Photo: Kristin Lin/The Chicago Maroon

Nobel Peace Prize recipient and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel discusses his life philosophy with Institute of Politics director David Axelrod on Wednesday in Rockefeller Chapel.

The author of 57 books, Wiesel, 84, has spent his life speaking out against injustice and genocide all over the world. The Nobel Peace Prize committee called him “a messenger to mankind” for his work raising awareness of the Holocaust and other human rights violations.

Recalling Wiesel’s visit to Buchenwald with President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2009, Axelrod said that he asked Wiesel how he could stand side by side with German authorities.

“The children of murderers are not murderers,” Wiesel responded at the time.

“Once you start [hating], you never stop,” he said on Wednesday. “Hatred becomes self-hatred, ultimately.”

In his questions, Axelrod inquired into what enabled Wiesel to endure the camps and retain optimism in humanity despite the atrocities perpetrated against him.

“I tried to look at the other side,” Wiesel said, “But I don’t know what sustained me.”

In his introduction of Wiesel, third-year IOP student advisory council member Eric Wessan lauded the IOP’s aims of engaging students in “the ultimate human art of politics.”

But Wiesel did not seem to share this view, as he began one response to a political question by positing, “I don’t like politics.” In general, he focused his remarks on the moral obligation to speak out against injustice.

Wiesel urged students considering a career in politics to seek out human connections in their work. “We need ethos, ethical character,” he said of engagement in government. “Follow the question, ‘What do you present to the other?’ and you can’t go wrong.”

While Wiesel may not seem like an obvious choice to speak at an IOP event, Darren Reisberg, executive director of the IOP said, “One goal of ours is to elevate public discourse over partisan rancor, and we do more productive, solution-oriented discussions. And somebody like Elie Wiesel, in terms of how he’s carried out his life and higher mission, really fits nicely into the way we’d like to see our students approach the world and follow that path in terms of how one deals with others, attacks injustice, and the like.”

Fourth-year Dory Fox observed tension between Axelrod’s political focus versus Wiesel’s insistence on speaking in terms of morality during the talk.

“Yes, [Wiesel] is very outspoken about the need for action in situations of injustice, but he does not lay out political plans for statesmen to follow…. This could have been an interesting discussion of the way that morals fit into politics, but it seems to me like a lot of the evening was spinning wheels.”

Still, she found inspiration in Wiesel’s words.

“One thought that echoed in the discussion was the idea of ‘not being silent,’ of always asking, ‘Am I doing enough?’”

Amendments to the constitution and by-laws will be proposed by an ad hoc committee convened by the current SG executive slate. The seven-member committee—which includes fourth-year Lester Ang, current E&R chair, and third-year Michael McCown,  incoming SG president—met yesterday and will present its recommendations to the SG assembly next Thursday.

The committee was formed with a broad mandate: “thinking critically about any areas for improvement within SG’s governing documents,” SG president and third-year law student Renard Miller said. But McCown said the committee would mostly be focused on changes to E&R, which is tasked with supervising SG elections. He hopes the committee will “provide more guidance for E&R so that it’s not left…essentially on a year by year, case by case basis, re-evaluating situations.”

McCown said he believes E&R should have more of a structure to facilitate a delineated and consistent approach to problems that might arise in future elections.

“There were always rules that were broken during the election, or alleged rule-breaking, but part of the issue is that there was not sufficient guidance within the current by-laws to deal with the kinds of things that were happening,” he said. “My understanding was that [E&R] sort of needed to make up rules or responses on the fly about how they would deal with different perceived infractions. So essentially, the point of this committee is to potentially dramatically revamp that section of the SG constitution, and make it clearer and more agile, more prepared for an election like this in the future.”

Ang agreed that E&R needs more clarity and said he would propose amendments that would help candidates to be informed of campaign rules earlier and clarify rules on confidentiality.

“I think it would be better if candidates are informed earlier so they can better plan campaign strategies and be more thorough in ensuring that they’re running a clean campaign,” he said.

SG felt it necessary to make changes now because they wanted the amendments to be in place for first-year College Council elections in the fall, according to McCown.

Amendments to the constitution require passage by a two-thirds vote in the SG Assembly and a three-fifths vote by members of the student body to be ratified. Amendments to the by-laws only require a three-fifths vote of Assembly to be implemented. The constitution lays out the basic governing principles of Student Government, while the by-laws lay out specific rules for the different committees that make up SG.

Photo: Sarah Blauser

Renowned feminist and political activist Fadela Amara discusses the French law banning the burqa during a talk at International House on Thursday.

Amara began by relaying the history of banlieues, the working class neighborhoods that surround French cities. Originally diverse, composed of native French and immigrant populations fighting for the same social and labor issues, now many neighborhoods primarily house poor Muslim families. During this transition, few politicians took up the cause of improving the lives of residents, and their political alienation provided fertile ground for fundamentalist movements. This led to a surge in what Amara referred to as “more arcane traditions” —namely forced marriage, polygamy, circumcision, and violence against women.

It was around this time that Muslim girls and women began wearing the veil and the burqa. As the founder of the activist group Ni Putes Ni Soumises, translated as “Neither Whores nor Submissive,” and later as the Secretary of State for Urban Policies, Amara strongly supported the 2010 law that banned face coverings. Though the ban was overwhelmingly supported in France, with 70 percent in favor of it, it proved a controversial topic among some Muslims, feminists, and civil libertarians around the world.

During the question-and-answer portion, one first-year, a self-identified Muslim and feminist, adorned in a black headscarf, challenged Amara’s claims.

“I’m not oppressed,” she said. “How can you say you’re for women’s rights when you support a law that limits my rights as a woman?”

“For me, the veil is not a religious symbol,” Amara, who is a practicing Muslim, responded. “I’m within the school that thinks wearing the veil is a sign of oppression.” She called the religious symbolism of the veil a “historic lie,” arguing that the veil existed before the emergence of Islam.

“This is the eternal debate that we could have between you and your position and me and my position,” she said. “I respect you, but I might offend you.”

The talk was hosted by the University of Chicago French Club and moderated by Bernard Harcourt, a law professor and chair of the department of political science. Deborah Joyce translated for Amara.

Before the event, Amara sat down with the Maroon for an interview translated by second-year Eve Zuckerman, president of the University of Chicago French Club and a native French speaker.

Chicago Maroon: What progress have you seen since you founded “Neither Whores nor Submissive” in 2003, and how would you describe the current state of life in France for Muslim women?

Fadela Amra: Thanks to the “Neither Whores nor Submissive” movement, we were able to break the law of silence on subjects that were taboo at the time, such as forced marriage and female circumcision – different forms of oppression that women from the projects can undergo – and notably to denounce the presence of Islamic fundamentalists in these neighborhoods.

CM: You’re on campus to talk about the French ban on face covering, which has been enforced for over two years now. What, if any, changes have you seen in the situation of Muslim women in France since the ban?

FA: It has protected women who wanted to wear neither the veil nor the burqa. And it has allowed us to say to the men or boys, the Islamists who wanted to force these women, that the law banned it – they couldn’t force it. So it’s a law that protects women from the projects. And it’s a law that engages them in a process of emancipation and combat for equality between men and women.

You have to understand that even if you think that you’re touching upon individual freedoms – notably freedom of thought – in the neighborhoods, there’s a huge pressure coming from Islamic fundamentalists forcing women to wear the veil. For a very great majority of these women, it’s not a question of free choice. They don’t have the choice. You must understand that the veil today does not have a religious connotation, as such. For me, it is a tool of oppression towards women, but it has above all become the symbol, the flag, for a political project – a fascist political project in which democracy and rule of law do not exist.

Of course, the medicine can hurt, but I think that when you’re attacking cancer, you have to cut, with no qualms.

CM: How much is your activism inspired by your experiences growing up?

FA: Everything. I was raised in a family where there were differences in rights between the boys and the girls: boys had many more freedoms. But also because I was raised in sort of a shanty town, we were very much victims of discrimination and racism, notably in terms of employment. I grew up in this, I was surrounded by this, and this has produced anger against the system [in me]. That has been translated into political engagement – first against all forms of injustice, against racism, against discrimination, but above all, for feminist combat, for equality of rights between men and women.

CM: How do you respond to women who wore the burqa publically in order to protest the ban, insisting that it was their choice, not their husbands’, that they wear it, and arguing that the ban infringes on their liberties?

FA: Women who wear the burqa by choice do not exist. It’s very much linked to the context in which you live in these ghettos. There’s, on one side, the question of being conditioned by your education, the traditional roles that a woman has to play to get married and to be at the service of a man, and this message has been recaptured by the religious radicals who enforce the wearing of the burqa, keeping complete control over public and political space. The strategy of radical Islamists was to send in veiled women to force unveiled women to wear the burqa. And this is a real battle that has been going on for 15 years in France. And women who do not wear the veil, who were refusing to wear the veil, have been harassed and attacked, either verbally or physically – verbally by insulting them and calling them sluts, because for them, these are not women who are respectable…. So we decided to stop all of this. And to act in a way to protect the women who were resisting in these neighborhoods.

CM: You have called the veil “the visible symbol of the subjugation of women.” In 2010, UChicago Professor Martha Nussbaum wrote that such an argument used in favor of the ban is flawed, because there are other symbols of female objectification, like pornography and plastic surgery, which are not banned. To ban them, including the burqa, she said, would be “an intolerable invasion of liberty.” How would you respond to that?

FA: It sounds like a man speaking.

Translator: C’est une femme.

FA: C’est une femme?

Translator: Oui…. She takes it back; she thought it was a man.

FA: You can’t put on the same level pornography and the veil… In the end, [porn] does give a bad image of women, that’s a reality. So I do think you have to fight against the phenomenon of the pornographic movies. But nevertheless, and this is why I don’t think you should put it on the same level as the veil, it’s not through pornographic movies that you are going to confiscate women’s rights…. But the veil, that’s an immediate effect. A woman who wears the veil is dispossessed of her body. She is completely in the hands of male domination, of male power. And concretely this is translated into a life in a community that knows no diversity, and the guilty party is always the woman here, very simply because the veil has a castrating effect on one’s sex. And in the public sphere that we share with men, we are always asking women to hide their sex or attribute the characteristics of her sex, but you are forbidding her everything. You forbid her from having a normal life. You have to understand that this also translates into prohibitions into going to concerts, for example, or any other show because you have that mix of men and women in these situations. It’s the prohibition of a sexual life – you can’t have a sexual life. Or you can have a sex life following the choices of your husband. So she’s denied her own desires, her own wants. So we are in a real regression…. And so it follows that they can’t wear what they want. They can’t wear low-cut shirts; they can’t wear anything that might provoke desire in men. And the women who wear the burqa do not work, for many of them, except in jobs where they will only interact with women. Where’s the free choice?

CM: Since the ban was passed, do you think the issue of the burqa has been put to rest in France? If so, what changes are advocates for French Muslim women and “Neither Whores nor Submissive” fighting for now and what do you think they will continue to fight for in the future?

FA: [A] demand is to be able to practice your religion in a dignified and safe place, and a clean place. In France, in the past few years, there’s a real policy of creating places, rooms for prayer, for Muslims, but since we’re starting from nothing, we’re lacking many…. That’s why still today you can still find Muslims today praying outside on Friday.

The [second] demand of the majority of Muslims in France is that we stop stigmatizing them. And especially that we stop the confusion between Islam as a faith and Islam as a political project. And Muslims, especially those that are parents, just want their children to go study, to emancipate themselves, to find a job, a normal life. And a great majority of Muslims refuse the presence of Islamic fundamentalists, refuse the burqa and refuse the veil, the veil in schools. They are in favor of the respect of the law. But it’s true that to combat these fundamentalists, because we know them very well, we know their capacity to be dangerous, the silent majority that represent the Muslim community in France is often the first victim of Islamists because they have to undergo real pressure and what I call psychological terrorism. And these fundamentalists don’t hesitate to use both verbal violence and physical violence…. That’s why there are few of us denouncing them and speaking openly, out of fear, but what’s important is to continue to do it. We are not alone: we are with democratic forces and progressive forces, but we are also supported by the progressive and the secular forces in Arab countries. You can see that it’s not just a French problem. It’s an international problem.

According to first-year Ethan Stockwell, a member of the Pierce working group, administrators have narrowed the selection of architecture firms down to four, from the 24 that responded to the University’s call for design proposals.

“The four firms are all over the map. Some of them focus on modern architecture, and some on Gothic,” he said.

Second-year David Goldfeld, a member of the working group, said the decision will likely be based on the exterior layout. While Gothic may fit the traditional University of Chicago architecture, Stockwell said that, according to administrators, this style costs three times more than modern architecture.

The University aims to select the final design for the hall, currently called Campus North, by the end of June, with the possibility that a firm will be selected by finals week this quarter, according to first-year member Jonny Behrens.

Goldfeld said that once the University decides on the architect, it will finalize the interior layout of the building. They will consider suggestions made by students during focus groups held last spring and fall.

“The focus is on keeping the Pierce love of the house lounges and keeping this intact by having large, centralized house lounges, and making sure that [they are] an integral part of each house,” he said.

According to Goldfeld, the new dorm will house significantly more students than Pierce currently does by increasing the number of houses from four to eight, with 100 students in each. Currently, Pierce hosts 250 residents.

Administrators want upperclassmen to make up a significant portion of the students living in Campus North, hoping to attract them by adding apartment options, Stockwell said.

He said they also hope the new residence hall will serve as a “grand entrance” for the University.

“It will show to people coming from [the] north that the University is full of life…and offer upperclassmen a cool neighborhood to hang out in.”

As part of that grand entrance, the University is considering putting several shops in and around the Campus North area, according to Stockwell.

While no timetable has been released, the demolition of Pierce is set to begin in August.

The long inactive chapter received its official rechartering and recognition from Zeta Psi headquarters on May 11. The chapter, which was first established in 1864 as part of the Baptist-founded Old University of Chicago, was terminated with the closing of the school in 1887.

According to second-year Robin Greif, the president of the fraternity, the founders of Zeta Psi began meeting informally as friends in the middle of spring quarter last year and gained colonization status at the end of autumn quarter.

Currently, the 25 founders span first-, second-, and third-years in the College and come from a variety of academic and extracurricular backgrounds.

“There’s a very special character to what we try to bring. We’re not trying to bring people from one sports team, from one major; we don’t want to have just one thing. We’re trying to find people who are diverse, who are very unique. We want to have passionate people,” Greif said.

Second-year founding member Brendan Leonard said the fraternity was composed of “people who I didn’t necessarily associate with Greek life as it exists now,” which motivated him to join.

Leonard, who is the community service chair of the fraternity, also highlighted the community service orientation of Zeta Psi, citing in particular a multi-quarter involvement with the Southside Hub of Production, which has since closed.

“We made sure to develop really personal relationships with community members…. Especially in Greek life, there are community service programs, but not many of them focus on building ties with the community.”

Ultimately, Greif hopes that Zeta Psi will retain a lasting influence on campus.

“The best thing would be if we can manage for the fraternity to have a positive impact beyond when we are here, that when we pass on the leadership to the next generation, they will still be able to live by the ideals of combining academic and social life and fostering brotherhood and engaging with the community,” he said.

The natural antibody CH103 is able to neutralize multiple strains of HIV, making it a uniquely effective and adaptive virus killer. By examining the formation and evolution of the antibody in relation to the virus, scientists can better understand how to reproduce the antibody in a vaccine.

“HIV–1 is a master of disguise, and it is very difficult for the human immune system to make antibodies that effectively neutralize diverse HIV–1 isolates. “The CH103 antibody is pretty good as a neutralizer,” said Doctor Peter Kwong (A.B. ’85, S.M. ’85), who led Argonne’s efforts in the research. Kwong works in the Structural Biology section of the National Institute of Health’s Vaccine Research Center.

In order to conduct the study, the researchers acquired samples from an HIV–positive donor starting from the time of infection, allowing the group to obtain information about the progress of the virus and the evolution of the antibody.

Today, Kwong’s research group studies the conditions, on an atomic level, that trigger the creation of CH103 antibodies.

Understanding the development of the CH103 antibody is a significant first step toward developing an HIV vaccine, though the complete creation of a vaccine is probably years down the road.

Brinker does not address a single one of these points. In fact, he does not seem to have attended the event at all. If he did, he was not paying attention: From the very beginning of his article, he draws on clichéd arguments of colonialist discourse on sexuality and reproductive rights in order to justify the continued occupation of the Palestinian people.

If he had paid attention, he would have heard Sherry Wolf, a prominent activist in the BDS movement, discuss the hypocrisy of pointing out the lack of queer rights in Palestine while supporting the oppression of all Palestinians. How exactly does Brinker propose that Palestinians engage in democratic and open discussions under the oppressive structure of occupation? Why hasn’t Israel ever welcomed a single queer or female Palestinian into the state to protect her rights if it is so concerned about them? He also might have heard about the great number of queer activists engaged in the BDS campaign, who have spent too much time debunking these types of deflective arguments.

However, Brinker is right to say we should put everything in its historical context. His arguments are not new and are in fact quite old. They are firmly rooted in centuries-old colonialist discourses that posit the uncivilized nature of the colonized as justification for their oppression. Whether it was the French civilizing mission, the British white man’s burden, or the white South African appeal to common heritage with the West, the forms of these arguments have always been the same.

BDS is in turn firmly rooted in a tradition of nonviolent resistance against oppressive or destructive systems, whether it be in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the anti-apartheid movement, the Delano grape strike, or the current divestment campaign against fossil fuel companies. Reality is quite opposed to Brinker’s assertion: We are deeply invested in history.

—Students for Justice in Palestine

Let me preface this letter by acknowledging your many improvements and successes (UChicago Careers in Business and the other UCI programs, a record amount of Metcalfs, etc.) and the fact that there is much potential in what your organization is capable of achieving. The latter reality is what makes the current state of affairs between students and Career Advancement (CA) so frustrating. In this letter, I hope to convey my insights about various issues surrounding CA and offer potential changes. These are insights that I have gleaned as an undergraduate student worker; they are thus limited.

1) There is a lack of cohesion in CA’s mission.

One of the most important things an organization needs is a strong mission statement that should guide its actions. The end of the “About” section of your Web site reads, “Our goal at Career Advancement is to help University of Chicago students and alumni achieve theirs.” While a broad mission statement is important in keeping the flexibility of an organization to adapt and grow, it is equally important to keep a mission statement focused enough that the organization can prioritize goals and actions.

Right now, CA is all over the place. There is an Employer Relations and Development team that works solely with employers, a general advising team that works purely with students, people who work within the respective University Careers In (UCI) programs, people who are liaisons to alumni, Admissions, and other university departments. All of these people serve valuable functions, and I understand that our school is diverse in terms of networks and interests. However, I worry that your staff has become so compartmentalized that it forgets your central mission: to connect and guide students to opportunities they want. If you bring on 50 new banks as employers and you have three students who want to work at an aquarium, you are not fulfilling the central mission of connecting students to opportunities that they want.

2) There is a disconnect between CA and students

Simply put, there are two nodes you must think about: the student and the opportunity.

Now, I understand that a large part of CA is helping students figure out a starting point, and having a vast array of employers is helpful in demonstrating what is possible and available.

However, learning more about the students plays an equally critical part in helping students figure out their career paths. For example, Hack@UChicago currently handles all the technical recruiting on campus because there is no one at CA with the technical computer skills to liaise for them. If you don’t take the time to learn about and work with students, it ends up being a lose-lose situation: You get frustrated that employers aren’t hiring students, and students get frustrated that you aren’t helping them find opportunities they want.

3) Recent adjustments have been minor or ineffective.

This summer, there was an overhaul of your brand. Gone is the Career Advising and Planning Services name. Chicago Careers In… became UChicago Careers In. Your Web site changed. Considering these changes, I hoped that I might find a brand new organization, as the overhaul suggested. Instead, you got a face-lift when you really needed a heart transplant.

While the new Web site looks nicer, the Chicago Career Connection (CCC) Web site, where all the jobs and internships are listed, is as broken as ever. The new features added to the CA site did not add any significant functionality. I would rather have CCC look like Craigslist—which is extremely functional, albeit ugly—than be sleekly designed but dysfunctional. We have many students who have the skills to build a perfectly functional CCC—take advantage of that! I guarantee that if you paid a couple students the amount you pay Symplicity, CCC would be fine.

4) CA has a poor organizational culture.

The high turnover rate among CA personnel does not bode well for an organization. Few CA advisors from my first year are still here, and that has serious consequences for students, for whom continuity and working relationships with career advisors can be the difference between finding the right career path and fighting unemployment. And the effects of this turnover can be felt across the CA spectrum—that is, it doesn’t just damage relationships between students and full-time employees. Take the Career Peer Advisor (CPA) program for example. It has been around for three years, which should be more than enough time to establish itself. Instead, it has been punted around as a program for the newest hire to take care of, and CPAs regularly vacillate between being endorsed as part of CA to being unpaid errand boys (and girls).

There are some solutions to the problems I’ve enumerated here. First: Self-awareness is crucial for improvement. It is important that you understand your unique place in the University—as the office in charge of guiding several thousand students closer to their career goals and futures—and maintain such a vision in your mission statement. If there is a strong and clear mission statement that permeates an organization, then the organization at large will naturally follow through.

In conclusion, CA is an organization that has lots of potential, but is scrambling to get its act together. A strong mission statement and clear prioritization would be a great start to revitalizing Career Advancement into an effective, integral part of college life here at the University of Chicago.

Alice Li is a fourth-year in the College majoring in economics.

That state is Israel.

Admittedly, I can only speak for myself when I write this. I am an openly gay man, a practicing Conservative Jew, and the son of an Israeli mother. I am against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement; I support two states, side by side. Israel does hold a certain place in my heart, but I think that, at the very least, I should point out that Luke Brinker’s analysis is dangerously flawed.

I will acknowledge that Israel, compared to the rest of the world, does fairly well on the spectrum of LGBTQ rights, as well as in other areas of rights that Brinker enumerates. For LGBTQ persons in Israel, there exist rights to adoption and quite stellar protections. And what happens far too often to LGBTQ folk in the Palestinian territories is not exactly savory.

But that doesn’t undo the horror of the occupation. No amount of pride parades and rainbow condoms will undo the fact that, 50 miles away, Palestinian villagers are kicked out of their ancestral home when, on a whim, it’s deemed an Israeli Defense Force “firing zone.”

For many in the LGBTQ community, oppression is a daily reality whether we are forced to hide our lives or we face grievous harm for living them. That bias and the knowledge thereof is never far from our minds, even for those like myself and many others on this campus who are lucky enough to live in environments where we are affirmed and supported.

I feel that both the LGBTQ community and its allies—who may well be sympathetic to others’ experiences with oppression—could do better than blindly side with our “supporters” no matter what. Should we not use our own memory and compassion to advocate for and support those who also face injustice? Shouldn’t they serve to motivate us to support a struggle for basic human rights, for recognition, for a right for Palestinians to live how and where they choose? Should we, based on one plane of rights, really turn away from advocating for another plane of rights?

Tzedek tzedek tirdof: “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” we are told by the Torah in Deuteronomy. I believe that this timeless command of the Holy Scripture commands us—not as LGBTQ people or as Jews, but as compassionate humans—to never stop in the pursuit of said justice. As fervently as we seek to advance justice for ourselves, we must also seek to advance justice for others.

As LGBTQ people, this does not mean simply internalizing our sense of oppression, but also enlivening it, allowing it to serve a purpose beyond ourselves and to foment advocacy for all those stamped down. As Jews, this means that our chesed—grace—ought not to be confined to the Jewish community; rather, we are told by scripture to work beyond our borders to achieve that command of tikkun olam—repairing the world. Repairing a world in which a child in the West Bank might die because the roadblock won’t let her ambulance through—a world in which a family’s generations-old olive grove could be burned down and declared the property of someone from far away who only arrived six months ago.

The Talmud reminds us that it was not Romans alone who destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E., but indirectly the sinat chinam—senseless hatred and lack of justice—of Jews themselves that ultimately brought destruction. Should such reactions, such sinat chinam, follow from our command toward justice—as queers, Jews, both, or neither? I think not.

What I want to say is this: Yes, as people who support the rainbow spectrum, we should honor Israel for what it has done. But that does not mean in the slightest that we should use this to whitewash—or, dare I say, “pinkwash”—what happens in the occupied territories. Rather, merely from our sense of obligation as human beings—as members of a species that should share in our collective burden of past oppression—we should be able to criticize Israel and to say unequivocally, “This occupation must stop.”

Jonathan Katz is a third-year in the College majoring in history and geography. 

The most beautiful woman in the room stands near the corner. She is not, like most of the others, in full flamenco regalia—the dress with its many ruffles, the gigantic flower blooming from the side of the head. She is in jeans and a T-shirt. But she dances beautifully, hands and arms following the twists of her body in a single fluid motion. Everyone else on the dance floor does the same, weaving backward and forward, left and right, every step in perfect synchrony.

It looks choreographed. But this is the Feria de Abril. The dancers aren’t professionals, but migrants from southern Spain who grew up learning the steps. For one week in the springtime, they set up tents in Barcelona, recreating the festivals of Seville and Granada in a fairground by the sea.

It feels like a time out of time. The stomps of feet on wooden floors resound from every direction. Sherry fills and refills each cup.  Middle-aged couples stroll the grounds, transformed in elegant outfits saved just for the occasion. For a few hours, the constant grind of la crisis seems to recede.

But flamenco does not lend itself to idealism. It groans. It keens. Often, the singer’s voice appears on the verge of breaking. If the immediate concerns of the moment disappear as you listen and watch, it’s only because, at its best, it takes you deeper and darker, to a place that’s at once profoundly sad and immensely reaffirming. Immensely human. It’s wine-thick with a bittersweet longing, a sense of loss that you’ve felt before but can’t quite name.

…como corre la lluvia del cristal…

I’ve grown to relish the opportunity to walk home alone, drunk, late at night through the alleys of the old part of the city. If I’m lucky, I come across a plaza, empty except for a guitarist. It’s 2 a.m. and he can’t possibly be looking for tips—just the lonely sound of the instrument, bouncing back to him off the freshly washed pavement.

…como camina el río hacia la mar…

Munich. “Duende,” my friend explains, illuminated in the dark bar by the light of his phone. He is reading the definition. It is art’s dark accomplice: the thing that strikes you deeply, sending chills crawling up your spine. It is authentic. Earthy. Death feels always present.

Lorca quotes a master of the guitar. “‘The duende is not in the throat: The duende surges up, inside, from the soles of the feet.’ Meaning, it’s not a question of skill, but of a style that’s truly alive: meaning, it’s in the veins: meaning, it’s of the most ancient culture of immediate creation.”

We trade examples back and forth. The blues. Goethe. Post-coital depression.

…lorei lorei loreilo…

Two days later, sitting on a train, I want to write something. I don’t even know what. Just to get everything banging on the inside of my skull onto paper and then to sleep for a very long time.

An American couple boards at the same station, sits next to me, and strikes up a conversation. They’re far too chipper. Isn’t Europe awesome? Isn’t the size of beer mugs here hilarious? Don’t I love all the clubs in Barcelona?

My answers get shorter and shorter and I can’t understand why they want to talk about entrance fees to Razzmatazz here and now. It takes 35 minutes to get from Dachau back into Munich. I wonder if the tracks we ride on were the same used to transport prisoners to the concentration camp. When I get off the train, I don’t much feel like writing anymore.

My mother calls. I rush to wrap up the conversation. I don’t want to talk about how your business is doing poorly, I don’t want to talk about how I’m doing post–break-up, I don’t want to talk about how badly we both miss grandpa, I love you, good-bye.

The line goes dead and I am immediately angry with myself for being so distant.

…Repicando campanadas…

For the first time I can remember, I have vivid dreams, at least weekly. Most are tinged with an extravagant Spanishness that makes me worry my subconscious is terribly cliché.

I am harvesting olives in the hot sun.

I am being led to a firing squad for a crime I didn’t commit.

A monk lies dying in his cell. There’s a cut on his arm, from which trickles a thin line of holy water. My mind renders the scene in the dark colors of Goya’s last paintings, the ones he made in the House of the Deaf Man, fearing insanity, waiting for death.

… la torre de las campanas…

I make a million plans for the summer. I am going to teach myself how to draw. I am going to learn how to play the guitar. I will pick up sticks and a knife, become a skilled whittler. I have made such promises before. As if the problem of expressing oneself fully, meaningfully, is a question of format and not of content.

As if frustration is to be overcome.

…y un rayo de sol alumbra…

“Seeking the duende,” Lorca writes, “there is neither map nor discipline. We only know it burns the blood like powdered glass, that it exhausts, rejects all the sweet geometry we understand.”

He uses the word “struggle” six times in that lecture.

…la cárcel de la mañana…

I leave here in a week. I am less at peace—not more. If I know myself better, it’s only to the extent that I’m more aware than ever that I don’t know myself very well.

I alternate between feeling excited, creative, energetic and overwhelmed, worthless, shallow. I can’t decide from one moment to the next if this is a moment of possibility or hopelessness.

I am lost—terribly, terrifically. Though I wouldn’t say I’m even close to miserable, I can’t say I’m happy either.

But there is this: I find myself, just a little more than when I arrived, open to that darkness woven deep in the flamenco. The uncertainty. The despair. The steadfast refusal to turn away.

And I’m willing: There’s a certain strange joy there too. Its truths don’t feel uniformly comforting, or pleasant, or easy. They are almost always the opposite—it is a struggle.

But it does feel like living.

…y aguruuguuu aguruguuuu aguruuguuuuuuaaaa…

David Kaner is a third-year in the College majoring in Law, Letters, and Society.

It makes sense that the B.A. is stressful for many students. Often conducting original research for the first time, a student writing a B.A. must come up with an appropriate research question, figure out what methodology is appropriate, collect data, analyze that data, and produce a polished piece. Many of these elements can be difficult or mysterious without previous experience. And for those who want to go on to academic careers, the B.A. is the most likely candidate for a writing sample, and thus of great importance for the future.

Writing a B.A. is a great opportunity to learn new skills, figure out whether you enjoy doing research, and create a piece of writing that represents what you have learned over the course of college. However, many once-enthusiastic students end up beset by difficulties and stresses that weaken or negate these benefits—difficulties that are not even inherent to the project. Rather, many problems are caused by a lack of departmental organization, unclear guidelines, or detached advisors. If departments invest in more organized and structured B.A. paper processes for their students, the quality of student work will improve, and students can avoid surplus stress.

I am fortunate to be a part of the sociology department, which has a very explicit set of expectations and a pre-determined schedule for its students. We start the B.A. seminar in the spring of our third year, have the summer to collect data, and then pick the seminar back up in the fall and winter. For sociology majors, such a structure is necessary because the B.A. is a requirement. Students who do not complete one cannot graduate—and that’s a headache that the department cannot afford to have.

Departments for which a B.A. is not required may only want students capable of self-motivation and pacing to write B.A. papers. But not all departments may need to have a system as highly structured as the one in place for sociology majors. For one thing, this level of rigidity forces people to make progress, but it isn’t flexible enough to allow for an individual to meet all of her needs, and it requires a lot of effort on the part of seminar preceptors. Moreover, even the best students are bound to run into pitfalls, and they are unlikely to know what those pitfalls will be from the start.

Now that I’ve almost completed the first quarter of my senior seminar (which misleadingly occurs in the third year), I think that the following elements are the most important in ensuring student success:

1. Having the B.A. process start the school year before the B.A. is written makes sense for many reasons. It provides students with time to do research that does not coincide with school, allowing them to tackle a wider variety of projects because they could do research somewhere outside of Chicago and devote a greater amount of time to it. The extra time also provides a cushion in the event of unforeseen problems such as a change of topic, inaccessibility of data, or issues with advisors.

2. Expectations and deadlines should be set by the advisor at the beginning of the process, both for the student and for the advisor. If deadlines are set in advance, then the student who attempts to write her 50-page B.A. over the course of a weekend has no one to blame but herself.

3. Departments should make sure that their students have a background in appropriate methodology before the start of the B.A. process. For example, having a list of several recommended courses for those who want to write a B.A. would be useful. Though I have taken the methodology course required by my department, I still do not feel sufficiently prepared.

These steps would go a long way towards making the B.A. a more manageable and rewarding endeavor. A certain amount of frustration is inherent in research, but it should only be expected up to a point. Like any skill, knowing how to research is not innate. Students will feel more comfortable and produce higher quality original work if their first forays into the process are more structured. After all, when throwing someone in the water to teach her to swim, a few tips on how to stay afloat could prevent her from drowning.

Maya Fraser is a third-year in the College majoring in sociology.

Argument is my first defense and each word a link in its chain mail, so I sat down in Harper to find a vocabulary. I knew that I had to be careful: The cost of crying wolf here was not my credibility, but the credibility of others who have suffered far worse. Straightaway, my Googling made clear that “sexual harassment” was no good—although it sounded appropriately mild, its definition implied a workplace or some institutional structure, neither of which applied to a fair in the middle of the Main Quads. Warily, I shifted strategies. Ever the destination for the impatient and confused, the great Wikipedia preached thus: “Sexual assault is any involuntary sexual act in which a person is threatened, coerced, or forced to engage against their will, or any sexual touching of a person who has not consented.”

Now, that fit, but it wasn’t what I wanted. What I wanted was a way to avoid having to say later “No, not like that—not that bad” about something that had deeply disturbed me, and those words would have had to follow if I’d chosen to call what happened to me “sexual assault.” I had “grope” at my disposal—and I’ve disposed of it above—but it’s a playful word, an only occasionally pejorative word. It turned out (not very much to my surprise) that there isn’t really a non-colloquial term for an intrusive hand. The word choice, then, was a choice between appearing to trivialize a violation of my body or appearing extreme, presumptive, and out of line.

So I was sexually assaulted at Wellapalooza. I’m still trying to toe the line between maintaining polite conversation and swaying into silence, the way silt settles to the bottom of still water. I mentioned it, for example, to someone I met in the laundry room, as though it were a difficult problem set. “Yeah, man, it sucked,” I said as I heaved a pile of dripping, fragrant cloth across the aisle to a second-level dryer. It all comes down to the question of how a thing becomes trivial, and whether or not I have the power to make it so by reducing it to fodder for casual conversation, or by making it the subject of an op-ed.

I guess what I would rather risk is cheapness. I guess I would rather speak than know that I didn’t. Perhaps this is what selfishness looks like at its bony heart. Perhaps making others uncomfortable isn’t supposed to come easily to anyone.

It all comes down to the question of respectability, and how we mobilize a fact of the past in the world as we move. Or how, otherwise, we let it lie.

I’ve been watering the soil in the plastic flowerpot. It has become apparent now that some seeds must have stuck to the soil; seven or eight little green threads have splintered their way through the dirt. It’s disappointing, the little I have to tell you compared to the volume of what I could say. There I was. It was a sunny day; I wore a sundress because it was sunny. There are people in this world who, like me, enjoy indulging in things that they believe are up for the taking. I took a plant; someone took of my body. We happened to have disparate understandings of what was free.

The untitled things are the things that fade, unless we revive them ourselves. But that can only be done so long and to so much of a degree. Everyone, including me, has too much living to do. I told a certain trusted confidant later, privately, that I felt unsafe on our campus. I don’t feel unsafe anymore. I feel wiser about something I already knew: There are strange forces that bind the object of a wrong with no name, and stranger forces that bind one whose reaction is disproportionate to the potency of the vocabulary available to her.

Progress rests, sometimes gently and sometimes firmly, on forgetfulness. But forgetting this thing in particular seems capitulatory, so I’m struggling. I’m struggling in a laundry room, in quiet places, during chance encounters. I fish around. I test the waters and the viability of these paltry dictionary words with stale circumlocution and a tentative combination of hope and shame. The waters are cold, and lukewarm, and cold again.

Emma Thurber Stone is a second-year in the College majoring in anthropology and gender and sexuality studies. 

To communicate the temporary elimination of a major transportation resource, a Transportation and Parking spokesperson said the department has added reminder messages to the bottom of TransLoc display screens, distributed CTA brochures in “high traffic” areas on campus, and posted an announcement on its Web site with alternate transportation options and a link to a project description on the CTA Web site. While these are good first steps, they do not do enough to inform students who do not actively seek out these resources.

The University has a responsibility to directly inform students of large-scale transportation changes like the Red Line South Reconstruction Project not only for their convenience, but also so that they can better understand the city in which they live. Although the University is in many ways its own community, the Red Line closure, one of the nation’s biggest transportation disruptions in nearly two decades, is relevant to all students as Chicago residents, regardless of how often they decide to get out of Hyde Park. This is particularly important for students that will remain here during the upcoming summer: They may have to commute downtown, or could perhaps have their best opportunity to explore Chicago so far.

The University can work toward overcoming its “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude toward exploring and engaging with Chicago during the period that the Red Line is closed. Beyond providing CTA maps and explanations of the project, Transportation and Parking could partner with the Department of Civic Engagement to help students understand how the Red Line closings will impact the South Side of the city. Student Government and its Community and Government Liaison can play a crucial role in facilitating collaboration between departments like Civic Engagement, Transportation and Parking, and the Office of Undergraduate Student Housing to provide resources for students to explore neighborhoods not serviced by the Red Line. Ensuring that students know that they too are affected by changes like the Red Line closure is important for the larger aim of integrating them into the city of Chicago.

The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.

Photo: Courtesy of Michael Brosilow-Court Theatre

Célimène (Grace Gealey) and Alceste (Erik Hellman) have a moment in Court Theatre's The Misanthrope.

Meet Alceste (Erik Hellman), a rich member of the nobility who hates flattery, gossip, and insincerity above all things. Unfortunately for him, he’s in love with the coquettish Célimène (Grace Gealey), who is hugely popular and hosts all sorts of men and women at her home—and engages in precisely the flattery, insincerity, and catty gossip that Alceste despises. Meanwhile, his poor heart is constantly played as Célimène entertains all sorts of other lovers, such as the would-be sonneteer Oronte (A.C. Smith), and avoids giving him a straight answer when he asks her to be devoted to him alone.

Alceste has already gotten himself into trouble by refusing to praise Oronte’s attempts at a sonnet to Célimène, calling it all sorts of trash and generally tearing Oronte’s self-esteem to pieces. His foil, the socially sagacious Philinte (Kamal Bolden), urges him to be a little more diplomatic, but Alceste sticks firm to his principles. Hellman pulls off the character with admirable finesse, switching between self-righteous, pompous speeches to quavering tears at Célimène’s feet in seconds. Meanwhile, there’s a bevy of other men in love with Célimène, plus women fawning over the untouchable Alceste, as well as love triangles, court intrigue, and politics galore.

The Misanthrope has an almost completely African-American cast, with the exception of Hellman and Gealey. This was a decision director Charles Newell and the other producers of the Molière Festival made in order to look at the play from what they feel is a deliberately new perspective; for the most part, these have been white-dominated parts in the past. Hellman, then, stands out particularly amongst his court. The theme of fresh perspectives is also followed with Célimène’s so-called friend, a supposedly prudish woman named Arsinoé, played by a man, Allen Gilmore.

The acting in the entire production is completely on point, and Wilbur’s translation of the centuries-old Molière play is delivered in rhymes that sound neither stilted nor forced. Modern speech patterns make it all much easier to follow, helped along by plenty of jokes that keep the audience laughing. The costuming and staging are beautiful, too; with the Court Theatre’s traditional minimalism, the entire setting of the play centers around one set—a lavish bedroom, with all the characters in exaggeratedly opulent rich black robes and dresses with showers of gold ornamentation.

The music, too, fits in perfectly with this production, which attempts to straddle both centuries past and the current era by mixing traditional court-style harpsichords and tunes with modern beats and electric remixes. This, in addition to the casting decisions and the modern translation by Richard Wilbur, propel The Misanthrope, written in the age of the Sun King and Versailles, into a setting that’s at once historical and contemporary, emphasizing the universality of the social critique launched by the play. It’s not just Molière’s age that was false and insincere; it’s an enduring trait of human nature to be dishonest.

Yet despite the serious subject matter, the play is by no means heavy. Just look at Allen Gilmore, pulling back the hem of his dress to reveal his leg, clad in seductively feminine black hose, as (s)he tries to seduce Alceste, or Alceste’s immediate caving to Célimène’s anger, familiar to any henpecked husband, which makes the audience break out in giggles. No matter how dark Molière’s critique is, however, it’s the comedic aspects of his satire—rivalry between lovers, puffed-up courtiers, unrequited love, and the levels to which these courtiers stoop to snipe, insult, and ruin one another—that keep the audience entertained.

The Misanthrope will be at Court Theatre through June 9.

Photo: Courtesy of Columbia Records

From left: Michael Caine, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Caitriona Balfe, and Woody Harrelson share an uncomfortable moment in a private jet.

The film shines with phenomenal performances by its lead actors. Jesse Eisenberg is as smart and witty as ever; Isla Fisher is cute and fierce; Woody Harrelson, mean and frank; and Dave Franco, adorable and bursting with star potential. And everyone probably agrees that little to nothing can go wrong when Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are on the team.

Mark Ruffalo (aka the Hulk) is incredible as the FBI agent who chases a band of bank-robbing magicians, trailing them closely, but of course, always one step behind the game. His love interest, played by the Inglourious Basterds heroine Mélanie Laurent, is a French Interpol agent who partnered up with Ruffalo as a detective. Their clashing personalities spark on screen, adding a dash of romance to this surprisingly action-heavy picture. I would have to argue, however, that the love-hate relationship between Eisenberg and Fisher is much more compelling, so much so that it overshadows what should be the film’s central love story.

It’s not as though there are only a few movies centered on magicians, and it is easy to compare Now You See Me to other films of this genre. While it is similar to The Illusionist (2006) and The Prestige (2006), these two acclaimed magic movies hover under a dark fog with a little more fantasy and deeply grim plots. By contrast, Leterrier’s film stays in the light without the overwhelming emotional gravity—it remains sprightly, fun.

At times, this movie also reminded me of the Ocean’s series; it tends to be light and witty, with great actors, great lines, and a few great robberies. What the Ocean’s trilogy does not have, however, is cinematographer Larry Fong’s arresting visuals of Las Vegas magic shows and heart-racing car chase sequences.

The term “trendy” is suitable here. Now You See Me has what a modern, of-the-moment audience wants in a movie: First, it has the wits. Casting Eisenberg was a master stroke—every line he utters seems to speak from a place of intelligence. Wisdom radiates from his facial features. Most of the screenplay is smart and well-thought-out as well.

The film also has the requisite hyper-polished, glossy look modern audiences demand of their blockbuster entertainment. This visual style renders the magic, or so-called “misdirection,” as it’s oddly termed in the movie, believable and authentic. Whether the magic is simply a conglomeration of misdirection or not, it seems almost supernatural and makes the viewer want to believe in it.

Last, and most important of all, is the action. As unexpected as they are, the action scenes are delightful and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. These moments of sleek action are modern and like other energetic blockbusters. And who doesn’t love a good thrill from cars tossing and crashing on a highway?

If there is one thing lacking in the film, it is that the ending could have been more powerful. Yes, there is a plot twist, and yes, it is unforeseen, but I can’t quite determine for myself if it is unexpected in a good way. However, considering that movies centered on magic usually have difficulty maintaining accountability for the inner workings of the plot, this one deserves credit for at least making sense of the complicated plot for the viewers.

While the movie is not perfect, the overall presentation is certainly enjoyable. It has a great mixture of a sensible plot, solid visuals, romance, action, and mystery—all of which combine to a good amount of fun and thrill. For those who are looking for good, lighthearted entertainment, this film will serve well.

Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier, will be at AMC River East starting May 31.

Photo: Courtesy of Summit Entertainment

Daft Punk has always been an exciting and slightly mysterious band to follow. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, the pair behind it all, try to keep their faces hidden even at social events by showing up wearing their trademark funky robot masks. Although they categorize themselves as an electronic/house band, their music has always been unpredictable. It is this mystery that allows audiences to appreciate their unique take on the electronic genre every time, be it with their hit “Da Funk” on their debut album or with their latest single, “Get Lucky,” from Random Access Memories.

Time has been good to Daft Punk; their latest is by far the most original work the band has produced. And this says quite a lot about the album, since Daft Punk was never close to being conventional in the first place. While their first three albums were very EDM-heavy, Daft Punk critically reduced the number of electronic instruments used here. It seems that they limited their tools to modular synthesizer and drum machines. To replace their usual heavy electronic sounds, the duo recruited musicians to record live instrumentation in studios. For instance, the song “Within” features Chilly Gonzales on the piano, and it has very few additional instruments.

Apart from Chilly Gonzales, the album features Panda Bear, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, and Giorgio Moroder (whose track collaboration consists of a narrative on the subject of the beginning of his musical career). This narrative exploration of the 1970s music scene, along with the variety of repurposed sounds, makes it clear that the album aims to pay tribute to a bygone era. A thematic thread of disco and soft-rock runs through, compounding the throwback. Even the album’s title presents the duo’s desire to pay tribute to the past—which they do, creatively and originally.

Despite its being an undeniably creative album, it is hard to call Random Access Memories flawless. The song “Motherboard,” for instance, is nothing special. The beat and the rhythm of the synth make it sound a little too much like Woodkid, and not at all like a unique piece by the experimental duo. Other songs, like “Instant Crush” and “Beyond,” don’t make a huge impression at first, but it is possible to appreciate them within the album’s broader themes. Nevertheless, the energetic beat of “Get Lucky” will most likely become a dance floor favorite this upcoming summer, while “Lose Yourself to Dance” and “Doin’ it Right,” with their modern disco groove and calmer take on EDM, will become essential to the ultimate beach soundtrack.

Although the vocals are at times performed by popular and acclaimed artists such as Pharrell, they are by far not the most important aspect of the songs. It is the scheme behind the voice, the rhythm, the groove, that makes this album so memorable. The ingenuity behind it all speaks louder than the vocals ever could. It should also be mentioned that the album began as a great promotional venture. The band created a web series featuring all their various collaborators to build up hype. In short, this album was definitely not an easy undertaking, but Daft Punk succeeded. If you are curious to explore a contemporary take on disco music, or if you just want listen to an original album, Random Access Memories is a must.

Photo: Courtesy of Dave Hilbert

Even though second-year Deepak Sabada lost his first-round match at the NCAA Men’s Individual Championships, the Maroons will benefit in the long run.

Trinity University’s Aaron Skinner, also a second-year, defeated Sabada 3–6, 6–1, 6–0 yesterday in Kalamazoo, MI.

“I thought I competed well,” Sabada said. “The score doesn’t reflect it, but I had chances to win the second set but let them slip away a bit.”

After unseeded Sabada commanded and won the first set 6–3 in the round of 32, No. 8-seeded Skinner figured him out.

“I served extremely well in the first set and that propelled me into winning the first set,” Sabada said. “At the beginning of the second set I had opportunities to go up 3–0 but didn’t convert my opportunities and instead went down 3–0. That gave him a lot of confidence for the rest of the match and he ran away with it a bit from there.”

Playing No. 1 singles for the Maroons this season, Sabada entered the NCAA Championships match ranked No. 4 in the Central Region with a 15–5 record.

This young Chicago team ended the season with a 14–5 record—not a bad finish for a squad boasting a starting lineup dominated by underclassmen. In addition, the South Siders are only losing one fourth-year in Harrison Abrams (No. 6 singles).

That being said, the Maroons will have most of their firepower returning next season, and Sabada merely competing at NCAAs will not only give him more experience, but he will also be better equipped to lead the team even more so than this year.

“Deepak was definitely a team leader,” second-year Ankur Bhargava said. “He was quiet in his actions, but the team followed him. Everybody on our team looked up to him as he was by far our best player.”

On top of No. 1 singles, Sabada led the doubles charge for Chicago, competing on the No. 1 court alongside third-year Krishna Ravella for most of the season.

“Playing doubles with Deepak this year was great,” Ravella said. “It’s always nice to have a partner that you’re entirely confident in to make any shot in the book at any given time during a match, and Deepak was definitely that type of partner.”

Sabada and Ravella concluded the spring with a record of 8–4 together.

At the UAAs a few weeks ago, the South Siders fell in their first match but regained their balance to win the next two, finishing at fifth place in the conference. They will definitely have a good shot at the top four next year.

“I’m really excited for next season,” Bhargava said. “We have a strong recruiting class coming in who will hopefully bring a lot of energy and charisma to the team. We are losing a great senior [Abrams], but hopefully we’ll still be a strong team.”

At times, Chicago played far better than the fifth-best team in the conference, too. From February 16 to March 28, they won 10 straight matches. No. 30 Chicago also played No. 10 Wash U tough on April 13, losing 6–3.

“We played Wash U extremely close this year and could have won the match, and they made the semis of NCAAs,” Sabada said. “We are losing some key parts but I feel with the talent we have and the talent coming in we will be able to achieve our goals next year.”

Sabada and the Maroons will enter next season with confidence, hoping to make the tournament just like their top player did this season.

“I’m hoping [for us to] excel even more than this year and boost our way into the NCAA tournament at the end of the year,” Bhargava said.

Photo: Courtesy of Hans Glick

Fourth-year Julia Sizek gained All-American status in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships this past Thursday.

That race will be Sizek’s second of the NCAA tournament after an impressive fourth place finish in the 10,000m last night. Sizek finished in a time of 35:54.67, just under 10 seconds behind the winner, Calvin’s Nicole Michmerhuizen.

The race was a slow one compared to the qualifying times of the competitors (Michmerhuizen has raced a 34:09.96 this year, and Sizek only improved her season’s best by around three tenths of a second). But Sizek will care little, as she secured All-American honors in outdoor track and field for the first time in her career. This result will come as vindication, too, after the fourth-year missed out on an All-American spot in the same event last year.

Make no mistake, this is an achievement to be very proud of for Sizek, but, such is her professionalism, any celebration will be set aside until after Saturday’s 5,000m final.

Sizek enters that race ranked 10th with a time of 17:00.19, while Young holds the eighth seed with her qualifying time of 16:57.37.

“I am very happy that me and Julia are able to run together and can train together,” Young said. “She is a great running partner and really inspires me in races.”

“Julia is always giving me advice and tips before races and even practices. She help[s] me with everything from workouts to training schedules to meet days. I am really grateful to have her as a teammate.”

Young is not the only one, however, looking forward to competing with one of her teammates. Sizek, with all of her experience, knows the advantages of having another runner on your side.

“There is nothing better than having a teammate in a race with you,” she said. “We will have the great opportunity to work together and push ourselves to our best performances.”

“I don’t think that I am really a fountain of knowledge on anything, but I think that we have learned from each other. Catt has reminded me of how tenacity and heart count in both life and running,” said Sizek.

Young recorded her qualifying time earlier this month at the North Central Dr. Keeler Invitational in Naperville, IL, making her the fastest member of the UAA in the 5,000m this season.

“I don’t know if winning is in the cards, but I just really hope to not be scared to run my own race and do my best,” Young said. “I’ve worked hard throughout the season and I just hope it all pays off.”

Sizek was similarly philosophical about the prospects of a Maroon victory, noting “the strength of the field and the fact that [she] would have to run very substantial personal best times in order to win.”

“I think that my experiences over four years of collegiate running have prepared me for this moment,” said Sizek.

“I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint it to a moment, but can instead only say that it is a strange amalgamation of running in 98 degree 98 percent humidity weather (or, for that matter, -20 degrees with windchill), waking up to do what seems like an impossible run or workout, running alongside my teammates, and doing this again and again.”

Although both Maroons have performed exceptionally well in intra-conference play, each runner will face stiffer competition when racing beside the best of DIII. The top ranked DIII runner in the 5,000m, Taylor Berg from St. Thomas, MN, holds a qualifying time of 16:34.51, almost 23 seconds ahead of Young’s personal best and just under 26 seconds faster than Sizek’s.

Overall, this weekend proves to be an opportunity for both runners to compete against a challenging field, but also bond with teammates. As Sizek succinctly put it, “I am looking forward to hanging out with my teammates and competing against a great field.”

Photo: Courtesy of Hans Glick

First-year Helen Sdvizkhov, left, and second-year Megan Tang competed in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships yesterday at Kalamazoo College.

Not only has she had to take over the top singles spot for the Maroons that was previously held by an All-American and NCAA national champion, Kendra Higgins, but she has also had to face the nation’s top players throughout the year as an underclassman.

Through all of this, Tang has been a proven contender all season long with a 28–4 singles record and 15–6 doubles record. Still, Tang’s past success was not enough to get her past the first round of the Individual Championships in singles, as the No. 4–seed lost to unseeded MIT third-year Lauren Quisenberry 6–2, 6–1 on Thursday. In doubles, Tang, along with fellow No. 4 seed first-year Helen Sdvizkhov, lost to Williams’ Rebecca Curran and Kara Shoemaker 6–1, 6–1, ending the Maroons’ stellar season.

Without having previously played Quisenberry, the Chicago second-year did not know what strengths and weaknesses to expect going into the match.

“I’d never even heard of her, so I had no idea who she was or really how she played,” Tang said.

Quisenberry overwhelmed Tang with powerful and accurate first and second serves combined with a force of a forehand. Tang was unable to drive the ball to the MIT third-year’s backhand.

“She would pretty much run around everything and hit with her forehand and dictate points,” Tang said. “I didn’t think the match was going to be easy, but I didn’t expect her to play as well as she did.”

Tang said she felt ill-prepared to play a hard-hitter.

“I haven’t had good enough practice, I think, against those types of players because they hit the ball really hard, and I haven’t played people like [2012 NCAA singles champion] Gabby [Clark], [2011 NCAA Singles Champion] Krystal [Lim], or [Quisenberry] in practice, so I’m not as prepared to play against people that hit with that type of pace,” Tang said.

But it was not just Quisenberry’s strengths that gave Tang problems. The Maroon felt added pressure being seeded.

“There was a little bit of pressure being the No. 4–seed,” Tang said. “I know I shouldn’t be thinking about that, but I felt that, being the No. 4–seed, I should definitely get to the quarterfinals, if not the semis.”

Tang was also the fourth seed in doubles along with Sdvizkhov. The team had a daunting task going against the No. 1 pair from the National Champion Williams squad.

Still, it was a time for Chicago to let loose.

“I think we’re just going to go into it and play without any pressure and just go for all of our shots because we have nothing to lose,” Tang said before the match. “I think we’re just going to try to come to the net a lot and play our formations that we’ve been doing during practice.”

Unfortunately, the mentality was not enough for the Maroons, as they won just two games in the match.

“I thought we could have done a little more, taken a few more chances…maybe sacrificed consistency for a few more errors to be more aggressive,” head coach Jay Tee said.

Even with Chicago’s season ending on losses, Tee continued to enrich a team that did not have many expectations after its success last year.

“It’s been a great year to be a part of the tradition, to be a part of the tennis program, and I think we’ve some really good improvements,” Tee said. “We’re going to continue improving.”

Photo: Courtesy of Hans Glick

Fourth-year Dee Brizzolara competed in the 200-meter prelims and finished 11th in the NCAA Championships on Thursday.

Yesterday, fourth-year sprinter Dee Brizzolara competed for the final time in his college career at the NCAAs in La Crosse, WI. He raced in the 200m, finishing  11th place at 21.69s after coming in as the 18th seed.

“Dee ran great. He ran his lifetime best time,” head coach Chris Hall said. “I think it’s hard being at your first national meet, pressures that go with it. He ended up in a [bad] lane, but he didn’t care. I think he feels good about his effort. I’m proud of the way he competed today.”

Unlike for many athletes, the realization that he won’t be able to compete at the college level again hit Brizzolara even before the race.

“I actually cried today about four hours before my race because I didn’t want to run it,” he said. “I just didn’t want this to end, and it was really upsetting that after today I am no longer a collegiate athlete.”

Fourth-year distance runner Billy Whitmore is awaiting his final collegiate competition as well. He will run the 5,000m on Saturday.

It’s never easy losing such impactful contributors as in Whitmore and Brizzolara, but Hall remains optimistic.

“We’re always sad to see our seniors go, but that’s just the cycle of the sport,” he said. “We’re excited they’re at the national meet, that they can be here and enjoy it. We’re feeling good going into next year, though. We’ll certainly miss [the seniors], but there are seniors every year.”

Speaking of the future of Chicago track and field, first-year pole-vaulter Michael Bennett also competed at NCAAs.

Bennett was the only first-year of the 20 qualifiers in his event, entering with a height of 4.81m.

“Michael went out at his second height of 15 [feet] 7 [inches] after his first height of 15 [feet] 1 [inch],” Hall said. “He was a final qualifier, and he moved up at least three guys.”

Those heights translate to 4.75m and 4.60m, slightly lower than Bennett’s best vault this season.

This experience will undoubtedly boost Bennett’s confidence and give him an extremely meaningful experience to build on for the rest of his college career.

“I think just the experience of being here as a freshman, there’s a lot of nerves being at the national meet the first time, and to get those out of the way is a great learning experience,” Hall said. “I know he’s excited to be here and I think it’s been a great week.”

Attention now turns solely to Whitmore, the only Maroon on the men’s side yet to compete. The fourth-year will be looking to finish inside the top eight and finish his career as an All-American, an honor he has previously received in indoor track and field and cross country, but never at the outdoor championship.

Whitmore is currently ranked 20th in the nation, but don’t expect that to put him off as he looks to end his career in style.

The men’s 5,000m final is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Photo: Frank Yan/The Chicago Maroon

From left to right, Octavia Butler ('15), Ben Chametzky ('16), Aerik Francis ('14), Sofia Flores ('15), Ava Benezra ('15), and Omari Moore ('14) each present stories from the community regarding issues with the UCPD at the OMSA Community room this Tuesday.

Second-year SSN member Ava Benezra described her positive encounters with UCPD officers, citing an instance when an officer drove her home from the Regenstein Library one night. She noted that these experiences conflict with stories she has heard from local high school students who told her they avoid the University campus for fear of being stopped by a UCPD officer.

“UCPD is the most active representative of the University…on the South Side,” she said. “My tuition funds their salaries. I am quite actively supporting the message that black teens don’t belong here, that they’re not wanted, that this place of academic prestige is not for them.”

One first-year recalled a time her boyfriend came to visit her on campus and was stopped and asked by a UCPD officer to present identification. When he took out his Northwestern ID, the student said the officer did not believe him and walked with him to the lobby of the University student’s dorm to watch her greet him.

“He happened to be black at the wrong time,” she said. “It makes me feel embarrassed and upset that he should have to endure something like that just to come here.”

The event was part of a larger campaign launched by SSN at the beginning of the quarter meant to reform aspects of UCPD, including “more transparency, better systems of accountability, and looking into the Independent Review Committee’s relationship with UCPD,” among other goals, according to third-year Aerik Francis, a member of the campaign.

Francis, who told about an incident during his Orientation Week when his father was escorted out of Ratner for stepping in to use the restroom and failing to present evidence of his association with the University, cited racial profiling as one of the campaign’s main concerns.

“Honestly, the chief goal [of the campaign] is to eliminate racial profiling as a method of policing,” he said. “I think if the campaign were to list one thing ,that would be the ultimate goal.”

Despite this, students also addressed other issues. Fifth-year Christina Pillsbury told of being whistled at by UCPD officers.

“I don’t think their interactions with women are anywhere near appropriate,” she said.

After sharing stories, students in attendance broke off into small groups to discuss their thoughts about UCPD and the issues surrounding their presence.

“[UCPD] is hired for us, but we’ve never had a conversation about what we want them to be,” Benezra, who initiated the campaign, said. “I think this is the first step in starting to create a dialogue in which people question, ‘Is it really okay that they do these things?’”

Editor’s Note: Christina Pillsbury is a former news editor for the Maroon.

Photo: Tiffany Tan/The Chicago Maroon

Students congregate in the UChicago Dining office on Tuesday to deliver a petition protesting the lack of information Pierce dining hall workers have been given about their their fate for the next academic year.

Catherine Schutzius, a senior union representative for Teamsters Local 743, the union that represents dining employees at the University, told the Maroon that the situation remains unclear. She said she expects that most of the employees at Pierce will be reassigned to other campus dining locations following the demolition of the building, but expressed concerns that they will face reduced hours and different shift times. Schutzius confirmed that Aramark had not yet met with union representatives to begin negotiations.

According to the University’s dining Web site, Pierce dining staff will have the option to bid on campus food service positions. However, it remains unclear whether all Pierce employees will be guaranteed future employment in the University’s dining system, Schutzius said.

As they delivered the letter to the dining office, SOUL members spoke to Mason about their concerns. The students, some of whom were Pierce residents, described Pierce dining workers as “members of their family” at the University. After listening to students’ share memories of their experiences with the employees, Mason told SOUL members that he would be in touch and that he feared there had been a misunderstanding. He did not provide further comment. SOUL members said they hope that negotiations between Aramark and the union happen before the start of the summer in order to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

“I approached my counselor for the first time and disclosed, ‘This is my situation. I’m undocumented. I have the grades. I want to apply for college,’” she recalled. “He didn’t know what to do. And that was sort of the end of our conversation.” At that point, Velazquillo was forced to take matters into her own hands.

“It was more of a personal initiative of ‘I want to go to college. I’m going to figure it out.’ So I found community members who were supportive.”

One of those people was a woman on a local scholarship committee who pointed her to different community resources and helped her find scholarships that did not ask for documentation. As an undocumented immigrant, Velazquillo was ineligible for federal or state financial aid.

While undocumented students still face immense challenges, Velazquillo noted that circumstances are changing.

The biggest development came last June, when President Obama announced a policy of Deferred Action, through which undocumented students who meet certain criteria can defer the threat of deportation for at least two years and receive authorization to work legally in the United States, opening up more financial and educational opportunities.

A policy of acceptance

In October 2010, before Deferred Action, the University issued its first public statement affirming that they would admit undocumented students. This came in response to student pressure from the UChicago Coalition for Immigration Rights (UCCIR).

“All students who apply, regardless of citizenship, are considered for admission and for every type of private financial aid that the University offers,” then–Vice President for Campus and Student Life and Dean of Students Kimberly Goff-Crews said in the statement.

As part of increased efforts to reach undocumented students, the University designated Tamara Felden, director of the University’s Office of International Affairs, to deal with issues regarding undocumented students.

Felden explained the origins of the University’s statement on undocumented immigrants, which it reaffirmed last August in response to Deferred Action.

“We said, ‘We undoubtedly have some students who are undocumented. How do we support them?’” she said. “We wanted to be out there with a statement that gave the message to students who might be considering the University that it’s OK to apply to us…in other words, to give them the comfort level so as they communicated to us, they could disclose and not be fearful of doing so.”

Her job is to assist students with finding financial resources and to help students fill out legal paperwork, including that which is required to apply for Deferred Action. The Office of International Affairs can direct students to attorneys but cannot provide direct legal assistance.

“It’s still not enough”

But UCCIR members Velazquillo and fellow SSA student Ariel Ruiz, who is also undocumented, feel the University needs to do more to create a welcoming atmosphere for discussing issues of immigration.

“We are thankful that University of Chicago is open to undocumented students and gives us funding,” Ruiz said. “But it’s still not enough… It’s not only about the financial resources. It’s also taking the toll on how to be welcomed in a space that is not very open about discussing what undocumented is.”

Ruiz said that much of this derives from the language used to describe undocumented students, saying that fellow students and professors often refer to undocumented students as “illegal,” “criminal,” and “alien.”

“All these terms come very charged and affect people on an emotional level,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s intentional,” Velazquillo said. “But there’s a lack of awareness that undocumented and illegal are not interchangeable.”

Campus activists encourage more undocumented students to come out

Both Ruiz and Velazquillo feel that by coming out as undocumented, they can help raise awareness and promote increased dialogue. Ruiz said that if more students came out, it would help personalize the issue.

“The benefit of someone coming out as undocumented is that there’s a face to a name,” he said. “It’s a lot more difficult for people to use this type of language that is dehumanizing when it’s one of their friends.”

Both stressed the emotional toll of living life as an undocumented student and hope that by understanding these personal consequences, their peers can better conceptualize the issue.

Ruiz explained that he was unable to attend his father’s funeral in Mexico last year because of his immigration status.

“As a student, ask yourself, ‘How can you focus on academics, on your life, if you found out that your father died and the worst part is, you can’t even go to his burial? How can you keep it together?’” he said. “I think if people begin to ask themselves these questions, they can begin to internalize our situations, our experiences, our limitations, and really see beyond the numbers.”

 Balancing public discussion with the right to privacy

Felden feels that “simply having that statement on our Web site and talking about undocumented students in a public way, that has encouraged undocumented applicants to reach out directly and disclose. It’s OK to do that,” she said.

But she acknowledged that there is still more to learn about the plight of undocumented students and said that she continually works with administrators, professors, and students to become more informed.

She encouraged the work of student activists but said she respects that there are some students who are uncomfortable disclosing their status.

“Anything we do at the University has to respect the student in a stage that is less public,” she said. “A student who wants to be private has every right to protect that privacy.”

The new Facebook page launched last month after development and testing started in March.

The site lists University of Chicago Facebook events, from Friday night frat parties to Off-Off Campus shows to academic panels, all in one place. The team behind the site, second-years Victor Kung, Daniel Yu, Shaan Sapra, and David Campillo, have seen the site take off with nearly 700 subscribers since it launched last month.

Kung said the idea for UChicago Events came to him around January, after he became frustrated with the burdensome process of finding out about campus events through listhosts and social media.

“On Facebook, you’re really reliant on who invites you and your social circle,” Kung said. “But what if we leveraged Facebook and utilized everyone’s social networks and put all these events in one centralized spot?”

The public nature of Facebook events provides a free and accessible resource for a program to utilize and aggregate, according to Kung.

Development of the program began in March and lasted about a month. Then the team invited students to subscribe and test its features. Campillo, the team’s marketer, said he believes the site is an asset to event-searchers and hosts alike. Users can browse by event type, like “Lectures” or “Fine Arts.” Clubs or programs looking for promotion can purchase space as a “Featured Event.” Kung said the current plan is to use the revenue to cover operating costs.

Kung contrasted his site with events.uchicago.edu, an aggregator site administered by the University, saying his student-run service does not have to worry about issues of liability or brand image.

“What we can do that I guess the University can’t do is that we have no problem going straight through the social network; we have no problem having all sorts of events going on, whether they’re school affiliated or student-created,” Kung said.

The team’s hopes for the site are high. Sapra looks forward to developing new features for a “second launch” in the fall that would incorporate feedback from current users. Kung sees the possibility of featuring local business promotions on the site and later expanding the program to other campuses.

“The beauty of this [program] is that it takes all this available information and organizes it in a way that’s never been done before… This is something we see as being useful on campuses all over the country,” said Kung. “But that’s still a few steps away. For now, we just want to make sure we maximize the user experience in our own school first.”

Members of the Vice President’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion were informed of their selection last Monday, and the council had its first meeting on Wednesday. The council has about 15 student members from different ethnic and academic backgrounds, according to second-year Yusef al-Jarani, a member of the council.

While no set role has been established for the council, since it remains in its formative stages, first-year council member Vincente Perez said that he expects the council to be a tool through which students can make sure their input is heard by the administration.

“I just think [the council] is going to provide a voice to a lot of students who normally don’t get their voice heard, whether it’s in student government or other RSOs. This is going to be a direct link to the student body and the administration,” he said.

One effort already in development and in which the council is certain it will be involved in is the new RISE (Reflect, Intervene, Speak, Engage) campaign.

The campaign, still being fleshed out, will involve provocative posters showing minority students in stereotypical situations. The posters will be designed to provoke a response from students, sparking discussions on stereotyping and other forms of prejudice, and will advertise talks on diversity-related issues.

“This is a campaign where we’ll really be challenging students on campus, and then also backing that up with specific programming that talks about diversity and inclusion,” al-Jarani said.

The first of the talks—a discussion with former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien on “identity, community, and social responsibility”—will take place on May 28, according to the Campus and Student Life Web site.

Members discussed several other ideas at the Wednesday meeting, but one repeated suggestion was introducing changes to Orientation Week programming.

“There’s a lot of things that are thrown around during O-Week, but diversity isn’t tackled as much as we would like to see,” al-Jarani said.

One idea to remedy this was collecting stories from current students from diverse backgrounds and then and giving them to incoming students to read and discuss during O-week, “to really challenge students on this question of diversity and what does it mean,” al-Jarani said.

In addition to those two initiatives, the administration has announced some details behind the Diversity: Engage-Learn-Transform Fund. The Fund’s goal will be to encourage “the expression of diverse perspectives on campus by helping to support initiatives, programs, and events that intentionally bring together diverse groups and community members,” according to an e-mail from University spokesman Jeremy Manier.

The Fund will be open to students, faculty, and staff and all applications will be reviewed by Warren Coleman “or her designee,” Manier said.

The post office had been in negotiations with University officials to find a new location on campus before the building was demolished this summer, University spokesperson Steve Kloehn said in an interview with the Maroon in late April. However, according to the news release, the post office was closed early and before finding a new location due to an unspecified computer problem.

Nearby alternatives include the Lake Park Post Office on East 55th Street near South Harper Avenue and the Jackson Park Post Office at East 61st Street and South Langley Avenue, two blocks west of South Cottage Grove Avenue.

Photo: Courtesy of Pitchfork

Kanye projected the video for his first single, "New Slaves," off the upcoming Yeezus on 66 buildings across several cities and countries (Brooklyn, pictured above).

One of those locations was “University of Chicago (Music Dept) E 59th St. & S Ellis Ave.” The Web site said 12:15 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., but a crowd began to form on the sidewalk in front of Goodspeed long before that. By a quarter past midnight there were hundreds of people crowded on the corner, students and community members alike. Attendees were cheering excitedly; a nervous energy permeated the crowd as wild rumors spread about how the projection was going to happen, or if Kanye himself would show up. Shouts and pointing fingers accompanied every shadow moving in Goodspeed Hall or Haskell. The UCPD and the CPD were both on hand, and as time went on, more and more police officers arrived on the scene to help keep the crowd off of the street.

A few minutes after 12:30 a.m., a black Jeep and a large black truck bearing a projector and sound system arrived. A team wearing all black got out of the truck, set up the projector, and played “New Slaves.” Before Kanye started to rap, images of price tags flashed brightly on the wall. When he did begin, Kanye’s verses were delivered intensely and demanded attention. The video visually mirrored the present drama—it featured an extreme close-up of Kanye angrily rapping about a commercial brand of slavery that has been adapted to the rules of the 21st century. It ended with a falsetto voice bemoaning the reality that things just aren’t going to be the same. With all the cheers and energy that accompanied the song’s release, it felt much more like a live performance than a recorded video.

The next night, Kanye took to Saturday Night Live, despite ranting about the notion of humanizing himself on the show just a week prior. He stated, “Somebody asked me, ‘When you do SNL, is you going to do a skit about the paparazzi and shit? And humanize yourself?’ I ain’t here to apologize for no motherfuckers, man! It ain’t about me humanizing myself!” It was clear that Kanye wasn’t going to alter himself for the show anymore, as was the case when he infamously substituted an entire verse of “Power” to avoid complaining about SNL while on SNL.

He followed through on his promise, electing not to participate in any of the skits as he had in the past. Previous skits featuring Kanye had addressed recent media controversies, such as the incident with Taylor Swift at the VMAs. This time, he used his music alone to address recent issues. He started off the show by debuting “Black Skinhead,” which opened with a pack of dogs barking and a sample of Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People.” Clad in his trademark black leather pants and a studded leather jacket, he delivered a song that was more screaming than it was rapping. The song featured Kanye at his darkest yet. He roamed back and forth on the stage, skirting shadows in front of the same price tags and slogans that accompanied the previous night’s projection of “New Slaves.”

“Black Skinhead” offers up lyrics that serve as a conceptual extension from where “New Slaves” left off. While “New Slaves” describes the attempts of the government and other institutions to enslave the population through advertisements, “Black Skinhead” is Kanye’s rebellion against these institutions. He yells, “I’m doin’ 500, I’m outta control now/But there’s nowhere to go, now/And there’s no way to slow down/Runnin’ out of time—moving fast/So just close your eyes and then enjoy the crash.” Kanye can’t be controlled, and isn’t in control, and is going to do what he wants, regardless of how much it might hurt him or anyone else. He ignores the rules he describes in “New Slaves” in favor of delivering his very own breed of “Fuck up your whole afternoon shit.” Just as the imagery behind him says, Kanye is “NOT FOR SALE.”

Kanye’s method of publicizing his new album breaks the conventions of typical album releases. From surprise appearances at the Roseland Ballroom and the Met Ball, to Frank Ocean’s mom tweeting that Ocean was the falsetto voice featured on “New Slaves,” to Kanye’s girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, announcing the name of his new album on Instagram on Saturday night, Kanye’s unpredictability is unprecedented. According to a tweet at the beginning of May, which simply read “June Eighteen,” Yeezus drops on June 18 via Def Jam. It reportedly features Daft Punk, Chief Keef, Pusha T, Skrillex, John Legend, Big Sean, Kid Cudi, 2 Chainz, Azealia Banks, and members of Odd Future, but any further concrete information about the album is extremely scarce. One thing is for sure, though—you’ll be hearing it.

Photo: Courtesy of Dana Edelson

The second, decidedly less popular show I saw was The Late Live Show, a hodgepodge of jokes in the form of a late-night talk show at ImprovOlympic. Saturday was its final staging, as its host, Joe Kwaczala, and several other cast members are moving to Los Angeles. From the show’s outset, it was clear that the writers enjoy a tremendous degree of artistic freedom; at one point, Kwaczala said that, if left unattended, they’d end up with a show full of jokes about “wieners and dog wieners.”

And on Saturday night, the audience’s gratitude was overwhelming. A frenzied crowd of friends and fans accumulated through the show’s three-year run filled iO’s Del Close Theater, laughing, cheering, and chanting the show’s final chorus: “Fuck The Late Live Show/And fuck being funny/ Fuck The Late Live Show/And long live money.” This song was the perfect note on which to end: a massive in-joke that simultaneously expressed both love for the show and frustration with the need to move on to careers with less artistic freedom and more economic comfort. Because that’s precisely what happens to shows like The Late Live Show: They burn brightly for a few years, fueled by naïve talent and passion, before their component parts are disassembled and absorbed into constellations like SNL or The Onion or late-night TV.

This funneling effect has led to an absolute dearth of originality in popular comedy. Talented young comedy writers and performers stream into New York and L.A., but their individual voices are swallowed by the voice of established outlets. And increasingly, these established outlets have demonstrated a noxious penchant for addressing every major news event, hit show, and viral video that seizes public attention for a fleeting moment. Of course, none of this is new; boring, stultifying shows like Workaholics and Modern Family have always existed on TV in one form or another, trading on slang and cultural references to get laughs.

What is new, however, is the rampant pandering to online audiences. Take The Onion, for example: Since relocating from New York, the satirical news outlet has been engulfed by a corporate structure that pushes its writers and producers to release four or five videos within a single week, rather than spending two or three weeks perfecting a single video. This strategy, like that of SNL, is a response to the advent of social media as the dominant means of distributing content. Because any major news event is a source of competition for attention online, there is a constant push to be first and a diminished need to be the best.

If you follow The Onion, you may have noticed this effect in the aftermath of any major news story in the past year. Rather than provide legitimate insight or a fresh take, The Onion increasingly relies on its voice to carry the weight of a joke. In the wake of tragedy, you’ll see friends share articles like “This What World Like Now” (Boston Marathon Bombings) and “Fuck Everything, Nation Reports” (Newtown Shootings) on Facebook and Twitter, but it’s difficult to imagine anyone actually laughing at them. Because they’re not jokes, really—they don’t challenge the reader’s opinion, nor do they offer any original insight. They are just head nods towards an apathetic audience of educated, left-of-center young adults.

Whereas good comedy toys with clichés in order to expose them as such, this new breed of pandering confuses social commentary with the creative restatement of clichés and social norms. On a smaller scale, the problem might make more sense: If Off-Off Campus started writing sketches about Harold’s Chicken and Occam’s Razor started making jokes about hipsters smoking outside of Cobb, there would be no reason for you to leave your filthy bed and go watch them (us) perform.

Comedy is about challenging, not affirming, public opinion. So go watch some live comedy every now and then, if only to have an experience in which the sole aim is making you laugh. At the very least, if you’re going to tell your friends a quick joke, skip the litany of tired collegiate punch lines (America, bacon, racism, zombies, Greek life, dining halls, hipsters, midterms, finals, sex, dorms, sleep, alcohol) and offer something unexpected. Give them wieners. Give them dog wieners.

As orientation ended and fall quarter wore on, I noticed that, by and large, my fellow students really didn’t care about sports—UChicago or otherwise. Furthermore, this indifference influenced not only basic interactions between students, but also the fundamental nature of social culture at UChicago. I realized that our school is a place where, for the most part, athletes hang out with athletes and the rest of students don’t. Obviously all athletes have friends that aren’t athletes, but we primarily associate with our teams and other teams. While I don’t know if this divide is a good or bad thing, I certainly do wonder why it happens.

Obviously this divide is not unique to UChicago. Venture onto the campus of almost any Division I school and you will find an athletic culture that exists apart from the school to some extent. Yet the marked difference between these schools and UChicago is that athletes at Division I schools undeniably receive preferential treatment. Division I athletes are often given scholarships, access to armies of private tutors, piles of free clothing, and judicial leeway. Their lives are, quite simply, made easier by their universities. If their university treats them differently, it only makes sense that the student body would.

But these perks and special treatment largely do not exist once an athlete gets to our campus. Aside from being given registration preference in their very first quarter, the only other perk a UChicago athlete usually gets is a free water bottle. Yet, somehow, athletes still find themselves separate from the rest of the student body.

Perhaps this divide occurs because admission requirements can be relaxed for athletes, and thus the rest of the student body feels they don’t belong. Then again, it’s also possible that athletes simply choose not to venture away from their teammates because the associations that the athletic network provides are easy ones. Teams are often ready-made social cocoons, beyond which athletes have no incentive to venture. These are probably both contributing factors to the divide—yet, even if these obstacles were removed, I think the chasm between athletes and everyone else would still exist.

The mind of an athlete is something that for a long time was foreign to me. I didn’t start playing tennis seriously until I was about 15, and, up until that time, I never really understood how competitive I was. But sports taught me that I hate to lose and that the pain of losing is far more intense than the joy of winning. Ask any athlete whether she hates to lose more than she loves to win and chances are she’ll say yes. Moreover, I came to understand that the mindset of an athlete is probably the most outcome-oriented one that I will ever encounter. As someone who is naturally far more interested in the method than the objective, it took quite a while for me to warm up to the idea that the outcome is everything.

An athlete has one job: Win. So it makes sense that she would only be focused on the outcome. Trying to make things pretty or trying to enjoy the process to its fullest can often lead to an undesirable outcome: a loss. This win-first mindset is one that athletes bring not only to the playing field, but also to the classroom. A good grade is what’s important, not necessarily what’s required to obtain it.

This is why I think the gap between athletes and the general UChicago student body will never be bridged. The idea that makes UChicago what it is—that of the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of the pursuit itself—is distinctly at odds with the mindset that is required to be a successful athlete. After all, an athlete who is not concerned with outcomes will not be one who wins very much. I think this is the core of the issue, the essential reason that UChicago athletes will never be a central part of the school’s spirit: In a world where winning is do or die, there’s no room for the life of the mind.

Liam Leddy is a first-year in the College.

But I couldn’t.

As my every attempt to intone Kennedy’s sincerity fell flat, the professor said something I had trouble accepting: I couldn’t sell Kennedy’s commitment because I didn’t know what that kind of commitment felt like. Despite all the thinking I’d done, I had never really, absolutely believed in anything.

As I reflected on our conversation, I had to admit that the professor was right about my failure to believe, but also, and more overwhelmingly, that I’m not alone in this failure. In fact, I feel that I belong to an entire generation that doesn’t see anything as fully worthy of its energy and commitment. At the very least, we refuse to commit to anything with a passion and spirit that would match the dedicated generations before us.

This comes as no surprise, considering that we’re the first generation to be truly inundated with the past. Although each generation has inevitably failed to fully attain the ideals it sought, none before has had at its fingertips the complete chronicles of its predecessors’ failures. As Google and Wikipedia have replaced historical volumes, we have been forced to concede the benefit of the doubt: When we learn about John F. Kennedy himself, we might encounter the inspiring young leader—or the pill-popping, narcissistic chauvinist.

So we’re jaded by a past that we never lived. Everything once celebrated has become a liability. Doubt certainly existed before the Internet, but it was never able to extend its reach so wide and so deep. Our grandparents accepted history book accounts with a grain of salt, to be sure, but not with the absolute and all-encompassing reservation that paralyzes us today.

Simply put, we’re a generation of cynics, largely due to circumstance.

Being able to notice, analyze, and understand what’s wrong with our complicated world is a fine thing when it helps us dream up meaningful solutions. But today, we don’t see solutions. When we look at political candidates, ideologies, and distant goals, the intensity of their flaws blinds us. We cannot fathom commitment. Like earlier generations, we are painfully aware of the challenges that our world faces, but the solutions in which they placed their faith appear, to us, naïve and hopeless.

Like earlier generations, we see violence and poverty in our communities, and we want to combat them. But we no longer think of elected officials as problem-solvers working in society’s best interest. Instead, we fume as we envision slimy bureaucrats, catering to lobbyists and super–PACs while ignoring the needs of those who elected them.

Like earlier generations, we see millions of our fellow human beings living under oppression, and we want them set free. But we no longer imagine liberators as the valiant Allies who rescued millions from Nazi concentration camps. Instead, we remember our friends and neighbors who trekked to the Middle East to establish unwanted and unsustainable democracies, incurring immeasurable financial and human costs along the way.

Like earlier generations, we see distant stars and galaxies, and we want to visit them. But we no longer dream of landing on the moon. Instead, we shudder as we remember the Challenger and the Columbia shuttles being torn apart. Our burning passion to explore the cosmos fades to a cool, distant, and sheerly academic curiosity.

Any given answer would expose us to a dozen more problems. How could we resolve to pursue a solution that would be so thoroughly imperfect?

I myself am just the sort of cynic that I describe. My first reaction when a friend shares an optimistic story is to doubt its veracity, question its source, or otherwise assume the worst. I do so with a smile, out of some sense of duty to temper friends’ idealism and quash their unrealistic hopes. And, of course, this op-ed is, so far, doing the very thing it bemoans: Pointing out a problem in society without offering a solution. It’s what I am best at, and it’s what I’m most comfortable doing. After all, any solution I offer is liable to be criticized, by people like me, as naïve, flawed, or impractical. If I commit to it, that makes me naïve, flawed, or impractical too.

But I want to take that risk.

Each of us possesses an energy, a passion, and a spirit that beg us to commit to something—to believe in something. We’ve done the thinking; we already see what’s wrong with the world, and we want it to be better. Now, for a change, let’s start believing that we can make it so.

To be sure, our commitment won’t be—and can’t be—the same as our grandparents’. We simply know too much about the past to unquestioningly attach ourselves to those same unattainable ideals: The policy that single-handedly eradicates poverty, the ideology that needs to spread to every corner of the earth, or the one leader who will solve our every problem. Instead, our generation has the unique opportunity to begin evaluating solutions against the realities they stand to improve. We can notice the flaws in our policies, ideologies, and leaders and commit nonetheless, based not on blind faith or pure reason, but on our own variety of thinking—one that’s both critical and impassioned.

We’ll have to commit on our own terms; the solutions we envision might lie in the world around us, rather than in some perfect world above us. But that shouldn’t stop us from committing to them.

Let’s think about improving the world like we believe it.

Jake Smith is a fourth-year in the College majoring in political science.

Brit Marling, who starred in and co-wrote both Another Earth and The Sound of My Voice, is back again with Voice partner Zal Batmanglij for The East, which opens May 31. The biggest venture we’ve seen so far from the ingénue, The East co-stars Alexander Skarsgård and Ellen Page as members of an anti-corporate anarchist collective. Marling’s character is tasked with the job of infiltrating its ranks before it can cause too much damage. If Sound of My Voice is anything to go by, expect heaps of moral ambiguity with a side of general slow-baked intensity (alternately, talented pretty people looking conflicted).

On June 27, Sebastián Cordero makes his English-language directorial debut with Europa Report, starring District 9’s Sharlto Copley. Copley is part of a team of astronauts en route to Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons theorized to have an ocean deep beneath its frozen crust. The trailer promises a gorgeous, gritty take on what could be hiding within those depths, à la the first two-thirds of Danny Boyle’s underrated gem, Sunshine.

For all those fans of Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, or for the occasional layman who likes seeing dudes trip over fences, the director’s latest, The World’s End, drops August 23. World’s End is the third and final installment in the Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy (also called the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy): Shaun was strawberry red for zombified blood and gore, Fuzz was blue original for Sanford’s finest, and this one’s apparently mint green—aliens, anybody?

ANGST

The season’s first high school-themed entry is Jordan Vogt-Roberts’s The Kings of Summer (May 31), which focuses on two best friends who take to the woods one summer to build a house and “live off the land,” because puberty is hard, or something. While early reviews suggest that Vogt-Roberts leans a little too heavily on established indie cues, a strong supporting cast including Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and Allison Brie is more than enough to make up for it.

The Way, Way Back (July 5), about an awkward kid coming of age while working a summer job at a theme park, is being billed as “from the same studio that brought you Juno and Little Miss Sunshine,” if that gives you any indication about what it’s hoping to be (costars include Toni Collette and Steve Carrell). Nat Faxon and Jim Rash co-wrote and both are directing; the latter won an Oscar for co-adapting The Descendants, which is only a good sign.

I’m personally most excited for James Ponsoldt’s The Magnificent Now, which enters limited release in early August. Miles Teller stars as a failing high school senior battling alcoholism. Shailene Woodley (who’s having a moment) is the requisite bookish girl who may be the key to getting him redemption. The film won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for the “rare honesty” of its performances, and Ponsoldt was recently tapped to direct the upcoming Hillary Clinton biopic thanks in no small part to the empathy he displays here.

I.R.L.

July 12’s Fruitvale Station stars Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) as Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old who was infamously shot and killed by a BART officer on San Francisco public transit on New Year’s Eve 2009. Written and directed by newcomer Ryan Coogan, the film apparently brought Sundance crowds to tears and was enough of a standout for the Weinsteins to pick it up for distribution (can the Academy just announce Jordan’s Oscar nod right now?). Speaking of Jordan, rumors are swirling that he may be first choice to play the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot; he’d be the first African American in the role.

To lighten the mood, catch Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring (June 14). The movie’s based on the Vanity Fair article “The Suspects Wore Louboutins” by Nancy Jo Sales. Emma Watson stars as a member of the fame-obsessed teen posse whose idea it was to rob the houses of their favorite “dumb” celebrities. Most famously, the group used Google Earth and a key under her front doormat to rob Paris Hilton no fewer than five times (she purportedly didn’t notice until one of the thieves got overeager and looted over two million dollars worth of jewels in one night).

SALIVA

When Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise came out in 1995, it was meant to stand alone as an understated, timeless love story that was, paradoxically, all about time. Yet nobody complained when nine years later, Linklater quietly released Before Sunset, and similarly, nobody’s mad about this month’s Before Midnight either. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy return, this time allowing us a peek into what happens a decade after the best night of one’s life. The film comes to Chicago on May 31.

David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (August 16) stars Rooney Mara (Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone) in a Terrence Malick-esque tale about a couple of outlaws separated after one of them kills a cop in a gunfight. The film has drawn obvious comparisons to Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands, but early buzz says Lowery’s aesthetic propels it into something gorgeous and chemistry-laden in its own right. Plus, Mara and Affleck are (in my opinion) respectively miles ahead of their more famous older siblings, so we should all support them accordingly.  

Photo: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Into Darkness, J.J. Abrams’s latest and likely last run with the USS Enterprise, follows Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine) and crew as they attempt to hunt down a genetically enhanced Starfleet turncoat played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Cumberbatch, of BBC’s Sherlock fame, has been the object of intrigue in the film’s pre-release buildup and remains so in the film itself. Much has been made of his character’s possible identity and the revelation, while not disappointing, is fairly anticlimactic for fans (spoiler: He’s Khan).  There is also something to be said about the “whitewashing” of Khan (originally played by the late Ricardo Montalban), a somewhat disturbing trend in recent Hollywood films.

That being said, Cumberbatch does a fine job of at least mitigating such concerns with an extremely engaging performance throughout.  He brings a theatrical flair and ominous presence that was lacking in the first film’s villain.

Cumberbatch towers over the remainder of the cast, no small feat considering that this is still one of the better ensembles in recent memory. Most of the supporting cast is relegated to the background this time around, leaving room for Kirk and Spock (Zachary Quinto) to take center stage along with Cumberbatch.

Quinto continues his smooth performance as Spock, although Star Trek traditionalists will likely continue to criticize him for his alleged overuse of emotion and sarcasm. The sarcasm and wit, while very entertaining, do in fact get old after a while. Pine continues to play the brash, young Kirk of the first film, and the end of Into Darkness more than makes up for the apparent lack of character development between the movies.

And, that is really where the heart of this film lies, in the journey and struggles of the Enterprise’s captain. The plot is often muddled by the confusing motivations of the villains and somewhat strange pacing. The story works much better as a parable of sorts about a captain and the relationship and duty he has to his crew. While there is an implied threat to humanity and the galaxy at large, it is placed firmly in the distance, allowing the true conflict of the movie to be the lengths to which Kirk and Khan will go to protect their respective crews.

This is an element that Into Darkness shares with the best of the old Star Trek films—that is, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The films share many elements, most notably Khan as the primary villain. The final acts of each film actually run parallel to each other, although with some notable role reversals. Into Darkness’s approach actually makes for a more thematically fitting emotional climax than that of Wrath of Khan, although this great moment near the end is dampened by an unnecessary and over-the-top action sequence, along with a cringe-inducing reuse of one of William Shatner’s more infamous lines.

The visuals and action in Into Darkness, while impressive, are ultimately not as memorable as those of the first film. However, the craft placed into character and storytelling really shine through and engage the viewer on more than just an audiovisual level. And that is what has always given Star Trek longevity as a franchise: the focus on plot and characters in a genre too often content to distract audiences with empty visuals. Despite its flaws, Into Darkness delivers on that mission.

Star Trek Into Darkness, directed by J.J. Abrams, is currently playing at The Harper Theatre.

Photo: Courtesy of Chris Molina

Of Montreal has been bringing the theatrics at their latest tour. They're pictured here earlier this month at The Echoplex in LA.

Of Montreal is not new to Chicago. For those who don’t know, the group is not an obscure collection of Canadians but a Georgia-based indie powerhouse that pioneers and sustains faith in small labels. The band emerged almost 20 years ago as part of the Elephant 6 collective, a small group of musicians who fostered notable strides in alternative music. Among these was the famous Neutral Milk Hotel. However, unlike NMH, Of Montreal continued into the 21st century and rode a gradual uphill slope to indie superstardom. The 2007 album Hissing Fauna are You the Destroyer? launched the musicians to magazine covers and festival headlines.

Despite all the wonder and creativity produced by the group and its larger-than-life front man Kevin Barnes, its future is currently unclear. Many claim the band has lost its luster following Hissing Fauna and accuse Barnes of becoming increasingly indulgent and inaccessible, making his work almost unbearable. The negativity does not seem to stop in the hollow words of cranky critics. Of Montreal’s last visit to Chicago on its 2012 tour featured a show at the Metro. The venue has an occupancy over double the size of this year’s location, putting a damper on the show’s sold-out status.

Is the band washed up? Is it ready to enter the indie retirement home along with The Strokes and The Shins? These were some thoughts running through my head as I waited for the lights to be dimmed. I had seen the same band closing for festivals in front of thousands. Now, I could almost touch the crowded stage and count the faces in the audience. Everything seemed so odd, and when the band arrived it was like the emperor without his clothes. It was definitely over the hill.

The room seemed to exhale a collective tired sigh as the group predictably opened with “Wraith Pinned to the Mist,” its only mild hit from the last five years. Next on the set list came singles from Hissing Fauna. I danced and sang along to the classics, but part of me was weeping. Barnes was clearly not loving the tunes. He delivered with less gusto than I did on my last p-set. I loved the music, but the band looked like it was going through the motions.

However, as soon as I resigned myself to accepting the fate of this indie legend, I sensed a shift in atmosphere. The band surprised the crowd with its 2012 track “Feminine Effects,” pulled from an E.P. I had always enjoyed the song but did not expect the influence it had on us all. The soulful delivery of this beautiful country-psychedelic hybrid triggered a renewed devotion. We weren’t here because we were bored and we weren’t here to see the latest attraction. This was how music should be and Of Montreal was good at making it this way.

The remaining half of the night turned into a whirlwind of unprecedented energy verging on violent and plain gross. The crowd felt united with the band as it seemed to announce, “We’re still here and we’re not giving up.” All the negative press and declining ticket sales suddenly became ridiculously trivial. The fans were still dancing their pants off and the tunes were still out of this world. The love hadn’t faded but only matured like a fine wine. Barnes had shaken off his flaky fans looking for the latest band and now was partying with his die-hard followers.

The spiked enthusiasm also signaled the start of the group’s famous showmanship. As usual, the stage became inundated with figures in every costume imaginable ranging from the sexual to downright weird. The dancers acted out dramatic scenes of love and despair, weaving in and out of the musicians and even engaging the raging spectators.

As I sang myself hoarse to the closing number “She’s a Rejector” and dodged a crowd-surfing dancer dressed as Captain America, I felt a sense of warmth, realizing how my love for this music had lasted and grown. These weren’t some teenybopper wannabes: They were the real deal, the kind of band that breathes life into the word “indie” and makes multi-clausal titles acceptable. Above all, they put on a good show and make loyal fans like me come back for more. They might be washed up, but nobody’s told them yet, and besides—they probably wouldn’t listen.

One country allows gays to serve openly in its armed forces, ensures adoption rights for same-sex couples, hosts massive gay pride parades, permits gender reassignment surgery, and officially bans discrimination against gays in the workplace. This country guarantees women access to essential reproductive health services. Its Declaration of Independence proclaims the country’s support for “complete equality of social and political rights to all of its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex.” This founding document goes on to endorse “freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture.” Demographic minorities enjoy access to this country’s vital democratic institutions.

The other—not quite a country yet, but a political entity that aspires to nationhood—ostracizes homosexuals to such an extent that young gays flee in droves, according to a 2003 BBC report. Gays have no legally protected rights, and the influence of religious fundamentalists is such that not even the most unapologetic gay activist would dream of staging a gay pride parade. Parts of this potential country won’t even let women ride motorcycles, so forget something as revolutionary as reproductive rights. According to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, this would-be country so restricts women’s control over their own bodies that unsafe, back-alley abortions constitute a pervasive problem. Reproductive freedom isn’t the only liberty sorely lacking. Only about a quarter of citizens believe that they can safely criticize their political authorities.

Moreover, one of this aspiring country’s two main political parties emphatically refuses to recognize the other country’s right to exist.

I speak, respectively, of Israel and the Palestinian territories.

It was Israel, not the xenophobic and irredentist Palestine, whom campus activists denounced at a May 14 event supporting the so-called Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Organizers of the event chose the sickening title “From South Africa to Israel: The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.”

The linkage of Israel, the Middle East’s sole liberal democracy, and apartheid South Africa has a long and sordid history. Former President Jimmy Carter popularized the analogy in his glib and ahistorical diatribe, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, published in 2006. Carter accuses the Israelis of apartheid on the basis of such actions as their construction of a security fence intended to protect the country against Palestinian terrorists. The “wall,” Carter asserts, is a concrete symbol of the very kind of social division practiced by the white supremacist government that ruled South Africa until 1991. As Carter and his ilk in the BDS movement would have it, Palestinians are victims of Israeli security measures—not the leadership failures of their own political class, currently divided between the corrupt Fatah and the Islamist fundamentalists of Hamas.

Is it the popular depiction of Palestinians as victims that leads so many earnest young campus activists to celebrate the Palestinian “resistance”? Perhaps, but the reflexivity with which too many on the left uncritically embrace the Palestinian cause also stems from a worldview that lacks historical knowledge. No people has come under such constant and brutal assault as the Jewish people, six million of whom were systematically exterminated a mere seven decades ago. Zionism predated the Holocaust, but the mass slaughter of Jews underscored the need for a secure Jewish homeland, free from the anti-Semitism and casual bigotry of much of Europe. That Israel’s Declaration of Independence extends fundamental civil rights to all citizens, regardless of heritage—even as it affirms Israel’s identity as a homeland for the Jewish people—makes its existence all the more remarkable.

While today’s activists scream, “Israel out of the occupied territories!” they forget that Israel acquired said territories after the Six-Day War in 1967—a conflict sparked by the joint aggression of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Days before the outbreak of the war, that great demagogue, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, declared, “Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.”

And fight they did. But the war was a disaster for the Arab aggressors. To buttress its defenses, Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria, the Gaza Strip from Egypt, and the West Bank from Jordan. For Israel and its people, collectively seared by the recent memory of the Holocaust, these newly seized territories signaled not imperial expansion, but a firm sense of safety for the nascent Jewish state.

History ought to anchor our understanding of the world, yet the demonization of Israel underscores how little we learn from it. Perhaps I’m displaying excessive optimism, but maybe a cursory familiarity with history would humble the strident BDS activists who endlessly excoriate Israel.

Many BDSers, no doubt, are the same people assailing the domestic “war on women,” pushing for greater LGBTQ equality, and defending core civil liberties. They’re also parroting the same arguments as the Hamas “resisters,” who recently forced the U.N. to cancel the Gaza Marathon after protesting the presence of women in the race—and that’s genuinely troubling.

Luke Brinker is a graduate student in the MAPSS program. 

Besides the perennial Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Gmail queries, there were the “rising” trends, led by Atari Breakout, Cristin Milioti, Angelina Jolie, Happy Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day Quotes, and Daft Punk.

Notice anything missing? Hint: It happened on Mother’s Day and it wasn’t you forgetting to buy a gift.

That’s right: The mass shooting in New Orleans that left nearly two dozen people injured.

“Ten men, seven women, [and] a boy and a girl—both 10 years old—were struck by the hail of gunfire,” New Orleans’s own Times-Picayune reported last week. “Three people remained hospitalized in stable to critical condition on Wednesday.”

Even though the suspected shooters were still at large until as recently as the morning of Thursday, May 16, they were by no stretch of the imagination pursued with the same sense of national urgency that characterized the manhunts for former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner in February or the Tsarnaev brothers last month.

Now, why is that? Why is this tragedy not receiving the same sort of intense media attention as did Newtown, Boston, or Aurora? Why aren’t we calling for its suspects to be tried as domestic terrorists, inviting the President to interfaith prayer sessions for the victims, or sending the affected families donations?

In case you didn’t know, Newtown boasts a median household income of $116,249—more than twice the country’s $50,054, nearly three times New Orleans’s $44,004, and more than four times the $27,431 of New Orleans’s 7th Ward, where the Mother’s Day shooting took place.

This isn’t to say that Newtown, Boston, or Aurora didn’t need our support. They did, and they got it. But it’s clear that the victims in New Orleans are, at least individually, in far greater need of financial support to cover the inevitable influx of hospital expenses and unpredictable physical and mental implications that define the aftermath of any tragedy. Where is their prominent place in the news cycle and the relief fund it fills?

In other words, what makes this tragedy less “tragic” than others, at least in the eyes of our national press-fueled psyche?

Is it because no one died? Because it happened on Mother’s Day?

Maybe. But probably not.

More than anything, I think it’s the absence of the human element—the sense of “it could happen to me” or “it could happen to my friends, or my loved ones”—that so crucially separates this tragedy (and innumerable other underreported and forgotten ones like it) from the Newtowns and Bostons of our lives.

Despite happening at the relatable and supposedly safe family event that is a Mother’s Day Parade, and inflicting no shortage of physical and mental scars on young and innocent lives, the New Orleans shooting didn’t happen in an upper/middle-class, minimal-minority, bad-things-don’t-happen-here kind of neighborhood. It didn’t happen “where you’d least expect it,” but precisely where one might “expect it”—in New Orleans, a city with some of the nation’s highest rates of crime, violence, and gang participation.

Last week’s mass shooting didn’t push the boundary we’ve delineated in our collective, media-grounded distinctions between “safe” and “unsafe” locales in the way that the tragedies in Newtown or Boston did. Instead, it simply reaffirmed our stereotypes: that New Orleans is a bad place, and that bad things happen in bad places.

We regard the day-to-day experiences of people in such areas as being so vastly different from our own that we, as a society, have disassociated ourselves from them. Our inability to relate to or even sympathize with their lives and struggles often plays out as a greater aversion to reporting on victims’ personal stories altogether. No personal story has received mass attention in the aftermath of the New Orleans shooting.

This isn’t the first time that our nation has left New Orleans high and dry. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the media was far more concerned with circulating images of New Orleans residents “robbing” local grocery stores and pharmacies than it was with reporting the acuteness of the situation, which, thanks to FEMA’s mismanagement of the tragedy on almost every front, left the city’s tens of thousands of stranded residents with few options but to rob local vendors in order to survive.

Detroit’s well-documented decline provides another powerful example of this unfortunate phenomenon. Of the myriad photo galleries that depict and track the ways in which the city has changed, very few contain photographs featuring actual people, instead opting to fixate on the city’s abandoned infrastructure. By claiming to showcase Detroit, such articles soothe our periodically resurfacing concern for the declining locale by implying that it has simply been abandoned—that these are simply photos of a mysterious, bygone past from which human life has long since fled, and which we need not worry about.

Except, of course, for the fact that 706,585 people still live in Detroit. But being reminded of that would make us uncomfortable, just as it would make us uncomfortable to be reminded that 4,267 people have died from gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, including 73 people in New Orleans and 126 in our very own Chicago (and our population is about seven and a half times the size of New Orleans’s).

It all points to a much broader, much more encompassing threat to our country’s shared sense of self. The results are heightened social and economic inequalities, and communities divided on such strong geographic, economic, infrastructural, and psychological lines by income-based distinctions that they have become completely unable to relate to one another. At this rate, they may one day be unable even to recognize the others’ presence.

Anastasia Golovashkina is a second-year in the College majoring in economics.

The review found the actions of UCPD Detective Janelle Marcellis “reasonable,” ostensibly laying the blame on her then-commanding officer, calling his orders—which were based on an incorrect interpretation of how the UCPD planned to use “plain clothes” officers—“unreasonable.” These conclusions were based on the reviewers’ knowledge of the UCPD’s policies on the use of “plain clothes” officers and on dealing with protests—knowledge that was gained during the course of the investigation. However, in this case, the fact remains that few violations were found, merely because there were no policies covering many situations that could arise during protests.

This raises an important question: Why did the UCPD feel comfortable acting without any official guidance at all? The logical conclusion of this haphazard approach to law enforcement is that an officer, either in action or in giving an order, will inevitably be forced to improvise. That the reviewers found Marcellis’s actions “reasonable” is very telling. Her order, which she plainly attempted to follow, was to “get intel” from the protesters while posing as one of them. The reviewers’ finding therefore does not address the larger point: The practice of espionage is in itself unreasonable in a police force employed by this university, whose promise of free expression and open discourse is allegedly absolute. The fact that the reviewers deemed Marcellis’s actions reasonable given her orders and the circumstances tells us that their assessment of accountability focused purely on matters of existing UCPD policy.

It is perfectly sensible that any external review limit itself to examining violations of existing policies—after all, that is where concrete changes can generally be made. However, moving forward with policy changes on the ends of both the UCPD and the administration, the University cannot afford to retain this focus: The guiding philosophy of the changes that will follow both the incidents and the release of this report must not be solely preoccupied with increasing institutional transparency and accountability—they must place primary emphasis on protecting the University’s core principle of free expression, as well as the best interests of students, community members, and any individual who engages in protest on our campus.

As it stands, it is unclear how the University expects to develop policies that work for all involved parties. The administration’s official response to the report says that the process will be based on “faculty-led” discussions like those held by the Committee on Dissent and Protest. But, when that Committee had an open meeting on May 13 with students, only two members of the six-member committee showed up—not a promising start for involving students in the policies that will affect them. But, to whatever degree the University decides to involve students in the production of these new policies, it is obligated to justify the ways in which those policies will work toward the explicit aim of security. For example, if policies regarding plain clothes operations are created or revised, it must also be made clear how the presence of plain clothes officers, as opposed to that of uniformed officers, is particularly useful or relevant to the campus security situations in which they are deployed.

The Schiff Hardin report should not be viewed as a sufficient resolution to the UCPD’s shortcomings. Since it evaluates possible violations of policies as they currently exist, it makes no suggestion for change in policy—and recent events have proved that such change is necessary. These changes alone, furthermore, are insufficient. In order to hold its officers sufficiently accountable and remain in touch with the University’s mission of fostering student speech and expression, the UCPD must seek to align its policies with that mission and be able to prove this alignment through transparent and logical operations.

The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.

Photo: Courtesy of Hans Glick

First-year Sruthi Ramaswami lunges to return a ball in a match against Wheaton College earlier this season.

Unfortunately, momentum was on No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ (31–0) side as the Athenas took an early 2–1 lead.

Claremont–Mudd–Scripps did not lose steam, defeating No. 8 Chicago (18–6) 5–1, ending another incredible Maroon season.

The Athenas’ first point of the semifinal came at No. 2. Second-year Megan Tang and first-year Helen Sdvizkhov were down 7–0, took two games, but ultimately lost 8–2 to Kristin Lim and Caroline Ward. Lim won the 2011 NCAA DIII Singles Championship.

“[Tang and Sdvizkhov] were out-talented,” head coach Jay Tee said. “There wasn’t much we didn’t try to try to get the score closer.”

With the score tied 3–3 at No. 2 doubles, fourth-year Linden Li and second-year Kelsey McGillis lost three straight games, eventually falling 8–4.

“We lacked some intensity there and some aggressiveness. For the first six games we were right there, we were doing all the right things, stepping through the middle, hitting the returns, hitting first serves,” Tee said. “Our energy level dropped, and our play dropped as well. That three-game lull was enough to put that match out of reach.”

Chicago avoided being swept in doubles through sharpness from the Second Team All-UAA No. 3 tandem of second-year Maggie Schumann and first-year Sruthi Ramaswami. The pair took a 6–3 lead and with the game close at 7–5, Ramaswami held serve to put the Maroons on the board.

“Their games just translate very well to pressure situations,” Tee said. “They don’t try to improvise; they just do what they’re told to do over and over and over again.”

Kristin Lim and Ward carried their sharpness onto singles. Lim defeated Tang 6–2, 6–1 at No. 1, and Ward bested Li 6–0, 6–1 at No. 2.

Sarah Kukino defeated McGillis 6–1, 6–1.

Even though the Maroons return almost all of their young lineup, they will be without Li next season. Li finished her career as a Maroon with a 68–24 mark in singles and 82–26 record in doubles.

In a season where three players left due to graduation and a new coaching staff took over, it is hard to say that the Maroons did anything but overcome adversity this year.

“We’re really, really happy with this season,” Tee said. “I don’t think the expectations this season were very high for us, so just to get back to the elite eight…what a great accomplishment, but that being said, we’re not happy finishing eighth or seventh. Obviously ,our goal is to finish first.”

For two Maroons, however, the season is not quite finished. Tang and Sdvizkhov will end their seasons at the Individual NCAA Championships. Tang will compete in singles and doubles, while Sdvizkhov will play with Tang in doubles. Action begins this Thursday in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Photo: Courtesy of John Booz

First-year pole vaulter Michael Bennett attempts to clear the bar in the Chicago Duals meet earlier this season.

The Maroons did not pick up any new NCAA qualifying times at the North Central Last Chance this past week, but five South Siders maintained their qualifying positions from previous meets during the year.

Weather prevented competitors at North Central from improving on times as rain fell and dampened the track, making it slower than usual. However, the Maroons still used the opportunity to get one final run in—before nationals for some, and before the end of the season for others.

First-year Brianna Hickey won the 1,500-meter run in 4:36.99 and fourth-year Dee Brizzolara took first in the 100-meter dash with his time of 11.06. While impressive victories, the conditions prevented both athletes from performing at their best. Hickey was nearly a second slower than her previous best of 4:36.01 and Brizzolara lost nearly three tenths on his best time of 10.78.

Third-year Sam Butler came in second in the 10,000-meter with his time of 31:59.83. First-year Michaela Hammel picked up a season-best in the 200-meter with her 26.31 run and second-year Reecie Dern did the same in the shot put with her throw of 11.98m. First-year Michael Bennett placed third in the pole vault with his height of 4.53m.

“I jumped well but didn’t compete well,” Bennett said. “In a technical sense, a lot of things came together for me this past weekend, just not the height.”

Bennett has been a standout performer all year. His UAA title winning height of 4.81m had him in a tie for the final qualifying spot for the national meet. His consistency across the whole season was rewarded, though, as he found out that he had the tie breaker.

“[Qualifying] was terrifying because I was unsure of the exact procedure for breaking a tie, but I ended up getting in, because my second highest mark was better than the other athlete’s mark,” Bennett said.

Brizzolara also qualified for the national meet for the first time in his career. He too won the UAA championship and then proceeded to get faster at later meets. The speedster will compete in the 200-meter at NCAAs. His time of 21.69 has him seeded 18th.

“Dee [Brizzolara] has been chasing this for four years now and there isn’t a man who deserves to be successful more than he does,” Bennett said.

Fourth-year All-Americans Julia Sizek and Billy Whitmore will also make the trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin for the National Championship. Whitmore and Sizek did not run at the Last Chance Meet, as they went into the week ranked in strong qualifying positions. Whitmore will run the 5,000-meter and is seeded 19th with his time of 14:30.53. Sizek qualified in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter with her times of 17:00.19 and 35:54.93, respectively. She is seeded 10th for the 5,000 and 9th for the 10,000.

“Billy [Whitmore] and Julia [Sizek] are the two who I always watched and was inspired by how they trained and pushed themselves to get to the national stage and reaped the rewards indoors,” Bennett said.

First-year Catherine Young also did not compete this past week. Her time of 16:57.37 from two weeks ago in the 5,000-meter run ranks eighth in the country and will also see her travel to Wisconsin for nationals. Young has shown big improvement in her first year of college athletics, improving her UAA time by 10 seconds to qualify for NCAAs.

The national meet will take place on Thursday afternoon and go through Saturday. These five South Siders have been working all season to be able to compete at this meet. All they can do now is wait.

Photo: Courtesy of Hans Glick

Football head coach Dick Maloney is set to retire at the end of this season after nearly two decades of dedication to the Maroons.

Maloney is a big man. He’s the sort of person who walks into a room and unintentionally makes everyone around him shrink. It’s a trait that comes with being a former collegiate offensive lineman, I guess, and Maloney was one that got an NFL tryout to boot. It’s also a trait that every head football coach should probably have, considering the large personalities that can be found in any given locker room. His presence goes beyond his frame, however; it’s a part of his persona. Maloney’s laugh can fill an auditorium, no matter how many brawny linemen and linebackers fill it. His infamous speeches command your ear—it’s impossible to sit through one of his pregame narratives and not have your attention hinging on his every word. Still, it’s the way he looks at you as his player that speaks truest to Maloney, as a coach and as a person. He always makes you feel at home.

I didn’t like Northwestern as much I thought I would. In the cab on the way back to the hotel, I found myself wondering whether or not schools really fit you the way you imagine they will when you’re receiving endless stacks of college propaganda. Then my phone rang. It was former Chicago offensive coordinator Jeff Sokol. He knew I was in town because my high school and I had sent Maloney an e-mail with my highlight tape and my transcripts. We drove straight to Hyde Park.

From the moment I walked into Ratner, it felt right. Coach Sokol took me up stairs I’ve walked a hundred times now and introduced me to Maloney in the coaches’ conference room. I don’t remember exactly what Maloney said the first time we met, but I do remember that I left with a big grin on my face, thinking, “This is the school for me.” I remember him smiling so wide that you could barely see his eyes, and his cheeks turning the rosy color they do when he starts one of his stories. I remember thinking that Maloney was a real father figure, a Santa Claus, someone I could and wanted to play for.

Maloney, the University of Chicago, and the football program left such an impression on me that I visited two more times before I actually enrolled: once for the Maroon football camp and once for my official visit.

The camp at Chicago was the second one at which I saw him during the summer before my senior year. The first was at the Princeton football camp, where he was evaluating and helping coach. I remember because after a one-on-one drill, he walked up to me and said something along the lines of, “Keep it up.” We had two interactions of that kind at the camp, but they left a strong enough imprint that it carried my spirits through the week.

At the Maroon camp, it all fell into place. I’d never felt more at home on a football field than at Stagg. The coaches carried an upbeat attitude that reflected Maloney’s happy demeanor; you could tell that they, like him, sincerely loved the game. After the camp, I walked up to Maloney and asked him how things were looking. We’d been exchanging e-mails over the summer, but his telling me, “Things are looking good, Vicente,” was just the reassurance I needed, the sort of pat on the back you get from your parents as a kid after scoring a touchdown or coming home with As on your report card.

A few months later I got an e-mail from Maloney congratulating me on my acceptance to Chicago. Aside from the actual letter from the school, it was the best note I got that winter. Because of Maloney, I felt at home at Chicago and because I applied and got in, I am happy to say I’ve done everything I dreamed I’d do.

On my last visit to Hyde Park before arriving for preseason my first year, Maloney opened his commencement speech with an old-school projector, the sort of machine that gets carried around on a rolling tray. “I haven’t seen one of those since elementary school,” the entire room must have been thinking. As Maloney placed a not-quite-centered paper onto the machine, which then projected a not-quite-centered image onto the screen, he made his first joke of the day: It was appropriately about the projector (and his lack of technology know-how). It was not the last joke the players in that room heard, the ones who wound up at Chicago and the ones who didn’t. It helped alleviate the tension in an auditorium full of anxious 18-year-olds.

And that’s what Coach Maloney has always done for me, and for all of the players who have passed through his program in the last 19 years; he’s helped us through some of the most important and stressful years of our lives. He’s helped high school students get into their dream school. He’s landed his players internships and jobs, which have led to illustrious careers. He’s helped create memories on and off the field that the young men he’s coached will carry with them through their college years and beyond.

Championship rings, the most wins since Amos Alonso Stagg, and the equivalent of a Bobby Bowden legacy in the microcosm that is Maroon football don’t even begin to speak to the impact Coach Maloney has had on his players’ lives in his time at Chicago. His influence is better personified by the smile he’ll give a player as he passes him in the hallway, with his eyes squinted and his cheeks red. It’s better personified by the feeling I got walking out of his office as a nervous 17 year-old kid my junior year of high school.

Photo: Anonymous Submission

Undercover UCPD detective Janelle Marcellis poses as a protester in a march against the opening of the University's new Center for Care and Discovery on February 23.

This article was updated on May 21 at 3:55 a.m.

An external investigation found that the commanding officer who ordered a detective to work undercover at a protest on February 23 violated standing University policy but that no other University officials or police did so in their handling of campus protests last quarter.

Schiff Hardin LLP, the law firm that conducted the external review of the University of Chicago Police Department’s (UCPD) handling of the January 27 and the February 23 trauma center protests, did not find evidence that undercover policing techniques were used in any other protests, according to the report.

Investigators at Schiff Hardin found “no evidence that the conduct of University officials and members of the UCPD…violated any formal University or UCPD policy” except that of “the commanding officer who ordered the detective to ‘blend in and get intel,’” the report said.

According to the report, after identifying himself as a police liaison, a “term unknown to the UCPD officer,” history P.h.D student Toussaint Losier told protesters to remain on Center for Care and Discovery property. Losier denied this claim, citing his arrest report and a recently surfaced video demonstrating that he was trying to walk away from CCD property before an officer pulled him back and proceeded to arrest him. Neither Patricia Brown Holmes, the lead investigator, nor University spokesperson Steve Kloehn answered questions about how this evidence was used in the review process.

During their investigation, investigators Brown Holmes, Kelly Warner, and Sarah Ratliff interviewed 32 people, including students, University officials, UCPD officers, and UCPD command staff.

Holmes declined to comment regarding which specific people were interviewed. Protesters from community organizations Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY) and Southsiders Together Organizing for Power (STOP), as well as students, were contacted for and “provided some photographic and video evidence of the incidents.”

The report does not say whether undercover videotaping, which was listed as part of the three plain clothes detectives’ assignments for the February 23 protest, violates University policy. Several campus community members alleged this occurred at that protest in last week’s open meeting with the Committee on Dissent and Protest.

In its list of recommendations, Schiff Hardin suggested that the University reevaluate UCPD policy as it pertains to protests, the Dean-on-Call process, and the use of “‘plain clothes’, ‘undercover’, and ‘covert’ operations.”

Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer Nim Chinniah, who oversees the Department of Safety and Security, and Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Karen Warren-Coleman issued a statement to accompany the report spelling out several relevant actions that have been taken so far. These include the firing of the commanding officer who ordered the unauthorized undercover work and mandates that UCPD draft more comprehensive protest policy in line with “University values” and conduct more officer trainings on crowd control.

Regarding the Dean-on-Call process, the report stated that the program’s “purpose, functions, and limitations” are to be evaluated and updated. However, the statement pointed out, “Investigators found no evidence that staff violated any formal policies or protocol, including the actions of and related to the Dean-on-Call.”

In an email to the Maroon, Losier denounced the findings of the external investigators.

“The report is a whitewash of what took place,” he said. “It reads like a defense attorney’s closing argument.”

Photo: Andrew Green/The Chicago Maroon

Like the three different flowers that adorn the winners’ blankets, each race has its own signature drink, some more famous than others. The Mint Julep, Kentucky’s entrant, is a sweet and strong infusion of bourbon with mint and sugar that is cool and refreshing when served with copious amounts of ice. The Preakness puts forth the Black Eyed Susan, named for Maryland’s state flower, a cool pink lemonade made of vodka, lemon juice, elderflower liqueur, and blackberry syrup. And finally, the Belmont Stakes offers a recently innovated contender, the Belmont Breeze, which consists of bourbon, orange juice, cranberry, mint, and sherry (goodbye, the dated White Carnation). Whether this Saturday, when the “Run for the Black Eyed Susans” kicks off at 4:30 PM on NBC, or anytime this spring when the warm weather causes your mind to drift to the elegance, pedigree, and magnificence of thoroughbred horse racing, these drinks are a sure way to relish the moment in style.

The Kentucky Derby: The Mint Julep

Of the three jewels of the Triple Crown, the Derby is the only one that has been run consistently since 1875.

8 mint leaves

1 teaspoon brown sugar

2 oz bourbon

Churchill Downs, the track where the Derby is run, was built by Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. His familiar name originated from his grandfather, William Clark, and his traveling companion, Meriwether Lewis, the famous dynamic duo of westward American exploration and Manifest Destiny. Small world, right? The winner of this race is awarded a lush blanket of 564 red roses, which is why the race is sometimes referred to as the “Run for the Roses.”

The Mint Julep is without doubt the best-known of the Triple Crown cocktails. It is essentially straight bourbon, infused with mint, and cut with sugar. The key to this drink is to have lots of ice on hand (a pewter cup to drink out of doesn’t hurt, either). Begin by muddling eight mint leaves and a teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of a glass. If the idea of doing this for each drink seems daunting, consider making a mint simple syrup to save time. To do this, combine equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. When the liquid begins to boil, turn off the heat and add as many mint leaves as you want. The hot sugar will draw the oils out of the mint leaves, where the flavorful chemicals are stored. Thus, when the mixture has completely cooled and the mint removed and discarded, all that will remain is a flavored syrup.

Put everything in a cocktail shaker, and add a ton of ice. Transfer to a glass and top with more ice and garnish with however much mint you want.

The Preakness Stakes: The Black-Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susans aren’t in bloom until months after this race is run, so the winners are actually presented with a blanket of yellow daises painted to resemble Maryland’s state flower.

1.5 oz vodka

.5 oz St. Germain or other elderflower liquor

2 oz lemon juice

2 oz blackberry simple syrup

Any Maryland native knows the Preakness Stakes is the most interesting and worthwhile race of the Triple Crown. It is significantly shorter than either of the other races, which are both over one mile in length. So it’s more of a sprint than a race. Trappings of elegance remain, but today the Preakness has become a sort of enigma, echoing the commercialization of similar events under the lens of national sports media and sponsorships. For example, this year Miami-based rapper Pitbull will perform at the Jägermeister Infieldfest 2013, where spectators can be counted on to attempt the ritualistic “port-a-pot” run while being assaulted by beer cans (http://youtu.be/IIcyFSYhvV4). This must be seen to be believed.

The Black-Eyed Susan is the state flower of Maryland and the flower that adorns the Preakness winner’s blanket. This drink was allegedly created by a woman named Gina Chersevani Dundee, so be sure to thank her when you get a chance.

Combine vodka, St. Germain, and lemon juice with lots of ice in a cocktail shaker. To this, add simple syrup created by bringing equal parts sugar and water to a boil, adding mashed blackberries, and straining (once cool). This is just lemonade – lemon, sugar, and water – but with the delicate flavor of elderflower liquor and the tartness of blackberry. There’s plenty of time before Saturday to stock up on all ingredients.

The Belmont Stakes: the Belmont Breezer

The fastest running of the Belmont Stakes was on June 9, 1973, when famed horse Secretariat won the race and thus took home the Triple Crown, the first time for an American horse in over 25 years.

1.5 oz bourbon whiskey

.5 oz Dry Sherry

.5 oz lemon juice

3 teaspoons sugar

Orange juice

Cranberry juice

Mint

Orange zest

The eponymous Belmont racecourse is named after August Belmont, a famed New York politician of the American Civil War. A unionist democrat, Belmont used his influence in Europe to encourage the wealthy Rothschild banking empire not to loan money to the confederacy and personally met with the British Prime Minster and Napoleon III to force their neutrality in spite of disastrous economic consequences for their nations resulting from the blockade of confederate ports and the subsequent collapse of worldwide cotton production.

For many years, the traditional drink of the Belmont Stakes, run annually at the eponymous track in Nassau County, Long Island, was called the White Carnation, an apparently appalling a mixture of vodka, orange juice, peach schnapps, and heavy cream. Recently, however, this drink’s overall funkiness and tendency to curdle have caused it to fall out of favor; it has since been replaced with the Belmont Breezer, created by New York bartender Dale DeGroff in 1998.

Begin by combining the bourbon, sherry, lemon juice and sugar in a glass. Stir vigorously until all the sugar is dissolved, then add a splash each of cranberry and orange juice. Transfer to a glass, garnish with mint and a piece of orange rind, and enjoy.

Day 1

I frankly didn’t believe it when I heard “the Big Easy” and “Bourbon Street” come up as road trip clues as the list was being read in the wee hours of the morning in the “Warre Room,” the Snitchcock Scav headquarters. I thought there was no way it was within the 1,000 mile limit from campus and had hoped to only go as far as Nashville. However, New Orleans happens to lie about 920 miles from Chicago and was just close enough. So after our road trip team got fitted for the preposterous costumes we’d have to wear, we then caught a few short hours of sleep before heading out on our great Southern wanderquest.

Our team was made up of myself and two other guys from the house…and Debbie. She was the mother of a Scav captain brought in to join us on the road trip because we couldn’t get anyone from the house with a car to go, and due to the insurance requirements, we needed a driver with a car to join us.

The costumes are a way for the Scav judges to make sure you’re feeling UChicago-awkward no matter how far you’ve driven from Hyde Park. Debbie was dressed as the aluminum man with an emergency blanket cape, a shiny leotard, and a large sunglasses covered in aluminum foil. Cullen was dressed as Prince and wore a shiny blue silk jacket and acquired a crown of tin foil when he became “the King” at Graceland. Sean, as the Witch Doctoral Candidate, was dressed as a grad student with a white lab coat, a Mardi Gras mask, and a homemade voodoo doctor necklace of Barbie heads and toy rabbits with nails through their eyes.

We took off our costumes when we went in Lincoln’s tomb as a sign of respect, but when we went to find another grave, my friend Sean, in his voodoo garb, danced over the grave of some unknowing accordionist for the next item at the adjacent graveyard. This was only a preemptive return to childhood shenanigans, before we started going down slides (maybe meant for children? Because I could only make it down them curled tightly in the fetal position) at the St. Louis City Museum. Eventually, we ended up very tired and in Memphis, Tennessee.

Day 2

Though the hotel in Memphis had cockroaches, and the bathroom door was falling off its hinges, we made it to Graceland in the early morning to pay tribute–in costume and with a sandwich–to the grave site of Elvis Aaron Presley. The other visitors and guards at the grave site were not as excited about our costumes of tributary “fat Elvis” sandwich. The security guard used phrases such as but not limited to “It’s time for you to fear me” and “I’m not the one.”

Needless to say, we made a pretty quick departure. But we then ended up in the stranger and definitely scarier “Graceland Too” in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Graceland Too is a 24-hour Elvis museum run by a devoted fan, whose mental state seemed quite questionable as he showed us around his house that looked like an Elvis-themed episode of Hoarders. Through this, he made some excellent statements like “I found $100,000 and 35 Elvis suits in that Cadillac out back.” It was both horrifying and intriguing, and we got out very quickly.

We ate lunch in rural Canton, Mississippi, in a restaurant we found on accident called “Carrie Nash Loves Shirley Historical Kitchen.” The restaurant was inside of an old home and featured no menu, unlimited sweet tea, and your arteries’ worst nightmare laid out in a mouth-watering buffet. The food was all fried and terrible for all aspects of my physical health but also fantastic.

Then we drove and drove, and it rained all the way to New Orleans. We paraded around in our costumes with umbrellas as we played “drinking establishment bingo” by searching for various types of businesses serving alcohol in order to fill out a 5×5 bingo sheet of different categories given to us by the Scav judges that ranged from “door” (The Famous Door happens to be a bar), “kitchen” or “island.” Most people were too drunk or busy to notice that I was wearing a cape, besides the one old man who asked if I was leading a ghost tour.

Day 3   

After a night in a cockroach-less hotel in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, we went to the University of Alabama in search of a robot statue that Debbie was supposed to wake up next to. We performed an elaborate skit involving Debbie loudly yelling at the Robot for never really loving her aluminum self on the empty 8 a.m. campus. We were happy not to have to justify ourselves to any “normal” college students before we drove to Birmingham, which featured a road sign reminding passersby that “Ya’ll so beautiful.”

In Huntsville, we searched for a creationist science textbook in an attempt to help our team back home on an item. While there were two Christian book stores within a single mile on a strip of road, neither could be of help, so I had to settle for reliving memories of Space Camp at the Space and Rocket Center there in Huntsville (where my 8th grade self had spent a gleeful week learning about NASA) while we left a banana upon the grave of a chimp from the space program.

Eventually, we made our last stop in Indianapolis where, after getting lost, we eventually ended up waging our final dinosaur fight outside of the Children’s Museum. We frantically jumped around and yelled at the dinosaur statues (albeit to little effect) before making the most harrowing part of the drive–the Dan Ryan–and returning home.

Though Snell-Hitchcock only came in Third Place the next night, I still felt like we won mostly because regardless of the point totals, this was the third year in a row I got to go on a grand adventure. I can’t imagine people had more fun than I did because every year during Scav, I’m so happy that I don’t ever believe that anyone has ever had this much fun before. This is a moment to do preposterous things with your friends and see the bits of America you would never find and really, for just one weekend, not care what anyone thinks and wear a cape in public.

In a May 8 press release, the Institute’s founding director Matthew Tirrell emphasized the interdisciplinary nature envisioned for the program. At its eventual target size, the program is expected to comprise 25 faculty members and accommodate between 180 and 240 doctoral students, Tirrell said. The molecular engineering courses will be open to all students in other UChicago Ph.D. programs.

The Council of the University Senate approved the proposal for the program earlier this month. Applications will be accepted beginning this fall.

A sampling of the many transit options in Hyde Park that can take students to popular Red Line destinations.

While the Chicago Transit Authority rebuilds the 40-year-old tracks along the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line between the Cermak/Chinatown and 95th/Dan Ryan stations, Red Line service south of Roosevelt will be nonexistent. Construction will begin at 2 a.m. on Sunday and continue until the track reconstruction is completed in October.

According to the CTA website, free nonstop shuttles will run between the Garfield Station and every closed station between 63rd and 95th/Dan Ryan. In addition, a free shuttle will provide nonstop service between the Roosevelt station and the closed Cermak-Chinatown station.

But since these shuttles will do little to ease the plight of Hyde Park residents, enter the Maroon’s guide to transit alternatives that can help you get to some common Red Line destinations. In general, alternative routes may be more crowded than usual, and the CTA advises passengers to allow for extra travel time. For more information and service alternatives, visit redlinesouth.com, which includes a trip planner to help users find customized alternative routes.

Your Guide to the Red Line Closure

Chinatown: Take the #4 bus to Michigan Avenue and Cermak Road. Walk south on Michigan, turn right on Cermak, and walk half a mile until you reach Wentworth Avenue. You should find yourself at the Chinatown Red Line station.

Roosevelt Road: Take the Green Line from either 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue or the Garfield station (via the #55 bus) to the Roosevelt “L” stop.

The #192 bus from 59th Street and Drexel Avenue runs to the “L” stop from 3:45-7:00 p.m. on weekdays.

The #4 bus will take you to Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road.

The Metra train from the 55/56/57th Street station makes a stop at Museum Campus/11th Street.

U.S. Cellular Field: Take the #55 bus to Racine Avenue and Garfield Boulevard. From there, get on the #44 bus and ride it to Wallace Avenue and 37th Street. Walk east for half a mile.

Take the #4 bus to 35th Street and Indiana Avenue and walk west for one mile.

The Loop: Take the #6 bus, the Green Line, the Metra, or, from 3:50–6:10 p.m. on weekdays, the #2 bus.

—Additional reporting by Celia Bever and Harini Jaganathan

Photo: Tiffany Tan/The Chicago Maroon

Third-year sociology major Liz Denhup discusses the issues surrounding the group's status as low-income students at a panel discussion presented by the new Socioeconomic Acceptance and Diversity Alliance RSO at OMSA yesterday.

Third-year Liz Denhup shared the difficulties she experienced in balancing classes with a job. Originally intending to major in chemistry, she had to change her plans after she began working 10 to 15 hours a week in order to cover basic expenses like food and textbooks. After illness led her to miss several weeks of work, she approached Associate Director of Financial Aid Phyllis Franks about her situation. Denhup claimed that Franks responded by telling her that “financial aid was not designed for students with incomes as low as yours.”

Last quarter, third-year and founding SADA member Lynda Lopez began connecting with other RSOs including Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A.), Organization of Black Students, as well as OMSA, in order to gauge student interest in an RSO dedicated to issues surrounding low-income and first-generation students. She found a core group of people that eventually founded SADA. Beginning this quarter, the group has led small group discussions.

The founding members of SADA also started the Class Confessions Facebook group. Fourth-year Cynthia de la Rosa, the panel’s moderator, said the student response to the prospect of establishing a dialogue about social class issues on campus was “overwhelmingly positive.”

In an interview with the Maroon, de la Rosa outlined the three main goals of SADA. The first is to advocate for more resources for low-income students, like hiring an advisor specifically to work with low-income and first-generation students. Secondly, the group hopes to create a social venue that brings together struggling low-income students from programs like QuestBridge and recipients of the University’s Odyssey Scholarship. The group’s third goal is to begin visible, campus-wide discussions on socioeconomic class.

In comparing UChicago with other elite institutions, including Princeton, Harvard, and MIT, Lopez said that resources for low-income and first-generation college students were lacking at all the schools but that the other institutions were starting to address issue through support groups and mentoring programs.

“The University has done a lot in recent years to bring in more low-income students, but this effort has to be connected with ways to make that experience better once they’re here,” Lopez said. “Recruiting is only the first step.”

The panel was comprised of third-year Lynda Lopez, third-year Valentina Solano, third-year Liz Denhup, and fifth-year Luis Amaya and moderated by fourth-year Cynthia de la Rosa.

In response to student complaints, Associate Dean and Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division Thomas Christensen is currently forming a committee to meet with the art departments in order to reexamine the kinds of Core courses they offer and their class size caps. The committee will also examine the “philosophy” of the art Core, its consistency with various disciplines, and the classes’ goals within the Core as a whole.

While noting that there are courses that fulfill the art requirement that are not in high demand, Christensen admits that registering for Core art, music, and drama can be very difficult, mostly due to the extreme popularity of the courses.

“It’s hard to predict year by year where the pressure is going to be,” Christensen said. “We look at where the pressure is and try to change the number of sections. We never promise that we’re going to meet the demand of students.”

Second-year Alexa Karczmar expressed frustration at how competitive it is to get into a creative writing course. After not being placed in either Introduction to Genres: Four Western Myths or The American City in Literature: Past, Present, Future, and Fantasy through regular registration this spring, she decided not to try to pink slip into the class since dozens of other students were already on the class waitlist.

“If I want to register for a creative writing class because I think it would be beneficial to my education, it shouldn’t be an arms race to do so,” she said.

First-year Noah Christians suggested that an expansion of the introductory-level art classes would help mitigate the competition to get into a particular course.

“I realize there are a lot of students who need to take the class, but I’d still like to get in. There are so few options for the visual arts at an introductory level,” he said in a Facebook message to the Maroon.

Finding funding to increase the number of art sections is not an issue, according to Dean of Students Susan Art. Instead, she identified “logistical” struggles, such as the need for sufficient space and qualified faculty, which affect students’ access to art classes.

“We’ve been very aware of this situation. We’ve done research into the bidding process. Dean Boyer understands students’ preferences, given the kind of problems we’re facing, but it’s going to be hard,” she said.

Christensen said that the Division of the Humanities, which encompasses the art departments, has already taken several steps to increase availability to Core art classes. He noted that the number of sections offered each year have increased consistently during his time as Master of the Division of the Humanities.

“We try to increase it so it meets the demands of our best estimates of previous enrollment histories,” Christensen said.

Assistant Dean of Students Colbey Harris also noted several changes that have been made in order to increase access to Core art classes. History and Theory of Drama, a course with a relatively large capacity, was introduced recently, and Harper-Schmidt Fellows have been employed to teach extra sections of art, music, and drama.

“There are unfilled seats in [art, music, and drama] Core classes every quarter. Students can’t always get their first choice class, but the same can be said of popular classes outside of [art, music, and drama] Core as well,” she said.

Harris encourages students to apply for Core art classes during their first two years, as first and second-years have priority over upperclassmen for Core classes.

Despite all of the changes, Harris indicates that they have no plans to loosen the current requirements.

“I don’t think Chicago students are here to find easier ways to fulfill curricular requirements. Anyone who finds him [or] herself in that frame of mind is missing the boat.”

Photo: Courtesy of Bryn Mawr College

Michele Rasmussen, current Dean of the Undergraduate College at Bryn Mawr College, will assume her role as UChicago's Dean of Students July 8th.

As a commuter student at the University of California, Los Angeles, Rasmussen maintained an off-campus job, limiting the time she spent involved in campus activities. Since then, she has spent her entire adult life in college and university settings, mostly as an administrator focused on student life.

“In some ways, it’s part of a curious way to recapture something I never, myself, had,” she said in an interview with the Maroon.

In July, Rasmussen will join the UChicago community as the second-ranking administrator in the Office of Campus and Student Life under Karen Warren Coleman, the vice president of the office. Prior to Warren Coleman’s ascension to the role, Kimberly Goff-Crews served as vice president of campus life and dean of students. After Goff-Crews announced she was leaving for Yale last year, University officials promoted then-Associate Vice President for Campus Life Warren Coleman. However, she only took on the vice presidential title, leaving the position of dean of students vacant.

On redefining the role, University spokesperson Jeremy Manier said in an e-mail: “We felt that it was critical and timely to provide more capacity for direct, senior-level support for students.”

Rasmussen, who currently serves as dean of the undergraduate college at Bryn Mawr College, will oversee 12 programs and services, including the Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities, the University Community Service Center, and Resources for Sexual Violence Prevention, and will manage a staff of around 90 people.

Born and raised in New Zealand, Rasmussen received a bachelor’s degree in history and art history from UCLA and a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University.  After graduate school, uninspired by the possibility of a career in academia but unsure of what to do next, Rasmussen worked at Duke’s career advising office. This led to higher-ranking positions in student life and academic services there and at Wesleyan University, and eventually at Bryn Mawr, where she has worked since 2010.

Rasmussen has primarily worked with undergraduates, so part of the draw of coming to UChicago was the opportunity to oversee both undergraduate and graduate students. She said she plans to spend her first few months in conversation with deans and students to gauge their specific needs.

“Students [at Bryn Mawr] know that they can just send me an email or call my office and get on my calendar and come meet with me,” she said. “And I don’t really see why that should change at University of Chicago.”

She also chose to come to UChicago, after visiting campus and being interviewed by students and administrators, because “it is paying a lot of attention to the quality of the student experience,” she said.

Along with her administrative work, Rasmussen currently teaches anthropology at Bryn Mawr. Though she does not now have plans to teach or pursue scholarship when she comes to UChicago, she said she welcomes the opportunity to share her research with the campus community.

“If anyone ever wants to come talk to me about lemurs or primate behavior or Madagascar, I will take them up on that.”

Photo: Courtesy of XL

The release of a new Vampire Weekend album is a weird thing because it causes a disproportionate amount of rage from people who otherwise don’t seem to really care about this type of music. New Deerhunter album, new Grizzly Bear album, whatever, you either dig that Urban Outfitters stuff or you don’t. But a new Vampire Weekend album, now everybody who hates them is crawling out of the woodwork and screaming about it. This is one of those things where cultural dialogue seems like it’s going on even in spite of itself.

Which explains the media narrative surrounding the new album: Music publications that have always loved Vampire Weekend still love Vampire Weekend, only now it’s a little passé because of all the people who hate the living hell out of them for reasons that range from completely legitimate to wildly off-base (who cares if they’re Ivy League?). Yet every review I have read of Modern Vampires in the past week has included at least some mention of how this is the album that will turn the opinion of those who prefer their indie-pop a little less high-pitched and manic.

This is when I should say that my relationship to Vampire Weekend is fraught, or complicated, and when I should mention that I have some kind of interesting perspective on this discussion that hasn’t been aired much, but really, I don’t. Basically, I hate Vampire Weekend. I hate that guy’s stupid voice, that stupid Cape Cod thing (is it a dance? I don’t care), that stupid chandelier, the fact that they ruined the opening credits to Step Brothers (an otherwise perfect film).

And this is where I should say that I hate Modern Vampires of the City, that I am sticking to my guns and not looking back, that the media narrative has done nothing to sway my opinion. But, those would be lies. This album is pretty good.

Part of why people are gravitating towards the “game-changer” angle is because the album really does grab your attention immediately as not sounding like a Vampire Weekend record. While opener “Obvious Bicycle” would seem to have all the hallmarks of irritation—mainly, Ezra Koenig’s effete warbling of self-consciously wordy lyrics—it also boasts a melody that is downright freaking gorgeous, and the arrangement doesn’t get in the way of it at all. This turns out to be a theme. The first seven songs on this album each have at least one melodic turn, a chorus usually, or just a cool phrase, that will be lodged in your brain for several days.

Also, the production is suddenly weird and kind of cool. They’ve brought in Ariel Rechtshaid, known for his work on Usher’s Pitchfork fave “Climax.” This was a good call. I know nothing about electronica, but these little technological flourishes, like the vocal modulations on “Diane Young,” serve this band well. It feels totally natural, softening the edges of their fastidiousness.

But what’s really unexpected is how spacious these songs are. Earlier Vampire Weekend records were marked sonically by the cluttered, twee aping of Graceland-era Paul Simon, but this thing really breathes, and its breath is heaving with detail. Most songs are driven by some simple chords on a piano or harpsichord and a subtly electro-fied drum part, making fantastic use of dynamics and giving Koenig’s breathtaking melodies center stage.

A word like “breathtaking” sounds like hyperbole, but, honestly, there are more than a few moments here that made me kind of gasp at the hubris from this Koenig guy. The melodies are slow and languid, and it feels like you’ve heard them before in the best, most uncanny way. A lot of them sound classic. Koenig is shooting high—Roy Orbison, Paul McCartney, Kinks, later Paul Simon—and, mostly, he’s hitting his marks, which for me was kind of shocking. These songs are often incredibly simple, but enough of them reach that point of melodic bliss where even the deep-rooted nerd in me wasn’t complaining about the 1–5–1 chord changes, he was just singing along.

The highlights here are “Step” and “Hannah Hunt.” I don’t even know what to say about these songs, they’re just really beautiful, basically perfect. The melodies induce tears, the lyrics aren’t even annoying because they’re rhythmically tailored to the song. They have been in my head for days. There’s a moment about a minute from the end of “Hannah Hunt” where Koenig starts to really cut loose and belt that will just kill you if you like this kind of thing. Everyone I’ve talked to about this album has mentioned that moment. It’s crazy. You should listen to it.

It’s not perfect. The winning streak ends at track eight, “Finger Back,” which is truly irritating in the manner of previous VW releases, and the next one, “Worship You,” which is quite boring. But “Ya Hey” and “Hudson” send things out nicely (with lots more vocal modulation to keep everyone satisfied).

So, maybe, if it wasn’t before, my relationship with Vampire Weekend actually is fraught, because I find myself falling for an album that I had no interest in hearing a month ago. I wouldn’t say that I, the “hater,” have been proven wrong, because Contra still sucks, but I have proven myself right on a theory I’ve always had: It is stupid to evaluate music based on reputation. I said it after I actually liked the new Strokes album, and I’m saying it again now after I’ve ended up liking the new Vampire Weekend album. To quote Koenig from the opener, “So listen. Don’t wait.”

COUP’S CARNIVAL

12–5 p.m.

Cost: Free

Location: Main Quads

A perennial favorite, COUP will be providing a huge spread of free food, featuring Jamba Juice, soft pretzels, burgers, and other grilled items, and an ice cream truck. After students get their sugar highs, they can head over to the six different inflatables, the hypnotist, or the digital photobooth. Also appearing at the carnival are ten different student performance groups: the Folk Arts Community, UChicago Bhangra, Gingarte Capoeira, Dirt Red Brass Band, Voices in Your Head, The Koong, RBIM Irish Dance, PhiNix, Maya, and Raas.

WHPK’S SUMMER BREEZE

12–5 p.m.

Cost: Free

Location: Main Quads

A daytime companion to the carnival, the WHPK [Punk] Summer Breeze show will feature six independent [punk] bands as an alternative to the MAB lineup. The WHPK acts for this year are from Chicago, Detroit, Louisville, and Austin, but will be showing up to campus to the tune of three chords.

Tyvek: Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, this alternative punk band played its first show in 2005. Its most recent album, On Triple Beams, was released last fall and, along with the band’s name itself, clearly draws inspiration from efforts to revitalize and rebuild the members’ hometown. In a review of its single called “Wayne County Roads,” a song inspired by the band members’ many young friends who have moved away from the Detroit area, Pitchfork called its sound “explosive and restrained, stupid-simple and arch in the same breath.”

Geronimo!: This Chicago indie-pop band is another group that has been praised for the “explosive” moments in its music. In addition to two full-length albums, the trio has a project called Buzz Yr Girlfriend, a collection of recycled cassette tapes with four new Geronimo! tracks on one side and mysterious music on the other (whatever the tape originally played before the band repurposed it). There are three editions of the project to date; the most recent, Vol 3 – The Metal David Byrne, was released in March.

OOZE: Another Chicago group, OOZE, is an industrial hardcore band. Its last.fm page says, “OOZE fittingly attacks the stage with their electro assault as if the apocalypse is here and they are the radioactive hot outer plume of the Mushroom cloud.” Founded in 1992, OOZE has released two EPs and went on a U.S. tour in 2002.

Anwar Sadat: Hailing from Louisville, Anwar Sadat is a post-punk group whose most recent record, Gold, dropped on February 12. Its titular track is full of growly vocals, distorted chords, and cries of, “Why does it take so long?/Why do you wait so long?”

Spray Paint: The Chicago Reader has praised Spray Paint, an Austin noise-rock group, for its “jumpy noise-punk with a wonky, sketchy vibe and a country-fried drawl.” Its LP, Spray Paint, was released on S.S. Records this January.

Dikes of Holland: Also from Austin, Dikes of Holland, a garage punk band, released its second album titled Braindead USA in July 2012. The group of five includes Liz Burrito, the only female performer who will take either stage of the Summer Breeze concerts this year. Her vocals are showcased on the verses of tracks such as “Meat Eaters,” a driving song with energetic, group-chanted choruses.

MAB’S SUMMER BREEZE

Cost: $20 Students, $25 Staff

Location: Hutch Courtyard

MAB received significant criticism from the 21-plus crowd this year due to the elimination of the traditional Beer Garden, which it cut along with the Winter Comedy Show. The savings bring UChicago the following line-up:

Nelly: Headlining this year’s Summer Breeze is hip-hop recording artist Nelly, from St. Louis, Missouri. His 2000 debut, Country Grammar, and its titular single are among his best-known works, as well as tracks like “Hot in Herre” and “Air Force Ones.” Perhaps his most known venture is his stake in Apple Bottoms, the denim label that has been made iconic by Flo Rida and T-Pain in their song “Low.”

Lunice: Lunice, a Canadian producer and DJ, entered the entertainment business as a competitive break-dancer in the early 2000s and began making his own music in 2007. Together with Hudson Mohawke, he performs as the group TNIGHT. On his own, he creates remix versions of artists such as The xx, Deerhunter, Ryan Leslie, and Foster The People.

Smith Westerns: Chicago natives Smith Westerns are replacing AraabMUZIK, the originally advertised act who is recovering from gunshot wounds. A refreshing addition that brings some much-needed diversity to the line-up, the indie rock group is no newcomer to Summer Breeze; it performed at WHPK’s festival in 2008. After a self-titled debut album on HoZac Records, it released Dye It Blonde in 2011, a Britpop inspired full-length album which received an 8.4 rating from Pitchfork.

Photo: Courtesy of Longman and Eagle

Lame maxim aside, Longman & Eagle (ampersand, please) is a North Side—and greater Chicago—landmark, a paragon of the gastropub form that has swept through this city like a delicious disease. However, unlike other hunter-gatherer restaurants, Longman bears the added distinction of Michelin approval; its one star is indicative of “very good cuisine in its category.” Not that Longman is exactly hankering for the recognition attached to the honor, as evidenced by the placement of its plaques atop the highest reaches of the whiskey bar.

Fortunately, two years running and the Longman team is not allowing the culinary stardom to get to its head, though the dishes that emerge from the kitchen still glimmer and glow amid the perpetual dusk of the interior. A cursory glance at the primary ingredients at play may cause you to gasp, “Loins, and tartares, and boars…oh my!” but on the whole, nothing is too intimidating or challenging. It’s “comfort” food in the comforting sense, and the menu is straightforward in its divisions—Bar Snacks, Small Plates, and Large Plates.

I can’t say the Bar Snacks are particularly “snackable,” but go ahead and order them as appetizers. The Slagel Family Farms meatballs have texture and provide resistance to the bite, rather than being some emulsified mess that cleaves as soon as you rest a knife on top of it. Same goes for the luxuriant pesto and polenta base: Longman knows that you probably have a bland-polenta-induced fever, and that the only prescription is more cow cheese—in this case, a lovely fonduta sauce. It’s a small but mighty dish: again, not really a bar snack, but a meatball by any other name would taste just as suh-weet. Unfortunately, the venison pâté is not quite as praiseworthy. As a standard pâté, it’s absolutely fine; as a venison pâté, conjuring images of a wild hunt, it under-delivers. At least the pickles are nice.

Though the Michelin brand has recently sought to shun the elitist associations its reviews carry, the Small Plates at Longman hew close to the refined sensibilities of the Michelin tradition. That is to say, the food is small and the plates are large, as are their corresponding price tags. Then again, the level of craftsmanship and presentation on display is a legitimate reason to eat my words. A bacon-wrapped rabbit loin is the foundation of a classic version of an already deconstructed classic. Whoosh That’s some mind-blowing meta-cooking shit right there. The dish is a play on pot pie, right down to the puff pastry slabs, caramelized root veggies, and gravy-sauce hybrid, the main carrier of flavor. It’s fatty and rich and tasty and all that jazz, but there’s a reason the gravy is hidden under a layer of dough. Sometimes beauty is flaky-crust thin. On the opposite end of the heartiness metric lie the refreshingly non-carnivorous ricotta gnudi. Gnocchi’s nimble, elegant cousin, the five marble-sized orbs are so fragile that slicing into them seems a culinary crime akin to clubbing a baby seal. Then again, baby seals don’t pair wonderfully with artichokes, fava beans, and black garlic puree.

Many of the dishes at Longman come with more than a little assembly required in order to obtain an optimal bite, but it’s worth the effort. From the Big Plates, the special was a Pressed Pork Shoulder, prepared with a quasi-Mexican flare that also emulates Chicago’s indigenous jibarito sandwich. The jibarito substitutes crispy plantains for bread. Longman takes this theme and runs with it: A block of pulled pork is graced with plantain chips, hominy, cilantro gel, and pickled vegetables. Hominy and I make pretty good company—especially when it’s this well prepared—and the pork itself is made with a touch of modernist technique. Greater than the sum of its parts, the pork is cooked, pulled apart only to be reassembled, and then crisped up to make a nice crusty edge. It’s better, smokier, and fattier than it was before.

Post pork consumption, I was struck by the question of how much added value, taste-wise, an exotic animal contributes. So, to rephrase my earlier sentiment, “Loins, and tartares, and boars…but why?” There’s certainly an inherent sense of excitement and adventure in eating unconventional, or uncommon, forms of protein—but maybe there’s a reason why we don’t consume wild game on a regular basis, beyond the fact that the only hunting or foraging most of us do is confined to the frosty hinterlands of the refrigerator. My meal was ceremoniously capped off with Longman’s famous Wild Boar Sloppy Joe. Accented with fried sage, onions, and an entire pickled jalapeno, it’s hard to put down. Literally. Once you start eating this sandwich, God forbid you pause for breath, or else the whole assembly will come crashing down. But damn, it’s good, even if the spice blend is so pungent that you could substitute raccoon meat for boar and get the same result.

I started my meal at Longman & Eagle with a mushroom gelée and sea bean amuse, and concluded with beef fat fries slathered in ketchup. The discord between the two speaks volumes. What Michelin-starred establishment has the cojones to even make this attempt? It’s amazing how such a small space can appeal to such a vast diner demographic and can be a purveyor of truly “eagle-itarian” fare. In fact, this Eagle may soon be landing in Hyde Park, the logic and logistics of which confound me. The new restaurant is part of a recent wave of Hyde Park gentrification—or is it re-gentrification at this point? Actually, “gentri-fauxcation” is the operative term here, or the delusion that a liberal seasoning of North Side businesses—Five Guys, Clarke’s, Akira, Kilwins—will create equilibrium among the tyranny of Thai and mediocrity of the Med currently on display. But I do believe in miracles, especially of the culinary variety, and if the protégé of Longman & Eagle, tentatively dubbed “Promontory,” measures up to even a decile of the sensei, then there’s hope yet for Hyde Park.

Longman & Eagle is located at 2657 N. Kedzie Ave. The average Small Plate is $13.