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APRIL 30, 2015 VOLUME XXXIV, ISSUE 7
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Photo Feature
Gender Neutral Bathrooms in Progress By ADRIANA GALLINA Editor-in-Chief
After six months of collaboration between The Positive, a task-force of students advocating for gender rights on campus, and Fordham Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) United Student Government (USG) and administration, LC’s and Fordham Rose Hill’s Student Affairs offices are in dialogue about the best way to potentially implement gender neutral bathrooms on campus for the fall of 2015. Chris Hennessy, a transgender male and FCLC ‘15, spearheads the group and has met with Dean of Students Keith Eldredge and Director of Student Leadership and Community Development (OSLCD) and USG Advisor Dorothy Wenzel, Ph.D, since December 2014. The Positive began their initiative with a survey soliciting students’ gender needs on campus. The survey focused on the potential need for gender neutral bathrooms and was completed by 441 students. “One of the first things Chris said was he wanted to gather more information [with the survey], and I respected that,” Eldredge said. “I’m always concerned whenever students are unsatisfied, unhappy, not feeling safe or uncomfortable with any part of their Fordham experience. I certainly want to engage in conversation with them,” Eldredge said. “So I’m excited that a group of students have come forward with an issue.” According to Hennessy, 90 percent of the students who completed the survey were in support of having gender neutral bathrooms on the LC campus. The Positive’s goal is not to convert multi-stall bathrooms to gender neutral, but to establish already single stall restrooms as gender inclusive spaces. “Our strategy for attaining them right now, in the short-run, includes changing the signage of all single stall see POSITIVE pg. 2
PHOTO BY MICHELLE QUINN/THE OBSERVER
The Observer photographers capture art in NYC. Above is the subway station at 81st and Columbus Avenue. For more, see centerfold.
McKeon Kitchen Off Limits to Resident Students By MARCELA ALVAREZ Asst. Sports Editor
McKeon residents opened their emails to a surprise on March 30, the kitchen on the 22nd floor was officially barred from student access. The email sent by Resident Directors (RD) of McKeon, Anthony Varner and Camille Wilson, informed students that the kitchen was closed as a result of it being continuously dirty and unkept. The RDs also informed students that the kitchen would only be open for Resident Assistants’ (RA) and Resident Freshmen Mentors’ (RFM) staff events. The kitchen provided a reliable option for students, especially during the hours which the undergraduate dining hall is closed. However, due to the inaccessibility of the kitchen,
some students have had to dine through take-out or restaurants, or not eat at all. Gregory Govea-Lopez, a resident student and Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center (GSBLC) ‘18, says that due to the kitchen closing he has had to dine out more, since he stays up late doing homework. Moreover, he thinks that, “having the kitchen off limits is a waste of facilities especially since we are paying for it in room and board.” The kitchen is one of the amenities that students moving into McKeon were sold on along with lounges, a laundry room, and a movie lounge. Kathleen Stanovick, Fordham College Lincoln Center (FCLC) ‘18, another McKeon resident, said, “the kitchen closing seems to take away an aspect of community life, since students can no
longer cook and talk together in the space.” However, while this is inconvenient to most students, it appears to be more so for students with dietary restrictions. Since the dining hall does not provide halal foods and only providing some vegan and vegetarian options, students with dietary restrictions relied heavily on the kitchen. Therefore, the kitchen closing has not only affected the range of eating options students have, but also their eating and health habits. George Horihan FCLC ‘18, who is a vegan expressed his frustration at not having access to the kitchen. He said, “since the kitchen closed I have to either eat in the [undergraduate] dining hall which has extremely restrictive options because of my diet.” Horihan added, “most of the time I
don’t eat enough.” Eliza Putnam, FCLC ‘18, seems to disagree with her fellow McKeon residents. As a frequent user of the kitchen, Putnam often encountered the kitchen when it was dirty and said that she was unable to use it, even though it was open. While Putnam understands the reason it had to be closed, she is disappointed because the freshmen lost a great resource as they do not have kitchens in their individual dorms, like upperclassmen. Yet, through it all, some students are optimistic that a compromise can be made with residents directors to reopen the kitchen. Bonnie McHeffey, FCLC ‘18, said “There should be a sign out sheet for the kitchen so residents directors know who’s using the kitchen and who leaves it messy.”
Inside
FEATURES
SPORTS
ARTS & CULTURE
OPINIONS
Letter to Freshman Self
Stylin’ Sport Teams
Becoming Melissa
Appropriations Aren’t In
Don’t be Afraid to Fall in Love
One writer’s take on Uniforms
Fordham Alumna’s Success off-Broadway
White Girls, Stop It
Page 27
PAGE 31
PAGE 9
PAGE 7
THE STUDENT VOICE OF FORDHAM LINCOLN CENTER
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April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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French Students Compete at Embassy By MARISA RAMETTA Contributing Writer
“Imagine being a first-year or a second-year student and being at the French Embassy on 5th Avenue. Imagine a beautiful room, lined with books in French, filled with parents, professors, embassy personnel, journalists and classmates.” Lise Schreier, associate professor of modern languages and literature at Fordham University, said. In this room, 18 Fordham students competed at the French Embassy, showing members of the French speaking community in New York City, “eloquentia perfecta in action, it totally marveled the judges and public who witnessed their performance.” Andrew Clark, associate professor of french and comparative language, said. April 22 was the first date of the Prix d’Eloquence and Prix de Culture competitions for Fordham students. Fordham had 14 finalists competing for the eloquence price and four for the culture prize. The first place winner of the Prix d’Eloquence was Cathlene Centeno FCLC ‘17. Second place went to Teagan Reese FCRH ‘18 and third was split between Jasmin Castillo FCLC ‘18 and James von Albade, FCRH ‘17. The first place winner of the Prix de Culture was Clare Bollnow, FCRH ‘18, with second place going to Sanjana Rajagopal, FCLC ‘18. Other students from Lincoln Center competed including Francesca Aton FCLC ‘17, Annalise Caviasco FCLC ‘17, Margaret Sanford, FCLC ‘17, Robert Van Fossen FCLC ‘18 and Alaina Yuresko, FCLC ‘18. Also among the audience were some of the student’s professors who helped to coordinate the event. One eloquence finalist, Teagan Reese, FCRH ’18, discussed her experience, she said, “Before I decided that I wanted to do the Prix d’Eloquence, I was talking to my professor about a possible subject. I told her that the idea of having to speak in front of a large crowd of native French speakers was really nerve-wracking, but if I had to
PHOTO BY JESSICA HANLEY/THE OBSERVER
Eighteen Fordham students competed at the French Embassy, and Cathlene Centeno FCLC ‘17 was the winner of the Prix d’Eloquence .
give a speech about something in French, I would be most comfortable talking about dance. So that is kind of where the whole idea for the speech came from. Madame Lise Schreier, my professor, was so helpful and encouraging throughout the entire process.” In the eloquence competition, 14 Fordham students were given two minutes to talk about why being bilingual is important to them. For the culture portion, they were instructed to write an essay about what it means to be French today, specifically for them as American students. During the competition,
they presented short summaries of the theses from their papers. The students were judged by a jury of six representatives: Laurence Marie and Fabrice Jaumont representatives of the French government’s Cultural Services, Emmanuel Saint Martin, founder of the online magazine French Morning, Francois-Xavier Schmit director of the Albertine library in the French Embassy, Isabelle Frank, dean of Fordham College of Liberal Studies (FCLS), and Shoshana Enelow, associate professor of English at Fordham University. Clark said next year they will
open the competition to four other New York universities stating that “We look forward to next years event and to the first Fordham play in French which will be directed by Hélène Godec in the fall and will be part of her ‘Molière: From Page to Stage’ class.” For both the culture and eloquence competition, the first place prize was $200, the second place was a book from the Albertine library “the library in the consulate where the competition was held.” The third place prize for the eloquence competition was a gift card to Canele by Celine, a French bake-
shop on the Upper East Side. “I had such a great experience with the Prix... I could talk forever about how positive this entire experience was,” Reese said. “I don’t know if I would do another one. I might want to give other people a chance to surprise themselves.” Schreier stated her pride for the competing students, she said “They worked incredibly hard and amazed the members of the jury, who did not expect first-year and second year students to be able to perform at such a high level.”
Student Task Force ‘The Positive’ Partners with USG POSITIVE FROM PAGE 1
bathrooms on campus to be gender inclusive and to work to publicize those spaces,” Hennessy said. There are at least five single stalled bathrooms on campus currently, one in the lobby of the Law school, two outside McMahon 109 and two on the third floor of the Leon Lowenstein Building. USG has been partnered with The Positive since January. “Where they see overlap, they want it to be collaborative. USG sends representatives to The Positive meetings and The Positive send their folks to USG meetings,” Wenzel explained. Occasionally, the groups attend each other’s meetings. In regards to meeting with The Positive, Wenzel responded, “I’m happy to work with students to make a positive change and I’m happy to meet with them to see what we can do.” USG members welcomed The Positive’s representatives to their meetings with Facilities to discuss moving their initiative forward. Leighton Magoon, USG presidentelect, said, “I have been to the Positive’s meeting and I think they are a well established, well focused group that I think can make sustainable change here.” There were a series of meetings involving members of The Positive, Wenzel, Facilities staff, and Joseph Lagville, president pro tempore of USG,chair of the Facilities Committee and FCLC ‘15. Facilities had to check state and city building codes
JESS LUSZCZYK/THE OBSERVER
The members of the Positive, left to right: Chris Hennessey, Wallis Monday, Kyndal Jackson,Sinclair Spratley, Olivia Macklin. Bottom row: Kendall Allen, Peyton Berry, Lexi McMenamin
to ensure the bathroom title change would not be a violation, according to Hennessy. Leslie Timoney, associate director of campus operations,said there were two building codes pertinent to bathroom signage. One deals with
the specific number of bathrooms required for females and males in buildings established by the New York State and another concerns New York City assembly permits. “The history of bathrooms is totally sexist...I mean, women didn’t
have bathrooms in the workplace until 1930,” Timoney continued.“So now there is a specific count of bathrooms in buildings designated for males and females,” Timoney said. According to Timoney, public assembly permits in NYC require
specific male and female bathrooms near public assembly spaces. This is the difference between the restrooms outside McMahon 109, a public assembly space, and Lowenstein’s third floor bathrooms. Changing the bathrooms on the third floor of Lowenstein would not be in any violation of the permit code as they are not near a place of public assembly. “It’s not just signage that implies that this is a unisex space,” Hennessy said. “This is a proactive and conscientious effort to be gender inclusive.” Hennessy has received some pushback from students. One student wrote in the survey that if students do not like Fordham’s Catholic ideals, they do not have to attend Fordham. To this, Hennessy responded, “I don’t think that Fordham is so conservatively Christian that they ask us to simply stay silent when we think that something is wrong--when we know that something is wrong. “Everything that Fordham has ever taught me is that we should always be willing to question the norms around us and then once we have found an answer to those questions and have found that they are undoubtedly wrong it is our absolute ability to change them. Not to walk away.” Visit fordhamobserver.com to watch more coverage of The Positive. The Editor-in-Chief has worked with Chris Hennessy in two performances of the Vagina Monologues at FCLC.
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PHOTO BY LUCY SUTTON/OBSERVER ARCHIVES.
With tuition increases, many students and parents will have to plan ahead for next year’s rising costs.
Tuition On Rise, Club Funds Stay Small By ANA FOTA News Co-Editor
As students are packing their rooms and preparing for finals, not everyone is paying attention to the upcoming announcement of next year’s tuition cost. Fordham University is growing as is the cost of a Fordham degree. With all of the recent expansion and growth at Lincoln Center (LC) many are wondering why club budgets are not changing accordingly. “It’s certainly on the foremost of everyone’s minds that we can’t just raise tuition without regard to the impact it has on students,” said the Dean of Students at LC, Keith Eldredge. “The biggest challenge we face at Fordham is being a tuition dependent school,” Eldredge said, which means that the majority of the revenue that the university uses comes from student’s tuition and fees, as opposed to heavily endowed universities which rely more on donations. Funding also comes from various faculty scholarships or grants. Scholarships that cover tuition will increase concomitantly with the fees, while limited scholarships, which offer students a certain amount of money, will remain the same, according to Eldredge. The percentage by which tuition increases varies every year. It has lowered considerably since 2008, as it is now closer to three percent while it used to be up to six or eight percent before. Robert Howe, Special Adviser to the President and Senior Director of Communications is the spokesper-
PHOTO COURTESY OF COLLEGEFACTUAL.COM
According to Collegefactual.com, from 2008 to 2018, tuition is estimated to increase as much as $19,000 son on tuition increase. In an email responding to a press request, he stated the following: “The University typically makes the official tuition announcement in May, and I can’t comment on it until after that’s happened, I’m afraid.” “Every year the university has to budget all the added costs,” Eldredge stated, and “sometimes [the money] goes back towards paying for those constant expenses, like the electricity rates that go up every year.” The
money all goes into a big “pot,” as he called it, and afterwards it is allocated to the different departments within the university. Funding for the various student clubs on campus, for example, comes directly from the student activities fee that every student is charged with. Despite the increase in tuition, student activity fees and club budgets will not increase. According to Collegefactual.com, from 2008 to 2018, tuition will have
increased as much as $19,000. The cost in 2008 was $34,099 and in 2018 it is estimated to be $53,392. The current cost of tuition is $44,773, room and board not included. Despite the increase in tuition prices, the student fees will remain the same, at $732. This is happening even though clubs have had trouble with budgeting this year. The tuition has increased consistently while the amount of fees students pay has stayed the same. As tuition increases
the amount available for clubs does not increase. Larger enrolling classes create a larger budget for clubs. The incoming freshman class this year was considerably larger than those before the McKeon residence building was opened, with 556 students in the class of 2018, as opposed to 449 students in the class of 2017, according to the Office of Undergraduate Admission. They are projecting the incoming freshman class of 2019 to consist of 610 students. With more students to collect the activities fee from, the budget has increased. However, so has the number of clubs on campus, with 11 new clubs added during the most recent school year, adding up to a grand total of 54 clubs on campus. The Student Activities Budget Committee (SABC) is responsible for allocating funding for clubs. The clubs are still faced with budgeting issues and are having to cut funding for certain events on campus. According to Leighton Magoon, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ‘17, president-elect of the United Student Government (USG) and current treasurer of the club, it is likely that the budget deficit will continue. “It’s wonderful that clubs have become more active, it’s helped shape the culture of our campus,” Magoon stated, “but unfortunately we don’t have an unlimited amount of money to supply these great events.” Another aspect that strained the activities budget this semester was the fact that a high number of students studied abroad, and therefore they did not pay the fee.
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2016 Elections: A Buzz at Fordham By MARISA RAMETTA Contributing Writer
This election cycle involves some of the most diverse candidates in the United States history. Although there have been other female candidates for president, such as Carol Moseley Braun and other Latino candidates, like Ben Fernandez, this is the first election cycle with a woman and latino as some of the seemingly strongest candidates. Today, the political landscape has changed and is better representing America’s diverse population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Newsroom, the white population of the United States should reach its peak in 2024 with 199.9 million people. Unlike other race and ethnic groups the white demographic is projected to decrease to 20.6 million by 2060. The Hispanic populations is estimated to double to 128.8 million by 2060. This means that by 2060 one in three Americans will be Hispanic. Alongside the Hispanic population the black population is estimated to grow to 61.8 million by 2060. Also, the asian population is expected to increase to 34.4 million by 2060.
Diversity seems to be the biggest factor for students. For the election, some students think that diversity is essential for a candidate’s ticket. “Diversity has played an important role in the past three elections—mainly affecting voter turnout and some of the prominent issues being examined,” Shaunna Lazzaro, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC)
OBSERVER LINKS TO HILLARY CLINTON
PHOTO CURTESY OF OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS VIA TNS
PHOTO CURTESY OF KARL MONDON/ BAY AREA NEWS GROUP VIA TNS
Marco Rubio is a Republican candidate.
Hillary Clinton is a Democratic candidate for 2016
‘15, said. “President Obama has focused on immigration reform, and it seems as though Marco Rubio would continue in his footsteps, as he has openly discussed his opinion regarding the transition from work permits to legal residency. “I think it will be interesting to see how two opposing party minority candidates play against one another.” Lazzarro went on to explain that “as a woman and being that I am a registered republican, the upcoming election will be difficult because I will have to decide between being loyal to my party and their values or being loyal to a fellow woman.” “Rubio most likely will take the Latino vote and probably will also take Florida, which is always a key state, so he is arguably the front runner,” Patrick O’Donnell, FCRH ‘15, stated. Referring to his past actions and foreign relation standpoint, O’Donnell said, “Rubio’s Latino heritage will not help him gain favor with his negative actions and relations with the foreign relations committee.” Some say that the change in demographics in the country are affecting the election process. “Obviously the demographics of our country has shifted tremendously
in the recent elections causing individuals to question the norm of why we’ve only had white male presidents,” Alexandra Yacyshyn, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’15, stated. “They want to see someone who’s more encompassing of the entire new populations which is why Rubio has an edge because he is an immigrant from Cuba and Clinton has an edge because she is a female.” Robert Hume, associate professor of political science said, “I think it is a sign of the times that our presidential candidates represent such diverse backgrounds and experiences. America is becoming increasingly pluralistic, and our pool of presidential candidates ought to reflect that. I just hope that whoever we elect as president embraces the diversity of today’s America.” Hume went on to express his feelings towards same-sex marriage and its continued importance in today’s society: “It was very heartening to see Hillary Clinton reverse her stance on same-sex marriage and become a supporter of marriage equality. My hope is that Marco Rubio and other Republican candidates will do the same.”
Elizabeth Stone, professor of English and faculty advisor to the Fordham Observer, has received a lot of national attention for this anonymous quote published in The Village Voice 31 years ago. It was later attributed to Stone when the quote was published in Reader’s Digest in 1989. Since then, it has been used or adapted by many American figures from Steve Jobs to the Octomom. This quote has been making rounds most recently, due to its placement as one of the closing quotations for Hillary Clinton’s memoir “Hard Choices,” during the section where she discusses her 2016 candidacy. Clinton officially announced her candidacy on April 12.
“ Making the decision to have a child, it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ” ELIZABETH STONE, professor of English and faculty advisor
to The Fordham Observer
PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH STONE
Here is Elizabeth Stone, author and professor.
McKeon Windows Stunted: Beware of Falling Objects By JUSTIN REBOLLO News Co-Editor
Beer cans, drugs, water bottles and numerous other items have been dropped by many freshmen out of the windows in dorm rooms this academic year. Most recently “a 16 ounce bottle of water was hurled out of a McKeon window, missing a student by mere inches,” according to an email sent to all students from Jenifer Campbell, director of Residential Life. “At the beginning of the academic year there were several articles found on top of the lower roof. Individuals have been tossing items out [the window],” so, “[Residential Life] worked with Facilities to get an adjustment so we could close the windows so they wouldn’t open past a certain point,” Campbell said. The adjustment was an effort “to make accommodations so folks will not throw stuff out [the windows],” Campbell said. Despite the adjustments, students still are throwing various things out the windows. According to Campbell, “recently, we found that the work had been done but there still were some windows that didn’t have the adjustment on them.” Some students have complained about the window adjustments, saying that they can not cool off their rooms, however, Ana Zeneli, FCLC’ 18, thinks that the adjustments are fair and that the hall itself was poorly designed: “I think the windows should open how Res Life adjusted them. They did not put too much thought into the architecture of McKeon Hall or into the fact that immature freshman would live in a tall building. They did not think of an object falling from the height of the dorm rooms.” Unlike the windows in McMahon
MICHELLE QUINN/THE OBSERVER
Freshmen in McKeon used to open their windows all the way, now the windows can only be opened halfway
Hall which open so there is a space facing up, the windows in McKeon hall open so that there is a space facing down. According to Campbell “[McMahon windows] only open up to a certain point. They were adjusted when they were built … They also
have a adjustment but it is a different configuration.” The side of McKeon which faces Midtown Manhattan has objects that people throw out their windows usually land on the roof of the law school. This is a hazard for students
on the plaza and for the facility operations staff. The other side of McKeon Hall, which faces Uptown Manhattan, is directly above a sidewalk. On April 21, “Someone threw a full 16 ounce water bottle and it went within inches of someone,” accord-
ing to Campbell. Even with the adjustments the problem of people throwing things out of McKeon dorms continues and as Campbell said: “We are one situation away from someone being really hurt.”
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Council Approves Comm Majors By ADRIANA GALLINA Editor-in-Chief
Fordham at Lincoln Center’s College Council unanimously approved all four proposed communication majors during their last meeting of the 2014-2015 academic year on April 16. Other discussions included the Gabelli School of Business banner hanging on the west facing side of the Leon Lowenstein building and potential curricular revisions of the Classical Civilizations major. Chair of Communication and Media Studies and film professor Jacqueline Reich proposed a separation of the current model by creating majors and minors in: journalism; a joint film and television major; digital technologies and media; and communication and culture. “One of my charges was to look at and revise the undergraduate program and the graduate program as well,” Reich said to the Council. “In the last 20 years, there have been so many changes in our lives in the way that we communicate.” According to Reich, the current Communication and Media Studies major, which has five concentrations, is the largest major at both Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) and Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH). Dean of Lincoln Center Robert Grimes, S.J., raised concerns that the proposed journalism major had too much application compared to theory. “Most journalism majors are applied and practical,” Reich responded. “It is our responsibility to give them the kind of journalism major that is the standard for the field,” she said. When asked by English department representatives about staffing for the new majors Reich responded, “Presently, we offer over 100 courses on both campuses; 50 percent of courses are staffed by adjuncts.”
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Going Global By GUNAR OLSEN Columnist
to, [FCLC, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Social Work and Graduate School of Education.] The Council requests that the University remove that banner at the earliest possible date or create a banner that gives equal billing to each of the schools in Lowenstein.” In other business, the proposed change to the Classical Civilizations major was to cap the number of language requirements, adding a required department EP3 and/or EP4. This motion passed unanimously. In other announcements,FCLC received a total of 10,602 applications and admitted 47 percent of them. As of April 16, 179 were deposits made. The Council will reconvene in the fall of 2015.
U.S to Remove Cuba From Terror Sponsors List In his continued effort to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, President Barack Obama has made an official recommendation to Congress that Cuba be removed from the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. The move will leave only Iran, Sudan and Syria on the list. Cuba was placed on the list in 1982 when its government was supporting liberation struggles across the region. It will not be officially removed from the list until after a 45-day review period, during which Congress could form a joint resolution to block its removal. The Cuban government called Obama’s move “just” and said it should never have been on the listThe U.S. trade embargo with Cuba remains in effect. “President Obama has acknowledged publicly and with actions something that has been obvious for a very long time: US policy towards Cuba has been frozen for way too many years and hasn’t done a thing to achieve its stated goals. It’s time to try a more enlightened approach,” Hector Lindo-Fuentes, associate chair and professor of history, said. Germany is heart of U.S. drone program A top-secret document obtained by the news website, The Intercept, confirms that the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany, is the main technology center for America’s drone program. Drone operators in the American Southwest use Ramstein as a satellite relay station to communicate with their remote aircraft in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other targeted countries. Although Ramstein’s role in the drone program has been downplayed, an unidentified source told The Intercept, “Without Ramstein, drones could not function, at least not as they do now.” A German court has agreed to hear a case brought by a relative of two Yemeni victims of a U.S. drone strike for Germany’s role in the drone program. This is globally unprecedented as no court anywhere, including in the U.S., has ever agreed to grant standing to a relative of a drone strike victim. “Perhaps the court would be willing to issue an injunction prohibiting the use of Ramstein for its role in drone strikes if it finds this role essential,” Thomas H. Lee, Leitner Family professor of International Law, said. “All of this just adds to the controversies about the drone program – the United States has still not officially recognized civilian deaths as collateral damage.”
PHOTOS BY JASON BOIT/THE OBVSERVER
Civil war in Yemen Over 1,000 people have died in the fighting in Yemen since late March. With intelligence and logistical support from the United States, Saudi Arabia and nine regional allies began bombing Houthis on March 25. The Houthis, a Shiite minority, took over the capital Sana’a in January and forced the resignation of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has since fled to Saudi Arabia. President Obama has long defended the “successful” counterterrorism model with the Yemeni government in its fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has begun to gain control of more territory during the power vacuum created by the Houthis’ takeover and the Saudi Arabian military campaign. “No outside power can resolve what is, at heart, a struggle for national identity in a country seriously divided along religious, tribal, and ideological lines [...] You can’t bomb a country into the 21st century nor rearrange its political architecture through external interference,” John P. Entelis, professor and chair of Political Science and director of Middle East Studies, said.
PHOTO BY TYLER MARTINS/THE OBSERVER
In the center of the photo, Professor Gwenyth Jackaway, associate chair of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham, sits with professor Jacqueline Reich, chair of Communication and Media Studies.
“We are working to reduce that [adjunct] number through Artist in Residence programs, a better way to use non-tenure track resources,” Reich said. The majors must now be approved by New York State Department of Education. Another agenda item was the unified Gabelli School banner hanging on Lowenstein, which generated much Council discussion. The banner displayed on the building used primarily by undergraduates makes no mention of the other colleges at the LC campus and only promotes the Gabelli undergraduate and masters programs. Professor of History Hector Lindo-Fuentes said, “Let them know the full truth.” He suggested the banner list all the schools at the University. Grimes said he knew the ban-
ner would be displayed only three days before it was installed. He also expressed that the banner could affect liberal arts admissions at FCLC. According to Grimes, the banner would hang, “as long as it looks good.” The general consensus of the Council was that both non-Gabelli students and faculty are unhappy about the banner. The following resolution passed with one abstention from Dean of Students at Lincoln Center Keith Eldredge, “FCLC College Council, as representatives of FCLC faculty and students, are dismayed by the appearance of the banner on the side of Lowenstein, which creates the impression that Lowenstein is solely the home of the Gabelli School of Business where it is actually home
On April 28, Creative Writing award winners were honored in the 12th floor lounge in the Leon Lowenstein Building. The award winners are: Wallis Monday, Anna Marie Anastasi, Rachel Federman, Thomas Layman, Michael Grund, Mary Kate Crenny, Samantha Norman, Frank Sivilli and Patrick Skea
Opinions
Opinions Co-Editors Tyler Burdick- tburdick1@fordham.edu Lexi McMenanin- amcmenamin4@fordham.edu April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
STAFF EDITORIAL
FAREWELL AND GOOD LUCK TO THE CLASS OF 2015
T
he Class of 2015 has endured their four years and triumphed at Fordham University. They have mastered their majors or crafts and cultivated a sense of cura personalis as a foundation for conquering the challenges that lie ahead of them. These walls of academia have provided security for discussing differing opinions with mutual respect promoted by the community. Fordham has created a space to challenge assumptions and has allowed students to critically examine their beliefs. Only in this way could they have solidified their own perspectives, as they faced opposition and doubts that made them reevaluate everything that had seemed so certain for so long. We have watched as they have raised money for Hurricane Sandy victims, fundraised for countless Global Outreach (GO!) trips, stood firmly in the face of controversial issues, participated and led various clubs; and they did this all while juggling a G.P.A., a strenuous Jesuit core, internships and
jobs. They have all become complete persons through their academic and professional experiences, while never letting go of their personal beliefs and values. We have stood in solidarity with them as we have repeatedly been labeled as another lost generation. They say we’re too dependent on technology, social media
“Show the ‘real’ world what Fordham Rams are made of.” and selfies to get anything done. Not ambitious enough to make any great changes in the world. But we are so much more capable than we are given credit for. And now is the time to go into the world and prove all of that wrong. The world outside Fordham may seem overwhelming, perhaps daunting,
Observer the
unprotected by advisors, professors and fellow Rams. We remind graduates that Fordham was not always home. Many, many days ago, the soon to be alumni were probably just as anxious and unsure as any freshman. It’s time to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable again. The only thing that is guaranteed now going forward is some level of adversity. Fair or not, the new alumni must be ready and willing to take on these challenges. Go out and show the value of a Jesuit education by encouraging others to challenge their assumptions and beliefs. Engage in the unbuffered conversations that may be confrontational. Despite having each individually invested around $250,000 on their degrees, the Class of 2015 must understand that they don’t know everything, at least not yet. Never stop seeking knowledge from the most unlikely of places. Show the ‘real’ world what Rams are made of. We look forward to joining them on the other side. But for now: go forth and set the world on fire.
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Josh Tarpav, FCLC ’15: A Musician in the Making
Editor-in-Chief Adriana Gallina Managing Editor Ben Moore News Co-Editors Justin Rebollo Ana Fota Connor Mannion Asst. News Co-Editor Jennifer McNary Opinions Co-Editors Tyler Burdick Alexa McMenamin Asst. Opinions Co-Editors Areeg Abdelhamid Annunziata Santelli Arts & Culture Co-Editors Loulou Chryssides Sri Stewart Features Co-Editors Alanna Kilkeary Hansini Weedagama Literary Co-Editors Jessica Vitovitch Erika Ortiz Asst. Literary Co-Editors Kayla D’Angelo Connor Mannion Sports Co-Editor Matthew McCarthy Katie Kirtland Asst. Sports Editor Marcela Alvarez Copy Chief Alysha Kundamal Copy Editors Brianna Goodman Tyler Burdick Asst. Copy Editors Chrissy Pusz Kaitlyn Lyngaas Layout Co-Editors Jennifer McNary Elodie Huston Layout Staff Jackson Landry Cornelia Azariah Kate Axford Payton Vincelette Multimedia Producer Ninett Rodriguez Asst. Multimedia Producer Jesse Carlucci Photo Co-Editors Jess Hanley Jess Luszczyk Asst. Photo Editor Jason Boit Online Editor Ben Moore Business Manager Victoria Leon Faculty Advisor Prof. Elizabeth Stone Faculty Layout Advisor Kim Moy Faculty Photo Advisor Amelia Hennighausen Faculty Multimedia Advisor Roopa Vasudevan Faculty Literary Advisor Amy Benson
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Josh Tarpav, FCLC ‘15, is an aspiring musician. This is his story.
• Letters to the Editor should be typed and sent to The Observer, Fordham University, 113 West 60th Street, Room 408, New York, NY 10023, or e-mailed to fordhamobserver@gmail.com. Length should not exceed 200 words. All letters must be signed and include contact information, official titles, and year of graduation (if applicable) for verification. • If submitters fail to include this information, the editorial board will do so at its own discretion. • The Observer has the right to withhold any submissions from publication and will not consider more than two letters from the same individual on one topic. The Observer reserves the right to edit all letters and submissions for content, clarity and length. • Opinions articles and commentaries represent the view of their authors. These articles are in no way the views held by the editorial board of The Observer or Fordham University. • The Editorial is the opinion held by a majority of The Observer’s editorial board. The Editorial does not reflect the views held by Fordham University.
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THE OBSERVER April 30, 2015
Opinions
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My Culture is Not Your Fashion Accessory Music festival season is back - and cultural appropriation is headlining Alysha Kundanmal Copy Chief
With music festival season in full swing, it’s no secret that eager attendees are painstakingly crafting their trendiest, artsiest, most eye-catching outfits. Since festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo have more or less transformed into fashion shows rather than concerts, chic ensembles are of the utmost importance. Any articles or accessories that will help music and fashion aficionados stand out as the coolest non-celebrities at the festival are fair game, including poached elements from other cultures. A pressing issue for social justice crusaders, cultural appropriation has recently popped up in the news to call out white women who are suddenly sporting Indian bindis and Native American headdresses. A Free People-wearing girl with an Om tattoo travels to India on her copycat spiritual “Eat, Pray, Love” quest and discovers this other, exotic culture. She brings the “cool” parts of it back but leaves the oppression of the cultures from which she is stealing on the other side of the world. She traipses around in her new colorful clothing and jewelry, expressing how much better she feels now that her chakras are so aligned. Her newest Instagram selfie flaunts tags like #namaste #om #aura. This is a common example of cultural appropriation, or taking something from a typically oppressed, non-white culture and using it out of context to enhance and exoticize the appropriator’s physical appearance or identity. This can include music, spiritual rituals, language or garb. In the case of cloth-
PHOTO COURTSEY OF URBAN OUTFITTERS
An example of cultural appropriation is the Coachella music festival in Indio, California.
ing, including accessories, jewelry and religious wear, music festivals are the main culprits in promoting cultural appropriation. Various clothing brands capitalize on the festival fashion craze by creating themed lookbooks to promote their own products, and inspire other festival-goers on how to
dress for the weekend-long events. Many apparel companies like Free People, Urban Outfitters and LF have commercialized both Native American and Indian culture by incorporating pieces of religious or cultural significance into their lookbooks and rebranding them as exotic and trendy. Taken completely
out of their original contexts, these pilfered pieces are often distorted or sometimes even desecrated. This is problematic for those who belong to the cultural and religious groups being mimicked - problematic particularly because young children, who are so easily influenced by the celebrities they look up to, see them
appropriating these items and think this is acceptable. Former Disney star and High School Musical sweetheart Vanessa Anne Hudgens is a repeat offender of culturally appropriating both Indian and Native American accessories to enhance her Coachella wardrobe. In 2013, her first fauxpas was wearing a leather headband across her forehead with several feathers sticking out on top. She followed this the next day by donning a sparkly bindi in the middle of her forehead, surrounded by smaller, rhinestone-esque jewels above her eyebrows. When pictures of Hudgens and others pop up all over BuzzFeed, preteens gaze in awe at how innovative, exotic and artsy the celebs are. However, when I see these same BuzzFeed articles, I am appalled by the lack of respect and acknowledgment for the original culture. As an Indian woman, if I showed up somewhere wearing a bindi without a traditional Indian outfit on as well, everyone would stare at me and think the jeweled dot in the middle of my forehead was weird. But if some blonde haired, blue-eyed girl did the same thing, everyone would think she was the cutest thing and would compliment her for being so bold and exotic. Notions like these affected my self-esteem growing up because I was worried about expressing my culture for fear of being mocked. From an early age I realized that if I expressed myself in a unique way, it was met with judgmental stares, but my white peers would be met with praise. What is offensive when you are a person of color is not offensive if you are a white person. That is cultural appropriation, and that is not okay with me.
We Should Scrutinize Presidential Campaign Funding Annunziata Santelli
Assistant Opinions Editor
As the 2016 presidential elections are beginning to take form, information about the candidates’ proposed campaign fundraising is being released to major news sources. In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s recent campaign announcement, The New York Times reported that her “effort [is] likely to cost more than any presidential bid waged before,” with goals circling around $2.5 billion. Yet Clinton is not the only one preparing so fervently, with other news sources reporting on dinner invitations priced in the tens of thousands, and The New York Times detailing that the Koch brothers, as recently as January of this year, have planned on “spending close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign… an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups.” Fortunately, information on campaign funding is increasingly publicized, so American voters should lend a critical eye to proposed campaign spending amounts. Additionally, voters need to analyze this financial data to form questions about the candidates’ and their donors’ motives, then use the information they obtain to develop proactive voting choices and strategies. It’s very important to know where a candidate’s money is coming from, and why so much of it is needed. The Economist explains that “American elections are expensive because America is a big, rich country: reaching a population of [314 million people] costs a lot, particularly in competitive media markets such as New York and Florida.” High amounts of fundraising
KARL MONDON/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP VIA TNS
Hillary Clinton is preparing for a historically expensive campaign.
are somewhat substantiated by the necessity to garner name recognition, a party nomination, and support from swing states. Much of the money that presidential candidates receive for their campaigns comes from organizations such as superPACs, non-profit 501(c)(4)s and,
most interestingly, billionaire individuals or families. The process by which the money filters from large and well-financed donors to a candidate’s campaign is widely known as one of the most complicated, and in some ways hidden, aspects of the American democratic sys-
tem. What’s really significant here is that private enterprises that become presidential campaign donors effectively gain a certain amount of influence over the candidates they support, thus garnering for themselves a bit of power. This is why the proposed fund-
ing for the 2016 presidential campaigns should be viewed critically by the American public. An increase in organized power leads to a decrease in the power of the individual American citizen. Additionally, those who are rich already have major amounts of influence both economically and socially, so adding the loyalty of a presidential candidate and the political power that comes with it is problematic. The American public should be wary of individuals such as the Koch brothers, who have already secured the attention of journalists because of their vast and intimidating political network. This is not to say that average Americans should view every successful businessman (or team of businessmen) as Public Enemy No. 1; but, when given the chance, voters should ask candidates how they developed relationships with their campaign donors, and the donors should be asked why they chose to donate to the candidate. The immediate response some voters may have when examining potential presidential candidates is to become unsupportive of those with extravagant fundraising strategies. This is a knee-jerk reaction that should be avoided. The most powerful action that American voters have at their disposal is their ability to make informed decisions about their democratic choices. It is especially important for voters to be aware of the sources and context of donations. Voters need to be more motivated to use this data to their advantage when voting for presidential candidates. That way, one can still vote for whoever appears to be the most qualified, but that vote must in some way take influential campaign donors into consideration.
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Opinions
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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Fordham: Are We Passive Towards Torture? Rachel Shmulevich Editor Emeritus
Colleges and universities across the world have revoked graduates’ degrees for a variety of offenses— in this sense, Fordham University’s current conflict regarding Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John O. Brennan, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’77, is not unique. However, what complicates our situation is that Brennan has held a bachelor’s degree from Fordham since 1977, and was bestowed with an additional honorary degree in May 2012 when he delivered the commencement address. Brennan has defended the CIA’s use of violent tactics and failed to address the issue of torture revealed with the release of the CIA report in December 2014, which detailed abuses against detainees that can only be described as nightmarish human rights violations. Such violations included threats to kill and sexually abuse the loved ones of their prisoners, detainment in cramped dark environments, the use of wall shackles and vile acts such as rectal feeding and waterboarding. Further fueling the fire is the fact that Fordham President Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., gave Brennan the Brien McMahon Award for Distinguished Public Service in September 2014, just three months before the torture report was released. How can Fordham University, an institution that prides itself on producing well-rounded individuals commit-
PETE MAROVICH VIA TNS
John Brennan (FCRH ‘77) has defended torture and human rights’ abuses.
ted to service and bringing about real and lasting change in the world continue to support, through their passivity, a man who stands against all that? How can they give him the same award they once gave to Mother Teresa? We can’t expunge Brennan’s years as a student at Fordham— nor should we. After all, Harvard University never denied that Ted
CONGRATS TYLER MARTINS! Tyler, you have been an amazing Editor-in-Chief this past year. It has been a privilege to work with you! We wish you the best of luck! You are amazing, and we know you will be successful at anything you put your goddess heart to. Keep killing it! We love you -The Observer Staff
Kaczynski (the Unabomber) was a student, and the London School of Economics ultimately decided to let Saif al-Islam Gaddafi keep his Ph.D. But we can revoke his honorary degree, his McMahon Award, and prove that we are truly an institution that cares for others and fights for justice. Since Brennan was a student here, there is a question of whether or not
revoking Brennan’s honorary degree will send the message that we want, that Fordham does not “implicitly endors[e] the ‘War on Terror,’ the use of rendition, the CIA’s heinous drone campaign, and the subversion of the rule of law in America, including the assassination of its own citizens,” in the words of the Change. org petition launched by two Ford-
ham students in 2012. However, a diploma earned through attending classes and completing the requisite work has a different meaning than an honorary degree. In the case of the former, Fordham puts all they can into educating the student— both in their field of interest and in Fordham’s strong values—but what the student does with that knowledge after graduation is largely up to the student himself. Granting an honorary degree, however, signals Fordham’s belief in and support of the recipient’s achievements. Brennan may be a Fordham graduate, but from what he has shown the public, it is clear that he has left his Jesuit education behind. Revoking Brennan’s honorary degree would send an especially strong message; it would show that Fordham’s commitment to justice is so strong, that it would even withdraw accolades they’ve bestowed upon a former student. McShane’s call for a dialogue between Brennan and groups like Fordham Faculty Against Torture, (FFAT), calling for the revocation of the honorary degree and McMahon Award, still bears merit, even in a climate in which Brennan has failed to properly address the issues of torture and humans rights abuses of which he stands accused. Could it be that an open, productive discussion is possible within the walls of his alma mater? Possibly, but if the trend of silence and denial continues, then at least we can peacefully rescind his awards, confident that not only have we kept our commitment to justice and service, but that we have also created a space for debate and discussion.
Arts & Culture Theatre
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Arts & Culture Co-Editors Loulou Chryssides- lchryssides@fordham.edu Sri Stewart-sstewart13@fordham.edu April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
Off- r a
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By RAMONA VENTURANZA Editor Emeritus
From the stages of Fordham, to the screens of television and film, to off-Broadway sets, Jessica DiGiovanni, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’07, has enjoyed taking the time to discover and embody new characters. Currently, DiGiovanni is discovering the strong, opinionated female protagonist, Melissa, in the off-Broadway play “Melissa’s Choice.” The production will be showing at the Theatre Row’s Lion Theatre from May 5-22. DiGiovanni got her start in acting by enrolling in Fordham’s Theatre program. According to DiGiovanni, acting was always something she wanted to do. “I was really interested in acting-it was always something I knew I wanted to pursue,” she said. “When I had to choose [a major] and where to go to school, I was fortunate enough to have my parents support me and [my theatre major]. While she was in the program, DiGiovanni enjoyed networking and working on new plays with her fellow students and the program’s alumni. “I liked when we got to work on new plays by students, and they would actually bring in Fordham alumni to direct the plays. I always thought that was really cool - to see something that was brand new play from start to finish, which is what we are doing now [with ‘Melissa’s Choice’],” she said. “It was good practice, and a great way to develop relationships with students at Fordham and the people in my program. Once I graduated, I was able to stay in touch with them and maintain that support.” One of DiGiovanni’s memorable experiences at Fordham was her part in the 2005 production of “Dead Man Walking.” “Sister Prejean [the writer of ‘Dead Man Walking’] was there during the whole process; it was one of the first productions of
PHOTO COURTESY OF SEAN TURI
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i iovanni, CLC
, will e starring in the O
‘Dead Man Walking’ in New York City. Taylor Schilling, who is now in ‘Orange is the New Black,’ was my college roommate; she was in ‘Dead Man Walking’ with me,” she said. “It was a really good cast, and it was great to do something this high profile and other aspects.”
roadwa show,
In “Melissa’s Choice,” DiGiovanni, plays Melissa, who is a lawyer, environmental advocate, and a champion of women’s rights and unsafe abortion laws. Focused on Melissa, the play is set in a remote campsite at a national forest in Oregon, where Melissa
elissa s Choi e
must face the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy. In “Melissa’s Choice,” writer and director Steven Somkin attempts to change the viewer’s perspective on reproductive rights. The play also addresses what it means to love another human being and how individuals
ra a choose to meet life’s challenges and complex issues. In regards to DiGiovanni’s character, Somkin said,“This is a character that is totally sure of what she wants, and she gets sidetracked by the pregnancy; she changes the perspective [of pregnancy]. [Melissa] is a strong, opinionated lady, dealing with strong opinionated men. She fends them off, and interacts with them on their level; sometimes, she is the aggressor and brings their level higher.” While rehearsing for the role, DiGiovanni discovered that she and Melissa have a lot in common and want to fight for the same things. “I am always drawn to really strong, female characters. I like playing characters that deal with controversial issues and have [opinions] on these issues.” Furthermore, by taking on the role of Melissa, DiGiovanni was also able to speak up and show another side of herself. “I always felt that certain roles come into my life for certain reasons. I am a strong person, but I am not very open to voicing my opinion. I feel like getting through to Melissa is a nice way to indulge a side of myself that is not necessarily embodied in my everyday life. I am from the midwest, so I like to dissapate conflict as much as possible; Melissa really enjoys conflict and debating,” she said. “This is something that has been fun for me to explore. The challenge is always figuring out the character- you have to create this full person in a matter of time. There is never enough time.” When asked advice to give for those pursuing drama after Fordham, DiGiovanni said, “Utilize the program and the people within it- you have a great core network there. If you jive with them, keep that- ultimately, the business can be hard, but if you have a core connection of people, you can always go back to them.”
The Comma Interrobang The ffe ts
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By ERIKA ORTIZ Asst. Literary Editor
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m anything but outgoing. I’m quiet. I’m intensely and overwhelmingly introverted. Whether this is the result of passivity being drilled into me or whether I was destined to be this way from the start is unknown to me. I don’t remember much from when I was a small child, so I can’t say if I was as reserved back then as I am now. One thing I do remember is the first time that I consciously chose to be quiet. My parents had returned home from a meeting with my first grade teacher, and they weren’t pleased. My teacher had praised my schoolwork, but reprimanded my inability to keep quiet during class. Neither my parents nor my teacher would tolerate this kind of behavior. It was made clear to me in that moment that I needed to stop talking if I wanted to succeed—as a six year old. From then on out, I was quiet. I didn’t speak unless I was spoken to, didn’t say a word even when given permis-
sion to do so. It would be a good day if a friend could get a few moderately audible sentences out of me. Gone was my enthusiasm for talking and laughing with my classmates, and in its place was the constant fear of being scolded for conversing openly. I became the “shhh!” girl, the one who would notice the teacher glaring pointedly around the room and try almost frantically to hush those around her. Time and again, I only received annoyed scoffs in return. But how could they be upset with me? Didn’t they understand the importance of their silence? Did they not feel the same anxiety bubbling in their guts while speaking that I felt just watching them? It took me an incredibly long time to realize that I had blown a small criticism of my behavior way out of proportion. But when I finally understood this, the damage had already been done. Either the habit had been too long established or my natural tendencies had kicked in, because there was no hope of returning to the animated and talk-
ative person I once was. Without hesitation, I had taken extreme measures to do what I was told—so maybe my blind obedience was more to blame than anything. But whatever the reason, the result remained the same. I had been virtually silenced. I’ve grown a lot since then. Finding the right people to socialize with and activities that made me feel comfortable allowed me to slowly regain my voice. I’m no longer constantly concerned about whether or not it’s okay for me to speak, which is a win in my book. But at times the dread is still there, a gripping anxiety due to cacophony I have no control over. I’ve accepted it now, that I’ll always be on the quiet side, and that I’ll have to take several moments to collect my thoughts before sharing them. I try to embrace this as often as I can, and I’ve learned how to extract good things from it. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder who I would be if I had always felt like my words mattered.
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April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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By SRI STEWART Arts & Culture Co-Editor
When you’re in New York City during the summer, there are a million places to go for special events and exploration. Many of them involve being outside: outdoor concerts, plays, street festivals orparades, but these activities can be tainted by New York’s scorching heat and humidity. The unpleasant smells and heat that prevail in the NYC summer air make some days better spent indoors. Here is a list of indoor art exhibitions to see in New York on those hot summer days or just when you want to get inside an air-conditioned space! Björk—The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) March 8-June 7, 2015
You can go to the MoMA to see this exhibit on the acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Björk. It is a compilation of over 20 years of Björk’s avantgarde projects and music, through a diverse form of presentation: sound, visuals, film, instruments, costumes and objects. Björk has had eight full-length albums. One floor of the museum also offers an interactive, location-based audio exhibit of her albums, accompanied by a biographical narrative. Fans would be excited to see Björk’s work in a museum. “I love Björk and her body of ethereally weird, creative music and performance. This exhibit is a way to see the curated evolution of her artistic process,” Anastasia Bez, Fordham at Lincoln Center School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS), ‘16, said. Location: 11 W 53rd St. New York, NY 10019 Admission Price: $14 for fulltime students with ID; free on Friday evenings from 4-8p.m. Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men— Museum of the Moving Image March 14-June 14, 2015
If you’re a fan of “Mad Men,” a critically acclaimed AMC television series that’s in the last half of its final season, this is the perfect exhibit to check out. Considering that it will be over before summer begins, you will have to make time for this one soon. Go to Astoria, Queens to see portions of the Mad Men set, such
PHOTO BY PAULA MADERO/THE OBSERVER
ntran e o the
It is no secret that Fordham Lincoln Center has seen much talent grace its stages. From May 4-5, the Fordham Theatre program will host its annual Senior Showcase to reflect on the work of some of this year’s graduating actors. The show will take place on both dates at 6 p.m. in Pope Auditorium. The 2015 Senior Showcase is an annual event headed by Fordham Theatre. This year’s show will consist of 17 students who will discuss their plans post graduation, as well as give an in-depth look into the students’ time at Fordham and how it has prepared them for a career acting beyond the university. Tommy Dorfman, FCLC ’15, is one of this year’s students who will be featured in the Senior Showcase. Graduating with a BA in acting, Dorfman has already achieved much success with roles in multiple short films such as “In My Skin” (2013), directed by Alejandro Rodriguez, and “Foreign Exchange” (2009), directed by Ken Feinberg. When asked to reflect on his experiences at FCLC, Dorfman stated that studying acting at Fordham has prepared him through “great training and support for individual as well as group success.”
o
odern Art
as Don Draper’s office, costumes, advertising art, video clips and more. “I would say that as a theater design major, it is really fascinating to see something from TV dissected. ‘Mad Men’ is such an iconic period show, and it is incredible to see the set and costumes in real life and to see the work put into the entire production,” Katie Ryan, FCLC ‘16, said. Visitors also get an inside scoop on the making of the show through a viewing of personal notes and research material created by Matthew Weiner. An Evening with Matthew Weiner and a series of films that inspired “Mad Men” will also accompany the exhibition. Location: 36-01 35th Ave. Astoria, NY 11106 Admission Price: $9 for students with ID; free on Friday evenings
Se By LOULOU CHRYSSIDES Arts & Culture Co-Editor
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from 4-8p.m. America is Hard to See—Whitney Museum of American Art May 1-September 27, 2015
The Whitney Museum of Art is currently closed because it is under renovation. However, America is Hard to See will be the first exhibit that opens with the museum’s new building in the Meatpacking District. A collection of over 600 works from 400 artists will be displayed. The art spans from 1900 to the present, so it is a fresh variety of old and new work that aims to examine the multiple themes, ideas, beliefs, visions and passions of American artists throughout the past century. Location: 99 Gansevoort St. New York, NY 10014 Admission Price: $18 for students with ID; a limited number of free tickets will be available on
rs e e t a
The theater program, through its rigorous training process and handson learning experience, has enabled students such as Dorfman to have experiences that will last a lifetime. What is Dorfman’s most memorable experience as an acting student at FCLC? “[It] would have to be having Phylicia Rashād as a guest in my acting class last semester with Kenny Leon. She’s full of wisdom and had such great direction for us, and I’m eternally grateful for that opportunity,” he said. Dorfman plans on producing a web series post-graduation, as well as auditioning for actor work. Another student who will be a part of this year’s Senior Showcase is Emily Thornton, FCLC ’15. During her time as a student in the playwriting program at FCLC, Thornton has been involved in numerous productions. She has taken the role of director in various Fordham shows, and has acted in outside shows by prestigious companies such as the Looking Glass Theatre Company. In terms of post-graduation plans, Thornton is keeping busy with numerous projects. “I will be traveling to London with my old high school to meet up with their theater trip. I will then be headed to Portage, Wis. to teach at Zona Gale Youth Theatre. I will be teaching two classes. One is entitled ‘Performance
a first-come/first-served basis on Saturday, May 2. Van Gogh: Irises and Roses— The Metropolitan Museum of Art May 12-August 16, 2015
View the collection of Van Gogh’s paintings of spring bouquets that he admired in Provence, France. This exhibit will bring together the paintings of roses and irises that Van Gogh painted the eve before departing from the SaintRémy asylum. The exhibit “promises to be a cheerful, vivid exploration of the flowers, and I’m looking forward to spending a day viewing it,” Bez said. The paintings will be arranged in a quartet of two roses and two irises presented in diverse formats and color schemes. Also, the exhibit’s opening coincides with the time of the flowers’ blooming season. Location: 1000 Fifth Ave at 82nd
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hornton, a student eatured in the 2 1
into Meaning,’ which I will be coteaching with nationally renowned theatre artist Xan Johnson. I will also be teaching a movement and vocal technique using my Fordham training with Grace Zandarski, Dawn Saito and Andrea Haring.” she
enior how ase
said. Thornton also noted that her time as part of the theater program has been a wonderful experience, much in part because of the guidance she has received from her professors and mentors during her time here.
St. New York, NY 10028 Admission Price: Suggested donation of $12 from students, but price is determined by you. Landscape Drawings—The Frick Collection June 9-September 25, 2015
On 1 East 70th St. you can go to the Frick museum to admire the juxtaposition of nature’s beauty and the people who live and work on them. It features a rare collection of landscape drawings on paper. They depict everyday life in the country, urban scenes and imagined views of pastoral lands. The work spans across four centuries that share continuity of this nature theme. Location: 1 E. 70 St. New York, NY 10021 Admission Price: $10 for students with ID; pay what you wish on Sundays from 11a.m.-1p.m.
ase “What I want to do in my life is work with teenagers who are incarcerated and in rehabilitation programs. I want to teach them theater [and] do plays with them. I want to show these kids that there are outlets other than drugs, crime and violence. My ultimate goal is to open an alternative therapy halfway house, employing art therapists of all subcategories. My professors and mentors in the theater program and beyond have been so supportive and helpful in helping me craft this career path,” Thornton said. “As a department, we have open and frank discussions about issues that come up in the world around us. We are constantly encouraged and taught to use our art to change things [to] shake things up. As far as my technical training goes, I will be able to use everything I’ve learned to teach the teens I will come to work with. I also plan to continue performing as much as possible; I feel prepared to conquer the real world.” Although graduation is sure to be a pivotal moment in the lives of those who are leaving, the preparation and guidance that seniors such as Dorfman and Thornton have received has prepared them for the real world, and more importantly, for their careers in the arts.
COURTESY OF MEREDITH SUMMERS/THE OBSERVER
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The Creative Writing Awards
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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By ANNA MARIE ANASTASI
penpal I knew someone that went to prison He was just an acquaintance But I had a picture of him in my mind Crying and turning red Hysterical While saying some words At a dead friend’s memorial When he went to prison I wrote him a letter Because I felt bad Because I remembered seeing him Crying and red Soft and transparent Like rice paper and milk Crumpling and curdling in front of me Hysterical His letters were so positive He wanted to be a welder And have a garden One day, he innocently gave my address to another inmate Who claimed he knew me And wrote me a letter That sent out feelers and whispered through my hair As I shuddered in the quiet empty Of my once private room Crying and red My penpal could tell And after that He stopped writing to me I think because he knew Because he could tell Something pent up was cutting through me And into him
voicemail I didn’t check my voicemail for six years Everyone would tell me that I need to empty my mailbox They want to leave messages Yep, I’ll get to it For six years But the truth is I was afraid Of hearing a message a dead friend left For six years I was afraid I would hear it In between messages from my mom And bill collectors Or worse I would accidentally erase it
glass buildings When I walk by glass buildings I always glance at my reflection I can’t help it Others have noticed before And it is embarrassing but I can’t help it When I catch a glimpse of myself It’s like seeing a ghost And I can’t help But look And look Hoping that I will See myself That I will look The same as myself One day
COURTESY OF SAMANTHA NORMAN
By WALLIS MONDAY
September April When I see the rain coming I wear the nice dress, dab a little perfume at my wrists, pull a roast out of the oven.
This is what is to be a dying coyote on the side of the road, I think, catching glimpses of the rabbit I won’t catch, letting my opaque breaths spill onto the gravel. There must be something to this sky but I don’t know a thing about it, never will.
We kiss, me and the rain, and I light candles for our dinner. I always have so much to say, but I always am careful. I fuck it up every time, spilling wine on my nice dress, trying to bring out those old photos, stumbling to the bedroom. And always I’m left on the porch dirt building back up on my face, yelling at the rain to go ahead and stay gone.
August
September I think I must be a crooked steel spine auger pulling the ground up where it is too soft to stay open. Some of the things I pull from the earth straighten me out a bit— glass bottles, old coins. On my porch watching the machines I rock back and forth, admiring my motions, proud of the dusts I raise that land on my apple and my teeth. I don’t mind at all, it’s just the taste of forgetfulness and perpetual motion.
I keep one eye to the ground when I walk, always barefoot, even in this scorpion country. But rather than hear the sound of my own heels I keep one eye to the ground when I walk.
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THE OBSERVER April 30, 2015
The Creative Writing Awards
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Almost Three By THOMAS LAYMAN
The tires, somewhat deflated, spun a moment on the pine needles—honey colored and coating completely (almost completely) the Adirondack floor—before catching and all at once jerking the freshly painted truck, painted white, shining star like between oak, between pine, between prickled shrub and moss and yes, all those honey colored needles, jerking it onto the cabin’s property, the property on which stood the thin man, on which walked the rabid dog. Interspersed between coughs of exhaust from the tall pipe, the dog—not with the thin man but locked in the bathroom, pacing on the newly laid ceramic titles, her nails making sounds like that of a tap dancer’s shoe—barked and growled and snarled: the noises following in unison, one upon the other, an angry march, a monstrous melody, a sickly sarabande. The truck stopped; the engine was cut, the fat man behind the wheel plopped onto the cushy woodland floor, going now to meet the thin man and the dog, to take from both their burden. They walked together, through the cabin, a nice summer place, decorated as a fifties home would be, the thin man offering the fat man a drink (“We have Diet Coke or root beer, or even a beer if you want.”) and the fat man politely rejecting the promised beverage (“No, I got some water in the truck, thanks though.”). The bathroom held the dog, and when fat and thin came to the locked wood door, the animal behind ceased her barking and growling and snarling, leaving the cabin quiet. The fat man—old to this profession—knew she knew, knew she smelled, knew she sensed, her opposition on the far side of lock and key. Becoming quiet himself, the thin man sat on a round, pink cushioned stool, watching closely the leather of his loafers. Before the door was opened and the dog was killed, this is what she thought. “The world is red. The forest is red. The village is red. The mountains, high to the sky, are red and pollute the air so that whiffs of breath, ancient and color blind, blow through the trees, not knowing they have changed, not knowing they have been corrupted. And this man I sense with my nose is redder than red, redder than campfire or burning coals, redder than sunlight or dead leaves, redder than raw meat or cut skin. And when he comes for me; I’ll take him; I’ll take the red out of him.” “When first young and gone from the litter, I would walk the lake road with the thin man, myself too fat and slow to yet chase the squirrels squirreling up bark or the snake snaking between ferns. But as the fat burnt away, my body stretched, my legs lengthened, and I could run the race against squirrel, snake, chipmunk or possum, catching creatures with my teeth, toothsome creatures, very tasty, yes, but it was not the snack for which I ran. The hair is the hardest to chase, but when I bring one in, when I fell the floppy eared oddities, and present the dead to the thin man to evidence my skill, my speed, the length of my leg, I know not only my value, but the innards, the red that is common to me, to the rabbit, and to the thin
man, the red that is common to all the world, connecting all particulars, flora and fauna, mammal and snake, shrub and pine and oak, in a web of crimson. This other on the far side of the door believes he is not red, believes he is beyond the vision of interchange, above the unity in which he flounders. But when he opens the door, I will show him the proof; the proof is in the guts.” Before taking the dog to be killed, the fat man, holding the metal rod in both hands, the metal rod from which hung the rope, thought these thoughts. “When I was young, my shoulders sagged and shook in the cold. My bones pressed against the skin; there was little stuff between the skeleton rock and the fleshy bag. I was a man of little substance. I was a man of little…I was a man of… “And by the furnace, behind the wood walls, behind the sheetrock, behind the pink insulation, my little family, boney and frail as I, ate their little food, shaking their little bodies, those bodies clothed in grey or black or green dyed wool sweaters, those skinny bodies peering up over little plates, those sickly bodies drinking from little mugs, those seedy bodies coughing and sneezing little whiffs of air. After sixteen years of rattling bones, I left, to work. First, the job was unloading trucks, for businesses along the Lake George shoreline, but in this I moved without rest, growing thinner from week to week. Second, the job was to drive the truck, starting in Albany, but traveling as far north as Montreal and as far south as Richmond. A very few times I traveled past Montreal, through landscapes tattooed white, scars of animal tracks tearing through the frozen fabric: hoots of eagles deafening the winter. A very few times I traveled below Richmond, to the flat friendly, dust country, the Carolinas, or the Keys of Florida, or the wilderness of Alabama. And in each venture, I was alone with the truck; I was the experience. The food, sometimes wonderful, sometimes tasteless, I ate. I ate and drove, ate and drove, ate and drove. “I expanded. The morning light rose on me eating donuts, an omelet, breakfast cereal served in a too large diner bowl, a turkey sausage sandwich (scraped onto a bagel), sugary, creamy coffee: one, two, three cups: until, in the car, munching nuts and candy bars, I found the lot, picked up the truck and the route, and went rolling along, speeding ahead, zipping through noon, eating buttered bread and then, of course, lunch, a hamburger—half a pound, topped with ketchup, with mayonnaise—a side of fries— topped with Monterrey jack, with ranch—and perhaps, to top off the topped off food, deep fried shrimp prawns complete with breading and liquid butter; and back to the truck again, driving through Adirondack afternoons into Canadian dusks (nibbling on this or that, candy bars and raisinettes dropped deep, but not too deep, into the glove compartment) stopping over the border for an appetizer of greasy bacon (so greasy it throws off light falling from the naked overhead bulb) and an entrée: the twenty-two oz. porterhouse steak with a baked potato side—stuffed
to the gills with honey butter, sour cream, cheese (cheddar), bacon bits, and chives—and a healthy medley of vegetables (also covered in butter), swallowed fast before the presented plate of pie—cherry, with a puff of whipped cream, the whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate shavings—went from the waiter’s hand onto the table and tumbled down my gullet in one, two, three bites, all digested, all absorbed before the late night snack—a peanut butter covered rice cake, lightly toasted—swallowed before bed, before dreams of seared salmon and crab tilapia, of chicken bits and fettuccini, of cream cannoli and Oreo crumble cake, all of it imagined on plates floating in the ocean, swirling in the eddy of a liquid café, and me, an oarsman, the only oarsman, rowing through the sea, seeing and taking and eating, always to travel, always to eat, always to grow. Oh yes, I expanded. “Do you see, dog, the girth of me, the size, and the weight. We are not connected, dog; we are not bound. I am more than you. I am growing. And when the needle sticks your skin, punctures the artery, and the poison makes its rounds, from you will you go, will go the flesh and blood of you: the rot will begin.” The thin man, through it all, thought nothing. He was sad and paralyzed by the sadness. The fight pending between the fat man and the dog would not involve him. For him there was no energy, there was no battle, there was no thought sharp and clear. The door opened. She leapt. The dart hit. The rope at the end of the metal rod tightened. The ba-boom beat of her heart fell to a gentle waltz. Into the cage he forced her, but he hadn’t, by this point, much to force. The tires spun for a moment before catching and jerking the freshly painted truck off of the property. The thin man stood alone watching the sky, scanning the tree line, deciding whether or not to walk the length of the lake. Winds blew from the east, sweeping over the cold water’s surface. The trees twisted and bent, more needles, the color of wheat beer and yellow tail tuna, fell and fell. With her absence the sounds stopped save for the friction of wind. And when the wind past, crawling westward towards Syracuse, Buffalo and beyond, all was at rest. The thin man closed his eyes; in his thoughts, it is summer and he is young. His friends and he run down to the lake, swimming across the milfoil weeds to the far shore, hoping to meet girls from the music camp, young girls, girls in bikinis, tanning on the sand between rehearsals, before recitals. As they swim, a chorus unseen in the forest above sings Palestrina, echoing off the mountains and crashing, like broken winged birds, onto the surface of the lake. The pine needles fall, fall like the music falls, to the water, collecting in the boys’ hair, covering the lake, the beach, and soon, all the pretty girls. The needles float upward, dancing in the air, blocking the dome of the sky. All the world is honey colored, is amber, is gold like a snow globe filled with sap. When he opens his eyes, he is old; when he opens his eyes, the song silences.
TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER
14
The Creative Writing Awards
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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The Parts I Don’t Believe By RACHEL FEDERMAN
The only part I half believed was the part about the talking doll. The rest sounded like complete malarkey as far as I could ever figure. First there was the cousin whose wife Melody drowned in a Jordan River baptism while drinking Seagram’s Extra Dry Gin. Melody had been baptized as a child in a makeshift church in Sweet Water, Alabama (population 849) but was hoping for rebirth with an impromptu second-honeymoon to the Promised Land. Then there was the nextdoor neighbor who made paintings based on the ultrasound photos of embryos whose hearts had stopped beating before they left the womb. And I can’t leave out the Brazilian boyfriend whose life dream was to start an ostrich farm until he was eaten alive by an ostrich. All of these were somehow excuses for Marina not following her life dream of becoming an actress. Most days I was pretty convinced she became one after all. The kids at End of the Rainbow loved Marina though, the dolls she made, and most of all her stories. The dolls were a little too lifelike for my taste. At least for these kids. Just by the point of fact that they were orphans I was pretty sure they’d had already had more than their share of reality. Enough of parents lying in bed with the blinds drawn on sunny days, enough of being told “you’re a big boy now” on their fourth birthdays, enough of singing songs about how a brighter day would come. Maybe what they needed were stuffed pink monkeys and songs about lollipops. And of course it wasn’t the dolls themselves but Marina’s stories that pissed me off the most. “Kids don’t need fairy tales,” she defended herself on that last evening before the apparition. “Well they don’t need the truth either,” I told her, sweeping up after the last group of kids padded off to the showers after dinner. “They
know more about it than we do.” The wood panels on the mess hall floor were wide and warped far apart from each other so by the time I was done sweeping there was very little to pick up. Most of the crumbs just fell right in between. “Speak for yourself,” Marina said, patting that weird bun she always had her hair done up in, like a 19th-century governess. “What do you mean by that?” I looked at her direct, not even blinking. “You never know what someone’s been through,” she glared back. In a not-blinking contest with Marina, no one will ever win. “Just what is it…” I looked up at the clock. Not even seven. “Just what is it you’ve been through exactly?” I don’t know why the night seemed to loom ahead shapeless and dark in front of me. The fire was just about to suffocate. “You’d never believe it if I told you.” “Tell me.” I didn’t mean it as a challenge, but I felt myself straighten up as I looked at her, pushing my shoulders back. “I used to be a doll,” she said, and a little smile started to seep up the edges of her mouth. “Oh God,” I went back to sweeping. Marina pulled her little knitted afghan closer around her shoulders. She was the only person outside the pages of a storybook I’d seen actually wear one of those. I turned my back to her and started toward the fireplace. “Told you,” she said. I could feel her whispery voice following behind me. But she was wrong about that part. It was
pretty much the only thing I did believe. “Ibro?” Another little voice, this one from a child. “Ibro,” he said again, this time not as a question. I caught sight of him by the door to the kitchen. It was Tyler. He had red paint splattered on his face and his pants were ripped open in both the knees. “Hey little guy.” I stuffed my flask into my pocket and gestured for him to come over. “Read you bedtime story?” He gently took my hand. For Tyler “you” still meant “me”. There was something almost philosophical about it that I loved. “Oh,” I said, relieved, too loud with relief. “What?” Tyler let go of my hand and took a step backward. “No, nothing.” I turned around but Marina had left the room in that creepy silent way of hers. “I wasn’t sure if you overheard what I was saying—“ Tyler tilted his head, uncertain. I closed my eyes, waiting for the light-headed feeling to pass. “Marina,” I turned around, gesturing at the air. Tyler smiled, “Maybe she playing hide and seek.” He started to scurry around the room. “Where are you? Marina!” He looped around the support beam then bent down to peer under the table. “No, I mean—” but I stopped myself. I put the broom away and crouched down with him. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Tyler turned to me and smiled, a smile I couldn’t put my finger on. Then he stood up and called out again for Marina, running
across the room then turning to me suddenly, at the edge by the fireplace, waiting. “Where is that crazy ostrich?” I said, making my voice higher in the way I’d heard the others at the center do. Before I came here, I never knew you were supposed to do that when you spoke to children. I never knew even that basic stuff about them. “Ostrich?” Tyler twisted up his face at me. The bells rang—it was seven, finally. “Go on, Tyler.” I gestured toward the stairs. “They’ll be looking for you.” He blew a kiss in my direction and scampered back up the stairs. “I can’t find her anyway,” I said to the air around me, taking out my flask, wincing at the taste. Pine trees. If I think back really hard, I can remember miles and miles of them. I can remember falling asleep in the afternoons and waking up in the dark. For seven years I didn’t question it. I can remember vegetable soup and grape leaves stuffed with rice. I can remember hearing that she would have been named Sanya, if she had lived. But this was all so many years ago, way before I started to stop believing in things. How can I say at that tender age what is or isn’t real? What I do or don’t believe in? God, the angels, the man who will save us, the talking bunnies, the devil whose name sounds like “Serbia”? Even now, I can’t not believe Marina’s awful, high-pitched corkscrew voice had simply said “Told you” before the mouth returned to the eerie red smile, the gaze far away, as I’m told mine always is. But I’m alive; aren’t I? Which is more than I can say for most of the people I knew who couldn’t breathe underwater. For all the people who had the bad luck to be born—or almost born—in Banja Luka.
TYLER MARTINS/THE OBSERVER
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The Creative Writing Awards
15
His Eyes Won’t Be Blue By MARY KATE CRENNY
Jess sat across the table from an old friend of her husband’s. He wore a white polo shirt and a black turban. Beads of sweat clung to the thick black beard of a proper Sikh. He drank from a cup of black coffee and she swirled sips of masala tea around in her mouth, searching for the names of the spices she tasted: cinnamon, ginger, maybe fennel. A month earlier, Jess had told her husband Mohinder that she would be going to London for work, and he had suggested she meet Gurdas for a cup of tea. Jess began rattling off the conference itinerary, but Mohinder cut her off, “Southall is on your way from Heathrow. I just want to show you off my wife.” He kissed her and she agreed. She hoped this man was easier to understand than Mohinder’s father. The first time she met her father-in-law she could only understand every other word he spoke, so she simply smiled and nodded. Later, she learned that she had grinned through the entire story of his wife’s illness and death. Jess met Gurdas at the restaurant he owned. When she walked through the door, the buzz of Punjabi chatter abruptly stopped. Jess’s own Punjabi was limited, but she worried that Gurdas would assume otherwise. Mohinder had never asked her to learn his first language. She only occasionally heard him speak Punjabi while on the phone with his family To her relief, Gurdas introduced himself in English. They took a seat and Gurdas started offering her samosas and pakoras with chutneys and yoghurt, which she declined. “Thank you, but I’m feeling a bit nauseous,” she confessed, adding, “I’m pregnant,” which reminded her that she had forgotten to take her vitamins. She looked down for a moment to find the jar in her bag and was surprised when she felt Gurdas’ arms around her. He was hugging her. She put an arm around his shoulder and gave a squeeze. He returned to his seat. Jess smiled and swallowed a vitamin with her tea. They talked about Mohinder. Jess mostly asked questions she already knew the answers to, but she enjoyed hearing these stories from Gurdas rather than her husband. They laughed and conversation flowed easily. Gurdas was probably only a year or two older than Jess, but he had been married for nearly ten years, and had three kids. Jess learned that they attended the same Sikh school as Mohinder’s nephew. Jess liked Gurdas, but she found something unsettling about him. She saw in him the man Mohinder might have been had he never met her. Jess wondered if Mohinder would want to move back to Southall if they returned to England. They had never discussed it. After finishing a second cup of tea, Jess looked at her phone for the time. “It’s twenty of. I should probably start heading to my hotel.” On the bus, Jess looked out the window. She had been to London before, but never to Southall. She saw vendors selling sweet corn and jalebis. Piles of red, purple and gold cloth were piled as high as the ceiling in shop windows, and green and blue
scarves hung in the windows. The bus passed a Gurdwara, and for a moment Jess considered getting off at the next stop. She had read about Sikhism and asked Mohinder questions whenever she was curious, but she had never been inside a Sikh place of worship. Yet when the bus stopped, she stayed put. When Jess transferred to the tube, the neighborhood no longer looked like India. She sat across from a woman wearing a button that read “Baby on board!” with London Underground symbol. Jess said, “Cute button, where’d you get it?” “Most underground stations give them out.” “I’ll have to get one. I’m four months along. How about you?” “Six.” “Is this your first?” “No, I have a three year old girl. Is it yours? “Yeah, it’s terrifying. I’m living in Norway now, so I’m having the baby there. I haven’t even seen an OB/GYN. Everything is done by midwives, not doctors. When I first called a midwife, she told me not to come until I was at least 15 weeks. I haven’t even had an ultrasound yet. When I finally saw the midwife, she used this long wooden horn to listen to the baby. She pushed it against my belly and put her ear to the other end and listened. It kind of freaked me out.” The woman made a noncommittal grunt, and Jess understood. She took out her phone. She would never complain to her parents back in the states about Norway’s socialized health care or about socialism in general. Not only did they disagree on political issues, but they also desperately wanted Jess to have the baby in the U.S. Every time Jess talked to her father he reminded her that her unborn baby would never be able to become the President of the United States. Jess liked London, which was good because she’d probably live there one day. Mohinder worked for the British foreign service, and they did not know where he would be sent next. They only knew for certain that Norway was only temporary. At the hotel, Jess napped. When she woke up, she had five missed calls from Mohinder. She picked up the phone and dialed. “Nina is being difficult. She heard that you’re staying at a hotel instead of with her and called to tell me how insulted she is.” “Are you fucking kidding me? Your sister hates me!” “Relax. I don’t want you to freak out about this.” “What do you want? Do you want me to go stay with her?” “No, Jess. I just wanted to let you know that she called and was upset. Maybe you could get dinner with her?” “Did she invite me over for dinner?” “Not exactly.” “If she wants to see me, she can invite me over. She’s just using this as an excuse to be mad at you. It has nothing to do
with me.” Jess knew this was a lie. “Okay, Jess. Please calm down. I didn’t want to upset you.” “Well, I’m upset.” “Just forget I said anything, okay? I’ll deal with Nina. I’ll tell her you’re busy or something. Don’t let this bother you. You’re right. It’s not about you.” “Okay, I’m sorry.” “It’s alright. I love you.” “Love you too, bye.” All the anxiety stirred up by Mohinder’s phone call left Jess’s stomach a mess. She went into the bathroom and knelt in front of the toilet. The day before her wedding, Nina had entered Jess’s room and said “I need to ask you to please not marry my brother.” Nina sat down and said, “He loves you more than you love him. It’s not right. I don’t think you’re a bad person, Jess, but you’re not right for him. Don’t you think you’re a bit too selfish for marriage?” Jess had not argued with Nina, but she did marry Mohinder the next day. When Jess had talked to Mohinder about what Nina said, he had told her that she was just scared of losing him. Jess did not really believe him, but she wasn’t sure if he was lying to make her feel better or for his own sake. Jess washed her face with cold water. She looked at her freckles, blue eyes and reddish blonde hair in the mirror. She would never say it out loud, but she really hoped her baby looked like her. She secretly feared having a child with dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes, who spoke a language she did not understand. She put a hand over her belly. Now, the child was a part of her, but she feared he could so easily become a stranger. Mohinder and she were bringing their baby into a Scandinavian culture neither of them had any connection to. Jess did not have a culture of her own to give her child. She did not have a native tongue. She did not sing folk songs. Her grandmother had never taught her family recipes. Her grandmother had stood in breadlines and ate ketchup and butter sandwiches during the Depression. Jess was a wonderful cook, but she had learned everything she knew from the internet. Jess went for a walk about an hour later and found a Catholic church. Jess entered the church. She unthinkingly dipped two fingers into the holy water and blessed herself before taking a seat. It was bigger and prettier than the one she had grown up with, but it had the right smell. She found a seat in a pew and knelled. A discomfort set into her joints. It was familiar, and, because of that, she could find a little comfort in it. When the mass started Jess remembered that a few years ago the Vatican had changed the translation of the mass. She realized she no longer knew the words.
NELANIE CHAMBERLAIN/THE OBSERVER
16
Photo
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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ARTWORK OF NEW YORK CITY The Observer photographers documented the art that adorns buildings and walls throughout New York City.
PHOTO BY EMILY TIBERIO/THE OBSERVER
A mural in the Bushwick Collective can be found in Williamsburg.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE QUINN/THE OBSERVER
Artwork in the NYC Subway on 81st Street and Columbus Avenue.
PHOTO BY EMILY TIBERIO/THE OBSERVER
ural in the ushwi
Colle tive that is lo ated on W
o Avenue and rout an treet
PHOTO BY PAYTON VINCELETTE/THE OBSERVER
Painted walls located outside of the American Fine Art Society.
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Photo
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ARTWORK OF NEW YORK CITY
PHOTO BY MARIA KOVOROS/THE OBSERVER
he gra ti hall o a e
ural is lo ated in panish
arle
PHOTO BY BRIKEND BEHRAMI/THE OBSERVER
ainted re h drant at
rd treet and iverside
PHOTO BY JESS LUSZCZYK/THE OBSERVER
A statue o a tin wo an in the ast illage
PHOTO BY JUSTIN REBOLLO/THE OBSERVER
od nglish s
ural
e per ot eatured in Little tal
PHOTO BY JESS LUSZCZYK/THE OBSERVER
A light pole in the ast illage displa s the art o
i
ower
PHOTO BY PAULA MADERO/THE OBSERVER
ew or ers view atiana rouv s e hi it that represents the di erent pathwa s in Central ar
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The Creative Writing Awards
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
A Soldier’s First Moments Home in Arizona while on Mid-Tour Leave from Iraq in 2006
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TRAIN BIRDS
By PATRICK SKEA-REID
He sprinkled the sand that kept clinging to his pocket onto the sand of his childhood backyard. Something was wrong in the color. The grains blended, but didn’t quite match. His wife yelled through the screen door until his son led him onto the couch by his index finger. They had divorced a month earlier. The rice was burnt. He was only mildly unhappy. Attn: Company Commanders: Intelligence reports indicate that current hostile elements constitute insurgent force. Effective methods of identification currently being devised. Assume universal hostility within population Centers. Attn: Company Commanders: As per previous memorandum order, do not Disregard. All native contractors and Day laborers will continue to be allowed And utilized on base. They are a vital asset
Standing Orders To the country’s reconstruction and Will be treated will full respect of Culture. Monitor closely under Armed escort while Continuing initiative to win Hearts and minds. Attn: Company Commanders: Frequent visits to all towns And villages in CQ vicinity will Be conducted in furtherance of Hearts and minds initiative. We Are visitors to their country; positive Productive relations must be cultivated. Issue SOP orders of non-
engagement without Complete certainty of hostile intentions. Attn: Company Commanders: As per previous memorandum order, do not Disregard. Verification of hostile intention Mandatory for engagement. Sit-rep indicates Mortal danger as certainty; issue written orders not to fail to engage if necessary. Verbally Re-issue correlative orders to, categorically, not engage if unnecessary. Mission failure imminent if these clear objectives Are not followed. Attn: Company Commanders:
Issue company wide Article 15 proceedings In instances of non-compliance. Attn: Company Commanders: Intelligence required as per failure of Adherence to ROE. Gather and respond ASAP.
It was Metuchen and me and the crowd were swathed in tee shirts and jeans and beer and flasks early on Saint Patrick’s Day morning. He was in an off-the-rack black suit with brown shoes, a high and tight, and his name was James. You goin’ to the parade like that, man? Parade?..oh; no, I wish. Name’s Thomas… James... (there was a single pump handshake) Swig? Cant. Work? Hope so. Interview. For? Marketing job, entry level…probably get the mailroom. You look older than… I’m 33.
Kids? Two. Girls. Me too. Ex took mine though. Deployment? Yeah. Marines? Army; Eighty Second. Fallujah? Ramadi…detached to the First…Fallujah? Yeah…. The train whistle sounded out 500 yards away. The crowd stood and moved two steps forward as a body. Good luck, James. Thanks. Goodbye Thomas. As we mounted deliberately separate cars an undersized peregrine falcon shook an acorn loose from his oak branch as he lofted northward. The train shrieked another knowing whistle. An E flat.
Singing After the rain had stopped falling the world shrank to the size of a heartbeat. The breeze pushed orange maple leaves against the glass in syncopation. James was propped awkwardly on the living room couch underneath the bay window. He was humming in basso, intoning the melodies of two southern spirituals over and over again. He was certain that one was about death, the other an angel band, but couldn’t recall the lyrics or which was which. He had been sitting in the same position for 2 hours. His infant niece was pressed against his chest clutching his shirt in her sleep, left ear tight on his ribcage. She moved if he shifted, would wake if he moved. James kept humming. The wind picked up, and the leaves hit harder against the house. He would have to give her back too, soon. Once she was gone he would have no children again. He would have no children. His humming turned to singing instead. “You’re innocent when you dream.” He kept on singing until first she, then he, were asleep. Maria, blowing the steam away from the rim of the teacup, stepped over his shins and into the couch next to them. She put her hand on her niece’s left thigh. She sipped, put the teacup onto the end table and put her head into her niece’s lap. They slept in that position for hours, unmoving.
Warm Front She knew I knew she was colorblind and still said, Look at the crimson in those clouds, they could practically be bleeding. The wind gusted and some strong unspoken feeling had me wrap my peacoat around her shoulders just before my arms. We walked into Macy’s and bought a canary yellow tie that looked like a maternity dress. As we ventured back out towards the car the storm quietly past. It had not rained.
KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER
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The Creative Writing Awards
19
By SAMANTHA NORMAN
8.5”x11” no. iii my roommate dreams in mandarin whereas i do so in navel. she tends to sleep talk in her native tongue. i’ve been told that i roll slurring lullabies off of mine when i slumber but i sleep now alone. an empty bed omits no echo; the silence crescendoes. pages are yellow and spattered with the music notes of burnt civility. my room stays bright all night when one of us won’t sleep. the others don’t mind for outside our window are legions of insomniacs. i can see their windows through my windows, and therefore, i think, according to the phrase, my eyes and their souls can see their eyes and our souls. directly west and slightly elevated their souls are folded tripartite vertically and once into what should be thirds from the bottom (architects, never simple, the ptolemaic pricks). below in the dark i see a lamp and t he office.four floors up just shut off the television set. halfway up the building a floor is lit across on the horizon of a crucifix. a corner unit six above is my north star. when i blur my eyes i can count the seconds the crosswalk has left my vision might move to mourn the walking man’s death. his ghost reappears in southbound headlights i see like a deer from a different plane. asteroids land at laguardia’s porch every eight minutes kicked from the kennedys’ lawn. by daybreak it becomes clear that the fireflies were just fleas. they are ghosts, though, they float. a ghost is something that floats. that is how i know my ghost, and thus i hold him near. he floats. he floats like those yellow beacons upon their toothpicks on
street corners like the windows illuminated on floor 19 or newark’s lit crust on the hudson or the bed of a truck as it floats upon its stream. my roommate, she was gone for a while. how long? beijing time. how much, really? thirteen time zones. it was a couple months’ disappearance that felt like thirteen eternities falling like sands of time when she grinds her teeth and cries in her dreams debris clogs the particulate flow but weather will wash away all, unify the size, because any grain, once made small enough, will disappear. any building, once deluminated, will cease. only the red brick glows in the moonlight against acid pink skies. i have two roommates. one roommate dreams the other sleeps like a corpse because she is comfortable. her plot is lain between her parents’ southwest and her sister’s to the east and her brother’s to the north. she is happy, so, awake, she moves; asleep she does not need to. the empress is a ghost and the founding matriarch a monument and what am i but not yet born and not yet dead. in between: it is why i eat seeds but not meat, to contradict possibility. to situate. to self-situate. i am a means they are the aglets. i am the lace they are the ends. we meet but do not meld; we are separate. when they split apart i stay or fall. i type as they sleep now, each upon their plush chubby pillow, the kind that spoons only at the waistline my pillows are just quadrilateral. they do not reach they do not pine they do not yearn they are flat. my pillows are planar and they are alright with sitting up with me as I type to fill spacetime
and sleep to empty my memories thereof. these flatbeds are sunk under the weight of a body in anticipation and in function, like a blank page awaits stain. nothing white abstains if it has intention otherwise. if it will be so it may as well be now; that what will be is. predicate: everything about a thing except what it is, really. predicate: shading in a page in graphite and carving the language with an eraser. predicate: my retainer. predicate: the dreams themselves and not the act of dreaming. i spent much of my last few years not dreaming. i was not emergent and i wasn’t sure if that meant i did not exist, but vaporized with my lack of epiphenomena. i dreamt in september that my apartment was a jungle. i had one dream after horror that didn’t scare me deep. suspense and thrill, like the flash of a bright white before floor thirteen’s television disappeared. other than that, the dreams must not come, or otherwise, i would know, no? perhaps the dreams were like guests in the attic who nap under laundry, those who you thought went home hours ago because their sleep talks turned to whispers and then to silent prayer and then to heaven. my roommate went to dinner with her sister and her brother it’s five hours to breakfast. the page’s margarines like her are pale and small compared to all stuffed into its muscle lining. when i wake up i may regret waiting. i’m still awake and i know i won’t dream tonight. directly north: one white window composed of three bulbs. actually postsquint, i see two.
poem on salt (pretzels)
columbus Columbus The further down you walk the deeper sink the heavy dense scents of bread and tobacco down your throat Both warm, but the kind of warm that strokes you upward from a subway grate and, although it’s dirty, feels kind of nice when it’s cold and you’re alone The bread, porous in a way to air your stomach The smoke, thick in a way to pump your lungs, But while either soothes the senses, it does so with diluted substance and strings along a line of lies that bait the heart. One artery north One ventricle south One artery east One ventricle west
Or maybe not, I haven’t gotten too far into anatomy yet I’m still working with sonnets of admiration Or “nice eyes” or “cool hair” to strangers in elevators Notes launched from an iris bounce off a turned cheek and ricochet into some great abyss only to be caught by someone’s father in left field. Like something quick hit to metal a sharp tang! and the cold between a left temple and a right temple wrinkle the nerves from ear to ear That’s what it’s like to feel cold again And you wonder Walking down columbus avenue If cristobal was ever 18 and felt like he wanted to get married because he hated walking alone to get
Indian food If his home life sucked and that took him to Ferdinand and Isabella like rich relatives with cash and laundry If he tripped throughout the ship ride that kept motion more constant than the counterfeit truths he saw peddled at corner kiosks The cheap ones at which marvel mom and sis Maybe the men on the corner playing checkers for marbles took bets on your success, but either way, those marbles will live longer than you if you don’t let them slip into the gutter Maybe Columbus felt as bored as you do now But he was lucky Because there aren’t any continents left for you to discover
she was an ocean inside the moment her pores began to purse her skin pregnantly awaiting to exude salt, she cracked. where do the tides come from? she asked and a silent moon giggled in shadow like a crusta-
cean ensnared in an armor of shell she just hoped the claws & cunning crystals wouldn’t erode their vessel from within, while the water sat contemptuously back, searching for some good to come if the roles reverse
sonnet I don’t want love if love wants hierarchy. Exclusion, selection, maybe, but not The kind of pyramidal stuff that Kings and queens reap their blood harvest with. I want your love like his and hers in Hall of mirrors harrowing, hallowed, Saintly androgynous, empty-eyed and a
Heart for a face sees me first and beats black-red Behind my eyes. I want to give like one Waits for a phone call. Haunt me in reverie, Burrow in my eardrum, though not so that Your silence is sacrificed as a distant part. I may be a drop of blood that poisons its host: Cancerous hypocrite. Can I stain you gold?
a one-way trail of footprints in the snow white rooftops where we hide our secrets, nestled above the tops of heads like unseeable dandruffs. rooftops are where dreams land rooftops the snow banks where tellers are naught and the powder is pristine because trans actions will never be made
above the doors and floors, ceilings and television sets connected to the cloud white ceilings we paint with nostalgia between the ventilation system and the stratosphere is the name of the thing at the tip of my tongue
pain and confusion deja vu confusion and pain rooftops covered in lacquer like brains covered by skulls will I ever know why this helmet has no buckle, why the toils of so much thought seems so evidently simple in the after math things we can’t reach:
our neighbors’ rooftops, even though when I reach out I can pinch one with my thumb and index finger objects in 3-D movies interviews the underbellies of nightmares snooze buttons a second time around the bottom of a cloud, orthetopofasky conclusion MEREDITH SUMMERS/THE OBSERVER
20
The Creative Writing Awards
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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Exponential Growth, The Edge of the Asymptote By MICHAEL GRUND
I was sitting in my room all alone. I wasn’t doing anything serious, just sitting on the computer, browsing the Internet. I was also admittedly intoxicated as one is wont to do while browsing online. Reddit, the front page of the internet, provided me with a wide variety of glib and ironic takes on the full range of social-pop-cultural events of the day and I was contented to spend my entire day switching amongst the some twenty five browser windows that I still tend to perpetually cycle through when in that state. My room was a dim lit shady place, light shown through the blinds in bands catching the green smoke. I was only mildly enjoying myself, in a kind of tepid trance. Very little had moved me for a long time. I had awoken around ten in the morning and proceeded to drink coffee until noon. At this point I felt sufficiently prepared to spend the rest of my day casually relaxing in my dim and sterile room. There was really nothing to be done about my distaste and apathy (enraptured) towards the realities of this new and grand epoch. The age of the thinking machine and all the attached baggage exposed the crust and grit, and it’s all very serine and human, bumbling like the noble idiot of an Old Russian folktale. But I can’t say that I was unhappy, bored maybe, but with a satisfaction that comes only with understanding that you sit on top of the great pyramid of man (or maybe a better analogy, in the membrane of the great gibbering amoeba). I have the luxury and leisure to actually choose what I want to do rather than simply being thrust into some cruel fate and still I sit. I sat there crossed legged in the bed with the computer in front of me, an ashtray to my left, my shoulders hunched with one finger listlessly doting the touch pad. With the world at my disposal, on the edge of a vast frontier, a bottle of Jim Beam sat on the desk next to me. I looked at it thinking about taking a drink and suddenly Modest Mussorgsky appeared in front of me. He stumbled in a stupefied way, fat and round with messy hair, like the classic portrait of him by Ilya Repin. I blinked and he did not disappear. As I fancy myself a rather jaded millennial dilettante having never fully committed in any way to a particular religion or metaphysics, the sight of the incredibly late Russian composer didn’t quite stir me. This is not to say that I wasn’t surprised by the sudden appearance of what to many would be a profound existential conundrum. But like any person raised with experience in the
decadence of post-modernity, I knew that the first step in these kinds of situations is acceptance of reality (the only fear being half-commitment). I decided to play it cool. I grabbed the bottle, unscrewed its cap, and tilted the bottom towards Mussorgsky in offering. Taking a break from his incoherent (to me) speech, he looked at the bottle, picked it up, smelled it, and with a look of resignation, took a drink. He then looked back at the label incredulously and scowled before taking another drink. I looked on in disbelief. He turned to me and began to babble in Russian again. “D’yavol!” He repeated several times. Stressing the “aH” sound, he hiccupped mid-word “ol”. He looked around the room, sniffed and wiped his nose. His cheeks were red, his beard unkempt, his eyes, sunken, wrinkled and surrounded by dark circles. He blinked repeatedly and looked out the window at the city, and then he looked at me again. He stumbled back reaching behind himself, his hand found the top of my chair, which he slumped into. He looked at me defeated, seeming to know more about the situation than I did. I decided that it was probably most appropriate to act now rather than react to what events may unfold (You may recognize this as being one of the very tenets of modern self-help teleology). So instead of pondering the logical consistency of the implications of this new phenomena I dove whole-heartedly down the path set forth. The future soon began to coalesce into a point with both velocity and spin. Thinking quickly I plugged my computer into my speakers. The sound of the speaker connection alone made him jump. His head jerked towards the noise. Music seemed like a good way to break the ice. I began slowly with Hella, a band made up of one guitarist and one drummer each furiously smashing through polyrhythms in irregular time signatures. It’s a cacophony. His arms spread wide and he yelled out what I could only imagine were Russian curses. I laughed, as this was the exact reaction I would have expected from him. He grabbed the armrests and looked at me with intense eyes, his teeth gritted tight. He reached and took a long pull of the whiskey, coughing slightly. He then turned his head toward the speaker, listening with intensity. I could see him begin to recognize that the blasts he was hearing were intended as music. As he recognized a pattern, he looked back towards me side longed and suspicious, questioning the logic. He shook his head and blinked and mumbled to himself. The
song ended. I followed it with The Swans. It’s hard even for me to enjoy the Swans. It is more an experience for an intended effect. The music is so sharp and pounding, plodding, slow and powerful but raw and bitter and nearly without rhythm. He cocked his head further. I turned the volume up. He looked at me and then at the ground I watched him nod his head to the pounding symbols. I then played some Electronica, some spacey fast paced dance DJ named Lazerhawk. This he enjoyed, closing his eyes and nodding back and forth. He flourished his hand about to the time. Having fully satisfied my hipster fantasy I followed that with some jazz and blues, Thelonius Monk and Robert Johnson. As the songs played I gradually began to realize the absurdity of the situation. The left side of my brain grasped desperately for comprehension but there was none to be found. I could nearly feel the rise in temperature with the increased flow of electricity in the synapses of my mind. But it became apparent that this was not going to be “thought out.” The only hope now was to ride the wave of profound animal intuition to its end. This is often the most appropriate response to uncertainty. The whole time he listened, occasionally nodding, waving his hands around, and drinking. He looked at me a number of times in confusion as I played through everything I could think of in every modern genre. We began to pass the whiskey back and forth and occasionally he would slap me on the back and babble a few more words. During some songs he would sit and look down between his shoes, or off into the corner somewhere. I even played him some pop, N-sync, after looking at me for a time his eyes glazed over and he yawned loudly. Eventually we finished the bottle. I looked at him, I had turned my iTunes to shuffle and it began to play his original piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition. He stood and looked at me with tears in his eyes. He said something in Russian and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my cheek and shook my hand. He smiled and exhaled a breath of pure whiskey. Then he laughed, grabbed my lamp and put it between his legs before slapping his ass and flying out the window on it. After sitting for a moment in silence I began to laugh as well. I listened till the end of the piece and lazily grazed the Internet some more before passing out till nightfall.
VICTORIA VON ANCKEN/THE OBSERVER
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The Creative Writing Awards
THE OBSERVER April 30, 2015
21
By FRANK SIVILLI
Landscape of a Farm
Bones In a small place made of plastic, four women descend wrought iron stairs. They are painted silver, or used to be. Small faces have rusted out holes where the paint is chipped. The women pass their hands along the rail and feel these iron mouths closed shut. My Nonna remembers where the box is. The women follow her between rows of shelves
In moments recollected around yellowed walls hidden in the dark, a man is lost inside this cave, eyes removed. He makes no sound, but weeps blood. Two thin and rusty rivers, gone almost, this blood provides me passage. I move faster now, running to catch the man. It is his blood and it is mine. And then I am hungry, ravening for dirt that tastes of cool fennel, and for olives. Dark, green. I pick them from trees outside the house. They are one hundred thousand tiny green olives with branches departing from limbs attached with tiny arrowed leaves pointing in every direction and toward the earth. They are moving, mad now, and they say to me ‘look, go, breathe, come.’ I do.
A Time to Sew The field was fast with chicory flowers, so blue they seemed false among the other weeds less graced. It moved for sometime east and sometime west until encroached on both sides by hill and scattered tree, from where the girl arrived. She took from her sack a sickle, and began to hack at the chicory, right to left, until she’d
Dog Training
taken it all. She left soon after, and at her home in the woods sat at her table of mottled, beaten oak, stringing the weed into thread and stringing the thread into cloth, the shade and touch of daytime blue, that filled her house and spilled from the windows, covering the field in chicory again.
Pappa said he hated the dog because it ate our dinner. It slept in my bed and wore my shoes, and I taught it to shout when it stepped on a snake. I would pretend to be the dog, and every time he moved, I did it the same, until Pappa said he hated me too. He took us both down from the house into town. The buildings had gone, but there was a train, a neverending train on the old track beside the beach. I looked at Pappa to see if he liked it, and saw him throw the dog beneath the cars, gone; he said to me “Is this what you like?” Soundless to my traindeaf ears.
Spring Water I thought that once, when the mountains were made, a great fish had gotten trapped below them. He raged and thrashed, and hit his face upon the rock. His fish-wife heard these cries, and took to the mountains, searching for him. It was then she grew feet and hands and a red mouth with which to breath. It was then I took a stick and plunged it deep into the side of the mountain. Water poured and the great fish emerged, swimming now in a granite basin, drinking spring water. His fish wife moaned from her mouth of red as I speared the fish’s side and bit him.
Mal’Ombra A ghost in the yard between the bedrooms and the fields is just now visible through the boards on the windows, standing still among upright pieces of metal and trash. In the shed behind it there is a beehive, growling and moving ignorant of the night, walking on its hundred legs. The ghost moves forward, through the wall and into the room with the three metal beds. Each mattress gone in the way of shredded paper, only a frame of iron coils left behind. Somewhere the roof leaks, and the ghost goes to it, feeling for dampness, and waiting at the foot of a bed for the children to return to sleep.
consorting among the dead without need of ferry or gold piece. When they reach Maria Pia, she is upon the highest shelf and only my Nonna can reach her: a tiny metal box, not red, but green. The contents shift quietly, as one mass, and the bones begin to count the days since they’ve left the dirt; divorced of the ground, but beneath it nonetheless.
Il Moto During the day they would go down to play by the road where the carts and cars came. Outsight of their mother, they would dare each other to lay down on the ground and to count: “One two three four,” eyes shut tight. More, “Five,” and then fear, and they’d rise. Pia walked onto the road made of dirt, drawn, though it hurt her bare feet to step on the ground colored brown, hard, shaped with two long-stretching lines, out of sight. They were going to count, but then yelled instead. Pia turned and she saw the man’s bike. When mother came down, she ran screaming to town. The others count now without sound.
Lunchbox Outside some children play with rocks, mistaken for bread by the youngest. She bites hard into one and doesn’t mind the broken teeth, they grow again in new and polished rows, and the little girl smiles. Somewhere, away from them, a rattling noise draws attention to the man carrying with him a metal lunchbox in his hands. It is large, and the man is large, and when the children see him they ask his name. He does not say, but instead, opens his box and puts on his face a mask made of concrete. Again he reaches, and this time he pulls a piece of bread for the mouth of the girl with the shiny new teeth.
Speaking with Chickens I once sat next to a woman who could speak with the chickens and hear them speak back. Shoo-kuroo-koo, she would call to them. I sat on a rock and watched the woman grow feathers upon her face. Great black
plumage, shiny and green, from behind her ears, and all she said was Shoo-kuroo-koo. The henhouse proved a nicer bed than her own, and to stop the arthritis in her knuckles and neck, she would sleep on the hay
with the chickens. Saying Shoo-ku-roo-koo, and looking at me. Her eyes, red, and making motions toward a tree. an old one growing persimmons, orange like leather. I tore one in half and gave her the seed.
Uncle Guitar Inside, it is warmer, without the moon and the field on all sides because a guitar is in the fireplace burning. Chords sound unintentionally beneath the hand of some faceless person named Michele. He speaks, but sounds muffled, and everyone laughs because his head is in the chimney. The wood is splitting, laughing too in response to Mike’s folly. Or else warning that the stone they use to bake bread is shifting, about to fall from the ledge of the mantle onto Mike’s legs. These songing shouts carry to the road just west of the tiny white house. The ground outside is colored red by the burning man, still holding his guitar now looking out the window at the moon and the field.
Three Swallowing the Nail I laid out my things on the ground before my sisters’ and found that we had each dug up a nail. Thin like Pappa’s cigarettes, I said, and I took one to my mouth and began to pretend that it was. I walked around all day like this,
and hunched my back like he did, carrying an empty brown sack because I could not find enough to fill it. When I swallowed the nail, I did not taste the dirt or the metal tang, but felt it play with the back
of my tongue as if trying to speak for me. I said, Pappa, look, guess what’s in me, before he hit my back and reached a hand and I started to gag and cry. He took the nail away and I couldn’t eat again.
The three of us walk along the beach. The mythic sand, that dirt made gritty and yellow and hot by the sun is absent, and beneath our feet are rocks fallen from the cliff not far from here; we see it if we close our eyes. The caves are ahead, birthed of the ocean and forgotten. This one is filled by a boulder, dark and dry despite the tide pool at its base. One of us touches its face and stays behind. In another hour we feel our skin turn red, and one of us says he sees the entrance to another cave low to the ground; the air is sweet, and we look at each other, and without a word one of us goes and the other stays. TYLER MARTINS/THE OBSERVER
COURTESY OF MEREDITH SUMMERS/THE OBSERVER
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r ha
s sses the
a
PHOTO BY BRIKEND BEHRAMI/THE OBSERVER
on
raper sits in ront o
idelit , possi l
say, ‘look at the good old days; look what we can’t have anymore if we are upper-middle class white men in America,’” said Jennifer Clark, assistant professor of Communication and Media Studies. “Mad Men” was a unique way to look at
onte plating a uture in retire ent a ter a
history in a certain perspective and see the progression America has made. “I’ve always been interested in the 60s. I was interested in the events that took place in that time span, so I wanted to see how it
23
e
By MICHAELENE KARLEN Staff Writer
Don Draper has been through two divorces, countless bottles of whiskey and numerous one night stands - but he’s managed to be our favorite, most dapper anti-hero. After eight successful years the Mad Men era will end on May 17. Communication and Media Studies faculty and students from Fordham at Lincoln Center say that the end of “Mad Men” is a hard pill to swallow. “For a series to succeed, it has to have strong characters and an interesting narrative,” Albert Auster, associate professor of Communication & Media Studies, said. “‘Mad Men’ has been appealing partly because of the characters it follows: Don Draper, Peggy and Joan for example. They are all interesting and complicated characters that draw in an audience. These are people who [the audience] can understand.” Audiences want something interesting and complex to watch, and “Mad Men” hit that target precisely. “Over the years we’ve loved stories about a bad guy whom we can’t help liking. He’s very attractive and very smart. He doesn’t worry about morals,” Michael Tueth, associate professor of communication & media studies, said. The character he’s referring to, Don Draper, is a character with flaws, who isn’t boring and isn’t perfect. Any person who watched “Mad Men” might have other responses toward the show. It has a different impact compared to other earlier history-based television shows. “People sort of enjoyed the regressive pleasure. They saw on screen something that is impermissible to us. In some ways we could see it as a very conservative gesture to
Arts & Culture
season run
would play out in the show,” said Adrianna Redhair, FCLC ’17. “I really like the character growth. I feel like all the characters have really progressed and advanced.” “We know it won’t go too far because we understand how history
will unfold from then on. So, it’s kind of a safe way to see that happen knowing that history is going to come along and play itself out in a way that will rectify some of the most egregious behaviors of the characters,” Clark said. “Mad Men” did something that generally hadn’t been done before , taking historical and social information and incorporating it into an ongoing series. “In the past, television has restricted historical explorations to things like documentaries or adaptations of historical novels. They’re really seen as special viewing events,” Clark said. “Mad Men” has had so much success because it has created new ideas for the television world, and so few shows have done this. “It is set in a historical period, but it still follows the genres of family, drama, a little bit of comedy,” Clark said. This is a show that people can relate to, even though it’s set in a different era. The growth is seen as the show moves from each season, as well as each decade. “I liked that we learn more about the characters’ past even though temporally we’re going forward across the seasons, so more of Don’s history gets revealed across the seasons,”Ady Bijay, FCLC ’15, said. This show had so many unique qualities, which led it to success and seven seasons. It covered eleven years of character growth just over a span of eight production years. “You’d end a season. The next season you’d be eight years later. That was an interesting idea to do that because we want to get up to the present. I can’t think of another show that did that,” Tueth said.
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Arts & Culture
April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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Features
Features Co-Editors Alanna Kilkeary—alannamartine@gmail.com Hansini Weedagama- hweedagama@fordham.edu April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
The Anatomy of a Food Instagram By NANOR HARTOUNIAN Contributing Writer
We’ve all been there: you’re grabbing food with a friend and finally receive the meal you’ve been waiting for since you arrived. Just as you’re about to reach for that mouth-watering first bite, your friend swats your hand so as not to ruin your meal’s Instagram potential. To Caitlin Sakdalan, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’18, and Sandhiya Nadarajah, FCLC ’18, this scenario is all too familiar. However, they’re typically the ones aiming for the perfect shot. “That literally happens all the time!” Nadarajah said. “Our friends and family know the routine. As soon as the food comes out, they know to pause and let us take a picture before they can eat.” Interestingly enough, being the only two food Instagrammers in the room isn’t as isolating as it sounds.”Everyone joins in to make it work,” Sakdalan adds. “It’s a total collaboration.” While their account, @befatbehappy, recently reached 1000 followers, it all started with a simple idea. Sakdalan, who initially created the account, had always wanted to make a food Instagram but never actually took the plunge and pursued it. That all changed right before she came to college, where she became inspired by all of the amazing dishes offered at Smorgasburg, a popular food flea market in Brooklyn. Nadarajah experienced a similar kind of longing for a hub where she could share snapshots she’d taken of her favorite meals. Fast forward to this semester, when Sakdalan and Nadarajah met through mutual friends and discovered their shared love of food. Soon after these two girls with a passion for documenting all things delicious met,
COURTESY OF SANDHIYA NADARAJAH AND CAITLIN SAKDALAN
Sandhiya Nadarajah, FCLC ‘18 on left, and Caitlin Sakdalan, FCLC ‘18 on right.
@befatbehappy came to be what it is today. This aptly named handle features a variety of foods that are sure to make anybody’s stomach grumble. Armed with only their iPhones and their favorite editing app, VSCO Cam, Sakdalan and Nadarajah switch up the types of dishes they post often, and claim to prioritize indulging over calorie counting. From a fruity pebble macaron ice cream sandwich to miso butter ramen, the endless pictures and suggestions the girls offer ensure the satisfaction of any follower. Although the inspiration for the name of the account came from Sakdalan’s childhood, both partners recall food being an important part of their upbringings. Sakdalan swears that as a child, her love of food transcended that of her peers. Her pal-
ate’s preferences became obvious at a young age, when she refused to order from the kid’s menu. “My favorite dish when I was five- years-old was macadamia nut-crusted mahimahi,” she recalled. For Nadarajah, food and family have always gone hand in hand. “With my family, the emphasis is on bringing a group together, being united through food and sharing experiences through it.” Besides their delectable posts, another aspect of @befatbehappy that makes it stand out among other accounts is its marketing strategy. For example, in an effort to personalize their brand, Sakdalan and Nadarajah decided to create the hashtag, #TreatYoSelfTuesday. They attach this hashtag to weekly reposts of pictures taken by fellow food Instagrammers that they like. This not only allows
them to share some social media love, but it also helps to promote their own account. In addition, both girls make an effort to go through the Instagram accounts of the restaurants they’ve eaten at and comment/like their pictures in order to show their appreciation while simultaneously advertising their handle. “It’s all about networking within the food community,” Nadarajah assures. Efforts like these have resulted in increased recognition for @befatbehappy. “I was in Hawaii over Spring Break and [Hawaii’s Best Kitchen] reposted one of our photos from when I was there,” Sakdalan says. “We ended up gaining 30 followers from it.” When asked about their favorite restaurants at the moment, a round of gasps rang out from both Sakdalan
and Nadarajah. After all, how could one possibly ask two foodies to narrow down the city’s extensive food scene in such a way? To the best of their abilities, each provided insight into spots they currently love. Nadarajah recommends the Lower East Side’s Risotteria Melotti. With only two locations in the entire world, she praises the New York location for its authentic risotto that is shipped monthly from Italy (the other country this restaurant calls home). Sakdalan mentions Root & Bone, another Lower East Side restaurant that is famous for its chicken and waffles dish (make sure to check out @befatbehappy if you’re interested in a sneak peek of the meal!). As for some cheaper eats, Piccolo Café is among the girls’ favorites. They also love “food court” style locations like Gotham West Market, City Kitchen and Chelsea Market. The best deal they’ve encountered so far has been at Prosperity Dumpling, which offers five dumplings for a whopping $1 (no, that’s not a typo – it’s actually that cheap). In addition to maintaining their Instagram account, Sakdalan and Nadarajah are planning on launching a food blog that will act as a more detailed version of their Instagram. “We are going to build a website that will incorporate not only the food that we eat, but also the experience of the food,” says Nadarajah. This ranges from describing the atmosphere of the restaurant to the quality of the service. Make sure to check out @befatbehappy on Instagram, and look out for the upcoming June launch of befatbehappy.com. You (and your appetite) won’t regret it!
Confessions of a Double Major: I Do It Because I Love It By SHAHEEN TOKHI Contributing Writer
Double Major? Why would you do that to yourself? What’s the point? What are you going to do with that? These are all likely questions that you will get from family and friends once they find out that you are double majoring, at least they are the kinds of questions that I got from my apprehensive family and friends once they found out that I was double majoring in English and Communications with a concentration in journalism. But my reasoning is actually a lot simpler than they might think. I’m a double major because I simply cannot choose between my love for English and my love for journalism. I also think that the two degrees complement each other beautifully. Ask any professional in written or broadcast journalism, and they will tell you that the key to being a great journalist is being a great writer. The key to being a great English major is deep critical thinking and the ability to form persuasive arguments (via the endless amount of research papers), and a genuine love for the written word. Not only do I love both majors, but I think the way that they overlap will help me compete in the field of journalism and make me more of an asset. But if there’s anything that college has taught me about myself, it’s that I like a fully packed schedule. My double major isn’t a burden, it’s just a part of my life. It’s another piece of the puzzle for me. I’ve been pushing myself to work hard ever since I could remember. I’m currently working at my third internship at CBS and I’ve got one lined up for the summer at CNN. I’m also hoping to land another one in the fall. Why do I do
it? I love it. I love this industry. From early on I’ve loved it. The drive to push myself academically has always been there. As a journalist, you’ve got to stay hungry and stand out among thousands of other hopefuls. You’ve got to prove that you have the fire in your belly for an industry that never sleeps. That kind of pressure doesn’t scare me. It’s a challenge that excites me every day, and being a double major is a stepping stool to reach my goals. Is time management hard? Sure it is. I miss events with friends once in a while, but most of the time I’m pretty good at carving out my schedule. Ask yourself what matters to you. Ask yourself who matters to you, and you will make the time. If you’re a double major or considering becoming one, be aware that there might be a summer class or two involved in order to reach your degree requirements. I, myself, have to take one additional class to graduate with both majors on time. Make sure you give yourself enough time to get classes approved by your department chair and dean. You want to make sure that you’ve got enough time left in your academic career to double major. I’ve known since my freshman year. You don’t have to know that early in the game, but be smart about it, and make the most of your college experience. You’re going to be here for four years, you might as well soak in as much as you can. And above all, make sure that you are double majoring for yourself, and not for anyone else. Whatever you choose to study, make sure that you have some kind of vision for yourself. Why are you doing this? For me, it feels good to have both degrees on my résumé, and it’s often a conversation starter at interviews. That question of ‘why?’ always gives me a chance to display my true passion for what I’m studying. Form a good relationship with
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN REBOLLO/THE OBSERVER
A double major means double the books.
your adviser, and make sure that he or she understands your goals from the very beginning. Professor Amy Aronson is the director of the New Media and Digital Design major, and is a Fordham College at Lincoln Center-based Communication and
Media Studies professor. Aronson has been my academic adviser since my freshman year, and she has always been a guiding hand and source of encouragement. I asked her how she approaches students who want to double major and she said, “I encour-
age students to really think about the synergy of their double major.” I am amongst the many Communication and English double majors who have asked for her help. Her advice? “Think about the way that the two courses of study can complement each other, and whether that new combined terrain — which will be your true area of study — speaks to you.” But she cautions, “there’s a tradeoff with a double major. You don’t get to go as far in depth as you do when covering a single one.” What it really means? Be thoughtful and realistic, and if you decide to go forward, embrace your double major. “If you set up conditions where there’s an interesting dialogue between the two areas, it’s most likely to be satisfying.” Double majoring is not for the faint of heart. It’s all fun and games until you’re a second semester junior, making your fall schedule and scrambling to meet every core requirement that you can possibly pack into one schedule. It’s a lot of juggling and making sure you’ve got time carved out to tackle your workload. Aronson notes that when you take on two majors that complement each other, it can lead to practical advantages — like the ability to “double dip” up to two courses. ”Double dipping can help you complete both majors on time without having to pay for additional classes,” she says. Still, it’s a lot of calculating, and it’s a lot of hours lost on Degreeworks trying to potentially overlap your schedules so that you might dually satisfy something (but don’t bet on it). Even after all that, I wouldn’t change my double major. If you have two loves, two passions that you want to pursue, then why not go for it? In most cases, double majoring won’t be easy, but it’ll definitely be worth it.
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There’s Still Time! How to Turn Your Semester Around By KAYLA OGLE Staff Writer
It’s crunch time at Fordham at Lincoln Center; everything for the 2014-2015 year is coming to a close. This time can be stressful for many students with things like packing up your dorm/apartment, finishing papers or projects, studying and making sure you have time to see your friends before you all leave for the summer. Here are a few ways to combat this stress to make sure the end of the semester goes a little bit more smoothly, so you can start your summer relaxed and ready to enjoy the few months off from school. Start doing a little packing everyday: No matter what, packing is stressful. Whether that moving from your dorm or apartment, trying to figure out how to pack things efficiently and with the least amount of stress can be challenging. But if you start packing a little bit every day, it’s not as bad! During the next few weeks, dedicate an hour to packing every day. Start with the small stuff that you don’t necessarily need anymore, and put it in a box or a pile where it won’t be in the way. Slowly, you’ll only be down to the things that are absolutely necessary, like clothes and toiletries, and suddeningly the daunting task of packing is not nearly as bad! Exercise and meditate: These things are tried and true stress relievers. Rachel Lamy, FCLC ‘16 says that she likes to run when she’s feeling stressed out. By running, you’re giving yourself time to think about the things that still need to get done, and you can come up with an
appropriate plan of action to accomplish them. Exercise also releases endorphins to make yourself feel better. Giving yourself time to do a 20-minute run can change the way you view stress. Meditation can also help with stress. One unconventional way to mediate is by doing the Viparita Karani pose, or legs on the wall pose. This yoga move is so easy anyone can do it, and you can even do it in bed. Lie flat on your back and place your legs as straight as you can on a wall so you’re at a 90 degree angle. Rest like this for 5-10 minutes. According to Active.com, this pose aids with acute stress, headaches, insomnia and stretches out the back of your hamstrings and neck. Since we’re all cramming for finals and hunched over books and laptops, taking the five minutes to relax your mind and stretch in this position will be beneficial for anyone. Plan a fun weekend activity with your friends: Whether you’re graduating or just going home for the summer, it might be a little while until you see your friends again. You may feel the need to stay in your dorm and study, but you also want to make sure you have time to see your friends and do something fun! By planning activities like a night out or a potluck dinner, you can make sure you do something that is fun and stress free. You can also go for a picnic in Central Park. Sheep’s Meadow has great open spaces for relaxing - plus soaking up some sun never hurt anyone (as long as you’re wearing sunscreen). No matter what you and your friends like to do to have fun, make sure you take time to see them during the last weeks of school.
Make a study group and meet with professors: “Collective pulling together of materials is great,” said Professor Irma Watkins-Owens, associate professor in the African and African American Studies department. “Students should plan time in the beginning of the semester to stagger things that are due at the end so it’s not as stressful. But if that doesn’t happen, peer review is a great option.” She also discusses the benefits of having other students proofread your work and peer review. You can benefit because it is helping you understand the material more, and you can benefit from the way your peers might see the subject. Finally, WatkinsOwens says that speaking to the professor is always a good option. “If you really have a problem go to us! We’re people too, and we want to help you!” Give yourself down time: Our bodies are not machines that can endlessly run; eventually we run out of steam. Allow yourself some breaks, whether that be taking a nap, or do like Maya Van Peebles, FCLC ‘15, “I take myself out to the movies.” She said, “I have a $35 movie pass that allows me to see as many movies as I want, so instead of sitting at home watching Netflix, I go out.” By leaving your apartment, either going for a walk or grabbing some coffee, you are able to get out of the space that you’ve been doing work in for possibly hours at a time. This space let’s you clear your head and recharge before you go back to studying. Also, seriously make sure to get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to memory loss, according to Healthline.com, so it does you no good if you’re cramming for an exam on only two hours of sleep.
PHOTO BY EMILY TIBERIO/THE OBSERVER
A little meditation goes a long way!
These few things can hopefully make the last few weeks a little more enjoyable, instead of making you feel like you might collapse from the stress. Remember to take time for
yourself and friends, treat your body well and ask for help if you really need it. The end of the semester is a cause for celebration, don’t let the stress make that any harder!
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April 30, 2015
Features
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PHOTO COLLAGE COURTSEY OF TYLER MARTINS/THE OBSERVER
Just a few memories where Tyler has “fallen in love” with Fordham!
A Letter To My Freshman Self By TYLER MARTINS Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
There are fewer than 20 days until Commencement. Fifteen, to be exact, but who’s counting? I’m writing this letter to you, freshfaced beardless freshman Tyler, because I know how anxious you are about college. I’m here to tell you it’s going to be the best four years of your life.
Dear Tyler, 2011 -Your first year of college is swiftly approaching, and I know how you’re feeling (because I felt those very same feelings). You’re anxious, scared, feeling like the world is closing in on you. You went from the top of the food chain at your high school and now have to start all over again. You’ll be sitting in your room in New Jersey the night before moving into McMahon Hall and wondering why you didn’t take a year off from school to develop some other skill or go to college closer to home. I’m here to tell you that you’ll be okay. You’ll get sidelined by Hurricane Irene and move in a day late, which doesn’t make you any less
anxious. When you’re all moved into McMahon, apartment 4M, you’ll look outside the window onto the the street and watch other freshmen be moved in by overly excited Orientation Leaders, decked out in maroon from head to toe. (Surprise: you’ll be one of those crazy maroon cheerleaders yourself. Don’t believe me? Just wait.) Will it be easy? No. Will it be challenging? For sure. Can you do it? You have no other choice. Before you know it, four years will have flashed before your eyes and you’ll be sitting in the Ram Café, during the last week of classes in your senior year, writing a letter to your freshman self. “New York is my campus. Fordham is my school.” You’ll hear that phrase repeatedly for the next four years and read it every time you go up and down the escalators from the Indoor Plaza to the Lowenstein lobby. That phrase, that motto, will be exactly how your college career is divided. For the first two years, you’ll explore New York City. It is one of the reasons why you wanted to come to Fordham. You’ll go to Broadway
shows, museums, skip class to go to Central Park and explore, find places off the beaten path. You’ll never be home in McMahon - why sit in an apartment with terrible fluorescent lighting when you could be walking along the Hudson or exploring the Village? New York is your campus, but you will soon realize how Fordham truly is your school. During your last two years, you’ll fall in love. Not with a person, or with a career or profession, but with Fordham. That love will shake you to your core. You’ll fall in love with the community at Fordham, especially at Lincoln Center. This community fights hard for the things they believe in, and they work hard to achieve their goals. Whether that be raising awareness for a social justice issue like police brutality or raising money to cure cancer, you’ll be inspired by the passion of your peers. And where else do professors know your name because you’re not just another number in a classroom? You’ll fall in love with clubs and extracurriculars.Though you’ll spend two years swearing off “getting involved,” you’ll soon eat your
words when you join The Observer, do a Global Outreach (GO!) project, participate on committees and the like. You’ll develop a kinship with other student leaders and be changed by your experience. You’ll develop friendships with people that will change you with their goodness and fire. You’ll lose a few friendships, too, but those people still made an impact on you. You’ll fall in love with Fordham’s Jesuit values. What you once used as a selling point to your religious parents will suddenly become part of your mantra, your ideology, your system of beliefs. Is there nothing more beautiful than reaching self-fulfillment by being men and women for others, by taking on the ethical issues of the world and striving to make a change? It is through these Jesuit and Ignatian values that you will be and continue to be transformed into the best version of yourself. As President of Fordham Fr. Joseph M. McShane, S.J. said, “Cared for, our students are challenged. Challenged, they awaken to their potential. Awakened, they are transformed. Transformed, they are empowered.”
You’ll fall in love with Fordham, and it will come to mean everything to you. There will be so many challenges you will have to face, in leadership roles, in the classroom and with your own peers. You’ll be hurt by friends and other people, and you’ll also hurt other people, not always unintentional. You’ll face crises of faith about what you want to do when you graduate, but it will be okay. You’ll cry both in frustration and happiness, sometimes at the same time. My only advice to you is to follow your heart. It brought you here in the first place. Join clubs. Do a GO! Project. Take challenging classes and classes that interest you. Hang out with friends on the Plaza during the Activity Block. Take advantage of professors and administrators as resources. Explore New York City. Take a class at Rose Hill. Venture to the Westchester campus. Most importantly, let yourself fall in love. Go Rams! Tyler, 2015
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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE GRADUATING EDITORS EMERITI OF THE FORDHAM OBSERVER! Tyler Martins Editor-in-Chief Meredith Summers Copy Editor and Literary Co-Editor Ian McKenna 2013-2014 Editor-in-Chief Mark Lee Literary Co-Editor Nina Bergbauer Assistant Literary Editor Now... That’s a Story.
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Sports
Sports Editors Matthew McCarthy - mmccarthy80@fordham.edu Katie Kirtland - kkirtland@fordham.edu April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
Which New York Hockey Team Will Win the Stanely Cup? By THOMAS O’CALLAGHAN Staff Writer
Following a successful regular seasons both the New York Islanders and New York Rangers have set their sights on the Stanley Cup. The Rangers looked to be the team to beat in playoffs following their Presidents’ Trophy win, which signifies the best win-loss record in the NHL. The Islanders are a formidable squad this postseason as well, as they finished third in the Metropolitan Division with 47 wins and 28 losses. New York is set to prominently represent the league in the NHL playoffs, but these clubs have many challenges to overcome on their march to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Rangers have been a dominant team over the course of the 2014-15 season, as evidenced by their excellent finish with over 50 wins. Impressively, the Rangers rank third in the NHL in both goals and goals against. Due to the squad’s prowess offensively and defensively, the Rangers finished the regular season with the best scoring differential in the NHL with a +60 rating. They have dealt with some nagging injuries, but they are relatively healthy and well equipped for a deep playoff run. At the time of writing, the Rangers hold a commanding 3-1 game lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins, heading back home to Madison Square Garden (MSG). The Islanders, on the other hand, are not as heavily favored as the squad from MSG. This New York team is much more offensively minded. While the Islanders rank fourth in the NHL in goals scored, they are also in the league’s cellar in goals allowed at 23. These statistics lead to their scoring differential being a comparatively modest +22. Like the Rangers, the Islanders are also dealing with a few injuries, but should be healthy enough to compete. At the time of writing, the
PHOTO COURTESY OF NUCCIO DINUZZO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE VIA TNS
evin lein, o 8 or the ew or
Washington Capitals are pushing the Islanders to the limit in their first round matchup, with the series tied at three games apiece. The Western Conference is wideopen in this year’s playoffs, and there is no clear pick, unlike the popular choice of the Rangers to win the East. The Anaheim Ducks are a powerful team, finishing first
angers, de ends against the Chi ago la
in the Pacific Division and sweeping their first round opponent the Winnipeg Jets in four games. While not as statistically impressive as the Islanders or Rangers, the Ducks find ways to win. The other division winner in the West, the Central’s St. Louis Blues, were a pick by many to make a deep run this year, but they are currently fighting for their
haw s Center Antoine ernette earlier this season
playoff lives against the Minnesota Wild. The Blues rank in the top-five in the NHL offensively and defensively, but they are currently tied with their first round opponent. While there are several teams capable of surging to the Stanley Cup Finals, the New York teams’ odds of winning several rounds are very good. The Rangers are a popu-
lar pick for the title game, and the Islanders also have the necessary components to survive tough series in the postseason. Yet, in the end, the Islanders might not have enough in the tank to defeat the league’s elite, while the Rangers have their eyes on raising another championship banner in the rafters of Madison Square Garden.
Rajon Rondo: The Free Agent Knicks Should Stay Away From By DANIEL FERRARA Staff Writer
The Knicks are expected to have more than $25 million to spend in free agency this summer, but the biggest key to going from a 17-65 team in 2014 to a potential playoff candidate next season is spending it wisely. Signing point guard Rajon Rondo would not accomplish that. The move wouldn’t make sense for several reasons, but in the grand scheme of things, Rondo simply isn’t a good fit for the Knicks. President Phil Jackson is nearly obsessed with the implementation of his “Triangle Offense,” which requires a point guard who is a willing passer and can knock down an open jump shot. Although Rondo has displayed that he is a willing passer in the past, getting good looks for future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce during his Championship years in Boston, he has never been able to shoot well. One of the principles of the Triangle Offense is starting your set down low or on the elbow with a big man, drawing a double team and passing to the open man for the three-pointer. For his career, however, Rondo has shot just .263 percent from behind the arc. This season, he shot just .332 percent from a distance 16 feet to the threepoint line. Also, Rondo’s immaturity and attitude have been questioned in the past. Since the Knicks traded away Earl Joseph “J.R.” Smith III because of his partying lifestyle and bad behavior off the court, it is unlikely that
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN RHODES/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM VIA TNS
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they would want to go out and bring a player of Rondo’s stature into the mix. Jackson has frequently mentioned “culture” when describing how he wants to build the franchise, and Rondo would likely compromise that. When Rondo was traded to Dallas, everyone thought that it would be the best for both parties. Rondo wouldn’t have to wait during Boston’s rebuilding, and the Mavericks got the one player they felt they needed to put them over the top. Surely a starting five of Rondo, Monta Ellis, Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler was expected to compete for a title, but things didn’t work out accordingly. The Mavericks finished as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and are on the verge of being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by their state-rival Houston Rockets. Additionally, Mavericks’ head coach Rick Carlisle, who is known for being able to manage locker room controversy and egos, has benched Rondo repeatedly down the stretch, and has ruled him out indefinitely for the rest of the playoffs. The Mavericks gave up first and second-round draft picks to acquire Rondo, but it looks like he will just be a four month rental player and be on his merry way. Boston knew what they were doing by trading him, and if the Knicks have a clue, they will stay as far away as possible. His free agent value has plummeted, and he had one of the more lackluster seasons in the final year of his contract as any freeagent-to-be in recent history.
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Dodgers’ Surprising Run Could Lead to World Series Win By MARCELA ALVAREZ Asst. Sports Editor
During the 2014 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers watched from the sidelines as their rivals, the San Francisco Giants, won the World Series. Few seemed to remember that the Dodgers had won the National League West Division Championship, with their 94-72 win-loss record (MLB), instead of the wild card position as the Giants had. However, this 2015 season, the Dodgers are finally taking back their place. The Dodgers were currently on a seven game winning streak, until they lost to the Giants on April 21, and have the greatest number of wins in the National League (NL). With the loss of second baseman Dee Gordon, shortstop Hanley Ramirez, closer Kenley Jansen and power hitter Matt Kemp, people are surprised with their multiple wins. However, one reason for their remarkable winning streak could be their newest acquisitions. According to Sports Illustrated, the Dodgers set the Major League Baseball (MLB) record with an Opening Day payroll of $270 million. This is partially due to their additions of Brandon McCarthy, A.J. Ellis, Kyle Jensen, Ryan Jackson, Zach Lee, Chris Reed, Scott Schebler and many others. With the new addition of players and the current pitching staff led by Clayton Kershaw, it is no wonder the Dodgers are on a winning streak. Clayton Kershaw, by being the reigning Cy Young award and NL MVP award winner has become the face of the Dodgers’ bullpen. In an interview with USA Today during spring training, Kershaw said, “for me, you want to make up for everything that didn’t go well in October, but you can’t do that in April.” The Dodgers’ wins could also be due to their improved comebacks. On April 14, in only eight games, the Dodgers matched their number of comebacks for all of 2014. Their biggest comeback was on April 13 against the Seattle Mariners. By the end of the first inning, the Dodgers were down by two runs and by the top of the fourth they were down by four runs. Luckily, in the bottom of
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSIE LEPE/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP VIA TNS
Los Angeles
odgers pit her Cla ton ershaw s i pressive pit hing will lead the
the fourth they scored three runs; however, at the top of the fifth they were again down by two runs. Lastly, at the bottom of the fifth they tied at 5-5, where they stayed and went into extra innings. It was the bottom of the tenth inning, bases were loaded, and Alex Guerrero stepped up to the plate. He was five pitches in and had one more strike to go. Finally, on the sixth pitch, Guerrero got a line drive single, Andre Ethier scored, and the Dodgers won 6-5
against the Mariners. This was only one out of multiple comebacks that the team has had this season. Manager Don Mattingly even commented to SB Nation that, “the quality of our at-bats have been really good.” This is a positive sign for the team because it shows that the players are resilient and can overcome runs to win games. More so, this is a good indication that the Dodgers will have a successful 2015 season. Adding to their victories is the
odgers to the World eries this season
fact that the Dodgers lead the National League in home runs. On April 19, the team hit three more home runs that helped them secure a 7-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies and their seventh consecutive win. However, even these home runs are unexpected. In a Los Angeles Times report that came out during the off season, scouts reported that the Dodgers’ lineup would not have much power because they would no longer have Matt Kemp
and Hanley Ramirez. With the absence of these two power hitters, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, Howie Kendrick, Scott Van Slyke and Joc Pederson have stepped up to the plate. With their wins, the Dodgers are astonishing everyone. Hopefully, they can continue hitting runs and winning games to have a chance at taking the World Series, which they have not won since 1988.
Tigers’ Continued Success Makes Them Baseball’s Best By DYLAN PENZA Editor Emeritus
Despite an aging roster and strong competition from divisional rival the Kansas City Royals, the Detroit Tigers still remain the best team in the American League (AL) and in baseball. Perennial success in sports is, for lack of a better term, boring. Watching the same teams or players sweep tournaments without much competition takes away the adrenaline of observing a great game. Writing about these same teams time and again can also become monotonous. That said, these consistently excellent teams and players should not be punished for their continued success. That’s how you wind up with Karl Malone defeating Michael Jordan for the 1997 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, or many fans and pundits counting the New England Patriots out of this year’s Super Bowl. So, with that in mind, it’s time to talk about how the Detroit Tigers are once again the best team in baseball. At 11 wins and two losses, the Tigers, at the time of writing, have the best record in baseball and a one game lead over the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central Division. As per usual, the team has been defined by strong hitting, leading the major league with a .843 on base plus slugging percentage (a hitter’s ability to get on base added to the hitter’s ability to hit doubles,
PHOTO COURTESY OF MANDI WRIGHT/DETROIT FREE PRESS VIA TNS
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triples and home runs). While star player Miguel Cabrera has once again started the year off well, with 10 runs batted in (number of runs scored off a hitter’s plate appearance) in only 13 games, the team has also been receiving offensive contributions from less heralded players. The most notable of these unlikely offensive spark plugs is
shortstop Jose Iglesias, who currently leads all of baseball with a .439 batting average (number of hits divided by number of plate appearances). While Detroit has exceeded expectations in terms of hitting, as long as Cabrera is still playing effectively, it can be assumed that the team will be able to generate runs. It’s been the squad’s surprisingly
a
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strong pitching that has put them in pole position early in the season. The Tigers’ pitching staff has a 2.48 earned run average per nine innings, good enough for first in the American League and second overall in baseball. They also lead the league with a .98 WHIP (the team gives up less than one hit or walk
per inning). Now while this kind of success is not necessarily feasible over the course of a full season, the fact that the staff has done well so far is a bright sign for a team that many pundits and sports writers projected pitching to be a weakness for. The pitching rotation seemed to be full of question marks outside of ace David Price due to the decline and subsequent injury of star pitcher Justin Verlander, who is now on the disabled list, and the departure of Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, who is now with the Washington Nationals. However, players such as Alfredo Simón and Shane Greene have done admirable jobs replacing these once franchise cornerstones. Greene in particular, who ranks second in the AL with a .39 earned run average, looks like a player who can make a huge impact on the Tigers for years to come. There are huge questions surrounding the Detroit Tigers early season success. It seems unlikely that the team will be able to keep the upstart Kansas City Royals at bay in the division if said questions remain unanswered. Can Cabrera continue this level of hitting success even as he passes the age of 40? Can Verlander regain his once dominant pitching form? Can these unlikely contributors such as Iglesias and Green continue to exceed expectation? Regardless, the Detroit Tigers are at this moment the best team in the American League.
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April 30, 2015 THE OBSERVER
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Getting Fit at Fordham With the New Basketball Club By KATIE KIRTLAND Sports Co-Editor
As spring comes to the city, Fordham Lincoln Center students are aching to take advantage of the sunshine and warmer weather. A great way some of the students are doing just that is by joining Fordham at Lincoln Center’s new basketball club. Max Berger, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ‘17, founded the club this semester. Practices are held Tuesdays and Fridays from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Riverside Park near the 68th Street entrance, a 15 minute walk from the Fordham Lincoln Center campus. Currently, the club has about 20 members at practices. The club’s E-Board consists of Treasurer Joe Rametta, Secretary Martin Pagels, and Vice President Marlon Acosta. The venue is particularly convenient for this club because it encourages students to explore the Upper West Side and get off of the Fordham Lincoln Center campus for at least a couple hours per week. It’s easy,
especially during finals, to find you haven’t been outside for a few days at a time. According to Berger, “It’s cool because you get to play amongst yourselves, but if there are also other people there from around the city, you get a bigger community going.” So if students are looking to meet people and are athletically inclined, the new basketball club is a great option. Part of why Berger wanted to create the club is that he found he was not the only student having difficulty with finding a place to play sports: “Athletics is something that’s definitely lacking on this campus, even if it’s just fitness.” While there is a gym in McMahon, it consists of limited machines, and there are not any official courts or fields. That’s one way this club is an asset to the Fordham Lincoln Center community: it takes anyone interested and shows them where they can go. While it is currently the “Basketball Club,” Berger wants to make it clear that the club isn’t all about basketball. “There are plenty of people in
PHOTO BY MICHELLE QUINN/THE OBSERVER
a
erger, resident o
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my club who aren’t strictly basketball players. There are some who aren’t at all, but they just want to meet people and do something fun,” he said. The
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goal of the club isn’t to enhance basketball-specific skills; they don’t run drills. The purpose rather is to get Fordham Lincoln Center students
outside and active, something that can be easy to forget at a primarily arts campus. Berger also schedules meetings in a more formal classroom setting during the week. “I want to hear what members have to say,” he explained, “they seem to be more comfortable when it’s a classroom environment.” One of the things members are wondering is whether the club will get the funding to attend Knicks games. While that is part of the plan for the club, it is still too new to know for sure, because a budget has not yet been officially set by the United Student Government (USG). One of the goals for the club for next year is certainly to get free or discounted tickets for Knicks or Nets games. Other than that, Berger is hoping for an athletic freshman class to get more students involved next year. More than anything, Berger said, “We’re excited for next year because that’s when we’re going to get to start to really turn it into something bigger than what it is now.”
Sarah Thomas: Breaking the NFL’s Glass Ceiling By MATTHEW MCCARTHY Sports Co-Editor
The National Football League (NFL) made history on April 7 when it announced that Sarah Thomas would be a full-time referee, meaning she will be the first female to officiate fulltime during the upcoming NFL season. However, for Thomas, this is just one of many milestones she has achieved throughout her career. According to Sports Illustrated, in 1996, she became the first female to referee a Mississippi high school football game and by 2007, she was a referee for Conference USA at the college level. Two years later, Thomas made history again by becoming the first female to officiate a college football bowl game when she served as a referee for a contest between Ohio University and Marshall University in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl.
Her impact has extended across all levels of college football, culminating with four females officiating one game which marked the first time an NCAA game had a majority female crew. Despite her impressive resume, Thomas understands the move is unprecedented and backlash will come. During an NFL sponsored conference call with reporters, she said, “I know that I will probably stand out being the first, but as far as players and coaches, I’ve been around a good little while, and I think they know who I am and just want to make sure I can do my job.” Thomas appears to be prepared for any resistance she might face on the field due to her sex. While this is groundbreaking for the NFL, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has already had three female referees since 1997. However, their transition to the major leagues
has been anything but perfect. For example, earlier this season, Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul ended a tirade on a technical foul called by female official Lauren Holtkamp by saying, “…[officiating] might not be for her.” Thomas will expectedly face similar comments, especially during her first season. Critics have jumped at the opportunity to denounce the signing of Thomas and likely will continue to condemn the hire whenever she is forced to make a controversial call. In an era where NFL headlines are engrossed in the latest arrests of its players for domestic violence, Sarah Thomas’ hiring is a welcome change. In a league clouded with controversy including Ray Rice’s domestic abuse incident involving his thenfiancée, the hiring of Sarah Thomas is a progressive move for females in the NFL. Her addition to the officiating
staff will not only open the doors for other female referees, but also create other opportunities to incorporate females into the NFL. In addition to seeing more female professional referees, fans may see more females on the sidelines as coaches in the future. In such a male-dominated sport, bringing in Thomas marks a new era for the NFL which may include female coaches. Bruce Arians, the Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals, believes females will eventually become coaches in the league as well. At the NFL owners meeting last month, he said, “The minute they can prove they can make a player better, they’ll be hired.” Other coaches have extended similar statements over the last couple of years, but ultimately the coaching staffs of all 32 teams are still without even a single female. The NFL should continue to follow the trends the NBA has started.
In August 2014, the San Antonio Spurs hired the first full-time, female coach when Becky Hammon was added as an assistant. The Spurs’ players and coaches welcomed Hammon as a knowledgeable basketball coach, not as a female in a male-dominated sport. Accepting Hammon as another member of the San Antonio staff was key to integrating her into the NBA. The NFL must follow suit with Thomas. Her experiences at the college level make her qualified to fill the position and players must respect that when the season rolls around this fall. Despite the addition of Thomas to officiating staff, more changes need to be instituted to bring gender equality to the NFL. Hiring a female referee shouldn’t be the end goal for the NFL, it should just be another step along the path towards equality for females in a sport dominated by males for the last hundred years.
Who Wore It Best: The Cutest Uniforms in Sports
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DYLAN PENZA Editor Emeritus
One year ago, I began working in my former position as Sports Editor for the Observer. At the summer retreat, our advisor Professor Elizabeth Stone suggested that I write this article. To be completely honest, I found it to not be my sort of thing, and in fact I thought it was a little embarrassing and kind of patronizing. However, as this is my last article for this publication, why not give it a shot? This one’s for you Professor Stone, Without further ado, here is my list of the cutest uniforms in sports. Note that when I say cutest, this is my subjective list of the uniforms that are the most aesthetically pleasing to me and not some sort of completely objective, scientific list. Instead, it’s just my opinion on what I think looks the best within
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each sport. Also, I’m only choosing from teams within the five major American sporting leagues, one team from each league, just for the sake of conciseness and cohesion. Major League Soccer: Seattle Sounders Let’s start with the sport I know the least about, soccer. Although I am not an avid soccer fan, these uniforms have always caught my eye on the rare occasion I do tune in for a match. I just think the bright, almost neon green stands out amid a variety of whites and navy blues. Also, I’m an Xbox guy, so seeing the logo of the company that brought me hours of joy during, my admittedly lonely adolescence always feels comforting. So, because the kits of Clint Dempsey’s squad remind me of my childhood, and they stand out in a relatively generic field of uniforms, the Seattle Sounders have the cutest uniforms in the MLS.
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National Hockey League: Los Angeles Kings Sometimes, the most basic designs are the best. The stark black and white uniforms that the Kings suit up in on most nights are just too cool not to choose. That being said, when they add purple or grey in alternative uniforms, the squad’s look loses its charm just a little bit. It’s for the same reason that the San Antonio Spurs have dull uniforms but the Brooklyn Nets have cool ones. Sometimes, the simpler and sleeker a uniform looks, the better if the design is right. So, the L.A. Kings’ uniforms, which feature a really good-looking logo and sleek black and white designs, have the cutest uniforms in the NHL. National Football League: New Orleans Saints To be completely honest, I have some bias here. My trip to New Orleans for a Global Outreach project caused me to fall in love with the city
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and the feelings of strength and joy that seem to permeate it. I think the gold and black uniforms worn by the city’s football team, the Saints, represent that feeling in a way that I just really can’t describe. Also, the fleurde-lis that adorns the team’s helmets celebrates the history and heritage of the city the team resides in, which many times other NFL teams fail to do. So, because of the love I have for the city that the uniforms represent, the New Orleans Saints have the cutest uniforms in the NFL. Major League Baseball: New York Yankees I will be a Mets fan until I’m six feet below, so this one is painful for me. With the exception of Derek Jeter, I tend to loathe almost everything about the Yankees, from the team’s overpaid players to its overcompensating and, for lack of a better term, belligerent fans. However, I must admit the uniforms are awesome. They always have
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been and they always will be. The pinstripes and the logo are classics and represent coolness and historic tradition. There’s nothing else to it. The New York Yankees have the cutest uniforms in the MLB. Next. National Basketball Association: Golden State Warriors I don’t just think the Warriors have the best uniforms in the NBA; I think they’re the best uniforms in sports. The yellow and blue color scheme with the white trim on the sides is beautiful. The logo depicting the Golden State Bridge and the jersey numbers is well-designed, and represents the city better than the team’s previous uniforms. The Warriors, led by Stephen Curry, have played the prettiest and most exciting basketball in the entire NBA this season. Therefore, it only seems right that their uniforms are prettiest too. In conclusion, the warriors have the cutest uniforms not just in the NBA, but in American sports in general.
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THE OBSERVER April 30, 2015
Sports
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