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The Setonian
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Inside College Basketball | Longhorns, Blue Devils lead title contenders

November 15

The 2005-2006 NCAA basketball season is underway, with non-conference play beginning late last week. Although there are several talented programs in the field, a few have established themselves as the teams to beat this year. These teams all have exceptional talent, considerable depth and experience and are the favorites to make it to Indianapolis for the 2006 Final Four. Inside's top team is the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns get the nod over the Duke Blue Devils now since they have more proven talent. The team will receive a huge boost from the return of forwards LaMarcus Aldridge from hip surgery and P.J. Tucker from academic ineligibility. They both missed the majority of last season, including Texas' first-round loss in the NCAA tournament to the Nevada Wolfpack. Longhorn point guard Daniel Gibson should be even better this year after a stellar freshman campaign. Senior center Brad Buckman and guard Kenton Paulino both provide solid complements to the Texas superstars, rounding out a starting five as good as any in the nation. The only potential problem for this team could be its bench, which isn't especially deep. Texas will be tested in early-season matchups against the Villanova Wildcats, Memphis Tigers, and Duke, but its combination of talent and experience should carry it to Indianapolis. Next up is Duke, who could own the top spot in the future pending the performance of its highly-touted freshmen. The spotlight is mostly on guard Greg Paulus and forward Josh McRoberts, who will need to live up to the hype for the Blue Devils to win a national title. Guard J.J. Redick and forward Shelden Williams, both seniors, form the best inside-outside duo in the nation. However, the amount of help they get from their teammates remains to be seen. With the departure of Daniel Ewing, Paulus and Sean Dockery will have to solidify the point guard position. Lee Melchionni, a reserve until last year, will need to be more productive on both ends of the court. McRoberts will need to help Williams inside and may very well be as good as advertised. This year's Duke team has more depth than last year's squad that lost to the Michigan State Spartans in the Sweet 16, but will need to compensate for the loss of Ewing and Randolph. Their Dec. 10 matchup with Texas is a must-see. At number three are the Connecticut Huskies, who were shaken up off the court by the suspension of A.J. Price for the season and Marcus Williams for two months on charges of stealing laptops. However, they are still extremely talented and balanced on the court. The Huskies are led by forward Rudy Gay and center Josh Boone, two of the best players at their respective positions in the country. They will receive help from role players Rashad Anderson, Denham Brown and Hilton Armstrong. Connecticut is among the nation's elite teams despite losing Charlie Villanueva to the NBA Draft and Price for the year. Williams is slated to return in January, just in time for the beginning of conference play. When he comes back, the Huskies should be favored to win the reshuffled and loaded Big East. The fourth and final team is Villanova, who should not be overlooked despite losing forward Curtis Sumpter for the season with a torn ACL. The Wildcats return their other top seven scorers from a team that lost by a point in the Sweet 16 to the eventual national champions, the UNC Tar Heels. Their backcourt combo of Randy Foye and Allan Ray is as good as any in the field and will provide the spark for the team. Fellow guards Kyle Lowry and Mike Nardi will see more playing time, as the Wildcats are likely to go with a smaller lineup more often in Sumpter's absence. Villanova will need center Jason Fraser to stay healthy and become more of a frontcourt presence, especially on the offensive end. While Sumpter's return this season is doubtful, the Wildcats will still be among the best teams in the Big East and the nation. They have enough depth to adjust and compensate for Sumpter's injury and stay in the national title picture. Rounding out Inside's Top 10 are the Michigan State Spartans, Louisville Cardinals, Oklahoma Sooners, Boston College Eagles, Memphis Tigers, and Kentucky Wildcats.

The Setonian
News

Sept. 11 blame falls on unlikely scapegoats

November 15

One of the lesser known results of Sept. 11, 2001, was a renewal of anti-Semitic sentiments in United States. Marc Levin's new documentary, "The Protocols of Zion," analyzes this phenomenon and depicts how the 1897 document known as the Protocols of Zion play a major role in extremists' accusations of a supposed Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. Marc Levin, a Jewish filmmaker, sought out many such extremists in hopes of finding out where and why this revamped hatred exists. Though the entire conspiracy theory is widely considered to be entirely without merit, many anti-Semites today still believe that the Protocols are the outline of a Jewish plan for world domination resulting from a meeting of Jewish leaders at the turn of the 20th century. The Daily sat down with Mr. Levin this week and asked him a few questions concerning the origins of the film.Question: Was there any specific event that motivated you to make this film, "Protocols of Zion"?Marc Levin: I had been hearing in the days and weeks right after 9/11 rumors on the streets that rabbis had warned the Jews not to go to work on September 11. Then I was in a cab one day with this young Egyptian [driver]...and I said, "You don't believe this - do you?" And he said, "Yeah," and added that no Jewish people died. And I got the newspaper right in my hand with the names of missing and dead and said, "Are you out of your mind?" And he said that it was all written one hundred years ago in the Protocols of Zion... [Later,] he started telling me his life story that he grew up in Alexandria and did love rap music. And every time he bought rap music and the fundamentalists in his neighborhood would see, they'd smash the CD and beat him up. And this happened over and over again until he had to leave his hometown and eventually his home country. He came to New York hoping to get into the music business, and [as we're] getting into the mix, I'm thinking, "This is so weird. This is a victim of fundamentalism and fanaticism and yet, 20 minutes ago, he was repeating these street rumors and tying them to the oldest of old conspiracy theories, the Protocols." So, that's kind of - in my mind - confusing, because the kid wasn't stupid, and if I had just ended it with me getting out of the cab, it would have just ended in alienation and antagonism. So I thought, well maybe, if you can withstand the first blow of hate and get a little deeper and listen and talk, other things would be revealed. And that was where I began to think about it, and then, when I went to New Jersey a couple of months later, I saw that the Protocols were being serialized in an Arab-American weekly newspaper not far from where I grew up. [And] I was like, "Wait a second; this is insane." So that's kind of how it started. So I kind of decided that light is the great disinfectant; let's open it up and talk about it.Q: In the movie, you interview a lot of closed-minded people, such as the creator of the Internet site Jew Watch and some high-ranking neo-Nazis. What is going through your mind as you are talking to these people, and how do you personally feel about them?ML: First of all, I tried almost as a mantra to keep close to my original story: that moment with the cab driver. I said to myself, "Withstand, try to keep your cool, because maybe you'll get deeper." Certainly there were moments as you saw on film where I couldn't contain myself. For example, with [neo-Nazi] Sean Walker, he felt that the word "Jew" itself was open for definition. In other words, for him, any media mogul such as Rupert Murdoch (for example) was a Jew - didn't matter where [he] went to church. The radio show I would say was the most scary - not physically, [though]. I knew what Jew Watch was, and so I figured that some of these supporters will definitely call. And to hear caller after caller say, "The Jews did this, the Jews did that...," that really surprised me and caught me off guard, and I was shaken by that. Q: If there is one message you want the audience to leave the movie ["Protocols of Zion"] with, what would that be?ML: I would say [the message is] when you read what my grandfather has written on his grave: "God means go do good." It's a platitude, obviously, in a way, but at the same time, what it really means to me and what I want people to take from this is to find your own way to have this conversation, this dialogue; get involved, get engaged. This isn't somebody else's problem; this isn't just the Jews' problem, and everyone has got to find their way. If somebody [a suicide bomber] is going into the subway or into theater strapped down, they're not going to ask who is a Jew and who is not. They're not taking a census. Everyone is a potential victim; everyone must find a way - whether it is an organizational way, whether it is a campus way - which inspires dialogue. The reason I made this movie in a 'street-gonzo' way is to make it accessible, so [that] not just experts on this are subject to the debate within the film. You have to find a way to become part of this conversation.

The Setonian
News

Without Verplank, frosh gets quick ease-in period

November 15

Since she started playing basketball, freshman Kim Moynihan has admired Tennessee Lady Volunteer head coach Pat Summit and the way she inspires her players. For coach Carla Berube, who played for the arch-rival University of Connecticut Huskies, having an avid Tennessee fan around could incite some playful rivalry between the two during practice. But during games Berube is going to need to her freshman point guard all on her side. Moynihan, who has been dribbling a basketball since the age of three and played four years of varsity basketball at her high school in West Hartford, Conn., is the only freshman recruit on the women's basketball team this year. The rookie will be called upon by Berube to make a difference. There are three other first-years on the squad, but all are walk-ons. "I think Kim is going to be the freshman that's going to have the most impact on our team," Berube said. "Kim is learning on the fly, it's all new to her. It's a whole new system, and being a point guard is even harder. She has to run the team and be the leader and she's only been with the team for a couple months and that's really difficult." Berube may depend on the freshman for more minutes than she had originally anticipated. Senior tri-captain Julia Verplank, the team's starting point guard, underwent knee and ankle surgery during the off-season and it is unclear when or if she will return. Moynihan and junior Marilyn Duffy-Cabana are both in line for the point guard position. Moynihan is watching the junior closely, trying to emulate her teammate and transition smoothly into the collegiate game. "The college game is a quicker, more physical game," Moynihan said. "I look to Marilyn for her composure and decision-making during games. She's so much more experienced than me. I just want to do everything I can to help the upperclassmen reach what they have been working so hard to achieve." With only 11 players on the team, Moynihan will play a larger role than most first-years. "It always takes a little while for freshmen to adjust," said junior forward Laura Jasinski. "This year, with a smaller team, Kim had to make the big jump quickly. She's done a good job so far, though."

The Setonian
News

Ben Swasey | From Way Down Town

November 15

Since the spring, Dick Vitale has been locked in his Florida compound mentally and physically preparing for the new season. He has adhered to a strict diet of coffee and Hershey's Kisses, and has spent hours in the gym perfecting his "I'm unbelievably excited about college basketball!!" hand motions. Thankfully, for Dicky V. and U.S. men's college basketball fans, this week marked the return of his "Diaper Dandy" calls and the beginning of the long road to the Final Four. Without stepping too much on the toes of today's preview article, here's a brief overview of what to look for this year: The top five preseason teams in the nation are Duke, Texas, Connecticut, Villanova, and Michigan State, with the order depending on the poll. Obviously, it's difficult to rank college basketball because so many of its stars graduate and move on, often early, to the NBA. These five teams, however, could be grouped together because their losses were comparably minimal compared with their competition, with many key contributors returning. To me this team turnover is one fun part about college basketball. Before each year, my inevitable first impression is that the NBA Draft took most of the great collegiate players, so I must look at rosters and previews to see who came back, who's going to step up into a bigger role, and which freshmen are destined to make an impact. Each season is different with new rankings, new stars, and new talent, and each season I find that I stop longing for former players. (Except for Marcus Camby; UMass could definitely use him). Some notable omissions to this year's top 25 lists of teams are perennial powerhouse Kansas, last year's preseason number one, and defending champion North Carolina, who lost four players to the NBA Draft's first round and last year's top seven scorers. I'll admit the only name I recognized off the Tar Heels' roster is senior David Noel, a guard who averaged just less than four points a game last year. The Big East looks to be the best conference right now. Although it lost Boston College to the ACC, it gained a top-ten team in Louisville to go along with U Conn, Villanova, West Virginia, and Syracuse, giving it five teams ranked in the nation's top 16. The preseason consensus number one team and also my pick to be the national champion come April 3rd is Duke. The Blue Devils feature four seniors in the starting lineup, including two who could be All-Americans in sharpshooter J.J. Redick and big man Sheldon Williams. I've always said that two All-Americans are better than one, or none. The fifth starter is newcomer Josh McRoberts, who many think will be the nation's best freshman. Duke has a strange mix of seniors and freshmen. The seniors will provide leadership and tournament experience while the freshmen will provide depth and some explosiveness. The only question marks for this team will be point guard play and athleticism. Sean Dockery currently is the starting ball handler, but his play has been inconsistent over the years and may be replaced by another big-time recruit, Greg Paulus. The Blue Devils also lack proven agile (or bouncy, as Jay Bilas would say) swingmen who can create their own shots and defend slashing guards. Duke is hoping its freshman can fill this need. The big story for Duke is its two star players. While they came to Duke the same year, Redick made the early splash, becoming popular nailing threes as a freshman (remember, everyone, especially chicks, digs the long ball) and averaging nearly 15 points a game. Since then, Redick has improved his scoring output while also earning fame for his prolific free-throw percentage that is always between 92 to 95 percent. Last year, he was the ACC Player of the Year and a member of the All-American team. The lesser known of this duo, Sheldon Williams, will be the bigger factor. The senior is reminiscent of Duke alum Elton Brand; a strong bruiser who can finish and defend. He has battled foul trouble throughout his four years and has worked his way up through the system. Last year, Williams again improved his numbers, averaging 15.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game, while being named to the ACC-All Defense team. The last two years, he has shot nearly 60 percent from the field. I like Williams because he was not an immediate star who blossomed early and left his school. Throughout his tenure, he has been overshadowed by teammates, from Chris Duhon to Luol Deng, and of course, Redick. Williams focused on improving his game and has evolved into a consistent force. Many experts believe that it is Williams, not Redick, who will be the National Player of the Year. In previous NCAA Tournaments, Williams had forgettable performances. In his sophomore year, Duke battled for the championship against Emeka Okafor and UConn. Williams was plagued by foul trouble, managing to play only 19 minutes before fouling out with 4 points on 1-for-9 shooting. Last year, Duke was upset by Michigan State in a game in which Williams too fouled out late and gave up a stellar performance to Spartan center Paul Davis. This year, in his last go-around, I expect Williams to lead his team to the title, delivering a Sean May-in-last-year's-championship-type game and lasting the full 40 minutes with fouls to spare. At the conclusion of the Madness, this deserving big man should get to cut down the nets.

The Setonian
News

Rusesabagina on continuing genocide: 'Stand up and say no'

November 15

Paul Rusesabagina, the inspiration for the film "Hotel Rwanda," spoke to a packed Cohen Auditorium Tuesday night and condemned an international community that stood by as almost a million of his countrymen perished. Rusesabagina came to Tufts as the inaugural speaker in the Merrin Distinguished Lecture Series. Rabbi Jeffrey Summit gave introductory remarks, calling Rusesabagina "a model for what it means to be a moral voice." The event was part of a year long Hillel-run program called Moral Voices on Genocide. Jackson Gym held overflow seating for the event. In the hour-long program, Rusesabagina spoke about the history of Rwanda, his role in the conflict, and the apathy of the international community. The genocide broke out in 1994, almost immediately after a peace agreement had been reached between the Tutsi president and Hutu rebel groups. The United Nations sent 2,500 soldiers as peacekeepers at the end of a two-year negotiation process that included the Rwandan president, rebel groups, and help from the United States. "We trusted the international community," Rusesabagina said. "We trusted the United Nations." The peace treaty was doomed after the presidents of Rwanda and neighboring Burundi were killed in the same week during the spring of 1994. Rusesabagina recalled that when he heard the news, he was eating dinner with his brother- and sister-in-law. It was the last time he saw them. Rebel groups and militia men began killing their countrymen that night, targeting the ethnic Tutsi minority. The following morning Rusesabagina's 14-year-old son went to his neighbor's house to visit a friend and found the entire family slaughtered. Rusesabagina's son spent the next four days alone in his room, refusing to talk to anyone. "Ten Belgian soldiers were also butchered that morning," Rusesabagina said. The Belgians then withdrew their forces, quickly followed by other international peacekeepers. "Everyone decided to pull out, to abandon a nation to thieves, to gangsters, to thugs," Rusesabagina said. He described hellish evacuation scenes with Rwandans begging those leaving to take some Africans with them. "We saw dogs being evacuated and humans begging, 'Please take us with you,'" Rusesabagina said. Rusesabagina stayed holed up in his house with the five other members of his immediate family and with 26 neighbors who had also sought protection behind the gates of his home. When soldiers finally came knocking at the gates, they demanded the keys to the store rooms and cellar of the hotel where Rusesabagina had worked. The soldiers who were at first nice to Rusesabagina at his house ended up pointing a gun at his head after they received the keys they were looking for, demanding that Rusesabagina kill his family and neighbors. It took the hotel manager two hours to negotiate with the soldiers for the lives of 31 men and women. "On the screen, the scene is about two minutes," Rusesabagina said, referring to the movie "Hotel Rwanda." Rusesabagina and his family ended up at the Hotel Milles Collines in the capital city Kigali, where he had only worked for a year and a half. Suddenly in the position of hotel manager, he had to deal with an insubordinate staff while constantly negotiating with rebels for the lives of those refugees in the hotel. During the next two and a half months, he helped save almost 1,200 men and women who sought refuge in the hotel. Rusesabagina said the almost one million people killed in Rwanda represented about 15 percent of the country's population. "Can you imagine 40 million Americans being killed... and the international community saying nothing?" he asked. At one point during the killing, UN soldiers negotiated with the rebels for a prisoner exchange, giving those in the hotel an opportunity to flee. Rusesabagina was given with the chance to leave Rwanda with his family, but he recognized that doing so would mean death for everyone left behind in the hotel. He described the decision to remain in Kigali as the most difficult he has ever made. "If I leave them, I will be a prisoner of my own conscience," Rusesabagina said, referring to those in the hotel. "That was the most heartbreaking experience I have been through in my whole life." He sent his family off, but they returned to the Mille Collines when their convoy was assaulted while making its way through the city. At the end of the conflict, Rusesabagina and his family drove south to their home. "All along the road, there was no human being alive, no animal alive," he said. At the end of the talk Rusesabagina compared the genocide in Rwanda to other contemporary conflicts in Africa. In the last ten years, 4 million have died in fighting in the Congo, 1.8 million people have been displaced in Northern Uganda, and 2 million have been displaced in the Darfur region of Sudan. Rusesabagina recently traveled to Sudan and said Darfur looked exactly as Rwanda had in 1993 and1994. "[The refugees] sleep on the Sahara sand. They have no food. They have no shelter. They have no water," Rusesabagina said. "It is now or never for all of us to stand up and say no." As for reconstruction efforts in Rwanda, Rusesabagina was not very optimistic. "Justice is the whole issue," he said. The trials set up in 1995 have processed an average of two and a half cases per year. They are set to close in 2008. "The international community also has failed," he said. "We have survivors, victims who are waiting to see justice be done." When asked during a short question and answer period about the film "Hotel Rwanda," Rusesabagina responded that the depiction was somewhat diluted. "The movie you have seen on the screen is a portrayal of what was going on in the hotel, not in the genocide," he said.

The Setonian
News

Inside College Football | And then there were two

November 15

Last Week's Game of the Week: Completely shut down by the nation's top scoring defense and down 10-0 at the half in a boisterous and hostile Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the No. 5 LSU Tigers had their work cut out for them. Somehow, the Tigers found a way to fight back and squeaked out a 16-13 victory in overtime to ruin the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide's perfect season. LSU came out strong in the second half and was able to tie Alabama at 10 in the third quarter. The Tigers' touchdown was the first given up by the Alabama defense in 17 quarters. After a back-and-forth final quarter that ended up scoreless, the game went to overtime. In its first possession in the extra period, the Crimson Tide could not get a first down and had to settle for a 34-yard field goal attempt by Jamie Christensen. The sophomore, who earlier in the year won two games with his foot, nailed the field goal to put Alabama up 13-10. But now it was LSU's turn. The Tigers came out with a bang on their first play, as sophomore quarterback JaMarcus Russell found Justin Vincent on a swing pass for a 10-yard gain. Three plays later, on third and seven, Russell found receiver Dwayne Bowe for the 11-yard game-winning touchdown that sent the Tiger players into a celebratory frenzy. The loss, which dropped the Crimson Tide to 9-1 and eighth in the BCS rankings, all but ends their national title hopes. In fact, they will need help just to play in the SEC Championship game. The Tigers, on the other hand, strengthened their status as the fifth-best team in the country, and if they beat Mississippi and Arkansas in their final two games, which they should, they will play for the conference title. More from Week 11: The only other two undefeated teams, No. 1 USC and No. 2 Texas, cruised to victories Saturday. The Trojans played an all-around solid game to defeat California in Berkeley 35-10. LenDale White rushed for three touchdowns, and Matt Leinart rushed for two more of his own as USC jumped out to a 21-3 halftime lead and never looked back. California sorely missed starting quarterback Nate Longshore, who has been out since the opening game of the year with a broken leg. Backup quarterback Joe Ayoob has struggled in the starting position and was no different against USC. The junior college transfer never found a rhythm, consistently missing open receivers. Ayoob was harassed by the Trojan defensive line all day and finished 9-19 for 98 yards, with neither a touchdown nor an interception. Texas also coasted to an expected easy win, beating Kansas 66-14 in Austin. The Longhorns led by a ridiculous 52-0 margin at halftime before the Jayhawks were able to find the end zone twice in the third quarter. Quarterback Vince Young got things rolling early by finding Limas Sweed for a 45-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter. Young added touchdown passes of 64, 29, and three yards before halftime, each to a different receiver. The junior finished the day with 281 yards passing and four touchdowns. In the other big SEC matchup, the No. 15 Auburn Tigers notched a minor upset against the No. 9 Georgia Bulldogs with a wild 31-30 victory in Athens. Auburn, down two with the ball and under a minute to play, converted a fourth down attempt that ended up going for 62 yards. However, Devin Aromashodu fumbled at the end of the long play and the ball went into the end zone. Just before the ball rolled out, which would have been a turnover, teammate Courtney Taylor recovered it, and John Vaughn kicked a 20-yard field goal with six seconds left to provide the final margin. Player of the Week: UCLA quarterback Drew Olson. The senior completed 22 of 27 passes for 510 yards and five touchdowns in the Bruins' 45-35 victory over Arizona State in Pasadena. Olson was unstoppable, connecting with tight end Marcedes Lewis for two of the scores. Upcoming Game of the Week: No. 9 Ohio State at No. 17 Michigan. This is one of the greatest rivalries in college football, and with the two teams as good as they are this year, it should be an epic battle. Look for the Wolverines to use the raucous crowd at the Big House to their advantage and edge the Buckeyes. The Civil War, featuring Oregon State at No. 10 Oregon, will, as always, be a great game.

The Setonian
News

Pom in Prague | Dave Pomerantz

November 15

To sophomores: If it's remotely possible, study abroad. I'm sure I'll say this again in some cheesy end-of-the-semester column, but if you don't do it, you'll always regret it. If you do study abroad, and if you - like I and many students - do so in Europe, here's one other tip: at least once, get out of Europe. I went to Istanbul this weekend, and it was the best four days of my life. On our first morning in the country, I woke up at five o'clock-something upon hearing the call to prayer. Fuzzy-brained and sandy-eyed, I first heard the call from the mosque across the street. It is broadcast from a loudspeaker at the top of a minaret. If I had any notion of falling back to sleep, it was dispelled a second or two later when that call to prayer was answered by another call to prayer from the famous Blue Mosque across the square, which was answered by a third call to prayer from a few blocks further on. To a non-Muslim who doesn't speak the language, the call, which is chanted in a man's voice, sounds rather atonal and non-descript at first. After a few seconds, though, the various calls blend together to form a beautiful symphony. And there's no shortage of mosques: Istanbul has four times as many as Iran. (Remember that the word 'secular' refers to the country's government, not its society.) Over the next few days, every time I heard the prayer calls, whether on the street or in my bed, I paused to listen. This was my first experience with Islam, and it shattered my expectations. I try to be open-minded, but I have to admit, I realized when I got there how messed up my thinking had become. For instance: I, my two friends and my brother were walking around the palace grounds one afternoon. It's a beautiful area, and it was nice out, so there were tons of couples sitting on benches, sort of just cuddling. Most of the women were veiled. I leaned over to my friend Ash, a fellow Jumbo from Hong Kong, and said, "Not to comment on a topic about which I know nothing, but don't you find it hypocritical that these women are making out in public while wearing veils to show their 'modesty'?" Ash is very wise, and he took a moment before answering my ridiculously stupid comment. "Not really. I mean, they're not really making out, they're just snuggling," he said. And there you have it: My newest answer to world peace is, "Everyone likes a good snuggle." The veils are an integral part of who the women are, but they didn't change anything about the women. They're veiled. And they like to snuggle. They're both. I was stupid enough to think that being both is "hypocrisy." Another cool moment: The four of us were smoking hookah with a couple of Turkish guys. Despite the language barrier, we were doing well with sign language, and Ash was showing our new friend Ya-ya our digital pictures. All of a sudden, Ya-ya grabbed the camera, put it in front of his face and started to pray with his eyes closed for several seconds. He had seen a picture Ash had taken of the tombs of several sultans. Besides my introduction to Islam, there were other things I wanted to write about Istanbul: The food was the best I've ever had. I realized in Istanbul that every other food I've eaten appeals to my stomach, whereas Turkish food appealed to my tongue, and each of its little taste buds. Windows with roasting lamb and simmering spices lined every street, tempting you to partake. Then there were the Turkish baths. In an experience that was at once harrowing and exhilarating, I got shuffled around, assembly-line style. You sit on hot marble slabs that are supposedly hundreds of years old, drenching yourself with cold water to keep from passing out. Then a Turkish man rips all your joints out of their sockets, giving you a "massage." The experience is billed as relaxing. It was so relaxing that one of the "masseuses" nearly re-tore my brother's ACL, but still, an awesome time. Or there was the Hagia Sophia. Built in the sixth century as the heart of the Byzantine Empire, it changed Christian and Western architecture forever. In the 15th century, it was converted into a mosque. And finally, in the early 1900s, it was made into a museum. The architecture defies words, and it contained one of the most jaw-dropping juxtapositions I have ever seen: a massive black disc with "Allah" written in golden Arabic lettering hanging 20 feet over an 800-year-old mosaic of Jesus Christ. Or there was drinking sweet black tea over the Bosporus Straits, looking out over Asia and Europe. Or there was walking through the Yerebatan Sarayi, a 1500-year-old underground cistern that makes you feel like Indiana Jones and Aladdin all at once. In the last four months, I've been to Alaska, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Krakow, Interlaken, Munich, Prague, Salzburg, Venice, Verona and Vienna. None compare to Istanbul, and for juniors lucky enough to be in Europe next semester, you should try to get there. Europe's great, but studying abroad is supposed to be about opening your mind to new experiences, and for an American, nothing could be as new as Istanbul.

The Setonian
News

From Sweden to stocks and back again

November 15

At one point in his life, Ola Holmstrom (E '95) lived for the rush and thrill of the New York Stock Exchange. "Nothing's going to beat the trading on a good day - it was so much fun," Holmstrom said. "You get exhausted, [even though] you're done at four in the afternoon. You have to be so alert for the whole day, but you can't beat it." But business wasn't Holmstrom's first venture into the working world. A civil engineer with a master's degree in geotechnical engineering from Tufts, Holmstrom decided after a few years of engineering work to go back to school and earn his MBA. After graduating from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Holmstrom took a job at Sea Carriers Management LLC, a hedge fund in Greenwich, Conn. While employed there, he traded in excess of 100 million shares of NYSE-listed stock. The fund "did very, very active trading," Holmstrom said, adding that he could "buy and sell something 30 times in a day or 50 times in a day." When the market cooled off, Holmstrom and his colleagues took a more cautious approach. "When the market slowed down, I did more reporting, analysis and computer work in general," Holmstrom said. "We had to be more picky; the profits were going down." "When you make a lot of money, it's great. But when you're not, you're not creating anything," he added. But the longer-term focused analysis was rewarding for Holmstrom. "In the long-term, I like the more intellectual challenge," he said. Originally from Sweden, Holmstrom first lived in the United States while he was a foreign exchange student in Casper, Wyo. - the childhood home of Dick Cheney. Growing up there was not without its perks: the then-Secretary of Defense gave Holmstrom's high school graduation address. After the high-profile graduation ceremony, Holmstrom left the United States and moved to Belgium to be with his brother. "The plan was that we were going to work down there," Holmstrom said. When it ended up being "too tricky to get a work permit," the brothers took a year off before going to college and spent the year traveling around Europe, using Belgium as a hub. As for his time at Tufts, Holmstrom remembers an undergraduate experience filled with friends and lots of coursework. "I needed 38 credits, and I had 41.5," Holmstrom said, laughing. "I was always overloading on courses." "I really appreciated the people that were [at Tufts]," Holmstrom said. "It was a great mix, and it wasn't too cutthroat. It was a good atmosphere. I think a lot of top schools teach the same things - but it's the makeup of the student body that [matters.]" Holmstrom continued on at Tufts for another two years: he earned his master's in geotechnical engineering, drawn to the intuitive aspect of the field. "It's not as exact a science as structural [engineering] - it's more 'touchy-feely' engineering," Holmstrom joked. Holmstrom noticed a difference in his Tufts experience as a graduate student. "You get a lot more involved in your department, and you get a lot less involved in at least the social aspect of undergraduate life," Holmstrom said. "I liked focusing on something and digging deeper." Upon completion of his masters, Holmstrom worked for Haley & Aldrich, a consulting firm in Boston. "I enjoyed the projects like the engineering, finding a solution. What I did not enjoy was the politics," he said. "As an engineer, you get squeezed. They see you as an expense. It got a little frustrating that way." It was then that Holmstrom opted for a radical change. Because he found his geotechnical engineering job "kind of geographically limited - you become an expert on the soil conditions of Boston," he decided his next move would be business school. "In business school, you can do things that are much more transferable," he said. "I definitely was always interested in going to business school - it opens up more doors." Even with four years of undergraduate study, two years pursuing a master's and two more years of business school under his belt, Holmstrom still is excited by education. "I like school. I liked the lifestyle," he said. "Who knows, I might even go back to school at some point." But for the time being, Holmstrom and his wife are living in Sweden. "It's on a trial basis; it's something we're doing for now," he said. "We don't have any kids, and we don't have a house in the States. It was easy to pack up and move. It was a great opportunity to give Sweden a chance again." Holmstrom now works with his family's company in Sweden. "It's a real estate company - we own some real estate, manage it, and occasionally have projects where we develop," he said. But the company also offers Holmstrom the chance to bring his own experience to the fore and to shape the company's future. "There's also the asset management part," Holmstrom said. "Our generation is interested in this." And even now that he's miles away from Wall Street, Holmstrom's past continues to inform his present: "We all worked in the same hedge fund in Connecticut," he said of the cousins with whom he runs the company.

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Volleyball | NCAA performance caps successful volleyball campaign

November 15

Throughout the season, coach Cora Thompson claimed that the 2005 Tufts volleyball team was the most talented in Tufts history. After a record 29 victories and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals, Thompson's squad backed her up. After tying the school record for most victories by a Tufts team last year, the Jumbos went on to break that record this year with 29 wins, and its two victories in the NCAA Tournament put them farther into the tournament than a Tufts team has ever gone. "All in all, it was an incredible season and it was something we're all really proud of," sophomore Stephanie Viola said. The team finished 29-7 and second in the conference and the region. The only thing that separated the Jumbos from a NESCAC and regional title was their inability to beat Colby, which claimed both crowns. The White Mules defeated the Jumbos three times this season without dropping a single game. After beating the Jumbos in the NESCAC opener and in the conference championship, the Mules finally ended Tufts' season this past weekend. "It was a tough thing to swallow," Viola said. "They were a tough team. However, they have five starting seniors, so hopefully we'll be able to take it to them next year. That's something to look forward to." Although the Jumbos could not beat Colby, they had success in NESCAC, going 9-1 en route to a second-place finish for the second consecutive year. The Jumbos beat Amherst twice, including a NESCAC Tournament opener that sent the Lord Jeffs home for the winter. The Jumbos returned from Colby proud of what they had accomplished this season. The road to 29 victories was not easy, as the Jumbos defeated two top-25 teams on the way. In the first weekend of the season, the team traveled to the Williams Invitational and knocked off the host Ephs, who entered the match ranked No. 19 in the nation. The 3-1 victory over Williams was the first of three Jumbo victories this season over Williams, which had won the last four NESCAC Championships and had beaten Tufts every time the two met since Sept. 2001. Later in the season, the Jumbos hosted the second annual Tufts Invitational. Thompson used the tournament as an opportunity to schedule some tough matches for her team, and the Jumbos responded. Tufts opened up the tournament by defeating Emmanuel, a task they would repeat in the NCAA Tournament. Next, the Jumbos knocked off then-No. 22 SUNY-Cortland and MIT, the top team in the region. The Jumbos came close to winning their tournament for the second year in a row, but came up just short of then-No. 23 Eastern in a match that went to five games. "That was a great showing by us and it just proved that we are one of the top teams in the nation and we're only going to be better next year," Viola said. The Jumbos took their act on the road, traveling down to Georgia to play the Emory National Invitational Tournament, becoming the first Tufts volleyball team to travel to a tournament out of the region. The Jumbos were the lone representative from New England at Emory, and started out the tournament by beating Meredith and Heidelberg. They could not carry the momentum, however, losing to Millikin, a team receiving votes for the top-25 polls, and No. 3 Emory. Tufts entered the season with a lot of youth and not much experience. With just two seniors and two juniors on the roster, freshmen were forced into key roles. Freshman Kaitlin O'Reilly held the setter position all year. Leading the NESCAC in assists, with 11.87 a game, she was named New England Freshman of the Year and earned a sport on the New England All-Region Team. Freshman Natalie Goldstein had a stranglehold on the libero position throughout the season. Goldstein finished third in the conference in digs per game and received an honorable mention for New England Freshman of the Year. Freshmen Caitlin Dealy and Maya Ripecky also played big roles as the season went on. "They were great," Viola said of the team's rookies. "They had no problem stepping up and playing college sports. It was either be timid or step up, and they definitely stepped up and helped the team." While the freshmen played a big role, they were led by a pair of seniors, co-captains Courtney Evans and April Gerry, who both earned spots on the All-NESCAC Team. Evans finished the season second in blocks per game in the conference, and Gerry finished eighth in the conference in hit percentage. Another upperclassman, junior Kelli Harrison, had a rough year. While Harrison averaged 4.46 kills per game, a number that would have put her second in the conference, injuries limited her to just 56 games. Harrison suffered a thigh injury in a collision during the fifth game of the Coast Guard match in the MIT Tournament, and later in the season, sustained a concussion in practice which forced her to miss the last three weeks of the season. In the wake of her final season with the team, Evans is optimistic about the future of the program she is leaving behind. "I know they're going to keep improving," Evans said. "There's so much talent on this team and coach Thompson has been working so hard to build prestige. Next year, they're going to be even better."

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Alex Bloom | Philly Phodder

November 14

Baseball is my favorite sport and, because of that, I can't avoid this topic any longer. Steroids have plagued this sport since the late 1980s and the league is only now starting to do something about it. I've tried to find another topic to write about, but every time I try to look for something, I'm drawn into steroids. ESPN The Magazine has put together an enlightening report on how steroids have affected the game over the last 18-20 years. Up until last year, Barry Bonds' record 73 homers was one of the greatest highlights of the game, rather than the nadir of the sport. In reality, the 2001 season for Barry Bonds was the beginning of the end for baseball's credibility. The media had questioned players bulking up back in 1998 when Big Mac had been caught with androstenedione, but the glory of breaking the home run record overshadowed the fact that the means to an end might have been against the rules. Everybody was forced to acknowledge steroids when the San Francisco Chronicle printed secret grand jury testimony from the BALCO case that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield had unknowingly used steroids and Jason Giambi admittedly used the illegal performance-enhancing substances. That happened in December of last year. Now almost a year removed, penalties introduced by the commissioner's office has a 10-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for a second offense, and 60 days for a third. We can all list two or three players who have been suspended for steroids (Alex Sanchez, Juan Rincon, Ryan Franklin) under the new policy. Commissioner Bud Selig made an intelligent move by bringing Hall of Famers to Congress with him in May to suggest stiffer penalties (50 games, 100 games, lifetime ban). And home runs significantly decreased this season, with teams hitting 434 fewer home runs in sum for an average decrease of 14 dingers per team. Still, I cannot realistically look back on the past 15 years of baseball history and say with a clean conscience that they were legitimate. In 2001, Luis Gonzalez increased his home run count from 31 to 57 by reportedly changing his batting stance. He ended up leading the Diamondbacks to a title. Matt Stairs hit 38 dingers in 1999 but hasn't reached more than 21 since then. Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs in 1995, but never hit more than 24 before or after that season. The example which hurts the most comes from my favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies. Lenny Dykstra's 1993 near-MVP campaign has all signs pointing to steroids. His home runs jumped to 19 after being in single digits for the previous seven seasons and his slugging percentage went up 80 points. How would you feel about the 2004 Red Sox if you knew Manny and Big Papi were juicing and that Schilling was injecting himself during the season, causing the ankle injury? Do the last 15 years deserve an asterisk? I am in favor of one. There have been at least three MVPs (Caminiti in 1996, Canseco in 1988, Giambi in 2000) admittedly on steroids. How many more are there? Ivan Rodriguez is linked. We all know about Mr. 7-time-MVP Barry Bonds. Juan Gonzalez is another likely abuser. What about Sammy "Will cork for food" Sosa who is now out of the job in Baltimore? His four seasons of hitting 50-plus home runs all came after the age of 30, when players generally begin to decline. The Oakland Athletics made three World Series trips with what was reportedly an anabolic dream team. The San Diego Padres in the mid-90s are another suspected steroid hub. What other teams might have been built by the needle? We all know about the Caminitis, the Palmeiros, and the Giambis. But who else is out there that hasn't come forward? We'll never know the full truth. And people can toss around allegations forever. But what bothers me most is not that people cheated; it's that some people won't acknowledge that there was a problem with the game. Sure, players have cheated in different ways for decades (doctoring a ball, corking a bat), but taking anabolic steroids to enhance performance is not only cheating, it's illegal in the United States and damaging to the human body. The stigma steroids attach to successful athletes is even more disturbing. How do we know that Andruw Jones didn't look for something to enhance his power this season? He also claims to have altered his batting stance. What about Adrian Beltre's career year last year and subsequent incredible drop off this year? Will we ever be able to view success as a sign of athletic prowess rather than the mark of a cheater? And in the ESPN report, Victor Conte alleges that players may already have moved on to oral steroids that are harder to detect. They leave your body faster but still produce the same effect. I'll leave you with this: Barry Bonds put together four of the greatest statistical seasons of all time, and each one came after he turned 35. As much as it hurts me to say this, Roger Maris will always be my home run champion.

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Meredith Pickett | The Eyes of Texas

November 14

Texas, our Texas, all hail the mighty state..." No! I'm not hailing you, Texas. In fact, I am voluntarily taking away my own suffrage rights with the "great" state of Texas. I love my state, but that does not mean that I have to like it right now. I am angry because Texas just voted to alter its constitution to ban gay marriage. This makes me angry, not only because of the action, but also due to the principle of the matter. The fact of the matter is that it was not voted on by the legislature, it was voted on by Texans themselves. Some may say that is the best way to accurately represent the will of the people, but to them I point out that the people are almost always wrong. If it were up to Texans, we would probably still have slavery, African Americans would not be allowed to vote, the Civil Rights movement never would have occurred, the state religion would be Christianity and we would still probably be our own country, the Republic of Texas. And that, my friends, is why states should not be allowed to vote on issues of rights. That sounds harsh, and not all Texans deserve that reputation (such as myself, for example). But I believe this is true of many states. This bias of the people is why we have government. As one political science professor made me memorize, James Madison once said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." Men are not angels, and therefore we have government to protect us from ourselves. We elect representatives who are probably more level headed than we are to fight out these issues for us. That's why we have government, people! Not just to decide that we can drink before noon on Sundays at a rodeo or fair while ignoring school finance and property tax reform (gotta love Texas), but to do good for the people of the state, even if those people do not even know they want it yet. The issue of gay marriage is a civil rights issue, and for some reason or another, people are not very inclined to give other people rights. Honestly, I do not know why. All I know is that it is becoming an old and tired issue. I mean, rights for all. How hard is that? Rights for all. I'm 19 years old, and it is probably easier for me to see this modern view than the people who voted on this initiative. But I think gay and lesbian couples should have the same rights as other people. It's the fair and correct thing to do. I mean, it's not going to affect your life, and it will make thousands of people happier. Why are people so against happiness? I think that you really have to dislike your own life to wish ill upon the lives of other people. And again, this is another reason why we should not let people vote. With one check of the box, they can change the lives of people they don't even know. I think that if Texas is not going to let gay couples get married, the homosexual contingent should not have to pay taxes. Think about it: these people are paying the government to discriminate against them. Therefore, let's get a little civil disobedience up in here! I don't think that Texas would enjoy that, considering that the state has almost as little money as Tufts does. I hate to be the one to give you a civics lesson while you're probably just flipping through the Daily to get to the crossword, but in the United States, the government exists to protect people from themselves and to protect the minority from the majority. Clearly, this is not the our country's forte. Let's not make the same mistakes again. History exists so that we can learn from it and change past wrongs. So let's please not force another minority group to suffer because of the bias of the people. I bet we all have a little minority aspect to us. How would you like it if your state voted that you were not a complete person because of it? If you live in Texas, this may happen to you. And that is why we should not let Texans vote. Meredith Pickett is a sophomore majoring in history. She can be reached via e-mail at Meredith.Pickett@tufts.edu.

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Jumbos look to build on last year's second-place finish

November 14

The basketball team won't have to wait long for a test. The team opens its season this Friday with a trip to the Resler Tournament in Rochester, N.Y., where it will play some of the top teams in the country. "We're going to be facing some tough teams early on," senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald said. "Hopefully that will be a good measuring stick to see where we're at and what we need to work on." The Jumbos will open their season with a tough match against Wittenberg College, ranked No. ten in the country in the preseason polls. If the Jumbos can survive the Tigers, they will face Rochester, the 2004-2005 NCAA Tournament runner-up. On Nov. 22, the Jumbos will travel to Springfield to play a team that received votes in the preseason national polls. "We finished second in the conference last year and have improved in a lot of areas," Fitzgerald said. "Our chemistry is good. We hope to finish first this year, even though the NESCAC is one of the toughest conferences in the country." Despite the loss of last year's leading scorer Reggie Stovell to graduation, the Jumbos return all but three players from last year's conference-leading offense. Returning for the Jumbos are last year's starting point guard, small forward, center and sixth man, and the team should have plenty of options on the ball. "The ball's going to move a lot more," junior tri-captain Dave Shepherd said. "A lot of times last year [Stovell] was the focal point. This year, it's going to be a lot more balanced." That balance includes a trio of perimeter players who made a big impact last year. Shepherd will once again captain the offense at point guard. As last year's iron man, Shepherd started all 26 of the team's games, averaged 34.6 minutes. He also did a little bit of everything on the court, contributing 6.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 3.7 rebounds per game. One area in which Shepherd will look to improve on last year's performance is in the turnover category. Cutting down on his five turnovers per game, the highest of an offense which, while the best in the league with 81.7 points per game, also averaged 18.6 turnovers, will only help the Jumbos this season. While Coach Bob Sheldon has been working to reduce turnovers, with the high speed offense that the Jumbos employ, he knows giving the ball up comes with the territory. "We play an aggressive style and run a lot, so we turn the ball over a little more than a team that plays at a slower pace," Shepherd said. Shepherd will be joined in the backcourt by sophomore Jeremy Black, who sat out the 2004-2005 season after tearing his ACL in preseason, and sophomore Ryan O'Keefe. Last year, O'Keefe was a threat off the bench, scoring 10.9 points per game as the team's sixth man. When starting small forward junior Brian Kumf couldn't play due to an illness, O'Keefe stepped in and scored 16.8 points a game over a five-game span. Last year, the Jumbos lobbed up 19 attempts per game from behind the arc. Sophomore Jake Weitzen hit 43.8 percent of his shots from long range, and 56.2 percent overall from the floor, while averaging 11.1 points a game in just 18.4 minutes of action each game. While Black, O'Keefe, Shepherd and Weitzen will take shots from the outside, the Jumbos also feature a trio of inside players. At small forward, Kumf provided energy on the court last year in addition to his 10.7 points and 5.9 rebounds. At the power forward position, Fitzgerald will be asked to fill the void left by Stovell's departure. Last year, Fitzgerald played just 12.3 minutes a game, but made the most of his limited time on the boards, contributing four rebounds per game. At center will be 6'8" senior Dan Martin. Martin struggled with foul trouble early in the season in 2004-2005, but when he was able to stay on the floor, he scored nine points per game and pulled down 6.8 rebounds. In the first round of the NESCAC Tournament, Martin scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Jumbos to a 99-88 victory. The Jumbos will need Martin to step up in the post in place of Stovell. "I expect a huge year from him," Shepherd said. "He is playing as well as I've ever seen him play." Defense may be the team's weak spot. The 2004-2005 Jumbos' top-producing offense was counterbalanced by their defense, which gave up the most points per game in NESCAC. In the offseason, the Jumbos brought in former Lasell head coach Chris Harvey as an assistant to Sheldon, and Harvey has been focused on the team's defense. "Defense is more of an attitude than anything else," Fitzgerald said. "It's a willingness to work. Our new coach, [Harvey], has been stressing that in practice." If the Jumbos can improve that defense, they could find themselves in contention for a NESCAC Championship. The competition will be stiff, however. Amherst enters the season No. 5 in the nation, while Trinity figures to be strong with the return of senior Tyler Rhoten, a member of last year's All-NESCAC Team.

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Theater Review | Buoyant humor saves 'The Sisters Rosensweig'

November 14

Three sisters, one the head of a bank, another a bohemian journalist and the last a self-made radio host known as "Dr. Gorgeous," meet in London to celebrate a birthday. No, this is not the set-up for punch line. On second thought, maybe it is. Wendy Wasserstein's play "The Sisters Rosensweig" explores these three sisters' search for identity through a complex maze of nationalities and religion - pretty complex for a play that takes place entirely in one sister's living room. Expatriate Sara Goode (Maureen Anderman), the banker, is emotionally closed-off after dealing with two failed marriages, a demanding career and disillusionment with her Jewish-American roots. To further complicate matters, her daughter Tess (Amelia Alvarez) has her heart set on flying to Lithuania to be a part of the resistance during the collapse of the Soviet Union. When Sara's sisters arrive to help celebrate her 54th birthday, they bring problems of their own. Pfeni Rosensweig (Mimi Lieber), the journalist, is a hemp-toting, doesn't-shave-her-armpits hippie who brings her bisexual boyfriend (T. Scott Cunningham) to dinner. Their relationship seems a picture of idyllic, if absurd, happiness until he mentions that he misses men. Meanwhile, Gorgeous Teitelbaum (Deborah Offner) arrives with a legion of women from her Newton synagogue and advice on everything from religious observance to accessorizing. The Tony and Pulitzer-winning Wasserstein is known for both her cultural insight and wisecracking hilarity. Unfortunately for her, the Huntington Theatre Company's production of "The Sisters Rosensweig" elicits both intentional and unintended laughter. Part of the reason is that the show often seems to bite off more than it can chew. At one point Tess asks: "If I've never really been Jewish, and I'm not actually American anymore, and I'm not English, or European, then who am I?" Although supposedly answered through the comedic escapades of love, sisterhood and polite society, the moments of sentimentality seem absurdly out of place amid the comedy. It's unclear whether the script or the actors are at fault. Anderman's hysterical collapse in front of New York furrier Mervyn Kant (Jeremiah Kissel) is too sudden and entirely without preamble. Kissel, on the other hand, perfectly suits his part, setting both the audience and his fellow actors at ease. Offner's Teitelbaum is hilarious, but her part is less emotionally demanding than the others. Likewise, Lieber is well-suited to the part of Pfeni, but the chemistry just never seems to click between herself and Cunningham. The questions raised during the show are valid. What level of observance is appropriate for each individual? If one moves somewhere new, which area does she identify with? How can members of a single family possibly be so different? It is unfortunate that the script wasn't better suited to answer these questions in more depth. Accolades go to David Korins for his magnificent scenery, to Robert Morgan for the exquisite and entirely believable costume design, and to Rui Rita for her subtle and appropriate lighting. Although we never leave the living room, the set is so multidimensional that it never wears thin. The light shining through the windows of the living room smartly reflects the changing weather and time of day. The costuming supplements occasionally make up for character development. Anderman's evening gown is luxurious but tasteful, and highlights her role as wealthy businesswoman. Offner sashays across stage in a variety of suits that are faux haute, yet aren't over the top. Her wardrobe is an integral part of her personality and Morgan understands this well. Wasserstein is a comedic master, and she knows her material well. "The Sisters Rosensweig" makes for an uproarious evening, but the moments of introspection and self-discovery are unnecessary and weigh the show down. Sometimes it's okay for a comedy to simply be a comedy, and nothing more.

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Black is Back; sophomore aims to solidify his place on team

November 14

The men's basketball team approaches the beginning of the season with a good balance of both experienced veterans and young, exciting talent. One of the brighter aspects of the Jumbos' preseason roster comes in the form of the imminent return of sophomore Jeremy Black. The high school All-State point guard entered the 2004-2005 season with high expectations placed on his shoulders. But Black's season ended before it even started as the then-freshman tore his ACL in preseason and spent the entire season on the sidelines. Although it's been a difficult and gruesome road to recovery, Black feels he is ready to be back on the court. "It has been a long recovery and I've been doing rehab for the better part of a year now," Black said. "It was definitely hard. I'd been playing basketball basically everyday for my whole life and all of a sudden I couldn't. But I was able to do a lot of things last year that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise, so I'm looking forward to being out there." Coach Bob Sheldon is confident that his point guard is ready to return to the team and make a strong impact. "I expect him to come in and compete," Sheldon said. "He won't start the year in the starting five, but I expect by the end of the year, he will be running the point with [junior] Dave Shepherd playing the two." Returning from a major injury is always a daunting task, made even more difficult by the mental setback that often accompanies it as frustration builds on the sidelines. But Black's positive attitude, in addition to the abundance of support from coaches, trainers, and teammates has made his transition much easier. "My teammates were unbelievable," Black said. "They treated me like a member of the team and coach was really supportive. My captain even drove me to one of my MRIs." With one of his main players injured, Sheldon played a major role in helping Black gain the confidence and motivation to work hard through rehab. "I made him come to practice," Sheldon said. "I talked to him a lot and after games we would go over what we did right and wrong. He was kind of like an assistant coach." With a solid core of returning players, Black's contributions will definitely bolster an already talented squad. While in reality it might take a few weeks to dust off his game, the team expects Black to eventually return to his dazzling high point-scoring form. "It'll take time," Sheldon said. "But once he gains more confidence in his leg and gets more competitive, he'll definitely have a big impact."

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Stovell leaves big shoes to fill on the court

November 14

The men's basketball team is coming off of a strong 2004-2005 season, as the team compiled a 16-10 record, including an impressive 7-2 mark in NESCAC play. As the Jumbos look to put together a repeat performance this winter, the one question that begs to be answered is - can they do it again, this time without the help of 2005 graduate Reggie Stovell? Stovell, a senior tri-captain and the team's go-to guy last season, led the Jumbos by far in both scoring, with 18.2 points per game, and rebounding, pulling down 10.2 boards per contest. He also logged more minutes than any other Jumbo forward with 28.2 per game. In addition to being a captain and a front-runner in the stat book, Stovell made first-team All-NESCAC and was a recipient of the Outstanding Male Athlete honor at the university's Distinguished Achievement Awards held last month. Stovell's absence inevitably leaves gaps in the Jumbos' game plan. At the forward positions, junior Brian Kumf and senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald will be relied upon to fill the starting lineup. Their reinforcement from the bench may not be as strong as it has been in recent years, however. "We're not as deep up front as we were last year," Coach Bob Sheldon said. "Nobody new came in this year at forward." As the post-Stovell era begins this Friday afternoon, all eyes will be on a pair of young, talented sophomores - Weitzen and Ryan O'Keefe - to fill the scoring void left by the sharp-shooting Stovell. Weitzen averaged 11.1 points per game in his freshman season, and O'Keefe was not far behind with 10.9. For an inside presence, senior tri-captain and starting center Dan Martin will have to step up as the Jumbos' dominant big man. Martin finished second only to Stovell last year with 6.8 rebounds a game, and he led the team with 20 blocks. Without Stovell's presence in the paint, Martin will have to pick up the slack. Sheldon is optimistic that his team has what it takes to fill Stovell's shoes on the court, but remarked on Stovell's leadership ability and off-court presence. "We play nine or ten guys," he said. "When you break it down, it's just one extra rebound and two extra points from each guy. Mostly, what we'll miss is his leadership." The team will turn to seniors Martin and Fitzgerald for that leadership in the 2005-06 season. This year's squad is young but talented, and if its rising stars can step up and fill the shoes of their departed leader, this could a productive winter for the men's basketball team.

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Groups to ask: Just what story to the data tell?

November 14

In a few weeks, groups of students will sit down to discuss how the University's drug and alcohol policies should be affected by two surveys administered last fall. Focus groups are being formed within the next few weeks to analyze the data from the surveys, conducted by Health Services and the Office of Institutional Research. The data from the Freshman First Week Experience Survey and the Alcohol and Drug Use Survey were released last spring. Senior Jin Woo Kim, an intern at Health Services' Alcohol and Other Drug Program, is organizing the focus groups. Kim said participants would be divided by organizations to analyze sections of the surveys. "We want to get different opinions from different groups on campus," Kim said. The focus groups will eventually make policy suggestions to the University based on their response to the data. Another goal of the focus groups will be to discover how to effectively get messages about alcohol safety across to students, according to Director of Drug and Alcohol Education Services Margot Abels. The surveys asked students about their habits and history of drug and alcohol use, and how they view the issues on campus. The Freshmen First Week Survey was sent to 1,275 freshmen, and 47.1 percent responded. The Alcohol and Drug Use Survey was sent to 4,884 undergraduates, and 39.3 percent responded. Responses for both surveys were anonymous. Abels said the surveys show Tufts is like most schools when it comes to drug and alcohol use on campus. This will prevent policy changes from being based on exaggerated assumptions of the usage of dangerous drugs, she said. "This will balance our efforts based on reality," she said. The results of the surveys fit the standard for private, northeastern schools near a city. Abels said the response rates were encouraging as a starting point for policy decisions. "If you look at most surveys, a 47 percent response rate is unbelievable," she said. "We think it's significant, but absolutely acknowledge [that] it doesn't represent the whole University." The gender and ethnic diversity of the respondents was representative of the student body, Kim said. "There is enough of a response that we don't have to worry too much about bias," he said. The Freshmen First Week Survey was conducted during the first year fraternities were not allowed to have parties during orientation, which Abels said may have affected students' responses to the question about where they drank. "If we do it next year it might look different," she said. "But it means we don't have to single out fraternities as a source of all problematic drinking on campus." After the data were collected last year, Kim, Abels and then-senior Tiara Winn brainstormed ways to analyze the data. They wrote questions that will help guide the focus groups. According to Kim, these questions include: "Do you think heavy drinking is a given?" and "Do you think the University's handling of drugs and alcohol on campus is realistic?" The questions are being modified and finalized by the Office of Institutional Research. Kim said he would like to see the focus groups encourage students to start thinking about these issues more seriously. The data from the Alcohol and Drug Use Survey said 28.7 percent of students were worried about someone's alcohol use, but only 21.4 percent of students thought alcohol use was a problem at Tufts. Kim wants to find out how students can justify this and other discrepancies. The drug statistics line up differently - 15.7 percent think drug use is a problem on campus and 13.9 percent of students are worried about a friend's drug use. The surveys were designed by a committee made up of Abels, Lisa O' Leary, a research analyst at the Office of Institutional Research, Director of Health Services Michelle Bowdler and a group of sociology and community health professors and students. Abels said similar surveys could be administered next year. "It is worthwhile to track trends over time," she said. She added that there are ways in which last year's surveys could be improved. "We would have liked to have gotten more specific," she said. There were general questions on substance use at pre-orientation programs at Tufts, but they did not ask at which pre-orientation programs substance abuse was most likely. Kim's said she wanted to lead the focus group project to learn about drug and alcohol issues on campus so the University can make policy changes. "Should something like that be a given? Should we be accepting?" Kim asked about alcohol and drug abuse on campus. "Or should we work to reduce the problem?"

The Setonian
News

Long-shot looks to catch up with Tufts students' help

November 14

The election for the next governor of Massachusetts is still a year away, but a group of Tufts students is already on the front line. Junior Mitchell Robinson and about ten other Tufts students went to Boston University Monday night to see Democratic candidate Deval Patrick. Robinson is the leader of the state-wide Students for Deval. In an October poll by the University of Massachusetts, Deval trails frontrunner Tom Reilly, the Attorney General, by double digits, but is only slightly behind current Governor Mitt Romney. At 8:05 p.m., Patrick stepped onstage in the stage of a small auditorium in the Photonics Center, shaking students' hands along the way. He was introduced to an audience of about 100 student Democrats, mostly from BU, but also from Tufts and Northeastern University, by BU Assistant Dean of Students Alan Ward. Patrick spoke for 25 minutes before taking student questions. He emphasized that his campaign should be seen through the issues and have a statewide interest, rather than as a campaign to get the first black governor of Massachusetts elected. Patrick talked about business, the economy and education in the state. Massachusetts is "first in football and 47th in spending on higher education," he said. As a solution, he suggested a more comprehensive education approach - one that would start before kindergarten, if necessary. Patrick repeatedly criticized Democrats for not taking a stronger lead in issue debates, especially ones involving the economy, and attributed a decreasing public confidence to this weak leadership. "I see people losing faith in the American dream," he said. "Democrats have got to get comfortable again... talking about the private economy." Patrick concluded his speech by saying that the poor handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis was a demonstration of the lackluster effort by current politicians to take care of all American citizens. "Those people abandoned on their rooftops after Katrina were abandoned before that storm," he said. Robinson helped organized the event and helped create a student chapter of the campaign on the Tufts campus, let by freshman Jennifer Bailey. About 75 to 100 Tufts students have signed up to volunteer for Patrick, Robinson said. The group - not associated with the Tufts Democrats - hopes to bring Patrick to campus next semester. "The idea is that students need to become more involved in the political process," Robinson said. Patrick has made it a priority to visit a number of colleges and universities, Robinson said. "This is a grass roots campaign we are running," he said. "[Patrick] is making sure he's getting students involved." Robinson started organizing Monday's speech three weeks ago, and he also helped put together a program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst this past weekend. At that event, Patrick, Reilly and Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) spoke. In Patrick's campaign office, Robinson works with a handful or interns from Tufts, some of which got the position through the Political Science Department's internship course. As an intern, "you're going to be treated like you are part of the campaign," Robinson said. "I'll do anything from working on policy to going to fundraisers." Robinson chose to work for Patrick over Reilly because he sees it as an opportunity to support a politician who, rather than speaking as a Democrat or Republican, speaks for himself. He described Patrick as "strong, moral and clear." "You want to pick the candidate who is the best candidate for the people of Massachusetts," Robinson said. "And not one who has just been in office the longest."

The Setonian
News

From Sternberg, a new take on what makes kids Tufts-worthy

November 14

Students applying to become members of Tufts' Class of 2011 may be asked to fill in the empty speech bubbles of a cartoon or write a creative story in addition to providing their SAT scores. Dean of Arts and Sciences Robert Sternberg, until recently a professor of psychology at Yale, said he believes there are three kinds of intelligences: creative, analytical and practical. He is currently working with the Office of Admissions to incorporate the evaluation of all three of these skills into admissions standards. "I feel, as do many people, that the SAT is incomplete as a measure of academic skills, and even more as a measure of life skills," Sternberg said. He said the tests used today to determine intelligence and skills are very similar to the ones used a century ago. "If biology or physics were the same as they were 100 years ago, people would say that progress was stalled," he said. The SATs do measure analytical skills, Sternberg said, but he also believes creative and practical skills are important. He defines creative skill as being able to come up with new ideas. "In today's world, you really can't survive without creative skills," he said. Without creative skills, he said, Apple would still be on the Apple II, and there would be no iPods. He added that creative skills are necessary not only in business, but in life. "Relationships get stale unless you come up with new ideas to keep them fresh," he said. "I'm not talking about creative in the sense of Einstein or Picasso, but in a more everyday sense." Practical skill is the ability to make ideas work. "You can get a 100 percent on a written driver's test, but that doesn't mean you can drive," Sternberg said. Sternberg proposes to incorporate these factors into admissions decisions. "I think Tufts can become the national leader in enlightened admissions policies," he said. This could be accomplished by changes to the application, the interview and recommendations. Students might be asked to write a creative story as an essay. During an interview, they could be asked to solve a practical problem. And on recommendation forms, teachers would be asked to evaluate the students' creative and practical skills, as well as traditional analytical ones. Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin said that though these changes are still in the early planning stage, he thought it would be likely that some changes will be made by the time the Class of 2011 is ready to apply. While Tufts could potentially leave the Common Application behind, he said that more likely, "we'd really redesign the Tufts supplement that we ask students to complete." Coffin said he welcomes Sternberg's ideas because "the more data we collect, the better our decisions will be." The Office of Admissions has been trying to look at more subjective criteria for the past few years, "and in that spirit, Dean Sternberg's research really matches what we've already started to do," Coffin said. This year, he said, Tufts has added a series of optional questions to its supplement, "including one that asks, 'Who are you?' - 'Do you have a tattoo?' 'Are you vegetarian?' 'Do you hate flip-flops?'" "What Sternberg's research does," Coffin said, "is present more concrete opportunities to gauge [these other skills]. If we want to prompt a creative response, maybe we'll add a cartoon and have students provide a caption." While he was still at Yale, Sternberg was a member of a team that conducted the Rainbow Study, which devised tests of creative and practical thinking and tested them on students. The study found that using such tests doubled the accuracy of predictions of students' grades in college. It also reduced the gap between ethnic groups. The Rainbow Study showed that "you can admit a more diverse group of students and simultaneously increase academic excellence," Sternberg said. Many individuals ask about how expanding admissions criteria would affect Tufts' averages - such as the average SAT score for students - and school rankings - like those found in U.S. News & World Report, Coffin said. He said he does not expect these to be affected. "The analytical piece will still be there, and it won't change - it offers us important evidence about who can do the work," he said. "This will help us to sort the pool in different ways among students who are already academically qualified." Instead of changing the academic pool, he said, it would probably affect the way students approached the application. Along with changing admissions criteria, Sternberg wants to teach professors about the diverse styles of learning students have and how to best teach them. Sternberg would like to use the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise (PACE Center) - started by Sternberg at Yale but which will be relocated to Tufts in July 2006. Dr. Linda Jarvin will become deputy director of the new PACE center. She said the PACE Center had already done a great deal of teacher training work based on Sternberg's theory of successful intelligence. "We'd be thrilled to work with Tufts faculty to explain the methodology," she said. The PACE Center might hold "professional development seminars" or assist with curriculum development, explaining how professors can "tweak them to address a greater range of student abilities and styles." Jarvin said the PACE Center expects to "work very closely with other departments at Tufts - we've already started having meetings with colleagues in education, psychology, engineering and child development."

The Setonian
Arts

Don't call it a comeback

November 14

Rick Rubin had it easy producing Johnny Cash's last records. Even after making unremarkable albums for twenty years, he was still The Man in Black, a rock prototype. All Rubin had to do to bring Cash back into the mainstream musical landscape was put him in a room with a guitar and recommend a few songs to cover. Johnny Cash was just that cool. Neil Diamond is not cool. Over the past several decades he has become something of a joke, appreciated ironically by hipsters and with achingly earnest devotion by middle-aged women. Next to Fat Elvis, he is the definition of extravagance and kitsch. Even his last name is gaudy. Back in the '60s and early '70s, Diamond was a pop dynamo. After earning his stripes in the Brill Building, a Tin Pan Alley hit-producing studio, he set out on his own career, leading the singer-songwriter movement. As he developed a reputation as a charismatic live performer, his fan base expanded and he began his slow decent into easy listening. Rick Rubin, producer of minimal classics by artists ranging from LL Cool J to the aforementioned Cash, wondered where the spark of Diamond's earlier records had gone. Rubin lobbied him to record an album together, and Diamond agreed. The result is the acoustic-pop gem "12 Songs." The record kicks off with "Hey Mary," a quiet, gentle love song with a slightly repetitive chorus. It is followed by "Hell Yeah," a song that acknowledges the new direction the record is taking, while noting that this 'return to form' shouldn't detract from his other work. The record hits its stride with a run of stripped-down vintage Diamond classics. "Save Me a Saturday Night" is a classic pop ballad with hooks to kill. Even if Diamond's soft-spoken delivery over a xylophone melody and a great bass line almost make it a lullaby, it's the catchiest lullaby you'll ever hear. "Delirious Love," could be the long lost twin of "Sweet Caroline." There's a reason that "Sweet Caroline" will still be played in Fenway for years to come, long after everyone's forgotten about the Dropkick Murphy's annoying "Tessie" - it is a perfect pop song. "Delirious Love" is a worthy successor, building up slowly, generating giddy suspense before Neil belts out the chorus. A word to music downloaders - you are infinitely better off buying this album from iTunes; not only is the CD copy-protected with software that could potentially harm your computer, but on top of that, the iTunes version comes with a rendition of "Delirious Love" featuring Brian Wilson. Though the record flows perfectly and moves at a rapid pace, there are a few duds. "Create Me" is slightly self-important and its bravado borders on Andrew Lloyd Webber territory. "We" is a funny little love song, bouncing along to a plodding tuba and honky-tonk piano while Diamond sings about how love isn't about "you or me / love is all about we." It's goofy, hokey and nothing you'll remember. In the liner notes detailing the album's creation, Diamond says the songs, "are done so simply and truthfully that only the heart of them remained." The album succeeds based on this honesty. It isn't a record trying to convince hipsters that he can be appreciated in earnest; he still is sentimental and even bombastic at times. This is not, as it could have been, a Rick Rubin pet project, a chance for the producer to show how he could take the lame Diamond and make him cool and edgy. Rubin really did strip away excesses to get at the heart of the material, leaving only Diamond and the essence of 12 songs. Diamond has had a career spanning thirty years and even if he hasn't been trendy, he has entertained many people. When addressing the question of whether he is happy with his life's work, the answer is an emphatic "hell yeah." Diamond does not try to recreate the strikingly austere and mortality-obsessed atmosphere of Cash's final records. This is a Neil Diamond record; it is simultaneously catchy, cheesy, somber, and honest. But Cash and Diamond do have some things in common - Cash covered Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man" on his third record with Rubin. Both Cash and Diamond are solitary men in the world of pop music, Cash dressed in black on one side of the spectrum and Diamond in a white jumpsuit on the other. Both stand alone, unafraid to be pariahs and unashamed of their work- wait a minute, maybe Neil Diamond is cool after all.

The Setonian
News

Sara Franklin | Oh My!: Sex Straight Up

November 14

Sex in a committed relationship is always exciting, passionate, engaging and full of emotion, right? Well, if we're completely honest with ourselves, not so much. What happens when the honeymoon period ends in a relationship with someone you really care about, maybe even love? How do you admit to them, but more importantly to yourself, that something just doesn't feel right? Most of us see sex with a committed partner as an expression of affection and devotion to each other. But after a while, it can get monotonous and loses the spark, passion and spontaneity that once made it so wonderful. Often, when people are together for a long time, sex becomes an integral part of communication. We come to expect sex as part of our routine as a couple. But there's the rub. Sex should be anything and everything except routine. Let's face it, once you've learned what turns each other on and what gets each other off, you can practically time intercourse to the minute. So what can we do about it? Well, if it's truly a result of routine, try shaking things up a little bit. Coloring out of the lines can bring the excitement back into sex. This can mean having sex somewhere other than the bedroom (how about the floor, shower, or on the grass under the stars? I've even had really good experiences on the hood of a car and on hiking trails). How about a different time? If you're used to only nighttime sex, try enjoying each other at lunchtime or early in the morning (my personal favorite). How about the physical aspect? The same old kiss on the neck or method of undressing one another can become so predictable that you cease to feel your partner's hands and touch. Try adding new sensations, like drinking hot tea or sucking an ice cube before kissing or engaging in oral sex. Materials like silk, feathers, leather and cashmere can all be introduced into foreplay and sex in a plethora of ways, such as using them to caress each other (this is especially effective if one of you has his or her eyes closed or is blindfolded - not being able to see what is going on heightens sensations tremendously). Also, adding spontaneity into your sex life is really important. Try sending your partner a suggestive text message or IM next time you're feeling frisky; you may be surprised at how exciting it is to have sex that's completely unplanned. But what if the problem runs deeper than that? What if you've tried all that? Sex can become problematic when it becomes an obligation. I know I ran into this problem when I was dating my boyfriend long distance for a year. We only saw each other once a month and felt like every time we were together we had to go at it as much as we could. But it turned sex into a chore, and that took a real toll on both of us. We never discussed what kind of sex we wanted or whether we were really in the mood at all, it was just a mad rush towards the finish line over and over and, well, let's just say his neighbors weren't too pleased. But I always left my visits feeling unsatisfied. Finally, something clicked. One time when I went up, we abstained from sex entirely. We spent the weekend holding hands, talking, kissing and generally really paying each attention to each other's needs and wants. Because sex wasn't an option, we found other ways to renew our passion. And you know what? It really helped. Now, I'm not saying you have to abstain. Sex is great, and working toward fixing the root of the problem may mean more than taking some time off (but I do think it's worth a shot). My biggest suggestion is to talk. Sometimes you may not be in the mood for that passionate, romantic movie-style sex. Sometimes sex just needs to be sex, carnal and animalistic. Sometimes you may want it to be playful. Maybe you even want to experiment with Tantra and see how long you can hold out. Let's face it: that romantic dinner and cuddling in front of the fire (or electric heater - hey, this is college) may just not fit your mood. The more a date or event together is contrived, the more you feel constrained to have sex within the bounds of that mood. But all that planning can leave you feeling deadened and bored. Speak up! You may surprise yourself and your partner when you open up about what you and your body are really craving. Maybe your partner is feeling the same way, but even if he or she isn't, they'll probably be so eager to please you that they'll be more than willing to change their plans. I don't claim to be an expert on this topic. Dealing with stale sex can be really difficult and take some brutally honest self-reflection. But trust me, you're worth it. And once you've gotten to the root of the problem, your sex life is likely to rebound with a heightened energy and awareness that will lead to new experimentation, exploration, and intimacy that can bring the best sex you and your partner have ever had.Sara Franklin is a sophomore majoring in history. She can be reached via e-mail at Sara.Franklin@tufts.edu.

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