Issam Fares, the deputy prime minister of Lebanon and a Tufts trustee since 1992, sponsors the Issam Fares Lecture Series which brought Colin Powell to campus last Thursday. Last week, the Daily interviewed Prime Minister Fares concerning his views of Middle East politics.
The Nielsen Gallery of Newbury Street recently introduced its 11th solo exhibition of artist Sam Messer's latest work. Including mainly recent portraiture, the exhibition is a breathtaking representation of Messer's physical and human style of painting. Messer, a 45-year-old New York native, and his wife Eleanor mingled with friends, art-buyers, and the gallery's patrons this Saturday during a two-hour reception to introduce the show. Eleanor is the subject of several of Messer's portraits, including "Madame E.," a striking work in the style of John Singer-Sergeant's "Madame X." The piece depicts her clad in a lace gown, and half bare-breasted against a bright green background. Accompanying her portrait are several others also generally reminiscent of other well-known paintings. Messer does not hide his artistic influences in his work. "I took the shape of the canvas from El Greco," he says, "where you can't see it all at once." When the viewer takes in a Messer work - especially a Messer portrait - he finds that there are many things on which to concentrate, and immediately becomes engrossed. There is a grand focus placed around the eyes of the portrait subjects, as well as attention to the backgrounds in which they are painted. The vibrant colors, chunky layers of paint, and sweeping, physical brushstrokes of Messer's work (along with his focus on eyes and background) are reminiscent of Van Gogh's portraiture. Messer relates his work to Van Gogh's in that they both "tell a narrative," and he is interested in what the background has to say about the subject. For example, an early portrait, "Stuart," depicts a young man sitting amidst a background of painted sign language characters. This background might tell the viewer something about this subject that they would not have been able to grasp from simply viewing his eyes, his dress, or even his home. Included in the collection are several self-portraits, all titled "Birthday Portrait" and numbered chronologically. To date, Messer has painted 45 such portraits, all of which give a little more insight into Messer as a man and an artist. One depicts him amidst a sea of stars, another among brightly colored flowers. These all reveal his markedly optimistic character. This can also be seen in titles of works such as "In the End is My Beginning," a more positive rearranging of T.S. Eliot's words, "In the beginning is my end." The subjects of his portraits bring their own art with them - poetry and other forms of writing emerge as great influences on Messer's work. Several of the portraits are of Paul Auster with his typewriter, or of just the typewriter alone. "The tools people use tell something about them," Messer notes, "if the person has a strong enough connection to the object." Not only are painters and writers great influences, but musicians are also a source of inspiration to Messer's work. Perhaps the most arresting piece in this exhibition is the portrait "George," a lively interpretation of the notorious composer and musician George Gershwin. Though Messer did not know Gershwin, the musician was an acquaintance of his father's, and a most interesting New York character to Messer. His portrait of Gershwin is alive with motion. Messer depicts him with a curving piano and three sets of hands. Only these hands and Gershwin's face are in color, while the piano, body, and background is in shades of black and white. Gershwin smokes a small cigar while his hands cast shadows across the keys. Ghostly lights and chorus girls mingle amidst the background. As one patron passed this piece, she precisely described it as "wild and wonderful." Wild, wonderful, interesting, and beautiful are all words to describe Messer's work. The brightness of his later works and the more introspective, darker hues of his earlier pieces fit together nicely to give insight into this New York painter. Messer's fall exhibition at the Nielsen Gallery is worth the trek on the Green Line, and certainly worth visiting if you happen to already be in the Newbury area. The exhibition proves most timely in light of Van Gogh's recent "Face to Face" exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. Art is at its most interesting when you can simultaneously view the works of both the artist and one of his great inspirations. The Nielsen Gallery is at 179 Newbury Street. The show will be exhibited from Sept. 23-Oct. 21, 2000. For more information, visit www.nielsengallery.com or call the Galley at (617) 266-4835.
When Commissioner Mick Foley came to the ring after the main event match on RAW to finally identify the culprit of the Steve Austin hit and run last November, we didn't think that this year-long soap opera could get any worse. It did. Rikishi Phatu (a fourth-tier wrestler and a crowd favorite due to the size of his huge ass), who hadn't even debuted in the WWF at the time of the Austin assault, admitted his guilt. He claimed that he had stolen the Rock's keys and driven his rental car straight into Steve Austin's body. His justification for the attack was even more bogus. He cited all of the past instances in which minority wrestlers were held back in the WWF, mentioning the names of old minor wrestlers like Jimmy Superfly, Snuka, and Samu. Furthermore, Rikishi said that he did it for the Rock, who is part Samoan, and was happy to see the Brahma Bull reach the top of the WWF. Before leaving the ring to a stunned and disappointed audience, he said that he would do it again, and promptly RAW went off the air. After such a long buildup, it is impossible that fat-assed Rikishi is the true culprit. We don't care how many times he says he did it. No one wants to see Rikishi vs. Stone Cold in his return match. Rikishi sucks. And if Rikishi Phatu were the real perpetrator why would he just have started a feud with Kane? He is even slated to fight Kane in the next Pay-Per-View No Mercy. Also, Austin is scheduled to fight his assailant. So how can Rikishi, who has never been part of a major WWF story-line, suddenly be thrust into the main action? With all of this being said, the recent developments are merely new wrinkles in the Austin mystery, which will eventually lead to the return of Vince McMahon. The WWF likes to keep its viewers off-guard, and the Rikishi plug is proof of this fact. Vince's return as the true villain will be far more dramatic if the audience has already discredited him as a suspect. Alas, one of our dreams came true this week, when the Chyna and Eddie Guererro saga finally came to an end. Prior to the match which featured the two battling the Right to Censor, a GTV broadcast on the TitanTron screens at RAW showed footage of Eddie in a shower with two of the Goodfather's ex-Hos. In the video Eddie claimed that two mamacitas are better than one. Knowing he cheated on her, Chyna merely sat on the steps to the ring and cried. We were really convinced by this show of emotion - she appeared to be laughing far more than crying. Thank God it appears that the they are breaking up. Their relationship had been drawn out far too long already. Backstage after the match, Eddie attempted to apologize to Chyna, who had obviously broken off their engagement. After she drove away, Bad Ass Billy Gunn tormented Eddie and assured him that Chyna would never be with him again. This bravado led to Bad Ass getting a beer bottle broken over his head by Guererro. A Billy Gunn and Eddie Guererro feud could prove to make for a very refreshing new story-line. In an otherwise unglamorous RAW, the one bright spot was the brief return of the Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels. At the onset of the program, Commissioner Mick Foley brought Michaels into the ring, to the delight of the crowd, and asked if he was the man who hit Austin. After denying the charge, HBK stated that he believed that the Rock was the perpetrator. He cited that Rock was the wrestler who benefited most from Stone Cold's absence. We would gladly accept the story-line of a heel Rock vs. the vengeful Steve Austin. In fact, that scenario would be terrific. Also, while Rikishi gave his harangue about racial prejudice at the end of the program, one couldn't help but notice the odd expression on Rock's face. He looked confused, mad, or possibly guilty. As much as we are fans of the WWF, this week's RAW just wasn't very thrilling. The matches didn't provide anything special in terms of the actual wrestling, there weren't any interviews with the delightful catch phrases of any of the top stars, and Stone Cold didn't even show up. Lita appeared in two different outfits over the course of the night, and wasn't exposing the top of her thong in either of them. We can only hope that Smackdown on Thursday will provide some more excitement, some thong action, and hopefully the answer to the ongoing "Who Hit Stone Cold ?" saga. For even though the WWF wants us to believe it is Rikishi, we feel it's not over yet.
What would Tufts be without its a cappella groups? With year-round performances beginning as early as Freshmen Orientation, a cappella at Tufts simply cannot be ignored. With so many groups and concerts, however, keeping tracking of who's who can get a little overwhelming. Worry not, because the Daily is going to simplify life by breaking it all down for you in a handy a cappella cheat sheet.
Two weeks into the season, the men's squash team already has amassed more wins than all of last season combined. Playing five matches in a 24-hour period two weekends ago, Nov. 17 and 18, the team emerged with a 4-1 record, losing only to Hobart College. The four victories will guarantee the team a better ranking in the end-of-season National Intercollegiate Squash and Racquets Association (NISRA) poll than last year's 24th-ranked squad. Nov. 18, the Jumbos traveled almost five hours to Hobart, where they played three matches, against Hobart, Stanford, and Co1gate. The squad first met Colgate, and coach Doug Eng expected a 9-0 win, meaning that each of the top nine players would win his match. To this end, Eng did not send out all of his top players to compete. However, much to the surprise of the squad, Colgate put up a strong fight, winning four of the nine matches, but that did not stop the Jumbos from coming through with a 5-4 win. "Colgate was supposed to be a warm-up," senior co-captain Bennett Kolasinski said. "We played a weaker team, expecting to destroy them, but we didn't have as easy a time as we hoped for." A lot of the surprises came in the top of the roster, where sophomore Chris Choi, in the number one spot, senior Dylan McPhetres, playing number three, and Kolasinski, playing four, lost to their opponents. Each individual match is played in a "best of five" game format, where the first player to reach 15 points wins. Choi lost 0-3, McPhetres 2-3, and Kolasinski 1-3. Choi was coming off an injury to his hamstring, which he suffered earlier in the week, so he had to ease up in preparation for the Jumbos' next two matches, coming later in the day. The real strength was in the bottom of the roster, where freshmen Arman Kamenov and Jordan Kolasinski, rookie sophomore Nathan Anderson, and junior Shayan Haque dominated their matches, giving up only one game among the four of them. Overall, the 5-4 win was "too close for comfort," Bennett Kolasinski commented. "We didn't put our best foot forward," Eng said. "Colgate had vastly improved, with the arrival of several strong freshmen, causing us to work harder than we had anticipated." Following Colgate, the team faced Hobart, suffering a 2-7 loss. Hobart was the team to beat over the weekend, but the Jumbos could not muster up enough talent to come through. "Playing Hobart early in the season was like climbing Mount Everest before taking on another mountain," coach Eng said. "They're tough," Kolasinski agreed. "However, the 7-2 score doesn't reflect how close it really was. We made them work hard. On another day, the results could have been different." Noteworthy performances came from junior Neil Pallaver and Anderson, who both lost 2-3 in close matches. "Nathan had an impressive showing," Eng said. This time a year ago, Anderson had not yet picked up a squash racquet. Now he is proving to be the rookie to keep an eye on this season. "Nathan is making ridiculous plays and hitting way too well for someone who has only been playing for a year - definitely someone to watch," Kolasinski said. Choi concurred, saying, "He's got good touch, he'll improve a lot with experience. He lost in five games, but he played a tough match." The two victories against Hobart came from Shayan Haque and junior co-captain Colin O'Higgins, who both won 3-2. Concluding the weekend was a match against Stanford, which the Jumbos won 7-2. "The guys were a little tired," coach Eng said of the weekend's fifth match, "But we're an extremely fit team, the fittest we've been in a long time." However, the team battled the fatigue and was able to finish with a victory. Choi, the most heralded of the Jumbos, played to his reputation, coming back from a two game deficit to win his match 3-2. "I am very happy with the results. I was moving well and was able to stay focused despite my injury," Choi said. Throughout the rest of the roster, Pallaver, O'Higgins, Kolasinski, Anderson, and Haque took care of business, all going 3-0, and Kamenov won 3-1. On the previous day, the squad had played against Bard and Vassar, coming away with two victories. Bard did not prove to be much competition, as the team dominated 9-0. "They're a less-talented team," Kolasinski and Eng commented. The team's next victim was Vassar. The results were somewhat unexpected, given Vasssar's 6-0 record against the Jumbos over the last six seasons. "We haven't beaten them for years," Kolasinski said. "They weren't as strong as they have been." "We proved ourselves, and this was a very rewarding win," Eng said. With the positive results from the first two weeks, coach Eng is looking to break into the top 20 for the final NISRA rankings. "This goal, while not impossible, will be a lot of work," Choi commented. "We're pushing ourselves, and we should have a good season." The squad will continue its season against Trinity College today at the Harvard courts, and will head to Brown on Sunday, Dec. 3rd.
I spent last weekend in the West Bank in Israel, in a small settlement called Ateret just outside of Ramallah. About a kilometer out of town, as I worked to return to Jerusalem, I saw obvious marks of burning tires from the weekend before. I was going back to school on Monday as opposed to Sunday night because the settlement had been locked down. No one was allowed in, no one was allowed out. A lot has been said, and a lot more can be said, about the current discord in Israel. Some have called the situation "unrest," some say "riots," others have gone so far as to say that it is the beginning of a war. Whatever you call it, there is a lot of anger on both sides, and a lot of finger pointing. Let's start with the facts. Thursday afternoon, Israeli right-wing party member and probable candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the site in Jerusalem that is known as Haram Al-Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews. Protests began soon after. The Old City of Jerusalem was shut down due to riots and stone throwing on Friday. Fighting began in disputed areas, and has since moved within the "Green Line," Israel's 1948 borders. Live ammunition has been exchanged on both sides. Many roads remain closed. At least 55 people have been killed with more than 1,000 wounded. Those are the facts. Period. Most blame for the whole balagan (Hebrew for chaos, mess, and nonsense) has been put on Ariel Sharon. However, I can't believe that the entire thing is his fault. Yes, what Sharon did was a dumb move, but it was a politically calculated one. He had his reasons and although I don't agree with them, he was not trying to start this. At most, he has indirect responsibility. True, maybe Sharon shouldn't have gone to the Temple Mount, but that doesn't mean that his visit should have instigated Palestinians to throw rocks and bottles and take up arms against the Israel Defense Force. That neither side is without fault has to be realized first and foremost. Israel is receiving a hefty dose of international criticism for its reactions to violent Palestinian protests, especially when it comes to its usage of weapons against civilians. Yes, it is true that recently Israel has employed helicopter gunships and has even said that, if necessary, it will bring out tanks to stifle rioters. However, as one Israeli sergeant said, "There is no arms agreement." One of the recent times that the gunships were used was to stop snipers from firing at an army base from an abandoned army tower. The policy of the Israeli government is, and always was, that in order to protect its citizens, it will use any amount of force necessary. No matter how much certain groups would prefer it, there is no way that Israel is merely going to allow snipers to fire on its citizens without striking back, using whatever means available. Now, I'm not glad that people were killed. I, along with most of the world, was shocked and saddened when I heard about the children who have been killed. Obviously, this was revolting. However, the question can be raised about what the children were doing there in the first place. The most widely reported story has been about the twelve-year old who was shot while he and his father hid behind a barrel. However, new evidence has since emerged that reveals that the child was throwing rocks, and that his father was there to get him away. In fact, much evidence has come out in general about children being on the front line. "If I had 20 children, I would send them all down (to fight). I wouldn't spare any of them," said Taman Sabeh, a Palestinian quoted by the Associated Press. "We're not scared of death." I'm not saying that the death of children is good, but before one heavily criticizes Israel for killing children, one has to look at all sides of the issue. There are currently fires raging in Northern Israel allegedly started by Arab arsonists. Fighting is going on right now throughout the country. An Israeli man was shot at point-blank range and killed when he stopped his car to change a tire. A school bus filled with children was shot at, but luckily no one was hurt. Soldiers have been randomly attacked and killed throughout the land and at holy sites. Unfortunately, the world media hasn't reported the majority of these incidents, so many people remain uninformed. Yes, there have been problems in the past about human rights violations, and that history has stirred up new feelings about the Israeli military establishment. However, this is not one of those instances. That's what people must realize. No matter what you want to call it, these are certainly real battles. People are dying and being injured on both sides. All of this started with rock throwing, but has since escalated. Both sides have guns now, and both sides are using them. The reasons for the usage are still up in the air, but until the facts are straightened out, neither side can be allowed to receive the whole of the blame. Until the facts get straightened out, all we can hope for is an end to the violence, and some quiet peace.Howard Wolke is a junior majoring in comparative religion and history. He is currently studying in Jerusalem.
Standing in front of Barnum 008, Mike looks perfectly healthy. You would not know it to look at him, but Mike has significant nerve damage and a number of lesions in his brain. A few months ago, he walked with a cane because his equilibrium was unstable. If you saw Mike riding his bike with his seven-year-old daughter, you would never know that he had HIV. Mike, who speaks anonymously so his daughter will not learn of his disease, spoke to students as part of AIDS awareness week, was intended to serve as a wake-up call to the audience and inform them that everyone is at risk of contacting HIV or AIDS. He warned students not to think of themselves as immune to AIDS because they come from affluent communities or because they go to a selective university."The worst thing you can think is that it can't happen to you," he said. Mike said that even if you think you know your partner, you might still be at risk. There are many infected people who "sleep around and don't tell," he said, as well as people having unprotected sex who most likely have HIV but are either afraid or unwilling to be tested. During his presentation, Mike spoke poignantly about his struggle to live with the virus and raise his seven year-old daughter, who is HIV-negative. Mike is a 30-year old Bostonian who works for the Boston Living Center, a facility for people infected with HIV/AIDS. The speech was sponsored by the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) AIDS outreach group. Organizers Rebecca Grossman-Cohen and Tania Phocas said that it was important because students often think that HIV and AIDS do not affect them. "Because Tufts is such an affluent university, there tends to be a general sentiment that HIV has nothing to do with [Tufts students]," Phocas said. "I know several college-age persons infected with HIV-and you don't need to engage in risky behavior all the time. Sometimes all it takes is one night." Grossman-Cohen added that Mike was right in calling AIDS "a human disease". "It touches everybody. It doesn't discriminate," she said. While he was quick to stress that money does not make one immune to HIV, Mike's personal path to the disease had more to do with difficult poverty than careless affluence. Born in a Worchester, Mass., housing project to an alcoholic mother and a verbally abusive father, Mike "grew up in the streets," and he is unsure whether unprotected sex or the sharing of needles was the source of his infection. Mike became involved with drug dealers when he was thrown out of regular high school at age 17 and placed in an alternative high school for teenagers with behavioral problems. He recounted his experience with heroin, saying that, when he was high, he "felt like [he] could do anything." Having "fallen in love" with drugs, Mike's lifestyle was one of addiction and risk-taking. He said that his illness is one that he brought upon himself through the decisions he made about his life. "It was always my choice... nobody gave this to me... the choices I made at 17, this is what comes of them," he said. Despite a strong advertising effort, the auditorium was not packed with people, and Phocas said that she was a little disappointed with the low turnout. "I realize that many students have a lot of work right now, but I think the feeling that 'it could never happen to me' is a major contributing factor to their apathy. It's unfortunate," she said. However, those who did attend said that they were moved by Mike's informative and personal message. Junior April Duddy said that Mike struck a chord because of his message that heterosexuals are just as susceptible to AIDS as homosexuals are. Often, AIDS outreach programs bring in speakers who are homosexual, and Duddy said that Mike was able to offer a "different point of view." Junior Barbara Szajda agreed that the speech was "overall, very powerful and moving." Besides warning audience members, Mike also offered them advice on how to look for signs that a sexual experience may be risky. He said that if the person you are having sex with refuses to use a condom, chances are, he has not used a condom with anyone else he has had sex with, either. If the person you are involved with threatens to have sex with someone else if you will not have sex with him/her, chances are, he or she is already having sex with somebody else. Mike also emphasized the important of AIDS education, but said that many high schools and middle schools seem unwilling to promote prevention. He said that many parents and teachers need AIDS education more than their students do, as his presentations to middle and high school students have not been met with enthusiasm by school administrators. "[They think] if you don't talk about it, you're not going to get infected," he said. LCS President Dan Landman echoed Mike's sentiments, and said that the goal of awareness week is to make the community cognizant of ways to prevent contraction of the virus. "HIV/AIDS is becoming such a common disease and it's so preventable. We have to prevent it at the beginning and start at an early age," he said. Among the other activities that took place during AIDS awareness week were dorm discussions and demonstrations on how to use condoms, a Red Cross educational workshop, and a poetry reading at Oxfam Caf?©.
From the Jackson Jills to Cheap Sox to Hillel, it is estimated that there are 130 student organizations registered on the Tufts campus, each representing a unique interest or activity. A host of new groups join the roster each year to fill an emerging niche in campus life. Some find immediate success, while others struggle to maintain interest. Two of Tufts' newest and most controversial groups, Paragon and The Friends of Spartacus Youth Club, are facing very different prospects. Created last fall by then-junior Jan Bayer and Tufts alum Claudia Asch, The Friends of Spartacus Youth Club promotes "the free speech of Marxism on campus." The club was initially met with resistance due to its controversial affiliation with a nationwide Marxist organization. "We had a hard time," Bayer said. "A lot of people don't like us on this campus, that's for sure, but I was expecting that quite honestly." He named the Primary Source as one of the campus groups that is "hostile to Marxism." The Friends of the Spartacus Youth Club has thus far failed to obtain the required fifteen signatures to be re-classified as a student organization this fall, and the group's future hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, another of Tufts' newborn student groups, Paragon, is facing a brighter future. Paragon, founded last spring, has overcome initial concerns that it would be unable to distinguish itself functionally from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, and is now working alongside senators in an attempt to make substantial improvements in student life at Tufts. "The old senate regime has left, and the new Senate, I believe, is much more open," said Paragon co-founder Randy Wells. "Paragon is set up as a vehicle for anyone who wants to propose or get involved in a project that would create positive changes at Tufts." "Paragon is different from the student Senate because it is non-hierarchical... There are no elections and no limit to the number of people who can join. Anyone can come to us with a project." The club currently has 25 members who meet every other week to discuss projects under way and propose new ones. Most issues currently addressed are about campus safety, though the organization is willing to undertake projects of any nature. While the potential of influencing student-life policy has no trouble attracting interest, campus Marxists and Socialists face a very different reality. "I realize Marxism is not very popular," Bayer said. "We don't expect a hundred people to be interested. However, it is important that this worldview, or any for that matter, gets a hearing." Bayer dismissed allegations that the group's ties to a national foundation of the same name undermine its independence on campus, citing the Tufts Democrats and Tufts Republicans as examples of student groups that also mirror the opinions of their national counterparts. Last year, the club counted five active members, but may now have dropped to four. The group held "speak outs," or spontaneous debates on current issues whenever major Marxism-related events occurred. Monthly classes were also organized to discuss topics such as Marxist politics regarding China and the relevance of Marxism in today's world. "Everybody is too stressed out right now," says Bayer. "If we have time, we will definitely do it, and we will definitely pursue this, but at the moment we're not going to do anything... maybe next semester." While nothing like Paragon has ever been attempted before, it seems that the group's improved relations with the Senate may significantly increase its longevity. Projects at the top of Paragon's agenda include putting an end to vandalism in the men's bathroom of Tisch library, pushing for the completion of e-mail stations in Tisch, and improving the lighting of several areas of campus which can prove dangerous at night, such as Professors' Row, the crossing between Winthrop Street, and the parking lot behind Carmichael.
Registration for the spring 2001 semester fell short of the standard set by last semester's smooth class selection process when a number of students experienced difficulties logging on or remaining logged on to Student Information System (SIS) Online. Many were prevented from choosing their classes at their scheduled times because of technological difficulties, such as the failure of requisite advisor approval postings to register with the system. University administrators have identified several factors - including complications within the computing system and the high number of students registering - which may explain the unanticipated problems.Upgrades to the computer mainframe were made this summer to enhance the system, but they have instead caused havoc, slowing down the registration process, said Dean of Academic Services and Student Affairs Kristine Dillon. Dillon defended the upgrades, however, saying that despite the glitches, they were needed by the central computing staff. Administrators are still researching why the upgrade, as well as the other complications, affected only certain system users. The upgrade problem could be linked to the large number of people simultaneously attempting to login and register for classes. The freshman class was able to register online for their fall courses in September without similar difficulties."I am absolutely confident that TCCS [Tufts Computing and Communication Services] will take care of the problem," Dillon said.Students with registration difficulties were told to get help at either Dowling or Eaton Halls, where staffers were on hand to assist. Freshman Katrina Elio had trouble registering, and after trying for hours on student computers, she went to Eaton for help. "I would get to the 'spring 2001 page' where you put in your classes, but when I hit 'submit' I was told the page had expired," she said. At Eaton, her registration was completed in a matter of seconds. "It took me over an hour to register and I had to use three different computers," said freshman Uuyanna Calvin. "I got four of my classes, and even those were really hard. Then I got timed out."While only a small fraction of the campus experienced difficulties, the situation did prompt a campus-wide e-mail Wednesday night to apologize for the inconvenience and offer assistance to students who had still not been able to register.But this solution was not a remedy for some students who experienced difficulty logging in at their assigned times. Even though they did eventually access the website, the students complained that they lost out on the chance to register for courses that later filled up. Unfortunately, their only option is to proceed with the normal add/drop process, which starts in January when classes begin.Among the various technical and logistical issues, many students expressed concern over how registration times were determined. Seniors always register first and are followed by the other classes in turn. Within the blocks of graduation years, however, assignment is not computed in any specific way. Credits are not taken into account, and the only universal goal in compiling the times is that students do not have the same time as the previous semester. There is no assurance that someone with an early time will have that same privilege the next semester.Administrators say that the main concern for next fall's registration process will be to improve the speed of the system, and eliminate this semester's hitches. No major changes will be made to SIS online, but there are tentative plans to include an online add/drop option next fall.
The Utah Jazz have spent the first week of the NBA season proving that old legs can get the job done, and head into today with a 4-0 record, sitting atop the Midwest Division. It's way too early for postseason speculation, and the Jazz are liable to burn out at some point midway through the season, but they have battled through some close games and have even beaten the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. It was all Karl Malone and John Stockton in the Jazz's second game of the season, a 97-92 win over the Lakers. Last season, the Jazz dropped three of their four games against the Lakers, but Malone's 26 points and Stockton's 21 to go with 14 assists were enough to push Utah over Los Angeles last Wednesday on the night the team raised its championship banner from last season. Odds on the aging Malone and company for winning a championship grow slimmer by the year, and four Midwest Division teams have started the season surprisingly strong (Dallas and Vancouver both entered Tuesday with 3-1 records), but the veteran squad appears ready to remain in the thick of things for most of the season. But that may rest on how well the Utah's other key contributors to this point - John Starks and Bryon Russell - can play. Utah did not have the greatest off-season, trading away Howard Eisley and losing Jeff Hornacek to retirement. But the signing of Starks and veteran Danny Manning was supposed to make up for the losses, and Starks has not disappointed in the early games. The fiery former New York Knick, coming off a season and a half of unrecognized play in Golden State and a half-season of misery in Chicago, is back on a playoff contender, and his up-tempo game is thriving. Starks has been good for nearly 15 a night, filling the void left by Hornacek and then some, despite a drastically different style of play. After firing 17 shots in the season-opening win over Los Angeles, Starks has toned it down and is hitting nearly half of his attempts. But perhaps the most pleasant surprise has been Russell, who comes off a career season and is peaking at the climax of his career. The forward, who will be 30 in December, has spent his entire career in Utah but was not much more than an afterthought until the past two seasons, overshadowed by the veteran Malone. But Russell has the potential to be the team's second-leading scorer and remains in the starting lineup ahead of recent acquisition Donyell Marshall, a small forward who coach Jerry Sloan has only given minimal game time thus far. The team's holes are on the bench and at center, where starter Olden Polynice is little more than a body and the younger Greg Ostertag can hardly match up with some of the big guys in the West. Manning is a big name, but has not been much else the last couple of seasons and will likely not fit into Sloan's game plan much. He has been in about 15 minutes of each game and has scored seven points, but his legs are old, so his production likely won't increase. In fact, the Jazz is filled with old legs, and that could do them in. Though there are some youngsters on the squad, all of the contributors are aging: Stockton is 38, Malone is 37, Polynice and Starks are 35, and Manning is 34. Russell and Marshall, the two guys at the fourth spot, will have to be competitive and the older players will have to remain injury-free if Utah is to keep pace with San Antonio. Six members of the Jazz reached double digits in Monday's 98-92 win over the Timberwolves; the team's goal should be to have six guys capable of doing the same at the end of the season.
Ah, Van Halen. Just the mere mention of the once untouchable guitar god "Eddie" used to induce female quivers and testosterone-laced overloads from their male followers. Things have changed. Now, local boy Gary Cherone is out of the band and Sammy Hagar is not returning any time soon, especially considering his thriving tequila adventures. The band's web site lists the members as being Eddie, brother (and drummer) Alex, and bassist Michael Anthony - but no vocalist. Are we to believe the rumors and buy into the possibility that David Lee Roth is really coming back? Radio stations hinted at the possibility of the original line-up touring last summer, and even mentioned a possible four-night jaunt at Tweeter Center. While it never materialized, the silence from theVan Halen camp (save for that cancer scare that allegedly involved Eddie) does make one wonder. Are they taking "baby steps," as Alex said in 1996, and putting it back with "Diamond" Dave? Presumably they would not want to repeat the failed attempt in 1996, which resulted in two new tracks for a Greatest Hits package and a "surprise" appearance at the MTV Music Awards. At the time it seemed to be a new beginning, but turned out to be the end of the road again. If Roth does return, the time would be ideal - the six albums the original quartet made together have been just re-issued, re-mastered, and sound better than even the pure original virgin vinyl copies. Their self-titled debut was mocked a bit by the press upon its original release in 1978, but turned out to be one of the classic all-time releases. Roth's swagger was never so raw and effective as it was on this work. "Ain't Talking Bout Love" is one of the greatest "bad-ass" songs ever - much better than George Thorogood's repetitious "Bad To The Bone," while "Jamie's Crying" hits the teenaged ache of loving unwisely right on the head. Their blistering cover of "You Really Got Me" is still so animated that it almost makes you forget the song was nearly 15-years-old when they covered it in 1978. Almost every hard rock band formed in the '80s has paid homage to this disc. It was their pinnacle product, but they still had much more to say. Their follow-up, called Van Halen II, expanded their audience base, thanks in part to the radio hit "Dance the Night Away." While it did not contain the same power level and long-term effect as their debut, it contained some of Eddie's best guitar work and licks that most guitarists would sell their souls for. Women And Children First gave the band its first, sort of "hit single" success with the ode to juvenile trials "And The Cradle Will Rock" and the libidinously spray painted "Everybody Wants Some." Already bona-fide arena headliners at this point, the sea was about to get rough for the band. Fair Warning, released in '81, was Van Halen's "dark" record. An over-wrought and Viking-like Roth tried at times to make the band more serious and dangerous - bad move, as Van Halen is foremost a party band. Not that the CD is not really well-done for the most part. "Unchained" is superb, as is Roth's brilliant (yet still cocky) rap of a dour realization of misguided affection (shades of "Jamie's Crying") on "Ain't Talking Bout Love." Diver Down was allegedly put together quickly to capitalize on the success of the 1982 surprise hit single, "Pretty Woman." One of rock's best cover versions, Roth makes a victorious, and brave, interpretation of the Roy Orbison classic. The second hit from Diver Down, a cover of "Dancing In The Street," showed that the group was possibly having difficulty scrambling for original ideas. Any fears that Van Halen's inventiveness and energy were diminishing were soon quelled with an Orwellian gesture. They turned themselves into unlikely MTV video darlings with the simplistic yet effective visual accompanying "Jump," their biggest smash from their most successful disc (with Roth, that is) 1984. Still irresistible, though now in a cartoonish way, is "Hot For Teacher." What is still a major staple on AOR stations, "I'll Wait" showcases a deceptively subtle delivery from Roth, and Eddie's profound synthesizer somehow conceals the subliminal message of one man's obsession with a fashion model. Made in the days before the word "stalking" was such a part of pop culture. 1984 turned the band into the biggest group in the planet for a time. A sold out tour followed the record (and two other well-done videos) and Roth felt like a big enough star to record solo in 1985 (a four- track cover disc called Crazy From The Heat). This was probably one of the worst career moves in history, as Roth either quit or was fired shortly after the release of Crazy. The Van Halen legacy remained successful with Hagar at the helm, and Roth had some solo success for a couple of years, but neither Roth nor the band came close to the quality and raw unabashed energy of these discs. If they never splintered, who knows? In terms of mythological worship and devotion, they were at a time (especially during the 1984 days) the closest thing America had to Led Zeppelin. These re-mastered half-dozen CDs are essential for all rock aficionados.
Dar Williams has achieved an almost cult-like following of adoring fans in the past few years - and it seemed like most of them showed up as she gave one of the biggest and most dynamic concerts of her career at the Orpheum last Sunday. The petite but powerful folk singer sang her heart out for two hours, and the crowd still wanted more. Williams - along with an impressive and talented back-up band - performed songs from her new album The Green World as well as songs from other albums, such as The Honesty Room and Mortal City. The seedy but still glorious Orpheum was filled with Dar enthusiasts who knew the words to each and every one of her songs. The crowd, however, had to wait a bit before Dar came onto the stage. Barry Crimons, a political satirist, opened up the show and cracked numerous jokes about the election controversy as people wandered in and out of their seats. With this move, Dar seemed to be following in the footsteps of Aimee Mann and Micheal Penn's Acoustic Vaudeville tour, in which a stand-up comedian would make appearances during their performance. Following Crimons' routine, Catie Curtis, a folk-rocker with a steadfast following of her own, took the stage. Curtis's warm, breathy voice was both mysterious and comforting. She captured the audience's attention and sang her heart out for a good eight or nine songs. Some of her songs were undeniably clever, such as "I'm a Slave to My Belly," a fun tune in which Curtis talks of how she hates having to deal with bodily needs when all she wants to do is play guitar all day. The lyrics to some of her songs seemed a bit forced and contrived, but she did have a couple of gems. Curtis was grateful to Dar for having the chance to open for her and amused the crowd with antics about her. "Let me tell you something you all don't know about Dar," Curtis said with a huge grin on her face. "At my bachelor party, she did a strip show." When Dar finally came on stage, the crowd was more than ready for her. Looking chic in a pink pleather tank-top and black pants, she seemed a far cry from the singer who used to wear long dresses and stand on a bare stage with an acoustic guitar. She opened with the song "Moon," the first track of her new album. This sweet and yearnful song was a great opener for the concert and got the crowd into her soothing and comforting music immediately. One of the great things about seeing Dar in concert is that she is not just a singer. She's her own one-woman show. She kept the crowd amused with funny tales, anecdotes from her life, and the stories behind her songs. Even if you were not a hard-core Dar fan, you could still appreciate every song because Dar wanted you to understand the story behind it. Even though her beautiful, warm voice seemed a bit tired at the beginning of the night - perhaps from the extensive touring she has been doing in the past couple of weeks - she kept her energy up and seemed energized by the contagious excitement of the crowd. As the DJ from a Boston radio station said when he introduced her, she could sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and it would sound beautiful.The Green World was just released a few months ago, and Dar seemed excited to be singing her new material for the audience. Unlike some artists whose music seems to get more experimental and distant from their earlier work, Dar has built upon the strength of her former albums in this new work. The beautiful, lyrical tunes and introspective lyrics seem to signify that Dar has come to a sort of peace with herself. She was in her element with songs such as "Yoko Ono," a song that talks about John Lennon's wife and poses the question: would Yoko have been better off on her own as an artist rather than as a side-kick? Dar was also especially dynamic during her rendition of "Spring Street," a song in which she talks about how she came to resist "selling-out" and came to an understanding of herself. Another wonderful moment was when Dar introduced the song, "God Descended," which she wrote after reading an Isaac Bashevis Singer story about an Eastern European community that fell for a fake Messiah. She explained that she felt the punishment dealt to these people was unfair as she felt she could easily have been one of those people who believed the world was coming to an end. One of her most fun songs from the album was "What Do You Love More than Love?" which she described as her "Buddhist pop song." This hummable song could easily be the song that will be a radio hit from her album. Dar seemed a bit reluctant to enter into pop-star icon territory, but didn't seem to mind if the song actually became popular among the masses. When one of her guitar strings broke during her rendition of the haunting song "Captain," Dar dealt with the incident in a professional manner. The crowd was disappointed and several fans asked her to start the song again. Dar declined and said, "The gods have spoken," noting that in all the concerts she's given, this is the first time that a guitar string has broken. Dar showed her support of rising artists when she let her backup singer sing one of her own pieces. She didn't mind sharing the stage with this talented singer and singing back-up for her song - despite it obviously being Dar's own concert. She seemed to have a nice rapport with her band members and talked of the fun they had while on the tour bus, entertaining and exposing each other to new songs and singers. Dar mentioned that she was excited because her back-up singer was going to release her own CD on June 22. And what would a Dar concert be without some of her old favorites? The crowd got to hear classics such as "Baby-sitter", "Are You Out There", "Alleluia", "The Ocean", and "The Christians and the Pagans". "Don't worry, I'm not insulted that you like my old songs better," she said when the crowd screamed in excitement in the middle of the concert when she began to play the heart-achingly beautiful song, "If I Wrote You". Dar seemed humbled and overwhelmed by the crowd members that were jumping off their seats. Her adoring fans didn't want to let her leave the stage and made her come out for three encores. During her last encore, she came out on the stage with just her and her guitar. After all, that is what she is essentially - a woman with a guitar who with her poetry and haunting music has managed to capture the hearts of folk enthusiasts worldwide.
The eagerly anticipated Kid A, Radiohead's jarring fourth album, is being released today. It comes nearly four years after OK Computer, the Grammy Award-winning record that sold five million copies and cemented the band's status as the preeminent rock band from the United Kingdom. The quintet from Oxford began to feature keyboards and synthesizers on OK Computer, and the electronic elements dominate on the follow-up, which clocks in with ten tracks, at less than 50 minutes. Singer and guitarist Thom Yorke, the group's songwriter, has traded catchy melodies and accessible lyrics for something altogether different, altogether less hummable. Nonetheless, it's the group's best album yet. In a time of boy bands, music that makes drunken people scream, and nausea-inducing rockers/rappers, the album does its part to redefine the rock band, and maybe just save it.Kid A embraces the technology Thom Yorke's past lyrics anxiously feared. If OK Computer was a concept album responding to the advent of technology with alienation and paranoia, Kid A overcomes that sentiment with a fierce vengeance, while also exhibiting sheer indifference to the pressures placed on the band since it's huge success. It's a transcendental liquid sound, epic on galactic proportions, a bright vision that could herald in a new era for rock music. Or, as my neighbor commented, it sounds like music you'd play while sacrificing children. "I think we managed somehow to bend the machines to our will - that's what we did together, as a band," guitarist Jonny Greenwood told the New York Times Magazine in an article published this past Sunday. "Optimistic" is the only guitar-driven rock song on the album. It's the radio song and the easiest to envision being performed live. You're not quite sure how the band could bring to stage a full-scale orchestra ("How to Disappear"), a horn section ("The National Anthem"), or Yorke's voice played backwards ("Everything in its Right Place"). The band's live re-creations of its new songs, however, are reportedly stunning. Greenwood "played" a transistor radio at a Copenhagen show, and band members operate sampling machines to capture and distort Yorke's voice during performance. The sweeping changes didn't come easily. Yorke was reportedly having a rock star nervous breakdown in the afterglow of OK Computer. Some members thought the band should make a back-to-basics guitar album like The Bends. Band members sat on the sidelines fiddling with computers while Yorke sang. So much material was recorded that the band will release a more "commercially-acceptable" album in the spring. Two of the more decipherable lyrics on the album are "I'm not here, this is not happening," from the beautifully subdued "How to Disappear," and "This is really happening," from "Idioteque," one of the best songs on the album, with a dance beat that is unprecedented for the band thus far. The songs range from blithely calm to urgently frenetic. If judged independently, the ten songs seem to violently contradict each other and not fit together. Listened to as a whole, they coalesce into a coherent piece of work. "Kid A," the title track, is the most impenetrable song on the album, as it does more squeaking then anything else. It lacks any sort of conventional song structure, and any attempt to grasp onto its elements is futile. You won't get it. Yorke's voice is distorted beyond any recognition. For the first time, the band omits lyrics in the liner notes for the album that they're most needed. "Motion Picture Soundtrack," the final track, was going to be included on OK Computer, and an earlier version exists featuring just Yorke and an acoustic guitar, where his voice dominates the song. The track on Kid A is drastically altered, where an organ and something that sounds like a wind chime dominate Yorke's lyrics to the point at which they're almost indiscernible. Without his voice - at times the only thing on the CD that smacks of past Radiohead - the song would be New Age church music. The first acoustic version could have been played on the radio; the second one can't be. Radiohead handled its commercial and critical success quite gracefully. It didn't break up, go solo, sell-out, or release a bad album. Its members are taking full advantage of their first-class status: the band will release no singles, make no music videos, and their small European tour will end soon, with no US appearances scheduled, except for Saturday Night Live on Oct. 14, and a show in Los Angeles. The past three albums thrived partly because nearly every track could be argued as the best on the record. You can memorize all the lyrics, and slam the beat on the steering wheel as you drive. With Kid A, Radiohead's "White Album," skipping around isn't as satisfying and some songs would never be put on a mix tape. It's a foreign concept these days, but listen to the songs in the order the band intended them to be heard, and you won't be disappointed.
Maybe you haven't been able to get into that 500-page novel you've been reading for English class. Don't worry... all you need is a little bit of literary inspiration. Drop that book and head into Boston and Concord, two areas steeped in great literary history. If you look hard enough, you might just be able to spot the ghosts of some of our country's greatest writers wandering around with a pen and notebook in the cobblestone streets and alleys. Don't tell me you haven't seen Henry James in Harvard Yard. We here at Weekender aim to solve your academic gripes by taking you on a mini-tour of the residences of various acclaimed writers Start by checking out Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's house (The Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House) located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge. Unfortunately, you won't be able to go inside as it is currently undergoing renovations, but at least you'll get to appreciate the outside of his old abode. The house, built in 1759, was a wedding present to Longfellow from his second father-in-law. For 45 years, Longfellow, one of the famed Cambridge poets, lived in this house, and it is here that he wrote many of his great literary masterpieces. Longfellow made Paul Revere famous with his inspirational poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," written in 1863. A gracious host, Longfellow hosted many great literary gatherings at his home. A little known but interesting tidbit: George Washington stationed himself at Longfellow's house during the Revolutionary War. Another must see is Louisa May Alcott's House, located outside of Boston in Concord. If you loved Little Women as a little girl, you'll love seeing the Orchard House where Alcott penned the beloved novel. Alcott's father, Amos Bronson Alcott, built the house, which is actually two houses joined together, both dating back to early 1700s. The Alcott family lived at Orchard House (named because it originally was the site of 12 acres of apple orchards) from 1858 to 1877. You'll find that things at the house look similar to when Louisa's family lived there, as no major structural changes to the house have occurred since the Alcott's era. Orchard House is located on 399 Lexington Road. Tours of the house range from $3.50 to $5.50. As long as you're in the area, you might as well head down to Thoreau's Walden Pond also located in Concord. Bring a picnic and enjoy the serene beauty of this famed site where Thoreau escaped from the material world. The 62-acre pond is breathtaking and a refreshing change from the city. At the main entrance stands a re-creation of Thoreaus's famed cabin. Spend a day at the pond, bring some work, and sit back and relax. Perhaps after a couple of hours of being one with nature, you will understand why Thoreau found such serenity at Walden Pond. Don't relax too much, though, or you might want to set up camp in the woods as well. After all, you still do have that novel to read! The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk. Admission is $2.25. You're still in Concord. It might be appropriate check out the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery before it gets too dark. No, don't worry... this cemetery has nothing to do with the recent flick Sleepy Hollow, so you won't get beheaded! Here you will find the final resting places of such literary luminaries as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and our old friend Louisa May Alcott. These famous authors all rest in peace in the same place, affectionately known as Author's Ridge. You might want to bring some flowers with you, as it is a tradition for English students to place them on the graves of their favorite authors. Now that you're steeped in the literary history of Massachusetts, drive back to Tufts, get settled in a cozy couch at Brown and Brew, and hit those books!
Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush is all there in black and white. The presidential election season is a heyday for the media. They cover every step along the campaign trail, but only focus on issues concerning the two major parties. To find out anything about Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and his running mate, Winona LaDuke, you have to read between the lines, and many voters are left asking: Who is Ralph Nader, and what does he stand for as the candidate for the Green Party? Nader was born in 1934 to Lebanese immigrants who ran a small business in Connecticut. As a child, he had an early interest in consumer affairs. By age 14 he had read works by early muckrakers such as Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell. Their exposure of corporate wrongs inspired him and shaped his future of consumer advocacy. An attorney by profession, Nader has a strong interest in consumer activism, and he has successfully fought against many corporations over the last 35 years. In 1965 he entered the national consciousness when he went up against General Motors in his book Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. Nader sued General Motors after the company tried to refute his claims about the lack of safety technology in their vehicles. He used the money he won from the settlement to launch the modern consumer movement. Working out of Washington, D.C., Nader and his followers, "Nader's Raiders," worked to advocate laws to protect consumers, workers, taxpayers, and the environment. They also worked to combat corporate abuse and to increase citizen access to the government. One of Nader's largest accomplishments came in 1971 when he founded the group Public Citizen, which works for consumer justice, and government and corporate accountability. The six branches of Public Citizen boast an involvement of over 150,000 people who work with issues dealing with health research, natural resources, and international trade. More recently, Nader has focused on encouraging citizens to transform the government so it is responsive to the population's needs. His most important concern has been defending the civil justice system of the United States. Seeking justice through the courts in areas of product liability, securities fraud, and medical negligence, Nader has expanded consumer rights. As a presidential candidate, Nader is changing focus from the justice system to the political system. His campaign embodies the same values as his legal work and consumer advocacy. Nader's Green Party platform includes many stances calling for voter empowerment. The platform states its hope to create independent politics: "a democratic vision that empowers and reaches beyond background and political loyalty to bring together our combined strengths as a people." Among the platform's key tenets are a plan for a prospering, sustainable economy, and the hopes to create a rich, diverse environment with a great sense of community. The Green Party works with grassroots organizations to promote change within the U.S. According to the Green Party website, www.greenparty.org, "the Greens encourage diverse approaches, brought together by our basic values of democracy, justice, nonviolence, and ecological wisdom." With this foundation of thinking, the Greens participate in diverse activities to help change the common good. The Nader/LaDuke ticket embodies all of these values and is working to bring together progressive communities behind a leader with a long history of fighting for rights.
Students elected eight of their classmates to lead the charge for better student government yesterday when they cast ballots for one open Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) seat and seven freshman spots on the TCU Senate.
In addition to the usual takeout food menus slipped under dorm room doors, students living on campus received a leaflet from a different kind of solicitor late last week - Tufts Online. The flier represents the second part of a two-prong approach to improve the speed of the Internet connection in the dormitories, which has been the subject of much complaint this semester. The one page sheet entitled, "Bandwidth Bandits" explained how to disable Napster from serving up music files to the software's 20 million users worldwide. Napster and other such programs that facilitate mp3 trading are responsible for the dramatic slowdown of the Internet in the dorms that has occurred this year. A technical attempt to increase the actual speed of the connection was made two weeks ago by Tufts Computing and Communications Services (TCCS), which is responsible for Tufts' network. The network is divided so that a certain amount of bandwidth, or capacity of Tufts' Internet connection, is allocated to the dorms and a certain amount to faculty, staff, and administrative offices. TCCS programmed routers to dramatically reduce the size of the Internet connection for faculty and staff at night, giving the capacity instead to the dorms. Tufts officials maintain that the bandwidth in dorms alone is now equal to the bandwidth for the entire University last year. However, Manger of Networks and Special Projects Marj Minnigh said that the increased capacity is still not meeting the demands of users. "Many students have wondered why we can't just go back to the way it was last year. We can't because the demand is just too overwhelming," she said. "If we were to lift the subnet limits, then one single machine, badly configured and sharing music, could hog the entire Internet link." In order to remedy this, TCCS officials are attempting to reduce the traffic over Tufts Internet connection by decreasing the amount of outbound traffic. By default, Napster makes a student's entire music collection available for download by other Napster users around the world. They hope that with the leaflet, students will learn that they can help to reduce the network congestion. "The biggest issue of bandwidth 'over-use' is the searches coming in to campus from the Internet, which means that Napster... [is] doing massive amounts of searching of the Tufts network," Minnigh said. "We also think that if students know that their unintentional sharing is causing a great deal of the network congestion, that they will be good citizens and shut down when they are not using the computer." Wednesday through Friday of last week, Residential Computer Consultants - students hired by the school to help other students connect their computers to the network - went through the dorms, delivering the 3,400 leaflets and answering questions about Internet usage. Minnigh said that while the technical changes have helped, Napster use continues to dominate Internet traffic and slow the network. "Some students have perceived an improvement. We can see that the Napster... traffic immediately fills the added bandwidth by about five minutes after the time change every night," she said. Students say that the rerouting has made a difference, but they are still not satisfied with the network speed. "Usually I would sit here and wait for about 30 or 45 seconds before my page would come up, now it's like ten or 15 [seconds]. I've noticed a significant change in the speed that my web page will come up," said freshman Tim Mack, a resident of Carmichael Hall. "[The Internet] is significantly slower than last year and I'm not sure why... I had to write a paper and I went to the Tisch website and it definitely made it more difficult to do research through the Internet. I was able to do it, it just took a much longer time," sophomore Dan Kalik said. After this dramatic restructuring of the network had little impact, TCCS is doubtful that it can ever meet the demand of students for sharing mp3s. "I think the demand for file sharing is probably not a demand we can meet," Minnigh said. "It's not the demand of the 3,300 on-campus students, it's the demand of the 20 million Napster users." Minnigh said that no matter what her charts tell her about the Internet speed and usage, what matters most is student satisfaction. In addition to educating students on responsible Internet use, TCCS hopes to work with the TCU Senate or a similar organization that can represent the student body to educate students and enhance Internet performance. Such a partnership would also enable TCCS to obtain student feedback about network services on campus.
For your average guy (the best example maybe being that guy in the white hat over there behind you), choosing electronic music is like buying a hamburger. Sure, there's good and there's bad - that great local place that always gets your order right and gives you a free drink to boot, as opposed to those 29 cent specials at McDonalds - but no juicy cheddar-and-bacon burger (on a toasted bun) can make a vegetarian like meat. You may know a good burger when you eat one, but that starts from the assumption that you like some hamburgers. So let's get this clear immediately: Lazy Dog is not typical electronic music - and may be out to convert some vegetarians. "Lazy Dog" refers to a club night at Notting Hill Arts Club in London - mind you, a Sunday club night. Lazy Dog founder Ben Watt (half of the immensely varied duo Everything But The Girl) calls the night "a soulful end-of-weekend party," and he should know - he and co-founder Jay Hannan have been doing it once a week for over two years. The fact that Lazy Dog has been so successful on Sunday nights does say something about its character. Deep House Music is not the sort of mix you'd want playing full-volume at a Friday-night kegger. This is music that demands not grinding but actual dancing. It's something you can also actually listen to, rather than just feel shaking the floor under your feet. Lazy Dog Deep House Music is a two-disc set: one CD mixed by Ben Watt and one by Jay Hannan. The contrasts between the two discs are due less to a gap in style than a difference in musical taste: Watt and Hannan have similar mixing sensibilities. Hannan leans towards the jazzier end of musical selections, with work from artists like David Bendeth and Jon Cutler (honestly, ten points if you recognize either name). With the beats and over-melodies worked in, his mixes end up in the direction of quality '70s funk, like a thinner version of the Commodores. On the other hand, Watt's work is slightly more consumer-happy, featuring at least one major name: Tracey Thorn, who is Watt's wife and the other half of Everything But The Girl (and so not a terribly surprising contributor). Thorn worked with British trip-hop heavyweight group Massive Attack on its second album, and her distinctive voice lends itself well to floating over line after line of smooth beats. Watt still brings a dose of jazz to his work, though, with groups like Sound Of Soul and Urban Blues Project. So why would any of this convert your average radio listener into an electronica buff? It might have something to do with the style. Deep House isn't pounding bass and brute-force audio but rather a compositional mix. There's plenty of energy to dance to, but also a lot of music snuck into the middle. Don't take its jazz-funk flavor lightly. There are rich, rolling bass lines and soaring melodies that are often outlined by sweet, rhythmic vocals. Lazy Dog also draws you in so inexorably that you'd better have a CD changer to play the two discs in a row. Sit down to listen to just one song, and you'll only notice that you've finished the album when you wonder why this song is so goddamn long. For some genres - popular radio especially - that kind of evenness weakens a group's appeal. Hit singles require a distinct sound. Not so with much of electronica, which has never been about individual songs. A continuous theme means that the party never stops. In this case, the flow is so good that you find yourself listening to the entire thing without even trying. Go ahead. Let down your defenses a little and see just what Lazy Dog has to offer. Ignore the track counter and try to listen to just one song. If you make it past ten minutes without noticing, go ahead buy the CD and stop hogging the listening station at Newbury Comics. You may find that meat is pretty good for you after all.
When the Tufts Jumbos and Williams Ephmen kick off Saturday's Homecoming game, only one thing is absolutely certain: either Howie Rock or Robert Kaufman will do the kicking. Other than the certainty in each other's kickers, many questions abound as two 2-2 squads square off in a game that will keep one team in position to win the NESCAC, while dropping the other two games out of the lead with only three to play. If Tufts is going to beat the Ephmen for the first time since 1986, it is going to have to mimic Middlebury's defense, which shut out Williams last week. Middlebury's strategy was to eliminate Williams' running attack, which was once potent but is now struggling because of injury, -and force the Purple Cows to score through the air, something they have proven to be incapable of doing. This should bode well for a Jumbo defense that has played up to its reputation this year. Tufts' D has allowed a meager 65 rushing yards per game this season, and has held opponents to 180 yards in the air. On paper, it would seem that Tufts' rush defense is going into a colossal battle with an explosive Williams ground attack, but that's not exactly the case. While the Ephmen have run for 170 yards per game this year, most of that was with senior tailback Fred Storz. The dynamic back was out last week against the Panthers, and Williams could muster only 96 yards on the ground. Storz will be on the bench again this week with a lingering injury, meaning Tufts' run defense will be able to dominate play. To do this, the defense feels that it merely needs to correct some errors it has made so far this year. "We'll stop Williams by correcting our mistakes on defense," sophomore safety Greg Devine said. "We've had missed assignments, mental breakdowns, and fatigue on some plays. If we take care of that, we can beat up on the Purple Cows." The defense starts up front, where senior defensive linemen Pete Distaulo and Everrett Dickerson have emerged as stars this season. Distaulo has six sacks on the year, one fewer than the team lead, held by linebacker Joe McLean. The linebacking corps have been equally efficient for the Jumbos, as Scott Mittenthal leads the team with 40 tackles, followed by Mike Marino with 33, including five for a loss. But linebacker Matt Luther will likely sit out the game with an injury, as will defensive back Jeff Karacz. Both Luther and Karacz are seniors, and their absence puts a severe dent in the team's depth. Having rusher Brian Holmes, who played in the secondary last season, on the defensive end of things could help. But since Holmes is needed on offense, Samko says, "the reality is, that's not going to happen." "The defense plays as one unit," Devine said "We know where guys are going to be and what they're going to do. We work hand in hand, and that confidence allows us to play our positions at 100 percent and not worry about other guys." That could work against a Williams offense that is searching for some life and some continuity, as freshmen will likely start at the quarterback and running back spots Saturday. First-year QB Joseph Reardon got his first start against Middlebury, and despite completing 15 of 31 passes for 197 yards, he was intercepted twice and kept off the score board. He will need to be more impressive in his second start, but won't get much help from the running game, where freshman Michael Hackett, who had just 33 yards last week, will get most of the touches. It could be an offense for the Jumbos to prey on, but, at the same time, the youth brings potential for great plays. The same thing could be said about Tufts' offense, where sophomore Scott Treacy has won the weekly competition for starting quarterback. Treacy has thrown for 121 yards this season, with three interceptions and only one touchdown, but brings an athletic element to an offense that averages only 120 yards per game in the air. The quick quarterback will force the Williams defense to be conscious of another runner out of the Tufts backfield. The only veteran at the skill positions does a lot of running from the backfield, as senior Holmes has averaged 91.3 yards a game this season, by far the largest contributor to Tufts' 110 yards-per-game average. However, with fullback Jon Rodgers out for the season with an ankle injury, and Holmes a question mark himself because of injury, sophomore Chuck McGraw will likely be called upon to contribute on Saturday. McGraw demonstrated his game-time ability two weeks ago in the Jumbos' 27-23 victory over Bowdoin, rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns in Holmes' absence. Fortunately for coach Bill Samko's team, two young receivers have emerged this year. Now the only question is how to get them the ball. Freshman Matt Cerne has twice been named NESCAC Rookie of the Week, and sophomore Bryan Pitko, who also runs track, caught a 44-yard touchdown pass last week. Combined with senior Brett Cicchillo, the Jumbos have a potent receiving corps. "They're getting better all the time," Samko said of Cerne and Pitko. "They're developing nicely." Much like the Jumbos, Williams is more set on defense, having allowed a mere 12 points per game. Three linebackers, junior James Kingsley, and senior captains Louis Moll and Dev Brown are the leaders in both sacks and emotion on the field for the D. Despite its strong play, Williams did not garner a sack last week against Middlebury. Two teams with a lot more questions than experience will line up Saturday in a very important NESCAC game. With both squads currently just a game behind the five teams tied for first place, the winner puts itself in good position heading into the final three weeks of the season. Can the young quarterbacks score? How long can the defenses carry their teams? Who will step up for injured stars? Likely, the winner will be the one that answers the most questions.
A demoralizing weekend at the MIT Invitational dropped the women's volleyball team to 8-6, as the squad lost three of its four games and won just five of its 15 matches in the two-day event.
