The Wooster Voice

The Wooster VoiceA STUDENT PUBLICATION SINCE 1883Vol. CXXVII, Issue XX Friday, March 26, 2010

VIEWPOINTSINDEX

News

Viewpoints

Features

Arts & Entertainment

Sports

MEMBER

2009-2010

2

3

4

5

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FEATURES

Nathan Comstock provideshis viewpoint about howthere is a male double-stan-dard and a number of pres-sures put on guys, especial-ly sexual. See page 3.

Features Editor ElleBloom describes the newand upcoming renovationsoccuring to the PEC. Turnto page 4 to read thewhole story.

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“Success doesn’t come to you … you go to it.”— Marva Collins

A&E editor George Myattwrites about how the newTexas Textbooks are toobiased. See page 3 to readthe full viewpoint.

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A&E Editor Lee McKinstryprovides a review of thisyear’s most recent 82ndannual Academy AwardShow. To read more, turn topage 5.

Sports Editor ChrisWeston recaps the base-ball team’s first 14 gamesof the season. To readmore turn to page 8.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS

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I.S. Monday marks senior success

Emily TarrVoice Staff

The tradition of I.S. Monday was honored with pride bythis year’s graduating senior class. Despite less thanoptimal weather conditions, the class of 2010 engagedin numerous activities throughout the day, including theannual I.S. parade and march throughout campus anda much needed pizza dinner at Kittredge Dining Hall.Now with I.S. in the past, seniors are free to focus ontheir last few weeks at Wooster and upcoming gradua-tion almost a month away (Photos by Linda Kuster,Andrew Collins and Taylor Keegan).

Last year, faculty from theInternational Relations Departmentand the Cultural Area StudiesProgram researched methods ofglobal and international education atother colleges and universities acrossthe country with the goal of discover-ing ways to transform Wooster’s cur-riculum. This school year, the Globaland International Education WorkingGroup, comprised of 25 faculty mem-bers from numerous disciplines, fur-ther discussed the way the curriculumcould be developed to more aptlyreflect current changes in the worldand academic disciplines.

“The faculty at the College havehad a long-standing commitment toglobal and international education.The increasing pace of globalizationin all aspects of our political, econom-ic, environmental and social liveswithin the last decade has furtherstimulated interest in global andinternational education. Moreover,the changing nature of disciplinesand the emergence of new interdisci-plinary and multidisciplinary fieldshave impacted our students, faculty

and curriculum,” said HenryKreuzman, Dean for Curriculum andAcademic Engagement.

As a result of these discussions andthe need for the curriculum to reflectour changing world, new areas ofstudy were added to the Wooster cur-riculum. On Monday March 1, thefaculty voted to approve changesto the Classical Studies Programand Russian Studies Program andto add new programs in EastAsian Studies, Latin AmericanStudies and South Asian Studies tothe curriculum. After the endorse-ment of these new programs, thefaculty voted to remove theCultural Area Studies Programfrom the curriculum. Current andrecently declared Cultural AreaStudies majors will be able to com-plete their major or switch to oneof the new majors; incoming stu-dents will be able to choose one ofthe new programs.

Previously, the Classical StudiesProgram had concentrations inClassical Languages and ClassicalCivilizations, focusing on Roman andGreek culture. The ClassicalCivilizations concentration has beenchanged to Ancient Mediterranean

Studies in order to expand the scopeof the concentration and give stu-dents a broader area of study. Thenew concentration will now give stu-dents the ability to take classes focus-ing on Southern Europe, NorthernAfrica and the Middle East. This new

concentration is also unique toschools within the Great LakesColleges Association (GLCA).

The East Asian Studies programwill include majors and minors inboth Chinese Studies and East AsianStudies. This program has been creat-ed to fulfill the growing student

demand for courses in this area and tosupplement the already existingChinese minor. Students in these pro-grams will take a combination of his-tory and language courses, and allstudents majoring in one of theseprograms will be required to studyabroad for at least one semester inChina or Japan.

The new Latin American StudiesProgram creates a minor in this areaof study. The minor is a combinationof courses in Latin American andHispanic Caribbean history, Spanishlanguage and off-campus study. Theclasses are concentrated on the geo-graphic area of Latin America itselfas well as diasporic Latin Americancommunities. Study abroad in LatinAmerica is also required.

The South Asian Studies Programis also a new minor added to the cur-riculum. With the addition of thisnew minor, Wooster is currently theonly GLCA college to have any cur-ricular focus on South Asia. This pro-gram builds on the College’s long-standing connections with SouthAsia. Students completing this minorwill take courses in two or more disci-plinary areas, with current courseofferings available in Philosophy,

Religious Studies and Theatre andDance. There is no language require-ment for this minor, but there is anoff-campus study requirement. Asnew courses develop in South AsianStudies, these will be part of thecourse offerings applicable to theminor as well.

The faculty believe that the newand revised programs are better suit-ed to meet the needs of Wooster stu-dents and fulfill the College’s missionto become more globally engaged.

As President Grant Cornwell said,“The Cultural Area Studies programserved generations of Wooster stu-dents very well, but scholarship hasgone through several transitions andparadigms shifts since CAS wasformed and in some sense the pro-gram had become dated theoretically.The new academic programs nowestablished by the faculty will providean array of outstanding curricularopportunities for students to be aca-demically engaged with global issues.I see the new area studies programs asfurther steps along the path to mak-ing sure Wooster is unsurpassed as acollege where students graduate asresponsible and knowledgeable globalcitizens.”

“The new area studies pro-grams now established bythe faculty will provide anarray of outstanding cur-ricular opportunities forstudents to be academicallyengaged with globalissues.”

GRANT CORNWELL

Additional classes to be offered in cultural studies

PRESIDENT

BITE-SIZE NEWS

NewsSSeeccttiioonn EEddiittoorrss::

Allana Mortell

Laney Austin

Voice2 Friday,

March 26

NATIONAL

— Bites compiled by Charles Horenstein

CORRECTIONS

Klezmer band returnsfor campus concert

Tomorrow, the popularCleveland-based klezmer bandYiddishe Cup will return to TheCollege of Wooster for a concertfrom 9-11 p.m. in the Lowry Centerballroom. The performance is spon-sored by Hillel, the College’s Jewishstudent organization and funded bythe school’s Kornfeld Endowment.Wooster resident Ellen Pill and amember of the band will provide anhour of dance instruction prior tothe event. Admission is free andopen to the public.

CAMPUS

While we strive for excellenceevery week, we, too, sometimes fallshort. Please send your correctionsto [email protected].

Surrounding cities toface tax return fines

British Airways carried out theirthreats against their currently on-strike employees to strip them oftheir travel perks.

Staff who joined the strike lastweek will now lose discounted andoccassionally free airfare. This deci-sion comes after last weeks identicalthreat to remove travel perks byBritish Airways Chief ExecutiveWillie Walsh.

Regardless of the strike, BritishAirways has said that they will beable to run a full operation out ofLondon Gatiwck and London CityAirport this weekend because manyemployees will cross the picket line inthe next several days.

As of next month, residents ofOrrville, Rittman and Wooster willbe punishable by a $1,000 fineand/or incarceration for up to sixmonths for failure to pay taxreturns. Failure to promptly send intax returns will initially result in anotice from the city tax administra-tor, followed by a notice from thecity law director if the first lettergoes unanswered. The city ofWooster’s Finance Director AndreiDordea estimated 3,000 individualsfailed to file their taxes last year,despite mandatory filing since 2006.

Company recallsdefective baby slings

LOCAL

Striking employeeslose travel benefits

Allana MortellLaney AustinNews Editors

Health care bill deepens political divisions

Elementary readingstatistics disappoint

Infantino LCC has recalled 1 mil-lion baby sling products in theUnited States and 15,000 in Canada.The Consumer Product SafetyCommission (CPSC) warned thatthe slings hold babies in curled posi-tions that restrict the airway. Therehave been a number of infant deathsin the last year because of this prob-lem. Infantino is offering to replaceslings with the consumer’s choice ofseveral different products. Currently,the CPSC is working on a mandato-ry safety standard for baby slings.

INTERNATIONAL

In a sampling of more than178,000 fourth graders, the nation-al report card for reading in 2009resulted in an increase in onlythree states (Kentucky, RhodeIsland and District of Columbia).However, four states saw decreases(Alaska, New Mexico, Iowa andWyoming) in their fourth graders’reading ability promptingEducation Secretary Arne Duncanto say, “Today’s results once againshow that achievement ofAmerican students isn’t growingfast enough.”

This past Tuesday marked ahistoric landmark for the Obamaadministration. The passage ofhealth care reform has been agoal sought by presidents sinceTheodore Roosevelt, but has notbecome a reality until now.

President Obama, along withmembers of the House andSenate, has been struggling withefforts to produce a new healthcare reform bill that provides awider range of choices of healthcare for all Americans withoutincreasing the national debt.

With such substantial changebeing made to the current form ofhealth care, Americans are leftwondering what this bill means.According to the White House’sofficial webpage, the new bill will“make insurance more affordableby providing the largest middleclass tax cut in history, reducingpremium costs for tens of mil-lions of families and small busi-ness owners who are priced out ofcoverage today.”

In addition, the new bill intendsto reduce the deficit by $100 bil-lion dollars over the course of thenext 10 years. This will be doneby cutting government over-spending and capping off abuseand fraud of the economy.

The administration also hopesthis will create a more level play-ing field for disadvantagedAmericans seeking health care.

President Obama has remarkedthat the bill displays the ‘’coreprinciple that everybody shouldhave some basic security when itcomes to their health care.’’

Although these changes seek tobenefit everyone, citizens are stillwondering how and when theywill see these changes.

The bill creates a new form ofinsurance exchange, which onceopened, allows people who areself-employed or whose employ-ers don't offer coverage theopporunity to purchase a plan.This also applies to people whoare unemployed. Also, peoplewith illnesses or medical prob-lems will not be able to be turnedaway by insurance providers.While private insurance compa-

nies will begin making noticeablechanges to policies over the nextsix months, some changes willnot be finished until 2014.

However, the debate over healthcare reform is far from over. The$940 billion dollar plan has createda vast divide between House andSenate Republicans and Democrats.In the weeks leading up the votelast Sunday, Republican representa-tives spoke out in opposition of thebill saying that it would createmore harm than good. ManyRepublicans worry that the highprice tag on the bill will ultimate-ly hurt the economy.

While Democrats are celebrat-ing the clear triumph for theadministration, Republicans inleadership positions around the

country are already looking torepeal the decision.

Many Republicans, includingMassachusetts governor MittRomney, have already publiclyannounced their position to repealthe bill. Romney’s Free and StrongAmerica Political Action Committeeplans to support GOP candidateswho are running in the 2010 elec-tions on a platform of repealing cer-tain controversial issues of thehealth care law.

Regardless of political affilia-tion, there is no doubt that this isa win for the President’s adminis-tration. Obama summed up hisidea of our nation’s principleswhen he said, “We are a nationthat does what is hard, what isnecessary, what is right.”

House majority leader Nancy Pelosi was influential in the passing of the health carebill. Democrats are hoping for a strong boost to the economy (Photo by AP).

Campus Judicial Board HearingsMar 26 - Apr 2

Alleged Code Violation:Section IA: Personal Integrity and Self-respectSection IB: Respect Rights/Concerns of OthersSection IVA, 2b: Individual Consumption: behavior disruptive/irre-sponsibleSection IXA: Harrassment/Coercion/Intimidation/AssaultHearing Outcomes:Rejected no contest, found guiltyAccepted guiltySanctions:Suspended, in effect until Semester 1 2010-2011Activities, privileges rescindedMandatory assesment by licensed chemical dependency counselorIf readmitted: recorded Disciplinary Probation: adherence to collegealcohol policies, chemical-free living, regular meeting with counselor**Decision appealed, sanctions reassessed by President and slightlymodified. Suspension in effect until May 7, 2010. The student isallowed to participate in commencement activities, with I.S. require-ments completed Summer 2010. Act of violence requires release ofname of student: Barnaby Katz.**

Alleged Code Violation:Section IA: Personal Integrity and Self-respectSection IB: Respect Right/Concerns of OthersSection IXA: Harrassment/Coercion/Intimidation/AssaultHearing Outcomes:Accepted guiltyAccepted not guiltySanctions:Issued very stern warning to accused

Celebration of CDGE to occur this weekendThis weekend marks the first annual conference in cel-

ebration of the new Center for Diversity and GlobalEngagement. The conference, titled “Bridging the Gaps:Diversity and Global Engagement in Liberal Arts Education”kicks off this afternoon with a keynote address by PresidentGrant Cornwell, who was instrumental in establishing theCenter. His speech will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the LeanLecture Room in Wishart Hall. Following his address, therewill be a reception in the formal lounge of Babcock at 6 p.m.where guests will have the opportunity to talk with the direc-tors of the center, along with the five WoosterAmbassadors.

On Saturday, there will be a number of presentationsfocusing on the advantages of diversity and global engage-ment within the academic field. All the speakers featuredare Wooster alumni, including Thomas Espenshade ’65who is now professor of sociology and a faculty associatein the Office of Population Research at PrincetonUniversity. The full schedule of events is available online onthe Wooster website (Photo by Sarah Hunt).

Alleged Code Violation:Section IA: Personal Integrity and Self-respectSection IB: Respect Rights/Concerns of OthersSection IVA, 1: The Ohio State Law (Alcohol)Section IVB, 1, b: Possession (Other Drugs)Section IVB, 1, g: Drug paraphernalia (Other Drugs)Residential Living Policy: Section I6: Campus Housing, responsiblefor his/her assigned room, house key or swipe cardHearing Outcomes:Accepted guiltySanctions:Suspended in effect until Semester 1 2010-2011Eligible to reapply if chemical assessment and treatment programand subsequent telephone interview with Dr. Malmom-BergIf re-admitted: Recorded disciplinary probation: unable to selectroom mate, ongoing meetings with Dean Buxton**Decision appealed, sanctions held by President**

Alleged Code Violation:Section IA: Personal Integretity and Self-respectSection IB: Respect Rights/Concerns of OthersHearing Outcomes:Rejected no contest, found guiltySanctions:Recorded Disciplinary Probation until Spring Semester 2010-2011.No loss of privilegesRequired community service project in residence hall communityresulting in 20 hours of service and reflection paper

This summer, a man namedGeorge Sodini walked into awomen’s exercise class. He set

down his gymbag, pulled outa pair ofhandguns, andproceeded toshoot 11women, andkilling threeof them,

before finally turning one of theguns on himself. During the inves-tigation, it was discovered thatSodini had a blog. The blog chron-icled nine months of his failedattempts to get women to sleepwith him. Sodini claimed not tohave had sex since 1990.

He wasn’t crazy. He had a goodjob – he had friends who thoughthe was a pretty normal guy. He wasmad at women for what he per-ceived as a slight against him. Andlast August, he decided it wasn’tworth living anymore, and if hewas going to go he was going totake some of them with him.

What bothers me the most aboutSodini is that, while we all want tobelieve he was just a crazy person,he really wasn’t that different frommost guys. A lot of people aren’taware of the extreme pressuresociety puts on men to be promis-cuous. I’m not trying to say thatmen have it worse than women.But the way the sexual double-standard hurt women has been dis-cussed quite a bit and its effect onmen often seems to get sweptunder the rug.

The essential fact, if we try andstrip out all the gendered assump-tions and value judgments, is thatsome people are more capable ofcasual sex than others. That is tosay, some people are able to sepa-rate the physical pleasure of sexfrom emotional intimacy withanother person, whereas otherscannot have one without the other.I’m not saying either of these is the“right” way — it’s just two differ-ent lifestyle preferences, each withits own drawbacks and benefits.

The problem is that people domake value judgments based on

ViewpointsVoice 3Friday,

March 26

Editorial cartoon by Gus Fuguitt. He can be reached at [email protected].

SSeeccttiioonn EEddiittoorrss::

Kris Fronzak

Hannah Diorio-Toth

The Wooster VoiceThe College of Wooster’s Student Newspaper Since 1883

Published Weekly on Fridays

Andrew VogelJonah ComstockEditors in Chief

All materials published herein are property of The Wooster Voice and cannotbe reproduced without written consent of the editors. The Voice can be contact-ed by mail at C-3187, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691 or by phoneat (330) 263-2598. E-mail can be sent to the editors at [email protected].

ALLANA MORTELL, NEWS EDITOR

EDITORIAL BOARD

CHRIS WESTON, SPORTS EDITOR

KEVIN CARPENTER, BUSINESS MANAGER

ALEXANDRA DEGRANDCHAMP, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

KRIS FRONZAK, VIEWPOINTS EDITOR

KIPAYA KAPIGA, WEB EDITOR

CHARLES HORENSTEIN, MANAGING EDITOR

SARAH HARBOTTLE, PHOTO EDITOR

MAUREEN SILL, PHOTO EDITOR

MARTEN DOLLINGER, A&E EDITOR

MADELYN HALSTEAD, FEATURES EDITOR

MATTHEW YANNIE, SPORTS EDITORANDREW COLLINS, SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

HANNAH DIORIO-TOTH, VIEWPOINTS EDITOR

LANEY AUSTIN, NEWS EDITOR

ELLE BLOOM, FEATURES EDITOR

ASHLEY FARRAR, CHIEF COPY EDITOR

LEE MCKINSTRY, A&E EDITOR

KAY SOWERS, ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR

MICHAEL GELLERT, BUSINESS STAFF

GILLIAN DANIELS, PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

GRAINNE CARLIN, CHIEF COPY EDITOR

�Letters cannot exceed 350 words in length and must be received by the Voice by 5 p.m. on the Monday before Friday publication. �All letters must be signed, observe standard spelling and grammatical rules and include contact information. The Voice reserves the right to proofread and withhold letters.�Please send letters via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters can also be sent by campus mail to C-3187, The Wooster Voice, College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691.

The VVooiiccee welcomes letters to the editors!

Viewpoints would love to hear what you think about currentevents and issues, from campus developments to global news. If

you’re interested in writing, or if you’d like to comment on whatyou’ve read here, contact Viewpoints at [email protected], or email us individually at [email protected]

or [email protected].

HHaavvee aann OOppiinniioonn??

NATHAN COMSTOCK, PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Male double-standardthese preferences, and which isjudged as superior is entirelydependent on the gender of theperson being judged.

Women are not supposed toenjoy recreational sex, so a womanwho does is branded a slut. Menare supposed to want to engage inrecreational sex, so a man whodoesn’t is ostracized and consid-ered unmanly.

Now clearly, you might say,Sodini was trying to sleep withwomen. He wasn’t the sort whowould have been able to be happyalone if the media hadn’t constant-ly been telling him he needed to getlaid. But we have no way of know-ing that. What we do know is thatwhatever else was going on his life,he considered it all useless if hecouldn’t get a woman. Sex wasn’tjust one element defining his self-worth — it was the entirety of it.

I don’t think this is rare. Whenyou think about the sexual imagerythat pervades our culture, it’s nothard to see where this is comingfrom. Action heroes like JamesBond have a lot of enviable quali-ties, but the be-all and end-all istheir promiscuity — lots of womenwant them and they don’t have anyqualms about bedding all of them.If these are the guys who are sup-posed to be paragons of masculini-ty, it’s small wonder that those ofus who can’t or don’t want to fitinto that mold can struggle withserious depression issues as aresult.

“Society does this” is often agood way for individuals to getthemselves off the hook. Butmovies and TV aren’t the onlyproblem here. The culture thatpromotes this double standard isvery much propagated by individu-als — any time you call a girl a slutor make fun of a guy for not beingable to get laid, you’re contributingto it. And there are very real anddangerous consequences thatresult from that culture, for bothgenders.

George Myatt is an Arts & Entertainmenteditor for the Voice. He can be reached forcomment at [email protected].

nathancomstock

Education in the United States ofAmerica is not as standard as youmight think. When I was in eighthgrade, my U.S. history teacher, Park

G i l m o r e ,informed theclass one daythat the U.S.Constitutiondoes not men-tion anythingabout educa-

tion. No fear though, there is theU.S. Department of Education,which is a part of the President’sadministration. According to thewebsite of the Department ofEducation, its main goal “is to pro-mote student achievement andpreparation for global competitive-ness by fostering educational excel-lence and ensuring equal access.”

The website also notes that its pri-mary goal includes establishing poli-cies for funding educational institu-tions, collecting data and researchon schools, identifying issues in edu-cation and enforcing laws that pro-hibit discrimination in schools thatrecieve federal funding.

However, there’s a problem. Whilelaws such as No Child Left Behindare designed to raise the levels ofeducation and achievement in ele-mentary, middle and high schools,states are in charge of establishingthe curriculum for public schools.

What is your opinion on the new Health Care Reform?

“I think overall it will bereally great for Americans

and help those who were pre-viously uninsured. But I cansee the other side that it may

hurt small businesses thatcan’t afford it. Also there aresome parts that in theory aregood ideas but shouldn’t be

in the bill.”

“The policy of making abor-tion a seperate check is goingto be detrimental to women.Whether you are pro-life or

pro-choice, it is a bill that willhurt all women.”

“I think it’s a good thing. I’vealways been a fan of Canada’s

heathcare. This new plan will bemuch more affordable. Now

people can’t be turned down byHMO’s. I always try to look atboth sides but I can’t really seehow people could be completely

opposed to everything aboutthis bill.”

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CAMPUS VOICES

KKaattiiee HHaarrvvuuoott ’’1100

New Texas textbooks too biased

Nathan Comstock is Senior Arts Writerfor the Voice. He can be reached for com-ment at [email protected].

MARGARET DONNELLY, SPORTS EDITOR

georgemyatt

And recent actions taken by the stateof Texas indicate that it has no prob-lem asserting its role in education.

On Mar. 12, the New York Timeswriter James C. McKinley Jr. wrote“Texas Conservatives WinCurriculum Change,” reportingthat the Texas Board of Educationapproved a new social studies cur-riculum that puts “a conservativestamp on history and economics.”With a 15 members, 10 of whomare Republicans, the board, accord-ing to McKinley, rewrote the socialstudies curriculum to stress thesuperiority of American capital-ism, and represent Republicanideals in a more positive light.

McKinley also points out thatTexas is the largest buyer of text-books in the nation. It is the secondlargest state with a population of 22million people. So it’s not hard to seewhy so many publishers make a“Texas Textbook Edition.”

While there is a laundry list ofchanges made to the social studiescurriculum, here’s a few of the morenotable ones. As reported byMcKinley, Thomas Jefferson hasbeen cut from the curriculum andreplaced with religious figures suchas Saint Thomas of Aquinas, JohnCalvin and William Blackstone.Capitalism is now referred as “free-enterprise system.” And the boardpassed an amendment “requiring

that the history of McCarthyisminclude ‘how the later release of theVerona papers confirmed suspicionsof communist infiltration in U.S.government.’’’ Oops, the VeronaPapers details 3,000 communica-tions between USSR and its agentswhile in the U.S. during theMcCarthy era. Had enough of thisconservative agenda? Too bad,according to McKinley, there arealso measures to make sure studentsare aware of the conservative revoltand resurgence in the 80s and 90s.

Ironically, a conservative state thatwants a limited government so itcan’t interfere with the lives of itscitizens is passing legislation thatactively promotes a right-wingagenda. The actions of the TexasBoard of Education are essentiallychanging the meaning and course ofhistory for the United States. It’sfrightening that a state could poten-tially have this much power tochange the standards of educationfor every school in the United States.Could a “Texas Textbook Edition”end up on your school? It depends ifpublishers will agree to rewrite theirtextbooks and materials to suit onestate’s conservative educationrequirements.

Kris Fronzak is a Viewpoints editor forthe Voice. She can be reached for com-ment at [email protected]

I have a friend who always chal-lenges my knowledge of the so-called“classic” movies and books. He was

appalled, forexample whenI was unawareof the theme ofMachiavelli’s“The Prince”or just whichmovies Tom

Hanks is in. What was even worsewas when I admitted that I wasn’teven sure who Tom Hanks was. Tothis day, I still confuse him with BillMurray. The two are one and thesame to me.

The difference between then andnow, is that back then I was actuallydisturbed by my ignorance. After all,even if I don’t keep up with the num-

Focus on the point of entertainment

krisfronzak

ber and names of the kids AngelinaJolie and Brad Pitt adopt, shouldn’t I,as an English major, be well-versed inthe meanings behind the most ofthose novels and movies which areconsidered classics? Am I missing outon a vital part of American exis-tence? The answer is no.

I like “Harry Potter.” I can rewatchDisney movies again and again. Myfavorite books are usually adventure-romance novels, not “Moby Dick”and “Catcher in the Rye.” Jane Austennovels put me to sleep within min-utes. Most shocking of all, I even likemost of the “Twilight” books. Andthere really is nothing wrong withthat. An innate part of our humanityis the urge to be entertained. Wemust be doing things all the time tokeep our minds occupied. This does

not necessarily mean that our mindsneed to be expanding as well.Sometimes we need to simply takesomething at its face value. We keeplooking into it and trying to make itinto something it’s not. Not everymovie is actually making a discreetand profound comment on humanity.Not every book is mirroring the lifeof Jesus Christ — whether in a posi-tive or negative manner. And mostcertain of all, the chances of the bookyou’re reading right now actuallybeing the next great American novelare slim to none. Stop trying to makepopular entertainment into some-thing it’s not.

GEORGE MYATT, A&E EDITOR

Walking down the streets ofBulgaria at this time of year, one is

struck by theimmense vari-ety of “marten-itsi” that can beseen every-where. Indeed,all the streets,roads, bus stopsand lively

places, are filled with street ven-dors that sell martenitsi, especiallyin the downtown areas of each vil-lage and city.

So, what exactly are the marten-itsi? They are a special amulet tra-ditionally made of interwovenwhite and red threads.Martenitsata is traditionally asso-ciated with one of the biggest hol-idays of Bulgaria — Baba Marta.

Martenitsi come in many differ-ent forms. The classical martenitsaconsists of red and white interwov-en threads. Piju i Penda, a marten-itsa that represents a girl and a boy,combines these two traditional col-ors. The white color symbolizespurity, beauty and happiness. Thered color represents liveliness andhealth. The traditional Bulgarianmartenitsa also includes differentelements and symbols such as snailshells (for health and strength),beads (to guard off against evilspirits) and coins (for success).Nowadays, there is a wide varietyof these traditional amulets.

Baba Marta is celebrated onMarch 1, and it symbolizes thecoming of spring. On this day, allBulgarians give their relatives andfriends martenitsi, for strength andgood health for the entire year.This is a very ancient tradition,dating back to the founding of theBulgarian state in 681 A.D., and ithas been preserved thus far. In theold times, martenitsata was per-ceived as a ritual symbol, protect-ing against evil spirits. Nowadays,such associations are forgotten, andthe martenitsa now represents thecoming of spring. But even today,Bulgarians believe that if theywear the martenitsa during themonth of March, they will behealthy for the entire year.

On March 1, everyone inBulgaria wears a martenitsa.People are happy because theybelieve that everything from thatday on will be better. One can seemartenitsi on fruit trees, housedoors and animals. Even straydogs, of which there are relativelyfew can be seen wearing martenitsi.

People wear the martenitza untilthey see a stork or a blossomingtree, which are signs of spring.After that, they untie the marten-itza and hang it on a tree branch,then make a wish. This is an impor-tant step — the end of winter andthe coming of spring which sym-bolizes positive changes.

Features4 Friday,

March 26

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Elle Bloom

Madelyn Halstead

Going Green @Wooster

Voice

INTERNATIONALINSIGHT

Necessary renovations underway at PEC

steffikatzarska

Elle BloomFeatures Editor

The College’s ArmingtonPhysical Education Center has beenan eye-sore for students and facultyalike for many years. Finally, theCollege has decided to do somethingabout it.

The renovations on the PEC,which began shortly before springbreak, are expected to last over twoyears. The first phase of this projectwill be completed in January 2012, ifall goes according to plan.

The new PEC will be 123,000square feet and will include manynew additions. These include fourintramural courts for basketball sur-rounded by an NCAA regulation 200meter indoor running track as wellas tennis and volleyball courts. Ourtennis teams will no longer need togo off campus in order to train dur-ing bad weather. Also, bad weatherwill not be an issue for baseball any-more as there will be indoor battingcages and other equipment meantfor indoor practice. An indoor longjump, triple jump and pole vault willalso be added for athletes.

Any student, staff or facultymember who uses the weight roomfacilities, may wonder when and ifnew equipment will be provided.While the current machines we havewere kindly donated to the College,it is time for new equipment to taketheir places. Athletic Director KeithBeckett said that the College willreceive new equipment but that it

“remains to be determined” whatkinds of new machines the Collegewill receive. According to the linkon the Wooster website some of thenew machines will include circuittraining stations, elliptical and run-ning machines, rowing machines(which would be a new type ofmachine) and free weights.

New locker rooms, as well as newathletic department offices andmeeting rooms will also come fromthese renovations. Currently theHolden Annex is serving as officesand meeting rooms for most coachesand departments.

As a junior I have been able toenjoy the newly renovated Kaukehall, seen Gault dormitory built, suf-fered the noise of the Babcock reno-vations, and witnessed the surpriseof the “new” Lowry. However, dur-ing all that time nothing was done tothe PEC. Beckett said that “conver-sations and needs assessments havebeen reviewed and identified in vary-ing degrees for the past 20 years.”The reason for beginning the reno-vations now is “a result of ongoingplanning, discussion, assessment,confirmed need and formal board oftrustees approval.” As soon asapproval was granted, the campuswas informed of the upcoming reno-vations just days before they began.

There are a number of positiveelements of Wooster for a prospec-tive student to be attracted to: ourprofessors, our up-to-date class-rooms, impressive libraries, sciencelabs, athletics, clubs, etc. However,our PEC was not one of the ele-

ments that attracted outsiders. Fora number of years our dilapidatedPEC has been thought to be such adisgrace that it turned awayprospective students interested inathletics. Beckett said that “thatposition was shared by recruitedstudents and coaches that wereinvolved in recruiting as an arealacking for the College in compari-son to some of our competitors.”Hopefully, the prospect of a newPEC will entice students to chooseWooster as well as to keep themcoming for years past the renova-tion’s completion.

As much of campus has nownoticed, the main entrance to thePEC is closed and instead studentsmust use the north entrance. As ofnow how this construction willaffect student life (athletic and nonathletic) remains to be determined.

Beckett noted that “modificationsand schedule adjustments will benecessary” in order to accommodateall those wishing to use the facilities.

While the new PEC will hopeful-ly draw more attention to Woosterand provide a better athletic expe-rience to students, faculty andstaff, it is in no way meant to placemore emphasis on athletics.Beckett stated that “the center is acampus center that will provideopportunities for recreation, fit-ness, intramurals, clubs, activityclasses, athletics and more.”

For more information on the ren-ovations of the PEC please consultthe Wooster website www.woost-er.edu/en/Athletics/Athletic_Facilities/rec_center where digital pho-tos of the outcome of the PEC areavailable as well as a list ofchanges which will be made.

Digital image of the future PEC (Photo courtesy OPI).

Politeness proves different in Granada, SpainWhen I first arrived in

Granada, Spain this past Januaryto begin mys e m e s t e rabroad, I didnot think thatI would havemuch troubleadapting tothe Spanishl i f e s t y l e .

Despite the many warnings aboutculture shock, there was no aspectof life in Spain that seemed asthough it would be particularlyjarring to my American sensibili-ties. After all, I was looking for-ward to a semester of tapas, san-gría and siestas — there was lit-tle to which I felt I would have toadjust. However, it took littletime for me to realize how mis-taken I was.

A few days into my stay, Ibecame aware of what appeared tobe a chronic state of dissatisfac-tion of the people of the city.Passersbys always seemed dis-gruntled at requests for directions.Store clerks and waiters were con-stantly annoyed by customers.Few people ever appeared to smile.Though I did not know it at thetime, I was being introduced towhat many consider to beGranadans’ defining characteris-tic: “la malafollá.”

While it is obviously impossible toidentify a single specific trait in thecitizenry of an entire city, the peopleof Granada are known throughoutSpain by their reputation for impolite-ness (Whether this reputation isdeserved or not depends entirely onwhom one asks). “La malafollá” is theterm that the Spanish have developedto describe the infamous Granadan-style rudeness. As a study abroad stu-dent, I was not particularly thrilled todiscover I had committed to spend thenext six months of my life in a city ofsuch repute.

However, as time passed I began tounderstand “la malafollá” for what itreally was: not a negative reflection onthe nature of the residents ofGranada, but a simple difference inculture. Granadans are neither anunhappy nor mean group of people;they merely perceive the concept ofpoliteness in a different manner. Thereal culture shock I received, however,did not come from having to adapt to“la malafollá”; rather, it came when Irealized I was beginning to develop aslight appreciation for it. Granadans’lack of concern for social norms thatare rigidly upheld in the United Statesis, in a strange way, slightly liberating,and it lends them a certain genuine-ness that is refreshing. Living herehas caused me to become conscious ofhow much time Americans spendworrying about saying the right thing

in a given situa-tion or followingrules of social eti-quette or beingpolitically cor-rect. It is a mind-set that is hard tochange, and evenafter spending afew months in thecity I still find itdifficult to aban-don my veryAmerican conceptof politeness.

Nevertheless,my time inGranada has ledme to appreciatehow the notionsof rudeness inone’s culture canaffect the way aperson perceivesthe people ofanother culture.While I was ini-tially unsure ofhow to approach

city; they are open, honest, andpassionate about life. Despite theirreputation, Granadans are far fromrude. They are simply polite in adifferent way.

Steffi Katzarska is an internationalstudent from Bulgaria. She can bereached for further comment [email protected].

Get involved with Greenhouse

Above, a view of the Alhambra castle locat-ed on the southeastern border of the city ofGranada (Photo courtesy of Emily Ryan).

emilyryan

For information please [email protected]

There is a lot of talk about“going green” these days; however,if you want to make a difference,actions speak louder than words.

By getting involved withGreenhouse, you can work on theenvironmental issues you careabout with other students whoshare your passion and concern.Greenhouse is a student organiza-tion that works to promote an ethicof sustainability on campus. Weraise the student body’s environ-mental awareness, encouragelifestyle changes to lower one’s cli-mate impact, and reduce both ener-gy and resource consumption oncampus.

Greenhouse is composed of vari-ous action committees who are incharge of exciting campus initia-tives. Current projects include

reducing dining services’ carbonfootprint through low-meat meals,the creation of a community gar-den in downtown Wooster, remov-ing bottled water from campusstores, making eco-friendly clean-ing supplies available, creating anonline rideshare network, andimplementing a revolving-loan effi-ciency fund that will ensure futurefunding for campus sustainabilityprojects. Greenhouse frequentlymeets and collaborates with theadministration, other studentorganizations, community mem-bers and national climate organiza-tions in order to ensure that eachinitiative is as environmentallyfriendly and human friendly as pos-sible.

Greenhouse meets everyTuesday at 8 p.m. in Lowry Pit.Everyone is welcome to attend, andwe encourage you to do so if youare interested in becoming a cam-pus leader and making lasting

changes! If you can’t attend meet-ings, there are additional ways tobe involved with Greenhouse. Theorganization is responsible formany exciting events that are opento the whole student body. Onesuch upcoming event is EarthFest,which will take place on Earth Day(April 22) this year. Current plansfor this year’s celebration includetie-dye opportunities, jewelry mak-ing, competitions, laundry deter-gent making, trashcan painting andof course a pot-luck.

Stay tuned for more articlesabout Greenhouse’s many initia-tives and EarthFest events infuture editions of the Voice.

Catherine GilletteErika TakeoVoice Contributors

This is the first of a five part seriesrepresenting the different projects of theGreenhouse Organization. For moreinformation please contact Alyssa Gettaat [email protected] The opinionsof this article do not necessaraily repre-sent the opinions of the Voice staff.

Now that spring break is over, we’re all back to campus and doing ourown laundry. Here are some tips for your regular clothes cleaning ses-sions:

-Resist the urge to wash small amounts. If you absolutely must washjust a few articles, consider hand-washing.

-Using 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar (give or take, depending on load size)in your final rinse cycle in eliminates the need for commercial fabric sof-teners. Vinegar removes static cling, softens your clothes, removes all theleft over detergent and sanitizes your clothes.

-You can save some energy and a few quarters by line drying yourclothes. If you can’t find a place to put one, clothing horses come verycheap; with persistence, a good one can be found for 15 to 20 dollars.

-On a completely obvious note: if it doesn’t need washing, don’t washit! Too many of us throw something in the laundry bin after one use,assuming it can't last another day. Small stains can usually be scrubbedout pretty easily with a basic washcloth.

-Compiled by Charles Horenstein

“la malafollá,” I soon realized that thekey was to understand that thebrusqueness of a sales clerk or thesmile-free expression of a passerbydoes not necessarily indicate that thatperson is mean or bad-tempered. Formy part, I have had a wonderful expe-rience living with the people of this

bers faced each other and used rib-bons in the piece to add another levelof artistic expression. Two pieces forthe concert also included a movementpiece from dancer Brandelle Knights’12. The song “Pseudo-Yoik,” accord-ing to Thomas, was a favorite amongthe group to perform.

The Wooster Chorus has previous-ly traveled to the West Coast in SanFrancisco, Portland and Seattle, in

addition to Cincinnati, St. Louis andChicago.

While the Wooster Chorus wastouring, the Scot Symphonic Bandtour was also traveling throughoutthe north east of the United States.According to alto saxophone player,Brett Dawson ’11, the tour consistedof performances in New Hampshire,New Jersey, New York, Connecticut,

members and with the College ofWooster.” According to Yozviak, partof the mission of the chorus tour is tocontinue relations with the Woosteralumni community, and recruitprospective students.

Baritone singer Paul Winchester’11 noted that the music for the con-certs is a mix of 20th and 21st centu-ry choral music which ranges in aselection of types and qualities. “Most

of these pieces were neo-tonal andattractive, with a few instances ofsevere dissonance and aggression aswell,” said Winchester.

“We started off in a traditionalchoral fashion, standing and singing,used hand bells for one piece, and forone spread out into small groups,”says Kyle Thomas ’11. Within thesegroups, Thomas adds that choir mem-

Arts&EntertainmentVoice 5Friday,

March 26

SSeeccttiioonn EEddiittoorrss::

Marten Dollinger

Lee McKinstry

George Myatt

Wooster Chorus and Band tour east region

Someone pointed out to me lastnight that John Cage’s postmodern

composition4’33” is avail-able oniTunes, witheach of itsthree move-ments sellingfor 99 cents apiece. For

those of you not in the know, 4’33’’ isa composition made entirely of rests.The performers sits by his or herinstrument, makes ready to play, andthen doesn’t, the silence of the spaceitself making the piece.

Cage’s piece is a classic illustrationof modern art, and the questions itraises. Certainly it’s one thing to seea live performance of 4’33,” anotherentirely to pay $3 for a recording of it.Either way, the piece asks us toanswer the question of what compris-es art. To the accusation that anyonecould have written 4’33”, Cage hasresponded “No one else did.”

Over spring break , I had the oppor-tunity to visit the Museum ofModern Art in New York City, animpressive museum that was filledwith evocative pieces that could beconsidered visual analogues to 4’33”.The MoMA hosts some originalpaintings by Jackson Pollock, whofaced similar questions when he beganto create art by dumping and splatter-ing paint on canvases, as well as someof Andy Warhol’s work.

The main installation when Iattended was a retrospective on theperformance art of MarinaAbramovic. A performance artistfrom Yugoslavia, Abramovic has usedand abused her body and her soul inthe name of art, embarking on deeplypersonal projects of endurance in apublic setting. At one point she stoodin a room next to a table containing72 objects, some of them lethal, and asign. The sign read “I am the object.I take full responsibility.” The audi-ence was invited to use the objects onher and they did — drawing on herwith lip stick, undressing her, dress-ing her. Finally one man loaded thegun on the table, placed it in herhand, and pointed it at her head.Thought-provoking? Yes.Emotionally evocative? Certainly.Art? Who’s to say?

The MoMA had many photos andvideos of Abramovic’s work, butthey also recreated some of hertamer projects, with nude models re-enacting them throughout theinstallation. In one room, a womanand man stood facing each other,barely two feet apart, and the muse-um patrons were asked to walkbetween them sideways.

A stranger to this kind of art, Ifound the experience off-putting atfirst, but it grew on me. Detachedfrom its normal context, the humanbody is art: the way it’s presented,the way the models do or do notinteract and finally how the specta-tor chooses to react — lookingaway, staring them down, castingfurtive glances. The charged emo-tions in a created space, like thespace between the man and thewoman, is art as well.

Abramovic herself was participat-ing in a new project, sitting at a table(fully clothed) while patrons came, satdown across from her and staredsilently. The art, signs and plaquesproclaimed, was in the created spacebetween the woman and the audiencemember, and all of the possibility inthat space.

A space of infinite possibility.Infinite possibility at a table. Infinitepossibility between two nude mod-els. Infinite possibility on a blankcanvas. Or even infinite possibility ina concert hall, for four minutes and33 seconds. Is it art? I don’t think I’llbe putting down three bucks to put4’33” on my iPod, but I think if I sawit in concert I would feel the samesorts of things I felt in that installa-tion in the MoMA — that I had notonly seen art, but been art, been apart of a created space that allowedme to experience, for an instant, infi-nite possibility.

jonahcomstock

THE SCENE

On the college campus, we com-monly see singers running off topractice for Wooster Chorus. Youmight even run into the pipe bandmembers practicing outside or inMcGaw depending on the season.Every year during the first week ofspring break, members of theWooster Chorus and Scot SymphonicBand embark on separate domestictours in the United States.

Between March 6-13, The WoosterChorus, under the direction of profes-sor of music Lisa Yozviak, traveledand performed in cities inPennsylvania, Maryland andWashington DC. The tour was offi-cially titled, “2010 Wooster Chorus,”featuring the line, “...Stars I ShallFind.” According to Yozviak, this “arch of the musical program encom-passed the typical journey that onemakes throughout life, in that we startout alone, join with others in commu-nity or in a variety of relationships,but then our lives end in much thesame way that they began.” “Stars IShall Find” is a line of in a poem bySarah Teasdale, and the line of com-poser Frank Ticheli’s “There Will BeRest.”

With 41 students to tour and lead,Yozviak notes that this “creates aunique bonding experience amongchoir members, which not only buildsa sense of camaraderie that is essen-tial for performance, but also estab-lishes lasting relationships between

Wooster Street Style:I.S. Monday Edition

82nd Annual Academy Awards sees firsts

The Scot Symphonic Band sets up in The PresbyterianChurch in Morristown, New Jersey (Photo by Linda Kuster).

George MyattA&E Editor

Lee McKinstryA&E Editor

Jonah is an Editor-in-Chief for theVoice. He can be reached for comment [email protected]

The 82nd Annual Academy Awardstook place on Sunday, March 7, andwas filled with a number of new addi-tions to the usually predictable Oscarrepertoire. Among them, in order ofmost to least understandable were thefollowing: Ten Best PictureNominees! Two Hosts! StrangeInterpretative Dance Interpretationsof Film Scores! But while the tele-vised tricks might have been slightlytweaked, there was nothing really allthat unexpected about the 82ndAcademy Awards. Except for howmuch it lacked the excitement andglitz of, well, the Academy Awards.

The biggest story during the weeksleading up to “the biggest night inshow business” was the addition offive more nominees to the BestPicture award category. This had notbeen since 1943. They explained theirdecision by rationalizing that themove would help lesser known moviesget a shot at world recognition.Which is why high grossing films likethe tear-jerker “The Blind Side” andPocohantas with aliens “Avatar” wereamong the nominees. The real, andnot so artfully hidden reason behindthe expansion was that the AcademyAwards have been steadily decliningin ratings for the past decade. The lasttime more than 40 million peopletuned in to the show was when themega-successful Titanic was up for

the award in 1997. The producershave thus expanded the playing field,hoping to bring in more viewers hop-ing to hear a monologue spokenentirely in Na’vi, or blue men, withtail plugs.

And yet, the movie that walkedaway with the top prize was “TheHurt Locker,” which also has the dis-tinction of being the lowest-grossingfilm in modern times to win thehonor. Though this “little war moviethat could” was a hit at both awardsshows and critics’ circles, it may notbe what the average American movie-goer pays for at the megaplex. But, atarguably one of the last credibleaward shows still televised, the winwas definitely one the art communitycould be proud of. Director of “TheHurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelowwalked away as the first woman towin the Best Director prize. Shegracefully did not mention this mile-stone even once in her speech, havingpreviously said to the press that thedecision should be based on her work,not her gender. Her ex-husband,director James Cameron was not the“king of the world” but the king of“FX” when early favorite “Avatar”only went home with three techincalawards. On the bright side, those“average American viewers” thatinterest groups keep targeting did getto see Ben Stiller in blue paint in avery funny sketch.

The co-hosts, Steve Martin andAlec Baldwin, who are both extreme-

ly funny men,left me bored.The openingof the showtook the formof a largelyunfunny 15minute longconversationbetween thetwo, whostood ono p p o s i t esides of thestage barelylooking ateach other asthey deliv-ered stale jokes that were obviouslyaimed at an older age group. Needlessto say, I thought this was a major stepdown from last-year’s hugely enter-taining triple threat Hugh Jackman,who’s skit involving his “homemademove sets” is still one of my favoriteOscar moments. Martin and Baldwindid deliver a few snappy intros, butlargely, I forgot they even had a spe-cial part in the show.

The acting awards of the nightwent to the overwhelming favorites.Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullockrecieved their Best Actor and Actressstatuettes for “Crazy Heart” and “TheBlind Side” respectively. Bridgesplayed washed-up country singer BadBlake, while Bullock took on the roleof tough football mom, Lee AnnTuohy, but these awards were given

more for their overall career perform-ance (Bridges) or their box-office starpower (Bullock).

The supporting awards were com-pletely deserved in Christoph Walzand Mo’ Nique, who played anextremely fluent Nazi and hideouslyabusive mother respectively. Theonly real surprise of the night camewhen Best Foreign Film favorite,Germany’s “The White Ribbon,”was beat out by the lesser-known “ElSecreto de Sus Ojos” fromArgentina. And in a truly bizarretwist, a pseudo-Kanye West/TaylorSwift debacle took place when theproducers for Best DocumentaryShort winner “Music By Prudence”started squabbling over the micro-phone.

At least no one was hurt.

and Massachusetts. The Band tourwas directed by professor of musicNancy Ditmer, with Tom Robble aspercussion instrumentalist, and NedBrooks as the assistant director.There were more than 90 peopleinvolved in the band tour; approxi-mately 70 were in the band, as well asnine pipers and three highlanddancers.

Five out of the six concerts, accord-ing to Dawson, were performed inchurches, with a special performanceat the high school of band memberJohn Hotchkiss ’10. Dawson notesthat there were different crews to setup and run the band tour. Some ofthese crews included setup crew, teardown crew and luggage crew. Dawsonwas the head of the truck crew forunloading and loading all the of bandequipment for the band tour’s rentaltruck.

Dawson notes that one particularpiece, “Ballet Sacra” (Scared Ballet) bycomposer David Hollsinger was themost challenging to perform duringthe concerts. “It features a big sectionwith singing, making it a very power-ful piece,” says Dawson.

In contrast to the WoosterChorus’s tour theme, the WoosterBand is “where are we going?’” notesDawson. T-shirts featuring a Woosterkilt draped across the Statue ofLiberty indicated that the Band tour’sfinal destination was New York City.Like the Wooster Chorus, the ScotSymphonic Band’s tour is also utlilzedto recruit students and connect to theWooster alumni community.

Jeff Bridges wins for “Crazy Heart” (Photo by AP).

Cassiel Archdeacon ‘10 celebrates I.S.Monday, pageant style (Photo by LindaKuster).

Every year, the completion of Independent Study is marked by a day-long cel-ebration involving revelry, debaucher, and snappy dressing. Wooster Street Stylecaught up with one of the more creative costume wearers, Cassiel Archdeacon’10, by the residential quad.

Channeling both a flamenco dancer and Miss America, the philosophy majoralso keeps it practical with black rain boots. Furthermore, her yellow sash accen-tuated her recent accomplishment with the title “Miss Philosophy” with the let-ters “I.S.” emblazoned in red. Cassiel’s black, maroon and turquoise dress sport-ed a lacy skirt.

Other outfits worn included quilts, kilts, many colored t-shirts, authentic1930s-style garb and overalls. Most of this fun fashion was on full display atthe 5 p.m. parade starting in Kauke Arch. It ran over most of the quad side-walks, as well as the police-monitored Beall Ave.

a military force in their attemptto escape the doomed town.

The tone is very well set throughshot construction, music and all theother ingredients that go into the cre-ation of suspense, but it gets to bepretty formulaic. The classic reveal ofcutting back and forth to a shot,showing a crazy behind the constant-ly victimized wife of the protagonisthappens just one too many times, andyou can almost always tell whensomeone is about to “save the day.”

The most redeeming quality ofthe movie was the interplay betweenthe level-headed Sheriff Dutton andthe head-strong but loyal DeputyRussell, due to both the writing oftheir relationship and Olyphant andAnderson’s performance. Duttonseemed the exemplary leader tohave in anything resembling a zom-bie apocalypse, and, despite her ten-dency to let crazies sneak up on her,his wife was just a little bit morethan a damsel in distress. Russellmay seem like a liability at somepoints, but in the end he pullsthrough in something that resem-bles a believable and not entirelyobvious way.

From the middle to the end, it waspretty good at keeping me guessingwhich one of our heroes was goingto get killed off next, but the factthat I was watching it as a guessinggame instead of thrilling to everytwist speaks to how closely Eisnerstuck to formula for this one. Thisdoesn’t make “The Crazies” a badmovie, just a predictable one.

The remake of an almost-but-not-quite zombie movie is nothing spec-tacular, but certainly lives up toexpectations for a slightly above aver-age horror film. Breck Eisner’s “TheCrazies,” pulling a 72 percent atRotten Tomatoes, delivers all thethings you would expect from yourrun-of-the-mill suspense flick. Someof the earlier kills in the movie werefairly tame by today’s gory moviestandards —the use of the pitch forkyou see on the poster is about asgraphic as it gets. Still, it will definite-ly be a good while before I’m ready touse a drive-through car wash again.

“The Crazies” is set in small townIowa, following the local SheriffDavid Dutton (Timothy Olyphant),his wife Dr. Judy Dutton (RhadaMitchell), Deputy Sheriff RussellClank (Joe Anderson) and an assort-ment of classic small town charactersas members of the community startgoing insane and killing people. Somedetective work on the part of Duttonreveals the source of the problem tobe water supply contamination, but itis too late, as the military has alreadybegun a “containment protocol.” Thetownspeople are rounded up for quar-antine, and the story quickly pits ourheroes against both insane killers and

acter falls short, coming across asimmature and weak opposed tocharismatic. After watching him forfive minutes, it was completelyshocking that any woman, even onelacking substance and personality,would want to be with him.Alongside the main role, the sup-porting male characters are oafish,disgusting and about as likeable asovercooked broccoli. They act likeidiots and their conversation is rifewith age inappropriate referencesspanning from cartoon Disney filmsto Hannah Montana. All things con-sidered, it is unfathomable as to how,based on their intelligence andmaturity levels, any of them wereable to obtain a driver’s license, letalone a job or girlfriend.

Throughout the course of thismovie, the characters spend a greatdeal of time ranking human beingson a points system of one to 10, giv-ing and taking points for things suchas appearance, job, car, etc. In thetheme of this game, I will start bygiving the cast and crew 10 points formanaging to get their movie into the-aters nationwide. I will then proceedto deduct one point each for the uno-riginal plot, lack of character sub-stance, uninteresting character inter-action, mediocre acting, overallimmaturity, weak script and failedattempt to be funny. This leaves“She’s Out of My League” with onlythree points out of 10, all of whichare attributed to the overwhelmingsense of relief I felt when the filmfinally ended.

If you enjoy watching grown menrunning around acting like overlyhormonal teenagers for an hour and ahalf, the new romantic comedy “She’sOut of My League” is for you. If not,than I would strongly recommendseeing something else. By the time thecredits rolled, I could safely say that Ifound this film neither romantic norfunny. The plot consisted of a youngman (Jay Baruchel), who worked inairport security, and his friends spend-ing an entire full length movie tryingto figure out why on earth the attrac-tive, blonde party planner (Alice Eve)would ever be interested in him.

In other words, this movie cateredto the male fantasy of an awkward,immature guy with a fairly unap-pealing job getting a gorgeous,mature woman who is, as the titlestates, “out of his league.” Thefemale lead is what many might callthe perfect woman. She is beautiful,and while she is smart and has a lawdegree, she won’t outshine her malecounterpart, as she gave up law toplan parties. Not only does she lookgood, but she has no problem help-ing the man make his brothers andex-girlfriend jealous by objectifyingherself !

Also, while she spends a signifi-cant portion of the movie trying toconvince the male lead that she does,in fact, have flaws, aside from a bare-ly noticeable and definitely not dealbreaking physical abnormality, noneof these flaws are ever explained orshown on screen. I, however, wouldargue that her greatest defect is hercomplete and utter lack of sub-stance. As for the supporting femalecharacters, they are mean, abrasiveand for the most part, shallow, easyand unintelligent, yet the men areworse.

While the film attempts a malelead who is socially and physicallyawkward, yet kind and charminglynerdy — a role which has workedwell in classic romantic comediessuch as “Say Anything” and “10Things I Hate About You,” the char-

The more movies Tim Burtonmakes, the clearer it is to me that TimBurton can only make one movie, overand over again. The combination ofhis highly recognizable aesthetic —dark twisted fantasy worlds — andhis insistence on using the same twodistinctive actors in every film makesit hard for his movies to be anythingother than Tim Burton movies.That’s not all bad. There’s enoughvariation in the plot and the otheractors to make each of Burton’s filmsinteresting in their own right, but hisdistinctive style is bad news when hetries to do an adaptation.

“Alice in Wonderland” is a perfectexample — there is so much TimBurton in the film that it crowds outany possible influence of LewisCarroll, whose beloved masterpiece issupposedly being evoked.

The film commits the same sin asthe original Disney animated featurein amalgamating “Alice in

Martin Scorsese’s latest film“Shutter Island” has all the elementsof a great psychological thriller, fromcrazy people, to vivid nightmares, tostrange twists and turns, and ofcourse, a creepy child. As soon as thefilm begins and the camera slowlyapproaches the docks of ShutterIsland, then passes through the maingates, it’s almost as if you areembarking on a crazy, surreal ridewith no chance of turning back.

“Shutter Island” focuses on U.S.Marshal Teddy Daniels (LeonardoDiCaprio) who, with his partnerChuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), is sent tothe Ashecliffe Hospital for theCriminally Insane to track down anescaped patient. The premise and set-ting are certainly enough to sendchills down your back before any ofthe action even begins.

And let it be known, it does takeawhile for the film to gain speed.“Shutter Island” is a constant series ofstrange overlapping stories, as itshifts between disjointed memoriesfrom Teddy’s experiences duringWorld War II, to surreal nightmaresabout his dead wife (MichelleWilliams), and then back to thepresent time. All of these conflictingelements are enough to confuse anddisorient the viewer, although thatseems to be the point.

As the film progresses, the audi-ence actually seems to be goingcrazy right along with Teddy. Theyare left to piece together and makesense of the strange images theyare being provided with as a meansto figure out the mystery along

with Teddy. It is true that the film drags on at

times and relies heavily on the useof drawn out dialogue as to assistin decoding the mystery. However,the stellar performances of theentire cast more than make up forthe meandering plot.

Leonardo DiCaprio excels atbeing a tortured, bewilderedMarshal with a dark past. Likewise,Ben Kingsley delivers an excellentperformance as Dr. Cawley, therather shifty man who runs thehospital. The same goes for Maxvon Sydow who plays the mysteri-ous Dr. Naehring. Everyone, itseems, has reason to be suspectedand questioned by the audience, aseach seems to be hiding his or herown secrets.

Even though their screen timewas quite brief, both Jackie EarleHaley and Patricia Clarkson alsoprovided stirring, scene-stealingperformances as well. Anyone whocan grab the spotlight fromDiCaprio and stick in the minds ofviewers after only a five minuteperiod is certainly worthy of thehighest praise.

6 WoosterFriday, March 26, 2010The

Voice

This Spring Break at the Movies: Choice ReviewsMost of the films released this season don’t so much scream “Oscar-bait” as politely ask “give ussome money,” but there are certainly a few good movies to see playing, as well as a few less than

stellar f licks to watch out for.Wonderland” and “Through theLooking Glass,” eliminating in onefell swoop all the significant differ-ences and plot coherence of the orig-inal work. The characters thatremain from the original are givennew characterizations: the dormousewhose defining characteristic waslaziness becomes a bold hero, theWhite Queen (Anne Hathaway) isrestyled into an unfamiliar charactermore kind and sympathetic than any-one Alice encounters in the originalwork, and the Mad Hatter (JohnnyDepp) becomes a pseudo-love interestwith a hastily made-up past to givehim some semblance of depth. Manyother characters are completely new,but just as shallow.

An adaptation is not an imitation, ofcourse, and no one went into this filmexpecting to see the books on screen.But this is deeper than adaptationdecay — as far as I could tell, inBurton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” noth-ing whatsoever remained of Carroll’sWonderland.

Carroll’s Wonderland is a dream-scape; its defining characteristics areits illogical layout and lack of geog-raphy. The logic of the land is

wordplay and philosophy,neither of which makemuch of an appearance inthe film. Wonderlandconsists not in the talkinganimals or fantasticimpossibilities, but in theintense cleverness of thestorytelling, a clevernesswhich is not remotely pre-served in the film.

Instead, Burton replacesit with fluff. We get aprophecy which Alice(Mia Wasikowska) stub-bornly refuses to fulfill,demanding that she con-trol her own destiny.Until she fulfills it, exactlyas she is supposed to.What’s the lesson there?Where even is the surpriseor interest in such a plot?Alice discovers conclusive-ly that Wonderland is nota dream — when one ofthe most intriguing part’sof Carroll’s work was theopen question of whetheror not it was. Strippedeven of it’s childhood con-text, Lewis’s tale of child-hood wonder becomes aflimsy and confusing storyof female empowermentin Victorian England —for lack of anything elseto be.

Tim Burton has a repu-tation for making films darker andedgier, but that tactic falls fabulouslyflat in this film. With the decision toadvance Alice to the age of 19, thepresence of a subplot about marriage,and the decision to make her clothesnot shrink or grow with her (some-thing fundamentally unprecedentedin tellings of the tale), one mightexpect some sexual overtones, some-thing which could save the film fromthe intense boringness of the plot.But thanks to the Disney stamp andthe PG rating, we’re instead left witha conspicuously asexual film whichonly adds to the unrealistic character-ization of Alice and the Hatter.

Ultimately, Burton’s ego edges outall traces of Carroll, leaving us with aTim Burton film that Burton himselfdoesn’t understand — a half-bakedmess of pretty visual effects and poor-ly articulated morals.

SHE’S OUT OFMY LEAGUE

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

SHUTTER ISLAND

THE CRAZIES

Emily RegenstreifVoice Staff

Jonah ComstockEditor in Chief

Hallie MorelandVoice Staff

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Of course, it should also be pointedout that “Shutter Island” has a greatdeal more to offer than simply greatperformances. Although it is dia-logue-heavy, there are certainly manyjump-out-of-your-seat moments, all ofwhich are more fun if they are unex-pected. For that reason, I won’t revealthem here.

The visual elements of the film areindescribably stunning and truly helpto enhance the eerie mood of the film.It is small touches like these that helpto remind the viewer they aren’t justwatching some B-movie horror story,but a truly artistic film by an A-listdirector.

While the film does have its slowpoints, it will undoubtedly keep youguessing until the end. The twistmight be a bit of a letdown at first,but “Shutter Island” does a good jobat presenting it in a more interestingand satisfying way than initiallyexpected. This helps add anotherlevel of complexity to what other-wise might seem formulaic. Andeven if the ending leaves you want-ing more, the rest of the film shouldstill be able to provide you with allthe thrills you need.

llustration by Gillian Daniels.

SportsVoice 7Friday,

March 26

SSeeccttiioonn EEddiittoorrss::

Margaret Donnelly

Chris Weston

Matthew Yannie

Women’s lacrosse team discusses strategy at half time during Saturday’s game againstFredonia State University (Photo by Sam VanFleet).

Mike HaggertyVoice Staff

Margaret DonnellySports Editor

Women’s lax starts season 1-2

The Wooster women’s lacrosseteam returned from its Spring Breaktrip in San Antonio, Texas with arecord of 1-1 to start the season.On Sunday, March 7 the womendefeated the University of Texas-Dallas (0-5) 22-6 but lost 15-10 toElizabethtown College (2-1) thatTuesday.

The Fighting Scots left no ques-tion as to which team controlled thefield, putting up 10 unansweredgoals against Dallas in the first half,and adding 12 more to seal the 22-6win. Nina Dine ’11 and MadisonCarey ’12 each had five goals andBecca Worthington ’10 had fourgoals and an assist. Jess Cleveland’10, Emily Meyer ’11 and AmyDenny ’10 each recorded two goals,and Katie Smart ’11 and IsabelBaylor ’12 each recorded one goal.

Worthington led the team with agame-high four goals and one assistagainst Elizabethtown. Dine and

Carey each tallied two goals, whileCleveland scored one and ClareNelson-Johnson ’13 recorded herfirst career goal for the books. TheScots trailed by two points (8-6) athalftime, but that was the closestthey were able to come in overcom-ing Elizabethtown. They lost thegame 15-10.

Goalkeepers Shawna Ferris ’13 andSarah Blosser ’13 split equal playingtime, each playing one half of bothgames. Ferris recorded 11 saves andBlosser had seven for the trip.

The Scots hosted Fredonia StateUniversity in their home opener onSaturday, March 20 at John P. PappStadium. After trailing 3-0 in theopening minutes of the game,Wooster tied the Blue Devils 3-3 andkept the score close throughout thefirst half. Fredonia State outscoredWooster in the second half to beatthe Scots in a decisive 17-9 win.

The Blue Devils led the game withthree early points that wereanswered with a hat trick by Dine totie the game 3-3 with 20 minutes

remaining in the first half. Fredoniaresponded with three more unan-swered goals, but Smart and Nelson-Johnson cut Wooster’s deficit to onewith a goal apiece. The Blue Devilsadded one more to lead 7-4 and theremaining 13 minutes in the halfwere scoreless by both teams.

Fredonia State overwhelmedWooster in the second half, makinga 10-3 scoring run that includedgoals by nine different players. TheScots were able to convert on twofree-position goals, but their deficitto the Blue Devils was too great toovercome.

Dine led Wooster’s scoring withfour goals, and Nelson-Johnson con-tributed two goals and an assist. Forthe Blue Devils, Amy Simon had agame-high of six goals.

The Scots will host St. VincentUniversity (0-1) tomorrow at theCarl Dale Memorial Field at 1:30p.m. and will see their first NorthCoast Athletic Conference actionnext Thursday, April 1 againstAllegheny College at 7 p.m.

Softball impressive early

Scots’ program shows no signs of slowing downFor 14 straight years, the men’s

basketball team has won at least 20games, thelongest activestreak in Div.III. The teamhas reached theN C A ATournament in14 of the past15 seasons, and

has now won six straight regularseason titles. Success is supposed tobe difficult, but the Scots have madewinning seem as regular asMetamucil. The Scots’ run to the“Sweet Sixteen” showed why theScots have been so consistent, andwhy coach Steve Moore’s empireshows no signs of slowing down.

For the second year in a row,Moore’s young team started slowly.Beginning the season ranked No. 9,the team was just 5-4 in mid-December, dropping them out of thenational rankings. From there, how-ever, the Scots found their rhythmand never looked back, reeling off 20

victories in their next 21 games. The greatest moment of the season

came on Feb. 27 in the NCACChampionship against WittenbergUniversity. Two weeks before, theunderdog Tigers — out to prove thatthe Wooster-Wittenberg rivalry hadnot become a one-sided affair — cameinto Timken Gymnasium and stunnedthe Scots 67-56. The Scots committed18 turnovers and gave an unfocusedand uninspiring performance. Twoweeks later, the team bounced backand responded with its best perform-ance of the season — winning 88-77.

For the third time in four years, theScots captured the NCACChampionship on their home floor.This time, the lone senior, point guardBrandon Johnson ’10, was the last oneto cut down the nets. The year before,that honor had gone to Johnson’s for-mer teammate and roommate, for-ward Marty Bidwell ’09.

The Scots opened the first tworounds of the NCAA Tournament ontheir home floor. After a relativelysloppy 63-52 win over Grove City

College in the first round, the Scotsplayed their second round gameagainst the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Warhawks, rankedNo. 8 in the country, boasted theWisconsin Intercollegiate AthleticConference Player of the Year in 6-9center Dustin Mitchell, the WIACCoach of the Year Pat Miller, andanother explosive scorer guard inDupree Fletcher. On paper, even ontheir home floor, the Scots were heavyunderdogs — facing worse odds thanthe Healthcare bill.

The Scots, however, played withmore focus and, quite frankly, moreheart. Behind a 30-point effort by IanFranks ’11, the Scots gained a 22-21lead with 10 minutes left in the firsthalf. Mitchell, the Warhawks’ star,fouled out with just 14 points. Millerturned in a memorable coaching per-formance and was ejected from thegame with two technical fouls.

A week later, facing an even tallerorder, the Scots couldn’t quite sustaintheir success. In their regional semifi-nal against No. 3 Guilford College in

Greensboro, N.C., the Scots lookednervous early as the Quakers scoredthe game’s first 12 points and jumpedout to a 40-22 lead at halftime. At thatpoint, the heavy underdogs couldhave mailed in the second half. TheScots, however, finally found theirgroove in the second half — using a19-4 run to trim the Guilford leaddown to five. The Quakers eventuallyheld on 75-68, but the Scots provedthat they more than belonged on thesame floor as the No. 3 team in thenation, leaving many to wonder howthe game would have turned out ifonly the Scots had set their alarmsbefore halftime.

It is the fifth time in six years thatWooster had won at least one NCAATournament game. Franks was thefourth Scot in five years to be namedNCAC Player of the Year. The sixstraight NCAC regular seasoncrowns sets a new record. If this issupposed to be difficult, Moore andhis squad aren’t letting on.

That’s what’s most astoundingabout the run. In a college game

where players graduate and move onevery four years, success isn’t sup-posed to be guaranteed. With everytwo or three championships, there’san expected down year. That’s notthe case here. The players make theirpostseason travel plans in December.Moore and his staff have set the barhigh and the team is able to meetthese expectations every year.

The team’s run to the “SweetSixteen” only sets up the road to theFinal Four for next year. Like lastseason, the team loses just one sen-ior. Johnson, the fifth-year pointguard, will likely be replaced in thestarting lineup by Matt Fegan ’12,who shared the ball handling dutieswith Johnson this year.

The growth of rising sopho-mores Josh Claytor ’13 and JakeMays ’13 will only increase theteam’s depth in the frontcourt. Nextyear’s team should be even morebalanced than this year’s version.

The team can probably startmaking travel plans for earlyMarch 2011.

andrewvogel

The Wooster men’s lacrosseteam started off their NCAC con-ference schedule Saturday at OhioWesleyan University, which isranked 20th in the country. TheScots opened up the scoring withtwo goals in the first four minutes,and were still close at the halfwith the score just 5-3.

The second half, however, wasall Ohio Wesleyan, as they scoredeight unanswered goals to sendWooster to a 13-3 loss, leaving theScots 2-4 overall record, and 0-1

Men’s lacrosse starts season 2-4, hosts Denison at nightBen CaroliVoice Staff

in conference play. OhioWesleyan’s scoring was paced byChaz Narwicz, who netted fivegoals for the Battling Bishops dur-ing the contest.

After two emphatic home winsto start off the season, including a22-0 win over Milwaulkee Schoolof Engineering and a 16-4 winover Birmingham SouthernCollege, Wooster has dropped itslast four games, all road contests.

On March 17, the Scots faced offagainst No. 3 Salisbury Universityin Salisbury, Maryland.

Historically, Salisbury is anexcellent program, going unde-

feated in their conference from1995 to 2008.

At the start of the second, theScots were down 4-0, but tied it upwith two consecutive goals fromMatt Pullara ’11, and then twostraight from Dan MacVarish ’10during a four-minute stretch. Asthe forth quarter began, the Scotswere within striking distance,down only 10-6.

While the Scots played toughagainst an excellent team, theyeventually fell to the SalisburySeagulls 15-9. The game featuredexcellent performances from PatCoyne ’10, who netted two goals

and picked up four assists,MacVarish, who had a hat trick aswell as an assist, and Pullara, whopicked up 14 face off wins and 14groundballs to go with his twoscores.

The rest of the team’s springbreak road trip included a 17-6loss to St. Mary’s College ofMaryland on March 10, and a 12-6 loss to Mary WashingtonUniversity on March 13.

On Wednesday the Scots beganthe journey of getting back ontrack with a dominating win overSt. Vincent College. The Scotslook to continue this winning form

with their next two games beingplayed at home.

This season, the team is 2-0 atJohn P. Papp Stadium, but thatundefeated record will be chal-lenged by Denison University,which is ranked seventh in thenation.

Denison, a perennial favorite towin the NCAC, advanced to theNCAA Elite Eight last seasonbefore being defeated byGettysburg College.

The lacrosse team will host theBig Red tomorrow night at 7 p.m.in the program’s first home nightcontest ever.

The Wooster softball team con-tinued a terrific start to its seasonthis spring break. The Scots man-aged to win five straight games asthey changed their record from 5-6to a very impressive 10-6.

The Scots were led by KelleyJohnson ’13 who was awarded asthe North Coast AthleticConference Player of the Week.Johnson went 13-22 to finish offthe Scots’ road trip giving her anaverage of .591.

In addition, Johnson connectedfor the first home run of her careeragainst Polytechnic Institute ofNew York.

In addition to Johnson’s stellarperformance, Lauren Swinehart ’12and Erica Villa ’13 also contributedto Wooster’s offensive play.Swinehart had three multi-hitgames and went 4-for-5 inWooster’s victory over TheRichard Stockton College of NewJersey.

Villa also managed to string

together three multi-hit games dur-ing the Scots’ road trip while main-taining an impressive batting aver-age of .455. Priscilla Staples ’10contributed six RBI’s during theroad trip to bring her team-leadingtotal up to 17.

In addition to the power ofWooster’s offense the Scot’s pitch-ing was also spectacular. GinaPirolozzi ’13 posted a 2-2 recordand had a career best 11 strikeoutsagainst Roger Williams University.Her strikeout total for the entireroad trip was a very impressive 24batters.

This stellar performance came ontop of an impressive first week dur-ing which she as named the NorthCoast Athletic Conference Pitcherof the Week after pitchingWooster’s first no-hitter since 2005.

In addition, Jenn Horton ’13 hada 3-1 record striking out a total of16 batters. She also managed tocontribute to the Scot’s offense bygoing 6-12 at the plate while driv-ing in three runs.

The Scots faced Marietta Collegefor a double-header on Thursday.

Tennis looks strongMatthew YannieSports Editor

The men’s tennis team returnedfrom Hilton Head, S.C. holding a 4-3record on the season despite only oneoverall victory during the trip.

The Scots were forced to switch upthe starting six players due to injuriesboth before and during the trip, butreturn to Wooster with answers tosome of the preseasons questionssurrounding the young team.

Led by the consistent play of MattHoch ’12 and anchored by the per-formances of Ethan Arenstein ’11,Brad Palanski ’11 and StephenConroy ’10, the team also benefitedfrom the development of AshvinReddy ’13 and Matt Mandell ’12.

Mandell was asked to step up in thelineup, playing at the second spot formost of his singles play and even

playing in the first position againstHobart College, and went 3-1 indi-vidually on the trip.

The three team losses suffered overthe break all came in close conteststhat could have gone either way. Thedeciding factor in most of the match-es came in the Scots’ struggles indoubles matches.

While the team failed to win a dou-bles match against Methodist andHobart, Conroy, the team’s co-cap-tain, is confident in the team’simprovements. Conroy said that inthe last matches of the trip the pairsplayed “the best doubles they hadever played.”

Now that the team has solidified itsline up and the doubles pairings havebeen sorted out, the Scots look to getback on the winning side of the netagainst Ohio Northern Universitynext Tuesday at home.

SPORTS SMARTS

8 WoosterFriday, March 26, 2010The

Voice

FRIDAY CONVERSATION

Sports Editor Matthew Yannierecently talked to men’s tennis co-captain SteveConroy ’10.Conroy is thelone senior onteam and hasstarted his sea-son 5-2 overall.The tennis teamreturned fromspring break with a 4-3 overallrecord. The Scots will face OhioNorthern University on Tuesday asthey look to get back on the winningtrack heading into upcoming confer-ence play.

MY: On a spring break tripthat was challenging overall forthe team, you were able to go 3-1 individually. What contributedto your personal success?

SC: I think that my experiencereally helped me in those matches,but to be honest it had a lot to dowith the fact that I moved downthe line-up. I injured my back rightbefore the trip, and moved down afew spots to get some easiermatch-ups.

MY: With the team currentlystanding at 4-3 overall, what isthe outlook for the rest of theseason?

SC: We’ll do pretty well. Wehave a tough match coming up inconference against Allegheny[College], but also an easier onewith Oberlin [College]. Nextweek we have Ohio Northern[University] that should be close.We lost to them last year, but weprobably shouldn’t have. In the endwe should finish third in the con-ference. Kenyon [College] andDenison [University] are alwaysbetter, but we are the third bestteam in the conference.

MY: What improvements didyou see in the team during thespring break trip?

SC: We had a big line-up change.Matt Mandel ’12 moved up intothe second spot in singles and thefirst position for one match and hewent 3-1. He did a great job step-ping up for us and so did BradPalanski ’11 who moved to thethird spot. We’ve gotten reallyconsistent play from MatthewHoch ’12 in our top spot, whichwas good for us over the break.

MY: What has held the teamback at this point in the seasonfrom doing even better?

SC: Our weak point is definitelydoubles matches. We have startedto play better, but we have strug-gled. Our last match of the trip, allthree of the doubles matches werethe best we have ever played as ateam. All three pairs are improvingnow that the pairings are prettymuch set.

MY: How has being the onlysenior as well as having fivefirst-year players impacted theteam this season and how will ithelp in the future?

SC: This season we are a littlebit inexperienced and it takes sometime to get used to the coachingstaff and the program, but every-one is getting better as the seasongoes on. Next year the team will bereally good and will benefit fromthis year’s experience. The yearafter that, Hoch and Mandel’s sen-ior year, will probably be the bestteam we have if we continue to getsome solid recruits.

MY: Last season you were 8-13 individually, but you havestarted this season 5-2 which issecond best on the team. Whatare your individual goals for theremainder of the season?

SC: I would like to be at least.500 but hopefully a lot better thanthat. I’m really just trying to enjoymy final season of competitive ten-nis because when I start to havefun I play better. I would like tomove up of course, but if I stay atmy current spot in the line-upthat’s fine with me as long as I’mhelping out the team.

steveconroy

Matt Barnes ’11 pitched a gem on Wednesday, going five innings with no earned runs in theScots’ home opener. Barnes is 2-1 on the season (Photo by Sam VanFleet).

Baseball excels in early season scheduleChris WestonSports Editor

The Wooster baseball team cameinto the season ranked No. 2 in Div.III. After 14 games, the team haslived up to its high billing.

With big victories comingagainst nationally ranked No. 12Carthage College and No. 7 KeanUniversity, as well as NCAC victo-ries against Ohio WesleyanUniversity and Kenyon College, theScots have a lot to be proud of aftertheir trip.

Returning back to last season’sAll-American form was staff ’s aceJustin McDowell ’11. After threestarts and 21.1 innings pitched,McDowell boasts a NCAC leading 3-0 record with a team-best 2.95 ERA.Only Kenyon first-year Tyler Dierkeholds a better ERA amongst startersin the NCAC. More than just thewins and the ERA, McDowell hasshown excellent control with hispitches, with a strikeout-to-walkratio of 3.83 and only one wild pitchthis season.

Also back in action this season isMatt Barnes ’11, who was pegged asthe staff ’s ace last preseason beforeblood clots cut his season short.Barnes, who was dominant his firsttwo seasons (14-5, 3.38 ERA, 3.56K/BB) has shown moments of bril-liance through his first three starts,highlighted by an eight-inning gemfor the win against Kean. Currentlyholding a 2-1 record with a 3.91ERA, Barnes is still shaking off thecobwebs from a season on the bench,but should be more effective downthe stretch.

Leading the offense for the Scotsthis season is tri-captain MattGroezinger ’10. Groezinger, whowas a first team All NCAC designat-ed hitter last season, has put upmonster numbers in the first part ofthe season, batting .500 (23-46) withthree home runs and 23 RBIs.Groezinger leads the NCAC in bat-ting average amongst players whohave played more than five games.

Also playing well for the Scots istransfer Greg Van Horn ’11. VanHorn, who was in the top-five in amajority of the offensive categoriesat Princeton University last season,has made his presence immediatelyfelt, stepping into the shortstopposition, as well as the third spot inthe batting order. His numbers have

been impressive to say the least, hit-ting .477 with more extra base hitsthan singles, as well as a perfect ninefor nine on steal attempts. Van Hornhas even helped out on the moundwhen called upon, allowing threehits and no runs through six inningsof relief appearance.

On Wednesday, the Scots faced offagainst Capital University at ArtMurray field. Behind the stellarpitching of Barnes and MattDeGrand ’10, as well as some excel-lent power from Matt Johnson ‘10,the Scots were able to dominate theentire game, winning 6-1. Barnes,who improved to 2-1 on the season

after this win, pitched a scorless fiveinnings, allowing only four hits andone walk. He was relieved at thestart of the sixth inning byDeGrand, who improved on someearly season woes with three score-less innings, only allowing one hitand one walk.

On the offensive side, the Scotswere helped early on by the bat ofJohnson, who hit two home runs inhis first two at bats. Johnson, whohad only one home run to date thisseason, now shares the team leadwith Groezinger at three apiece.

In the third inning, the Scotsreceived some suprise generosity

when, with two outs and no one on,a hit batter, single and two walksscored the Scots another run with-out much offensive effort.

It wasn’t until the top of the ninthinning that the Crusaders were final-ly able to put a point on the board,when Zach Byers, who had been hitby a pitch earlier in the inning,scored on an RBI single with one outremaining in the inning.

The Scots had a game onThursday at home against MariettaCollege after this issue went to print.

This weekend, the Scots’ will takeplace in back-to-back double headersat Allegheny College.

THE STEEL CITY SOUND-OFF

Big Ben doesn’t measure up to expectationsAnyone who has ever had more

than a five-minute conversation withme knows howmuch I love theSteelers.

Growing upin Pittsburgh,I fell in lovewith the teamwhen theyplayed (and

lost to) the Dallas Cowboys in the1996 Super bowl. I pledged myallegiance to the Terrible Towelin first grade, and my Barbies pre-ferred to go on dates with cornerback Rod Woodson, not Ken.

I’ve stuck with the Steelersthrough the Kordell Stewart andTommy Maddox years, to see therise of the young star quarter-back Ben Roethlisberger and tosee Jerome “the Bus” Bettis makehis final run. I saw the end ofcoach Bill Cowher’s tenure withthe team, and was hopeful whenrookie coach Mike Tomlin firstcame to the ’Burgh.

I went wild with excitement,along with every other member ofSteeler Nation, when the teambrought the Lombardi Trophyhome not once, but twice, in the pastfew years. I am no fair weather fan.

One thing I am not a fan of,however, is seeing headlines aboutmy quarterback’s negative actionsoff the field. Recently,Roethlisberger was accused ofsexual assault in a club near hishome in Georgia. This comes onthe heels of an accusation in 2008that Roethlisberger raped awoman in a Lake Tahoe hotel andcasino, an allegation he strongly

an NFL franchise, he is the face ofthe Steelers, a team that hasalways been known for its well-behaved and respectable players,which is a tribute to its owners,Dan Rooney and his family, whoare known for their own humilityand sincerity.

Roethlisberger’s actions in theGeorgia night club were just plainstupid, and leave fans wonderingif his 2006 motorcycle accident(when he was not wearing a hel-met) left the Super bowl MVPwith permanent brain damage.

What Roethlisberger fails tocomprehend is that, despite being astar NFL quarterback, he stillneeds to treat women with respectand show some class while out inpublic. This is something he shouldhave learned after the first allega-tion of sexual assault was broughtagainst him, if not years ago grow-ing up in Ohio. Roethlisberger,who turned 28 a few weeks ago,needs to cut back on the partylifestyle and learn some respect,responsibility and humility.

The Rooney family and coachMike Tomlin should bringRoethlisberger up on disciplinaryactions within the franchise,whether by official suspension orsimply benching him, until hisactions off the field reflect achanged attitude and any legal pro-ceedings are over.

As a fan who bleeds black andgold, I would rather wave myTerrible Towel for a player whoseactions I can be proud of on and offthe field.

And right now, Big Ben doesn’tmeasure up to his name.

denies. Roethlisberger has sincepursued counter-damages in a law-suit against the woman.

While the first case against himwas dismissed as a falsehood creat-ed by the woman, further investiga-

tion is being done into this secondallegation. The two-time SuperBowl quarterback has hired attor-ney Ed Garland, the same lawyerhired by Ray Lewis when he wasaccused of murder 10 years ago, a

margaretdonnelly

move which has spurred furtherquestioning of his innocence.

Putting aside the question ofRoethlisberger’s guilt or inno-cence, one thing is for sure: hisactions are completely inappropri-

ate and he needs a serious change ofattitude.

Roethlisberger has never beenshy about his party lifestyle andenjoying himself off the field.However, as the star quarterback of

Ben Roethlisberger faces his second sexual assault allega-tion in the past three years (Photo courtesy AP).