MARCH 21, 2011 ESTABLISHED 1929 ISSUE 9 | FREE
TheCauldron
THE MELTING POT
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
SPORTS
NEWS
BY MEREDITH HORRIGAN
SPRING BREAKViking Expedition
SGA Proposes Language to Reform Funding
‘My Name Is Asher Lev’ Reviewed
IllumiNation:Crisis in Libya & Japan
By dan STanTon
By Samah aSSad
By niCole harriS
By reid may
Softball Goes 4-1 at Weekend Invitational
Paul Review Page 10
SB5 Call To ActionPage 14
Kasich on Ohio Page 4
Book Looks Page 10
Concert Picks Page 10
Paul Review Page 10
Local Comedian Releases Stand-Up CD Page 11
Noise Inspectors Page 11
Pokémon Black and White Review Page 12
The Complete Works of Shakespeare Review Page 13
My Name Is Asher Lev Review Page 13
SGA Reforms Funding Process Page 3
Greek Council Hosts School Supply Drive Page 3
Gov. Kasich Delivers State Address Page 4
Weekly Events Calendar Page 4
SGA Prepares for Elections Page 5
SB5 Call to Action Page 14
May 21st is the End of the World Page 15
IllumiNation: Crises in Libya and Japan Page 16
Fabulous Fashion: Salon Tips Page 16
VOLUME 112 • ISSUE 9MARCH 21, 2011CONTENTS|
The Cauldron prints according to sound journalistic principles of accuracy,
accountability, integrity and transparency--with a recognition of press freedom and
student expression. It shall remain an unbiased forum in order to represent the entire campus
community.
Mission stateMent on The Cover
arts & entertainMent
Scott Wyant measures his cut a second time, before working the saw on Viking Expeditions’
spring 2011 trip to Mobile, Ala. The Cauldron’s Meredith Horrigan joined 18 other participants on the trip, and takes you
there with a special photo feature.
the Cauldron
news
Melting pot
Breaking newS | CSuCauldron.Com
Advertising:For advertising inquiries e-mailus at cauldronadvertisements@
hotmail.com or contactJayson Gerbec at (216) 687-2270
Contact UsCleveland State University
4th Floor Cole CenterCleveland, Ohio 44115phone (216) 687-2270
fax (216) 687-5155www.csucauldron.com
Cauldron meetings are held every Monday on the third floor of the
student center, room 339 (dept. of Student Life).
Stop by or email us if [email protected]
The Cauldron welcomes and en-courages student feedback. We can be reached via the above email, or in our offices on the fourth floor of the Cole Center (Chester & 30th).
sports
The StaffEditor-in-ChiefReid Jackson May
Managing EditorAlexes SpencerNews EditorKristen Mott
Arts & Entertainment EditorBen Gifford
Sports EditorMeredith Horrigan
Copy / Web EditorJustin Brenis
Photography EditorJonathan “Killstring” Herzberger
Graphic DesignerAndrew Treska
Advertising ManagerJayson Gerbec
Business ManagerAnne Werner
Student Media & Web SpecialistDaniel Lenhart
Faculty AdvisorDr. Edward Horowitz
Staff WritersSamah Assad, Shanette Buford,
Jon Conley, Ray Danner, Peggy Giavroutas, Ariana Johnson,
Pete Lindmark, Kiel Shrefler,Brian Smith, Matt Stafford,
Dan Stanton, Gabriella Tomaro, Meredith Traxler, Kevin Vargo
Baseball Loses; Record Drops to 4-12 Page 6
Softball Goes 4-1 at Weekend Invitational Page 6
Women’s Basketball Ends Season with Tough Loss Page 7
Students who want a say in how their general fee dollars are distributed to student organizations can do so at an open forum tomorrow.
Eli Auerbach, Student Government Association treasurer and finance committee chair, along with other committee members, will be present to explain and answer questions about how the committee dis-tributes funds.
More importantly, Auerbach and the committee will discuss the committee’s ballot initiative for the 2011 election. The initiative will give students the opportunity to vote on how funds are distributed to student organizations. Specifically, the ballot language for the 2011 elections will be discussed so it can be finalized and voted upon by the senate at their March 25 meeting.
According to Auerbach, there have been com-
plaints regarding the way the finance committee dis-tributes money; particularly, the lack of student input. Auerbach hopes the initiative, and the 2011 election, will prove students’ concerns are taken into consider-ation when money is distributed to organizations.
Those who attend the forum can expect to hear, and speak on, the three choices to be put on the ballot.
The first option will require SGA to devise and implement a “funding formula,” free of bias toward any student organization. SGA will require organiza-tions to be accountable for their funding. This option is preferred by the finance committee, because it will ensure the fairest distribution of funds, said Auerbach.
The second option to be on the ballot will be an equal distribution of funds to all organizations. Fund-ing would be determined by dividing all available funds by the number of student organizations.
This option will not take anything else into consideration, such as the number of members in the groups or the scope of the group’s activities. Auerbach said such a system would give an organization of five members the same amount of money as a group of 20 or more.
The third option for students to vote on is a reim-bursement system. Organizations would have to spend their own money on their events, and then apply to be
reimbursed by the finance committee. Auerbach said a drawback to this option is that groups who cannot afford what they need will have no recourse for their funding.
Auerbach said the forum is being held because the finance committee wants and needs feedback from the student body. Auerbach hopes the committee’s willing-ness to hear students’ concerns will avoid situations
such as the protest against the finance committee last semester. Auerbach described last semester’s protest as misguided, and he noted that a former protester is now on the committee.
The forum will take place Tuesday, March 22, be-tween noon and 1 p.m. in rooms SC 313/315. Refresh-ments will be provided.
The SGA senate will meet Friday at 5 p.m. in room LB 242. All meetings are open to students.
SGA Ballot Initiative Reforms Funding Process for Student OrgsStudents encouraged to voice opinions tomorrow at open forum in the student centerBy Dan Stanton, The Cauldron Staff Writer
Anyone who grew up in the 90s will remember names such as Cory Matthews, Topanga Lawrence and Shawn Hunter. They will also be apt to remember Mr. Feeny, the beloved teacher from “Boy Meets World” who taught Cory and his friends important life lessons. Greek Council at Cleveland State is using this popular television figure to promote a fundraising campaign on campus.
Greek Council will be collecting school supplies for the remaining month of March. “We wanted to hold a philanthropy event that reached out to the community and was still relevant to the student body,” said Kristen Kastel, a member of Greek Council. “Donating school supplies to give young students the tools they need seemed like a good mix.”
When searching for a theme, Greek Council stumbled upon the Facebook event celebrating Mr. Feeny’s 84th birthday. Figuring this would be relatable to students on campus, they adopted the theme for the drive.
Greek Council will set up donation tables on the second floor of the student center from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
on March 23 and March 29. Collections will take place in Fenn Tower and Euclid Commons at 7:30 p.m. on March 22 and March 29.
A birthday party for Mr. Feeny will be held on Thursday, March 31 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the MC atrium. Students can donate supplies, purchase
baked goods from a bake sale and par-ticipate in birthday party games.
That night a “Boy Meets World” watch party will be held at 7 p.m. in the Fenn Tower theatre. All students who donate supplies are welcome to attend.
Greek Council is looking for paper, pens, pencils, highlight-ers, notebooks, folders and vari-ous other school supplies. “We are taking whatever supplies
anyone can give,” notes Kastel. “We’re very appreciative of every donation.”All the supplies will be donated to Cleveland pub-
lic schools. Greek Council has hosted similar drives in the past, and hopes to continue fundraising in the future. “We are hoping everything goes in a way that will allow us to hold the event next year,” says Kastel.
For more information, contact Kristen Kastel at [email protected].
Greek Council Uses Familiar TV Icon to Promote FundraiserBy Kristen Mott, The Cauldron News Editor
William Daniels, the actor who portrays Mr. Feeny, celebrates his 84th birthday on March 31
Courtesy: nea.org
“The committee wants and needs feedback from
the student body.”
There have been complaints regarding the
way the finance committee distributes money.
3 csucauldron.com March 21, 2011
news
Weekly Events Calendar
By Kristen Mott, The Cauldron News Editor
3/22
SGA finance committee forum from noon-1 p.m. in SC 313
Movie screening of “Invisible Children” from 3-5 p.m. in MC
auditorium
3/23
Sigma Tau Gamma Ramen Noodle Cook-off from noon-3 p.m. in SC atrium
Leadership skillbuilder from 3-4 p.m. in MC 102
3/24
Women’s History Month “Read-In Day” from noon-1 p.m. at the Michael
Schwartz library
3/25
SGA senate meeting at 5 p.m. in LB 242
Islam poetry jam from 5:30-10:30 p.m. in MC auditorium
Chi Delta Epsilon Spring Fling from 7-11 p.m. in SC 311
3/26
Expressions of Praise Gospel fest from 4-10 p.m. in MC auditorium
While the Ohio Firefighters Union and Tea Partiers clashed over Senate Bill 5 outside, Governor John Kasich delivered his 2011 State of the State ad-dress on March 8, at the Ohio Statehouse.
Kasich opened by thanking the assembly of Ohio legislators and asked for their cooperation in defeating poverty in Ohio. He then outlined the problems Ohio currently faces: job loss, poverty, homelessness, and college graduates and small businesses leaving the state as Ohio’s biggest challenges.
Kasich blamed Ohio’s budget deficit for the state’s economic woes, reminding the assembly, “You know, we’re going to have to reduce spending.”
Gov. Kasich offered some solutions to cutting spending for the State of Ohio, including restruc-turing Ohio’s prison system and nursing home fa-cilities. Stressing the importance of bi-partisanship, Kasich called upon Republican and Democratic lawmakers’ cooperation.
“Let’s work this felony thing. I want a conser-vative Republican and a liberal Democrat and I want to end the political nonsense,” said Kasich.
Despite this outreach to Democrats, Kasich still riled Senate Bill 5 protesters in the audience when he acknowledged ending union bargain-ing rights as another solution to lowering Ohio’s deficit.
“And, frankly folks, the provisions of collective bargaining reform are examples of what we wanted to do to allow people to be able to control their costs,” said Kasich, above boos from protesters in the crowd.
Gov. Kasich stated that although restructuring Ohio’s educational system and work laws would help boost the economy, it would not fix a budget that has been suffering from “years of neglect.”
He stressed making drastic budget cuts and warned of the consequences of using stimulus money. “Do not take stimulus money and use it to expand your budget,” cautioned Kasich, “because I’ve always known that what the federal govern-ment giveth, the federal government taketh away.”
On boosting businesses in Ohio, Kasich called upon government to give more financial support to small businesses and to interfere less. “You know, we do micro loans for countries in Africa. We
ought to do micro loans here in our core cities. And we do not want to choke these people with rules and regulations that make no sense,” said Kasich.
He also discussed utilizing Ohio’s already great businesses and resources – such as manufacturing and health care services- more efficiently to help grow the economy.
“We need to take these assets and we have to leverage them,” insisted Kasich. “You need to think about what we do with our community colleges, our technical schools and universities, to work in conjunc-tion with businesses so the students and the workers are trained for the jobs that need to be filled today and the jobs that will be there tomorrow.”
In closing, Kasich once again asked for a bi-par-tisan effort to be made from both parties of the Ohio legislature and then thanked the assembly.
On the following Tuesday, Kasich’s state operat-ing budget for Ohio was unveiled. Following through on his pledge to slash spending, Kasich’s budget sported a considerable amount of cuts to Medicaid and to school and library funding. Also as promised, several of Ohio’s prison systems will become priva-tized.
The Kasich administration maintains that these cuts will save $8 billion in Ohio’s budget.
Gov. Kasich Promises to Cut Spending During the State of the State AddressBy Meredith Traxler, The Cauldron Staff Writer
“Do not take stimulus mon-ey and use it to expand your budget, because I’ve always known that what the fed-eral government giveth, the federal government taketh away.” -- Gov. Kasich
Kasich discusses the budget deficit during his address
Courtesy: Associated Press
PAGE 4 / March 21, 2011
The 2011 CSU Student Government Association elections will be held online April 12-14.
Candidates will run for University Judicial Board, undergraduate and graduate Senate positions, and SGA Executive Board positions.
The university’s Board of Elections, which admin-isters the voting, will sponsor several events prior to the elections to ensure students have an opportunity to evaluate each candidate prior to voting.
“Having the opportunity to ensure that the Student Government Association elections are held in a fair and transparent manner is the most important part of working for the BOE,” said Cassie Gaffney, chair of the CSU Board of Elections.
Executive Board party candidates will debate from noon to 1 p.m. in the student center ballroom on April 5. Candidates for all Student Government positions
will be available to answer questions or address con-cerns during an open forum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the student center atrium on April 7.
According to its Web site, SGA represents the stu-dent body of CSU and serves as the liaison with CSU administration to ensure the welfare and educational interests of students are incorporated into the goals and policies of CSU.
CSU students cur-rently enrolled for at least one credit hour are eligible to vote by logging onto www.sga-elections.csuohio.edu with their CSU ID and CampusNet password.
For a complete list
of candidates, parties and their platforms, visit the Board of Elections Web site, listed below.
For more information on the BOE and the election process, call 216-687-2578, email [email protected]
or go to csuohio.edu/studentlife/boardofelection/index
Student Government Association Prepares for 2011 Elections
By Brandon Blackwell, The Cauldron Contributing Writer
Candidates for Executive Board, Senate and Judicial Board Announced
Party #1
President: Rebecca PushkaVice President: vacant
Secretary: Daniel JakubisinTreasurer: Jon Fedor
Party #2
President: Patchio MulebaVice President: vacant
Secretary: Susan ScullinTreasurer: Kenneth Schareef
Party #3
President: Moatasem Al BitarVice President: Jessica Beres
Secretary: Christopher CasparyTreasurer: Chelsea Duty
Current 2011 Executive Board Candidates
March 21, 2011 / PAGE 5
CSU Baseball Loses; Record Drops to 4-12By Tim Fringer, The Cauldron Contributing Writer
The CSU Baseball team suffered another heart-breaking loss Saturday afternoon as they fell to Bowl-ing Green 9-7 in 13 innings in the second game of a doubleheader.
This was the second extra-inning game in a week for the Vikings as they lost 3-1 on a walk-off homerun to Cincinnati last weekend.
The Vikings led Bowling Green 5-0 after 7 no-hit innings by pitcher Travis Miller. But the Falcons took advantage of the two errors and four walks that went along with their three hits to score seven runs in the eighth inning.
CSU made a comeback in the ninth inning as Alex Gnezda hit a two run single, tying the game at 7-7 and sending the game into extra innings.
But the Vikings poor defense caught up with them again in the thirteenth when a wild pitch and an error allowed two Falcon runners to advance to second and third base.
Both runners were brought in by Brandon How-ard’s single up the middle. Coach Kevin Kocks was frustrated by the defensive lapses, but was proud of his team for continuing to fight.
“We gave the second game away on defensive errors,” said Kocks. “We made too many mistakes, but the team kept battling. They battled hard, and they didn’t give up after that eighth inning, and that was good to see.”
CSU took the first game of the doubleheader against Bowling Green 6-4 behind Anthony Sambula, who gave up three hits and four runs over 7.2 innings
of work. Freshman Clayton Ruch pitched the ninth in-
ning, recording his first save of the season. This was
Sambula’s second consecutive strong start after he was named the Horizon League’s Pitcher of the Week for his masterful performance against Cincinnati.
In that start, he pitched 8.2 innings while only giving up one run in an extra-inning loss. The Viking’s pitching staff is beginning to look like a real strength as they also received a strong start from Nate Dick against Marshall. Dick pitched 7 innings while only giving up one run in a 7-2 win on March 15.
The win against Marshall also provided hope that the offense would get on track after scoring a total of two runs in a three game sweep by Cincinnati last weekend.
The Vikings collected 16 hits and six stolen bases in the game against Marshall and continued their of-fensive resurgence with 13 runs in the doubleheader against Bowling Green.
The loss in the second game dropped the Vikings’ record to 4-12 on the season. After the Vikings strug-gled last year with an overall record of 12-43, Kocks is optimistic about the team’s chances as they near the beginning of their conference schedule.
“I’m pleased where we’re at,” said Kocks. “All of these games the last three weekends are getting us prepared for our conference.”
CSU will play two more home games against Bowling Green and Marshall respectively before opening their conference season in Chicago against UIC on March 25.
Courtesy: CSU AthleticsAnthony Sambula has been one of the Horizon League’s top pitchers so far this season.
Viking softball spent the March 11–13 weekend in Rockhill, S.C., playing in the Winthrop Adidas Invitational.
Day one of the invitational had the Vikings taking on the UNC Charlotte 49ers, and the UNC Wilming-ton Seahawks.
The Vikes beat the 49ers 2-0 in a game with no scoring until the 10th inning. Third basewoman Gabby Gillilan ended the game with a home run to left field, batting in first basewoman Katelyn Ciminelli. Pitcher Tess Sito had one stolen base, and left fielder Jessica Burt had two.
Later, when the Vikings played the Seahawks, they countered every run the Seahawks scored. Wilming-ton started strong in the first scoring two runs, includ-ing a home run. But, the Vikings struck back in the second with a home run by pitcher Kala Allred, batting in Gillilan.
The Seahawks scored three runs in their fifth, and the Vikings countered with three runs of their own. Basewoman Dara Toman hit a home run to right field, batting in Sito and shortstop Andrea Nagy.
The Vikes ended the extra innings game in the
eighth with right fielder Macall Sheppard’s single to right field, allowing pinch runner Ashlee Stolarski to score.
Saturday, the Vikings won big against the Win-throp Eagles. Two walks and a single in the fourth loaded the bases for the Vikes. A hit by Allred gave the Vikings the first two runs of the game. Then, a single by Nagy batted in another run, making the score 3-0.
Winthrop came back with a run in the fifth, but they wouldn’t score again.
In the Viking’s seventh, a sacrifice by catcher Amy Powell put runners on second and third. A double by Sheppard batted in two runs. Then, a single by Allred allowed Sheppard to score. The Eagles couldn’t score in their seventh, and the Vikes won 6-1.
Later, the Vikings faced the Gardner-Webb Run-
nin’ Bulldogs.The Vikes scored the first run of the game in the
third inning after a home run by Sito. The Bulldogs countered with what would be their only run of the game.
Singles by Nagy in the fifth and Powell in the sixth each batted in a run for the Vikings. With no more scoring in the game, the Vikings won their fourth game of invitational, 3-1.
Sunday, the Vikings played the Towson Tigers.The Vikes scored first with another home run by
Sito, but Towson had a big second inning, scoring six runs.
In the fourth, Sito hit her third home run of the weekend, bringing the score to 6-2, Towson.
The Tigers scored three runs in their sixth, but the Vikings scored four. Gillilan hit a double, batting in two runs. Then, a home run by Powell batted in Gil-lilan.
In the seventh, Towson increased their lead with a home run with a runner on base. The Vikings weren’t able to score in their seventh, and they lost, 11-6, giv-ing them a record of 4-1 for the weekend.
Viking Softball Goes 4-1 at Winthrop InvitationalBy Dan Stanton, The Cauldron Staff Writer
Pitcher Tess Sito hit three homeruns
on the weekend
sports
March 21, 2011csucauldron.com 6
The CSU Women’s Basketball team had high hopes going into 2011. At the end of the regular sea-son, the Vikings were tied with the Butler Bulldogs for second place in the Horizon League.
They had experience, winning the conference championship two of the last three years. They came into the post-season off of one of their most successful seasons in the history of CSU’s Women’s Basketball program.
They had great players like Shawnita Garland, who ends the season with the most wins in school history. All signs seemed to be pointing to a long post-season. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
First they went into the Horizon League Tourna-ment. Winning that would have gotten them into the NCAA tournament.
Things started off well when they eliminated UIC and made it to the semifinals for the fourth time in a row (the only other team besides Green Bay to do so).
In the semifinals, they were up against the Bull-dogs. The normally strong Vikings lost their momen-tum. The Bulldogs started off the game with a 9-0 run that set the tone for much of the game.
The Vikings were able to tie the game a couple times, but despite Garland’s seventh straight 20-point game, Destinee Blue’s 10th double-double, and a 40-
33 rebound advantage, they were unable to take the lead.
They had many problems throughout the game. Notably, there was a major disparity in free throw attempts. The Bulldogs were 16-19 while the Vikings were 6-9. Despite the loss, Head Coach Kate Peterson Abiad is proud of her squad.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Peterson Abiad said in a post-game interview. “We got a lot of good looks at the basket, but couldn’t convert and that hurt us in the end. But I am so proud of the way this team battled and grew from day one. We came into the season not knowing what to expect from this group, but they worked hard to accomplish everything they did, reaching 20 wins for just the second time in school history.”
After being defeated in the Horizon League Tour-nament, their next stop was the Women’s Basketball Invitational.
The Vikings defeated IPFW in the first round of the WBI after a strong second half finish that turned a narrow two-point lead into a strong 11-point victory.
On Saturday, they faced the Chicago State at the Wolstein Center. Things started off well when the Vi-kings took a 21-12 lead midway through the first half. However, the Cougars found their rhythm and went on a 12-0 run to take a 23-21 lead. They extended their lead to 31-26 after an 8-2 run.
The Cougars continued to dominate the Vikings, who were unable to get the lead down from double digits. Chicago completely disrupted the Vikings’ offense with strong zone defense and superior size. In the end, the Vikings lost 68-54.
The question now is what’s next? In an interview with The Cauldron, Peterson Abiad said that their efforts this season were put towards building a better team.
These efforts were largely successful as the Vikings were 21-12 overall, the second most wins in school history and the second team in CSU history to get 20 wins.
Women’s Basketball Ends Season with Tough LossShawnita Garland ends CSU career with school record for winsBy Matt Stafford, The Cauldron Staff Writer
“I am so proud of the way this team battled and grew from day
one... reaching 20 wins for just the second time in school history.”
- Peterson Abiad
March 21, 2011 / PAGE 7
SPRING BREAK
(Top Left): Strongoli and Brandon Sommers team up to place the trim; (Top Right): Nick Durda finishes closet framing; (Below): Sommers and Samantha Manzuk prepare a porch for the appli-cation of a vinyl ceiling.
Viking Expeditions travels to Alternative Spring Break Destination in style.
1603 Biloxi Ave., one of the homes Viking Expeditions helped build in March 2011.Nick Durda has Josh Naypauer’s back as he takes measurements.
By Meredith horrigan with contriButions froM aManda cupp
PAGE 8 / March 21, 2011
SPRING BREAKMISSION: ALABAMA DISASTER RELIEF
Viking Expeditions participants get to try their hands at all new skills like roofing.
Meredith Horrigan measures twice before cutting frame pieces. Rachel Strongoli prepares the porch for vinyl ceiling.
Dan Sherrick knows just how to handle the nail gun.
(Left): Naypauer, Ryan Houchens and Manzuk work together to apply long siding planks; (Above): the entire Viking Expeditions’ team poses for a photograph.
March 21, 2011 / PAGE 9
Viking Expedition
With its hackneyed jokes and dreadful predictability, sci-fi com-edy Paul is more uninterestingly terrestrial than out of this world.
The film follows Graeme (Si-mon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost), two geeked-out buddies
from England who are road-trip-ping across America’s great alien tourist attractions. Along the way, they run into foul-mouthed alien Paul (voiced with boredom by Seth Rogan).
Paul is on the lam from an un-named government agency head-ed by a faceless villain known only as “The Big Guy.” He is looking to get back to his home planet and the two bro-mancing Brits are there to help.
Cue cheap punch lines, “are-they-gay” jokes and more refer-ences to classic sci-fi films than you can count on your human fin-gers and toes.
The on-screen magic Pegg and Frost are known for is absent in Paul. Their performances are muted and fail to find chemistry amidst the plethora of disjointed characters and plot conveniences.
Contrasting the duo’s better
films like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz to Paul would be like comparing Stephen Hawking to a high school dropout in that Paul never amounts to anything.
This road movie travels solely over recognizable territory—there is nothing new to see here, folks. Most of the jokes are dated, if not completely overdone.
Even after suspending your dis-belief and accepting a dancing, obscenity-spewing alien, the film finds you scratching your head as to how, across the vastness of the American west, all of the arbitrary characters seem to coincidentally end up at the same location at the same time—all the time.
The greatest surprise this movie almost offers is its sort-of climat-ic reveal of Sigourney Weaver as “The Big Guy.”
PaulSci-fi Film Crashes, Burns Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle with Anorexia
By: Harriet Brown The Rundown: As her daughter Kitty
starts to lose weight and develops an unnatural obsession with calorie count-ing, Harriet Brown begins to wonder if she is struggling with an eating disor-der. Brown waves off the idea until her daughter is so thin that it is painfully obvious—Kitty is anorexic. Opting to use the in-home “Maudsley” approach, Brown and her family try to help heal Kitty and get her to obtain a healthy weight. The recovery is difficult, but Kitty slowly starts to overcome her disease.
Afterthoughts: A thorough and honest chronicle of what it’s
like living with someone who has an eating disorder. Brown offers her readers a true look of what anorexia entails, espe-cially the psychological “mis-logic” of the disease. The book also gives a detailed explanation of the “Maudsley” recov-ery plan and it’s effectiveness. I would recommend this to anyone, whether or not they are struggling with an eating disorder. Eating disorders affect a variety of different people and, most likely, you will eventually encounter someone in your life who has one.
3/23 Rubblebucket w/Broccoli Samurai @ Beachland Tavern, $123/24 The Modern Electric w/Madison Square Gardeners, Hugo @ Grog Shop, $63/25 British Sea Power w/A Classic Education, Herzog @ Grog Shop, $143/25 Henry Rollins @ Gartner Auditorium (Cleveland Museum of Art), $253/25 Willie Nelson w/Drake White @ House of Blues, $55
3/25 Warpaint w/PVT, Family Band @ Beachland Ballroom, $153/26 Helmet w/Saint Vitus, Crowbar, Red Fang, and a butt-ton of other bands
@ Peabody’s, $303/26 Agalloch w/Worm Ouroboros, Non Fiction, Dead Sea @ Beachland Ballroom, $183/26 Moondog Ball: Eric Burdon & The Animals, America, The Rascals @ The Q, $35
Other Shows of Note:
Killstring’s PicK:Travie McCoy w/Donnis, Black Cards, XV, Bad Rabbits @ Peabody’s
Ahh, Travis. Or Travie, or whatever you go by these days. Was it really that long ago when you made an adorable hip-hop ballad consisting almost entirely of indie band names? With the release of his solo album and the single “Billionaire” (which has no right to be as good as it is), Travis McCoy has come a long way since the Gym Class Heroes.
Except that he really hasn’t, and that’s a good thing.
You can expect a rapper with smooth flow and a knack for impossible hooks. You can expect clever wordplay and disarming earnestness. You can definitely expect one of the most likable frontmen in all of hip-hop.You probably can’t expect a lot of Gym Class Heroes songs—at least until the new album drops later this year. But all told, you can absolutely expect to get your 20 bucks worth.
Be honest, you missed us.It’s okay, we missed you too. Even
though it’s just me writing the col-umn these days, what can I say? It’s been a lonely spring break—don’t judge me too harshly. Especially since we, by which I mean “I,” have a fresh serving of concert picks, hot from the proverbial oven, yes? May-be?
Ahem.All told, this seems to be a week
to break out the platinum cards, as the long-standing Concert Picks policy of ignoring absurdly expen-sive shows is kicked to the curb in favor of Willie Nelson, Henry Rol-lins and Helmet. Not all on the same bill – though I’d pay an awful lot to see that show, if it ever happened.
Also, let us not forget the annual Moondog Ball at Quicken Loans arena, which features some nice old school rock and roll bands this year. You may not recognize the band names unless you passed Roots of Rock and Soul with a “C” or better, but I promise you’ll recognize the songs.
On the other side of things, it’s hard to get indie-r than British Sea Power at the Grog Shop unless you’re catching Warpaint at Beach-land. And of course, the almighty Broccoli Samurai bring their weird space jazz, opening for the equally weird Rubblebucket, which is hard to call jazz with a straight face.
So who stands out among this crowded bunch? Glad you asked.
By Jonathan ‘Killstring’ Herzberger, The Cauldron Photography Editor
3/24
By Brandon Blackwell, The Cauldron Contributing Writer
Book LooksBy Meredith Traxler, The Cauldron Staff Writer
Seth Rogen provides a voice, but no humor, for Paul the alien. Continued on Page 12Continued on Page 12
csucauldron.com March 21, 2011
Arts & Entertainment10
Concert Picks of the Week
March 21, 2011 / PAGE 11
Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
Guy Garvey, Elbow’s frontman, revisited his childhood town prior to recording Build a Rocket Boys! to attempt to capture a feeling of longing and nostalgia. Whatever
he did there, it worked.The album is about ag-
ing, love, loss and a hand-ful of other universal ele-ments.
Album centerpiece “Je-sus is a Rochdale Girl” is a perfect example. Garvey’s soothing voice recalls a simpler time when he dat-
ed a girl from Rochdale and had “a house that you can smoke in” and things like that were all that mattered.
Elbow has always dabbled with progressive elements in their music, but these are less pronounced on Build a Rocket Boys! with one exception. The album-opener “The Birds” is just over 8 minutes in length. It starts off slow and steady before gradually gaining in volume and features an unexpected, but welcome keyboard interlude.
The rest of the album is just as prolific. From the pow-erful “Neat Little Rows” to the anthemic “Open Arms,” there’s just enough variety among the songs to keep the listener intrigued.
Many tracks are intensely delicate, but the band’s ma-ture songwriting is always evident. Each player in the band adds just enough to create an unforgettable atmo-sphere through each track.
It’s the kind of album that just gets better and better and should be put on repeat. Build a Rocket Boys! is a career milestone and easily the band’s best work so far.
Rating: A
Lupe Fiasco - Lasers
Expecting Lasers to follow the path of its concept-con-structed successor The Cool? Expect some disappoint-ment instead.
The album isn’t lacklus-ter per se; it’s just not what you’d expect from the typi-cally non-conforming Fiasco.
The poppy beats and pro-duction can be distracting. They don’t flow with the hip-hopper’s style. You can tell Atlantic Records sunk its corporate claws into the album to appeal to the masses.
The amount of auto-tune on Lasers drowns out some substance that it has to offer. If you can look past it, Fi-asco’s lyrics are thought-provoking and eloquent, as al-ways.
“All Black Everything” is the song truest to his hip-hop roots—a refreshing beat and a simple drum kick blast you back to the 1950s. Lupe rhymes about a dream he had where everything was black.
Somewhat humorously, he contemplates what could have happened had slaves never been taken from Africa: “The Rat Pack was a cool group of black men/That in-spired five white guys called The Jacksons.”
Nobody could’ve sampled Modest Mouse’s “Float On” better than Lupe did on “The Show Goes On.” With the sped up guitar riff and violin, Fiasco gives the song a hip-hop feel while finding a medium between mainstream and staying true to himself.
Yes, Lasers is no Food & Liquor or The Cool, and its sound is not the best for showcasing Fiasco’s lyrical ge-nius. Still, it isn’t the worst thing that could’ve come out of the studio.
Rating: B-
Raekwon - Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
With 17 tracks and nearly 50 minutes of content, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang offers a listen that’s long enough to be engaging and short enough to not overwhelm.
Not surprisingly, there are many of sam-ples from old Chinese films, lending a great campy quality to the Kung-fu
and ghetto-themed lyrics.Ghostface Killah makes an
appearance on “Rock N Roll” along with Jim Jones and Kobe James for one of the album’s poppier tracks.
Raheem Devaughn’s soulful vocals fit in perfectly over a horn loop on “From the Hills.”
It’s still Raekwon, though, and his style his darker and heavier than many of his con-temporaries.
If that’s your kind of thing, than you won’t be disappointed.
Rating: A-
The Dodos - No Color
The Dodos may never get back to the power of their 2008 album, Vis-iter, but at least No Color finds that band sounding much more comfort-able and natural than on 2009’s Time to Die.
Neko Case provides backing vocals on roughly half of the tracks, but she never overpow-ers Meric Long, adding a subtle depth instead.
Energetic opener “Black Night” is easily the strongest track on the album, but the hook in the chorus of “Sleep” is one of the best the band has ever created.
The band has matured just a bit, and it’s enough to make No Color a captivating, occasional listen.
Rating: B+
R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
Collapse Into Now is proof that R.E.M.’s reunion, even without drummer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Berry, was a very good thing.
The tracks eventually reveal themselves to be mostly ge-nius, recalling the golden era of R.E.M.
There’s an energy to tracks like “All the Best” and the strangely named, but phenom-enally catchy “Mine Smell Like
Honey,” but the band in-cludes enough tender songs like “Oh My Heart” and
“Walk It Back” where Michael Stipe’s vocals steal the scene.
Most importantly, the band is confident. Both “Discoverer” and “Überlin” have mature hooks that propel the band to new highs while recapturing a classic R.E.M. sound.
Rating: A-
Avril Lavigne -Goodbye Lullaby
Diehard fans may find some-thing in her brooding lyrics, but the casual passerby should keep moving.
Does Lavigne still have die-hard fans? It’s been four years since her previous album and in the world of pop music, that’s almost a decade.
The single “What the Hell” is poppy and upbeat and admit-tedly catchy, but it’s really the only stand out on the album.
Avril Lavi-gne wrote or co-wrote ev-ery song on Goodbye Lul-laby, but she’s
so angsty and serious that it’s a difficult album to enjoy.
If Goodbye Lullaby is any indication of where things are headed, she should retire and work to keep her legacy intact, if she has one.
Rating: C+
By Samah Assad and Ben Gifford, The Cauldron Staff Writer and A&E Editor
Noise Inspectors
Continued on Page 12
Type the name “Mike Polk” into You-Tube, and it will turn up videos featuring the local comedian doing many hilarious sketches. Some of his most famous in-clude the “Hastily made Cleveland Tour-ism Video” and “Spanish Love song” (how to ro-mance a Spanish girl with one s e m e s t e r of Spanish class).
Polk has just recent-ly released his first stand-up album, No One’s Even Listening, which has the best stand up bits from Polk performing around the area.
Why did you choose to go into comedy?I'm not really good at anything. I'm not
saying I'm good at comedy, but I'm defi-nitely not good at engine repair so I didn't really have many options.
What can you tell us about your new CD?Well, it sounds really bad. I bought a
cheap, hand-held recorder at Best Buy and just taped a bunch of stuff I did at bars and clubs in the Cleveland area. But if you can get past the fact that it sounds like it was recorded in a loud factory that's underwa-ter, there's some funny stuff on there.
From what I hear, you’re a Cavs fan. If you saw LeBron James today, what would you do?
Normally, I'm not a very confrontation-al person because it really doesn't do any good in the long run. But with LeBron, I would make an exception. Nothing physi-cal, as even the most slender teen girl could beat me up at this point in my life. But LeBron is clearly so psychologically vulnerable and has such a fragile ego, that I could not help but say something to him with the intention of the comment burn-ing into his brain, thereby affecting his performance on the court. I'm not certain what it would be, I think it will just come to me when I'm in the situation, and it will be emotionally devastating to him.
What makes you laugh?Tons of stuff. Dumb slapstick stuff.
Smart, political stuff. My friends. My niec-es. Really small dogs. I’m all over the map.
Local Comedian Releases Stand-Up CDBy Brian Smith, The CauldronStaff Photographer/Writer
PAGE 12 / March 21, 2011
Blues on May 20. That's going to be a big party.
What was it like to perform the one semester of Spanish love song for Kim Kardashian?
I honestly didn't even know who she was at the time, which I pride myself on.
She was a super-hot idiot.Are you surprised by the reaction to
your Internet videos?I'm always surprised when stuff takes
off. You just never know, but I put a lot of videos out and most of them don't go anywhere. So, I guess statistically, some of them have to do better than others.
What advice would you give to young comedians in the area?
Get involved. Show up. Talk to people in the comedy community. Be a good person or at least appear to be a good person. You’ll get work and you’ll get put on bills that way. You don’t even re-ally have to be that funny, just don’t be a dick and always be on time.
What is your favorite past time in Cleveland?
Believing in myself.
Pokémon Black and White mark the se-ries’ fifth generation of games. Not much has changed, but not much needs to. In fact, the games subtly tweak the existing formula to create the two best entries in the series yet.
It’s easy to catch a lot of flak as a grown man (or woman too, I’d imagine) play-ing Pokémon. To those unfamiliar with it, Pokémon seems like a child’s game: the player character runs around in tall grass look-ing for cute things to pop out.
To those who are familiar with the series, it’s an incred-ibly deep role-playing experi-ence with complex algorithms and formulas determining Pokémon catch rates, stats and more. It’s an intense collecting experience and the most com-plicated game of rock, paper, scissors ever conceived.
The games get off to an all-too-familiar start. You play as a seemingly fatherless young boy or girl who is just old enough to set out on a Pokémon journey.
For some reason, a world-renowned Pokémon professor lives in your small home town. She has chosen you to aid her in Pokémon research.
From there, you’ll have to find Poké-mon in caves and tall grass. As you try to “catch ‘em all,” you’ll have to battle eight gym leaders to collect eight gym badges before battling the Elite Four: the most hardened Pokémon trainers.
Black and White are set apart from their sister games right away with lean gameplay. These new games get off to a much quicker start, allowing the player to choose a Pokémon immediately and dive straight into battling and catching Pokémon.
Furthermore, the games contain a story beyond “Journey the land, catch ‘em all and become the stron-gest.”
A mysterious group named Team Plasma has appeared and is led by the enigmatic “N.” Both N and his team speak out against Pokémon collection. They claim it’s unfair to
keep Pokémon to as “pets.”N hopes to gain admiration by defeating the Elite Four himself. When he does, the citizens of Unova will listen
to him when he asks them to part with their Pokémon and return them to the wild.
Of course, a world without Poké-mon means no more Pokémon games, so the player character and his or her friends set out to defeat
Team Plasma in their quests.The gym leaders
also aid the player in the fight against Team Plasma. They actually come out of their gyms and have active roles.
These games are heavier in dialog than their predeces-sors, but it’s a wel-come change that adds plenty of flavor and intrigue to the world of Pokémon.
A number of other changes help ex-pediate the process. Instead of needing to visit a Poké Center, Players can now access wireless options from anywhere. It’s possible to trade Pokémon that aren’t currently in your party and you can reg-ister a team that you can use anywhere for battling friends.
Speaking of Poké Centers, they now con-tain the item shop as well,
so it’s a one-stop place for healing and managing Pokémon.
Battles have been slightly sped up and two new types have been added. One is a three-on-three battle, that’s not too much different from the double battles intro-duced in Ruby/Sapphire.
The other is a rotation battle. Each trainer uses three Pokémon at a time,
but only one is ac-tive at a time. He or she can rotate out to one of the other three with no consequences before each and every move.
It takes roughly 35 to 40 hours to defeat the Elite Four and finish the story, but there’s still plenty of content afterward.
Beating the story still leaves three cities (or two cities and a forest depending on the game) and several areas unvisited, and there are always more Pokémon to catch.
Pokémon Black and White are simple and appealing enough for kids and com-plex enough for adults. Whether you’re 5 or 50, my suggestion is the same:
Rating: BUY IT!
Pokémon Black and WhiteIf it Ain’t Broke, Catch ‘em AllBy Ben Gifford, The Cauldron A&E Editor
It would have been a nice surprise had her voice not been so easily rec-ognizable during her constant radio chatter with her minions throughout the film.
Also, they’ve been showing Weaver in the film’s trailers, so it’s more sur-prising to see how much she’s looking like a xenomorph these days than to see her in this waste of a role.
Paul was made with the rabid sci-fi fan in mind, but lovers of the genre shouldn’t get within a parsec of this film.
It will leave them wishing they were at home watching one of the over-ref-erenced classics instead.
You play guitar in a lot of your sketches, how important is music to comedy?
It makes bad jokes more palatable and good jokes slightly better. Some people consider it a cop out and a crutch for weak material. I wholeheartedly agree. Now imagine how much better this an-swer would sound if I were playing a banjo underneath it.
Do you prefer doing stand-up or sketch comedy?
Definitely sketch comedy. I like the camaraderie and having people to play with.
Who is the most amazing local celeb-rity that you have worked with?
I still get chills when I do something with Big Chuck of Big Chuck and Little John—which is just tremendously sad on my part.
Do you have any projects that you are working on now?
Yeah, a few things. My sketch group, Last Call Cleveland, is performing our play "Michael Stanley Superstar" at Playhouse Square on April 1 and 2. It's going to be phenomenal. We also have the Kings of Cleveland Comedy stand-up show coming up at the House of
Will PowerBy: A.J. Hartley
The Rundown: William Hawthorne is
a jack-of-all-trades. He’s an extraordi-nary storyteller and an actor with a fast-
talking wit. While on the run from guards of the Diamond Em-pire, Hawthrone and his friends find them-selves in an unheard of land—one where a civil war between humans and goblins is
taking place. Hawthone and his compan-ions gravitate to their fellow man during the war, although their uncouth customs aren’t exactly welcomed by these snob-bish people. Slowly, he begins to ques-tion the motives of the humans and re-thinks his initial perceptions about the deformed goblins.
Afterthoughts: Extraordinarily fast-
paced, readers might become over-whelmed! Hawthone’s commentary is funny, although somewhat difficult to navigate. This is the second book of the “Act of Will” series and although the first doesn’t necessarily need to be read to un-derstand this book, it might help. I really couldn’t pinpoint an exact plot to this novel—it’s more about Hawthone and his friends having misadventures and de-livering funny banter.
comedian
continued From Page 11
Paul
continued From Page 10
BooK looKs
continued From Page 10
Polk singing “Spanish Love Song.”
Audino, one of said “cute
things.”
Release Date: March 6, 2011Platform: DSDeveloper: Game FreakPublisher: Nintendo
In many areas, the camera angle shifts for a more dynamic feeling.
March 21, 2011 / PAGE 13
With help from littered semantic ir-reverence peppered with pop culture humor and uniquely Cleveland rib-bing (The Decision, Winking Lizard, Parma—things that have become staple butts of Lake Erie humor and/or chaos), The Complete Works of William Shake-speare (Abridged) kicked off the Great Lakes Theater Festival this month. That sentence sucked a lot of my words away.
Praise be short and praise be soon; an amazing production. In case you haven’t heard, the theaters in Cleveland are kind
of awesome and their productions are second to none. Maybe second to like one or two, but top-notch nonetheless (Note: hyphenating/abbreviating/slash-ing/combining words cheats the word-count-system).
Speaking of cheating; Paul Hurley, Ja-son O’Connell and M.A. Taylor are the three gentlemen who, under the watch of artistic director Charles Fee, portray ev-ery inked perpetuation of Shakespearian thought.
The introduction encompassed the crowd and set a frenzied, improvi-sational catharsis of an atmosphere. Containing one of the more brilliant bits of comedy, S h a k e s p e a r e ’s biography was being read from a series of note cards. O’Connell, dressed and acting as a theater usher, fumbled the cards.
After a quick re-gathering, the
reading commenced. The second and third cards became a precise biography of Hitler’s upbringing, complete with deadpan delivery. Time was ticking away, but the delivery was beautiful and established these gentlemen as genuine comedians, a word which often lends itself too freely yet not often enough to cross-dressers who know every word of every Shakespearian utterance.
Brevity begets me.The assault began on Romeo & Juliet
where the role given to baby-faced Leo was portrayed as a total queen. This was followed by an absolutely brilliant cook-ing show portion highlighting the delica-cies of Titus Andronicus. Nothing says lovin’ like family in the oven.
Another tragedy later, all 16 of Shake-speare’s comedies were combined into “The Loveboat goes to Verona.” It was funny in a rubbery, complete lack-of-cohesion way.
Back to the tragedies as we barrel to-wards the intermission. Highlights in-clude an epic and visually cluster-cuss-ing, slow motion Highlander swordfight in the Scots’ Macbeth and all of the kings from the various “King” tragedies play-ing a football game.
Insert all the sonnets*.36 plays and all the sonnets* down in
one hour, only leaving the intermission and Hamlet. Hamlet was ushered in by a debate about what to cut and what to portray. The various speeches of varying fame were debated.
Taylor’s role all night was that of the female and shtick insult comedy. In this debate, however, he began to mention the “What a piece of work is man…” speech, and commenced to finish it with modern elegance and classical timing under one emerging spotlight and dim-ming house lights.
This one moment of clarified beauty did enough justice to the intensity of The
Bard’s plays to more than counteract the grand silliness of the final hour.
Four hundred seventy-six words.*The sonnets appeared all at once on a
note card and thus receive their mention in this nice footnote.
**Visit www.greatlakesfestival.org for festival information
**The Complete Works… is showing at the Hanna Theater until March 27. Student tickets are $13 for any seat and any show.
Reviewing the Jerks Who Perform 37 Plays, All the Sonnets* in Two Hours (in less than 500 words)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
By Jon Conley, The Cauldron Staff Writer
The Cleveland Play House’s production of My Name Is Ash-er Lev features a talented three-person cast that make the most of Aaron Posner’s wonderful adaptation of Chaim Potok’s 1972 novel.
My Name Is Asher Lev a story about a young man who grows up in a strict Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York.
The play opens with Lev de-scribing his passion to pursue his artistic ability and how his parent feels that he is a disgrace to his family, his faith and his people.
He possesses a phenomenal artistic ability and is driven to draw and paint the world as he sees and feels it. But Lev is constantly struggling with how to balance the inner conflict of his heritage with his emerging creative impulses.
Lev’s parents do not under-
stand their son’s artistic pas-sion. The Rebbe who Asher’s father works for arranges for Lev to meet with the respected artist Jacob Kahn. Kahn agrees to take Lev on as one of his stu-dents.
While studying under Kahn, Lev grows in several ways and learns to balance his responsi-bilities to his people, his art, his parents and his own integrity.
The play is worth every dol-lar. Noel Joseph Allain’s por-trayal of Asher Lev was excep-tional. His projection and tone were both outstanding, and he truly got into his character.
The other two actors, Eliza-beth Raetz and Tom Alan Rob-bins, were able to slip into their various roles with ease.
My Name Is Asher Lev dem-onstrates how a young man that possesses an exceptional talent to creatively express his emo-tions can end up bringing his
family together. Asher teaches that no matter the issues or emotions that a person has, you can still bring honor and glory to both your people and your-self.
The desire to pursue his tal-ent creates conflict between his family and his career objective. Asher asks himself “Should I honor my father and family tradition, or should I follow my heart and my talent into an en-tirely different world?”
Even though it focuses on a Jewish family, it’s a story that we’ve all had to deal with at some place in our own lives about growing up and balanc-ing our loyalties to ourselves and to others.
My name Is Asher Lev deals with the conflicts we face within our families, our com-munities and the internal con-flicts we have as individuals. It shows how a young man can
bring honor to both his faith and his family, but ultimately and importantly, he brings honor to himself.
The play is sure to inspire all those who see it.
My Name Is Asher Lev is be-ing performed at the Cleveland Play House until Sunday, April
3. Tickets start at $45, but CSU students under 25 can get tick-ets for $6 and other students under 25 can get a discounted $10 ticket. For showtimes, more information, or to purchase tickets visit www.cleveland-playhouse.com.
My Name Is Asher LevPotok’s Tale of Growth, Identity Shines at Cleveland Play HouseBy Nicole Harris, The Cauldron Contributing Writer
Courtesy: Roger MastroianniJuliet (M.A. Taylor, left) rebuffs Romeo’s (Jason O’Connell) ro-mantic advances in this GLTF production at the Hanna Theater.
Asher Lev (Noel Joseph Allain) speaks to the audience.Courtesy: Roger Mastroianni
I have never been one to fall for the sentiment that “capitalism is indeed organized crime” (thank you, Refused Party Program). After all, if that is the case then Communism is the seedy charmer with fascist undertones.
Neither of these polarities are what the other one says. But in an increasingly and exclusively two-toned political world where the philosophies and meander-ings of the left and right want absolutely nothing to do with each other, the space to treaty is rapidly deplet-ing.
The left and right are too busy lambasting each other to think that anything short of demonization is acceptable and responsible political fodder. But who’s to say it isn’t? Why shouldn’t political frag throwing be supported?
This is an increasingly sensory and improvisation-al generation who accepts and nourishes anger as a part of progression and humanity. With, oh say, policy reform being the ultimate goal, it’s no wonder that these bodies aren’t further infuriated with the politi-cally sedimentary attitudes of the youth.
In the first of what I hope is an ongoing series of letters on the reality of Senate Bill 5, I will keep it short(ish)…
Dear Youth,Removed, disenfranchised, disaffected, and lack-
ing in cohesion. These are the qualities that run paral-lel in yourselves and the generations of yore. Let’s set the scene. Action is good for the blood.
In 2005, the Ohio branch of the then sullied GOP machine (headed by our once governor, Bob Taft) set into motion a series of tax cuts which, in retrospect, helped to alleviate the perilous burden of being Ohio’s wealthy elite. Two billion dollars annually and 6 years
later, here we are – clus-ter-cussed to the high heavens in a fiscal-f***. Bloated is the political pig in budget, in form, in theory.
Enter 2010. Gover-nor John Kasich.
Enter 2011. Wiscon-sin’s Bill 5 – budgets aren’t just f***ed in Ohio.
Enter Ohio Senate Bill 5. What does this mean for Ohio and CSU students?
The skinny: Public sector workers (the aforementioned teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police) will lose their ability to collectively
bargain (yes, as a union) for things like pay, ben-
efits, and other workers’ rights.This corporate-sponsored war on public services
includes a 49percent decrease in local government funding by 2013 (that’s a freebie for all my cops and fire peoples, wink wink); incentive-based, outcome systems of pay for both teachers and medical workers (just to expand on the disparity between socio-economic systems, hey-yo!); al-lowance for gas/oil drilling and timber harvesting on state parkland; and – the only one that makes sense – early jail release for non-violent criminals who participate in educational and work programs.
These are largely destructive goals, but let’s get more local.
Cleveland State is already bracing for a loss of $17 billion in state funding. Increased tuition is inevitable as well as the loss of about $2000 annu-ally from each individual Pell Grant. The teachers who are full-time and remain intact are getting a nice semantic shakedown. Under Senate Bill 5, as well as jail time for attempting to strike, the title of “manager” loses its meaning and is applied to all full-time employees, thus eliminating them from any union rights.
I’m wearing myself thin. I digress. There is a lot of red tape and a lot of loss. You will lose im-portant faculty to sheepskin budget cuts and legislative shiftiness. You will pay more money for less adequate education (like Kasich’s mandated and insufficient 3-year undergraduate programs). You will see Kasich and the GOP monster attempt to privatize education as a whole. Yes, the education of the public. You will see privatization of public services eliminate public scrutiny and transparency.
Defend Education, Ohio! is a student advocate group based out of Ohio University. CSU is in the
infancy of forming a chapter. Get involved and be at the next meeting. You missed the one this last Mon-day, but I’m gonna prematurely set one up for the following Monday on the ground floor of the Michael Schwartz Library at 3 p.m.. All are invited to attend, regardless of political/philosophical affiliation.
The group’s hopes are singular: Educate and activate ALL OF YOU on this issue. This includes an attempted teach-in (already supported by CSU’s Gay, Lesbian and Straight Alliance – maybe April 5th – I’ll let you know), and an on-campus rally (potentially April 22nd; Earth Day and the state group’s proposed day of action).
I know that paper bores most of you, so I offer some Web sites…
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_SB_5 — Senate bill 5.
http://pol.moveon.org/ohbudget — A petition site from MoveOn.org
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_194857740525378 — the Facebook group for Defend Education, Ohio!
http://defendohiocampaign.com/ — great site to keep informed
This is the beginning of our correspondence and in summation, you pick the subtext. Just be educated before you do. Be active on campus, because this will
affect you one way or another.Sincerely, yours truly, and until next week when I
will compare Democrats to Koreans and Republicans to the Vietnamese,
Jon ConleyPh.D. Irreverent Advocacy
Visit www.csucauldron.com for direct links to the Web sites mentioned in this article.
A Call to Action for CSU StudentsBy Jon Conley, The Cauldron Staff Writer
Protesters gather outside Columbus Statehouse on March 1.
Courtesy: mmbooklover on Flickr
Former governor Strickland supports protesters.
Courtesy: mmbooklover on Flickr
csucauldron.com March 21, 2011
the Melting pot 14The articles published in the Melting Pot are solely the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Cauldron.
14
We’ve all heard that Judgment Day is coming. Whether it is from the church, from the zombie apocalypse (fingers-crossed), or from SkyNet and the Governator himself—supposedly the Mayan culture
has us penciled in for Dec. 21, 2012.Unfortunately, some people are just too impatient,
and the idea of having to wait over a year is just too much for them.
They want to be raptured, and they want to be raptured now!
This is why, according to Family Radio Worldwide (FRW)—a Christian group brought together mostly through radio broadcasts and their website, according to Yahoo! News—are informing the world that they have infallible proof that we should set our tables for an extra guest on May 21 of this year—Jesus himself.
Based on their information, the enlightened will be taken to heaven while the rest of us are left on Earth for a period of torment, ending with the end of time—which they believe will happen vaguely “in October.”
Their infallible proof, you ask? Well, for starters, did you know that gay pride is God telling us that the end is near?
According to what can be considered an amateur-ish dissertation at best, author Harold Camping (better known as the owner/chief broadcaster for FRW) ar-gues that because of Romans 1:24-27 (you know, the whole man laying down with man thing), it is clear that the Gay Pride Movement is God releasing his restraint on sin…the first sign of the second coming.
Another proof they share is that God told Noah, before the Great Flood, that he had seven days to warn the people of the coming destruction, which would happen on the 17th day of the 2nd month.
Other language in that same passage refers to a day as “a thousand years,” and the year 2011 is exactly 7,000 years after the year of the Great Flood, 4990 B.C.—oh and lets not forget that according to the Bible, the 17th day of the 2nd month is our May 21st (yah, I don’t get it either).
Clearly, they have been putting a lot of thought into this.
But before you go buying stock in Duck Tape and raiding your local grocery store’s bottled water sec-tion—let me enlighten you for a second.
The fear of the end of the world is nothing new folks. There have been many times in human history that it has been predicted, and the supposed date has
passed leaving us all here waiting.For starters you have the infamous Great Disap-
pointment of 1894 when Baptist leader William Miller predicted the end would come on Oct. 22 of that
year—and nothing happened.Then, we have the date
still yet to come, Dec. 21, 2012, the date the Mayan calendar ends. Apparently it is more acceptable to believe that this was their way of telling us the end is near, as opposed to assuming that they made 2,012-plus-years-worth of calendars and maybe just got tired.
Perhaps they decided to take up crocheting and just hoped someone else would pick up where they left off. Or perhaps the calendar is cyclic and just starts over. (Oh wait,
that’s exactly what happens.)And who can forget Nov. 16, 1987—the day
R.E.M. predicted as “The End of the World as We Know It”?
Okay, so maybe that last one was a stretch.Regardless,
as easy as it is to make fun of all these groups, looking at the state the world is in at the mo-ment, you can’t blame them for being fright-ened. Now, that isn’t to say that any of this is worth scream-ing “apoca-lypse!!” over, but in case you haven’t been paying attention folks, things ain’t so grand.
Right now we have an American economy still in shambles, with no real sign of recov-ering anytime soon. We have a government slowly attempt-ing to dismantle the rights of its people. We have news me-dia feeding into the paranoia and fear of the
citizenry turning people against one another along very ambiguous political lines.
Then outside America we have a Middle East in crisis—not to mention the fact that the Middle East is the homeland of the top three modern religions. With countries slowly entering rebellion on a daily basis, some more violent than others (I’m looking at you here Libya), and with the US teetering on the pros-pect of entering what will be its third Middle Eastern military engagement in the last decade—people look to the Bible for some kind…any kind, of hope.
It’s just a little disconcerting when we realize we’ve gotten to the point that the end of days can masquerade as hope. Especially since the last thing we need right now is more to fear.
In the end, as odd as this sounds, FRW offers per-haps the fairest approach to the apocalypse yet. While 2012-ers and others quickly cast dissenters down in their proverbial hell-fire, FRW—according to an inter-view with Yahoo! News—has this to say:
“If you still want to say we’re crazy, go ahead…But it doesn’t hurt to look into it.”
I say why not look into it? A little knowledge nev-er hurt anyone and in an era when fear is so readily available, the ability to critically analyze and separate truth from fanaticism never hurt anybody…at least not as much as a apocalypse might.
Group Claims May 21st ‘End of World as We Know It’By Justin Brenis, The Cauldron Copy/Web Editor
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The groups supporting the prophecy have put up billboards around the country warning of the beginning of the end.
March 21, 2011 / PAGE 15
IllumiNation: Crises in Libya and JapanBy Reid May, The Cauldron Editor-In-Chief
The U.S. joined an international effort in the en-forcement of a “no-fly” zone over Libya on Saturday, after a United Nations Security Council vote approved the measure.
American warships in the Mediterranean fired cruise missiles at air defense targets, mostly concen-trated in the western side of the North African nation.
According to Vice Admiral Willian E. Gortney, who spoke for the Pentagon in briefings on the attack, most of Libya’s surface-to-air defense systems are located in the west and must be disabled in order to create the circumstances for a no-fly zone.
President Barack Obama has been reluctant to engage with Libya’s controversial dictator Muammar Qadhafi, who has been the recipient of international outcry after his military began using deadly force on civilians in an effort to retain control in a revolution-ary atmosphere.
This week, the U.N. gave Qadhafi a cease-fire ultimatum. After his refusal to vacate the use of force, a coalition of European and Arab nations, along with the U.S. felt intervention was unavoidable.
U.S. forces are widely expected to play a more significant part in the initial phases of the operation, dubbed “Operation Odyssey Dawn,” before handing over day-to-day operations to other nations. French fighter jets were the first to engage Libya, prior to U.S. strikes on Saturday.
Obama has been adamant that the U.S. will not send ground forces into Libya and has gone to great lengths to draw stark contrasts between this effort and the two long-term military operations the United States has in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By all measurable accounts, the U.S. chose the
appropriate time to intervene and did so in a non-unilateral fashion, ensuring the support of the world is behind them. There were concerns within the admin-istration that action would be seen as another over-aggressive U.S. intervention.
However, the support of the Security Council and, more importantly, leading role militarily and symboli-cally of others – especially French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been very outspoken – has painted the U.S. as a loyal contributor to the greater good.
The true test now becomes the will of Qadhafi and his ability to retain power with significant damage to his military and rapidly worsening international standing. At the moment, the estranged Libyan leader has no friends in the region and faces the prospect of a drawn-out conflict with nations of superior military fortitude.
On the other side of the world last week, Ja-pan faced a crisis of another kind when the largest earthquake in their recorded history, and an ensuing tsunami, devastated the island nation.
According to recent CNN reports, 8,199 have died and nearly 13,000 are still missing as searches continued yesterday. It has also been reported that the March 11 quake shifted the Oshika Peninsula, near the epicenter, by just over 17 feet.
While search and rescue has been an international effort, the progress has been hampered by persistent snowfall. Many Japanese survivors are currently resid-ing in makeshift shelters, where insulation is difficult and medical care a “massive challenge,” according to CNN.
Beyond the obvious priority preserving lives,
Japan is also dealing with potential meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant’s second nuclear reac-tor, which has been gaining international attention all week.
Many are concerned about a potential meltdown, the long-term impact on the surrounding area and the potential for leaked radiation to take to the air before traveling across the water – west to Asia or east, to-ward Hawaii and North America.
International support has been pouring into the Japanese recovery effort. Despite being the world’s most prepared nation for such a disaster, Japan is reel-ing from unforeseen devastation. Their recovery will be tepid, and some wonder if they will ever make it back completely.
This concern has led to both official and personal support. Well known Americans have stepped up to support the nation. Actress Sandra Bullock donated $1 million to the relief efforts. Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, a Japanese native, donated $100 million yen – a little over $1.2 million dollars.
The United States has pledged to support Japan during the recovery. Immediately after the disaster, search and rescue teams flew across the Pacific from California and the USS Ronald Reagan was dispatched to support the nation from the sea.
As a leading world economy, Japan’s struggles create a ripple effect. The disaster led to an immedi-ate fall in U.S. financial markets and a slow recovery could hamper the rest of the developed world, as many rely on Japanese contributions to the global economy.
While some may dispute the merits of increased U.S. involvement – the realities are clear: a speedy Japanese recovery is the best solution for all.
After speaking with my friends, I noticed a trend in hair… not so much in style but in salon expenses.
As someone with a cosmetology license, I have been on both sides of the chair and I know and un-derstand the prices are outrageous, and many clients leave the salon unhappy with their new ‘do.’
I wanted to give some tips that might help your next salon visit cost less while having you leave the salon self-confident and content with your style.
First, never enter a salon without properly educat-ing yourself on basic salon verbage. There are two different techniques for layering hair, one to build weight or add volume and one to remove weight or thin hair.
Bangs are also referred to as fringe, and full fringe starts at the crown of your head, usually when you have full fringe you do not have a hair part. Different layers add different textures to your hair, so make sure you tell your stylist exactly what you want to achieve with your hair style.
Second, be realistic and tell your stylist the kind of maintenance routine you expect. Let him/her know how much time you plan on styling your hair on a daily basis and what styling products and tools you do
or do not use. This will
help the styl-ist create a hair style that fits your lifestyle
Third, do not walk into the salon empty handed. Always bring a picture of what style or hair color you are looking for. Be aware of the face shape and the hair texture the model or celebrity in your
photo has. Some styles look beautiful in the picture but not necessarily on you.
Ask your stylist’s opinion and remember when celebrities have long, gorgeous, flowing locks, the chances are that they are expensive extensions that are
out of your (and my) price range.Fourth, when getting a color service, look into
prices; some money savers may not be advertised. Many salons offer different prices for full-head high-light, partial-highlight and brush-through highlights.
A full-head highlight consists of highlights throughout the entire head, a partial-highlight consists of highlights down the middle section and both side sections above your ears and a brush-through high-light is just the middle top section of hair.
Some salons do the same with color applications. This will minimize both the expenses and the amount of damage done to your hair. Contact your local salon and ask the receptionist or your stylist for prices.
Lastly, do not let your stylist convince you to do something you are uncomfortable with. If you do not want to cut your hair, that is perfectly okay.
If you want just a trim, show her how much you consider a trim to be, because stylist and clients can differ on this idea greatly. Listen to the stylists recom-mendations but do not feel obligated to purchase all the products the stylist uses.
Questions for Gabriella? Visit www.deargabby-beautyguru.wordpress.com.
Fabulous Fashion: Hair Salon TipsBy Gabriella Tomaro, The Cauldron Staff Writer
Kim Kardashian’s fabulous tresses are really pricey extensions
PAGE 16 / March 21, 2011
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