS - There’s noth-

ing more frustrating than crossing

campus, backpack over your shoul-

ders and Clint Eastwood-esque

expression on your face, prepared

to deal with some bidness. But then

you arrive at your destination, reach

into your backpack, and realize that

you’ve forgotten the most important

thing of all: the mayonnaise. Now

you’re going to have to walk all the

way back to your room because

there’s no way to take care of bidness

if you don’t have the mayonnaise.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?

Follow us @BCTUTD

What’s a Boston College education

worth? In the Welcome #BC2020 video,

several important numbers for the latest crop

of Eagles didn’t make the cut.

For the class of 2020, tuition and fees to

attend BC will total $51,826 next year, with

cost of attendance at $68,294. Assuming tu-

ition-increase rates hold constant, it will cost

$79,328 to attend BC by the time the incom-

ing class of freshmen makes it to senior year.

Which brings us to the bigger question:

how are they going to pay for it?

The typical BC student takes on less in

direct federal loans than the average Massa-

chusetts graduate, with a median burden to-

taling $19,000 for those who accepted these

loans. But for many seniors sitting down at

their exit interviews in coming weeks, this

number will come as a bit of a shock. This

direct loan total, which is most commonly

used to represent total debt, is increasingly

at odds with the real borrowing trends of

undergraduates.

As reported this week in the Wall Street Journal, BC is among a group of colleges that

increasingly rely on loans taken on by parents

to cover the cost of attendance—even advo-

cating for lenders to create such loans. Parent

PLUS loans (which are federal loans taken on

by family members) and private loans are in-

creasingly common finance options excluded

from student debt statistics reported in the

Department of Education’s college scorecard.

For many families, particularly those with a

good credit history, these alternatives can be

an alluring supplement to traditional federal

direct loans, as they allow for more bor-

rowing and, in the case of private loans, can

come at a lower interest rate.

According to Title IV data on loan

disbursement by institution, 700 Parent Plus

loans were originated for BC families last aca-

demic year, at an average value of $24,815. The

$17.4 million in Parent Plus loans originated

dwarfed the $15.5 million originated in direct

loans over the same period—and yet their ex-

istence often goes unreported in most federal

and University resources on student debt.

At BC, where graduates earn well over

the national average starting salary for college

graduates, there’s a strong argument to be

made that taking on such debt is justified, but

for prospective members of the class of 2020,

the troubled state of student lending is a real-

ity often discarded in the marketing materi-

als. The national delinquency rate on federal

loans is now at approximately 17 percent,

with nearly 7 million Americans having not

made a payment on their loans in over 360

days. Private lenders, which largely fled the

student lending business in 2008 as default

rates spiked, are re-entering the market. And

families are increasingly assuming the debt

burden of their children’s educations.

The long-term viability of institutions like

BC depends on the sustainability of student

lending practices. In this time of relative

economic growth, families may be able to

assume private and federal debt to finance

their children’s educations, but we seldom

acknowledge the role these methods of fund-

ing play in increasing tuition prices—or how

it will be impacted should we enter another

recession. If universities are coming to expect

that parents take on some debt, they should

also do all in their power to educate students

and parents on this new “normal.”

Good information on the total debt taken

on by students and their families can protect

prospective students from predatory private-

lending practices and offer a clearer picture

of what their total debt will most likely look

like by graduation. Data on private and Parent

PLUS lending is equally important to stu-

dents whose parents do not qualify for such

loans, as there’s a chance they will need to

take on more personal debt than advertised.

The federal government should begin

including more than just median direct loan

disbursement in its College Scorecard and

encourage universities to disclose the same

in their financial aid statistics. Statistics that

get at the distribution of debt assumed, for

all types of federal and private loans, would

better prepare families for the financing

demands of a college education. It would

also keep universities and their stakeholders

honest about the economic risks assumed in

accepting exponential tuition growth as the

default for their institutions.

Three thousand six hundred fifty days:

the standard term for a federal student loan.

Ten thousand nine hundred fifty days: the

maximum term for Parent PLUS federal

loans. How will the class of 2020 be spend-

ing its days paying down the debt on its BC

education? Prospective students and their

parents deserve the entire picture.

might not have a taste at all. At that point,

when the service has lost its stimula-

tion, we’re forced to consider whether

our motivations are strong enough.

How much do we care about kids whose

parents have cancer? How willing are we

to field the seemingly endless calls at a

suicide center? Like in any relationship,

the spark of service can be revitalized

and even made stronger by commit-

ting ourselves to those being served.

Regardless of how we feel, the priority of

service generally remains the same: the

individuals being served, not those serv-

ing. It’s great that I may feel better about

myself for giving someone a sandwich,

but that act isn’t about making me feel

better—it’s literally about feeding the

other person. If my actual intention is to

improve my mood or opinion of myself,

then my relationship with service will

most likely prove an ill-fated one.

Our relationships with service are es-

sentially relationships with the people being

served. I might not be able to consistently

connect with the issue of homelessness, but

I can strengthen my connection with Alex at

his corner outside the Boston Public Library.

Volunteering at the same place consistently,

making personal connections, and attempt-

ing to understand people through varying

perspectives is what reminds us of the worth

of service.

The worms wriggling on the sidewalk

bother me for many reasons, but what

upsets me most is the knowledge that I can

become used to them—they can easily be-

come sliding lines, lifeless as the rain. When

I came to Boston for the first time, I would

worry about every person I saw sleeping on

the street. Now I find my eyes sliding past

them. I used to care too much, and then I

cared too little, and now I simply forget to

consider them. We can’t account for every

creature, so maybe it’s best that we forget

the worms. But humans—shall I state the

obvious?—are not worms. We’re the most

conscientious species, the only one that can

boast of being more than animals. In form-

ing relationships and honoring them, we

assert this humanity: both in ourselves and

in those we serve.

focusing so much on the worms around me,

might I run the risk of neglecting a greater

issue? Staring at the ground means I’m not

looking at the world around me. If I run to

one extreme in service, however well-in-

tentioned, I run the risk of later swinging to

the other extreme. Some days I spend a few

minutes helping out the worms—and other

days I don’t bother to think about them.

The struggle here isn’t about lack of

interest or empathy, but rather about

sustaining the two. It’s a problem that, at

least at first glance, doesn’t seem to concern

BC students, considering our tendency to

serve. Most of us are involved in some form

of service, if not several: Arrupe, Camp

Kesem Chestnut Hill, St. Joseph Project,

Jamaica Magis, 4Boston, APPA, BC Bigs,

Campus School, and PULSE, to name a

few. Competition is often fierce for these

opportunities because so many BC students

genuinely desire to serve. And graduating

from BC doesn’t necessarily mean that we

graduate from these commitments—many

BC students join the Jesuit Volunteer Corps,

the Peace Corps, or Teach for America. As

far as service is concerned, we millennials

appear to be cresting the wave.

But there’s another side to this, as well.

I’ve seen one service organization at BC

peak at 40-50 active members on a single

day—and now, a year later, maybe half a

dozen show up. With all of the service-ori-

ented organizations I’ve joined on campus,

I’ve noticed a tendency in the student body

to be intimately involved at times and no-

tably absent at others. In opening ourselves

up to new perspectives, personalities and

connections, we make ourselves vulnerable

to pain and joy alike. That’s to be expected.

What we don’t expect is the numbness of

boredom. And irritating fellow volunteers.

And distractions. And personal problems

that make working at the soup kitchen seem

unimportant. The honeymoon period fades,

and we struggle with our relative weakness

in the face of a hugely complicated world.

As we become more accustomed to service,

whether it be charity or justice, we see with

less idealism and more practicality: the

social situation is a snarled mess of knots,

hardened by rain and time.

A real relationship requires effort and

perseverance. It has sustenance, and because

of that sustenance, it doesn’t always have an

exciting or even enjoyable taste. In fact, it

I don’t like to look at the sidewalk after

rainstorms because of the dying worms. If I

see them on the ground, wriggling help-

lessly, I feel obligated to move them. And

the second I kneel to reach one worm, I

spot another in a similar predicament. It

once took me 10 extra minutes to get to the

Plex because I continued to discover worms

in distress. I do this even though I know

that inevitably, we all die—worms far more

quickly than humans. A worm that I move

at noon could easily be dead by 12:03 from

any number of causes. It seems like a futile

attempt, and I struggle with that decision

every time it rains.

Partially, my feelings are founded in

compassion. I was a vegetarian for nearly

five years. I based that lifestyle on the belief

that if I could avoid causing harm to other

organisms and still live a well-balanced life, I

should do so. I’m not a vegetarian anymore,

but that philosophy hasn’t changed. It’s

illogical and possibly immoral for me to

prevent the natural course of life and death,

but to some extent, I also realize that life

should be appreciated. And if moving one

worm from the sidewalk to the grass nearby

means that I’ve reduced the possibility of an

unnecessary death, I think that’s an action

worth taking.

And, I want to maintain my identity.

I’d rather be ridiculous and compassionate

than risk becoming practical and callous.

It’s important that I consider myself a good

person and an individual. I’ve been taught to

believe that the leaders of tremendous social

change, the great writers and revolutionar-

ies, are the oddballs who embrace their

oddities. I like to think there’s something

great in my saving the worms, in particular

because the task seems so worthless.

But to some extent, I have to decide the

healthy limits of my beneficence. I can stop

and move one worm from the sidewalk,

or maybe two, or maybe three—but if I’ve

stopped 10 times to move worms from the

sidewalk and I’m missing class as a result,

I’ve begun to act against myself. And if I’m

Based on your browsing history, this

article would be perfect for you! How many

times have we seen this phrase flashing

across our screen, prompting us to enjoy yet

another blurb based on last week’s Internet

surfing? Even if it isn’t explicitly stated, our

Facebook feed and Google searches are often

influenced by our online habits. Sometimes,

Facebook gets it right, and we find ourselves

on a never-ending binge of Harry Potter-re-

lated Buzzfeed quizzes. Other times, we wish

the Internet would forget about that one time

we accidentally searched for body chocolate,

cringing each time it comes across our Ama-

zon “For You” section.

For better or for worse, the way we experi-

ence the Internet is always influenced by our

previous history on it. Facebook’s algorithm

shows us posts that we’re more likely to click

on, Google will present pages in our searches

related to our browsing history, and ads all

over the Internet will be reminiscent of our

online habits. Our interests cause similarly

related items to pop up and thus reinforce

what we have already been attracted to, send-

ing us in the same direction we were already

headed. In a way, we corner off a little piece of

the Internet as ours, and stay safe behind the

walls of what’s known to us: columns, pages,

videos, and sites related to our previous likes,

shares, searches, and clicks.

There are certainly issues with advertis-

ers tracking our every online movement and

possibly grave consequences of governments

harnessing this power, but the ramifications

for the everyday college student are relatively

benign. Sure, reminding us of that acciden-

tal body chocolate search on our family’s

Amazon Prime account may result in some

awkward dinner conversations, but recom-

mendations on what to read or watch are

extremely helpful in the infinitely expanding

global network that is the Internet. These

For something that sounds like an oxymoron,

the field of medical humanities has been able to

delve into the creative minds of health care profes-

sionals and provide a glimpse into the human side

of medicine. On Saturday, April 16, from 10:30

a.m. to 3 p.m., the medical humanities minor at

Boston College will host its first medical humani-

ties conference, entitled Body, Voice, Narrative:

An Interdisciplinary Discussion in Medical Hu-

manities. Medical humanities minors Katherine

Carsky, MCAS ’16, Abigail Dryer, MCAS ’17, Emily

Sokol, MCAS ’17, and Nicholas Raposo, CSON

’18, organized the event with the help of Rachel

Ernst, GMCAS ’19, over the course of an entire

year. The conference will explore the intersection

between medicine and the humanities and will fea-

ture presentations of submissions by writers from

around the Northeast, concluding with a keynote

address by Jonathan Adler, associate professor of

psychology at both Olin College of Engineering in

Needham and Wellesley College.

Over the past 40 years, health care has incor-

porated the unique perspectives offered by other

disciplines for an increasingly well-rounded ap-

proach to medicine. The 1970s and ’80s saw a social

revolution in the field, with people challenging the

traditional ways of learning medicine and clinical

practice. The term “medical humanities” came

from the desire for a more humanistic approach

to health care, treating the whole person instead

of focusing only on the illness.

To meet this demand, universities soon began

offering medical humanities programs—however,

these courses were usually only offered at the

graduate level to medical school students. Fifteen

BC faculty members, representing a wide range of

academic fields, collaborated to develop a medical

humanities program for the University modeled

after existing programs at other institutions. The

BC medical humanities program soon took on

its own form—it remains one of the few medical

humanities programs in the nation to be offered

exclusively at the undergraduate level and draws

on the University’s commitment to ethics and

social justice.

After two years as a pilot course, the minor

became a permanent offering to students in 2014.

Students take courses in global health, ethics, nar-

rative medicine, natural science, and social science

through different departments to form a more

holistic view of health care and the person.

“Medical humanities minors are interested in

immersing themselves in humanistic approaches to

health care,” Amy Boesky, director of the medical

humanities minor, said, noting that students drawn

to the minor have also been influenced by strength

of the humanities at BC. The minor supplements

the standard courses students would take for

their major and asks them to consider health care

through a multidisciplinary lens.

“The medical humanities minor is one of the most

important things I’ve done,” Carsky said. “It’s some-

thing I didn’t realize I was missing until I was actually

getting involved with these different classes. They’re

things I wouldn’t have done otherwise and have really

brought my whole education full-circle.”

The minor prepares students for the collabora-

tion they can expect in their professional careers,

especially in health care.

“Health care is, in its nature, interdisciplinary

and involves teamwork,” Boesky said. “Students

like having that approach in the classroom and in

their extracurriculars, eventually [preparing them

for] their professional lives.”

The idea for the conference came in the form

of an email, in which Boesky asked Carsky, Dryer,

Sokol, and Raposo, who were all in the same Intro-

duction to Medical Humanities class, if they would

be interested in organizing the event.

Ernst, who had previous experience prepar-

ing a conference for her graduate class, helped

to call for submissions, book a venue, and handle

finances. The speakers selected to present at the

conference are a diverse group consisting of both

undergraduate and graduate students from BC and

other institutions.

“Considering what the minor is and what the

students want to get out of the experience, the

event will be useful to both our students and stu-

dents at other schools,” Ernst said. “It’s a personal

narrative-driven conference—they can appreciate

the breadth of projects and share in other people’s

experiences, which will hopefully open up discus-

sion and dialogue.”

Carsky emphasized that medical humanities is

what the individual makes of it. “For those who’ve

never had the exposure to medical humanities, it’ll

be a really neat opportunity to see how much more

there is to medicine,” she said.

As indicated by its title, the conference is cen-

tered on three themes. The first—“Body: Living

with Adversity”—features panelists Kyle Carr and

Salijooq Asif, MCAS ’15. Carr, a Ph.D. candidate

in sociology at BC, previously worked with indi-

viduals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a

disease of the central nervous system that disrupts

communication among the nerves within the brain

and throughout the body. His research interests in

medical sociology and aging, along with his knowl-

edge of MS, inspired his presentation, entitled “‘MS

Warriors’: The Idiosyncratic Identity Process for

Individuals Diagnosed with MS.” Asif is currently

pursuing a master’s degree in narrative medicine

at Columbia University. His background in health

journalism, interest in the media’s portrayals of

race, gender, and socioeconomic class in regard

to health care, and ABC Family’s Switched at Birth inspired his presentation, entitled “Neither

Illness nor Disability: Deaf Gain in ABC Family’s

Switched at Birth.”

The second theme, “Voice: Cultural Percep-

tions of Illness, ”features artwork by Karolina

Mieczkowska, MCAS ’17, writing by Derek Mc-

Cracken, and photography by Emily Simon, MCAS

’15. Mieczkowska will present “Staring,” a personal

narrative based on her experience with a benign

tumor.

A medical humanities minor, Mieczkowska

plans to become a physician and works to main-

tain a literary presence along with her regular

science classes. McCracken is currently pursuing

a master’s degree in narrative medicine at Co-

lumbia University and uses public health narra-

tives as a platform to advocate for marginalized

communities and victims of sexual assault. His

presentation, entitled “Checking in on the Czech:

Macho Medicine Metaphors in ‘The Prostate

Czech’ PSA” raises awareness about men’s sexual

health. Simon, a Ph.D. candidate in English at BC

and account management executive for Emerald

Group Publishing in Cambridge, is interested in

the search for identity and the portrayal of the

female body in 20th-century American literature

and visual art. Her presentation, entitled “‘Very

little is about their everyday lives’: Terminal Illness

and The Everyday in Nixon’s AIDS Photography,”

features work by photographer Nicholas Nixon

chronicling the struggle to find one’s identity in

everyday life.

The third theme, “Narrative: Health Care Ex-

periences,” features poetry from Colleen Brady,

MCAS ’16, Sarah Ramsey, CSOM ’18, and Mc-

Cracken about their experiences handling illness

face-to-face. Brady uses creative writing as a

reflective outlet.

Her volunteer work with children, the elderly,

and the homeless was the inspiration for her

presentation, entitled “What Matters in the End,”

a poem about the stages of dying based on her

volunteer experience in hospice care. Ramsey is

an editor for the BC Medical Humanities Journal and runs a food blog named Sweet Olympia. She

plans to pursue a health career in nutrition and

exercise and will present her poetry on aging and

the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. McCracken

will present “A View from the 25th Floor,” a series

of poems on chronic illness.

What began as a collaborative effort among

BC faculty has begun to bear fruit in the form

of student-led initiatives promoting the medical

humanities to a greater audience.

“I’m excited by the way in which the students

have been able to do innovative program planning,”

Boesky said. “That’s where the interdisciplinary

work really happens.”

THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016 A10


—Katherine Carsky, MCAS ’16

networks with others. Additionally, Mehta gave the example of The

Law of 33 Percent—how 1/3 of every person’s time needs to be spent

with mentors, peers, and mentees.

“Find those who enable you, and be someone to enable others,”

Mehta said, leaving the audience with these final thoughts.

Rob Mudge, CSOM ’16, started his talk, “A Reflection On Reflec-

tion: Why a Jesuit Education Places So Much Importance On Self

Introspection,” with the audience taking part in an examen reflection.

Mudge highlighted how programs at BC use reflection as a way to

focus on what each program provides. By understanding its Jesuit

Catholic identity, students at use reflection in activities and groups

that aren’t necessarily religious, but choose to look at how to answer

the “why,” Mudge said. He asked the audience to see how the St.

Ignatius statue on campus depicts St. Ignatius as a pilgrim, not as a

saint. He was on a journey, and every journey takes time, Mudge said.

Finally, Mudge focused on comparing two types of people, and asked

the audience members to see themselves as the pilgrims.

“A pilgrim is not a tourist,” Mudge said. “A tourist goes on a jour-

ney for the destination. A tourist goes through the city, a pilgrim lets

the city go through them.”

“HOOPs!,” a talk given by Teresa Schwarz, Vienna University ’17,

was named after the program that stands for Helping Overcome

Obstacles in Peru and seeks to guide those in Peru through a special-

ized program. In Flora Tristán, Peru, HOOPPeru tries to alleviate the

cycle of poverty in the town through child education, adult education,

health and social work. Some of the lessons discussed were “you

can’t do it alone,” “lead the development,” and “be flexible!” Schwarz

focused on explaining to the audience her path to cofounding this

NGO and her experience working in Peru.

James Kale II, LSOE ’16, discussed how the achievement gap in

the United States needs to be defined and looked at with educational

measures in his talk, “The Lagging Duckling: Opportunity in the

African Diaspora.” Kale focused on how there is a direct link between

education and self-identity.

“A strong sense of self-identification helps someone lead to who

they are, through connection with others,” Kale said.

He highlighted how second-generation immigrants of African de-

scent decline in education as they assimilate to American culture.

“Opportunity is now here,” Kale said.

Christopher Keegan, CSOM ’18 talked about his ADHD and

how that has affected him in his lifetime and his journey to BC in his

talk, “Time and a Half in Time.” He focused on the disorder itself, by

highlighting its terms and the connotations of the deficit. By breaking

down the label, Keegan drew attention to how in society we’ve created

someone who doesn’t fit into a mold and is put aside. Keegan also

explained the distinction between involuntary and voluntary atten-

tion, as well as what each means. Finally, he spoke about his journey

in school to understanding his acknowledgement of his ADHD and

how he has to deal with peers and friends who looked at ADHD as

an advantage in a higher-level academic environment due to abuse

of ADHD medication such as Adderall.

“There is no extra time in the real world,” Keegan said. “Those

with ADHD have to work twice as hard.”

Lucas Allen, MCAS ’16, delivered the thesis of his speech, “Pan-

demic under Patent: How Brazil Broke the Rules to Change HIV/

AIDS,” by breaking down the use of patents in the pharmaceutical

world. After his six-month study abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Allen saw

how Brazil approached the HIV/AIDs pandemic by administering

free and equal access to treat those with the disease.

He then challenged the audience to imagine what a world would

look like where health is a human right. We are far from that type

of lifestyle, Allen said, but challenged the audience to look at how

patents are used.

“Do we really need patents for innovation?” Allen asked.

BC Talks, from A1

INSIDE SPORTS TU/TD...................................B2Sports in short............................B2Lacrosse................................B2THIS ISSUE

SPORTS B1

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016

As 2015 starts to drift into the rear-

view mirror, Boston College football has

attempted to look for signs for optimism

moving forward. On Saturday, the Eagles

received that good news.

Two of BC’s key players—quarterback

Darius Wade and running back Jonathan

Hilliman—have each received redshirts

for their injury-plagued sophomore

seasons, according to an update on BC’s

official website. This guarantees Wade

and Hilliman an extra year of eligibility

for the 2018 season.

Wade entered 2015 as BC’s starting

quarterback. His season was cut short in

the third game against Florida State, after

defensive tackle Nile Lawrence-Stemple

sacked Wade and broke his left ankle.

Wade ended with 21 completions on 42

attempts, two touchdowns, one intercep-

tion, and 232 passing yards, as well as 73

yards on the ground.

Throughout spring practices, Wade

has gone in full contact and pads, and

appears to have the same strength on

that ankle that he had before the injury.

He is expected to play behind graduate

transfer Patrick Towles, who is from the

University of Kentucky. After Towles’

one season, however, the starting job

should be Wade’s to lose—he’ll only have

to compete with incoming freshman

Anthony Brown.

The news regarding Hilliman is even

bigger for the Eagles. The Plainfield, N.J.

native broke onto the scene as a fresh-

man with 860 yards on 230 attempts and

13 touchdowns. In 2015, Hilliman had

an up-and-down start in his first three

games before exploding for 119 yards

on the ground against Northern Illinois.

But as soon as Hilliman appeared to be

hitting his stride, his season was over

as well.

In that game against the Huskies,

Hilliman broke his left foot—an injury

he doesn’t even remember sustaining.

Typically, to receive a medical hardship

waiver, a football player must appear in

less than 30 percent of his games—with

only 12 games in BC’s season, Hilliman

appeared in four, or 33 percent. Never-

theless, the exemption was granted.

After this season, seniors Myles Willis

and Tyler Rouse will depart. With no run-

ning backs in BC’s 2016 recruiting class,

that would leave Hilliman and Richard

Wilson as the only guaranteed players

at the position in 2017. With Hilliman’s

extra year of eligibility, this puts less

pressure on head coach Steve Addazio to

scour the nation for an impressive fresh-

man back in his 2017 class.

C olu m n : N F L Up i n Sm o keAssoc. sports editor Riley Overend argues that the NFL and Big Tobacco are a lot alike.....B2

Baseball: Snow-bitten Sweep The Eagles were swept by FSU after snow cancelled games on Saturday and Sunday....B4

DREW HOO / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Running back Jonathan Hilliman (32) gained 119 yards against NIU before breaking his foot.

FOOTBALL

MEN’S HOCKEY

Ryan Fitzgerald has had a flair for the dramatic this post-

season.

Vermont (and its faithful fans who trekked down from

Burlington) nearly took down Kelley Rink early in overtime

during the final game of a best-of-three series with Boston

College men’s hockey with a shot that almost crossed the

goal line. Now on the brink of a third-consecutive Hockey

East Quarterfinal collapse, BC used the momentum of the

Catamounts’ missed opportunity to bombard goaltender Packy

Munson. One by one, the freshman turned each of the Eagles’

opportunities away.

Until Fitzgerald stepped up.

The junior blasted a shot from between the circles that

caromed off several Vermont defensemen and into the back of

the twine. With his stick in the air and a small fist pump with

his left hand, Fitzgerald was mobbed by his teammates. For the

first time since 2013, the Eagles would have an opportunity to

play a third game at TD Garden.

In the Northeast Regional, Fitzgerald did it yet again—

though he wasn’t expecting this time to be so crucial.

Entering the third period up 2-0 on Minnesota Duluth and

with Thatcher Demko showing no signs of letting up, BC looked

destined for a trip to Tampa. But Fitzgerald, never satisfied,

aimed to make his goaltender’s job a little easier.

“You’re never comfortable with a 2-0 lead,” Fitzgerald said

after practice this week. “You always want a third.”

Fitzgerald measured up 6-foot-6 defenseman Brenden

Kotyk, skating slowly to his right while deking back and forth.

When he wound up, Kotyk lost his balance and lunged in front

of Fitzgerald’s incoming shot. The junior exploited a screen in

front of Duluth’s Kasimir Kaskisuo to sneak the puck just past

his left arm. The goal gave BC the cushion it would need to

ALL IN THE FAMILY

See Fitzgeralds, B3

DREW HOO / HEIGHTS EDITOR


THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016B2

BERMUDAN BALLER While

students returned to campus

from Easter Break last Tuesday,

midfi elder Zeiko Lewis was in

Havana representing his home

country of Bermuda—which

runs the infamously elusive

Bermuda Triangle off ense—in

an international match with

Cuba.

OH, BROTHER The national

championship game will hold

a little more weight for Nova’s

Kris Jenkins and UNC’s Nate

Britt. Jenkins and Britt are ad-

opted brothers who played high

school ball together. There’s

nothing better than winning a

national title AND beating your

brother, right?

SPRING HAS SPRUNG- Can

you smell it in the air? Freshly

mowed grass, hot dogs, beer,

and another heartbreaking year

for the Chicago Cubs? Baseball

season is back, baby.

DEATH BY BUNT - With a runner

on second and no outs, Jake

Palomaki laid down a bunt to

advance the runner and help

erase Birdball’s one-run defi cit

to FSU. Th e bunt resulted in an

out at third, killing the rally with

yet another small-ball gaff e.

YEAR OF “ALMOST” - Lacrosse’s

15-14 loss to UVA marked

the third time this season that

the team suffered a one-goal

defeat to a ranked opponent.

Th e Lax gods are not looking

down kindly upon the Eagles

right now.

SPRING HASN’T SPRUNG - The

weather played a nice April

Fool’s Day trick on everyone

when it gifted us with a shorts-

and-sandals sunny day before

bringing a weekend of snow

and rain. Th e elements caused

cancellations of both base-

ball and softball games against

Florida State and Virginia, re-

spectively.

THUMBS

UP

THUMBS

DOWN

Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?

Follow us @HeightsSports

“We have one essential job—

which can be simply said: Stop

public panic … Th ere is only one

problem—confi dence, and how

to establish it; public assurance,

and how to create it.”

Go on, take a guess. Was

this quote from Big Tobacco, a

climate-change denier, or the

NFL?

Th e above excerpt was

actually taken from the tobacco

industry’s leading PR fi rm, Hills

& Knowlton, in 1953. In the face

of concrete evidence that linked

smoking cigarettes to lung

cancer, Philip Morris and other

cigarette companies orches-

trated a marketing campaign

that smeared credible science in

order to conceal the dangers of

America’s favorite addiction.

As countless indisputable

fi ndings emerged that linked

cigarettes to health risks, the

industry and its lobbyists

struggled to maintain the image

of the classic tobacco brand.

Finally, by the 1990s, a legal

blitzkrieg demanding billions of

dollars in damages threatened

to bankrupt Philip Morris and

its competitors, exposing the

cover-ups and teen-targeted

marketing schemes that plagued

the industry.

It took over three decades,

but science prevailed over cor-

porate interests. For a moment,

at least.

It wasn’t long before a

nonsensical, climate-change

denialist crusade gained traction

and peaked around the turn of

the century. Phony scientists,

cozy in the pockets of fossil

fuel giants, published studies

downplaying global warm-

ing and labeling the scientifi c

consensus as alarmist. Worried

about government regulation in

response to the environmental

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Emily Fahey / Heights EditorCupicatuidet L. Fulessedo, querfecta, nihilicii ineri fic

SPO

RTS

in S

HO

RT Numbers to Know ACC Football Standings Quote of the Week

Getting on the southbound

bus to Virginia, Boston College

lacrosse knew it was in for a

fight, as it is with most confer-

ence adversaries. This week’s

opponent: the Virginia Cavaliers,

a team that, like BC (6-5, 1-4

Atlantic Coast), has struggled

to find conference wins this

season.

As the season begins to reach

its final stretch, this was a great

opportunity for both teams to

notch a conference win. No. 10

BC had its opportunity to add

its second conference win of the

season on Saturday but failed.

The Eagles came into the

game fresh off of a loss at home

in a barnburner to the UNC

Tar Heels, and looked to re-

gain some momentum against

No. 15 Virginia (6-6, 1-4) in

Charlottesville, Va. Winning in

Klockner Stadium is a tall order

under any circumstances, and

BC had to fight hard to keep the

game close.

In this high-scoring shoot-

out, BC found itself playing

catch-up from the beginning,

as the Cavaliers struck early

and often in each half to extend

their lead. And while the Eagles

battled back fiercely, UVA held

on just enough to seal the vic-

tory, beating the Eagles by a

score of 15-14.

The scoring started very early

on in this matchup, with UVA

drawing first blood a mere 13

seconds into the game with a

goal from Maggie Jackson. Seven

minutes passed before Jackson

notched her second goal of the

game for the Cavaliers, giving

UVA a 2-0 lead. Caroline Mar-

golis responded for BC three

minutes later, scoring her first

goal of the game. UVA and BC

then exchanged goals, keeping

the score close at 3-2. BC also

posted two more goals in the

half, but only to be outdone by

three UVA goals that brought

an end to the half, with a score

of 6-4.

The second half featured

an offensive breakout by both

teams. UVA again struck first,

posting the first three goals of

the half. But the Eagles broke the

Cavalier’s 4-0 run with a goal by

Kenzie Kent. This didn’t disrupt

the UVA offense, however, and

the Cavaliers poured on another

three goals to lengthen their lead

to 12-5.

But BC came alive and began

its response with three goals,

two of which came off the stick

of Kate Weeks. Jackson scored

again for the Cavaliers, but the

Eagles then went on their biggest

run of the game, scoring four

straights goals. Sarah Mannelly

scored two unassisted goals dur-

ing the streak to bring BC within

one goal of tying the game, set-

ting the score at 13-12.

But two more UVA goals

followed, the second following

the first by only 51 seconds,

and the latter goal would prove

to be the game winner for the

Cavaliers. But BC also posted

two more goals before the end

of the game, courtesy of Tess

Chandler and Mannelly to set

the score at 15-14. BC couldn’t

notch an equalizer goal to send

the game to overtime.

BC has had some trouble

winning conference games this

season, posting a 1-4 record on

the year. ACC competition is

tough annually, and so the Eagles

will need to work on starting

games off with more intensity

to find success.

The team has also struggled

when playing away from Newton,

with a current road record of 3-4.

The Cavaliers have struggled in

conference play as well, and the

win over the Eagles is their first

ACC win of the year. Though BC

put together a solid comeback

bid in the second half, it wasn’t

enough to overcome the Cavalier

lead that they had built early in

the game.

LACROSSE

movement, conservative think

tanks hopped onboard the train

of skeptics. So did the media.

Marc Morano, climate deni-

alist talking head and Rush Lim-

baugh protege, made 30 TV ap-

pearances between 2009-2014,

once even claiming that climate

scientists “deserve to be publicly

fl ogged.” A pattern of granting

equal coverage to illegitimate

claims bred biased reporting.

Today, despite increasing sup-

port for an international agree-

ment regulating greenhouse gas

emissions, the U.S. remains one

of the least concerned nations

regarding global climate change.

What does this all have to do

with football?

Well, it appears as if the

corporate attack on science has

found a new battleground on

the gridiron.

New data gathered by the

New York Times has revealed

that the NFL skewed concussion

data to whitewash the severity

of the problem, omitting over

100 diagnosed concussions be-

tween 1996 and 2001. To make

matters worse, the league shared

lawyers, consultants, and lobby-

ists with the grandfather of fake

science: Big Tobacco.

Th ese fi ndings support

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve

Fainaru’s assertions in League

of Denial, that the NFL repeat-

edly discredited independent

concussion studies in favor of its

own distorted data.

Th e news should hit close to

home for Patriots fans who wit-

nessed the Defl ategate scandal—

a controversy regarding the air

pressure of footballs during the

2015 AFC Championship game

against the Colts—and the ensu-

ing Wells Report that accused

Tom Brady & Co. of cheating.

But a closer look at the

investigation raises questions

about its validity. Ted Wells, the

attorney tasked with leading the

“independent” evaluation, has a

history of defending high-profi le

clients and major corporations

in messy scandals, including

tobacco giant Philip Morris. For

research, he hired Exponent,

Inc., a consulting fi rm accused

of generating results benefi -

cial for its clients. In 1989, it

defended Exxon in the Valdez

oil disaster.

More recently, the company

argued that unloading oil waste

in the Ecuadorian rain forest

does not increase cancer rates.

Exponent’s largest shareholder

was also a member of the board

of Chevron Corp., which com-

missioned the study.

Perhaps worst of all, the fi rm

helped perpetuate the myth that

secondhand smoke does not

cause cancer.

As environmental consultant

Cindy Sage told the Los Angeles

Times in 2010, “Th e fi rst thing

you know is that when Exponent

is brought in to help a company,

that company is in big trouble.”

Th e NFL is in big trouble. For

decades, the league has waged a

war on science, with an aim of

profi ting from misleading the

public. Not only has the ploy

been a disservice to fans, but it

has purposefully slowed prog-

ress in the fi eld of concussion

research by disguising the NFL’s

phony fi ndings with a cloud of

legitimacy.

But while Big Tobacco’s

marketing eff orts and Big Oil’s

battles against climate change

felt their appropriate blowback,

the multi-billion dollar industry

that is the NFL has remained

rich as ever, despite the con-

troversy. What’s worse, public

opinion of the league doesn’t

seem to be taking a bit hit.

I don’t sense a wave of anger

toward the NFL that is deserved

during a scandal of this mag-

nitude. I don’t think the public

realizes how much they’ve been

duped, and how many lives

are at risk because of it. And I

believe that the pattern of busi-

nesses attempting to discredit

science for monetary gain—and

succeeding—is one of the sad-

dest traditions in this country.

Granted, there’s only so

much we can do. Maybe

recent events will open the

door for more lawsuits against

the league. I wish boycotting

Goodell & Co. was as tangible as

spurning cigarettes or choosing

more eco-friendly alternatives,

but I’m not sure that changing

the channel from NFL RedZone

on Sundays solves the problem

(plus, it may very well be part

of my future job description

to regularly watch football).

Most of the troubles lie within

the league’s leadership, not the

sport itself.

Are we accessories to the

crime by supporting a corrupt

industry with our fandom?

I don’t know. But if history

has shown anything, it’s that

more than a legal slap on the

wrist is needed to reform an

organization like the NFL. It has

taken decades of activism and

a collective movement to make

any dent in the profi ts of the

tobacco and fossil fuel indus-

tries. Th e same may be needed

to eff ect change in the most

dangerous sport in America.

When it comes to concus-

sions in the NFL, the league’s

policy has been, “If the facts

don’t fi t the theory, change the

facts.” It’s time for America’s

favorite sport to change its ap-

proach to prioritize player safety

and save lives.

Instead of, as Big Oil and Big

Tobacco would say, establishing

confi dence in its industry, the

NFL needs to establish some-

thing far more important: the

truth.

ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The NFL’s concussion cover-up campaign has been exposed at last. Where’s the appropriate wave of anger?

THE HEIGHTSMonday, April 4, 2016 B3MEN’S HOCKEY

Ryan

goals

23

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITORJULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

survive a Duluth onslaught in the game’s waning

minutes, moving on to the Frozen Four with a 3-2

victory.

BC couldn’t have gotten to this point without

Fitzgerald. But Ryan couldn’t have gotten the glory

without his little brother, Casey.

Maybe it’s just a matter of luck that the younger

Fitzgerald, a freshman defenseman, is on the ice at

the same time as Ryan. Yet on both of those critical

goals, the play began on Casey’s stick. In fact, fi ve

of Ryan’s goals this season have begun with an assist

from his brother. Th at’s more than any other BC

defenseman, and only behind Ryan’s two linemates

for most of the season: Colin White and Matthew

Gaudreau (eight assists each on Ryan’s goals).

Two of those fi ve goals were Ryan’s game-win-

ners in the playoff s. But, never to be outdone, Casey

has found the back of the net with Ryan’s help twice

this year. One came in the Beanpot opener against

Harvard. Th e second was in a 5-5 tie in North An-

dover, Mass. against Merrimack, just minutes after

Casey had assisted Ryan on a goal of his own.

When they’re not creating clutch plays for each

other, they’re doing it for their teammates. Twice

this season, Ryan and Casey have assisted on goals

scored by another Eagle. Both have come in the

playoff s, most notably J.D. Dudek’s game-tying—and

fi rst-career—goal in the third game against Vermont

that helped put BC into overtime.

Casey believes their chemistry comes naturally.

Th e two took to the streets to play hockey while

growing up in North Reading, Mass., alongside

their younger brothers Brendan and Jack. Th ey also

played together at Malden Catholic, where they won

the Super Eight Tournament together in 2011-12.

When both are on the ice, the two seem to mesh in

a big way for BC.

“He’s a pretty good player, so I try to get the puck

to him and see him get the job done,” Casey said.

It’s certainly not a surprise that the Fitzgerald

brothers are contributing big minutes and plays

for the Eagles in the 2015-16 season. But how far

they are exceeding their preseason expectations

has been a key reason for BC’s jump from border-

line contender to a nation’s-best 25th trip to the

Frozen Four.

Start by taking a look at the younger Fitzgerald.

After committing to BC in his freshman year, Casey

played with the U.S. National Development Program

(USNTDP). In 57 games for the U-18 team, Casey

notched 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) and had

the highest plus/minus of any player during the

United States’ gold-medal-winning campaign in

the 2015 IIHF U-18 Men’s World Championships.

Nevertheless, at only 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, Casey

went undrafted as an undersized defenseman.

Th e fact that NHL teams weren’t looking to take

a fl yer on Casey caused some alarm at BC, where

it was anticipated that minimizing shots aimed

toward Demko would be the team’s Achilles heel

in 2015-16. After losing Noah Hanifi n and Mike

Matheson to the allure of the NHL, the Eagles were

depleted among the defensive ranks. Th ey’d return

three stalwarts in Ian McCoshen, Scott Savage, and

Steve Santini. Teddy Doherty’s status was uncertain

given that he shuffl ed between forward and defense

last season. Th at left Travis Jeke to break in the two

freshmen: Casey and Josh Couturier.

Yet when Brendan Silk went down in the fi rst

game of the season, Jeke had to move up and take his

place on the fourth line. Casey, who didn’t expect to

play much, was now thrown fully into the fi re. Head

coach Jerry York moved him onto the fi rst defensive

pairing with McCoshen, and Casey thrived. He and

the defense became one of the country’s tough-

est units. Casey believes that everyone telling the

defense that it couldn’t do it without Hanifi n and

Matheson only drove it to work harder.

“We just looked around and said, ‘You know

what? We’re a pretty good D corps,’” Casey said.

“We can do it without them.”

Ryan isn’t shocked at Casey’s fast development.

He believes that Casey was merely limited with

the USNTDP and needed a bigger chance to play.

Even Casey didn’t see this much success coming. He

loves to keep the off ense in the front of his brain,

citing puck movement to BC’s excellent forwards

as his most polished skill. Th at’s certainly proven

true—Casey’s 26 points (four goals, 22 assists) lead

the team’s defensemen.

“Yeah, I’m having a pretty good year, I would say,”

Casey said with a laugh.

While Casey’s rise was necessary to keep BC func-

tioning, Ryan’s jump from a good second- or third-line

player to one of college hockey’s most feared goal scor-

ers has propelled BC to sunny and scenic Tampa.

Th at’s not to say he wasn’t performing before

this season. Ryan had steady production in his fi rst

two years. As a freshman under the guidance—or

in the shadow—of Johnny Gaudreau, Kevin Hayes,

and Bill Arnold, Ryan quietly compiled an impres-

sive campaign with 13 goals and 16 assists, the most

out of BC’s freshmen. In his sophomore year, Ryan

became more of a force on the Eagles. He led the

team with 17 goals and earned his reputation as a

high-quantity shot producer, with 125. During that

season, he earned his mark as a clutch performer

with BC’s most recent hat trick and an overtime-

winner against Harvard in the consolation game of

the 2015 Beanpot.

Yet, according to Casey, Ryan said that this

year was going to be his year. He worked hard this

off season, both at home with his brother and at the

development camp for the Boston Bruins, the team

that drafted him in the fourth round back in 2013.

Now, Ryan has become the complete player that he’s

always wanted to be.

Th ough he primarily plays left wing, Ryan has

showed his skill as a center. On JY1K Night against

New Hampshire, Ryan’s linemate, White, had to leave

with an upper-body injury. Th e situation was not ex-

actly ideal for the Eagles: a faceoff in their own zone,

up by one, 10 seconds remaining, and two of Hockey

East’s most dangerous scorers—Andrew Poturalski

and Tyler Kelleher—on the ice. Instead of going with an

established master off the draw, like Austin Cangelosi,

York rode the hot hand in Ryan Fitzgerald.

Ryan’s left-handed shot allowed him to perfectly

win the puck and dish it to safety, giving BC a victory.

It’s just one of many faceoff wins in a secret skill for

the left winger. He has 170 wins to only 128 losses,

a .588 success rate that’s 26th-best in the nation and

second on the Eagles only to Cangelosi.

It’s his scoring that elevated Ryan to the All-

Hockey East and All-New England First Teams.

With one (or, ideally for BC, two) games remaining,

Ryan leads the Eagles with 23 goals and 23 assists.

His 23 goals are eighth-most in the country. Ryan’s

15 goals in Hockey East play were the most in the

conference, and his 31 points in HEA play overall

had him tied with White behind only Poturalski,

BU’s Danny O’Regan, and Northeastern’s Zach

Aston-Reese. His fi ve game-winning goals and three

shorthanded goals each lead the team. And, with

that game-winner against Duluth, Ryan now has 100

points for his career. To Casey, it was only fi tting.

“Th ere’s no better time to get your 100th point,”

Casey said.

Most notably, Ryan ranks fi fth in the country in

shots, with 160. BU’s Ahti Oksanen, Robert Mor-

ris’ Greg Gibson, Vermont’s Mario Puskarich, and

Michigan’s Tyler Motte all have more than him.

But of those top fi ve in players who take aim at the

net, Ryan is the best at actually getting the puck on

the goaltender. At a 62-percent clip, Ryan creates

scoring attempts with rebounds more eff ectively

and more frequently than any player in the nation.

When informed of that stat, Ryan laughed and said

he was pleased to hear it.

“I try to only take smart shots,” Ryan said. “I’m

not just shooting to shoot.”

But it all comes back to succeeding in the most

important situations. Between Ryan’s two goals

against UMass Lowell that earned BC the No. 1

overall seed in the Hockey East Tournament and

clinched a share of the conference’s regular season

title, or his game-winners in the playoff s, the Fitzger-

alds merely want to win. After all, it runs in their

blood. Th eir father, Tom, was an integral part of the

Florida Panthers during their run to the Stanley Cup

in 1995-96 and now works in the front offi ce of the

New Jersey Devils. Keith Tkachuk, one of the best

U.S.-born hockey players, is a cousin, as well as his

son, Matthew, who Casey has played alongside on

the USNTDP. Th eir other cousins, Kevin and Jimmy

Hayes, have won national championships at BC.

Now, it’s their turn. After Ryan took a backseat

in 2014, he has the fi re to get another star on the

BC sweater. And it all starts with a business trip to

the Amalie Arena.

“You grow up watching BC win all the national

championships, and you want to be a part of it,” Ryan

said. “My freshman year we came up short, and you

kind of have that feeling in the back of your mind

that you know what it takes to win it the second

time around.”

ROUND UP BY ANNABEL STEELE | ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Women’s rowing took on Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday, where every Eagles’ boat fi nished before every MIT boat. BC’s varsity-8 boat beat MIT’s by almost eight seconds, while the fi rst boat in the second varsity-8 defeated MIT by more than 20 seconds. Th e margin of victory in the varsity-4 race was highest, however, as BC beat MIT by exactly 50 seconds.

Boston College golf traveled down to Salem, S.C., for the Clemson Invitational this

weekend. Th e men had a rough start and fi nished the fi rst day with a score of 302, earning

them 10th place out of 12 teams. Th e Eagles could not improve, fi nishing the tournament

still in 10th place after shooting 57 above par. BC fi nished with a score of 921—meanwhile,

fi rst-place Clemson was three below par with a score of 861. Th e women also failed to

succeed early, falling to 12th place after one day. BC dropped to 13th out of 14 teams after

the tournament’s end with a score of 916, good for 52 above par. ROW

ING

Boston College sailing had a busy weekend, competing in four regattas over several days. On Saturday, the Eagles had strong, second-place fi nishes in the 35th Annual Lynne Marchiando Trophy Team Race Regatta and the Central Series 3 Fleet Race. In the Lynne Marchiando Re-gatta, the Eagles were unable to defeat Yale, while in the Central Series race BC was three points away from fi rst-place Tufts. Sailing also competed in the Boston University Trophy Fleet Race, and the women raced in the Dellenbaugh Women’s Trophy competition. Th e Eagles fi nished seventh out of 16 teams in the BU race and seventh out of 18 in the Dellenbaugh race.

GO

LF

SAIL

ING

Boston College men’s tennis couldn’t overcome Clemson University in a close match on Friday. Victories from the doubles teams of Aidan McNulty and Alexandre Th irouin and Jeff Melvin and Kent Mukai gave BC the doubles point. On the singles side, Mukai and Kent Workman picked up matches of their own, bringing the Eagles a total of three points on the day. Alex Favrot, Luke Johnson, Robert Dudley, and Arturo Pinazo won singles matches for the Tigers to clinch the 4-3 victory.M

. TEN

NIS

W. T

ENN

IS

Women’s tennis was able to claim a 4-3 victory over the University of Pittsburgh on Friday.Th e Eagles dropped the doubles point after Wan-Yi Sweeting and Heini Salonen were the onlyteam to win its match, but BC made up for it in the singles matches. No. 86 Asiya Dair, No.113 Lexi Borr, Emily Safron, and Jackie Urbinati each defeated their Panthers counterparts tosecure the victory for BC. Dair and Safron won in straight sets. Sweeting and Salonen eachforced her singles match to a tiebreak before ultimately losing to Pittsburgh’s Gabriela Rezendeand Amber Washington, respectively.

casey

assists

23points

46goals

4assists

22points

26

Women’s track and fi eld headed to Stanford, Calif., to compete in the Stanford University Invitational this weekend. Several runners qualifi ed for the ACC Championships after strong performances at Stanford. Liv Westphal, Isabelle Kennedy, Molly McCabe, and Danielle Winslow each earned berths in the ACC Championships in the 5000-meter event, 800-meter event, and steeplechase, respectively. TR

ACK

Fitzgeralds, from B1

THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016 B4

After Florida State took a 1-0 lead in

the fifth inning, Boston College catcher

Nick Sciortino punched back, scorch-

ing a line drive

down the right-

field line for a

double to begin the bottom of the fifth

inning. The hit energized the Eagles,

providing hope against one of the best

teams in the country.

The next play, however, sent head

coach Mike Gambino and the Eagles’

bench into a frenzy. The leadoff hitter,

Jake Palomaki, sent a bunt down the

third-base line that pitcher Mike Comp-

ton fielded and fired to third baseman

John Sansone. After Sansone sold the

play and recorded the out, Gambino

furiously chewed into the third-base

umpire. He obviously disagreed with the

questionable call and let the umpire hear

about it for a few tense minutes as the

Eagles faithful let out roars of disgust.

The next batter, Joe Cronin, flied out

to right field on a play that would have

easily scored Sciortino from third base

to tie the game, further antagonizing

the Eagles.

“It’s a tough one,” Gambino said.

“You saw the discussion that I had with

the umpire afterwards. I obviously dis-

agreed. It could have gone either way.

That’s one of the ones you wish you could

look on replay. It didn’t end up costing

us the game, obviously.”

No. 7 Florida State (19-6, 7-1 Atlantic

Coast) sent its ace, Mike Compton, to

the mound in the first game in a three-

game series in Chestnut Hill. The senior

entered the game with a 3-1 record in

six appearances. The Eagles (14-10, 3-7)

countered with the team’s own ace, Mike

King. Yet, while the junior pitched well,

it wasn’t enough in a 3-0 BC loss.

Unsurprisingly, this game was a

pitchers’ duel, with both aces allowing

contact but efficiently recording outs.

Both starters recorded only one strike-

out, but they kept their pitch counts in

good shape and trusted their defenses to

make plays. Compton lasted five innings

after throwing 69 pitches and surrender-

ing only three hits and three walks. King

allowed the Eagles’ bullpen to rest for

longer, recording all but two outs after

tossing 101 pitches.

The Seminoles had the first opportu-

nity of the game to score and it came in

the third inning, as the team had a runner

on third base with two outs. To keep the

game scoreless, shortstop Johnny Adams

nabbed a tough chopper, and first base-

man Mitch Bigras scooped the throw

out of the dirt to record the final out of

the inning. BC’s first legitimate chance

at a run came in the fourth inning, as

the Eagles had the bases loaded with two

outs after one single and two walks.

The rally ended with a soft ground

ball up the middle that Florida State

shortstop Taylor Walls handled with

ease.

Starting pitchers usually have more

trouble later in the game because batters

have had a couple opportunities to see

what the pitcher is throwing and make

adjustments, and that was the case in this

game. Both teams posted exciting fifth

innings as each hitter faced the start-

ing pitcher for his second or third time.

Florida State got on the board first due

to a two-out rally.

As King looked to record a 1-2-3 fifth

inning, Matt Henderson laced a ground

ball in between the first and second base-

man. Bigras managed to glove the ball,

but he could not complete the toss to

King, as the speedy Henderson pressured

him into releasing the ball quickly. Walls

made the Eagles pay—he lined a ball

deep into left center for a double, allow-

ing Henderson to score from first base. In

the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles

nearly responded, but the controversial

call hampered the team’s efforts.

After that heartbreaking fifth inning,

the Eagles could not muster another hit

for the rest of the game, and Florida

State relief pitchers Jim Voyles and

Tyler Warmoth dominated for the final

four innings. The Seminoles added two

insurance runs in the ninth inning after

doubles from Jackson Leuck and Ben

DeLuzio and an error by Cronin.

The Eagles will face the Seminoles

again on Saturday, and Gambino comi-

cally stated that the revised game plan

was to “score more runs.” As for King,

he’s still proud of his team’s effort, yet

knows that the Eagles will need more of

it going forward.

“I think we set the tone that we are

not going to go away easy, and it’s not

going to be an easy series for them,” King

said. “They are obviously a great team so

they can win on talent alone … we just

have to keep firing at them.”

Florida StateBoston College

30

BASEBALL

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BCHEIGHTS.COM.Directions: The Sudoku is played over a 9x9 grid. In each

row there are 9 slots, some of which are empty and need to be filled.Each row, column and 3x3 box should contain the numbers 1 to 9. You must follow these rules:· Number can appear only once in each row · Number can appear only once in each column · Number can appear only once in each 3x3 box· The number should appear only once on row, column or area.

MICHAEL SULLIVAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

After his double put the Eagles in scoring position, Nick Sciortino (7, top left) attempted to take third on a Jake Palomaki bunt (N.P.), but when a bang-bang throw nailed him at third, manager Mike Gambino (5, top right) exploded.

THE HEIGHTS B5Monday, April 4, 2016

Director Richard Linklater has

a knack for creating films that harken

back to a different era, but nonetheless

explore universal sentiments. Dazed and Confused (1993) fleshed out

the vicious cycles of high school in

the mid ’70s, as students old and

new grappled with transitioning to

a new place and a fresh sea of faces.

Boyhood (2014) attempted to capture

that same sentiment of change and

transition for one boy over 12 years.

In his latest endeavor, Everybody Wants Some!!, Linklater hits many

of the same notes of his previous

films, while philosophizing during

some of the small moments of life,

between batting practice and bong

rips. Growing up is rough in any

capacity. The world continues to

shift and shape itself around us as we

hastily crawl into new chapters of our

lives. It is a game of catch up, all about

getting there. But where is there?

Set in the last days of the

summer of 1980, Everybody Wants Some!! follows Jake (Blake Jenner),

a collegiate freshman baseball

pitcher, as he moves in and meets

his teammates in their shared team

house. As the team begins to bond,

the freshmen begin to enter the fold.

Through antics at various clubs, in

the house, and about the town, Jake

and the other newbies set to establish

themselves in college. Delving into

the treacherous grounds of lust

and love, Jake and others find their

insatiable libidos and fascination with

girls hard to quell. Going after women

makes for a challenge as exhilarating

as their penchant for competition

in baseball. Everyone in the film

searches for who he is, what he wants,

and where he is going. Everybody

wants some. But what is some?

The setting and characters hit

the proverbial nail on the head for the

this film’s intentions. To its very core,

Everybody Wants Some!! oozes an ’80s

vibe. From the moment the viewer

gets a glimpse of Jake sporting long

sideburns, cruising down a college

town road seeing high-waisted jeans,

big hair, and cars of the era dotting

the streets, the audience is almost

sucked into the ’80s. Coupled with its

soundtrack which continually pumps

out the hits and latest jams of the age,

the look of the film creates a complete

atmospheric feel.

The performances are excellent,

and each character evinces his own

status within the team dynamic. As

each guy chases success and a good

weekend, his respective methods and

personality shine through and the

dynamic of the team is felt strongly

in every scene. Viewers will be able

to feel the friendship and tension at

play.

As the film begins to extend

its reach deeper into characters’

personalities, the existentialism of

Everybody Wants Some!! comes into

view. A refreshing aspect of the film

lies in the characters’ responses to all

the big talk of their life plans. They do

not change. In spite of all the things

discussed, plans and dreams that had

not come to fruition, the guys remain

more or less themselves.

As one night transitions from a

disco club to a county bar, Finnegan

(Glenn Powell), expresses concern

about their identities shifting so

quickly. Had the disco fever really

fallen away that fast? Who were they?

Are they country boys now?

“So you’re not coming,” one of

the guys adds, as the gang is about to

leave the disco to go to the country

bar. “That’s not what I said,” Finnegan

replies. The next shot is of him riding

a mechanical bull.

This scene illustrates the

capacity to question and choose. In

their pursuit of a good time, did the

characters compromise who they

were, or did they become adaptable,

evolving entities? When you let the

good times roll, you better keep up

for fear of getting left behind.

This kind of philosophizing

does not bog down the film, but plays

right into the existential crux it seeks

to extrapolate. As characters explore

a different, more transcendent reality

through drugs and big ideas, the

film offers a beautiful counterpoint

to the seemingly mindless pursuits

of fun and hedonism. Sitting on

the carpet, bong in hand, the

stoner pitcher Willoughby (Wyatt

Russell), proselytizes to the group

as his shaggy, blonde hair whips

about his head with each eccentric

movement. Music quietly playing

in the background, Willoughby

explains that the music does not

mean anything. He continues stating

that the artists only give you the

notes to songs and that you must

find the meaning that lies in between

them. Projecting that same kind

of mentality into the actions of the

characters, their quests seem a little

less mindless. Party-crazed. Sex-

crazed. Life-crazed.

The film really is a big sign

reading “Who the hell are you?”

The characters, just as we do, search

for the answer, but never let it get

in the way of living. Growing up

anytime is rough. We have a lot of

questions and a lot of them can never

really be answered. Everybody Wants Some!! does a great job of asking the

question, while ecstatically saying all

at once, like shagging fly balls, “Go

get it!”

THE HEIGHTS Monday, April 4, 2016B6

Arguably, the most Californian band

of all time is the Beach Boys. Sunny and

carefree, it’s like you can hear the rushing

ocean in the Beach Boys’ immaculate vo-

cal harmonies, and their luscious string

arrangements seem to mimic the feel of

sand between your toes. Many bands have

tried to recapture that sunny feeling, but

few have succeeded, in large part because

they forget that under that sunny facade

was sadness—a sadness that stemmed

from being told what to do or having your

girl leave

you.

I t i s

because

o f t h i s

under-

lying

sadness

that the Beach Boys’ co-founder Brian

Wilson’s most direct heir might be—

gasp—an East Coaster: Weezer’s lead

vocalist and guitarist Rivers Cuomo.

Although Cuomo is from Connecticut,

he has always been a little Hollywood,

with songs like “Buddy Holly” and “Island

in the Sun,” that showcase his knack for

bright melodies and his love of Califor-

nian themes.

For Weezer’s new album, Weezer

(White Album), Cuomo returns to the

surf grunge sound that produced some

of the band’s biggest hits, like the afore-

mentioned “Holly.” But this time, he revs

up the West Coast themes, like the engine

of a T-bird, with nearly every song on

the record referencing something in the

Golden State. Cuomo does, however, also

manage to imbue the songs with both an

East Coaster’s stresses and a millennial’s

social anxieties (Cuomo went on Tinder

dates to get ideas for songs).

This mix of anxieties and happiness is

best exemplified in the first track, “Cali-

fornia Kids,” Cuomo describes the wor-

ries of everyday life—”When you wake

up / Cobwebs on your eyelids / Stuck in

rigor mortis”—over muted guitar chords.

Then, in the chorus, the music explodes

with hopefulness and so do the lyrics, as

Cuomo assures listeners that, “It’s gonna

be alright / If you’re on a sinking ship /

The California kids / Will throw you a

lifeline.” It’s the perfect opener to what

Cuomo called “a beach album.”

On “Thank God for Girls,” Weezer

proves that even the Beach Boys can be

musically updated, adding together a

crunchy, drum-machine beat and a light

piano melody. While Weezer shows that

it can revamp the Beach Boys’ sound,

it fails to prove that it can do the same

with the Beach Boys’ themes. Cuomo,

singing so staccato on the verses he is

nearly rapping, muses on gender roles,

which, according to him, haven’t changed

much since the ’60s: “And when you

come home, she will be there / Waiting

for you with a fire in her eyes / And a big

fat cannoli to shove in your mouth / And

that’s why you / Thank God for girls.”

While Cuomo did say the song inten-

tionally played with gender stereotypes,

it is still a little cringeworthy. And yet,

the lyrics prove just what a sharp—and

weird—wordsmith Cuomo can be, even

when riddled with anxiety.

“(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” is

seemingly devoid of angst. Shamelessly

borrowing nearly everything from a

Beach Boys song—the jangly tambourine

and otherworldly strings at the begin-

ning—Cuomo sings about having such

a good thing, he “doesn’t see it ending.”

That is, of course, until the bridge, when

he declares the woman he’s singing

about, “scares [him] like an open win-

dow.” So, he “chalks it up to Stockholm

Syndrome.”

The one thing that holds this entire

album together, other than its lyrical

themes, is Cuomo’s ability to create a

nearly irresistible melody. If you didn’t

listen to the lyrics, you’d be sure this

was a happy album. Even when the lyr-

ics take a more explicitly dark tone—like

on “Jacked Up,” during which he laments

“why do my flowers always die”—it is

hard not to sing along when he gets to

the high note at the beginning of the

refrain.

Cuomo is not afraid to make things

catchy, but he is also not afraid to be

sad or anxious, even at the beach. It

is because of this deep melancholy

that Weezer’s White Album cements

Cuomo’s claim to Brian Wilson’s surf-

rock crown. After all, Wilson was so

riddled with mental woes that he never

learned to surf.

“Mama never told me there’d be days like

this / It all started out with a little kiss.”

Th e fi rst lines off of Cheap Trick’s latest

album, Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello, much like

the title, speak to the nature of the album as

a whole. Cruising on the basslines, with a kiss

of its past,

Cheap

Trick

starts with

a bang on

“Heart On

Th e Line,”

which

dusts off the boots of the aged pop-guitar

champions. Zooming about, creating new

sounds foreign to Cheap Trick, the album

leads to an end that sees listeners right to the

door. As the band prepares to be inducted into

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this album

seems to say, “Hello, Cheap Trick is here.”

Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello is the fi rst al-

bum in the history of the band without iconic

cigarette-smoking drummer Bun E. Carlos.

1

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TITLE WEEKEND GROSS WEEKS IN RELEASE

1. BATMAN V SUPERMAN 52.3 2

2. ZOOTOPIA 20.0 5

3. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 11.1 2

4. GOD’S NOT DEAD 2 8.1 1

5. MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN 7.5 3

6. ALLEGIANT 5.7 3

7. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE 4.7 4

8. MEET THE BLACKS 4.0 1

9. EYE IN THE SKY 4.0 4

10. DEADPOOL 3.5 8

SOURCE: New York Times

1. FOOL ME ONCEHarlan Coben

2. PRIVATE PARISJames Patterson

3. THE NEST Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

4. PROPERTY OF A NOBLEWOMANDanielle Steel

5. ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE Anthony Doee

6. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Paula Hopkins

7. SUMMER BEFORE THE WARHelen Simonson

8. THE NIGHTINGALE Kristin Hannah9. OFF THE GRID C.J. Box10. THE GANGSTER Clive Sussler

HARDCOVER FICTION BESTSELLERS

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UNIVERSAL PICTURES

THE WHITE ALBUMWeezer

Weezer embraces surfer grunge tones on the ‘White Album’, as Cuomo crafts melodies that are irresistably catchy and infectious.

ATLANTIC RECORDS

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REPORTWARNER BROS. PICTURES

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WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

and infectious chorus, again sounding

markedly diff erent from the rest of Cheap

Trick’s repertoire.

On a slower note, “Sing My Blues Away”

showcases Zander’s vocals more heavily and

off ers up, arguably, the most interesting lyr-

ics of the album (“It’s a long way home in the

dark”). It is an emphatic bluesy rock melody

that will demand multiple listens as it washes

over listeners. Th e backing lyrics are a high

point and perfectly complement Zander’s

drawling voice.

Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello is a safe album,

but this does not detract at all from its overall

eff ect, because it’s masterfully executed at the

hands of a band whose work spans over four

decades. As Cheap Trick looks to the future,

it looks not like an aged, dying group, but a

continually evolving one. Th is album, as tes-

tament, proves Cheap Trick will not become

stale, but will rather pump freshness and

variety into the air waves. For fans of the band,

the changes may seem strange. But hey, Cheap

Trick has always seemed a little weird.

Even with an immense musical library, Cheap Trick puts forth a succinct and distinct album.

BANG, ZOOM, CRAZY...HELLO

Cheap Trick

HBO

use their programs to have meaningful po-

litical discussions that these hosts take rather

seriously. When Maher goes off on a crusade

to get Democrats to use the phrase “Islamic

Extremists” to describe terrorists, he needs to

acknowledge that he is trying to have a credible

voice in political discourse.

Maher is the master of his unique pro-

gram. He understands how to guide his

panel’s conversation and how to challenge

guests into critically thinking about the

topic at hand.

Especially with the 2016 election right

around the corner, the types of discussions

happening on Maher’s program are neces-

sary and substantive. Th ough his opinions

are clear and he doesn’t shy away from say-

ing what’s on his mind, Maher never lets his

personality take over a conversation, at least

for too long. In today’s confusing, debilitated

political apparatus, Real Time remains a

haven for honest political debate, thanks to

the range of opinions invited to participate

in the conversation.

Host Bill Maher opens up the conversation to the many opinions in American politics.

REAL TIME WITHBILL MAHER

HBO

Watching commentators from the power-

houses of the 24-hour news cycle (CNN, MS-

NBC, and FOX News), it is often easy to gloss

over the many factors belonging to any issue

at hand. Shows like Th e O’Reilly Factor and

Th e Rachel Maddow Show are imbued with

a certain opinion by their hosts. Th e hosts of

these shows speak well and with authority,

making

i t e a s y

for view-

ers to be

sucked

i n t o a

certain

w a y o f

thinking without critically analyzing issues

themselves. With this thought in mind, it’s

becoming more important for news outlets

and commentators to facilitate a discussion

between analysts holding a wide range of

beliefs and ideals. Real Time with Bill Maher

has long been such a program and continues

to adapt itself to fi t in the volatile political

landscape. No conversation, on the other

hand, is without its fl aws.

As a host, Maher is one of more intricate,

intriguing fi gures in late-night programming.

Maher, a Libertarian, often appears to side

with the liberal-leaning view on most topics

the panel discusses, but he also has views that

go against more conventional liberal ideals. For

example, Maher is extremely against religion.

Sure, he would say that you should be able to

practice whatever you want, but he attacks

the idea of organized religion at least once on

every episode, usually in a very aggravated

tone. Maher is also extremely against political

correctness and has recently spent segments

of his program bashing examples of social

hypersensitivity, talking with Jerry Seinfeld

about avoiding performing for sensitive col-

lege students or lampooning kids that felt

threatened by Donald Trump supporters at

their school.

Th ese biases that Maher manifests can

be expressed in blunt, inaccessible terms,

and Maher’s guests often disagree with his

thinking. This conflict leads to intriguing

discussions that a less opinionated host

would never fi nd himself in. Late-night hosts

like Trevor Noah or Stephen Colbert cannot

really delve into religion’s role in the confl ict

in the Middle East, and though one might

not agree with Maher’s views on the subject,

his thinking introduces the topic to a panel

of critical, sophisticated analysts that further

the conversation in a meaningful way. Th at’s

what’s so interesting about Real Time—no one

has to agree with Maher to walk away from the

program with some meaningful insight.

Taking a brief moment of his program

to address the recent brouhaha in the media

over Ted Cruz and Trump’s “attacks” on each

other’s wives, Bill Maher said that the media

exhibits, “a complete lack of self-awareness

that they are the problem.” Th ough he only

focused on the Cruz/Trump debacle for a

minute or two, Maher tried to clarify why

his program could discuss similar issues but

programs on MSNBC and CNN shouldn’t.

“Th ey’re news networks,” Maher stated, “this

is an entertainment program.”

Th is scene is emblematic of a problem that

has spread throughout the late-night political

satire programs. Maher and other comedians

(Jon Stewart and Colbert) hide behind their

satirical set-up when they see fi t, but often

After a lawsuit stipulating his removal, the

band replaced him with Daxx Nielsen, son

of guitarist Rick Nielsen. Th ough Carlos is

still offi cially a member of the band, he is not

allowed to contribute to the recording process

or play on tour. His absence had caused some

fans to wonder if the album would lose some

of the quintessential Cheap Trick fl avor it

garnered with Carlos behind the kit. Bang,

Zoom, Crazy...Hello would suggest Cheap

Trick can make do without him, and delve

into new musical territory.

After the bumping beats and guitar

shredding of “Heart On Th e Line” fade away,

“No Direction Home” off ers up a decidedly

diff erent feel. Th e uppity track is a simple and

unchallenging piece, but it leaves a lasting

impression of fun and mounting excitement.

It seems a very inoff ensive radio song that

encapsulates catchy movement and fl ow.

“When I Wake Up Tomorrow” is a song

unlike any other Cheap Trick song. As many

of the older bands enter into their later years,

it is interesting to see it adopt similar elements

and strike resoundingly similar tones. “When

I Wake Up Tomorrow” is tonally similar to

much of David Bowie’s fi nal album, Blackstar.

Its darker lyrics—“Please be here when I wake

up tomorrow”—and equally somber, simple

chord progression make this song stand out

on the album as such.

“Long Time No See Ya” and “Th e Sun

Never Sets” have upbeat rhythms that exude

a more fast-paced feel, erring on the side of

rock rather than pop. “Th e Sun Never Sets”

feels like the album’s rock ballad, as its catchy

chorus and elevated harmonies bring the song

into a full and gripping sound. Th ese kinds of

diff erences see Cheap Trick showing more

signs of speeding up its music rather than

slowing down.

Th ese kinds of fast pieces use Robin

Zander’s more aged and worn vocals in a

more nuanced and sleek way. Th is creates

music that fi ts the style of the voice, ef-

fectively elevating its strengths and hiding

its weaknesses.

Songs that show more variety and

distinction from the rest of Cheap Trick’s

discography are “Do You Believe Me?” and

“All Strung Out.” Each brandishes its own

types of guitar rips and riff s courtesy of

Rick Nielsen. “Blood Red Lips” off ers up

another fun and safe chord progression

THE HEIGHTSMonday, April 4, 2016 B7

’16, on trumpet, gave the audience a

performance that was easy on the ears

and exemplified another style of jazz

music that contributed to BC bOp!’s

rich display of the night.

Of course, one cannot have a jazz

concert without more traditional jazz

pieces as well, and BC bOp! delivered

with numbers like “Emancipation

Blues” and “Billie’s Bounce.” With

performances from Marie Peduto,

MCAS ’18, on saxophone, Zack Downey,

MCAS ’16, on trumpet, and Christian

Wilson, MCAS ’18, on the vibraphone,

the band achieved vibrant and zestful

renditions of these classic pieces and

showcased the dynamic quality of the

ensemble as a whole.

“Jazz Wars: the bOp! Awakens”

displayed everything from classic jazz

music, to innovative takes on modern

pop tunes, and everything in between.

From the colorful performances of all

of the group’s vocalists and talented

musicians, the audience was treated to

a memorable exhibition of jazz music

in all of its spirited glory.

Following enthusiastic shouts of “Make

us proud, dude!” and “Hey everyone,

that’s my roommate!” bellowed by some

hyped-up members of the audience, Josh

Behrens, MCAS ’18, gave a brief salute

to his supporters and sauntered up to his

spot at the microphone. Once the cheers

and lighthearted laughter had subsided,

Behrens quietly cleared his throat. Behind

him huddled the remaining members of

the Boston College Acoustics, keeping

their eyes trained on president Matt

Michienzie, MCAS ’17, to give them

their cue.

On Saturday night, McGuinn 121

played host to the annual Acoustics Spring

Cafe, its theme a witty wordplay on the

absurd 2006 action-thriller Snakes on a Plane. The co-ed a cappella group regaled

its audience with debut performances,

entertaining covers of popular songs

and comical skits strewn throughout

the night’s rather extensive program.

Thanks to the high-energy atmosphere

provided by the fun-loving group, “Stix

on a Plane” was this weekend’s must-see

music event.

A debut duet of The Civil Wars’ song

“Barton Hollow” kicked off the show with a

comforting, folksy vibe. The soulful vocals

of Keri DiBattista, MCAS ’17, and Alex

Rougeau, MCAS ’18, made for a perfect

opening performance that established

the mellow tone necessary to silence a

chatty audience and captivate everyone’s

attention. The duet invited the audience

to sit back, relax, and settle in for a night

of powerful vocal riffs and infectious

background beats.

The show was strewn with special

performances of popular songs that

encouraged audience members to sing

along with the skilled a cappella crooners.

The “Girls’ Project,” a medley of Miley

Cyrus’ greatest hits complete with

blonde wigs and wacky costumes, was

an entertaining interpretation of Cyrus’

transformation from innocent country

sweetheart to the wild and rebellious pop

star she is today. Not to be outdone, the

guys in the group matched their female

counterparts’ efforts to create an inventive

medley all their own—this time, however,

the performance featured a collection of

theme songs from America’s most beloved

television series.

The debut performances won the

night, for the the fresh, new songs sung

by various Acoustics members showcased

the group’s vocal diversity and impressive

versatility. The chosen tracks perfectly

complemented each featured singer’s

unique style. Margaret Dauer, CSON ’18,

quieted the room with an empowered

rendition of Sara Bareilles’ “Bright Lights

and Cityscapes” that showed off the

sophomore’s impressive vocal range. Hailey

Reinhart’s “Hit the Ground Runnin’” was

yet another impressive debut. The yearning

tone and emotion-heavy performance by

Kayley Okst, MCAS ’19, was met with

thunderous applause and a series of hugs

from her fellow Acoustics.

Dispersed throughout the performance

were short skits meant to break up some of

the somber songs with a little comic relief.

Following along with the night’s Snakes on a Plane theme, the skits playfully poked

fun at some of BC’s other a cappella crews,

as well as at the Acoustics themselves.

One of these scenes features a visibly

shaken Michienzie, who slips into his

best George Bush-turned-commercial-

pilot impression and frantically informs

Snakes actor Samuel L. Jackson (played

by Rougeau) of some shady shenanigans

onboard. “There’s a Yankee a cappella

group from up north causing trouble on

this plane,” Michienzie shouts, “and I need

you to save the day.”

Of a l l the impress ive covers

and medleys, Behrens’ enthusiastic

performance of Billy Joel’s classic “Piano

Man” perfectly encompassed everything

the a cappella crew is about. Swinging

the microphone stand around the stage

in a flurry of exaggerated emotion and

genuine enjoyment, Behrens seemed

as though he was having the time of his

life. Enthusiastic, teeming with talent,

and just plain fun, Behrens’ performance

perfectly embodied the jubilant Acoustics

spirit—one that fuses the passion and

lightheartedness so integral to the a

cappella group’s identity.

The Acoustics delivered an array of

eclectic performances, each song vastly

different from those that came before it. The

group tends to jump drastically from genre

to genre, bravely treading into virtually every

musical genre imaginable. “We ‘Stix’ pride

ourselves on the diversity of our repertoire,”

the group’s facebook description proclaims,

explaining their style accurately as “wailing

away on ’70s rock, ’80s pop, ’90s jams, and

millennial miscellany.”

And boy, does this group deliver.

would have been incredibly complicated

considering all the other running plotlines

in the show, and killing Lexa was the easiest

way to avoid that problem.

Yet I have to believe there was

another way to solve that problem without

destroying all of the progress The 100 had

made within the queer community in one

fell swoop. The writers got lazy and fell into

an outdated trope without realizing how

harmful that cliche is to the demographic

it entails. Jason Rothenberg, the show’s

executive producer, admitted in a statement

that the episode was, “the perpetuation of

the disturbing ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope.” He

then apologized, saying, “our aggressive

promotion of the episode, and of this

relationship, only fueled a feeling of betrayal.”

While many fans packed up and

quit watching after Lexa’s death, I’m still

watching. Recent episodes have felt nearly

apologetic—a new gay couple has been

introduced, and Clarke is still in contact

with Lexa’s “soul,” but I’m still disappointed.

After The 100 made such strides for LGBT

inclusivity and positivity, Lexa’s death

destroyed the fragile progress that the show

had made. Now I really am just watching for

the plot, reluctantly stuck wondering what

path the show will take next.


WARNER BROS. TELEVISION

Jazz Wars, from B8

Guest performances from the female Taiko drumming team, Genki Spark, and j-pop group AAA deliniated from the show’s more serious moments.

SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR

‘The 100’ made huge strides for LGBT characters, but made a fatal mistake with one death.

The Jazz Ensemble returned to Robsham with an eclectic setlist and an enthusiastic spirit.

After a year of resisting my friends’

requests to start watching the series, and

constantly scrolling past photos of the

main characters on Tumblr, this month I

finally caved and started watching The 100.

Immediately after I started the first season,

I came down with a terrible sinus infection,

leaving me with no choice but to binge-

watch the two seasons available on Netflix

and download the iTunes season pass for the

third season currently airing. I was on bed

rest—I really didn’t have a choice.

While I started watching The 100

simply for the plot, I was struck by the

progressive nature of the show concerning

its characters’ sexualities. The main

character of the series, Clarke Griffin, has

a variety of love affairs with both males

and females, yet her sexuality is never

even addressed as significant—and in

the post-apocalyptic version of Earth her

people inhabit, there’s no need for it to be

discussed. Prejudices are set aside as the

human race struggles to survive in this

hostile environment, and as Clarke and a

slew of other LGBT characters find love,

their choices of partners are considered

unquestionably valid.

Now, queer representation isn’t

necessarily the problem in modern

television—it’s the reduction of queer

characters to only their sexuality. Glee’s Kurt

Hummel, played by Chris Colfer, served as

a perfect example. Every episode central to

his personal plotlines revolved around his

sexuality in some fashion, stressing either

his love life, his strained relationship with his

father, or the bullying he faced as a result of

being gay. While other characters did have

similar concerns with relationships—it is a

high-school drama, after all—at least some

episodes revolved mainly around grades,

sports, or other pursuits outside of glee club

that had nothing to do with their sexualities

whatsoever.

The 100 bypasses the over-involved

version of queer representation for a realistic

one, making LGBT interactions such a

non-event that the viewer questions their

own surprise. For two and a half seasons,

The 100 garnered a huge LGBT following

and was for many a sign of long-awaited

progress. The show also made huge strides

in promoting bisexual visibility, with a

bisexual main character that has never been

portrayed as “going through a phase.”

Unfortunately, The 100 is too good

to be true. In the seventh episode of

season three, Commander Lexa, played

by Alycia Debnam-Carey, is killed by a

stray bullet meant for Clarke. Lexa has

been described as one of the best female

characters on current television—she is

incredibly brave and powerful, without

being unrealistically cold, and openly gay.

Universally respected by her subjects, she

still maintains her femininity and personal

relationships in a way that is often sacrificed

in order to present strong women as

infallible. Lexa’s death came as a huge blow

to the community watching The 100 for

its portrayal of women—especially since

the bullet flew in the very same episode

that Clarke and Lexa finally admitted their

feelings for each other and consummated

their relationship.

This was especially painful for the

queer community, as the “lesbian death”

trope becomes almost inescapable. TV and

media Web sites call it the “Bury Your Gays”

trope when describing the phenomena,

almost always in a tone of disappointment.

In modern media, LGBT characters are

not allowed a happy ending, often dying

immediately after pursuing an LGBT

relationship or dying in a heroic sacrifice to

save a straight character. The most common

method of death? A stray bullet. Lexa was

far from the first to suffer her fate—in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tara Maclay died at

cause of a stray bullet, and in The Walking Dead, Alisha felt the same at the hands of

a 12-year-old girl. Social media sites such

as Tumblr and Reddit have exploded with

recognition of this trend within the past

few weeks, as Lexa’s death finally lit the

waiting fuse of outrage in response to this

discriminatory trope.

Seeing the writers kill Lexa in such

a tragically stereotypical and borderline

offensive way was awful, especially after

a full season of tension between her and

Clarke had finally been alleviated. Truly,

it felt like a cop out—figuring out a way to

maintain Lexa and Clarke’s relationship

LEIGH CHANNELL

excited when Ken Leszkowicz, MCAS

’16, walked onto the stage. As co-

president of JCBC, Leszbowicz is a

well-known figure in the community.

His mid-range croon captivated the

audience and brought out bursts of

cheer and laughter.

One of the night’s highlights came

from guest performers Genki Spark.

This multi-generational, pan-Asian

women’s collective performed Japanese

Taiko drumming. The performance was

uncompromisingly powerful. Harkening

back to Kwan’s earlier sentiment, Genki

Spark was outspoken in regards to

claiming and embracing its members’

cultural narratives. The group was

started and served as an avenue for both

Asian and women’s empowerment.

Many of the members discussed

feelings of alienation and separation

growing up in American society. Genki

Spark started as a way to take back

control and become more active in the

shaping of the multicultural American

experience. This mission statement

went well with the actual content

of the performance. The drumming

sounded like undiluted power. It wasn’t

something that the performers could

hide behind. Rather, each of the women,

while positioned behind her drums,

seemed to brim with self-confidence

and poise. After a few songs and

demonstrations, the group sought out

audience participation.

Genki Spark seemed to capture the

theme of the night: building a broader

community of cultural acceptance.

While the night was dedicated to

exploring and displaying Japanese

culture, it also sought to acknowledge

the multicultural condition of BC’s

campus . Many of the performers

came from a wide, often multicultural

background.


On Saturday nIght, the Boston College Acoustics gave their audience an entertaining a cappella show to remember with “Stix on A Plane,” a performance of hilarious skits, dazzling duets, and a slew of powerful vocals.

JCBC, from B8

Boston College’s jazz ensemble, BC bOp!,

returned to Robsham Theater last Saturday

with its Star Wars-themed, “Jazz Wars: the

bOp! Awakens.” The show offered roughly 20

high-energy, entertaining performances that

were immensely enjoyable even if they weren’t

clearly related to the program’s intergalactic

theme. With a nice mix of old favorites and new

performances, BC bOp! brought viewers a spirit-

lifting spectacle that had the audience tapping

its feet all throughout the show.

The show began with grand, swinging tunes

like “Almost Like Being in Love” with vocalist

Amber Glavine, MCAS ’17, and “Corner Pocket”

that quickly immersed viewers in the snazzy

world of jazz music. From there, the concert

progressed into a sprawling piece, “Moanin’,”

artfully arranged by drummer Sanjay Pamaar,

MCAS ’16, which showcased the talents of

numerous musicians including Justin Solle,

MCAS ’16, on the piano, Lucas Allen, MCAS

’16, on the guitar, and Isaiah Anderson, MCAS

’17, on bass.

BC bOp! has an aptitude for covering

mainstream chart-toppers, as it did at the

concert with its cover of Ariana Grande ft. Iggy

Azalea’s “Problem.” The lovely vocal talents

of Marian Wyman, MCAS ’18, and BC bOp!’s

artful reinterpretation transformed the song

into a version that was arguably more enjoyable

than the original. Another cover appeared with

Nina Simone’s crowd-pleaser, “Feeling Good,”

in which jazz vocalists including Adam Fung,

MCAS ’16, created a sensational presentation

offering a fantastic version of the well-known

tune.

One of the most fun performances of the

night appeared with “Mack the Knife,”when the

audience clapped joyfully along with the band

from the very first moments of the song. Vocalist

Michael Mastellone, MCAS ’18, brought the

whole song to life, and his spirited rendition had

the audience on its feet in a standing ovation.

Another playful song came with “Oh, Lady

Be Good,” which featured amazing vocals from

Greta Ritzenthaler, MCAS ’17, and Ryan Silva,

MCAS ’17, and was all over the map in the most

entertaining, jazziest way possible. Later in the

show, “Dangerous Precedent” featured some

stellar solos from Kyle Murray, CSOM ’16, on

guitar, Max Warwick, CSOM ’16, on drums, and

Matt Passanante, MCAS ’17, on saxophone, all

of whom showed that the musical range BC bOp!

can reach is beyond its crowd-pleasing yet more

traditional jazz songs.

BC bOp!’s concert also included some

performances that took a break from its

energetic, blaring numbers. “Kiss From a

Rose” showcased soft vocals and a stunning

melody. The group also presented an a cappella

performance with “I’ll Be Seeing You,” featuring

the beautiful vocals of Anne Wilder, CSOM

’16, in a way that granted the concert a smooth

interlude in the midst of its other, louder

performances. Additionally, another wonderful

song appropriately titled “In a Mellow Tone” and

showcasing the talents of Paul Schwartz, CSOM

&MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015

INSIDEARTS ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’Th e latest period piece from director Richard

Linklater hit theaters this weekend, B6THIS ISSUE

‘Real Time with Bill Maher’Th e HBO talk show is more relevant than ever

with the upcoming 2016 election, B6

Weekend Box Offi ce Report.........................B6Hardcover Bestsellers....................................B6Th e Acoustics..................................................B7

We have all thought, maybe for just a

moment, that it would be cool to live in

another time. We glorify the past and how

things used to be. As we look at our favorite

music, television, and movies from times

past, our beliefs seem to confi rm themselves.

Sometimes we wonder what life would be

like if we had grown up in a diff erent time.

To experience Star Wars on opening night,

to see the long-since-disintegrated band

live, or to live among a culture that has been,

temporally, completely obliterated. Th ough

a manner of speaking may have fallen away,

hairstyles have died, movies have been

made, and records have been released, the

memory of these times call out to us and

bring us to a diff erent time and place.

We have the remnants of time always

before us. Our libraries span time. As we

look back at the ’80s, we imagine Ash slaying

demons in Th e Evil Dead and David Lee

Roth belting out “Hot for Teacher” off of Van

Halen’s latest album, 1984. Maybe in the late

1970s we’d tune into the original Battlestar Galactica and relish in the “state of the art”

special eff ects and recognize its topical Cold

War undertones. Maybe we would like to

sit in a club just outside of Hollywood in the

1940s, listening to Frank Sinatra sing “You’ll

Never Know” with a cigar and newspaper

in hand. Th ese things take us places, places

we may have never been. Th ese small pieces

hold enough to paint a picture of a place, or

at least a part of one.

Today, turning on the television and

watching fi lms would have us believe that

the past was the place to be. It may seem

at times that everything and everyone who

was anyone had already had his or her time

in one way or another. Mad Men displays

an old-school style of force and chauvin-

ism. Th at ’70s Show may have us reeling

at the styles of the time, while trailers for

the upcoming Th e Nice Guys fi lm have us

taken aback at that same style and tenacity.

Something is fascinating about another time.

While we look at the future with uncertainty

and wonder, sometimes we look back at

times past with the same amount of wonder-

ment.

Th is idea is an interesting one mostly

because we have no idea what kind of rabbit

hole we may enter when we look back to the

past. Th ough living in the Roaring Twen-

ties would surely be a trip, would we have

the capacity to live in the time? Could you

sound the bee’s knees? What would life be

like amid the counterculturalism of the ’60s?

How would we react to Th e Beatles embark-

ing to America and the “British Invasion.”

Could we grasp, cope, or comprehend the

bizarre styles of the ’70s?

I had always been a fan of ’90s music

and culture. It was not the most foreign or

out-there, and its similarities to the current

age were more apparent than styles of other

decades. It shares enough in common with

the modern age to remain mostly relatable.

I seemed to just miss living in the time by a

decade or so. But the more I think about it,

I only comprehend a sliver of what the time

was all about. For the most part, I ignore or

am ignorant of the faults of the era because I

have been able to cherry-pick its best parts. I

get to take it. Not live it.

Moreover, as an individual, I am a prod-

uct of my environment. Nature and nurture.

Changing any of that would certainly change

who I am and what I like. Th at makes all

that happens now, though it might not be

all we hoped it would be, our time. Th e time

is now. Th ough we long for a fashion that

is long gone and though we may wish we

could have lived in another age, we would

do well to appreciate what is happening all

around us.

So go see that movie while it is still in

theaters. Remember that new song while it

is still new. Turn it up. Before we turn into

antiquity, we ought to make memories about

this time. Who knows? Maybe someone in

the future will wish to live in our time.

Instead of wishing for another day, we

could all make time for today. We only get

one shot at it.

Bob Dylan, a man from another time,

says as much in “Open the Door, Homer.”

“Take care of all your memories / For you

&MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016

ARTS REVIEWB8

See Jazz Wars, B7

The Japan Club of Boston College’s

annual Harumatsuri, a Japanese spring

festival, was a nightlong celebration of

culture and art. Before the performers

took to the stage, JCBC’s culture chair

Yoyo Kwan, MCAS ’18, asked a simple

question.

“How many of you in the audience are

Japanese?”

About a third of the 150 or so audience

members raised its hands. While a sizeable

group, it was obvious that perhaps a

majority of the attendees came from a

variety of cultural backgrounds. According

to Kwan, the night’s event was not just

for those of Japanese descent. Rather, the

event catered to all individuals who have

been touched or infl uenced by Japanese

culture. Kwan advocated for individuals

to become cultural allies, or persons

who support and foster growth within

a community—Japanese heritage isn’t a

requirement for JCBC membership. Th e

club exists to help all individuals claim

their personal narratives and explore the

intersection of traditional culture and the

American experience.

Th e fi rst performance of the night was a

Kabuki theatre rendition of six scenes from

Th e Lion King. Kabuki is a genre of Japanese

drama that involves highly stylized dance

sequences, songs, and body movements.

Although the performance lacked dialogue,

the intensity of the drama was portrayed

through exaggerated gestures and forceful

vocal expressions, and the choreographed

dancers moved across the stage with ease

and fl uidity. With this style, the performers

thrilled the audience with renditions of

famous scenes such as the death of Mufasa

and “Hakuna Matata.”

Another crowd favorite was a rendition

of “Sound of Love and Rainy Skies” by the

popular J-pop group AAA. Th e performance

was full of energy and enthusiasm. It started

with a single vocalist on stage, and with the

addition of each verse came the entrance

of another singer. Th e backdrop included

a lyrics sheet written in English, so non-

Japanese speakers could follow along with

the music. Th e crowd seemed particularly

SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR

See SASA, B7


The Japanese Club of Boston College’s fifth annual spring festival, Harumatsuri, invited the school’s broad demographic base to join in a night of Japanese dances, songs, and performances.

See JCBC, B7

The Heights April 4, 2016

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