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LOYOLA PHOENIXT H E AWA R D - W I N N I N G S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R O F L O Y O L A U N I V E R S I T Y C H I C A G O V O L U M E 4 6 | I S S U E 7 |
W E D N E S D A Y, O C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 4
Latest Nicolas Cage movie takes viewers on Biblical raptureBY LAYNE [email protected]
Nineteen years after the release of Tim LaHaye’s and Jerry B. Jenkins’ novel Left Behind, the Biblical narrative is hitting the big screen for its second adaptation.
Depicting a contemporary story of the Biblical Judgement Day –– where all true Christian believers are taken to heaven –– the novel turned into a 16-book series, intriguing not only Christians, but apocalyptic fans as well. Taken up by producer Paul LaLonde, the story was adapted into a movie in 2000, but did not do well in the box office. Now, LaLonde has produced the film again with action specialist director Vic Armstrong and A-list stars such as Nicolas Cage, Jordin Sparks and Cassi Thomson.
The Phoenix had a chance to chat with the producer, the director and the three stars about the film, which hits theaters Oct. 3.
The story aims to portray the Biblical rapture, leaving non-Christians to a seven-year period of judgment.
LaHaye and Jenkins crafted the novel to center around pilot Ray Steele (Cage), the passengers of his flight after the supposed Judgment Day and the traumatic events occurring on the ground.
Although the movie is action-packed, it still includes themes of family, love and the relationships all the characters have with one another.
“Ray Steele gets back to his true need for family through this experience, through this extraordinary experience, and understands the value of family and just wants to get back to that no matter what happens,” Cage said.
Ray’s daughter, Chloe (Thomson), is waiting for her dad’s flight to land when the rapture hits. Although they had a rocky relationship in the past, the event pulls them together as they fight for their lives.
“The thing that’s so beautiful about Chloe and so beautiful about the way she’s written is that … her struggles always kind of circle around her family,” Thomson said.
SEE LEFT BEHIND PAGE 11
When it comes to racial diversity on campus in Chicago, Loyola lags behind DePaul University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), according to a September 2014 study by U.S. News and World Report.
Taking a quick look around campus, Loyola students usually see the same thing: a lot of white, suburban women.
That observation isn’t too far off. Loyola’s common data set for 2013 to 2014 shows that women make up 65 percent of the undergraduate population, and 61 percent of the students are white. More than two-thirds of Loyola students are from Illinois.
In many ways, Loyola reflects national trends in higher education. According to the most recent census data, more women are now attending college than men. Likewise, white
students account for more than 70 percent of college graduates.
Yet the university beats the national average for ethnic diversity. Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Americans and Hawaiian Islanders, or “people of color,” represent 39 percent of Loyola’s undergraduate population. Nationally, these students account for only 29 percent of college graduates. The university’s common data set does not report on students’ economic profiles or their religious and sexual identities.
L o y o l a ’ s D i r e c t o r o f Undergraduate Admiss ion Lor i Greene said more than 30 percent of the university’s students are the first in their families to attend college.
Between Jesuit universities in the U.S., Loyola also has one of the highest numbers of federal Pell grant recipients, with 31 percent of students receiving the aid award.
SEE DIVERSITY PAGE 6
Courtesy of Stoney Lake Entertainment
NEWS | Yik Yak’s potential problems | PAGE 3
OPINION| Printing woes | PAGE 7
A&E | BANKS, ODESZA sold-out shows in Chicago | PAGE 11
JANE NEUFELDLoyola appoints new dean of Student Development
NEWS | PAGE 5
SYDNEY STUENKEL Junior runner leads women’s
cross-country teamSPORTS | PAGE 14
BioSoap gets mixed reviews
Courtesy of Loyola University Chicago
Loyola’s BioSoap is made from waste from biofuel production at the university’s environmental lab. Loyola has been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency for its sustainability efforts.
STAFF EDITORIAL
Loyola still falls short on student
diversityUniversity lags behind other
city schools in diversity, inclusiveness of student body
BY LILLIAN [email protected]
Students are noticing Loyola’s latest eco-friendly innovation in an unlikely location: campus restrooms. BioSoap, a sustainable hand soap developed by Loyola students, now fills soap dispensers in restrooms in all major class buildings and some residence halls.
S tudents f rom Solut ions to Environmental Problems (STEP), an interdisciplinary course addressing sustainability issues, began producing
biodiesel fuel in 2008 with a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The fuel is made in Loyola’s own biodiesel lab, located in the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES). The project generates about 30,000 gallons of biofuel yearly from leftover vegetable cooking oil collected across Chicago.
STEP students took the waste-reducing process a step further and began utilizing leftovers of the biofuel production to make the project even more sustainable. They use glycerin,
a by-product of the process, to create the liquid hand soap known as BioSoap. Although the soap has been in production since 2008, it has been popping up in restrooms on-campus more this year.
Junior Joe Straitiff started working on the production of biofuel and BioSoap through a fellowship over the summer and now volunteers every Monday.
“More or less, there’s no waste in the whole process,” the 20-year-old environmental studies and international studies double major said.
SEE SOAP PAGE 5
2 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | LOYOLA PHOENIX
Esther D. CastillejoDominic CiolliAshley IannantoneRobert Baurley
Grace RunkelMary ByrneMadie Scott
Elizabeth Greiwe
Ariahna BlackLayne Hillesland
editor-in-chiefassociate editor
managing editorgeneral manager
news editorassistant news editorassistant news editor
closer look editor
A&E editorassistant A&E editor Robert Herguth faculty adviser
opinion editor
sports editorsports editor
photography editor
design editor
copy editorcopy editor
social media manager
Rachel Heying Bridget MurphyJoaquin Carrig
Ellen Bauch
Marissa Boulanger
Thea DiLeonardiAngela Stewart
Ashley Harrell
STAFF CONTACT US
CONTRIBUTELetters to the Editor | [email protected]
Photos | [email protected] Look | [email protected]
LOYOLA PHOENIX
We are nearing the middle of the semester; freshmen lanyards are gone, and senior nostalgia has started to set in for many of us graduating at the end of this year.
This is The Phoenix’s last issue before a well-deserved fall break, so we come in with insightful features and commentary on some of the things happening at Loyola, our neighborhoods and the city right now.
We open up the issue by taking a look at Loyola’s sustainability efforts, which have hit yet another spot: university restrooms. Ever wondered what is with the soap in many of Loyola’s buildings? We are bringing you the reasons behind its interesting consistency and smell.
We move on to explore the numerous changes happening at our university, starting with a profile of Loyola’s new vice president and dean of students, Jane Neufeld, and her ideas for the years to come. We then address another big change: the new MCAT, which directly affects pre-med students making up a large part of our community.
Two accidents involving Loyola’s intercampus shuttles took place last week. We bring you the details on the collisions and the discrepancies between the university’s account of the facts and the statement issued by Chicago’s Transit Authority.
Also, it’s a sensation with the freshman class, but
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what exactly is it and what do advisers think of it? We’re breaking down Yik Yak and its possible effects on university campuses.
The Opinion section is full of interaction this week, featuring a letter responding to columnist Dominic Lynch and a piece on the woes of printing costs on campus. Don’t miss out on these two op-eds and more commentary from our contributors.
Our Editorial Board is exploring a complex topic in higher education in this week’s staff editorial. In such a cultural melting pot as Chicago, how does Loyola measure up when it comes to diversity in the student body? Is our school truly a “home for all”?
Also, our monthly Photo Briefs are in this week! We explore the best of Edgewater’s Fall Art Fair, which brought artists from all over our neighborhood for a day of community building and fun. Phoenix photography editor, Ellen Bauch, was there and is bringing you an inside look into the highlights of the fair.
We close up the week’s issue with the some of the highlights of Arts and Entertainment in Chicago, including exclusive interviews and video that you can find online.
Our Sports section is not lagging behind, and this week we feature a variety of profiles, game recaps and sports commentary from our contributors and editors.
Look for The Phoenix online next week! We won’t be hitting the stands the Wednesday after fall break, but we’re providing you with brand new content on our website, loyolaphoenix.com.
As always, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates and online-only content.
ESTHER D. CASTILLEJOEditor-in-Chief
@estherdcast
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK SECURITY NOTEBOOK
Compiled fromCampus Safety Reports
Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, 7:26 p.m.A non-Loyola affiliated person who has been previously banned from campus was found drinking beer in the lower level of Damen Student Center. He was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing.
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, 4:56 p.m.A man who had been previously banned from campus property was arrested at the Loyola Red Line stop and was charged with criminal trespassing.
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, 5:42 p.m.A man was found urinating in public at the Loyola Red Line stop. He was issued a citation by the Chicago Police Department.
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, 6:52 p.m.A student living in Baumhart Hall reported receiving harassing phone calls from a former roommate.
Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, 10:35 a.m.A student reported that an unknown person verbally threatened him near the 7-11 on Sheridan Road.
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, 7:52 p.m.Residence Life requested Campus Safety take possession of drug paraphernalia and knives found in Campion Hall.
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014, 4:15 p.m.An alumnus caused a disturbance by refusing to properly check into the IC.
Monday, Sept. 29, 2014, 7:39 a.m.Residence Life requested that Campus Safety take possession of a fake ID that had been found over the weekend in Fordham Hall.
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Security Notebook Map
Water Tower Campus
Check out where this week’s security notebook incidents occured. Numbers correspond to above. Check online for the rest of the incidents.
EMAIL Editor-in-chief | [email protected]
News | [email protected] Sports |[email protected]
A&E |[email protected] |[email protected]
Editorial | 312.915.7240
3NEWS | OCTOBER 1, 2014
BY MARK [email protected]
Sharing the word. Growing the herd. Since the beginning of the school year, the social media app Yik Yak has become more popular with Loyola students.
But the app has also received negative attention from several Je-suit universities, including Loyola.
Yik Yak was first launched in 2013 and has been growing by almost 100 users per day nation-wide since the start of the school year, according to a statement from the app’s makers in a Tech-Crunch.com article.
The app resembles Twitter, but all posts are anonymous and only posts within a 10-mile radius of the user are displayed. Users can “upvote” a post, similar to favorit-ing a tweet, as well as “yak back” to posts via replies.
Critics of the app, including some Loyola faculty and stu-dents, fear that the ability to remain anonymous will create a forum for cyberbullying.
“This type of anonymity may decrease the responsibility of the person,” said Loyola theology pro-fessor Dr. Colby Dickinson. “If you’re anonymous and you don’t have to take accountability for what you say, you could just say terrible things.”
In addition to vulgar and sex-ual posts, Colgate University, the University of Delaware and the University of Texas at Austin have reported seeing racist language.
Although she is worried about some of the offensive posts on the app, Loyola’s Vice President of Stu-dent Development, Jane Neufeld, said the university has no plans to ban the app.
“I don’t want to censor,” Neufeld said. “[Students are] young adults. It’s my hope that people would use it responsibly. We don’t have any plans to block it, because then where do you stop?”
Yik Yak’s growing herd raises cyberbullying concerns
Screenshot by Mark Sellin // Yik Yak
To deter cyberbullying, the creators of Yik Yak have blocked access to the app from high school servers. The above message will appear when the app is accessed from a school’s wifi.
What the yak?Loyola’s yakkers have been known to post about the
slow automatic doors in the Damen Student Center and the poor wifi signals in the residence halls. This week,
students yakked about the critters on campus.
Students taking action surrounding Yik Yak
1. Norwich University: Yik Yak has been banned from this private military university. Since Sept. 20, students accessing the app on the university’s server have been unable to post.
3. Colgate University: More than 300 stu-dents staged a three-day sit-in Sept. 22-24. Students used the hashtags #CanYouHearUs-Now and #SoThisIsColgate to protest racist posts uploaded through the app.
2. Syracuse University: The staff of The Dai-ly Orange, the student paper, published an editorial saying the university should not ban the app. Instead, the editorial board said the focus should be on finding out why students post hateful messages.
Courtesy of @doctorkaykaydeeCourtesy of Saul Costa Courtesy of Society of News Design
Norwich University, a private military college located in Ver-mont, banned the app to prevent cyberbullying. While students can still access Yik Yak on the universi-ty’s server, they cannot post.
Other universities have had student-led initiatives that either discourage using the app or en-courage using it in a positive way.
Boston College, with more than 9,000 users, is one of Yik Yak’s most popular locations, ac-cording to a Boston.com article. The Jesuit university recently posted a video of students reading hateful comments from Yik Yak to raise cyberbullying awareness.
Students at Fairfield University, a Jesuit institution located in Con-necticut, decided to post “Cards of Kindness,” which said positive things about students and staff at the university with the hashtag “#StopTheYak.”
Although offensive posts still exist, the creators of Yik Yak have taken precautions to help pre-vent cyberbullying.
Under the rules and info sec-tion in the app, Yik Yak establishes a zero-tolerance for bullying policy. “You do not bully or specifically tar-get other yakkers” is listed twice as a rule.
If users see offensive posts, they can choose to report or “downvote,” the post, which is similar to flagging. If a post is “downvoted” five times, it is de-leted from the app.
Several high schools around the country, including Whitney Young high school in Chicago, have expe-rienced situations where students have been harassed by users of the app, according to a Chicago Tri-bune article.
When the creators of the app learned of this, they banned the app in high school locations. The ban, however, is limited to school wifi networks, which means the app can still be used with cellular data plans.
Loyola’s resident assistants
(RAs) have also been paying attention to the app. In some cases, Yik Yak has been used to discover parties around campus, according to Mertz RA, junior Mike Smith.
“If there’s wind of something that’s happening, we have to be ready,” the 20-year-old biology major said. “Even if it’s just hearsay or people just joking around, we still just have to be sure and check just in case the wrong things are going on.”
Despite the problems associat-ed with anonymous posting, yak-kers at Loyola think anonymity is crucial to the app.
“People can just say what they want to say without the fear of being identified,” said freshman Derek Schlax. “It does give you an outlet to get things out, be-cause sometimes we internalize things, and that could lead to bigger problems.”
Freshman biology major Taegh Sohkey said the anonymity of Yik Yak is important to making sure all ideas are voiced.
“It has enabled our citizens to speak their minds freely and allow opinions to come across without that fright of rejection they would have if they would’ve posted on a non-anonymous source,” the 18-year-old said.
Schlax said one issue with the posts may be in how they are interpreted.
“Just like texts, the posts can be meant to be sarcastic, but [an-other] person may perceive it en-tirely differently, because you’re not talking to them in person,” the 18-year-old theology major said.
Neufeld, who downloaded the app earlier in the semester, said there are some witty and funny observations posted. She said she hopes students organize events similar to those at Boston College and Fairfield University, to make it clear that the Loyola student body does not stand for bullying.
4 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | NEWS
Two intercampus shuttles were involved in separate accidents Sept. 26, adding to students’ concerns over the new transportation system.
BY NADER ISSA [email protected]
Two of Loyola’s intercam-pus shuttle buses were involved in separate collisions last week, adding to a rough start to the school year for the university’s new shuttle service.
The first of the two accidents took place on the morning of Sept. 26 when a Loyola shuttle bus made contact with a vehicle near the university’s Water Tower Campus, according to Loyola’s Department of Campus Transportation. As the shuttle passed the vehicle, the bus’s side-view mirror collided with the vehicle’s side-view mirror.
Later that same day, around 2:30 p.m., another shuttle bus collided with a Chicago Transit Au-thority (CTA) bus in the 1100 block of West Sheridan Road, according to Campus Transportation.
The 147 Outer Drive Ex-press bus was heading east and had stopped on Sheridan Road, just east of Broadway, when it was hit by the university shuttle, said CTA Spokeswoman Cather-ine Hosinski.
“A Loyola shuttle bus was attempting to turn right to also go eastbound on Sheridan when the driver of that shuttle bus misjudged a clearance, making contact with the rear left corner of the CTA bus,” Hosinski said.
Witnesses said the CTA bus was loading passengers when the Loyola shuttle made con-tact. However, the vendor in charge of Loyola’s shuttle ser-vice, MV Transportation, filed a conflicting report regarding the accident.
“[The shuttle] bus was struck in the rear by a CTA bus. Campus Police were notified at 2:39 p.m.,” according to the report.
New shuttles collide with car, busMV Transportation was given
a five-year contract with Loyola to manage the intercampus shuttle and 8-Ride van service, which includes managing 18 professional operators and staff. The service began on Aug. 25.
Despite MV Transportation’s ac-count of the second accident, which points the blame at the CTA bus, the Department of Campus Transporta-tion said that it is not fully satisfied with the vendor’s work thus far.
“We are working with [MV Transportation] to let them know that accidents like this are unacceptable … even if they are ‘no-fault’ accidents,” said Chris-topher Corlew, an office assistant in the department.
Campus Transportation has pre-viously taken measures to ensure these types of situations do not oc-cur, and it will continue to do so in the future.
“We actively try to avoid any accidents,” Corlew said. “It’s not our job to get in accidents. We are actively trying to prevent is-sues like this from happening in the future.”
According to MV Transpor-tation spokeswoman Jennifer Wiley, both the company’s and Loyola’s safety protocols were followed, including notification of Campus Police to “ensure the well-being of all passengers.”
“The buses were able to re-sume their shuttle service later in the day, following comprehensive maintenance and safety checks in accordance with company policy,” Wiley said.
Students voiced their opinions regarding intercampus transporta-tion at Monday’s Unified Student Government Association Student Body Address.
“Changing from one company to the other and starting a new con-
tract with a new company should mean we’re going to have better things happening and improved service for students going campus to campus,” said Angee Serwin, a senior criminal justice and psychol-ogy double major.
Senior Krina Desai agreed with Serwin. Both students, however, said these accidents shouldn’t be-come the focus of issues pertaining to campus transportation.
“It’s called an accident for a rea-son,” said Desai, a 21-year-old bi-ology and forensics double major. “Whether it was the old company or the new company, it could have happened to anyone driving.”
As for the new shuttles, Ser-win, 21, said that students should recognize that the school is go-ing through a lot of changes, and should be open to them.
The accidents, which occurred just hours apart, are only a part of the system’s problems, according to students. Those who ride the shuttles have taken notice of other shortcomings in the new system.
“While I think the [new] bus itself is nicer, it’s not worth the trade-off for the new system,” said junior biology major Jessie Lud-wig. “The arrival schedules still seem random and knowing when a bus would be departing was what made the shuttle the better alter-native to the CTA.”
From inconsistent sched-ules to less space on the buses, the new shuttle system has left many students missing the pre-vious service.
“There were flaws in the old system as well. Obviously some times were busier than others and not everyone could get on, but this new system doesn’t seem to fix as many problems as implementing a new system should,” Ludwig, 20, said.
The Phoenix //Ellen Bauch
BY RYAN [email protected]
One of the main requirements for students who wish to apply to medical school will have its larg-est update in more than 20 years. Starting in April 2015, the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT)will nearly double its already three-and-a half-hour length.
Updated to reflect changing practices and new developments in medicine, the MCAT will now test students on social sciences such as psychology and sociolo-gy. Students will also be tested on biochemistry, in addition to biolo-gy, organic chemistry, physics and critical thinking skills.
Owen Farcy is the developer of Pre-Med Partnerships at Ka-plan Test Prep, which provides preparatory classes for students studying for the MCAT exam. Farcy said that not only the con-tent of the test changed, but so has the format of it.
“It’s a very different test. The Association of American Medical Colleges [AAMC] discussed while launching these changes that there are a variety of factors contribut-ing to them,” Farcy said. “The field of medicine has shifted significant-ly since 20 years ago. That’s where the social sciences come in.”
The current MCAT test is composed of 144 questions to be answered over the course of three hours and 20 minutes. On the new test, students will have 230 ques-tions to answer over the course of six hours and 15 minutes. Ad-ditional types of questions related to research design and graphical analysis will likely appear on the test as well.
Loyola sophomore Ben Crofoot said he sees the changes as positive, as they will not only examine the science skills of hopeful medical stu-dents, but also their social skills.
The changes are expected to include segments that will gauge aspiring doctors’ skills in interact-
ing with others, said Crofoot, who plans to take the test in the future.
“I plan to start studying some time next semester by using review books and practice tests,” said the 19-year-old biochemistry major.
For students who are taking the test, the changes may seem to be making the already difficult path to medical school even hard-er. However, Farcy said that is not the intention.
“The goal is not to make it harder to get into medical school,” Farcy said. “The [AAMC] recog-nizes that students have a hard enough time getting into medical school as it is. They use the MCAT to predict which students will be successful in medical schools and to make sure that they’re evalu-ating students effectively across a variety of different factors.”
Farcy emphasized that while the MCAT is a significant factor of an application to a medical school, it’s not all of it.
“We’re taking this as an oppor-tunity to rework the way we run our programs. We intend our new programs for the 2015 MCAT to be a step above of what we offered in the past and will be a whole new experience for students participat-ing,” he said.
Kaplan Test Prep provides test preparation not only for the MCAT, but for exams in other fields such as the Law School Administration Test or the Graduate Record Examina-tion. Kaplan sells self-study books for the exams but is most well-known for its prep classes.
Loyola’s Pre-Health Depart-ment is currently in the pro-cess of updating curriculum and classes to match the changes in the MCAT.
Changes in MCAT reflect new practices
5NEWS | OCTOBER 10, 2014
Neufeld appointed vice president of student development
Photo courtesy of Jane NeufeldJane Neufeld has been permanently appointed as vice president of student development.
continued from page 1
Zach Waickman, the biodiesel lab manager, who was involved in the first STEP course and hired by Loyola after graduating, said the program is also financially self-sufficient.
“The revenue we generate from fuel and soap pays our stu-dent workers, runs a quality con-trol lab, maintains our equipment and furthers our research,” Wa-ickman said. “Being able to see this all in one spot, and even get involved in it, is a major asset for our university.”
The soap can be bought at the clean energy lab in the IES. A two-ounce bottle of BioSoap costs $2.49, while an 8.5-ounce bottle is priced at $7.99.
The project also addresses an-other important environmental
issue. Most hand soaps and deter-gents contain solvents and surfac-tants, which are cleaning agents that can be toxic to aquatic life and pollute water, according to the EPA. While BioSoap may not smell or lather quite the same as other soaps, Straitiff emphasized the val-ue of the soap’s sustainability.
“There’s going to be a trade-off involved when you’re making [soap] from used vegetable oil,” he said. “You have to think about what the product actually is — like what you’re getting out of it besides clean hands. You’re not using an antibacterial soap from the store; you’re using a recycled product, so that has a lot of value in itself.”
As for the fragrance, Straitiff said it’s lavender. However, aside from coming up with a smell that everyone can agree on, he said they also have to deal with strict EPA
standards. Many fragrances, such as those used in laundry detergents, are restricted because they contain chemicals that are toxic to humans or pollute the environment, ac-cording to the International Fra-grance Association (IFRA).
Lauren Grimm, a 20-year-old junior biology major, said she ini-tially didn’t notice the switch to BioSoap across campus. However, when she found out that it was sus-tainable and made by Loyola stu-dents, she admired the initiative.
“I think it’s really cool that this is one more way that the school is going green, and that they’re get-ting students involved in the pro-cess,” Grimm said.
The EPA’s Design for the En-vironment (DfE) program has recognized Loyola’s BioSoap as containing the safest possible ingredients for people and the
BY MARY [email protected]
Loyola University Chicago has officially named a new vice presi-dent of Student Development.
Jane Neufeld, who acted as interim vice president of the di-vision following the resignation of Dr. Robert Kelly last March, was selected to permanently fill the position, according to an email sent by Loyola's provost, John Pelissero.
Before being appointed, Neufeld worked in the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution and was part of the Behavioral Concerns Team as as-sociate vice president and dean of students.
Now that she has been perma-nently appointed, Neufeld is in charge of developing a general vi-sion for student development and allocating resources to the differ-ent departments.
To get to know one of the stu-dent body’s newest leaders, The Phoenix sat down with Neufeld to understand the role she now plays in the Loyola community. Loyola Phoenix: How do you think having such a wide range of experience makes you suitable for this position?
Jane Neufeld: It’s knowledge of the culture [that] I think really helps. Having experiences in dif-ferent areas … being knowledge-able about the culture, the history and where the departments have
come from, how we’ve been or-ganized in that past and how some of that kind of shifts. Really, it’s just being knowledgeable about the place and the people.
LP: You said you kind of have always seen yourself as a number two person. What do you think you have to work on to be the number one per-son now?
JN: You have to think so much more broadly to have a vision of where [the Division of Student Development] should go. I was always a hands-on per-son, working one-on-one with students. At one time, I advised student government; I advised the program board, the fund-raising board … As the vice president, you have to think more strategically, come up with a vision, have a responsi-bility for allocating resources to the various departments within the division.
My day-to-day has changed dramatically. I used to chair the behavioral concerns team, I used to have conduct reported to me, off-campus student life … all of that reported to me, and now that gets reported to someone else and my day-to-day is meetings. It’s good, but I need to make a concentrated effort to go down to the Damen Student Center to eat in the dining hall, see what’s going on … Up here [on the third floor of Damen] you’re out of the beaten path …
I just need to be mindful of con-tinuing to connect with students and the staff.
LP: What kind of working relationship do you want to have with the students. How closely are you planning on working with them this year?
JN: I meet with Flavio Bravo and Michael Fasullo [Unified Stu-dent Government president and vice president] pretty regularly, so they’re my constant contacts. I always try to make myself avail-able; I have my direct line on my business card. That’s not going to change. This is my job, and that’s the most important thing, so if students need to get access to me or have conversations with me, I need to make myself available. I try to go to sporting events [and] fine arts activities held on the weekend as my schedule permits, but like anything, [connecting with students] has to be ongoing and consistent … I don’t ever want to be out of touch.
LP: What are you expect-ing from the student body this year?
JN: My expectation kind of goes along with … the student promise. My hope is that working with them — if they need guid-ance — is to really take care of themselves, to eat well, do things in moderation, shall we say, to care for each other ... As some-one who’s lived in the communi-ty, my expectation is that students
would treat the community as they would their own home town — and they have. So my expec-tation is that we continue along those lines.
LP: The current five-year plan is coming to an end. What do you have planned for the next five years?
JN: The theme for this next one is all around social justice. LP: Are you planning to anything differently than your predecessor?
I think we’re on a really great trajectory. I think Dr. Kelly did many great things and made a lot of accomplishments. We got more resources. [He was] really behind the five-year reimagine plan … I want it to be a shared vision. I don’t see us going in any dramatically different direc-tion. Now that we’re all moved in, the construction fence is down, the next phase … it’s go-ing to be great.
LP: Do you have any goals for your first year?
JN: First and foremost, I want to remain connected to students. I don’t have a number attached, but I want to be able to go to more athletic events, plays, musical cel-ebrations, dances … just to get involved in ways that are already organized [and] to spend more time with staff.
LP: What makes Loyola such a
special place that you would want to work here?
JN: I don’t want it to sound like a package response, but it really is the people … I can think of people I started with in the late ‘80s … Some of my best friends in life are the people I met at Loyola.
It’s also the generations of graduates … There was one fami-ly, there were 13 kids and they all went to Loyola. I didn’t know all 13 of them, but what does that say about this family that didn’t have a lot of resources, but felt it was a priority to send their kids to a private school?
LP: Anything else you would like to add?
JN: People know this about me, but I make really, really good chocolate chip cookies.
environment. Because of this, BioSoap, along with 2,500 other products, carries the DfE Safer Product label.
“[The DfE] program helps us ensure we are producing a high quality, environmentally friendly and safe soap,” Waickman said.
Samantha Harrison, a 20-year-old junior, said BioSoap is a great idea and understands that it is differ-ent than most store-bought soaps.
“The harmful products are the ones with the best smell and other advantages, which is why they are often harmful,” Harrison, a biology major, said. “Those minor aspects are worth giving up for the great-er cause. Plus, I think [BioSoap] smells pretty good anyway.”
However, not all students are willing to give up their tradition-al soaps. Freshman Katie Philbrick was so bothered by the new soap
she brought it to the attention of the Unified Student Government Association president, junior Fla-vio Bravo.
Philbrick, a biology major, said she and her roommate have begun boycotting the soap, which she doesn’t use because of its smell. The 18-year-old added she and her roommate have discussed buying a “big community bottle” of soap for their floor in San Francisco Hall.
For Philbrick, the trade-off isn’t worth it because people will simply stop using the new soap if they don’t like it.
Waickman said the BioSoap project is a work in progress and that the lab is open to stu-dent feedback, which helps them continue to make adjustments. Questions and comments about the soap can be sent to [email protected].
SOAP: sustainable product financially self-sufficient
The Phoenix is looking for News contributors
Interested? Contact [email protected]
R I S E W I T H T H E P H O EN I X
W e'r e h i r i n g
6 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | OPINION
city’s South and West Sides. The university also sends recruiters to other parts of the country, especially in the Midwest.
Creating a more accepting environment for Loyola students with different racial, economic, religious and sexual identities is up to the Department of Student Diversi-ty and Multicultural Affairs (SDMA). The department offers counseling services, sup-port groups, events to celebrate diversity and classes on financial literacy.
They also have training programs in which faculty, staff and students learn how to work with people who come from dif-ferent backgrounds. Programs such as Safe Space teach the Loyola community how to support students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/question-ing or intersex.
To address the dwindling number of men of color on campus, SDMA created the Brothers for Excellence program. This mentorship program tries to help these men build a foundation on Loyola’s campus.
Last June, Loyola’s board of trustees also approved a plan to build the Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago. There is little information available about this college, but the school will help students who aren’t able to afford the time or cost of a four-year uni-versity get an Associate’s degree.
Is all of this enough, though?The bottom line is that as one of
the top universities in Chicago, Loyola
OPINION
STAFF EDITORIAL
continued from page 1
As the number of students at Loyola has grown over the last 10 years, the percentage of white students has increased too. At the same time, the percentage of black students at the university has dropped below that of other major Chicago universities. Fifteen years ago, black students at Loyola matched the current national average of 8 to 9 percent of the student body. Now, only 3 percent of students at Loyola are African American.
It’s difficult to pin down the reason for this change. Tuition at Loyola has steadi-ly increased, which makes it more difficult for students from less affluent backgrounds to pay for school. DePaul students receive more federal and state financial aid than Loyola students. Loyola, however, gives students more of its own scholarships and grants than DePaul and UIC.
Several departments at the university work together to increase diversity. Loyola’s University Marketing and Communica-tions (UMC) and Enrollment Management advertise to Spanish-, Polish- and Manda-rin-speaking students online and in local Spanish and Polish newspapers. According to UMC’s vice president, Katie Hession, ads are placed all over Chicago, including on the
needs to be more diverse and more in-clusive. The university will never be a competitive, national institution if it doesn’t recruit and keep students from all kinds of backgrounds.
To start, Loyola’s advertising has to look beyond the Chicagoland area, which, while diverse, doesn’t offer the same rich-ness of experience that a national univer-sity should.
More avenues are also needed for stu-dents who don’t know how to navigate the cultural and financial worlds of academia. While the university does help students
Esther Castillejo Ashley Iannantone Dominic Ciolli Bridget Murphy Grace Runkel Elizabeth GreiweAriahna Black Joaquin Carrig Rachel Heying
THE PHOENIX EDITORIAL BOARD
through their transition to college, encour-aging the discussion of students’ life expe-riences during classes could create a more open and welcoming environment.
By being around peers from different backgrounds, students are exposed to new perspectives, beliefs, customs and experi-ences. A diverse campus fosters empathy and compassion through understanding.
This university has an obligation to keep its doors open to students from all walks of life. It’s only by pushing facul-ty, staff and students out of their cultural comfort zones that they grow.
The song “Pour It Up” came on in the Damen Student Center the other day and I couldn’t stop myself from jamming out, but not because I’m a huge Rihanna fan.
While it’s not the intention, the song vo-calizes one of the three things college students worry about the most. No, not when we’re going to study or when we can go back to sleep. The third main worry is about how, as Rihanna would say, “All I see is signs, all I see is dollar signs.”
Well put, girl. In other words, how we are going to afford
to stay at Loyola and continue worrying about all of our other problems in addition to how “I got money on my mind.”
We might not be able to get Chicago to lower apartment rates so we can all live on Michigan Avenue for $20 a month, but there is one charge Loyola can afford to prioritize.
The devious printing charge.It doesn’t sound bad at first: 7 cents for
black and white, single-sided; 10 cents for
black and white, double-sided; and 50 cents for color, single-sided.
But multiply the single-sided fee times a 10 page history paper and it’s, well, it’s only 70 cents.
Really breaks the bank, doesn’t it? But for some students, 70 cents will be hard-er and harder to come by as the semester pro-gresses. In addition, most students are in four or five classes, all with papers, spreadsheets, short writing assignments, PowerPoints, pho-tos, handouts and other projects requiring the death of numerous trees.
That 7, 10 or 50 cent printing charge sud-denly becomes toothpaste, coffee, mittens or even a used textbook for next semester. And as the semester picks up and midterms start, students begin printing even more
Loyola does give students a $3.50 credit to their print fund accounts, which equates to 50 black and white, single-sided pages.
For English students, that might last two weeks. For everyone else, that will prob-ably be gone after midterms.
Students could purchase their own print-ers, but the price of the machine alone can be well beyond budget, and the additional cost of ink would bust any student’s wallet.
On top of the money issue, purchasing a printer would also be inconvenient for stu-dents who work best in the IC and want to print right away so they don’t forget later. Af-ter hunkering down and finishing a huge re-search paper, it’s a slap in the face to have to
spend so much to print the assignment.Loyola does provide all of the ink for
printing, and repairs on broken printers can-not be cheap.
Providing this resource prevents the university from doing away with printing charges entirely, but it’s definitely a cost that can be prioritized.
At the very least, Loyola should reduce the cost of printing double-sided to encourage less paper waste and maintain the sustainabili-ty focus Loyola is committed to.
Money distribution could also use a ref-ormation. Athletes receive free printing,
but if everyone was charged equally, then perhaps there would be more funds to go around, preventing the inevitable overdraft into Rambler Bucks.
Another solution would be reducing the amount given to majors that require less printing, such as science majors, and use those funds to provide English majors and other print-heavy fields with extra funds.
Then maybe we’ll all stop seeing dollar signs and will focus on studying and sleeping instead.
Erin Kelly is a contributing columnist
Penny pinching through printing fees
BY ERIN [email protected]
University fails to create diverse community
Photo courtesy of annelizclark.net
Loyola’s Klarchek Information Commons, a prime printing spot for the Lake Shore Campus.
Proportion of Loyola undergraduate students by race
A deeper look at Loyola’s lack of student body differences
7OPINION | OCTOBER 1, 2014
Why our country remains strong
BY EZRA LAMPSON [email protected]
This is in response to Dominic Lynch’s Sept. 10 article titled “A weak leader creates a weak country”
Dear Mr. Lynch,
Let me begin by thanking you for ex-pressing your opinions about the current strength of our nation and the competen-cy of our president in defending our inter-ests, and the interests of our allies abroad. Your article was eloquently written, but I strongly oppose your article’s surmise that America is presently weak and that Presi-dent Barack Obama effectively does little more than play golf while he “watches the competitive-world burning from his perch in Washington.”
America does indeed face a multitude of problems, and I agree with you that Obama has not been an incredible president by any stretch, but our nation is still great: We have the largest economy, the strongest military and the greatest amount of soft power — or cultural influence — in the world.
Even if America were as weak as you say it is, your three solutions of voting Dem-ocrats out of the Senate, building our mil-itary to an incontestable level and voting an inspirational leader into the presidency do not provide the best path to alleviating the stresses on our country.
While your third solution is something that nearly everyone can agree on, your first solution stresses the spirit of politi-cal fragmentation that has contributed to Congress’ inability to effectively lead our
nation, and your second solution does not adequately address the root of America’s present structural problems.
Your solution of voting the Democrats out of the Senate symbolizes the spirit of uber-divisiveness among the political parties that has rendered Congress inef-fective to the point that its approval rat-ing is lower than 20 percent. Both Dem-ocrats and Republicans spend so much time working against each other that oftentimes the interests of the American people fall by the wayside.
This represents a gross negligence of the American spirit and the values that provide the fabric of our society. America is sup-posed to be a land where people from dif-ferent backgrounds and with different ideas come together to solve their differ-ences for the benefit of the greater good.
That is why I believe that American in-t e r e s t s w o u l d be best s e r v e d by the for-mation of a viable third party that can provide a sense of balance to our political system and offer another platform for Americans who don’t identify with either of the polarized ex-isting parties.
I personally would prefer this third party to resemble the form of the cen-ter-left Social Democrat or center-right Christian Democratic parties that are so ubiquitous in South America and western Europe, with perhaps the best model be-ing Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat-ic union in Germany. The formation of one of these centrist parties would pro-vide the opportunity to break the politi-cal gridlock between the Democrats and Republicans, and would provide another
avenue for ordinary Americans to voice their opinions.
Your second solution of vastly increasing the capabilities of our military is not what America needs right now. With the size of our federal deficit being so gargantuan al-ready, we can little afford to spend an addi-tional hundreds of billions of dollars on de-signing machines for death and destruction.
Our defense budget is already three times larger than China’s and six times larger than Russia’s, so how much more do you really want our federal government to spend on the military?
Our federal tax dollars should go to-ward alleviating more pressing domestic problems, such as fixing our crumbling infrastructure, feeding the tens of millions of Americans who go hungry and increas-
ing the quality of our education system — which consistently
rates at an unacceptably low level on international rank-ings.
Apart from the sheer cost of increasing our military strength, the pri-
mary reason I am opposed to the idea is that to justify
such a buildup, we would need to constantly seek opportunities to utilize this new technology and
weaponry. You may decry Obama’s for-
eign policy of “not doing stupid stuff ” and seeking diplomatic, rather
than military, courses of action to solving for-eign disputes, but quite frankly, I am glad that our president is reluctant to engage militari-ly in other nations’ affairs. Our last president lacked this sense of restraint, and the U.S. in-cursion into Iraq ended up costing thousands of young soldiers’ lives and trillions of dollars.
It’s a downright fallacy to say Obama hasn’t addressed the most pressing threats to our nation’s security. Obama’s “pivot to Asia” directly addresses the threat of China’s increased territorial aggression in the Pa-cific by redeploying 60 percent of Amer-
ican air and sea power to Asia by the year 2020.
In regards to Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, Obama did everything he could to enforce stringent economic sanctions on Russia, but our European Union al-lies have dragged their feet for nearly the entire duration of the issue, due to their close economic ties to Russia and their dependency upon the importation of Rus-sian energy supplies.
Obama acted as forcefully as he could have in the Ukrainian situation without thrusting America on the precipice of a war with Russia. If he had taken the route of ac-tively supplying the Ukrainian military with weaponry or had used American airpower to subdue the Russian-supported sepa-ratists, there is a strong chance that Putin would have aggressively responded in turn. What more could Obama have done to curb Putin’s activities besides actively supplying the Ukrainian military or using airpower to kill the Russian-supported separatists, which would have thrusted America on the precipice of a war with Russia?
Elsewhere, Obama has taken a proactive approach to limiting the ability of terrorist organizations to cause political and social unrest. He recently granted a multi-billion dollar initiative to fight terrorist organiza-tions in Africa such as Al-Shabaab, Boko Ha-ram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Obama has instructed our military to ac-tively support the Yemeni government in at-tacking Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Most importantly, Obama has been the lynchpin behind the formation of the inter-national coalition seeking to destroy ISIS, and our military has completed more than 200 air strikes in Iraq and Syria so far.
So I ask you, what more would it take for you to consider Obama as a leader who active-ly engages with the world?
Sincerely,Ezra D. Lampson
Ezra Lampson is a contributing columnist.
A call for more off-campus safety measures
As a student living off campus for the first time, my Loyola experience has truly changed. Friends back home love making comments such as “Have fun in Chiraq,” while others ask with actual concern, “Do you ever feel unsafe?” or “Do you carry pepper spray?”
A large city will almost always have problems with crime. Some areas of Rogers Park are known to be in beween gang lines. As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times and many other sources, there were two sepa-rate shootings over Labor Day weekend in our neighborhood, both attributed to gangs active in our area.
The most recent victims of the neighbor-hood’s gun violence, as reported by DNAin-fo.com, include a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the hand last week, and a 25-year-old man who was fatally shot last Thursday
afternoon.If we expand this scope and look at
Chicago as a whole, then this violence can be considered common. While drawing a comparison of Rogers Park to other Chi-cago neighborhoods, Rogers Park is rela-tively safe.
There have been 280 homicides in Chi-cago this year and seven of those have taken place in Rogers Park.
We live in a very diverse part of the city, and our neighborhood is home to students, families, working profession-als and the elderly. Living off campus, I encounter these people frequently. My neighbors have two children and a small yappy dog. An elderly couple frequent-ly does yard work as I walk home from classes. In this setting, it is rare for the threat of crime to cross my mind.
However, sharp realities of the world we live in can shock the everyday rou-tine. My roommates and I decided to kick off the start of the school year right by getting brunch one Sunday. As we left, our neighbors were outside with a repairman. We discovered later they had been robbed the night before. Someone had smashed in their interior door, leav-ing glass all over their foyer.
We later received an email from our
landlord explaining the break-in. However, even though I live a mere three blocks from campus, I never received a safety alert from Campus Safety.
The Campus Safety alert system seems to be underused as a whole. I’ve only received one email from them since the start of the academic year, and it only discussed on-cam-pus bike thefts. Since then, there have been eight shootings within a mile of campus, and not a peep from the alert system.
Even the Clercy Act Safety Bulletin, Campus Safety’s annual crime report, only covers crime on campus. Students live and travel through the neighborhoods around campus every day, and without a Campus Safety alert to the crime in the surrounding area, any of them are at risk of unknowing-ly wandering through a dangerous part of Rogers Park.
This is concerning, seeing that two Loyola students live directly next door to me, and more live in the surrounding areas. I doubt that any of my fellow students checked the police report, and were informed that someone in the Roger’s Park community was a victim of robbery.
With recent shootings on Devon and Glenwood avenues, as well as near the Morse Red Line stop, police presence has been increased in Rogers Park. In addition
to more foot patrols, they are now includ-ing air support via a helicopter. Rarely do I walk to class and not see at least two po-lice cars.
With these changes, should Loyola stu-dents feel safe?
As students, we need to be cautious. Be aware of our surroundings, as well as organized. I have deep concerns that the student population was not notified that there was a robbery feet from my resi-dence, which is within the defined patrol zone of Campus Safety.
My concern spreads to the organiza-tion of their department as I could never connect with anyone to comment on the lack of response to this robbery, or any other related incidents. If they can’t even hear out a student, what are the odds of them taking any action to improve the faulty system?
As students and residents of Rog-ers Park, we deserve to be protected to the best of Loyola’s abilities. As of now, I don’t feel that is being done. When a simple notification is all it takes to save someone’s life, a safety system that fails to do so may as well not be established at all.
Lauren Hames is a contributing columnist
BY LAUREN [email protected]
Art by Jack Ciolli
After four years, Loyola’s Rome Start program is finally hitting its stride.
Through the program, Loyola gives students who were either born in or lived in another country the chance to study in Rome at the John Felice Rome Center for their first year of college. After that, the stu-dents move to Chicago to finish their degrees.
However, the first group of students to come to Chi-cago had a hard time transitioning from Rome’s laidback lifestyle to the hectic bustle of the Windy City.
While the orientation in Rome was well organized, there was little communication between the two cam-puses. Students had problems adjusting to the Chica-go campuses after spending time at the smaller Rome Center. Without another orientation in Chicago, Rome Starters were left to fend for themselves.
“I felt like there was not enough support for us Rome Starters,” senior Cayla Turain said.
The 21-year-old, who was born in the U.S., was part of the first group of Rome Starters in 2011 and had trouble with her switch to life in Chicago.
“We were lost because we only knew what the facul-ty had told us in Rome,” she said.
Since her family lived abroad for several years, it was difficult for Turain, an international studies major, to transition back to living in the U.S. without support, she explained. She didn’t know how to find her way around the Chicago campuses, how to schedule her classes or how the move-in process worked. She didn’t even know which data plan to get for her cell phone.
“It was difficult to move in and figure out how the Chicago campus worked since we never got to have tours or anything, so I wanted to do something for the future generations of Rome Starters,” Turain said.
To make the transition easier for future Rome Start-ers, Turain created a Rome Start club at Loyola last
year. The club helps incoming students from Rome get to know Chicago and meet others in the same program.
Student Activities and Greek Affairs approved the organization for this year, so now they’re working with the current group of Rome Starters who will graduate in 2017.
This year’s group was able to have orientation in Chicago the week before classes started. By reaching out and helping incoming sophomores through their transition to the city, the older generations ensure that these students get the full experience of Chicago.
Starting off in Rome instead of Chicago allows these diverse students to get to know each other and build a strong community before they move to the U.S. Us-ing these connections, the Rome Start Club has created a support group to help students transition smoothly into typical American college life.
Senior Alex Lakin, a film and digital media studies major at Loyola, was part of the first Rome Start pro-gram along with Turain. Because of his mother’s job as a management analyst for the U.S. Department of De-fense, Lakin lived in Japan and Germany before starting school at the Rome Center.
“
8 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | CLOSER LOOK
TO:Chicago
RomeFROM:
We were lost...”
Cayla Turainsenior, international
studies major, 21
{CLOSER
BY LUCREZIA [email protected]
D
“In Rome, I found a very open-minded environment, and since the program had just started, the staff was eager to take suggestions from us, in order to improve the program itself,” the 21-year-old said. “We decided that for people to be considered for the Rome Start program they had to have an international background, so that they would be able to integrate better with their peers because of the sharing of similar experiences.”
More than 600 students move through the Rome Center each year, and its mission is to promote a global understand-ing of the world while creating long-lasting relationships.
For those who start in Rome, the program lets eight to 20 freshmen study in an environment that fosters integration with upperclassmen who are also studying at the Rome Center.
The program has a huge impact on the students who are part of it. While in the Eternal City, Rome Starters finish most of their core requirements; doing so, they get to test different fields and decide which area of study in-terests them the most.
“Rome Start was really important to me because it helped me to overcome my timidity and not being afraid of conversation,” Lakin said.
Most of the Rome Starters get their first glimpse of Chicago over fall break of their freshman year. Through several activities, such as tours of the city and dinners downtown, students have an opportunity to explore their soon-to-be home.
Loyola staff and Student Life Assistants, the Rome version of resident assistants, have organized this trip since the program started.
Rome Starter and Italy-native Giovanna Giuriolo, 22, a junior history and international studies double major, said her experience in Chicago during her fresh-man year convinced her to stick with Loyola.
When she came to Chicago during fall break, she met pre-vious Rome Starts who shared their experiences with her.
“Initially, I wanted to transfer to another school after my first year in Rome, but when I got to Chicago I fell in love with the city,” Giuriolo said. “I met other Rome Starters and heard about their experiences.”
By meeting the older Rome Starters, Giuriolo had a better idea of what Loyola was like. She even knew which dorm she wanted to live in for her sophomore year.
Giuriolo said she fell in love with Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus, the amazing views Chicago offers and
the city’s diverse cultures.Even with all the difficulties, the young program has
left a good impression on most students who partic-ipate. Rome Starters have found that the city offers a lot of opportunities for discovering different cultures, between its different neighborhoods, restaurants, mu-seums, music and art festivals and clubs.
“Overall, I have to say that when I left Chicago to go back to Rome, I was sure I wanted to stay at Loyola.” Giuriolo said. “I couldn’t wait to move to Windy City.”
“
9CLOSER LOOK | OCTOBER 1, 2014
I fell in love
with the city...”Giovanna Giuriolo
junior, history and international studies double major, 22
LOOK}
- Cayla Turain
- ALEx Lakin
- GIOVANNA GIURIOLO
Rome Start was really important to me because it helped me to overcome my timidity and not be-ing afraid of conversation.”
Overall, I have to say that when I left Chicago to go back to Rome, I was sure I wanted to stay at Loyola. I couldn’t wait to move to the Windy City.”
It was difficult to move in and fig-ure out how the Chicago campus worked since we never got to have tours or anything, so I wanted to do something for the future gen-erations of Rome Starters.”
10 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | PHOTO BRIEFS
PHOTO BRIEFS
On Sept. 27-28, the second annual Edge-water Fall Art Fair was held on Granville Avenue at Broadway. The fair featured more than 80 Chicago-based artists, whose work varied from photography and illus-tration to pottery and mask-making. Other at-tractions included a chil-dren’s activities corner, live music, fashion shows and a beer garden.
BY ELLEN BAUCH [email protected]
James Zordan, Zordan Pottery
nāna hand-made jewelry
Jeff SemmerlingHand-Made Masks
Children’s ActivitesCorner
Jose GonzalesOil Paintings
Anatomical ElementMetalworking
11A&E | OCTOBER 1, 2014
While the movie centers around the Steele family, other characters are also forced to deal with the apocalypse and losing the ones they love.
Shasta (Sparks), for example, gets her daughter taken in the rap-ture while on board Ray’s plane.
Sparks was nervous about her role because Shasta is always in hysterics sobbing and is convinced everyone on the plane is a part of some conspiracy.
Like Sparks, many of the char-acters left behind are confused and afraid, having difficulty comprehend-ing the apocalyptic event.
“It’s based on Bible prophecy,” LaLonde said. “It’s an event that is predicted in the Bible. So in that sense, it’s something for everybody to think about and everybody to ponder.”
The Left Behind books are in-tended for a primarily Chris-tian audience, but according to LaLonde, the movie isn’t trying to preach at anyone who watches it.
“You’re not going to get in there and get a thinly disguised sermon,” LaLonde said. “I know a lot of people have concerns as soon as you hear [that] it’s based on Bible prophecy, [but] that’s simply not the case. We worked very hard to make sure that this movie was accessible to everybody because everybody can be fascinated by Bible prophecy, even if they don’t know it yet.”
This actually isn’t the first time Left Behind has been made into a movie. In 2000, LaLonde pro-duced Left Behind with three other producers, and director Vic Sarin. The movie went straight to DVD but eventually went to theaters, failing to pull in a lot of money.
“What had happened was we had the first book in the Left Be-hind series, which is really quite an enormous book, and we tried to do the whole book in one movie,” LaLonde said. “It really didn’t do justice, especially to the rapture, but also ... because there was no time to get to know the characters and there was no time to really ap-preciate the enormity of the event.”
Fourteen years later, LaLonde is taking another try at producing a film based on the popular book series, which has secured a major cult following. This time, LaLonde brought in Armstrong to direct and Cage to star as the protagonist.
“It’s a whole different thing, but we wanted to keep it fo-cused,” LaLonde said. “We want-ed to spend time getting to know the characters, and of course we wanted to bring A-list talent to the project, which we have done. So the first step in all of it was going out and finding the right director who we thought could really bring this thing to life … that’s what led us to Vic Armstrong.”
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Take two: Biblical novel tries again at the big screen with new cast, new aim
Photos courtesy of Stoney Lake Entertainment
Armstrong is a British direc-tor most famous for stunt coor-dinating movies such as Thor and I Am Legend and helping to direct films such as The Green Hornet and The Amazing Spiderman.
According to Armstrong, when he first read the script for Left Behind, there was nothing he would’ve changed.
“To read this script, see how character-driven it was and what a fabulous storyline it had was a thrill to me,” Armstrong said.
The 2014 version of Left Be-hind packs in more action than the 2000 version. For the actors, that meant a lot of stunts would be in-volved, such as Thomson’s climb on a 400-foot bridge.
“I luckily got to do pretty much all of my own stunts on the film,” she said. “I free-climbed the bridge and was on top of the bridge with a helicopter kind of circling me with a camera … that was amazing.”
It was also fortunate to have Cage sign on for the movie, con-sidering the production didn’t have a huge Hollywood budget and had a lot of skepticism from non-Chris-tians, According to LaLonde.
“It’s a tremendous amount of courage for anybody of Nicolas Cage’s stature to come in and do this movie,” LaLonde said. “We faced problems from day one of people not even wanting to talk to us because of what this movie was.”
According to LaLonde, having movies and books be faith-based makes it more difficult to have an A-list star such as Cage agree to take on a role.
“I like to let my work speak for me,” Cage said. “I like to find mov-ies that allow me to explore these inner or outer worlds through the work, without having to really talk too much about it.”
For Cage, the movie offered a chance to work with what he called “a great script,” as well as an op-portunity to work with Armstrong. Yet Cage was also influenced by his brother, Marc, who is a pastor.
“I saw how passionate he was and I thought, ‘I want to make this mov-ie for my brother, too,’” Cage said.
Several of Cage’s recent movies that have intense action scenes and of-ten mythical elements, such as Ghost Rider and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
“Anytime I make a movie, no matter how extraordinary the circumstances, I try to come at it from a place of truth even if it’s truth in my imagination,” Cage said. “I don’t want to act because in some way that implies lying. For me, acting is trying to get the truth of an experience in my past or within my memory al-most like an impression and try to make it real.”
Left Behind will be released in theaters nationwide on Oct. 3. It is rat-ed PG-13.
(Continued from page 1)
12 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | A&E
BANKS: songstress and fashionistaBY ALEX [email protected]
Imagine Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Rey combined into one sassy, sultry songstress. This is scientifically impossible, but Los Angeles singer/songwriter Jillian Banks is the closest thing we have.
The 26-year-old, who per-forms under the name BANKS, started playing music at the age of 15 with a small keyboard given to her by a friend. She then used the instrument as “the cure to [her] helplessness,” as she told Vogue in August 2013. Once her music star ted to gain at-tention, she made the deci-sion to share her home-re-corded tracks with the world on SoundCloud — the music shar ing website.
In February 2013, BANKS re-leased her first EP, Fall Over, fea-turing the tracks “Fall Over” and “Before I Ever Met You,” both of which can also be heard on her first full-length album, Goddess (released earlier this month). In fall 2013, BANKS found herself opening for R&B recording artist The Weeknd during his interna-tional tour.
After ending her stint with The Weeknd, she announced her own headlining tour around
the U.K., which took place this past March. Since then, BANKS has appeared at some of the big-gest festivals in the U.S. such as Coachella, Bonnaroo and Open’er this summer, and has received glowing recommenda-tions from popular British band Bastille and pop superstar Ellie Goulding.
BANKS now continues her
headlining tour and will make a stop in Chicago at the Metro (3730 N. Clark St.) on Oct. 7.
BANKS’ music cannot be put into a single genre. At first listen, her unique style seems like R&B. Tracks such as “Goddess” are lad-en with heavy bass, synth beats and BANKS’ gritty, intense voice telling the unnamed man in her lyrics, “now you gotta deal with
this glitch on your shoulder.” This lyric demonstrates a theme Banks touches on in many of her songs: messing up in and missing out on love.
The rest of the tracks on God-dess make BANKS’ genre even harder to classify. “Drowning,” which reached No. 48 on the Bill-board rock digital songs chart, sounds like the heavy bass drum
mixed with harsh in-and-out vo-cals you would hear from early Kanye West. Later in the album, there is a sweet and slow, jazzy love ballad “Bedroom Wall.” Her newest single, the fast-paced, al-ternative pop hit “Beggin For Thread,” is already a radio suc-cess, heard frequently on the Sirius XM station Alt Nation.
Sometimes explicit and some-times sentimental, BANKS sur-prises with each track.
She is not just a songstress, though. BANKS has recently be-come a model for luxury fash-ion brand Coach’s new “Coach Dreamers” campaign.
Aside from Coach billboards, you can also find her gracing the covers of magazines such as Clash, Spex, Hunger and Culture.
A multitalented and young musical rarity, fans can reach BANKS by calling her person-al cell phone number, which she has posted on her Facebook page. However, these days, in the face of sudden fame and a rapidly growing fan base, she is understandably finding it a bit difficult to keep up with the calls. Luckily, you can connect with her when she comes to Chicago for one night. Catch her at the Metro (3730 N. Clark St.) later this month.
BY TANYA [email protected]
Clayton Knight of electronic band ODESZA went to Western Washington University hoping to excel in physics. That ambition would be put on hold, though, to pursue what he thought at the time was only a summer project with his good friend, Harrison Mills.
ODESZA is now the product of these two friends’ “summer project,” formed back in 2012.
“We were kind of the only peo-ple making weird electronic mu-sic together, because it’s kind of a funky-oriented scene and ‘indie’ electronic [in Seattle],” Knight said in an interview with The Phoenix.
The summer after gradua-tion, Mills and Knight sat down together and made some tracks, not knowing exactly where this hobby would take them. Accord-ing to Knight, they were both into “heavy-beat stuff ” and more “dub-step” electronic dance music, do-ing local shows in the Seattle area.
The result was the duo’s fresh-man album, Summer’s Gone, released back in September 2012.
“We didn’t have any indication on how we were going to do, and from there we got hooked up in management, and the rest is histo-ry,” Knight said.
Summer’s Gone falls into the up-beat electronic dance genre.
Mills and Knight decided to settle down and work with more peaceful sounds for their newest
album after touring with Pretty Lights, and after electronic music started to pick up in 2012.
In September 2014, they re-leased their sophomore album In Return, which has more of a low-key vibe with soothing sounds.
“We decided to go back and write this kind of really down-tempo, almost ambient sound,” Knight said. “We’ve been writing almost peaceful-oriented tracks with vocalists.”
Some personal favorites on the new album include “Sun Models” and “Say My Name,” mainly be-cause of the strong vocals mixed with slow-paced beats. Just as Knight described, the songs are very down-to-earth and seem to put your life at ease with their dreamlike instrumentals.
Some of Knight’s biggest musi-cal influences include French elec-tronic rock band M83 and expe-riential psychedelic band Animal Collective. Knight grew up on these bands during his college years, which led to his interest in the funky electronic genre.
ODESZA hopes for future col-laborations with electronic artist BANKS, a solo artist with a voice similar to singer-songwriters Lana del Rey and Lorde. Her deep voice and edgy musical style would fit well with ODESZA’s vibe.
“BANKS just came out with [Goddess],” Knight said. “I would kill to have her on a track.”
Each song and musical project the band pursues requires a dif-ferent music creation process, ac-cording to Knight.
“Someone will have an idea [of a] melody [or] chord progression, piano or guitar rip,” Knight said. “We add on different layers until we have a track. Once we have it laid out, we fine tune it, add some melodies and hooks and it kind of goes from there.”
ODESZA last came to Chica-go for the Wicker Park Festival in July to preview a few new tracks. Knight said that Wicker Park Fest was a blast for him and Mills. The day they came to the Fest was a rainy day, which turned into a giant dance party of soaking wet ODESZA fans.
Returning to Chicago on Oct. 11, the duo will be bringing their eclectic beats to a sold-out show at Bottom Lounge (1375 W. Lake St.).
ODESZA to play sold-out Chicago showCourtesy of Tonje Thilesen
Courtesy of Williams + Hirakawa
13LOYOLA PHOENIX | OCTOBER 1, 2014
Stick with the basics at Waffles
BY TOM [email protected]
Tracking, tonearm, platter, RPM — if any of these terms sound strange to you, you prob-ably are not a vinyl listener. And why would you be? In the age of the iPod and Spotify, physical me-dia (especially vinyl records) are an outdated form of listening that lacks the portability and imme-diacy of digital listening formats. However, as unbelievable as it sounds, vinyl records have made a surprising resurgence in the music marketplace.
Between 2002 and 2012, sales of vinyl records have boomed a whopping 250 percent according to statista.com. In 2013 alone, vi-nyl accounted for 6 million units of total U.S. album sales. Although 6 million units is relatively miniscule compared to CD and digital album sales (165 million units and 118 million units), these statistics show that vinyl records have carved out their own little niche in the mod-ern music industry. Not bad for a format that is actually more ex-pensive and less accessible than its competitors.
The format of vinyl is an inter-esting one and provides a different, more personal experience than CDs or digital albums. To listen to a vinyl record, you have to physi-cally interact with it; looking at the cover art, reading the liner notes, and watching the record spinning right in front of you forges a con-nection between the listener and the music that MP3s and CDs.
That said, vinyl can often be a tricky format to deal with and re-quires patience, care and a pretty
decent investment. But if this all sound like your cup of tea, then plug in your headphones, drop the needle and let’s dig into the world of vinyl.
What is a vinyl record?Without getting too deep into
how a vinyl actually works, here’s the rundown: a vinyl record is a medium for copying an analog signal. This signal is stored in fine, circular grooves in the record. The signal is then read and transferred back into sound by a turntable needle, ultimately resulting in a faithful recreation of the original signal. Basically, it’s a big black disk with grooves in it.
Vinyl records also come in a va-riety of shapes and sizes, and must be spun at a certain speed. Records are usually 12 , 10, or 7 inches in diameter, and their size determines how much information can be stored on them. They also have a specified speed that they must be played back at. Nowadays, records are spun at either 33 or 45 revolutions per min-ute. Playing at the wrong speed will make the music sound either sped up or slowed down.
Why should I listen to vi-nyl over other formats?
This is the big question that gets asked by those looking to get into vinyl, and it’s important to ask before investing in the format. To answer this question, I went to the experts at Reckless Records (3126 N. Broadway) to find out what was so special about this medium.
Angela Ziles, an employee of Reckless for six years, feels that vinyl records have the “best quali-ty” when it comes to audio fidelity. However, she does think that it de-pends on the listener.
“It’s kind of ‘use your own dis-cretion.’ Of course you can buy CDs and it’s [the sound is] a really high quality. But with vinyl, you just get a warmer quality,” Ziles said.
For Ziles, it’s also not just about the quality, but also the experi-ence.
“There’s the whole notion of feeling more connected to the music, as well,” Ziles said. “Actu-ally putting the record down on the turntable and putting the nee-dle on the record is much more involved than pressing play on a computer or a CD player.”
What do I need to listen to vinyl?
One downside of vinyl is that it lacks the plug in and play quality of MP3 files or CDs. To get a basic listening setup going, you’ll need three main components: a turnta-ble, an amplifier and two speakers.
The most important part, of course, is the turntable. In order to get the best out of your vinyl, a good turntable is a must.
Cost wise, turntables have a fairly wide range. For a brand new turn-table, you could go as low as about $150-300, with high-end turntables in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Ziles recommended the brand Audio Technica to new vinyl adopters because of the company’s ability to mimic more expensive turntables without the big price tag. She also mentioned that companies such as Sony and Denon also had more reasonable offerings, warning against any turntables that are all-in-one or cost less than $100, namely the brand Crosley that is found in stores like Urban Outfitters.
“We tend to encourage people not to buy those. Not only will
the records not sound as good, the needles are so bad that often they’ll ruin your records,” Ziles said.
If you plan on using a used turntable, make sure that you do some maintenance on it first. Ziles suggests immediately replacing the needle because a worn out needle can destroy records. Also, if your turntable is belt-driven, make sure that the belt is also in good shape. Otherwise, your records could be spinning at the wrong speed.
Listening to vinyl is a total-
ly different experience from the more popular formats we use today. It provides a more honest listen to what the artist original-ly intended and creates a more personal connection between you and the music. It is, however, a fussy medium that requires atten-tion and care and lacks the porta-bility and convenience of CDs and MP3s. But for audiophiles like Ziles across the country, it can’t be beat. And you can put that on the record.
Vinyl records listening guide
Photos courtesy of Ellen Bauch
BY REGINA [email protected]
Always on the lookout for restaurants with creative concepts, I came across Waffles Café and de-cided I should give it a try. Locat-ed off the Addison stop (3611 N Broadway Chicago) with an addi-tional location downtown, Waffles Café unsurprisingly specializes in unique waffle creations. The café has a clean red and white color scheme, giving it a modern-diner feel. All of the tables have a chalk-board surface, where you can doo-dle while you wait for your food. After my two friends and I sat down, someone quickly came over to take our drink orders, but it was awhile before our server came back for the rest of our order.
The menu offers both sweet and savory waffles as well, and at firs I had a difficult time picking which one I wanted to try. Then I noticed the Waffle Flight ($13.95), which I settled on because it would allow me to try mini versions of the red velvet, green tea, Mexican choc-
olate, and liege waffles. One of my friends went for a savory waf-fle, ordering the Ham and Cheese ($10.95), and another ordered pan-cakes with nutella ($10.95). De-spite slow service in the beginning, our food came out fairly quickly.
Out of the mini-versions of each waffle I tried, the Mexican choco-late and liege were my favorites. The Mexican chocolate waffle was
topped with shaved dark chocolate and orange vanilla whipped cream, and the flavors blended well with-out being too sweet. The Liege waffle, which is a specific type of waffle that is sweeter and chewier than a normal waffle, was served with a delicious warm apple com-pote. It may have been one of the simpler waffles on the plate, but the pure taste was refreshing. The
red velvet waffle was nothing par-ticularly special, but if you’re a big fan of red velvet cake to begin with (which I am not) it may be more exciting. Unfortunately, I found the green tea waffle inedible, noth-ing balanced the flavor of the green tea and it was rather bitter. I would suggest forgoing the pricier waffle flight and sticking to one type of waffle, such as the Liege ($7.95).
The ham and cheese was pret-ty rich, and my friend said the sweet waffle used as the base did not quite blend well with the sharp flavors of the cheese and ham. My other friend did enjoy his nutella pancakes quite a bit.
Noticing a chalkboard advertising “wonuts” a donut made in a waffle maker, we decided to split one at the end of our meal (who said breakfast shouldn’t involve dessert?)
There were multiple flavors, ranging from birthday cake and cinnamon sugar to Mexican choc-olate and blueberry. We settled on the oreo variety ($2.75). It was an interesting concept, but it was a little dry and we all agreed we could have sufficed without it.
At the end of the meal, it took awhile for our server to return our checks even though they were not too busy. Service issues, as well as hit or miss menu items don’t make Waffles Café a stand-out place, but if you find yourself in Addison, it’s definitely worth a visit for the fun atmosphere and a good basic waffle. Photos courtesy of Regina Merril
14 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | SPORTS
SPORTS
BY NADAR [email protected]
The feel of Gentile: Women’s volleyball comes homeAfter a month of away games, the Rambers play their first home match
The Loyola women’s volleyball team made its home-court debut against conference rivals Missou-ri State University on Sept. 26 in front of 300 fans. The Ramblers lost the match 3-2 in a five-game heartbreaker. The next day, they lost to another Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) team, Wich-ita State, 3-0. This brings the team’s record to 1-3 in the MVC and 5-8 overall.
Though the team hasn’t expe-rienced much of a home-court ad-vantage yet, the Ramblers are still glad to be playing in Gentile Arena.
“It was nice to be at home,” said Head Coach Chris Muscat. “I think playing at home is a little bit different than playing on the road. You [have to] find a different routine [and] a different way of doing things. I thought our girls did a good job of managing that aspect of playing at home. I think it was great to play in front of our own fans. It was an exciting match; hopefully we can continue to push forward as we compete for the Missouri Valley title.”
Sophomore outside hitter
Morgan Reardon echoed her coach’s sentiment.
“I think there’s a lot of advantage playing at home,” Reardon said. “You’re in your own gym, you have your own fans [and] I think it defi-nitely helps. You’re sleeping in your own bed at night, and you get to play where you practice every day.”
During last year’s NCAA tour-nament, the members of Loyola’s men’s volleyball team noted that
the lights against the black ceiling in Gentile Arena gave the team a distinct advantage over visiting op-ponents who were not used to that type of lighting.
“Certain gyms you go into and you’re not used to the lighting and you end up losing the ball in the lighting, and it’s really weird,” Reardon said. “[We’re] definitely used to the lighting in [Gentile].”
Sophomore middle blocker
Sami Hansen added that normally, gyms have the lighting on the side of the court, whereas Gentile has the lighting on the top of the court, which makes it different.
Whether it be the lighting, the ball, the fans or the beds, the Ram-blers believe they can give any team a run for its money when they are in the comfort of their home gym.
“I think every gym has a differ-ent atmosphere and a different en-
vironment,” Muscat said. “I think here you’re used to playing in your home gym and whatever that ad-vantage may be. I think that every-one kind of gets used to playing in that environment. I think whenever you have a chance to play on your own home floor with your own lighting … that’s always a huge ad-vantage coming down the stretch.”
While the team can always count on the familiarity of Gen-tile Area, they’re looking to have even more of a home-court ad-vantage by getting more people into the stands.
“I think it would help that more peoples’ families can come, and we will be able to get more of a stu-dent body section,” Hansen said. “We’re really working hard to get more students to come to games.”
The Ramblers hope to make use of the home court advantage more in the seven remaining home games to change their results from losses to wins.
Next on the schedule, the team heads to Carbondale, Illinois, to take on MVC rivals Southern Illi-nois University on Oct. 3. They are at home next on Oct. 10 against In-diana State University.
One of Gentile’s advantages is its unique lighting. Normally, gymnasiums have the lights coming in from the sides, whereas the lights are positioned above the court in Gentile. Visiting players must adjust to this element.
Courtesy of Steve Woltman
Stuenkel rises as leader in women’s cross countryBY MARK [email protected]
Cross country is a vigorous sport that takes both a physi-cal and mental toll on runners. However, one runner on the women’s cross country team shows extra effort by helping her teammates in addition to keep-ing up her own game.
Junior Sydney Stuenkel first began her cross country career during her freshman year of high school in St. Charles, Illinois. Although she skipped running during her sophomore year to pursue other interests, she re-turned to the sport for her last two years of high school, quali-fying for the State Tournament both her junior and senior years.
Her dedication and determina-tion is what helped her make it on the Loyola women’s team, accord-ing to Assistant Coach Jackie Kropp.
“I have known [Stuenkel] for about four years now,” Kropp said. “I recruited her when she was a senior year in high school, and she’s shown consistency with her training ever since.”
Throughout her freshman year, the new Rambler runner continued to show her potential. Stuenkel placed in all six meets in which she participated during her first season.
At the Horizon Championship
Photo courtesy of Steve Woltmann
meet in 2012, she placed third with a final time of 18:14, win-ning the Horizon Newcomer of the Year honor.
Later in her first season, St-uenkel was the fourth Loyola runner on the women’s team to place at the 40th Annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational.
Stuenkel continued her suc-cess as a sophomore.
She was the second Rambler to finish in the elite Notre Dame In-vitational and recorded a person-al-best time of 21:11.7 during the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Stuenkel is already off to a hot start this season, placing second over-all at the Illinois State Invitational.
According to the accomplished
runner, her experiences as a mem-ber of Loyola’s cross country team have been far beyond memorable.
“It’s really interesting to see how close the running commu-nity is,” Stuenkel said. “I always knew it was a really tight-knit place. Our team is so close, and even amongst other teams we race, everyone is just so friendly.”
While everyone on her team is special to her in different ways, there are certain runners who have stood out and helped her through her college experience.
“I’m very close to the girls that are my own age because [of] all the years I’ve been together with them,” Stuenkel said. “I re-ally think that the other juniors,
especially Ella Tracy, Hannah Magnuson and Ericka Laviste, have really stepped it up ath-letically this year. They’re great friends, great teammates and great new leaders of this team.”
According to some of her fel-low runners, Stuenkel is a leader on the team.
“She really cares about run-ning, and she also really cares about our team as a whole,” said Tracy. “She cares about our team’s dynamic and makes sure that ev-eryone’s keeping up with what they’re doing. She’s a really strong leader as well as performer.”
Kropp also believes that Stuen-kel has stepped up as a leader, es-pecially through her running.
“She’s taken up a leadership role kind of as being a frontrun-ner at this point,” Kropp said. “She’s been able to not only achieve the goals in what she wants to accomplish, but also help the underclassmen to figure things out.”
Stuenkel’s guidance has aid-ed the younger runners, helping them improve. Freshmen Lind-sey Brewis and Emma Hatch have been within the top seven runners on the team and have stepped it up in their competi-tion, according to Stuenkel.
One of Stuenkel’s main in-spirations has been Kropp. Even though she is listed as an assis-
tant coach on the athletic web-site, Kropp has been the prima-ry coach for the women’s cross country team.
“[Kropp] is one of the major rea-sons I decided to come to Loyola,” Stuenkel said. “She’s a great person to have as a friend, and I definitely wouldn’t have as much confidence in myself without her supporting the goals that I make.”
Stuenkel’s confidence is something that Kropp has no-ticed as an asset on the course.
“One of the keys to her suc-cess is that she’s confident in her ability and what she’s capable of doing, and she doesn’t get in-timidated at high-level competi-tions,” Kropp said. “I think that’s something that really helped her in her career as an athlete.”
With women’s cross country placing fourth in its first two meets and third in College of DuPage Invitational, Stuenkel and the team are looking for-ward to the future success of the team this season.
“We’re all honestly very good friends, and I think that’s some-thing special about our team,” Stuenkel said. “I’m really excited to see what else we’re going to do in the rest of the season.”
The Ramblers are scheduled to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 3 in South Bend, Indiana.
Stuenkel recently took second in the Illinois State Invitational in Normal, Illinois.
15SPORTS | OCTOBER 1, 2014
BY JOAQUIN [email protected]
Storybook endings are called storybook endings for a reason. They usually only happen in books.
However, for Derek Jeter, the fabled 40-year-old shortstop forthe New York Yankees over the last 20 years, the end of his career at Yankee Stadium could not have been more like a fairytale.
With New Yorkers roaring their appreciation from the rafters, the beloved Bronx Bomber slapped a single to right field, knocking in the game-winning run in walkoff fasion against the Baltimore Ori-oles and sending the stadium into a jubilous frenzy.
Longtime teammates and close friends Jorge Posada, Bernie Wil-liams, Andy Pettite and former Yankee manager Joe Torre stood by the dugout waiting to congrat-ulate the last of their generation hanging up the pinstripes.
After hugging each of them, Jeter returned to the spot he oc-
cupied tens of thousands of times in his career for one final iconic moment. He crouched on the lip of the infield, where dirt meets grass, just to the left of second base and then waved to his faithful fans in appreciation.
Multiple documentaries will be made about Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium. Posters will be put up in countless homes of his jumping celebration at first base after hitting the walk-off. Parents will tell their children of that his-toric night in South Bronx when a man became a legend.
Taking nothing away from his last days as a professional base-ball player, one thing that slight-ly befuddled me was why Jeter was getting treatment usually only reserved for British royal-ty. The man was receiving the equivalent of diplomatic gifts whenever the Yankees travelled to another ballpark.
Don’t get me wrong, Jeter was a fantastic player and arguably the best shortstop in the game for sev-eral years. You don’t get that type of recognition without putting up consistent and quality statistics.
The shortstop finished with a career .310 batting average and finished sixth on the all-time hits list with 3,465.
His five Gold Glove awards speak to his capability of being a
top-flight fielder. I’m sure many of you can recall Jeter reaching a ground ball seemingly destined to get through the hole between third and short, then leaping high up into the air and firing a strike to first base to nail the runner by half a step on more than one occasion.
And his five World Series rings only accentuate the crucial role he played on an extremely talent-ed dynasty.
But to me, while definitely a Hall of Famer, Jeter isn’t among the top echelon of players in the history of baseball. His power numbers –– home runs and RBIs –– simply don’t compare to some of the sport’s other greats, such as Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. And defensively, his range and arm strength definite-ly weakened in the second half of his career.
So why is he being revered on par with a Babylonian prince?
Jeter represents the last tip of the cap to a bygone era in baseball.
In this day and age, players don’t typically stay with one team their entire career. The lure of a large contract or a chance to win a World Series elsewhere is gen-erally enough to breach a player’s loyalty to the team they broke into the majors with.
Granted, Jeter didn’t have that problem. The New York Yankees
organization is the most storied in all of baseball, possessing millions of dollars to frivolously spend and has a league-leading 27 World Se-ries championships under its belt.
Still, playing 20 years for one team is a pretty impressive accom-plishment in the current era and one that is greatly respected by players and fans alike.
To do it in a city that is known for berating and destroying its sports figures is even more impressive.
Finally, in an era when steroid
implications have brought colossal stars to their knees and social me-dia-ignited off-the-field scandals have darkened the images of once beloved athletes, to have an un-blemished 20 year career is unfath-omably impressive.
Like a storybook’s plotline, Jeter’s career may be a tad em-bellished, but he will deservedly go into the record books as one of the Yankee greats and one of the most respected players in all of baseball.
Wikimedia Commons//Chris Ptacek
Shortstop Derek Jeter’s 20-year career with the Yankees came to an end last week.
Derek Jeter hangs up the baseball cleatsA great but not legendary career comes to a storybook end
October woes too stressful for sports fans
BY BRIDGET [email protected]
Flickr//Andrew Wilkinson
The United Center is going to be the epicenter for both Chicago basketball and hockey, both of which begin in October.
For every sports fan, October is the most stressful month of the year. It’s not because they don’t have the perfect Halloween costume. It’s because everything — and I mean everything — is happening at once.
Baseball season is reaching its climax as the playoff bracket is be-ing set. Your team is either done or playing for the World Series title. October is exciting because even if you don’t like baseball, playoff sea-son is intense and every at-bat could be the difference between victory or defeat. The young blood newly called up from the minors are eager to prove themselves, and everyone is in pursuit of the coveted title of World Champions.
Because the baseball season is 162 games long, it’s easy to say that one loss or even a string of losses don’t matter. The Tigers gave up 20 runs in a game earlier this season, but they’re still in the running for the World Series title. In October, though, every loss and every series
matters. Don’t they know how stressful
that is for fans?As if baseball stress wasn’t
enough, professional football is now in full swing. Fans must be attentive every Thursday, Sunday and Monday so as not to miss any of the action.
It’s even worse for those who play fantasy. In all the excitement, what if you play someone on a bye week? What if your quarterback is playing your defense? You have to stay on top of your game and ad-just for injuries and suspensions — especially this year, with all of the scandals. For example, what would you do if your first-round draft pick was suspended just weeks into the season?
Being an NFL fan is nearly a full-time job.
And as if two current seasons don’t drain all of fans’ resources, October means hockey and bas-ketball are gearing up to start. The Madhouse on Madison is about to go crazy…and so am I.
The Blackhawks have already started the preseason, and the reg-ular season starts Oct. 9. As Stan-ley Cup contenders, Oct. 9 starts the long, 82-game road to May. The start of the Hawks’ season also means trolling the Wrigley bars in hopes of finding Patrick Kane.
The Bulls don’t officially start their season until Oct. 29, but their preseason starts Oct. 6.
Also, Derrick Rose is back, which adds a whole new level of fervor to the Bulls’ fandom. There are eight preseason games, and the tension is high. On Sept. 28, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that on media day, “every Derrick Rose jump shot, dribble, quote and ice pack soon will be scrutinized.”
They’re right. Just ask the fans holding their breath every time Rose leaves his feet and letting out a sigh of relief when he lands safely.
I live in Chicago, so naturally I have to keep up with the Chicago teams, but I also have hometown allegiances to which I need to stay true.
Four sports, eight teams, one
month, is it too much?“Nope, it’s not enough,” says the
NCAA, feeling neglected.College football is tricky be-
cause not only do you have to pay attention to the game for a few hours, the NCAA football culture demands you tailgate before and celebrate or mourn after, depend-ing on the outcome.
If you’re not present at the game, you have to watch it on TV, and not just your team’s game, but all the games. You need to know what happens.
Not only are sports taking over my time, my wardrobe is highly af-fected. What do I wear when both the Hawks and Bears have a game?
I can’t wear both jerseys at the same time. That would be ridiculous.
“Why not just choose one sport,” you say?
Because no matter which sport I pick, everyone will be talking about another one. How can you connect with your sports buddies when you have no idea what they’re talking about? What if you forget the score of the Cubs game? What if you forget that the Cubs aren’t actually playing anymore? Do you know how embar-rassing that is?
Someone needs to call the pro-testers in New York and tell them to push saving the planet back to No-vember. Don’t they know how much everyone has going on right now?
16 OCTOBER 1, 2014 | SPORTS
BY ALISSA [email protected]
Loyola Ramblers: the Rugby kings of Chicago
Loyola’s men’s rugby team has made two huge steps towards its goal of defending its title of Chicago Area Rugby Football Union (CAR-FU) champions by defeating DePaul University on Sept. 20 and North-western University on Sept. 28.
In their second game of the sea-son, the Ramblers outscored the Blue Demons 46-19.
Junior John Lewis scored the first try of the game against De-Paul. After the opening try, Loyola continued to dominate. The Ram-blers only allowed DePaul to score three tries, all in the first half, while they scored eight tries throughout the entire game.
Lewis, along with fellow juniors Brendan Courtois and Caleb Bier-brodt and senior Thomas Finnegan each scored one try, while sopho-more Reed Ronan and senior Bren-nan Martin added two more tries each to the Ramblers’ score.
Ronan’s two tries earned him the “Man of the Match” distinction.
Though the game against De-Paul was an important step toward winning the CARFU title, North-western was the Ramblers’ biggest competition.
Each season, the teams com-pete for the North Side Cup, a tro-phy that has been passed between Loyola and Northwestern for the past 25 years. Loyola has been the
reigning champion since 2011, which means that the 12 seniors on the team this year have never seen their team lose the cup.
That record stands for one more year, as the Ramblers bested the Wildcats 64-0.
“We felt like the underclassmen shared our excitement to defend the North Side Cup. They came out and gave a dominant perfor-mance,” said the team captain, se-nior Tim Schultz.
Bierbrodt, who plays the posi-tion hooker, was awarded Man of the Match.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve built this program from being a dominant Chicago team to pursuing a run at Division II Nationals,” Schultz said.
Because the Ramblers have al-ready beat University of Illinois Chicago, DePaul and Northwest-ern, they are close to winning the CARFU title, which goes to the team with the best record at the end of the season.
Many people do not know the rules of rugby because it isn’t a widely popular sport in the U.S. The main objective is to rack up points by scoring tries. A try is comparable to a touchdown in football and is worth five points. Just as in football, when the team scores a try, it has the opportunity to score a conversion, which is the same as the extra point in football. In rugby, however, the conversion is worth two points. Unlike foot-
ball, players are only allowed to pass the ball backwards.
In defense, players cannot tack-le the opponents leading with their heads and players cannot block. If a player is knocked out of bounds, the opposing team gets possession of the ball. As soon as the player with the ball is tackled, he must immediately release the ball, keep-ing it in play.
The three main leaders of Loyola’s team are Coach Sean Cooney, President Amine Houri and Schultz. They hope that rugby will become a varsity sport, rather than a club sport, both at Loyola and nationwide.
“There is no such thing as NCAA in men’s rugby,” said Schul-
tz, a 21-year-old political science major. “Even though rugby is con-sidered a club sport, rugby is still rugby. It is one of the toughest sports in the country.”
Another way the team leaders are attempting to attract more in-terest in rugby is by reaching out to younger athletes.
Schultz is an intern with USA Rugby and the Illinois Youth Rug-by Association. Through his in-ternship, he has been going to 55 Chicago schools per month, ranging from first grade to high school, introducing them to rook-ie rugby, which is a type of flag rugby. So far, he has helped train 30,000 students in the greater Chicagoland area.
“With this program, we are hoping to grow from a city that doesn’t have much rugby to a city that has rugby from the first grade level all the way to the high school level,” Schultz said.
The momentum created by getting younger children involved with rugby may eventually lead to more interest in the sport as a whole, Schultz said. Though rugby is not yet an official NCAA sport, it is on a list of emerging sports that may one day soon become an NCAA Division I sport.
For now, the club team contin-ues its season against the Univer-sity of Chicago on Oct. 11, which is the next step to obtaining the CARFU championship title.
Loyola is becoming the most dominant men’s rugby team in Chicago after beating UIC, DePaul and Northwestern this season.
Flickr//Karen Osowski
