OPINION

Some like Google,

others stick to classics.
pg. 5
Thursday, November 19, 2009 • Volume 63, Issue 11

Flu cases at
Emerson
BFA films can cost students thousands Gender-
double in one- neutral
week period
Alexander Kaufman
housing
Beacon staff

The number of students evalu-

ated by Emerson health staff for
flu-like symptoms nearly doubled
in a one-week period this month, a
college health official said.
Thirty-nine students were exam-
ined at the Center for Health and
Wellness for flu-like symptoms
during the week of Nov. 2, wrote
the center’s director Jane Powers
in an e-mail to The Beacon.
Before that, 35 students were
evaluated for the same symptoms
this semester, according to statis-
tics Powers provided.
This wave of flu or flu-like ill-
ness is part of a general uptick in
cases at area colleges, she said.
Eighty doses of an early ship-
ment of H1N1 flu vaccine had
been administered to students
prioritized as “high risk” by the
Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) after Nov. 8,
Powers wrote. In general the CHW
does not document the number of
students who were quarantined
after their evaluation.
Because the CHW does not dis-
tinguish between swine flu and
seasonal flu in its records, symp-
tomatic patients are broadly diag-
nosed with “influenza-like illness.”
The state health agency designates
the flu circulating now as H1N1,
Powers wrote.
“This is a public health issue.
One for the entire campus, not
just the Center for Health and
Wellness,” Powers said. “Influ-
enza-like illness will be with us for
see Flu, page 3
VMA students at Emerson often drop thousands of dollars of their own money to fund film projects.
Senior Thomas Goodwin’s project, above, must raise an additional $5,000 to complete the BFA thesis.
Film majors, BFAs, spend $1,000s out of pocket to graduate
Alison McCall
Beacon staff
The original budget for Thomas
Goodwin’s thesis project was
$40,000, the rough equivalent of a
year of Emerson tuition, room and
board.
After some creative trimming
and financial sponsorship, Good-
win and co-producer, senior cin-
ematography major Nick Melo,
still had to shell out $3,000 each of
their own money.
Yet their film, Hands of the Noc-
turnal Clock, a gangster story about
two brothers, sits idly in a film pro-
cessing lab in Los Angeles.
Goodwin and Melo must raise
additional funds before they can
complete their prized final proj-
ect. Including processing fees that
are keeping their film embargoed,
$5,000 is needed to finish the short
film.
Their woes began after shoot-
ing, when the company they rented
equipment from took $4,000 in
missing or damaged equipment
directly out of the film’s account.
The setback halted the produc-
tion, and put the two producers in
$1,700 worth of debt.
“It’s been three months and I
haven’t seen the film we shot,” said
Goodwin, who began the project
over the summer. “I’m taking a hit.
photo courtesy of Shauna Galante
This was a learning experience, but
an expensive one.”
Dropping $6,000 in pocket
money on a final project is fairly
routine for courses among Emer-
son’s visual and media arts students
— a major that claims roughly 32
percent of the undergraduate pop-
ulation.
Like most BFA film seniors
at Emerson, Goodwin said he
expected to pay significant out-of-
pocket costs to produce his film.
As early as “Film II,” a class usu-
ally taken by sophomores, students
drop between $350 and $1,000 on
a three-minute movie, said VMA
see Film, next page
coming
next fall
Gabrielle Dunn
Beacon staff
Gender-neutral housing will
be implemented in Emerson Col-
lege dormitories next fall on a
trial basis, according to college
and Student Government Asso-
ciation officials.
The college agreed to pilot
the option for the 2010 school
year, allowing students, except
entering freshmen and first-
year transfers, to share rooms
or suites with other students
regardless of gender or sex. The
move, announced yesterday via
e-mail, also provides options for
students who identify as trans-
gendered, who are questioning
their gender identity or do not
wish to prescribe to gender clas-
sification.
“It’s a good step,” said Chris
Maher, president of EAGLE,
Emerson’s Association for Gays,
Lesbians and Everyone. “It espe-
cially helps transgender students,
who mostly end up in singles.
It’s great for them to be able to
live with who they want, or for
anyone who doesn’t feel com-
fortable to have more options.”
The proposal was born a year
see Housing, page 3

Inside this Issue

129 years later, founder might hate us VMA juniors and
Lifestyle
Pseudo M.D. favored zany diet, Godliness, historians say
Gabrielle Dunn
Beacon staff
“I have not built this school,” declared
Charles Wesley Emerson, upon the col-
lege’s opening. “...God has built it. It is
His.”
Emerson, who founded the college in
photo coutesy of reelmovienews.com
1880, was an intensely religious man who
lived by a strict diet of his own invention.
Embrace your dreams and dive Today, his college is the fifth least reli-
into the strange and fanciful world of gious college in the nation, according to the
role-playing. Princeton Review. And religion isn’t the
pg. 8 only deviance probably making ol’ C.W.E.
turn in his grave. Imagine for a second that
our namesake’s apparition visited our hal-
Sports lowed halls. He’d absolutely hate it.
Holding court : Men’s basketball Though as eccentric as the students who
opens season with a win. now roam Boylston Street, Emerson—who
pg. 6
is of no relation to Ralph Waldo, as many
End of the line: Women’s volley- erroneously believe—didn’t show it with
ball falls in NCAA Tourney opener. ironic scarves or by smoking Gauloises.
pg. 6 The shrewd and quirky Emerson was
a “doctor” who got his “medical” degree
A&E from a mail order diploma mill for $25 in
(Untitled) brings New York neuroti- 1879, according to Emerson historian and
cism to Boston. former professor John Coffee. Emerson
pg. 11 felt he needed the degree to seem presti-
gious enough to found his own school.
Fantastic Mr. Fox pulls puppet
Interesting side note: the college library’s
strings, but no punches. pg. 10
Web site lists Emerson as “Dr.” claiming
photo illustration by Matt Byrne
The face Charles Wesley Emerson
would make if he could see us now.
he attended medical school in Philadelphia.
The library’s Executive Director Robert
Fleming compiled the dubious timeline
when he served as college archivist. Flem-
ing said he stands by his
see Emerson, page 9
seniors must take
liberal arts courses
Molly Driscoll
Beacon staff
A year after a college task force investigated
the place liberal arts has at Emerson, the Visual
and Media Arts Department has now made it a
requirement for students entering in Fall 2010 to
take two liberal arts courses during their junior
and senior years— but the rest of the suggestions
outlined by the task force in its report have not
yet beenenacted by the school.
Interim chair of the Visual and Media Arts
Department Eric Schaefer said the decision
to require liberal arts courses for juniors and
seniors was made several years ago and that the
department had to make sure there were enough
courses for the upperclassmen to take.
“This is a decision that’s had the full support of
the VMA department,” Schaefer said. “It’s taken
a little while.”
But at the moment, said vice president for aca-
demic affairs Linda Moore, there are no plans for
other departments to enact similar requirements
or change their liberal arts rules in any way that
she knows of. Moore said there is an all-college
see Liberal Arts, next page
2 Berkeley BeacoN
Task force examined role of liberal arts at college
continued from
Liberal Arts, page 1
retreat planned for May that
will focus on the second half of
the findings of the task force.
“It is important that the faculty
as a group have an opportunity
to reflect and give input,” said
Moore.
Moore said further decisions
about liberal arts will be made
after the event.
“Since we are still in dis-
cussion mode, I cannot assure
that specific changes will come
about,” she said. “That is one of
the important aspects of the May
retreat.”
Interim Dean for Liberal Arts
Richard Zauft said other deci-
sions on the liberal arts program
are waiting on the arrival of Dr.
Amy Ansell, who will take on
the role of dean for liberal arts in
January.
“Since the liberals arts courses
affect all students and all depart-
ments, broad discussion is neces-
sary to envision a plan that will
be embraced by everyone,” Zauft
Film students spend thousands for class projects
continued from
Film, page 1
junior Malika Moro-Cohen.
Moro-Cohen just spent $1,000
filming her own Film II project,
and felt her professor, Gautam
Chopra, low-balled his $350 esti-
mate. Costs like these make film
one of the most expensive majors
on campus, requiring large sums
public safety log
Monday, Nov. 9
• The Emerson College Police
Department received a call
concerning a strong smell
of gas in the second floor
common room of 80 Boyl-
ston. Facilities and National
Grid were called, but Facili-
ties found the common room
stove on, with the pilot light
out. The stove was turned off
and no one was harmed.
• A student complained to
the ECPD of dehydration,
dizziness, headache, nausea,
and sensitivity to light. The
student was taken to the hos-
pital in an ambulance.
Tuesday, Nov. 10
• A student complained of
fever and feeling like they
were about to pass out. ECPD
called an ambulance to take
the student to the hospital.
Thursday, Nov. 12
• A security guard saw a
student exit an elevator in
216 Tremont and collapse.
When ECPD officers arrived,
the student was found to be
having a seizure and taken to
the hospital via ambulance.
Friday, Nov. 13
• ECPD and the Boston Fire
Department responded to a
fire alarm in the gymnasium
of 150 Boylston. A bag inside
a vacuum, clearing sawdust
from recent renovations,
said.
The task force was assembled
by Moore in the fall of 2007.
Associate Professor Samuel Bin-
kley was one of five professors
on a task force that investigated
the role of liberal arts education
at Emerson. Other members were
associate professor of commu-
nication studies John Anderson,
assistant professor of visual and
media arts Cheryl Krause Knight,
associate professor of commu-
nication studies Michael Weiler
and professor of communication
studies Richard West.
In order to find what could be
improved, the task force had a
discussion with faculty and ran-
domly selected students in April
2008, studied college records on
course offerings and talked to
faculty to get an impression of the
college’s history when it came to
liberal arts.
“We found that the liberal arts
at Emerson were good but could
be better,” Binkley said in an
interview. “Students tended to
view the liberal arts requirements
as add-ons to their ‘real’ learning
of cash to produce what are essen-
tially homework assignments.
“There are significant costs
involved with being a media pro-
duction student,” said Rob Sabal,
an Emerson VMA professor who
teaches Film I and II classes. “But
I think it’s expensive to be a film-
maker anywhere.”
Junior directing for narrative
fiction major Martin Zaharinov
overheated and caught fire.
Minor damage was caused
to the vinyl flooring when
the contractor operating the
vacuum rushed the bag to the
bathroom and embers flew
from it. Upon ECPD and BPD
arrival, only the embers and a
lot of smoke remained. There
were no injuries.
Entry of the Week
Sunday, Nov. 15 — A stu-
dent called ECPD from
the Emerson Cafe to
report a woman sitting
on the sidewalk. Offi-
cers determined the
woman to be a Univer-
sity of Massachusetts
Dartmouth student. She
appeared disoriented
and talked about the
moon and an Emerson
College Department of
Philosophy. The student
refused assistance and
left on her own.
Saturday, Nov. 14
• ECPD took a female stu-
dent to the hospital for severe
pain in one ear caused by the
careless use of a Q-tip.
News november 19, 2009
objectives.”
The task force submitted its
report to the college in Nov.
2008, which outlined its find-
ings and stated what they thought
should be done.
“Among the impressions gath-
ered [from students] were a per-
ception that the liberal arts classes
are ‘throwaway courses that we
have to check off,’” the commit-
tee wrote in one section of the
report. The report also stated that
students weren’t happy with the
large sizes of liberal arts classes
and with the mixing of years that
happens in those courses.
The suggestions within the
report included sequencing lib-
eral arts courses so some were
introductory and others pre-
sented a more advanced view of
their topics as well as reducing
class size and implementing a
“thematic restructuring” of the
liberal arts to convince students
that the courses will prepare them
for adult life.
“What is being discussed is not
‘more’ liberal arts but ‘better’
liberal arts, i.e. a more focused
created and operates ISFilms,
a non-profit student group that
largely helps Emerson student
films find funding. Zaharinov said
a $6,000 to $15,000 budget for a
BFA thesis film is “realistic and
normal.” Zaharinov also did most
of the footwork in getting “Hands
of the Nocturnal Clock” its enor-
mous business and private dona-
tions through ISFilms.
• A Securitas guard
reported a female bother-
ing tour groups outside of
180 Tremont. ECPD officers
responded and removed the
woman.
• Staff at 10 Boylston Place
found an unknown male
trying on shoes in the costume
shop. When questioned the
man fled. ECPD was unable
to locate the man.
• ECPD received a call from
parents in New York City
saying their two children had
not returned home on a bus
that was supposed to bring
them to an Emerson open
house and back. The brothers
showed up at the ECPD sta-
tion and agreed to stay with a
friend at Harvard University
before returning to New York
in the morning.
Sunday, Nov. 15
• ECPD received a call from a
parent expressing concern for
a student due to lack of con-
tact. ECPD notified the Office
of Housing and Resident Life
and both parties searched for
the student. The student was
found asleep in his room and
told to call his parents.
• ECPD brought a student to
the hospital after she com-
plained that her H1N1 flu
medication made her sick.
• ECPD took a student to the
hospital for severely infected
ears, one of which was bleed-
ing.
Cherylynn Tsushima/Beacon staff
Sam Binkley is one of the profes-
sors on a task force that exam-
ined liberal arts at Emerson.
approach, smaller courses, etc.,”
Binkley said.
Binkley said the college as a
whole currently has no plans to
change the liberal arts program.
Zauft said he believes the cur-
rent classes for liberal arts are still
very beneficial for students.
“The liberal arts course offer-
ings here are very strong and
diversified,” he said. “I could
Those costs, Sabal said, go
far beyond renting equipment.
Transportation, location fees,
hiring actors and editors—and
the simple logistics of feeding the
huge number of people needed
to produce a film—all contribute
to the final pricetag, Sabal said.
Post-production, when film is
developed and special effects and
extra color effects are added, is
also costly.
Brad Chandler, the owner of
CineLab, a film laboratory in Fall
River, Mass., said roughly 80 per-
cent of his clients are students.
Projects with a lot to process, like
a BFA thesis film, costs between
$2,500 and $5,000 on post-pro-
duction alone.
Equipment fees can also be
steep. Andrew Barlow, a rental
agent at Boston Camera, said
about half the film students who
come to him are Emersonians,
and that they spend anywhere
between $10 (a single lens cap)
to $700 (a camera package) just
renting what the Emerson Equip-
ment Distribution Center does
not provide. If students use the
College’s equipment, the EDC
strongly suggests a $200 insur-
ance fee for whatever they take
out.
But not every production costs
thousands. Zaharinov said he
plans to spend only $100 on his
Directing Image and Sound final
film project—on good food to
feed his cast and crew.
“I know you can make a film
for next to nothing and have it be
awesome,” Zaharinov said, stress-
ing the importance of networking.
“If you get on film sets and you
work for people, they’re going to
turn around and help you.”
Zaharinov has taken full advan-
tage of the services Emerson
provides to film students. Aside
from the Equipment Distribution
Center, Zaharinov said he picked
up tips from a class, Business Con-
cepts in Modern Media, in which
his professor, Claire Andrade-
Watkins, showed students how to
get money or equipment for their
films. Two weeks ago, she took
the class to the Associated Grant-
makers of Massachusetts Library.
Corrections
• In the Nov. 12 issue, Ross Dallas contibuted to the article
“Women top apps, grades: Emerson woman are majority, more
likely to graduate with honors.”
go on and on about the terrific
courses students have to choose
from.”
But Zauft said the effort by
the visual and media arts depart-
ment to make liberal arts more of
a four-year requirement will also
help undergraduates in the long
run.
“Ideally we want all of our stu-
dents to be not only professionally
trained and prepared, but also
well-educated,” he said. “That’s
what our liberal arts courses are
designed to provide.”
Students seem to have mixed
feelings about the required liberal
arts courses. Sophomore Bryan
Rogers said he didn’t find any
fault with them.
“They were fine,” the film major
said. “I didn’t have a problem with
them. There’s other stuff [the col-
lege] could be dealing with.”
But junior Marc Van Osdale
said the focus should be the lib-
eral arts program.
“I’ve been more impressed with
my core classes,” the film major
said. “I hope they’re doing some-
thing about [the liberal arts].”
The library, Zaharinov said, is
minutes from Emerson and is
full of resources for locating and
applying for specific grants.
“There’s never an easy way.
You’re always going to run into
snags,” said Andrade-Watkins
of filmmaking. “Don’t discour-
age yourself from doing some-
thing because you think you can’t
afford it.”
For Hands of the Nocturnal
Clock, Zaharinov scored nearly
$30,000 of material donations,
grants and discounts before
he needed to solicit donations
through ISFilms. FotoKem, a
Burbank, Calif. based post-pro-
duction facility, donated the film
processing costs through its Stu-
dent Filmmaker Grant.
Zaharinov also secured the
Panavision New Filmmaker 35mm
Student Film Grant—the same,
he said, that was awarded to the
makers of Napoleon Dynamite.
That grant shipped professional
filming equipment—generally
priced at $75,000 for a week’s
rental—to Goodwin’s crew for
three weeks. Kodak gave free film
stock and Fujifilm offered a dis-
continued type of film for $100
per 1,000-foot roll. Plenty of these
opportunities can be found just by
searching online, Zaharinov said.
“The costs associated with
being a VMA student bothered
me until I realized how much help
I can get,” he said.
Jenna Lyng, a senior BFA film
student and former president of
the student film production club,
Frames Per Second, disagrees.
Although she admitted that
producers who spend more time
on the “business side,” like Zaha-
rinov, can find better funding for
their films, the principle of the
expense irritated her.
“You don’t see the theater
students paying a fee every time
they go participate in a play,” said
Lyng, whose BFA thesis film alone
cost her around $2,400 in pocket
money, out of a roughly $23,000
budget.
“Maybe they’ll pay for head-
shots, but that’s what? $1,000?”
she said. “They don’t pay for
props or sets.”

John bEER
EXPORT, Pa. —Pennsylvania State
Police say a man was drunk when he
hopped on a lawn tractor and drove it
to buy more beer. Police said 63-year-
old Ford Earl Broome, of Export, was
stopped by a state trooper at about 8
p.m. on Sept. 6. The trooper said he
stopped Broome near a tavern, and
that Broome smelled of alcohol and
appeared to be drunk. Police said
Broome denied drinking, but then
acknowledged he “drank a little”
before driving the tractor to a bar to
buy more beer.
Police said Broome’s blood-alcohol
content was about double the state’s
legal limit for drivers.
Broome did not immediately return
a message left at his house Friday.
His preliminary hearing is Dec. 14.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
LANCASHIRE, England—Michelle
Thompson, who suffers from Per-
sistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome,
thought she was just too demanding
for men and would never find the
man of her dreams.
But she has been with her neigh-
bour Andrew Carr, 32, for the past six
months and he’s as keen for sexual
intercourse as she is and they make
love 10 times a day.
Michelle’s rare condition means
she always craves sex and can
climax at any time anywhere.
She even had to quit a job in a bis-
cuit factory because the machines
kept setting her off.
“Andrew has changed my life. I’m
no longer looking for a cure for my
orgasms - I’ve found it,” Michelle told
The News of the World newspaper in
the UK.
“Now I have a huge grin on my face
all the time, and it’s not just because
of the orgasms.”
SEX TOYS -R- US
ASHLAND, Ore.—A giraffe spent
Friday morning at the Ashland Police
Department, after an officer rescued
it from the clutches of a drunken
man who was trying to take it home.
The 4-foot stuffed giraffe, located
outside the downtown children’s
store Bug A Boo, was a tempting
target for Ashland resident Sean Pat-
rick McDowell, 24, who is accused of
having twice tried to steal the animal
early Friday, police said.
“He was apparently pretty enam-
ored with it and decided he was
taking it home,” said Sgt. Bob Smith
with the Ashland Police Department.
At about 1 a.m., Officer Theron
Hull observed McDowell pick up the
giraffe and simulate making sexual
advances on it, Smith said.
HE called 69-11
TAMPA, Fla.—Florida police
say a man arrested for repeat-
edly calling 911 looking for sex
claimed it was the only number
he could dial after running out of
cell phone minutes. Tampa police
said 29-year-old Joshua Basso
made sexual comments to the
911 dispatcher and asked if he
could come to her house. Inves-
tigators say she hung up, but he
called back four more times.
McDowell was cited for theft
after his second encounter with
the giraffe, according to police.
He was arrested about 15
minutes later at his home late
Wednesday and charged with
making a false 911 call. Basso
reportedly told officers that he
didn’t think he would get in trou-
ble for calling 911.
This week’s briefs compiled
from the Associated Press,
the Daily Telegraph and the
Ashland Daily Tidings.
Berkeley BeacoN
Small turnout at college diversity event
Taylor Gearhart
Beacon staff
Junior political communication
major Brittany Jones didn’t even
know it was happening. Neither
did senior writing, literature and
publishing major Lisa Frye. Of the
five students sitting in the Cultural
Diversity Center a little after 4
p.m. on Tuesday, only sophomore
marketing communication major
Chris Hyacinthe thought he might
have gotten an e-mail about the
panel discussion titled “Diversity
at Emerson,” that had been going
on just a floor above the center.
The panel, hosted by the Insti-
tute for Liberal Arts and Inter-
disciplinary Studies, featured two
faculty members and three stu-
dents who discussed diversity in
student and faculty bodies, and,
most fervently, diversity as subject
matter in the classroom.
Attendance in the Max Mutch-
nick Campus Center’s Multi-
purpose Room was light. Seven
students and 16 Emerson faculty
and staff members showed up, not
including the panel members.
Jones said the poor showing was
probably due to the time during
the day.
“Two to four is an awful time
slot,” she said. “It’s a popular time
to have class and it’s the same time
as the SGA meeting.”
Frye said she was confused and
Flu cases go up, but some are still indifferent
continued from
Flu, page 1
the next several months.”
A shipment of 300 H1N1 vac-
cine doses from the Massachusetts
Department of Public Health is
expected to arrive at Emerson next
month, Powers wrote.
The CDC estimates the flu
season to peak around January and
February of next year. Meanwhile,
the CHW has prepared informa-
tion on how to avoid the illness
and instructions for students who
experience influenza symptoms.
Olivier Loranger Gagnon, a
freshman film major, said he was
briefly hospitalized on Nov. 1
Gender-neutral housing to get trail run next fall
continued from
Housing, page 1
ago, spearheaded by SGA Presi-
dent Scott Fisher, who met with
College President Jacqueline Lie-
bergott and a Board of Trustees
subcommittee along with other
groups to get it approved. Fisher
rapidly assembled a petition with
more than 600 signatures last year
and created a Facebook group—
which currently has 803 mem-
bers—in support of the cause. He
also had to get the approval of
SGA and the Office of Housing
and Residence Life.
Earlier this semester, college
officials told Fisher the measure
would most likely pass before
Thanksgiving, but did not offer a
concrete deadline. Fisher said he
learned yesterday afternoon that
the option was adopted after he
received a bevy of congratulatory
text messages from friends and
supporters.
“I’m overwhelmed,” he said.
“This effort impacts the lives of
thousands of students in Emer-
son’s future. It’s a huge improve-
ment in quality of life and the
college experience for students.
A good living situation affects
your attitude about so many other
things and now students can
News November
that she hadn’t heard about the
event on Facebook.
“I get Facebook for everything,
but I had no idea this was happen-
ing,” she said.
The two faculty members,
Wendy Walters, associate pro-
fessor of writing, literature and
publishing, and Erika Williams,
scholar-in-residence at the Insti-
tute for Liberal Arts & Interdis-
ciplinary Studies, spoke about
their experiences as professors at
a school where issues of diversity
tend to affect classroom discus-
sion.
The three students on the panel
were Ian Grady, a senior politi-
cal communication major; Chris
Maher, a junior film major and
president of Emerson’s Alliance
for Gays, Lesbians and Everyone
and Gabrielle Dunn, senior jour-
nalism major and Beacon manag-
ing editor. The trio discussed their
experiences in regards to diversity
from their different academic and
co-curricular backgrounds.
The event’s organizer, Sam Bin-
kley, an associate partner of com-
munication studies, said he was
disappointed that so few students
attended, but he said he felt it had
more to do with a lack of commu-
nication than student apathy.
“Faculty tend to talk to faculty,”
he said. “There’s not a good way
for them to talk to students about
stuff like this, except in classes.”
Binkley said he was happy with
after suffering severe flu symp-
toms and was quarantined to his
room for four days. Hospital staff
performed a nasal swab test and
confirmed that Gagnon had con-
tracted H1N1.
“It just hit me, I was writing a
paper, and then all of a sudden I
felt extremely dizzy and tired,” he
said, of the Sunday night when the
symptoms first kicked in. “I could
barely move my muscles I was
so insanely cold, but I was boil-
ing inside—my temperature was
103.”
Only after his fever returned to
a normal 98.6 did he emerge from
isolation, albeit with a mask over
his mouth, which caught the atten-
choose the most enjoyable one to
better their experience at Emer-
son.”
Dean of Students Ronald
Ludman said in a telephone inter-
view with The Beacon that he
did not believe the new housing
option will cause any more prob-
lems than traditional dorm life.
“The students had put together
what we thought was a reasonable
proposal that gives us the oppor-
tunity to pilot the program and
see how it works,” Ludman said.
“I don’t anticipate we’re going to
have problems based on research
from other schools.”
The Office of Housing and Res-
idence Life’s senior staff is cur-
rently drafting guidelines and will
seek input from SGA representa-
tives and from the Residence Hall
Association, he said.
According to the Washington,
D.C.-based Gender Public Advo-
cacy Coalition, gender neutral
housing options exist at more
than 50 colleges and universi-
ties across the country, including
five Massachusetts institutions:
Brandeis University in Waltham;
Clark University in Worcester;
Harvard University in Cambridge;
Tufts University in Medford; and
Hampshire College in Amherst.
Ludman was reluctant to call
the decision beneficial mainly to
19, 2009
Students and faculty debate the state of diversity at the Col-
lege during a panel discussion on Nov. 17.
the faculty and staff turnout and
said the conversation was impor-
tant and productive, even if there
weren’t as many students as he
would have wished.
Diversity in the classroom as
content, even in craft-focused
classes, was the most critically dis-
cussed point during the two hours.
A conversation was sparked by
Binkley’s question to the group:
“Is there a point where the majors
shouldn’t be saddled with diver-
sity as subject matter?”
In response, Grady, a former
marketing communication major,
said in three years of studying
marketing at Emerson, diversity
has never been part of the cur-
riculum, despite the fact that an
understanding and respect for
tion of wary students, he said.
“I got some people running away
from me,” he recalled, of his peers’
reaction to the mask.
But Powers stressed that Emer-
son students, faculty and staff who
experience symptoms must recog-
nize them early and “take personal
responsibility ... to ensure the
health of the Emerson campus.”
However, some students are
shrugging off the precautionary
warnings, dismissing swine flu as
inconsequential.
“I’m not really concerned about
whether I catch swine flu--I see it
as regular flu,” said Mohammad Al
Rashed, a senior marketing com-
munication major.
Emerson’s transgender commu-
nity, stressing it was positive for
“all students.”
However, Fisher said the LGBT
community was always a consid-
eration in passing the proposal.
“Knowing the school is laying
down a clear position on trans-
gender students, it’s effective to
see a step taken by a college that
shows all students a step in the
right direction,” Fisher said. “It’s
positive.”
The Princeton Review recently
listed Emerson as the fifth high-
est gay-friendly school in the
nation. In Fall 2007 Emerson
implemented gender-neutral bath-
rooms, and shortly after began
allowing transgender students to
change the name used in their col-
lege e-mail address. Emerson is
also one of only a dozen schools
nationwide that covers hormone
treatments and sexual reassign-
ment surgery in its student health
insurance, according to an August
2009 report by the University of
California Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender and Intersex Asso-
ciation. Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Harvard University
and Suffolk University cover just
hormone treatment, the report
says.
EAGLE, which supported the
recent housing proposal as it
3
Cherylynn Tsushima/Beacon staff
diversity is part of the marketing
industry.
“Even when diversity is directly
related to our craft we are still
not talking about it,” he said. “In
fact, don’t think we’ve ever talked
about it [in my marketing classes].
It’s almost taboo.”
In stark contrast, Grady said
that his political communication
classes touch on diversity all the
time.
As the event came to a close,
Williams said she hoped the dis-
cussion’s participants would go
into the community and continue
the discussion.
“Individuals need to not let the
conversation end,” she said. “We
need to keep confronting people
with these issues.”
H1N1 was first observed in
Mexico and has since spread world-
wide. It was declared pandemic by
the World Health Organization this
past June and has claimed 6,768
lives around the globe, accord-
ing to Nov. 13 statistics compiled
by the European Centre for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention. The
H1N1 vaccine was released during
the first week of October.
Yet a number of students noted
a general nonchalance among their
peers.
“No one’s taking precautions,”
said Sarah Cascante, a sophomore
broadcast journalism major. “I
still see people at parties drinking
out of the same cup.”
made its way through SGA, listed
the issue as a goal in a memoran-
dum it released last month.
The memorandum has been cir-
culating since last month, and also
requests including a permanent
LGBT coordinator on SGA, man-
datory sensitivity training for any
professor who wants to handle
LGBT material in their curricu-
lum, a zero-tolerance policy on
anti-LGBT graffiti and a perma-
nent center for LGBT students to
hang out. During the week of Oct.
28, the group gathered the signa-
tures of more than 900 students
who agreed with the memo.
“There’s a popular notion inside
Emerson and outside that all stu-
dents are overwhelmingly accept-
ing and that Emerson is a paradise
for LGBT students, but nowhere
in the world is absent of prejudice
and bigotry,” Maher said. “Emer-
son is not an exception.”
Fisher said he remains curious
to see how many floors, and in
which residence hall or halls, the
college will allow the new style of
living.
“It won’t be 100 percent of the
campus, but I hope they choose
a reasonable amount of space to
allow the opportunity,” Fisher
said. “I’d like to see them meet
student demand.”
4

Editorials Berkeley BeacoN • November 19, 2009

Your money, your roommate, your choice Upgrade/Downgrade

At issue:
Emerson’s administration
has announced plans to
enact a pilot program for
gender-neutral housing
in the fall.
Our view:
The move is a major
step forward for
students rights.
If you pay $12,780 in rent to
spend a year in an on-campus
double, you should be comfortable.
That was the basic principle behind
the Student Government Asso-
ciation’s push for gender-neutral
housing.
Yesterday, after a year of delib-
eration and debate, the administra-
tion showed that it agrees.
In an e-mail to former and cur-
rent dorm dwellers, Dean of Stu-
dents Ronald Ludman announced
yesterday that Emerson will launch
a pilot gender-neutral housing pro-
gram for returning students next
fall. Consenting participants will
be able to live with roommates
and suitemates of their choosing,
regardless of gender.
This is a major step forward for
student rights, and a reason for us
to be proud to attend the spirited
college on Boylston and Tremont.
Emerson has already proved
itself a very gay-friendly institu-
tion in many ways—we are one
of only a dozen colleges that cover
hormone treatments and sexual
reassignment surgeries in student
health insurance. In the past, the
college has implemented gender-
neutral bathrooms and allowed
students to change names on their
Emerson e-mail addresses should
they also change genders. A few
months ago, The Princeton Review
named Emerson the fifth-most gay-
accepting college in the country.
This new housing policy, how-
ever, will not affect the LGBTQ
community alone. Straight students
will also be allowed to chose who
they live with, which will undoubt-
ably make their living arrangements
more enjoyable and fair.
The college should be applauded
for heeding its students’ call. By
letting students make choices for
themselves based on their personal
preferences and sexual orientations,
the school recognizes us for what
we are: competent adults. There
are no apparent ulterior motives to
this move. The administration saw
that the current situation is unjust
and did what was right.
We should also thank our student
leaders, most of all SGA President
Scott Fisher, who has consistently
made gender-neutral living a pri-
ority. Fisher and the SGA have
proven themselves capable change
agents, and we encourage them to
revel in this triumph.
However, the details are still up
A quick look at what made our lives a little
better or worse this week.
in the air, and Ludman’s e-mail
indicates that in drafting policy To Jon Stewart, for
guidelines, the Office of Housing putting Fox News
and Residence Life will seek input in its place. The net-
from the Residence Hall Associa- work used footage to
tion and the SGA. It ain’t over ‘til describe a health care
it’s over, folks. The student body reform protest that
was actually footage
and the SGA should continue to from a totally seperate (and
see this see this one through to the much larger) protest held earlier
end. in the year. Not that we took Fox
Colleges are bureaucracies, and News seriously anyways.
when student action cuts through
the layers and changes a core value, To Lady Gaga,
everybody wins. For a generation
for making a good
music video out of
often called lazy, stupid and civi- a “Bad Romance.”
cally unconcerned, this is a teach- Even pretentious
ing moment: Things can change, film students went
and we can do the changing. ga-ga (hu-ho!) over
There’s no reason such a capable it. Although the hairless cat?
Un-ga-ga! Very disturbing.
group of students should fall victim
to nihilism. To Sarah Palin. Why
The only question: Why did don’t you “Go Rouge”
such a logical change for one of the in Russia? Or steal
some money to buy
nation’s most gay-friendly schools
expensive clothes? Or
take so long? Over 50 U.S. insti-
say something stupid
tutions around the country were and offensive? We
far ahead of us. Now, we can only want the real “American Life”
hope that many more will follow. from Her Mooseness.

Beacon editorial policy

The unsigned editorial(s) above represent(s) the official organizational view of The Berkeley Beacon. It is researched, reported and written by The Beacon’s editorial board,
which consists of Editor-in-Chief Matt Byrne; Managing Editors Gabrielle Dunn, Chris Girard and Ariel White and Opinion Editor Taylor Gearhart. The editorial board does
not consult with other staff members regarding the weekly editorial, nor does the opinion expressed therein have influence over the content appearing in other sections of the
paper. Pieces appearing on the opinion page represent the views of their respective authors, not The Berkeley Beacon as a whole.
Volume 63, Issue 10
Thursday, 19 November 2009

Letters to the editor berkeleybeacon@gmail.com

_______________
Editor in Chief
Matt Byrne
Letters to the editor may be submitted through noon on Monday before publication. Letters may be e-mailed to berkeleybeacon@gmail.com or dropped off at our office located
on the lower floor of 150 Boylston St., room L145 or in The Beacon mailbox on the lower floor of 150 Boylston St. All letters must include name, telephone number and Managing Editors
signature and should be 250 words or less. The Beacon reserves the right to edit all letters for length and for grammar, spelling and legal errors. Gabrielle Dunn
Chris Girard
Ariel White
News Editor

Editorial cartoon by Binsen Gonzalez

Ashley Portero
Opinion Editor
Taylor Gearhart
Sports Editor
Braden Campbell
Lifestyle Editor
Kelly Smith
A&E Editors
Ariel White
Terri Ciccone
Photography Editors
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Cherylynn Tsushima
Graphics Editor
Binsen Gonzalez
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Business & Advertising
Manager
Greg Townsend
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deputy news editor
Molly Driscoll
assistant news editor
Alison McCall
sga correspondent
Morgan Fahey
assistant opinion editor
Elizabeth Pashley
assistant sports editor
Ian Tasso
assistant lifestyle editor
Sarah Cadorette
deputy a&e editor
Catherine Viglienzoni
assistant a&e editor
Channah Barkhordari
chief copyeditor
Evan MacDonald

Advisor
Ric Kahn
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Anything submitted to The Berkeley
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publication may be reproduced by any
means without the express written
Berkeley BeacoN • November 19, 2009
Publishing courses: same game, different name
In the midst of one of the largest trans-
formations in media and journalism history
and faced with redefining “new journalism”
as a third genre alongside print and broad-
cast, Emerson did what any good commu-
nications school does: It reclassified some
writing classes as publishing classes.
Matt DeFaveri
Yes, students can finally take comfort
knowing their PB407 used to be a WR315
class and they’ll get 400-level credit.
Truthfully, Emerson’s writing and pub-
lishing courses need updating: They’re like
an opened bag of Saltines left sitting under
A new look for books
The Google “thief” strikes again. Not
to steal your money, nor your first-born
child—no. This time, the bandwidth bandit
is taking old, out-of-print books that have
no known copyright holder, scanning them
and putting them up in the dust-free library
called Google Books. So is this a crime of
wicked proportions, as some literature
buffs are claiming? No, not really. In fact,
it’s kind of revolutionary.
Elizabeth Pashley
On Nov. 13, Google wrote on its public-
ity blog about an amendment to its court
settlement with the Association of Ameri-
can Publishers and the Authors Guild. The
resulting plan is for the Internet behemoth
to have permission to scan in old books
for minor fees and create a huge online
database accessible to the general public.
Sounds like a great opportunity to read
more books, right? But it’s opened once
again the not-so-age-old debate: copyright.
For anyone who’s not a writing, litera-
ture and publishing major or is rusty on
their copyright law, here’s a crash course.
Copyright protects the distribution of a
piece of work, be it art, music, writing or
other pieces of original work for the life of
the artist for 70 years.
That’s a long time for anything to be
copyrighted. Just think of how much Shake-
speare is copied, reproduced, transformed
and performed without anyone having to
pay out to anyone. As a WLP major, I’m all
for having my work protected and getting
money for it while I’m alive, but if giving
up that right once I’m gone means more
people can access and enjoy my work, I say
let them have it.
Google, in the meantime, has already
scanned over 7,000,000 books. Most of
these are copyright-expired books or are
available for purchase, as opposed to free
online viewing. The most controversial,
however, are “orphan” books—those who
are out-of-print and whose copyright owner
is unknown. The question arises: Who gets
the money?
To this, the court settlement has estab-
lished a Books Rights Registry to help
ensure that 63 percent of all sales from the
book database will go to rights-holders,
according to Forbes magazine. Business
Week also elaborates that for any unknown
Opinion
the bed for a month. Stale.
Although now might be a good time
to propose an additional reclassification:
Combine all WR and PB courses into a new
course category, Chewbacca Defense (or
CD) courses.
First proposed by “South Park,” the
Chewbacca Defense states that Chewbacca
is a Wookiee from the planet Endor, except
Endor is a planet filled with Ewoks. Put
simply, that does not make sense.
Here’s an example: Magazine writing
classes at Emerson “prepare” students for
freelancing careers through researching
and writing 3,000–4,000 word articles—an
unrealistic notion considering an extremely
limited number of publications ask for
that long of a piece. Most publica-
tions, like Boston’s Weekly Dig, rarely
freelance any article longer than 500
words. Chewbacca Defense.
And while a 500-word article pays
$430 on average (or 86 cents per
word) according to the Media Enter-
tainment & Arts Alliance’s 2009
National Freelance Rates,
many smaller publica-
tions or non-profits
can only pay up to
10 cents a word for
services rendered.
Binsen Gonzalez
rightsholders, an independent trustee will
have up to 10 years to use that money to
try and locate the copyright owners. After
that, the money will be donated to charity.
And that’s what most of the contro-
versy surrounding the Google Books
settlement is about—money. While many
authors and publishers are still squabbling
over royalties, they’re missing out on the
great opportunity Google is providing for
the publishing and library industries. If a
writer’s book is out of print, chances are
no one will read it. Publishers very rarely
bring a book back into printing. A student
desperate for a glimpse at that 1972 Dow
Mossman novel is far more likely to pur-
chase and print a Google copy of it than
spend excessive amounts on a hard-to-find,
dust-laden tome out of someone’s base-
ment. And that means more money to the
author.
This giganic project
should not vilify Google.
It’s granting easy access
to millions of books.
It’s also a great opportunity for current
and future publishers (like writing, litera-
ture and publishing majors) to look ahead.
eBooks are on the rise, and having a digital
version of a book available to sell through
Google Books will add even more revenue.
Think of it as the too-busy-for-the-book-
store demographic.
This gigantic project should not vilify
Google. It’s granting easy access to mil-
lions of books to people all through the
United States, UK, Australia and Canada.
Although the most recent amendment now
limits book scanning to the aforementioned
countries, it is my hope that other nations
will join in once the process has been prop-
erly tried and tested.
So get your nose out of your book and
start thinking digital. All this fancy, who-
owes-what will still play out, and lawyers
will not be in want of work. But that’s just
how it goes. So I say Google Books for all,
and all for Google Books.
Elizabeth Pashley is a senior writing,
literature and publishing major and the
assistant opinion editor of The Beacon.
Writers straight out of Emerson aren’t
going to make a splash in New Republic or
Harper’s working for an entire semester on
a mammoth article that few publications
will want to run, much less pay $3,440 for.
Chewbacca Defense.
No one wants to sit down for 20 minutes
and read a drawn-out piece on sustainable
farming or a history of Joan Rivers’ plas-
tic surgeries. Short and sweet is the latest
journalism trend, but Emerson professors
aren’t structuring their classes to reflect this
change. Is an electronic publishing course,
which teaches students how to create and
use their own glorified Livejournal, really
the best solution Emerson can conjure up
in addressing the topic of “new journal-
ism?” Chewbacca Defense.
This scenario is confusing for a school
that’s supposed to be miles ahead of the
curve with a communications- and media-
centric curriculum. Telling students social
networking can help them network or that
keeping a well-maintained, focused and
topically relevant blog qualifies as “impor-
tant” is about as obvious as the differences
between Wookiees and Ewoks.
Yet much like Chewbacca had Han Solo,
we students also need role models in the
journalism industry. Unfortunately, instead
of role models, we’re given a jumble of
useless, sensationalist reporters covering
another swine flu outbreak and a ragtag
group of Associated Press writers forced
to inject opinion and spin in their once-
sterling stories. Now, without role models
or an updated curriculum to adapt to the
rapidly changing media industry, Emer-
son’s students are left to find answers on
their own.
Whether or not there’s fear behind tack-
ling an answerless issue, fostering discus-
Move your canv-ass
I have a problem with getting asked for
money right outside my home every other
week. And I know I’m not the only on-
campus student who has perfected the art
of canvasser-dodging.
Doug Paul Case
Beacon columnist
Frankly, I wish organizations like
MassEquality, Environment America and
Save the Children would tread elsewhere.
Yes, Boylston Street is a high-traffic
location, perfect for getting the word out
and for urging passersby to donate, but
stationing themselves directly in front of
Piano Row—which they must know is a
dormitory—makes me think twice about
exiting the building. And if I have no
choice—basically, if I have to go to class—
I bow my head as to not attract attention.
And when they do get me to look up, I’ll
mutter an earnest “no, but thank you” and
continue on. As many are quick to say, I
have better things to do.
I don’t mean to sound callous. These
people are doing their jobs. This is under-
standable, but I don’t feel like I should
have to tolerate their jobs immediately
outside the building I call home. It isn’t
fair to get trapped in such a way and it cer-
tainly doesn’t make me want to contribute
to the cause. If I still lived in the suburbs,
it would be strange, to say the least, if can-
vassers waited outside my home for dona-
tions. Why does living in the city make it
acceptable? The rules can’t be that differ-
ent—at least, they shouldn’t be.
I once stopped for MassEquality because,
well, I did have “a minute for gay rights.”
The canvasser then spent a few minutes
explaining the organization’s mission and
how the community has to band together
to ensure equal rights for gays, not only in
Massachusetts but nationwide.
But then he let me know exactly how
I could help: by making “convenient
monthly donations” to the organization, in
recommended sums of $30, $50 or $75.
They can even draw directly from a bank
account if you’re too lazy to fill out the
checks!
This is all well and good, except as a stu-
dent, I cannot afford such donations. Yes,
I attend an expensive private college, but
if we look at the number of loans it takes
5
sion on a topic no one’s found a solution
for should be presented to us as an exciting
notion, not a scary one. How will publish-
ers make money on the Internet? With print
dying out and publications making the tran-
sition to the World Wide Web, what will
the new online job market look like? Why
isn’t any course deconstructing AP’s asinine
distribution plan designed to digitize and
send content to smart phones and monitor
user activity with tracking beacons?
Emerson has lost sight of the “class dis-
cussion,” and the further students ascend
the course ladder the more that discussion
is stripped away in favor of supposed real-
world practice. Classroom forums must see
a return.
Instead of being the big-shot, young-gun
industry exec thinking innovatively, Emer-
son resembles the “tries too hard to be
cool” parent, only recently catching on to
the fact that media and communications
are undergoing the largest revamp since
Edward R. Murrow’s impact on the broad-
cast industry in the 1930’s.
Reaching back that far for a significant
enough journalism reference should be
evidence no such role model exists today
and that we are in desperate need of one.
Grads are out of time and the wobbling
future of journalism, print and broadcast
hangs gloomily on the horizon. Hopefully
curricula become more topical for current
and future students to learn what many of
us during our tenure here could not, as we
wish good night to the old ways, and good
luck to ourselves.
Matt DeFaveri is a senior writing,
literature and publishing major and
contributor to The Beacon.
to make that happen, there’s very little
left to put toward marriage equality. So I
was forced, like many Emersonians before
and after me, to detach myself from the
conversation and high-tail it back to Piano
Row.
Pulling myself away like that makes me
feel rude, which is nothing but guilt-induc-
ing and downright unpleasant. Regardless
of my support for a particular cause, grasp-
ing for some excuse to back yourself out of
a corner is a horrible feeling—which forces
me to wonder if that is their ultimate goal.
How bad does the average person have to
feel before he digs out his wallet?
My friend told me the story of the one
time he gave $20 to Save the Children. He
had stopped to talk to a canvasser because
she looked young and he was curious as
to how she ended up canvassing for their
organization. He learned of her tough past,
her move from community to community,
job to job, and ended up feeling so guilty—
because of her personal situation—that he
gave her the donation. He says he feels
like he got “suckered into it,” and how he
wishes he hadn’t given her anything.
All this aside, I cannot believe that can-
vassing for donations outside college cam-
puses is the best plan of action for these
organizations. College students simply
aren’t the ideal demographic from which
to raise the funds needed to save the
world. Yes, we have the enthusiasm, but
we lack the necessary resources. And if
these organizations are looking to tap into
that unbridled energy, they should ask us
for things we do have: signatures and (to
a certain extent) time. There are things we
can do to help that don’t involve a dollar
figure; ask us for those instead.
What I really want is some kind of bal-
ance. Let me know what your organization
is about and tell me how I can help, but
don’t back me into a monetary corner. It’s
uncomfortable because I too would like a
perfect world, one where trees aren’t cut
down to excess, where anyone can marry
anyone anywhere, and where I can go
home guilt-free.
Doug Paul Case is a junior writing,
literature and publishing major and former
opinion editor of The Beacon. Case is the
WLP senator of the SGA and the poetry
editor of The Emerson Review.
6
Sports
Men’s basketball takes home opener over Wheaton
Lions guard Jeremy Shannon blows past a Wheaton defender. Shannon shot 1-3 from the
field, recording three points and adding five assists and six blocks in the 59-56 victory.
Anum Hussain
Beacon staff
Only 14 minutes into the
opening game of the season,
Lions star Jeremy Shannon
tweaked his ankle on an off-bal-
ance jumpshot. The team held
Volleyball season ends in first-round NCAA loss
Phil Shore
Beacon staff
Williams 3
Emerson 0
It was a bittersweet ending
to an incredible season for the
Emerson women’s volleyball
team.
After finishing the year in first
place, going undefeated in the
Great Northeast Athletic Confer-
ence and then winning the GNAC
championship, the Lions lost
in the first round of the NCAA
Division III Women’s Volleyball
Championship to Williams Col-
lege, 3-0 Nov. 12.
“Williams adjusted to what we
were doing,” said Head Coach
Craig Letourneau. “I think men-
tally we lost focus after losing a
tough first set and never got back
into it.”
It was the first time in school
history the program had reached
the NCAAs, and although it
might not have gone the way they
hoped, players were excited just
to be a part of it.
“It was a huge honor to be the
first Emerson team to make it
to the tournament,” said senior
marketing communication major
and Captain Erin Connolly. “This
season was everything I could’ve
asked for and more. It was a bit-
tersweet ending but I couldn’t
have asked for it to end any other
way.”
While excited, some also found
the situation a bit daunting.
“It was a little different know-
ing that if we lost that it would
all be over,” said junior writing,
Emerson 59
Wheaton 56
its collective breath as one of
their senior leaders was helped
off the court.
“Without him playing point
guard, the game would have
literature and publishing major
Sara Rutan. “It was a little diffi-
cult being able to tuck something
as big as that away in your brain
so you could do what you had to
do on the court.”
The match started off well for
Emerson. The Lions scored the
first point of the game thanks to
a Kelsey Scanlon block. The two
schools traded points with each
other and Emerson even broke
away to a 17-14 lead, their larg-
est of the match. They could not
maintain it, though, as Williams
came back, knotted the game at
20, then finished the set on a 5-2
run, giving them a 25-22 victory.
Emerson’s Sara Rutan digs out the ball during the Lions Nov. 7 championship win. She
recorded 19 digs in the Lions 3-0 NCAA loss, the team’s only visit to the national tourney.
Greg Townsend/Beacon staff
been a completely different
story,” said senior co-captain
Bryan Rouse.
Five short minutes later, Shan-
non was back in the game.
“For him to play was tough,
but he knew he had to do it,”
Rouse said. “He’s just that type
of player.”
“We were just really inconsis-
tent,” Rutan said. “During the
season we would always start off
inconsistent but then put it all
together, but we couldn’t get it
together for this game.”
The second set seemed like
it was going to be another tight
contest. The Lions and the Ephs
were tied at 10 when the Ephs
took control of the set and as
it turned out, the entire match.
Williams scored 15 out of the
next 19 points to win the set
25-14 and give them a daunting
2-0 edge.
Emerson battled in the third
set, trying to keep its hopes
Berkeley BeacoN • November 19, 2009
Soon enough sneakers were
squeaking, fans were cheering
and the Lions were winning.
After Shannon’s initial injury,
the Emerson men’s basketball
team came out strong and took
home its season opener against
Wheaton College, 59-56.
A little over three minutes into
the game, senior Drew Venter
scored a 3-pointer that roused
a rowdy response from fans and
showed Wheaton that the Lions
wanted the win.
Venter spent most of last
season injured, and scored 17
points off the bench in his first
game back.
“Drew was the person to
step up last night,” said Bryan
Rouse, a political communica-
tions major. “It proves that we
have all kinds of ways to win
games. It gives a lot of hope to
other players on the team, who
just like him, will get a chance
to play. If they step up and give
performances like that, it’s going
to be a great season.”
Shannon said as a point guard,
Venter will learn the pace of the
game. Associate Director of
Athletics Stanford Nance said
Venter played well, but that the
game was not a one-man show.
Senior Nathan Firn got a lot
of credit from his teammates for
contributing on defense. Rouse
said Firn was key in the win, as
Firn is tasked with guarding the
opponent’s second best player,
and that he’s one of the best
defenders on the team.
“My role was supporting,” said
Firn, a VMA post production
major. “I’m looking more or less
to get other guys open, run the
offense and play solid defense.
There’s no expectation for me
alive, even taking a 14-11 lead,
but again Williams dug deep,
tied the set at 15, then finished
off the Lions with an impressive
10-1 run to win the set 25-16 and
advance to the Tufts Regional
semifinal.
“Williams is a very good team.
They’ve been to the NCAA
tournament for the past five
years,” said Letourneau, who
was recently named Conference
Coach of the Year. “In order to
beat a good team you need con-
sistency in your play and the guile
to make a big play when needed.
We didn’t do a well enough job
on either one of those.”
Gabe Souza/Beacon staff
to score, I don’t need to score. I
basically keep the offense going
and give our stars good shots,
and when the opportunity pres-
ents itself, it’s good to score.”
Shannon said Firn was the
glue, doing all the little things
that ultimately kept the game
together.
Though they have no shortage
of talent, the Lions currently
lack chemistry, team members
said. Rouse is confident that it
will come in time.
“It’s just something that will
come over the next five months
of the season,” said Rouse.
“Every day you play with some-
body, you get to know them a
little more, and their tendencies,
and you have to keep playing as
a team. It’ll click on its own.”
In the last 12 minutes, Rouse
proved himself as a senior
leader.
Firn said last year Rouse and
Shannon were the backbone of
the team. He said this year’s
squad, however, is packed with
players who can contribute and
pick up the slack when one of
the captains is having an “off”
game.
One game can never tell how
the rest of the season will turn
out, but Head Coach Hank
Smith said the win against
Wheaton tested the Lions, show-
ing that even if they don’t play
their best, they have the mettle
it takes to win.
“I think it says we have a lot
of potential,” said Shannon.
“Rouse didn’t have his best
game, I didn’t have my best
game, and still we pulled out a
tough win against a pretty good
team.”
While not an enviable way
to finish a season, Letourneau
said he wanted to make sure his
team knew it had an incredible
year, and that one loss would
not diminish anything they had
accomplished.
“After the match I wanted
them to know how proud I was
of the season and to not let this
loss be the final taste in their
mouth of the season,” he said.
“We did things this year that no
other team in the history of the
program had ever done. It was a
great season and the future looks
bright.”
Next year Emerson will lose
two seniors to graduation, Con-
nolly and Allie Rosenberg, but
will return GNAC Women’s Vol-
leyball Player of the Year Lauren
Zaniboni, as well as Third Team
GNAC All-Conference members
Rutan and Jessica Drumright.
Connolly wished her team all
the best without her next year,
and said she knows that even
greater accomplishments await
the team in the future.
“I would tell them to keep
playing their game,” she said.
“They have great chemistry that
will carry over next year and they
have great players returning.”
Letourneau said he hopes the
team will take what they learned
and experienced this year and use
it to motivate them to do even
bigger things next season.
“We have a great core coming
back for next season. They need
to work hard in the off season
and know that next year is a new
year,” he said. “No resting on
laurels.”

Women’s basketball looks to change up offense
Season preview: Offensive power shift to the guards
Anum Hussain
Beacon staff
The women’s basketball team wants
to make history all over again.
After reaching the Great Northeast
Athletic Cnference final last year for the
first time, Head Coach Bill Gould has
his sights set on the postseason.
For Gould, the challenge will be wran-
gling and honing the performance of his
new players.
He said he hopes to use the freshmen
to craft a more versatile offense. The
Lions historically score many of their
points from the post, a fact Gould hopes
to change.
“It’s all about balance,” he said. “We
don’t want to be a post team. We need a
little of everything. I’d rather be pretty
good in a lot of places rather than awe-
some in one.”
Enter freshman point guard Olivia
DiNucci. At 5’10”, DiNucci said she
hopes to surprise fans this year by scor-
ing from her position and adding versa-
tility to the game.
“I’m not necessarily going to be
changing the ‘post image’ of the team,
but myself and the other guards want to
change the ‘guard image’ of the team,”
said DiNucci, a political communica-
tions major. “In the past it hasn’t been
incredibly strong and I hope to make it
stronger.”
The Lions will play eight non-confer-
Hockey club drops Boylston Cup to rival Berklee
Taylor Gearhart
Beacon staff
Berklee 8
Emerson 1
“Emerson hates puppies,” proclaimed
a sign from the Berklee College of Music
side of the ice at the Boylston Cup pro-
claimed in pink highlighter.
Whether Emerson really hates puppies
probably had little to do with the Lions’
performance. They lost 8-1. But the
dog-hating accusation certainly paints a
picture of what the interaction was like
at this infamous—albeit artsy—annual
hockey showdown.
The tension in the crowd was tangible.
Berklee brought out its percussive guns,
shaking the plexi-glass and singing “Oo-
wee-ooh,” while Emerson students rang
cowbells and showed off their purple and
gold. One particularly spirited group of
10 female Lions fans sported purple and
yellow tie-dyed T-shirts spelling out “Go
Emerson!” Their efforts were apparently
insufficient to inspire a win.
The Lions suffered the most in the
first period. The team simply couldn’t
organize the kind of defense needed to
Greg Townsend/Beacon staff
Frank Mobilio carries the puck up
the ice.
Berkeley BeacoN SPORTS November 19, 2009
ence games at the start of the season
in preparation for GNAC competition.
While the GNAC games are predeter-
mined by the conference, Gould has
input on the rest of his team’s schedule.
“I purposely tried to invite tough teams
to our tournaments to give a sense of
what a really talented team [plays like]
before the conference games,” he said.
“I don’t mind losing early season games
if it helps us win the championship.”
Gould and the team will travel to
California to play Chapman University
in Orange and La Sierra University in
Riverside over winter break.
Senior Andrea Kosek, a returning
starter, is scheduled to come back from
the Los Angeles Program in time for the
first conference game against St. Joseph
College on Jan. 9. Kosek has been on the
team for two years and Gould said he is
confident in her abilities. Junior Lauren
Zanniboni was also absent from many
practices while she was playing for the
women’s volleyball team.
To win this year, Gould said the team
needs to make some mental adjust-
ments.
“Last year, we had the ability and
wanted to win, but we were nervous
because we had never been [in a final],”
said Gould.“There are a lot of clichés
in sports, but this one is true: If you
believe, you can win.”
Along with proper mentality, senior
co-Captain Laura Chenier said having
a predominantly new team will help
Mike Sullivan, above, and the Lions dropped the Boylston Cup for the fourth
consecutive year, this time falling 8-1 at the hands of the Berklee Ice Cats.
protect against Berklee’s many break-
aways, a flaw that allowed them to score
four goals, while Emerson tapped in just
one.
“It was a rough first period,” said
Head Coach Sean Legnini. “Defense
could have done a little better, they had
a hard time back there.”
But the grim numbers on the score-
board didn’t kill the crowd’s fervor.
“We have time left,” said junior TV
production major Talia Sawyer, who
was wearing the “O” T-shirt in the “Go
Emerson” lineup. “I know they can turn
it around.”
Emerson’s defense picked up the slack
in the second period, letting only one
goal slip past senior netminder Lance
Ning, who seemed to transform his atti-
tude from anxious to aggressive.
“He was playing a little more conser-
vatively that first period,” said Legnini,
a former Emerson student who trans-
ferred to Northeastern University and is
now in his junior year studying to work
in the music industry. “I told him to
come out [of the goal] a little more, and
he did much better.”
Ning said he was swept up by the
competitive environment in the first
period and forgot why he was playing in
Both Laura Chenier (l) and Lauren Zaniboni (r) expect to see an increased
role in the Lions’ offense with the departures of Maude Okrah and Bri Papa.
Gould apply his coaching techniques.
“I think it’s really good for us,” she
said. “Something in the past years we
haven’t had is a team used to one coach.
Some were used to the old coach so it’s
a good thing everyone will learn just
[Gould’s] style and play. It’ll be really
beneficial.”
With their season-opener on Nov. 20
against Hamilton College, the Lions will
Greg Townsend/Beacon staff
the first place.
“We’re down 4-1, just have fun, you
know,“ the audio design major said.
Defenseman Lowell Meyer, a junior
media production major, said he felt
the improved defense during the second
period was more about adjusting the
team’s attitude than anything else.
“It wasn’t really a change in strategy,”
he said. “We just knew it was time to
pick our heads up and change our state
scoreboard
Women’s
Basketball
Upcoming Games: Emerson College
Tip-Off Tournament, Nov. 20 v. Hamilton
College, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 21 Emerson College Tip-Off
Tournament Consolation/Championship
vs. TBD, 1:00/3:00 p.m.
Nov. 24 v. Wentworth, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 v. Salve Regina, 7:30 p.m.
8
Cherylynn Tsushima/Beacon Staff
have their first chance to show where
they stand. Gould hopes to win five of
the team’s first eight games, he said.
Last year’s team was successful both
on the court and off, having one of the
top 15 team GPAs in Div. III basketball.
Gould hopes to repeat this broad suc-
cess.
“Academics and athletics,” said Gould.
What more do you want as a coach?”
of mind.”
Regardless, the defensive improve-
ment in the second just wasn’t enough
for the Lions to recover. Early in the
third period, the Lions made an offen-
sive surge. Despite multiple shots on
goal, the team could not connect. As
tension and frustration increased, fights
broke out between the teams, one such
altercation ending with a player’s helmet
skidding across the ice.
Seemingly tired, Emerson allowed
Berklee to score three more times in
the last few minutes of the third period.
Two of those goals were scored in the
last 90 seconds alone.
After the game, the team seemed in
fair spirits. Meyer said he was just glad
that Emerson held strong in the second
period.
“I can’t be too disappointed the second
period was perfect,” he said, “I’ve never
seen our team come together like that.”
As for a team lecture, Legnini said he
was proud of the Lions for their deter-
mination and was ready to let the players
relax and reflect on the fun experience
of the Cup.
“For now, I’m just going to tell them
to go home and go to bed,” he said after
the match.
The good news is that Emerson’s loss
isn’t as horrifying as the hairy bare chest
of the Berklee fan who ripped his shirt
off and waved it above his head at some
point midgame. Some things are even
more offensive than losing a hockey
game or hating puppies.
Men’s
Basketball
Emerson 59
Wheaton 56
Upcoming Games: Nov. 21 at Brandeis,
5:00 p.m.
Nov. 24 v. Babson, 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 1 v. MIT, 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 3 v. Daniel Webster, 7:00 p.m.
8
Lifestyle
Geek is sleek in the world of live action roleplay
Kimya Kavehkar
Beacon correspondent
You feel like Mel Gibson
in  Braveheart, like Aragorn
in The Lord of the Rings, like a
badger in Redwall. You are the
ultimate warrior. And as you
rush at your opponent, sword
in hand, you think, “Is there
any better way to spend a Sat-
urday?” 
Is this Sparta? No, this is
LARPing.
LARP is an acronym for live
action role playing. A player in a
LARP game acts out the role of
their specific fictional character
in the real world, but in adher-
ence to a fictional storyline.
The players interact with each
other while in character to solve
problems and push the story in
new directions; it’s a sort of
en-masse improvisational the-
ater that could last days, and
involves anywhere from a hand-
ful of dedicated followers to
thousands of players.
There is not a specific age
group that participates in LARP;
everyone from high school stu-
dents to people with families
are involved in LARP commu-
nities. They dress up in charac-
ter, use fake weapons as props
and live an alternate life, if only
for a little while, to escape the
world and become something
way cooler than their normal
selves.
LARP is an integral part of
“geek culture,” which is now
a subject that has caught the
attention of many academic
scholars. Ethan Gilsdorf, a
Somerville-based freelance jour-
nalist, Emerson faculty member
and a self-professed geek is one
of them.  culture with myths of its own,
Gilsdorf, a professor in the
writing, literature and publish-
ing department, recently pub-
lished the book “Fantasy Freaks
and Gaming Geeks,” in which
he examines the perspectives
and motives of the many people
who partake in the escapist
pleasure of the LARP fantasy
world.  character and bring their own
“We do want to be able to live
these heroic lives and be a part
of this epic story,” Gilsdorf said.
“These games offer the chance
to be someone the players can’t
be in real life.”
LARP, while adored by those
who are part of the community,
tends to be shunned by those
who are aware of its existence,
Clarke meats his match while trying veganism cold turkey
Sam Clarke
Beacon columnist
I used to think being vegan
meant cutting all things animal-
related out of your lifestyle. No
animal food, no animal clothes,
no lucky animal feet. I used to
think the only reason anyone
went vegan was because they
thought living any other way was
a violation of animal rights.
As I soon found out, I used to
be a dum-dum.
So I asked a few vegans to lay
some knowledge on me, and then
I tried the diet out myself.
I thought it would be easy. But
one week, five lost pounds and a
ton of peanut butter later, I stand
corrected.
The first rule of veganism: Be
patient. If you’ve been eating
meat and dairy all your life, it’s
hard to stop—well, um—cold
Live action role playing allows fans of fantasy games to embody their heroes and fight each other in the flesh—or armor.
seeing it as the lowest rung on
the “geek ladder.”  invited to register to play in the
“There is negativity about
[LARP], that it is used as a
crutch for people who don’t have
real lives ... but the people that I
interviewed [for the book] were
perfectly normal and adjusted,”
Gilsdorf said. “This idea of
make-believe makes people very
uncomfortable.”
To get involved, aspirants usu-
ally read a LARP community’s
rule book (which can be found
online) to choose a character
and be able to understand the
context of the storyline.  LARP
has an intricate set of rules, a
a history and respected tradi-
tions.
This is not a pick-up game
of basketball at your local park
that can be joined casually. A
newbie needs a dictionary and
heavy-handed guidebook to
even begin to understand what
is going on. Players develop a
set of props to an event.
There are several commu-
nities that play in Boston,
including  strangeboston.
com and neroboston.com. Inter-
con is one of the largest LARP
games in the world and takes
place in Chelmsford, about 40
minutes northwest of Boston.
Anyone from LARP veter-
turkey.
  I needed some advice. Senior
Dean Egan quit meat about two
years ago. He said he let himself
eat fish, but eventually cut them
out and, in Jan. 2008, transi-
tioned to veganism.
“The decision to become vegan
takes a second,” the film major
said. “The process might take
a little bit longer. The process
is letting your body catch up to
your mind.”
Egan said he went vegan for
his health. He’s cool eating the
occasional cheese cube or gummy
bear which some vegans would
consider heresy. He avoids super-
processed foods, even though,
technically, you could be vegan
eating only Oreos and french
fries.
“I can literally feel if I’ve eaten
something more fatty or oily,” he
said. “I’ve never felt more in tune
with my body.”
ans to curious first-timers are
event, set to take place in March
next year. Intercon is hosted by
New England Interactive Litera-
ture, a group that “encourages
live action role playing in the
region,” according to its Web
site.  
Though it is a subject of farce
within parts of the gaming com-
munity, many who play quickly
fall in love with the alternate
life they create.
While LARPing, anyone can
slay dragons, defeat dark lords
and wield fantastical powers.
LARP creates a safe haven
where anyone can time travel
for a moment away from their
nine-to-five jobs for a little bit
of fun in the forest.
Lizzie Stark, a freelance
journalist who graduated from
Emerson in 2007 with a mas-
ter’s in fiction writing, has
delved deeper into the LARP
culture to write a narrative non-
fiction book about the phenom-
enon.
Stark said she has partici-
pated in many LARP games as
research for her book, which
she is writing as part of the
coursework for her second mas-
ter’s degree from the Columbia
University Graduate School of
Journalism.
“I do participate in LARP
Cherylynn Tsushima/Beacon staff
After a week of veganism,
Clarke says “Veggie-size” me.
Chelsea Graven takes pride in
her lifestyle, too.
She found out she was lactose
intolerant in 2007 and chose
Berkeley BeacoN • November 19, 2009
Two LARPing knights debate whether it’s possible for a swal-
low to carry a coconut. Favorite color? Blue—no, Green. Ahh!
pretty often for my book,”
Stark wrote in an e-mail to
The  Beacon. “I’m attending a
variety of LARPs and following
several characters through each
of them. It’s made [my life]
more fun.”
Boston is known as a hub for
LARPers, and because of its
large following, many interna-
tional LARP conventions and
events are held here and in the
surrounding suburban areas.
Some local colleges have LARP
clubs and hold events that are
veganism over relying on “let-
me-eat-dairy” pills. After a three-
week experiment, she committed
herself to eating animal-free.
“Those weren’t the healthiest
three weeks of my life because I
didn’t know what I was doing,”
Graven said.
I had the same problem. In a
misguided pursuit of protein,
half my diet was peanut butter
and Cheerio sandwiches, PB&J’s,
toast with peanut butter and the
occasional straight spoonful of,
you guessed it, peanut butter.  butter-free batch for breakfast—
Graven, a senior marketing
communication major, even
stopped buying clothes made
from animal products, but still
wears wool sweaters she bought
before going vegan. Apparently,
that’s a thing. Anything you
use from before converting is
“pregan.”
Fundamentalists don’t eat
honey because it comes from
Photo courtesy of Ethan Gilsdorf
Photo courtesy of Ethan Gilsdorf
open to the public.
Brandeis University has the
“BCSF LARP Conspiracy”
which is holding the “V for Ves-
tival” event to celebrate the fifth
anniversary of the LARP com-
munity’s presence on Brandeis’
campus. It will take place in
April and will last three days.
Registration is open to anyone
(www.vforvestival.com). Those
curious about LARP have many
outlets and opportunities to
find a game to participate in
near them. 
bees. But if you indulge in the
sweet stuff, you’re a “beegan.”
These terms are often tossed
about in the Vegan community.
If I had kept with the diet,
I’d need to be a chocolate-chip-
cookie-gan.
The diet isn’t the most fun all
the time. Graven said she missed
her mom’s macaroni and cheese.
Egan longed for corn dogs. By
day two, I had the cookie sweats.
I got my fix on day five, scarfing
down an entire milk-, egg- and
nobody said veganism had to be
healthy. 


Still, there’s a special satisfac-
tion in resisting temptation and
sticking to your ve-guns. You
may cut lots of food out, but that
makes room for a bunch of cre-
ative, tasty replacements. All you
need is a little research, resource-
fulness and drive, peanut butter
optional.  

Emersonians travel the world on a spiritual plane
Barbara Platts
Beacon staff
T
he Center for Spiritual Life is home to
three student organizations; two are
Christian, and one is Jewish. It’s easy
for members of other belief systems to get
lost in the Red Sea of religious monotony.
But students and professors at Emerson who
practice more alternative philosophies have
found ways to stay spiritually involved.
Druze
You don’t have to be a theology student
to be aware of Islam, but many people have
never heard of the Druze.
Helen Hamady, a junior broadcast jour-
nalism major and a Druze from Lebanon,
described the reaction she and her father
received from a professor.
“He was like, ‘Oh, druids—I didn’t know
you still existed.’” she said.
The Druze, Hamady said, split from Shiite
Islam about 1,000 years ago. The movement
started in Egypt, and it draws beliefs from
Shiite Islam, the regional culture and the
Indian belief systems brought into the area
through trade at the time, Hamady said.
 The Druze went underground after they
were excommunicated from Egypt for split-
ting with Islam, and are still secretive about
their beliefs because of it, Hamady said.
Druze must be 40 years old before they can
access the holy texts, for instance, and is
handed from father to children—no conver-
sion allowed.
Hamady said the religion is more a way of
life than an organized faith, and does have a
main prophet, named Al-Hakim, similar to
the three Abrahamic religions.
“But it’s about being in constant thought
with God—there is no ‘practice,’” Hamady
said.
The Druze symbol is a five-pointed star,
each part representing the five wise superior
ministers, according to the Australian Druze
Community’s Web site. They are wisdom,
heart, soul, word and truth, Hamady said.
“But unconditional love is the underlying
basis for the religion.”
Buddhism
For junior Lily Jeong, Buddhism means
Founder of Emerson College would cry 129 years of tears
continued from
Emerson, page 1
statement that Emerson studied medi-
cine and vagued up the details on whether
he actually graduated.
“Bottom line, given the nature of the
institution from which he received his
M.D. degree, let’s just be happy that he
founded an institution of higher educa-
tion and not a hospital!” Fleming wrote
in an e-mail to The Beacon.
He said referring to Emerson as “Dr.”
is not a reflection of the M.D. degree that
he paid for, but instead of the honorary
degrees that he received after founding
the school, similar to how Doctors Love,
Octopus and Dre received their titles.
Ethical quandries aside, Emerson’s
Founder Charles Wesley Emerson was a vegetarian. It would probably ruffle his
feathers if he saw the special Thanksgiving meal this week at the Dining Hall.
Berkeley BeacoN Lifestyle November 19, 2009
a lot more than a pudgy idol and vintage
T-shirts that say “Rub me for luck.”
Jeong, a radio production major, grew up
in a Buddhist household in South Korea,
but said she didn’t start practicing until she
moved to the states in 2004.      
“As a teen I explored different religions,”
Jeong said. “But at 17 I had a moment of
epiphany and realized I liked the idea of
living as a Buddhist.”
Jeong brings religion into her life by medi-
tating in the evening and reading Buddhist
texts whenever she can, she said.
Another way Jeong practices her reli-
gion is by doing “salvations,” or praying to
Buddha.
“Salvations are a religious practice of
giving yourself in,” she said. 
To perform a salvation, she begins by
standing and then lowering herself to the
ground. Five parts of the body must touch
the floor during the salvation: both elbows,
both knees, and the forehead.
Jeong said many people she talks to have
misconceptions about the religion.
“Buddhism became this exotic thing to
do,” she said, “and I really wish it wasn’t.”
Jeong said a frequent generalization is
that it’s just about calming down or focus-
ing on the self. To Jeong, her faith is much
more than that.
“It’s about interdependence, sacrifice, the
non-self and constant change,” she said.
Although the religion can be complex,
Jeong gives a simple definition for what it
means to her.
“It’s the idea that unless you make other
people happy, you can’t be happy,” Jeong
said.
Hinduism
 Tulasi Srinivas is a practicing Hindu and
a professor of communication studies at
Emerson. She teaches a class on religion in
Eastern cultures.
Srinivas grew up in Bangalore, India,
where the main religion is Hinduism.
Although her parents worshipped Hindu
deities, she was never forced to practice the
religion with them. Instead, she found on
her own.
 “I learned about it academically, through
reading,” Srinivas said.
quirks don’t end there.
Sugar was the devil’s sweetener in
Emerson’s mind, according to Coffee’s
book on Emerson’s history, titled “A
Century of Eloquence.” In Emerson’s
own book “Physical Culture,” our loqua-
cious leader asserts that sugar “induces
derangement of the stomach and fermen-
tation in the blood.” Just ignore all those
Twix bars in the C-Store, Emmy baby.
Published in 1980, the professor’s his-
tory tells how Emerson believed coffee
and tea were “poisons.” Sorry, studious
kid working late in the library. Emer-
son did not want his school to run on
Dunkin’.
But rejoice, straight-edge students!
Emerson was also against consuming
alcohol. His poor, 19th-century eyes
Irina Grechko/Beacon staff
9
Barbara Platts/Beacon staff
Junior Lily Jeong meditates every day by practicing “salvations.”
 Hinduism is unique from other religions mind of thought, and communicate with
because it’s not based on one text—instead, God.
there are at least 16 prominent books used “We are trying to learn how to be, to find
in the religion, she said—but it is how you our bliss,” Srinivas said.
read them that matters. Hinduism’s beginnings cannot be traced
  “Hinduism looks much more at prac- back to one person and its exact date of
tice,” said Srinivas. “That is, in worship and origin is unknown.
in the practice of austerities.” Although Srinivas teaches multiple reli-
Austerities are ascetic practices. Accord- gions, she identifies as Hindu because of the
ing to newworldencyclopedia.com, asceti- gods in which she believes.
cism is a life characterized by the abstinence “I think the classic state of believing is
of worldly or bodily pleasures. It requires what you visualize when you think of God,”
sustained self-denial and self-awareness said Srinivas. “I visualize Hindu gods.”
with the goal of strengthening one’s spiri-
tual life.
  A well-known austerity in Hinduism is Sarah Cadorette, Beacon staff, contrib-
yoga, which Srinivas said is a way to rid the uted to this article.
would boggle at our proximity to the
drunk mecca that is the Gypsy Bar, or at
any weekend spent dodging RAs with a
water bottle full of, well, not water.
Actual water, on the other hand, along
with milk, were the only two beverages
Emerson believed to be healthy. And he
liked ‘em hot.
“The exact temperature that nature
requires drink to be is 98 degrees Fahr-
enheit,” he wrote in his book.
And if drinking warm water makes you
ralph? Emerson said it’s the drinker’s
fault.
“This but proves that they have abused
their stomachs and rendered them
morbid.”
C-Money’s strange diet didn’t end at
liquids. He would also be horrified by
the copious amounts of salt in the dining
hall food.
But one aspect our founder had in
common with current Lions is a love of
vegetarianism. Ahead of the curve and his
time, Emerson was a strict veggie before
Irina Grechko/Beacon staff
it was hip. In fact, he believed that in the
future, people would no longer eat meat. C.W. Emerson would croak again if he
Bye-bye, tiny burgers in the Piano Row saw freshmen (l to r) Talia Steif, Justin
cafe. We hardly knew ye. Jackson and Annie Scotina making
So what would Charlie want to see the unhealthy choices.
students at his school consuming? Fruits,
veggies and grains. Oh, and a little side ways since 1880, the year Chaz founded
of God. Emerson. But whatever his beliefs and
That’s right, heathens. Emerson Col- however he conned himself a college,
lege was supposed to be a school founded students here come by their quirkiness
on religion, and Charles Wesley wished and originality honestly.
all his students would read the Bible, “This is one of the greatest institutions
well...religiously. So how did we stray so for character-development in the world,”
far? Our founder, a former minister who one of his contemporaries said about
preached in Congregational and Unitar- Emerson’s unique education philosophy
ian parishes, believed Jesus Christ was and lifestyle in historian Coffee’s book.
the “Great Teacher.” Now most of us And in this, Emerson College remains
worship at the altar of Wes Anderson or true to its father’s wishes.
Conor Oberst. Or put simply: The zany apple never
The times they have a’changed in many falls far from the crazy tree.
10
(Untitled) counters counterculture, clanks into hearts
Film Preview
by
Terri Cicone
Beacon staff
Bang! A metal chain drops
into a bucket while newspaper
is being torn. A woman is wail-
ing and piano keys are being
slammed down at random. You
have just heard art music com-
poser Adrian Jacobs’ (Adam
Goldberg) latest symphony. As
he bangs on his keys and kicks
his bucket with the utmost
sincerity, we notice Adrian is
distracted by someone in the
audience who is very noisily
wriggling out of an intensely
shiny black plastic jacket.
This person is Madeleine
Gray (Marley Shelton), a gal-
photo courtesy of Parker Film Company
A lack of pianos leads to
the need to hit everything.
Blondes included.
Director Anderson delivers a truly fantastic Mr. Fox
Film Review
by
David Goldberg
Beacon staff
In The Fantastic Mr. Fox,
Wes Anderson experiments
with stop-motion animation
to create a tinkering, visually
splendid world that reignites
an audience who are probably
exhausted by computer gener-
ated imagery.
The 88-minute film, based
on one of Roald Dahl’s lesser-
known novels, may not be
intended for children, but it is
obviously made with the imagi-
nation and excitement of a
little boy with the keys to a toy
store. The film’s cast of forest
Director Wes Anderson plays with his dolls and it’s brilliant,
not weird at all.
Arts & Entertainment
lery owner whose taste in art
is as absurd as Adrian’s taste
in music. These two noisemak-
ers are the oddballs that totally
get each other in the film (Unti-
tled).
(Untitled) is a film that simul-
taneously shows its audience the
hilarity and importance of self-
expression. Madeleine is an art
collector who is only concerned
with putting the most honest
and real art in her gallery. She
has no concern over what is hip,
hot or will sell. For this, she has
her boyfriend Josh Jacobs (Eion
Bailey), a sellout artist who cre-
ates work that has no meaning
(even though he thinks it does)
because his work sells to big
corporate buyers like hospitals
and office spaces.
She keeps his work in the
back room to pawn it off as the
work of an up-an-coming artist,
most often to the highest bid-
ders. With this profit she can
keep showing work that she
believes in, and that may not
sell for a high profit in her gal-
lery.
For example Madeleine is
intent on showing artist Ray
Barko’s (Vinnie Jones) work
which includes taxidermied
animals that cling onto house-
hold objects, like monkeys with
their faces in vacuum cleaners
and deer with mirrors and hair
brushes.
When Josh takes Madeleine
to his brother Adrian’s con-
cert, Madeleine is completely
enthralled, while the other
seven people in the audience
are appalled and confused.
The movie takes an interest-
ing turn when Josh finds out
that Madeleine is only dating
him because of monetary rea-
sons, and what sells in the back
room soon becomes front room
creatures are not only lovingly-
animated, but impeccably-
voiced. Anderson has yet again
assembled a perfect cast, which
includes George Clooney, Meryl
Streep, Jason Schwartzman
and, of course, Bill Murray.       hands stands out.
At first, the stop-motion ani-
mation of Fox is unsettling and
seems contrived. Effects like
fire made of crumpled card-
board can be cute, but in most
movies, it would come off as an
affected attempt of the director
to seem art house. But as the
story moves, the genius behind
these “Robot Chicken”-meets-
James-and-the-Giant-Peach
graphics cannot be resisted.
Even the clay has fur. Every
hair, every paw and every tear
of these characters is constantly
photo courtesy of Fantasticmrfoxmovie.com
I can see the angst in your beard.
nothingness, and Madeleine is
forced to show work she does
not believe in.
Goldberg is hysterical as
Adrian, the brooding musi-
cian. As his bandmates bang
their heads on tambourines or
kick a bucket around the stage,
during their performances the
musicians take a pause to turn
the page of the carefully writ-
ten concerto, and continue in
all seriousness.
Just like Madeleine, Adrian
is only interested in the integ-
rity of his work. He is a person
that believes “Harmony is a
capitalist ploy to get people
to buy pianos” and Madeleine
is completely on board. When
Madeleine wriggles over to
Adrian in a shredded skirt that
rustles with each step, or in a
moving and always alive. It’s a
motion picture that is always
in motion. As more animated
movies look like video games,
a puppet saga that seems to be
crafted with the director’s bare
Mr. Fox (Clooney) used to be
the wiliest of all foxes, until he
met the love of his life (Streep),
and settled down to raise their
oddball son Ash (Schwartz-
man). Now, at the age of seven
human years old, Fox is terri-
fied of eventually going to his
grave without a few exciting
final memories.
He returns to his old pas-
sion of chicken stealing, which
inevitably attracts the wrong
attention, as an insidious trio of
poultry farmers attempt to hunt
Fox down for revenge. Against
the cries of his husky badger
lawyer (Murray), Fox and his
family fight back against the
farmers, causing a battle of man
versus animal, primal versus
industrial.
As the hunt rages on, Mr.
Fox must hold his marriage
together and attempt to make
reparations with his outsider
of a son. The viewer does not
know where he will stand in the
end; if will he embrace civilized
fatherhood or return to his wild
vulpes vulpes genus.
Like The Life Aquatic or The
Royal Tennenbaums, Fantastic
Mr. Fox is, at its heart, about
the healing of wounds between
father and son. Schwartzman’s
runty Ash will do anything to
impress his dad, and Clooney’s
Fox must learn to include his
Berkeley BeacoN • november 19, 2009
photo courtesy of Parker Film Company/Samuel Goldwyn Films
leather suit (always in black)
that wrinkles with noise, we see
how they just “get each other”
in the most non-romantic but
tragically cool way.
(Untitled) is a refreshing
look at the things city dwell-
ers  take too seriously. It is a
surprisingly funny examina-
tion of what seems pompous
or ridiculous in haute couture.
When the audience walks into
Madeleine Grey’s gallery, or
into an Adrian Jacobs concert,
the viewer is allowed to be the
person who doesn’t understand
why a push pin in the wall is art,
or why disassembling a clarinet
and dropping the pieces on the
floor is music. We are allowed
to laugh at the “artist” who says
things like, “I’m not sure what
I want to say, but what I want
Mr. Fox and cohorts prepare for one last great chicken-related
escapade. Suits required, of course.
strange son in his spectacular
plans.  Anderson is known for
crafting memorably plausible
family dynamics, replete with
misunderstandings, tensions
and hard reconciliations. Fox is
no exception.
Voice actors are either cast
based on their celebrity or on
their talent. In Mr. Fox, the
actors may be all-star, but the
performances fit. When the
animals open their mouths, the
voices that eminate feel right.
Streep’s Mrs. Fox is maternal,
kind and intuitive. The elastic-
ity of Mr. Fox’s movements and
mad dashes is only matched by
Clooney’s ferocious and capri-
cious performance. Willem
Dafoe masterfully plays a rat
that could cut Ratatouille in
the face, and Michael Gambon
to say goes without saying,”
when everyone else clamors
around him as if he just recited
a Shakespearean sonnet.
So, dear artists, it may be
time to stop taking the “craft”
so seriously. (Untitled) is worth
seeing because it will keep us
all in check. It is the sigh of
relief in a too-serious and stuffy
world of success and sophisti-
cation.
While it’s not a blockbuster
hit comedy and it is unlikely the
film will win any awards, (Unti-
tled) takes a look at how we are
trying to define ourselves artis-
tically in today’s world, and
lets us know we don’t have to
like the absurd, even if the elite
think it’s pure genius.
photo courtesy of Fantasticmrfoxmovie.com
shines as a menacing turkey
farmer. It seems that the char-
acters are designed for the per-
formances, or the other way
around.
Mr. Fox could be enjoyed
by children, but the complex
relationships and sharp writ-
ing leave the true joy for adults.
The big eyed, darlingly designed
characters are made real by a
colossal cast. Anderson is a
director with a Madonna com-
plex, as he is always looking
to reinvent himself. Now that
he has successfully had his fun
with a Chicken Run-animated
saga, fans cannot predict his
next move. But, as Streep’s
Mrs. Fox lovingly declares in
the movie, “There’s something
kind of fantastic about that,
isn’t there?”
 Berkeley BeacoN Arts & Entertainment November 19, 2009 11

Emerson Dance Company has a night at the Roxy

dance in a series for EDC’s upcoming
Dance Preview show, “A Night at the Roxbury,” set to
by go up this Saturday night at the Roxbury
Community College Mainstage Theater.
Channah Barkhordari Other pieces include contemporary, jazz
Beacon staff and hip-hop styles and even Ukrainian
folk, with guest performances by Emer-
“Ay ay ay!” the front row of rehears- son Urban Dance Theater. About half of
ing student dancers shouted together, the dances tell a story, while the others
popping their hands into the air. Danc- are a fanciful delight in the art.
ing the part of androids for a piece titled Emerson offered a dance major until
“Mind of the Machine,” this group of the 2006. But the program, with its mere
Emerson Dance Company performers is six students, was nixed after a final per-
lighthearted, and its members playfully formance in the spring of 2007. Dance
provide input. is still offered as a minor, but prereq-
Georgina Callender, a senior film pro- uisites include an audition and subse-
duction major and choreographer of the quent approval by the Performing Arts
segment, had a different set of steps in Department. By the fall of 2007, dance
mind for the rambunctious bunch. Still, at the college found a new outlet in a
she smiled as they insisted, “But we like student-run group, the Emerson Dance
the ay ay ays!” Maintaining high energy Company, which is open to all majors.
with a sense of comfortable camara- Michael Lupacchino, president of the
derie, the dancers in the clan showed company, said EDC has nearly tripled in
respect for their instructor, and gave in size in the past three years. In its first
to her angular, fluid moves. year, the company had around 20 mem-
“Mind of the Machine” is only one bers, by the fall of last year membership
rose to 40, and currently no fewer than
Cherlynn Tsushima/Beacon staff
Staci DaSilva, Shay Brown and Chloe Medghalchi hop from the
choreography by Morgan Dubin (on the stairs) or the pain.
75 dancers are taking part, the senior
marketing major and dance minor said.
Of the 84 students to try out in Octo-
ber, 59 were cast. Last year, the EDC’s
performances consisted of 15 to 16 seg-
ments. This year there are 20 back-to-
back dances included.
One explanation for the rising inter-
est in dance at Emerson is TV shows. In
particular, the recent popularity of the
on-screen competition “So You Think
You Can Dance” has had a notable influ-
ence on the college community. Luppac-
chino said the show is his favorite on
television.
Rachel Huffman, a sophomore writ-
ing, literature and publishing major, is
another avid watcher of the show and a
first-time student dancer for EDC. She
similarly noted the high appeal of the
EDC for students this year.
“It was so crowded at tryouts, they
split us up into so many groups,” she
said.
Huffman also acknowledged that part
of what motivated her to join was her
Cherlynn Tsushima/Beacon staff
fervent following of one FOX-produced
dance show. Leanne Carroll expresses her attitude
“I watch ‘So You Think You Can in rehearsal for EDC’s new show.
Dance’ religiously,” she said. “Yeah, [it]
kind of [influenced my decision to join into hip-hop [dancing at Emerson], so it
EDC] because I really liked last season— allows all the guys who want to [get in]
I voted every time.” to be involved,” he said. “I think all the
Still, not all fresh faces were a product guys who tried out got in.”
of the dance show hype. Lewis Hatkoff, Lupacchino said EDC accepts as many
a junior TV production major, said he male dancers as it can. Dancing, the
became interested because of the com- president said, is generally considered a
pany’s performance in the spring of this feminine activity, but because the com-
year. This semester, he is in Callender’s pany is open to all majors, they consider
“Mind of the Machine,” as well as a themselves lucky to work with the few
hip-hop number called “Calle Ocho” by males who try out every year.
Skylar Grossman, a junior theater edu- Both Hatkoff and Huffman have
cation and acting double major with a expressed interest in continuing on with
dance minor. the Emerson Dance Company in future
“I grew up in children’s theater and years, and if the upsurge in its popular-
I’ve always loved dancing, and I went to ity continues, future hopefuls will have
a show last year and I really liked it,” to step it up. 
Hatkoff said. “So I tried out, and they
were a lovely bunch of coconuts.” The Emerson Dance Company will
As one of the few males involved in the perform “A Night at the Roxbury” at
company, Hatkoff said he feels he had a the RCC Mainstage Theater on Nov. 21.
higher chance of getting in because of Tickets are $5.
his gender.
“It’s just that there aren’t a lot of guys

New play gets Reckless

with Christmas cheer
Theater Preview
by
Maya Phillips
Beacon staff
In Craig Lucas’ play, nothing says “Happy
Holidays” like a hitman paying a visit on
Christmas Eve. Playing through Dec. 12,
the Boston Center for the Arts presents
Reckless, a dark comedy that never tires of
proving that nothing is as it seems.
The show begins on Christmas Eve with
a woman named Rachel, who finds her
holiday halted by the discovery that her hus-
band has taken out a contract on her life.
She is forced to flee her Connecticut home
with only her slippers and pajamas, which
she dons for the entire show. Along the way,
she encounters a Springfield, Mass. social
worker named Lloyd and his mute, deaf,
paraplegic girlfriend Pootie.
After a year of happy residency with Lloyd
and Pootie, Rachel begins to discover that
everyone around her has secrets. Lloyd’s
selfless hospitality and generosity mask a
past of destruction and abandonment, while
Pootie’s ailments are not entirely what they
seem. The following Christmas rivals the
last, with two murders, a cross-country trip
to several towns named Springfield, and
Rachel’s realization that it’s hard for Christ-
mas to be merry when you discover that
“Santa” is an anagram for “Satan.”
Another death, a couple of states and one
embezzlement plot later, Rachel becomes
a different person through the absurdities
and impossibilities that have occurred in
her life.
Reckless creates Rachel as a blind opti-
mist who, even as she is first driven from
her home and later from hideouts across the
country, happily takes things as they are.
Her naïve idealism begs to be broken with
every Christmas and the unfortunate events
that follow.
The comedy of the show lies in the impos-
sibilities of the plot, the absurdity of the
characters and the bizarre connections the
between them.
However, the same absurdities that drive
the plot and provide the dark comedy of
the show also detract from the characters
who are too frequently used as plot devices
rather than independent entities that could
ground an otherwise fantastic play.
They are part of the plot as either an effect
of—or a means—to one of the many strange,
impossible occurrences that make up the
foundation of the play. For this reason, the
characters come across as flat, and even
Rachel seems unworthy of sympathy.
The story, while entertaining, loses power
in its reliance on shock value to drive the
plot. The show’s many surprises keep it
from being a mundane sequence of events,
but also detract from a clear sense of pur-
pose. 

The set, while fairly simple in design, is
vibrant and aesthetically pleasing. White
Christmas trees, both upside-down and
right-side up, provide the backdrop, while
large, neon-colored ornaments float above
the stage, adding to the bizarre feel of the
play. The lighting also adds emphasis to the
scene changes and shifts from comedy to
tragedy.
Comical in its absurdity and surprising
in its plot twists, Reckless is for those who
seek to forget reality for the sake of a Christ-
mas nightmare come true.
12
He looks more like an off-duty life-
guard than an ageless vampire, but
Kellan Lutz is on a press tour, not on
the set of the hugely popular Twilight
franchise. New Moon, the second install-
ment, opens on Nov. 20 nationwide.
Lutz, who describes both himself and
his undead character Emmett Cullen
as a “lovable teddy bear,” sat down to
chat with a handful of reporters from
area colleges. The Beacon was there as
Film Review
and Q & A
by
Cat Viglienzoni
Beacon staff
I
nstallments in a series are sup-
posed to get progressively bet-
ter—or at least stay on par. New
Moon, the eagerly-awaited sequel
to 2008’s Twilight, does not mea-
sure up to its mediocre predeces-
sor—not that it matters to the hordes of
fans who will flood the theaters at mid-
night on Nov. 20 for the opening, and
who will probably return the next day.
Picking up where Twilight left off, New
Moon opens with Bella Swan (Kristen
Stewart) going steady with her wincing
and brooding vampire boyfriend Edward
Cullen (Robert Pattinson). At Bella’s
birthday party, however,
an itty-bitty paper cut
awakens the vam-
pire in Edward’s
brother Jasper,
who attempts to
attack her.
After the inci-
dent, Edward,
citing Bella’s
best interests and
safety, suddenly
dumps her and
disappears,
removing
himself
Arts & Entertainment
Lutz dished on flying home to see his
dog, what we can expect from Eclipse
and scaring his costars.
Question: Do you feel like there’s
parts of your character that are like
Emmett?
Kellan Lutz: Oh yeah, I threw a lot
of Kellan into Emmett. It’s amazing to
play such a happy character, especially
in a franchise. It makes your day such
a happy day when you can play some-
one you really enjoy, and he’s not com-
plex like Edward and kind of depressing
and his family from her life in an attempt
to keep her away from vampires. Bella is
left brokenhearted and devastated, inca-
pable of functioning and plagued with
waves of screaming nightmares.
Of course, just because Edward stays
away from Bella doesn’t mean the rest
of the vampires will—after he leaves,
bad vamps Victoria and Laurent pop in
to threaten Bella. Cue the entrance of
a pack of horse-sized wolves that, off-
duty, move as shirtless and abdominally-
endowed packmates with an affinity for
tight, knee-length cutoffs and matching
tats.
Girls will squeal at the newly-ripped
Jacob (Taylor Lautner), morphing into a
snarling werewolf to save the damsel in
distress. Jacob, sporting a much-improved
haircut and bod, is no longer the little
kid Bella hung out with in the series’ last
installment—apparently, turning into a
werewolf includes rapid maturity as
part of the lupine benefits. Bella turns
to Jacob for solace, and he keeps her
“alive.”
Unfortunately (or fortunately,
depending on whose team you’re
on), Bella realizes she actually enjoys
spending time with Jacob. Now, in addi-
tion to her longing for Edward (dem-
onstrated via uninspired soliloquies and
hallucinations), she has feelings for her
younger companion. Jacob, for his part,
is eager to reciprocate and constantly
reminds Bella that Edward left
her. Confused yet? Hope
not: Did we mention that
vampires and werewolves,
as anyone familiar with
fantasy lore knows, are
ancestral enemies?
If it sounds melodra-
matic, as anyone who
has read the series has to
admit—it is. The series
deals in extremes—
extreme love,
extreme
misery,
sometimes. My team wanted me to
audition for Edward, and I was just
like, “Guys, I’m really in the mood for
a happy character this time,” because I
had just finished Generation Kill [about
the invasion of Iraq, which was shot] in
Africa, where I was killing people and
blowing stuff up and seeing poverty.
So I kept turning down that audition.
And just—Emmett was there, and I
was like, “What about Emmett?”  the paparazzi, that gets kind of hard to
Q: As an insider, how do you
explain the Twilight phenomenon?
KL: I wish I could. Really, I don’t
see it for what it really is, from what
an outsider would see. I wish I could
step away from it, but right now, we
all as a cast kind of live in this Twilight
zone. It’s been a huge part of our lives,
and it will continue to be so for the next
couple of years until we’re done with all
the movies. I think that five years from
now, when everything’s said and done,
or 10 years, I think we’re going to look
back...and I know that I’m just going to
sit there in awe at this phenomenon that
is Twilight.
Q: Now, how has this affected—
besides this, your regular life—like your
family’s, your mom, and your sister—
how do they deal with [it]?
KL: Well, my sister’s in high school,
and now one of the most popular kids.
She’s dating an 18-year-old, which I am
very against, because she’s only 15.  I’m
very protective. She’s my only sister.
And then my mom—everyone knows
extreme passion, extreme hair gel—which
is doubtless part of its appeal to fans.
Unfortunately, the movie could have
benefited from subtlety and originality. It
is predictable—the dialogue is cliché to
the point of being painful, and any scenes
of dramatic professions are dragged on so
long that they become tedious and laugh-
able. There are definitely some amusing
lines, mostly thanks to Bella’s affable dad
Charlie (Billy Burke) and her classmates,
especially Jessica (Anna Kendrick), who
steals the scenes she’s in.
New Moon was touted as having more
action than Twilight, but really, it doesn’t
have that much more. The occasional
vampire-versus-werewolf or vampire-on-
vampire fight scene punctuates the slog-
ging soap opera too all too infrequently.
This is especially unfortunate because
the scene shots and animation in most of
the movie are superior to the first. (The
vampires’ much-lampooned “spar-
kling,” for one, has been somewhat
improved.)
The cinematography is odd at
times, with twisting shots that
don’t make sense and kind of hurt
to watch. Also, when Bella is with
her men, the camera rarely views
her at eye-level. Instead, it looms
over her, the male gaze in a movie
geared toward young women. It
doesn’t fit.
The camera shots, though, befit the
attitude of the movie towards its lead.
Throughout the movie, Bella is defined
by her men. She even says to Alice
(because she doesn’t keep a diary for her-
self, her confessions remain written to
Edward’s sister’s invalid e-mail),
“I’m all right until I’m alone.”
When she doesn’t have a man—
either Edward or Jacob—Bella
cannot function.
Bella also knows that
she can only hal-
lucinate Edward
when she com-
mits reckless
behavior
Berkeley BeacoN • November 12, 2009
her as “Kellan’s mom.” And she’s so
loving and awesome. And it’s weird
having cousins come out that I never
knew existed. People are contacting my
mother and are like, “Hey, I’m so-and-
so, can I have Kellan’s number?” and
my mom has to think of something to
say that she doesn’t have my number for
some reason, or I don’t know—or I’m
out of the country. The only craziness is
deal with. And it’s funny, the other day
they were following me around town,
and I’m just going to meetings, doing my
job, and you know, I parked and got out,
and they jumped out to take photos, and
one forgot to put his parking brake on,
and boom! Stop sign, t-boned another
car and I just turned around I am like,
“Karma.” 
Q: What can we expect from Eclipse,
either from your character specifically,
or from the movie in general?
KL: A lot more of my character—
thank god we made Eclipse, because I
haven’t done anything really in these
two movies besides be a presence. And I
actually had like, great scenes with Kris-
ten [Stewart], and it’s fun making her
laugh, because that’s what my character
does, and making her laugh when she’s
not supposed to and having to re-shoot
the scene. And Kristen’s awesome, just
so much fun to work with and so easy
to scare.
that borders on suicidal. She is so desper-
ate that she speeds on motorcycles and
falls off of them, cliff-dives and nearly
drowns, and gets on the back of a motor-
cycle with an adult man she doesn’t even
know. All this is apparently in an attempt
to see Edward again (presumably when
he comes back to reassume the role of
the protector). Edward, of course, saw
himself in that role. He even said to Bella,
“It’s my job to protect you.”
Fans of the series will doubtless go
see New Moon, even if critics pan it.
And they will see it multiple times and
gush and squeal over the men. It will be
hugely successful. It’s sad that in a world
where women are still working towards
independence, such a popular franchise
portrays an utterly dependent heroine.
How about saying, “Bella—it’s your job
to protect yourself”?
Graphic by Binsen Gonzalea/Beacon staff