03 04 15 entire issue lo res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Skorton Addresses Budget Cuts

President says cuts needed for ‘ nancial exibility’

By ANNIE BUI Sun News Editor

In light of budget cuts totaling $27 5 million that will affect colleges and administrative units in the next fiscal year, President David Skorton said in an interview with The Sun Tuesday that the cuts are necessary in order to maintain “financial flexibility” in the face

of uncertain events

The decision to “attack” the problem of the provost ’ s deficit was unanimously agreed on between deans, vice presidents and the vice provost at a senior leadership meeting, according to Skorton

“We’ve been talking about this for months and months when Kent Fuchs was still provost, ” Skorton said “We asked people across the whole senior leadership how they wanted to handle this The idea was that we had to do it in this way ”

“These are tough cuts, they’re real cuts, but we have to get back to the point where there’s financial flexibility ”

The cuts, which will be implemented July 1, will be made in order to address an annual deficit of $55 million in the provost ’ s budget Cuts of approximately 2 to 2 3 percent will be made to each college’s annual expenditures

“The overall budget of the University is balanced, but the provost budget is not, ” Skorton said “The reason [the cuts are] happening now, even though it’s hard is [because] academic [units] need financial flexibility to deal with future things that come up ”

When asked how administrators would proceed in handling the budget cuts with leaders across colleges, Skorton said “the best prediction of future behavior is past behavior,” citing the University’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, when Cornell’s endowment shrunk 26 percent

“We froze everybody’s salary for a year, paused construction, slowed down on hiring, developed a voluntary staff retirement incentive and 8 percent of the staff force was reduced and [we had] a couple hundred layoffs, which is very, very hard to do,” Skorton said “So that’s how the University acted in the worst crisis that ever happened And so that’s a predictor of how it’s going to happen in this case ”

However, Skorton said conversations between a d m

regarding the budget deficit would “definitely”

See BUDGET page 4

Cornell Faculty Size at All-Time High

By GABRIELLA LEE Sun Senior Writer

Following a faculty renewal program implemented after 2010, the faculty size at Cornell has reached an all time high with a total of 1,652 faculty members last fall, according to Dean of the Faculty Joseph Burns Ph D ’66, astronomy

At 1,652, the current number of faculty members is “the highest ever, ” with five more employed than in 2007, according to Burns

In the last four years alone, Burns said the University has employed an addi-

world’s a stage

tional 75 professors

This figure stands in stark contrast to years past, when after the financial crisis of 2008, severe financial restrictions were placed on the University and the faculty size began to decrease, according to Burns

“As an outcome of the budget crisis, faculty numbers dropped starting in 2008, and by 2010 we had 70 fewer professors,” Burns said

The University shortfall in 2008 resulted in a slowed hiring rate for faculty and a workforce reduction, according to a document distributed by Interim Provost Harry Katz on Feb 25 to college

deans, directors and department heads

The document also stated that the reduced workforce was in part due to a “staff voluntar y retirement program launched in 2009 ”

According to Burns, it has only been recently that the faculty size has increased

Modest Mouse to Play Cornell Show

By PHOEBE KELLER Sun Staff Writer

See FACULTY page 4

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Building and Using Logic and Pathway Models Noon - 1 p m , 102 Mann Library

Game Night

6 - 9 p m , Fireside Lounge, Appel Commons

A Physiological Basis for Sociality: Testing the Depressed Metabolism Hypothesis in Spiders 12:15 p m - 1:15 p m , 2123 Comstock Hall

Food Security Through Process Innovations 12:20 - 1:10 p m , 135 Emerson Hall

Induced Seismicity With Heather Savage, Columbia University 3:30 - 4:30 p m , 2146 Snee Hall

11th Annual Chili Cook Off

11 a m - 3 p m , Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall Night at the Fair

6 - 8 p m , Fireside Lounge, Appel Commons

‘We Do Language:’ History, Meaning and Language In the Novels of Toni Morrison 4:30 p m , 132 Goldwin Smith Hall

Project *Star*: Celebrating Women

7 - 9 p m , Slope Studio, Willard Straight Theatre

weather FORECAST

Weird News of the Week

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The Internet Becomes Unhinged by Dress

(AP) It’s the dress that’s beating the Internet black and blue Or should that be gold and white?

Friends and co-workers worldwide are debating the true hues of a royal blue dress with black lace that, to many an eye, transforms in one photograph into gold and white Experts are calling the photo a one-in-a-million shot that perfectly captures how people’s brains perceive color and process contrast in dramatically different ways

“This photo provides the best test I’ve ever seen for how the process of color correction works in the brain,’” said Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, the clinical adviser to Britain's College of Optometrists “I’ve never seen a photo like before where so many people look at the same photo and see two sets of such dramatically different colors ”

The photo, taken earlier this month before a wedding on the remote Scottish island of Colonsay, also illustrates the dynamics of a perfect social-media storm Guests at the wedding could not understand why, in one photo of the dress being worn by the mother of the bride, the clearly blue and black-striped garment transformed into gold and white But only in that single photo, and only for around half of the viewers

The debate spread from the wedding to the Internet, initially from friend to perplexed friend on Facebook

One such wedding guest, musician and singer

Caitlin McNeill, posted the photo Thursday night to her Tumblr account with the question: “Guys please help me Is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can ' t agree and we are freaking the (expletive) out ”

She's consistently seen gold

One of her friends, Alana MacInnes, saw gold and white for the first hour, then black and blue

On Twitter, #TheDress and variants surged to the top of trending lists globally within hours

Louisville, Ky. Plagued

LOUISVILLE, Ky (AP) There’s a bad smell in parts of the Louisville, Kentucky, area but nobody knows where it's coming from

Media reports say city crews have been trying for nearly a week to pin down the odor that smells like mildew, but so far they’ve had no luck

Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District spokesman Tom Nord says the agency is doing its best to track the odor Engineering manager Matt King says crews are driving around the city and searching the old-fashion way: with their noses

Nord says dozens of people have called from different areas of the city that aren ’ t normally associated with bad smells

He says the agency doesn’t think the smell is toxic

Prof. Levitt talks about power of theatre in bringing social change

By HELEN DONNELLY Sun Staff Writer

Prof Bruce Levitt, performing and media arts, has taught theatre courses in acting, solo performance and dramatic literature to students from a variety of majors during his 29 years at Cornell

Raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Levitt said he was exposed to the world of performing arts at an early age

His parents, who he said were involved in community theatre, exposed him to ever y aspect of the theatre industr y, where he had his first experience on stage at seven years old

Levitt said his passion for theatre grew since that

“Sort of like the Billy Joel song ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me,’ I’m just interested in good, well-crafted work, regardless of the genre, style or location of the event, ” he said

Right now, Levitt said he spends his time focusing on his passion from offstage His current production at Cornell, The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, adds to the collection of shows he has directed and produced

When he is not teaching classes or working on a play, Levitt said he is likely to be working on community outreach One of his projects is at the Auburn Correctional Facility, where he said he works with incarcerated men and uses theatre techniques to help them transform their lives “ It’s

moment Although Levitt said that he loves all genres, he is particularly interested in Shakespeare and the development of new plays He also said he is passionate about using theatre to bring about public engagement and social change

security prison once a week, as I

, ” Levitt said L e v i t t s a i d one of his goals for the future is t o p r o d u c e a d o c u m e n t a r y on the men at Au b u r n He a l s o s a i d h e hopes to pro-

duce a 90-minute film on the project, but that he needs to raise enough money to have it edited Levitt also said he is also currently working on a workshop for the Federal Judicial Center in Seattle, where he will teach judges theatre techniques to use in

the courtroom as a way to address issues such as rude attorneys or witnesses who refuse to answer questions

“ When most judges enter, they walk up the stairs, sit at the bench and then say be seated,” Levitt said “Now imagine if you were the judge, and you asked ever yone to be seated and then you sat down last That creates a different power dimension ”

While Levitt said theatre techniques can change

“It has been said that we all love the sciences and technology because they help us live. The arts tell us why we live.”

power dynamics, the most important aspect of theatre is the empathy it instills in its audience and the actors He lamented the fact that students are generally more interested in the film industr y than in live theatre, saying that feelings of empathy are stronger in a live performance

“You can ’ t interact with a film the same way you interact with live actors because there’s a conversation that goes on in the performance between the actors on stage and the audience in the theatre,” he said “ There is nothing like the live presence of the audience and the actors together ” Levitt said he believes universities should have robust arts program particularly in theatre in order to give students an opportunity to see and participate in shows Without theatre, Levitt said, education is missing an essential component

“ Theatre is fundamental to human existence,” he said “It has been said that we all love the sciences and technology because they help us live The arts tell us why we live ”

Klarman Hall Construction Scheduled for 2016

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Skorton Says Effects of Budget Cuts Will Vary Between Colleges

o c c u r, a n d t h a t “ ov e r r i d i n g v a l u e s ” s u c h a s t h e

p r o t e c t i o n o f c u r r i c u l u m , s t u d e n t s e r v i c e s ,

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o f t h o s e w o u l d b e , b u t [ t h e s e ] a re a l l p r i o r i -

t i e s f o r e v e r y s i n g l e c o l l e g e a n d s u p p o r t u n i t h e re ”

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Hu m a n E c o l o g y a n d A g r i c u l t u r e a n d L i f e

S c i e n c e s i s a b i g d i f f e re n c e i n t e r m s o f s i z e a n d c o m p l e x i t y, ” Sk o r t o n s a i d “ Bu t i n a l l t h o s e

a re a s , t h e w a y s t h e d e a n s h a v e a c t e d i n t h e o t h e r

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c e o f m a i n

t a i n i n g f i n a n c i a l f l e x i b i l i t y i n a t i m e w h e re t h e re

“Even if there were not a deficit in Gannett or ... other places, student services are important enough to us that we would have to identify other revenue streams to help with that.”

x i s t s

Faculty Count Has Climbed in Recent Years

“While we’re hiring, the main demographic trend is that faculty are not retiring.”

i n u i n g t o a t t r a c t n e w p r o f e s s o r s i n t h e f u t u re I n t h e S c h o o l o f H o t e l Ad m i n i s t r a t i o n , t h e n u m b e r o f f u l l - t i m e f a c u l t y h a s i n c re a s e d f r o m 5 6 t o 6 4 s i n c e 2 0 0 6 , a c c o rd i n g t o Mi c h a e l Jo h n s o n , d e a n o f t h e h o t e l s c h o o l

“ T h i s c u r re n t y e a r w e w i l l b e a d d i n g s e v e n t o n i n e a d d i t i o n a l f a c u l t y, w h i l e a n u m b e r o f f u l l p r o f e s s o r s a re s e t t o re t i re o r s t a r t a p h a s e d r e t i r e m e n t , ” Jo h n s o n s a i d C o l l e g e s a n d a d m i n i s t r at i v e u n i t s w i l l s e e b u d g e t d e c r e a s e s d u e t o l o w e r e d p r o v o s t a l l o c a t i o n s i n t h e c o m i n g y e a r s W h i l e c o l l e g e d e a n s w i l l m e e t w i t h K a t z a n d Pa u l St r e e t e r, v i c e p r e s i d e n t f o r b u d g e t a n d p l a n n i n g , t o d i s c u s s b u d g e t p l a n s , s o m e f a c u l t y m e m b e r s s a y t h e y b e l i e v e d e c r e a s e d b u d g e t s w i l l a f f e c t f a c u l t y s i z e “ T h e i m p a c t o f b u d g e t c u t s i n A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s w i l l b e f e l t m o s t a c u t e l y i n h i r i n g , w h i c h w i l l s l ow w e l l b e l ow l e v e l s n e e de d t o r e p l a c e r e t i r i n g a n d d e p a r t i n g f a c u l t y, ” s a i d Pr o f A d a m S m i t h , a n t h r o p o

Asiana Crash Victims Reach Settlement With Airline

y c l a i m s a l s o i n c l u d e s B o e i n g C o , w h i c h m a d e t h e a i r p l a n e , a n d A i r Cr u i s e r s C o , t h e Ne w Je r s e y c o m p a n y t h a t m a d e i t s e va c u a t i o n s l i d e s T h e f i l i n g d i d n o t i n c l u d e t h e s e t t l e m e n t ’ s f i n a n c i a l t e r m s , a n d p l a i n t i f f s ’ a t t o r n e y Fr a n k

Man Killed by Police Wanted by U.S. Marshals

LOS ANGELES (AP) A homeless man who was killed by Los Angeles police on Skid Row was living under an assumed name and was wanted for violating probation terms for a bank robbery conviction, French and U S officials said Tuesday

A law enforcement official identified Charley Saturmin Robinet, 39, as the man police shot Sunday The official wasn ’ t authorized to speak publicly and talked to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity

Axel Cruau, the consul general for France in Los Angeles, said the man stole the identity of a French citizen and was living in the United States under an assumed name He had applied for a French passport in the late 1990s to come to the United States to “ pursue a career in acting ”

Using the name Robinet, the man was identified as a French national in 2000 when he was convicted of robbing a Wells Fargo branch and pistol-whipping an employee in an effort to pay for acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse

That arrest spurred the consulate to provide the man with support, but as he was nearing his release from prison in 2013, officials found another Robinet in France with the same birthdate and discovered the one in the U S was an impostor, Cruau said

“The real Charley Robinet is in France apparently living a totally normal life and totally unaware his identity had been stolen years and years ago, ” Cruau said While in federal prison in

Rochester, Minnesota, the bank robber known as Robinet was assigned to the mental health unit, and federal officials said medical staff determined he was suffering from “ a mental disease or defect” that required treatment in a psychiatric hospital, documents show He served roughly 13 years in prison and then spent six months in a halfway house before release in May 2014, said Ed Ross, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman Foreign nationals are typically deported after serving criminal sentences But in this case, France would not take the man, since he wasn ’ t really a French citizen The U S Supreme Cour t r uled in 2001 that immigration authorities could not detain people indefinitely because no country is willing to take them So once his sentence was served, the man known as Robinet was let free U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said she couldn’t immediately comment on his immigration history

Under the terms of the man ’ s release, he had to provide reports to his probation officer at the start of each month, Deputy U S Marshal Matthew Cordova said When he failed to do so in November through January, a federal warrant was issued Jan 9

The confrontation that ended in the man ' s death Sunday was recorded on a bystander's cellphone and viewed millions of times online Authorities said the man tried to grab a rookie officer's gun before three other officers shot him

Alabama Supreme Court Halts Gay Marriage Licenses

ALABAMA (AP) The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the state ’ s probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, saying a previous federal ruling that gay-marriage bans violate the U S Constitution does not preclude them from following state law, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman

The all-Republican court in Montgomery sided with the argument offered by a pair of conservative organizations when they appealed a decision by U S District Judge Callie Granade of Mobile, who ruled in January that both Alabama's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional

It was not immediately clear what impact the latest ruling would have or whether it would stand While a six-member majority of the nine-member court did not explicitly invalidate the marriages of hundreds of same-sex couples who obtained licenses in the state in recent weeks, the decision used the term “purported” to describe those licenses

The court ’ s most outspoken opponent of gay marriage, Chief Justice Roy Moore, recused himself from the case and did not participate in the writing of the unsigned 134-page decision

After Granade’s ruling, Moore told probate judges across the state not to issue same-sex marriage licenses His stance created widespread confusion, prompting some judges to refuse to issue the licenses and others to shut down their operations for all couples, gay and straight, until they could get a clear answer Still others decided to issue the licenses

Of the other justices on Alabama’s high court, one agreed with the ruling while citing some reservations, and one, Justice Greg Shaw, dissented

In his dissent, Shaw said it was “unfortunate” that federal courts refused to delay gay marriage in the state until the U S Supreme Court could settle the issue nationally But, Shaw said, the state Supreme Court doesn’t have the power to consider the issue and is creating more confusion by “venturing into unchartered waters ” (sic) outside its jurisdiction

The court released the decision while Gov Robert Bentley and most state leaders were assembled in Montgomery for the state of the state address A spokeswoman for Bentley said the administration was reviewing the decision and had no immediate comment

The court ’ s ruling came in response to a request from the Southern Baptist-affiliated Alabama Citizens Action Program and the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, which asked the justices to halt same-sex unions

CATHERINE CHEN ’15

Business Manager

CAROLINE FLAX ’15

Associate Editor

NICK DE TULLIO 15 Web Editor

RACHEL ELLICOTT 15

Editor

ELIZABETH SOWERS 15

CONNOR ARCHARD 15

ANNIE BUI ’16

KAITLYN TIFFANY ’15 Arts & Entertainment Editor

KATHLEEN BITTER 15

CHARDAE VARLACK 15 Associate Multimedia Editor

EMILY BERMAN 16 Assistant Sports Editor

NICOLE HAMILTON 16 Graphic Design Editor

EMMA LICHTENSTEIN ’16

Marketing Manager

LUISE YANG ’15

ARIELLE CRUZ ’15

MICHELLE FELDMAN ’15

Independent Since 1880

132ND EDITORIAL BOARD

HALEY VELASCO ’15 Editor in Chief TYLER ALICEA ’16

Editor ZACH STEELE ’15

Manager

CHIUSANO 15

Editor ALEX REHBERG 16

YANG 15

RANKIN 16

ANUSHKA MEHROTRA ’16

SEAN DOOLITTLE ’16

XIAO 16

FASMAN 16

RATHORE 15

SHIM ’15

’15

’16

LEVY 16

JAYNE ZUREK ’16

PHOTO NIGHT EDITOR Alejandro Hernandez 15

DESIGN DESKER Kaiwen Zheng ’18

EDITORS IN TRAINING

Bui ’16

Alex Rehberg ’16

Sloane Grinspoon ’17

Jayne Zurek 16

Mike Sosnick 16

DESKERS Rebecca Blair 17 Phoebe Keller ’18

Tom the Dancing Bug

By Ruben Bolling

Jared Ham | Guest Room

The Fee Is Not Obamacare

Everywhere I turn there are people comparing “The Fee” to Obamacare I overhear people in line at Libe Café comparing the two I see yaks on Yik Yak comparing the two This past weekend, Fox News ran a story comparing the two The Republican Party of Virginia Beach also compared the two in a tweet to the Cornell Democrats The tweet reads, “@FightTheFee, we feel your pain, thank @CornellDems who suppor ted @BarackObama and gave you the #ObamaCareFail #WeTriedToWarnYou ” Many have even started referring to The Fee as “Skor tonCare,” which unmistakably likens it to Obamacare In short, the comparisons are hard to miss These comparisons perplex me In my view, there are key distinctions between the two At its core, Obamacare was designed to ensure that everyone not just the wealthy and affluent has access to affordable and quality health insurance That’s not the case with the fee Cornell students already have health insurance Every year, each student has to provide documentation to Cornell that shows they are enrolled in a health insurance plan If they cannot provide the documentation, they are automatically enrolled in SHIP Cornell’s health plan So while Obamacare is designed to reduce the uninsured rate and provide health insurance to those who previously could not afford health insurance, the fee is designed to steer Cornell students toward choosing

SHIP and help Gannett’s finances

In his address to the Student Assembly, President David Skorton stated, “There are people for whom the fee will be a burden ” Where the burden falls is the most important reason for why I personally oppose the fee Obamacare protects the poor and those individuals who simply cannot afford health insurance Any individual or family who fall below a specified income level are exempt from the penalty levied on those who do not enroll in a health insurance plan the fee, however, does not afford the same exemption There are many people on this campus who simply cannot afford neither the $350 fee nor Cornell’s $2,300 plan My family your typical middle-class suburban family can afford to pay the fee Sure it will impose some minor financial hardship ($350 is not a small sum of money!), but we will be fine This is not true for everyone; not every family is in the same financial position as my family Due to the fee, some families will be forced to choose between paying an additional $350 so one of their children can get a world class education at Cornell University and putting food on the table for the other children (or paying the mortgage or paying the utility bills, etc ) Although this is among the most extreme cases, I find it unacceptable to further harm those whom the fee would burden the most

Jared Ham is a senior in the College of Ar ts and Sciences and an be reached at jh724@cor nell edu

Isa Qasim | The Yale Daily

Let It Snow

Igrew up just north of Chicago, so I am no stranger to harsh winters Coming to Connecticut has actually been a pretty easy transition The winter is still long, but in New Haven we miss that one week of subzero weather that brings all life to a halt back home

We all know the people from California who grumble about the snow and proclaim the West Coast’s meteorological superiority It is so common as to be a cliché It has become almost a performance, wherein the whining Californian ser ves as a foil to remind ourselves of our own climate resilience

But if you talk to people from the truly cold parts of the nation, the kids from Minnesota, upper Maine, my own proud city upon the frozen Lake Michigan, you will not hear whining Instead, there is almost a yearning “This is nothing like back home,” they will proudly say And yet they do not sound like they are happy to be away from home Not at all In fact, they wish that those brutal winters had followed them here

It might seem odd to say, but I am beginning to realize that I miss that freezing week, that I miss Chicago winters The powerful slap of the wind coming off the lake, which knocks all sense or reason from your mind Not leaving the house once for an entire weekend and keeping a fire roaring in the fireplace the whole time The precautions needed if, like me, you are stupid enough to go for a run in that weather The hands inside gloves, the skull cap under the beanie under the hood I miss all of it Somehow, I feel like a year without all that is never quite complete

The reason I think I miss my home’s winters so much is because they provided a purpose The extremity of a brutal winter makes the mere act of going through a day feel like a triumph The walk from the bus stop to school is un-ironically harrowing It gives a narrative arc to one ’ s life and brings the com-

munity together

What is more, spring becomes a miracle

The gradual thawing of snow, the appearance of small leaves on the trees, the chatter of the birds returning, all seem utterly impossible In the midst of the cold, it is hard to see how it could ever end And yet it does The whole world springs back to life with incredible vitality

I love that winter has such tremendous power The anticipation of it, or relief from it, colors every season, heightening the flavor of each one The falling leaves in autumn are more ominous and the brutal heat of summer more scorching It is a cyclical drama, playing itself out unendingly before our eyes

We get some of this in New Haven, but not so consistently or intensely as in other parts of the country My freshman year we barely even had a winter; we did not even have a single day below 10 degrees I was disoriented and out of sorts for the entire year afterward Spring only makes sense to me in the context of the winter that preceded it

So I think that we should reconsider our knee-jerk reaction to New Haven winters As a season, it might not have the immediate appeal of a fall or a spring, but without it these other, more celebrated, seasons would lose their significance When the days start to shorten and the temperatures drop, why moan and groan? We should look forward to winter with eager anticipation Life is mostly a question of attitude The Midwesterners will tell you that if you embrace winter instead of begrudging it, it will have much more to offer than you initially thought

So while everyone from California waddles around in their puffy jackets and grumbles about the chill, I hope you will forgive me for taking the opposite view I wish that it were colder, and I hope that you do, too

Isa Qasim is a senior at Yale University and can be reached at isa qasim@yale edu

Greatness in Our Canine Companions

“

With so much drama in the L-B-C, it's kinda hard bein' Snoop D-O-double-G ”

-Snoop Dogg y Dogg

I am not above admitting it there are a couple of movies out there capable of moving me to tears In almost every case, the crying comes about as a result of uncontrollable laughter, á la Tommy Boy or Old School There have been two instances, however, where a movie had me fighting a losing battle against my tear ducts and weeping like a toddler who had no choice but to watch on helplessly as their older sibling broke their crayons in half right in front of them Most people who know me and read this may find it shocking I am basically the real world incarnation of True Grit’s U S Marshal Reuben J Cogburn, and if there is one thing that Rooster Cogburn does not do, it is cry I am not without weakness though In fact, I have two of them: leggy brunettes and my enduring love for almost every dog I meet (you’re the exception, Wolfgang) It follows then that the two movies that stirred up in me tears of sorrow are Old Yeller and Marley and Me Honestly though, I bet even Vladimir Putin cried at the end of the former I sure hope he doesn’t read this

There is something beautiful in the bond between humans and dogs Children love dogs even when they still think the opposite sex has cooties Dogs do not care how excruciatingly awkward you are through middle school (or beyond) Dogs are there through painful periods of rejection and loss, and they are there the whole time with their tails wagging and a delightfully goofy grin on their faces If they could, your dog would laugh at all of your not funny jokes Your dog would be the drunk

Cornell has a funny way of making you many accomplishments seem inadequ trivial, but the jubilation a dog shows in aspect of the world is something we ca aspire to.

friend who slurs their speech as they tell you that the girl who ruthlessly shut you down at Dunbar’s was a “dumb bitch” without seeing the hilarious irony in that statement Sorry to all the canines out there, but we definitely got the better end of the arrangement our ancestors worked out so many generations ago at least you get the satisfaction of watching us pick up the poop you so happily drop on our carpets

If you have seen Marley and Me (or if you are a more highly evolved individual than I and actually read the book) you may remember Owen Wilson (or John Grogan for you bookish types) saying, “Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them ” The profound influence that our dogs have on us can perhaps only be compared to that of the teachers from our youth We are with both for only a small period of our lives, yet the teachers and dogs we have growing up and the indelible impression they make on all of us stays with us forever Typically though your old teacher will not lose control of his or her bladder in excitement when you come home for winter break That is probably for the better

If you had the privilege of seeing Common speak on campus Monday night, then you know the main emphasis of his talk was “ greatness ” He treated a packed Bailey Hall to a beautiful lecture about finding your belief and pursuing it tirelessly until you achieve the type of greatness that makes not just you great but also lifts up the people around you If there is one thing that the companionship of a dog does for an owner, it is lift them up He told us the quest for greatness would at many times savor of defeat but to find motivation in that struggle At times it felt like his speech could be summarized as the “do your best, forget the rest ” mantra that so many coaches try to impart on their struggling middle school basketball teams But Common did it with the poise and swag of a Grammy and Oscar winner you simply do not find at your local YMCA

At times it may be challenging to continue the pursuit of greatness Cornell has a funny way of making your many accomplishments seem inadequate or trivial, but the jubilation a dog shows in every aspect of the world is something we can all aspire to Dogs are incapable of snide sarcasm and will never carry on a text message conversation as you try to engage them in a real-life conversation Dogs effortlessly demonstrate the greatness that Common encouraged all of us to strive for, and they do it without even being able to speak English A dog’s nose is allegedly 10,000 times better than ours I am not sure exactly how they quantify the power of a nose, but if you have ever come home to a dog from a rough day, you know that dogs are infinitely more capable of happiness and compassion than people And they unwittingly pass that happiness onto the people they nuzzle up to

Comm en t of the day

“The University has a balanced budget The problem is that they will not commit the resources to education that is to say, the areas the Provost oversees Isn’t the rest of the University here as an ancillary of the education the school provides?”

MrClumpy

Re: “Provost to Slash Budgets Across University,” News published March 2, 2015

Samantha Weisman | A Weisman Once Said

Say Yes To ‘The Dress’

a n k s o f p l e n t y o f o t h e r “ i m p o r t a n t ” h e a d l i n e s o n h u nd re d s o f n e w s s i t e s A Tu m b l r u s e r u p l o a d e d a p h o t o o f a

d re s s o n l a s t We d n e s d a y a n d e s s e n t i a l l y c h a n g e d t h e m e a ni n g o f t h e w o rd “d re s s ” f o re ve r

T h e m a g i c a l e l e m e n t o f t h e p h o t o w a s t h a t n o t e ve r yo n e s a w t h e d re s s i n t h e s a m e w a y To s o m e , t h e d r e s s l o o k e d

w h i t e a n d g o l d , a n d t o o t h e r s , b l u e a n d b l a c k T h o us a n d s o f p e op l e we i g h e d i n o n t h e d e b a t e , i n c l u d i n g m a n y c e l e b r it i e s l i k e Ta y l o r Sw i f t , Ji m m y Fa l l o n a n d M i n d y K a l i n g T h e Dre s s b e c a m e s o p o p u l a r t h a t y o u c a n a s k a n y o n e o n t h e s t r e e t , “ W h a t c o l o r d o y o u t h i n k i t i s ? ” a n d p e o p l e k n ow w h a t yo u ’ re t a l k i n g a b o u t So w h y a re p e o p l e s o f a s c in a t e d w i t h t h i s d re s s ? W h i l e t h e re i s a s c i e n t i f i c e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h e va r i e d p e rc e p t i o n s o f c o l o r, a t f i r s t , n o o n e k n e w w h y p e o p l e w e r e s e e i n g d i f f e r e n t c o l o r s I s a w s e ve r a l f a l s e e x p l an a t i o n s f o r t h e m a g i c o f T h e Dre s s , i n c l u d i n g c l a i m s t h a t t h e c o l o r s o f t h e d re s s a re d i f f e re n t d e p e n d i n g o n g e n d e r, m o o d o r a g e A n d e ve n t h o u g h t h e re i s a n a n s we r f o r w h y T h e Dre s s s e e m s t o c h a n g e c o l o r, p e o p l e re ve l e d i n t h e i n i t i a l m y s t e r y o f i t a l l Pe o p l e l ove u n s o l ve d m y st e r i e s a n d t h i n g s t h a t c a n n o t b e e x p l a i n e d i n o t h e r w o rd s , m a g i c T h o u g h m o s t p e o p l e h a ve g i ve n u p h o p e o n re c e i vi n g t h e i r Ho g w a r t s l e t t e r i n t h e m a i l o r t h a t t h e i r h o u s e h o l d m i c e w i l l t u r n i n t o h e n c h m a n t h a t p u l l yo u r c a r r i a g e t o t h e b a l l , we a l l s t i l l h a ve t h a t l i t t l e s h re d o f h o p e t h a t s o m e o f t h e s e t h i n g s a r e p o s s i b l e W h e n e ve r s o m e t h i n g h a p p e n s t h a t m i g h t c o n t a i n a t i n y b i t o f t h i s m a g i c , we h o l d o n t o i t W h e n I s a y “ m a g i c , ” I d o n ’ t n e c e s s a r i l y m e a n f a i r y d u s t o r m a g i c w a n d s I j u s t m e a n t h e i d e a t h a t n o t e ve r y t h i n g h a s a c l e a r - c u t a n s we r, t h a t t h e re i s s o m e t h i n g s c i e n c e c a n n o t e x p l a i n o r t h a t t h e r e r e a l l y m i g h t b e a g l i t c h i n o u r m a t r i x T h e re a re t o n s o f o t h e r u n e xp l a i n a b l e i n s t a n c e s t h ro u g h o u t h i s t o r y t h a t h a v e f a s c i n a t e d h u m a n i t y Pe r h a p s t h e m o s t f a m o u s o n e i s t h e m y s t e r y o f Ja c k t h e R i p p e r, o n e o f t h e m o s t f a m o u s s e r i a l k i l l e r s i n h i s t o r y L a w

Though most people have given up ho on receiving their Hogwarts letter in t mail we all still have that little shre of hope that some of these things are possible.

e n f o rc e m e n t , h i s t o r i a n s , s c i e nt i s t s a n d e v e n w r i t e r s h a v e s p e n t ove r a h u n d re d ye a r s t r yi n g t o f i g u re o u t t h e i d e n t i t y o f Ja c k t h e R i p p e r, a n d t h o u g h n e w i n f o r m a t i o n w a s u n c ove r e d r e c e n t l y, n o o n e r e a l l y k n ow s t h e t r u e i d e n t i t e y o f t h i s k i l l e r Pe o p l e a re s o e n t h r a l l e d b y t h e m y s t e r y t h a t i t h a s i n s p i re d c o u n t l e s s w o rk s o f f i ct i o n , h u n d re d s o f t h e o r i e s a n d e ve n t h e t e r m “ r i p p e ro l o g y ” T h e re i s a l s o t h e S c h i p h o l Di a m o n d He i s t w h e re t h i e ve s i n Eu ro p e s t o l e $ 1 1 8 m i l l i o n i n d i a m o n d s a n d w e r e n e v e r f o u n d , t h e m y s t e r y o f A m e l i a E a r h e a r t ’ s d i s a p p e a r a n c e a n d t h e Zo d i a c k i l l e r Hu m a n s l ove s e a rc h i n g f o r e x p l a n a t i o n s , b u t e ve n m o re s o I t h i n k we l ove b e l i e v i n g t h a t s o m e t h i n g s c a nn o t b e e x p l a i n e d Of c o u r s e , t h e re i s a re a s o n we s e e T h e Dre s s i n d i f f e re n t c o l o r s Be c a u s e o f t h e u n u s u a l l i g h t i n g i n t h e p h o t o , we a l l p ro c e s s t h e c o l o r s d i f f e re n t l y W h e n we t r y t o p ro c e s s t h e c o l o r o f t h e p h o t o , o u r b r a i n s t r y t o p rov i d e s o m e k i n d o f c o l o r c o n t e x t f o r t h e i m a g e a n d t e l l s u s w h a t “ c o l o r ” i t i s T h e d re s s i s a c t u a l l y b l u e a n d b l a c k , b u t t h i s p h o t o c r e a t e s a n a m b i g u o u s c o n t e x t W h e n I f i n a l l y r e a d t h i s e x p l a n a t i o n s e ve r a l h o u r s a f t e r t h e c o n f us i o n b e g a n , I w a s b o t h re l i e ve d a n d d i s a p p o i n t e d Pa r t o f m e w a s h a p p y t o f i n a l l y u n d e r s t a n d w h y I f i r s t s a w t h e d re s s a s w h i t e a n d g o l d , a n d t h e n b l u e a n d b l a c k a f e w h o u r s l a t e r ( a n d t h e n g o l d a n d w h i t e a g a i n , a n d t h e n b a c k t o b l u e a n d b l a w a i t n o p e , d e f i n i t e l y s t i l l b l u e a n d b l a c k ) Bu t I w a s u p s e t w i t h t h e d i s e nc h a n t m e n t , t h e a n s we r t o t h e f u n q u e s t i o n we h a d b e e n a s ki n g Eve n f o r a s h o r t t i m e , a n d e v e n t h o u g h I k n e w i t w a s u n re a li s t i c f o r m e t o t h i n k s o , i t w a s e xc i t i n g t o t h i n k t h a t t h e r e w a s m a y b e a l i t t l e b i t o f m a g i c i n vo l ve d W h i l e i t m i g h t n o t b e s o c o n t r o v e r s i a l a n y m o r e , T h e Dre s s h a s g i ve n u s a l o t t o t h i n k a b

SCIENCE

By REEM KHONDAKAR Sun Staff Writer

The myster y behind massive sea star deaths on the East and West Coast may finally be solved Sea stars, commonly known as star fish, have been dying by the hundreds of thousands since June 2013, according to Prof Ian He wson, microbiology The disease, known as Sea Star Wasting Disease, causes them to grow lesions and lose their limbs

After a year of investigations, He wson and his colleagues have found a likely c a u s e : t h e S e a St a r A s s o c i a t e d Densovir us The findings, which were published in the December issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, came as a surprise to some

“I think that some people were a little disappointed that it was not an environmental contamination issue directly causi n g t h e d e a t h s , ” He w s o n s a i d “ We received a number of emails from folks who were convinced that it was caused by radioactivity from Fukushima Daiichi [Nuclear Power Plant], but we just have no evidence for that whatsoever ”

W h i l e o t h e r s c i e n t i s t s i n v e s t i g a t e d possible environmental causes, He wson ’ s research focused on which microbiological causes, such as bacteria or vir uses, might make healthy sea stars become diseased

From a microbiological perspective, sea stars are unique to study because numerous bacteria live quite peacefully inside and outside their bodies According to He wson, up to 3,000 species of bacteria may inhabit one sea star

He wson likened the abundance of bacteria co-existing with sea stars, to the bacteria that exist in and on humans in our guts, on our skin and so for th

“Marine animals are absolutely coated in bacteria [and other microorganisms],”

He wson said “ Yet we do not know what role they play in host health, unlike humans, because there has not been a lot of research on aquatic animals ”

In order to find out if a bacteria or v i r u s m i g h t b e b e h i n d t h e d i s e a s e , He wson and his team compared several d i s e a s e d a n d h e a l t h y s e a s t a r s T h e y found that the diseased sea stars harbored more of one par ticular vir us than the healthy sea stars

“Really the only type of vir us that was more [abundant] in the diseased than the healthy was the sea star associated densovir us, ” He wson said

T h e y a l s o i n j e c t e d t h e v i r u s i n t o healthy sea stars and saw the same symptoms that the diseased sea stars exhibited

He w s o n c a u t i o n e d t h a t t h e v i r u s , while a likely cause, was not necessarily the definite cause “ We cannot say for sure that this is the cause of the disease because we have not satisfied the criteria to distinguish b e t w

tunist,” He wson said, “but it is definitely our top candidate ” T h e r e a r e c u r r e n t l y n o ways to test the vir us ’ s effect on sea stars that do not already cont a i n n u m e r o u s m i c r o o r g a ni s m s , w h i c h m a k e s i t

evolution

“ O n c e w e h a v e [ e c h i n o d e r m ] c e l l lines then we can star t to propagate the vir us and do experiments in isolation of all the other bacteria and vir uses that are there,” He wson said

A l t h o u g h m u c h o f t h e e v i d e n c e

points to the densovir us as the likeliest cause of sea star deaths, environmental c o n t r i b u t i o n s h a v e n o t b e e n r uled out

“Diseases in the marine environment play a huge role in ecology, generally by knocking out important predators like sea stars ”

d e n s o v i r u s i s causing the deaths and deformities

Scientists normally test such effects by using “cell lines,” or a group of cells that contain the exact same genes While He wson would theoretically use echinoderm cell lines, as sea stars are a type of echinoderm, such cell lines have not yet been developed

Ac c o rd i n g t o He w s o n , t h e c l o s e s t available cell lines scientists have to test the densovir us ’ effects are human cell lines, though they are dissimilar due to

“ We definitel y h a v e n o t excluded effects

l i k e a c i d i f i c ation or temperat u r e c h a n g e , ” He w s o n s a i d “ B u t t h e p u rp o s e o f o u r

s t u d y w a s t o identify the proximal cause of the disease, and we found a vir us that was associated with it ” The vir us was first discovered in the 1940s, and was present in aquariums in t h e Pa c i f i c No r t h w e s t , a c c o r d i n g t o

He wson The sudden vir ulent outbreak, after nearly 72 years, he said, could be the result of a biological or environmental change It is possible that the vir us has mutated to affect more species, or an environmental factor has made the sea

stars more vulnerable

While the long lasting environmental effects of decimated sea star populations remain to be seen, it is likely that the disease will significantly impact the ecosystem According to He wson, since sea stars are keystone predators, their loss will result in more abundant prey

“Diseases in the marine environment play a huge role in ecology, generally by knocking out impor tant predators like sea stars, ” He wson said

Indeed the bad rap that vir uses get m a y n o t b e c o m p l e t e l y w a r r a n t e d

According to He wson, vir uses maintain biodiversity by targeting the most dominant predators, allowing less common species to exist and might even play a role in combating cancer

“ There is as yet a really unstudied role of vir uses in being beneficial to organisms,” He wson said

A

Densovir us, He wson said his next step is finding where the disease spread ends “ This is definitely one of the biggest, m

involved with,” He wson said “ There was just an incredible outpouring of public interest in science, which was fantastic ”

Reem Khondakar can be reached at rkhondakar@cornellsun com

C.U. Research Team Examines Hypothetical Zombie Outbreaks Using Epidemiology and Physics

By SLOANE GRINSPOON Sun Senior Writer

A Cornell University team is using epidemiology models to study hypothetical zombie outb re a k s i n o rd e r t o i l l u s t r a t e techniques used both in physics and in disease dynamics

Alex Alemi grad is a graduate student in the Depar tment of Physics who works in collaboration with a team of col-

l e a g u e s , i n c l u d i n g M a t t h e w

B i e r b a u m g r a d ; Pr o f

C h r i s t o p h e r Mye r s M S ’ 8 8 Ph D ’91, physics, who studies disease; and Prof James Sethna, physics

Alemi will present the work of the team at the American Physical Society’s conference in

Te x a s o n T h u r s d a y, a n d t h e paper will soon be submitted to academic journals, according to Alemi

A l e m i a n d h i s c o l l e a g u e s began the zombie research in par t to demonstrate different e p i d e m i o l o g y m o d e l s i n a n a c c e s s i b l e a n d e n t e r t a i n i n g manner

“ Mo d e l i n g z o m b i e s t a k e s you through a lot of the techniques used to model real diseases, albeit in a fun context, ” Alemi said

The team developed mathem a t i c a l m o d e l s t o s i m u l a t e zombie outbreaks In order to map their models, they used 2010 U S census data

A l e m i a n d h i s c o l l e a g u e s used an alternate version of the c l a s s i c e p i d e m i o l o g y S I R m o d e l , w h i c h re p re s e n t s t h e number of susceptibles, number of infected and number of recovered, all as a function of time, to look at their zombie outbreaks

However, zombies function differently than ordinar y dis-

eases While humans recover f r o m a n i n f e c t i o u s d i s e a s e , according the classical definition of the undead, zombies do not recover they must be k i l l e d I n o r d e r t o a c c o u n t f o r t h i s , Alemi and h i s c o ll e a g u e s d e v e l o p e d the SZR model which represents number of susceptibles, number of zombies and number of recovered, according to Alemi

to hold out the longest,” Alemi said

The most dangerous places in the United States for a zombie outbreak are locations within a shor

“We hope that this research will get people interested in learning about disease modeling. It’s meant to be an illustration that you can do real science with a fun topic ”

T h e r e s e a r c h e r s m a p p e d their model on a lattice a physical, grid-like model

“ We put it on a lattice an infinite square grid with a single person per site,” Alemi said “ We did this because there’s a classic result for SIR, when you simulate SIR on that lattice, there’s a phase transition ”

A c c o r d i n g t o A l e m i , t h e p h a s e t r a n s i t i o n o c c u r s w i t h changes in the model’s variables

“A phase transition occurs when there is an abr upt change in the behavior of a model,” Alemi said “Above a cer tain setting the disease can spread across the entire grid and below a cer tain setting, the disease always stops ”

In the SZR model, a phase

t r a n s

outbreaks as well

“ What’s cool is as soon as a model has a phase transition, there’s lots of interesting science you can do to it,” Alemi said

When the researches simulated zombie outbreaks on the United States, they found that

lypses

“In those simulations, which

, remote regions like Montana and the Rockies, they managed

cities

“ T h e most dang

u s place in the United States is No r

Not a lot of people live in that area, but that area is within a days’ zombie walk from any of the major cities in the nor theast, ” Alemi said

Even though the SIR model and the SZR model are fundam

models act similarly on

large scales

“ That’s the remarkable thing a

You have models that look real-

detail but when you tune them to just the right point they can look the same on large length scales ”

Overall, Alemi and his col-

advanced scientific phenomenon though an exciting and digestible medium “ We hope that this research will get people interested in learning about disease modeling,” said Alemi “It’s meant to be an illustration that you can

topic ”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

C o m m o n a t B a i l e y H a l l

BY ZACHARY ZAHOS Sun Senior Writer

C o m m o n i s a S o u t h Si d e , C h i c a g o, n a t i v e a c c l a i m e d f o r h i s s o c i a l l y c o n s c i o u s , i n t i m a t e a n d e r u d i t e a p p r o a c h t o

h i p - h o p Al o n g w i t h Jo h n L e g e n d , h e p e r f o r m e d a t t h e

8 7 t h Ac a d e m y Aw a rd s a n d w o n B e s t O r i g i n a l S o n g f o r “ Gl o r y ” f r o m Se l m a , a f i l m i n w h i c h h e a l s o a c t e d O n

Mo n d a y, CCC , C U P B a n d M C FA B b r o u g h t C o m m o n t o

B a i l e y Ha l l s o t h a t h e c o u l d s h a re h i s g o s p e l o

n e s s , ”

n d a f t e r h i s s o l d - o u t s h ow, h e s p o k e t o T h e Su n a b o u t t h e l e a d - u p t o t h e O s c a r s , m u l t i c u l t u ra l p e r s p e c t i v e s a n d s o c i a l p r o g re s s t h r o u g h a r t i s t i c s u c c e s s

T H E S U N : T h e O s c a r s a l w a y s g o o n f o re v e r, b u t y o u r p e r f o r m a n c e w i t h Jo h n L e g e n d re a l l y j u s t c u t t h r o u g h a l l t h e n o i s e I ’ m s u re y o u t w o a n d t h e d i re c t o r s a n d

c h o re o g r a p h e r s w e re t h i n k i n g h a rd q u e s t i o n s a b o u t h ow t o m a k e i t s o g o o d , a n d I ’ m w o n d e r i n g w h a t t h o s e w e re

C O M M O N : Ho n e s t l y, I f e e l l i k e t h e s o n g “ G l o r y ” a n d t h e f i l m Se l m a a n d t h e c i v i l r i g h t s m ov e m e n t h a s s u c h a s t r o n g e m o t i o n a n d s p i r i t t o i t t h a t w e j u s t w a n t e d t o f i g u re o u t a w a y t o c o n v e y t h a t , a n d w e k n e w t h a t b e i n g s i m p l e w a s t h e b e s t w a y o f d o i n g i t So i t w a s n ’ t a l o t o f t h i n k i n g It w a s m o re a n a t u r a l f e e l i n g So m e o n e c a m e u p w i t h t h e c o n c e p t f o r t h e [ E d m u n d Pe t t u s ] Br i d g e b e i n g t h e re , a n d t h e t e a m f r o m t h e O s c a r s p res e n t e d t o u s t h a t t h e y w a n t e d a l l t h e p e o p l e o n t h e b r i d g e , a n d w e t h o u g h t t h a t w a s a b r i l l i a n t i d e a Fr o m

t h e re , i t w a s j u s t w o r k i n g w i t h g re a t p e o p l e y o u k n ow Jo h n a n d I k n e w t o k e e p i t s i m p l e T h a t s o n g d o e s n ’ t n e e d a l o t It’s t h e s p i r i t t o i t , a n d w e w a n t e d t o c o n v e y t h a t We w e re g r a t e f u l t h a t w e h a d t h e o p p o r t u -

n i t y t o p e r f o r m o n t h e O s c a r s , a n d t o b e n o m i n a t e d f o r t h e O s c a r s , a n d n ow t o w i n a n O s c a r, b u t w e w e re j u s t

e xc i t e d t o b e t h e re

S U N : L a s t T h u r s d a y o n Ji m m y K i m m e l , y o u s h a re d

w h a t Ja y - Z t o l d y o u a t a n O s c a r a f t e r - p a r t y Yo u s a i d , “ He f e l t t h a t I re p re s e n t e d a l l o f u s Pe o p l e f r o m h i ph o p, a s b l a c k m e n , a s p e o p l e o f l ov e , c h i l d re n o f G o d ,

h e f e l t t h a t Jo h n a n d I w e re re p re s e n t i n g t h a t w i t h t h i s Ac a d e m y Aw a rd ” I ’ m p re t t y s u re I a g re e w i t h t h e s e nt i m e n t , b u t t h e w o rd i n g i m p l i e s t h a t t h e o t h e r n o m i -

n e e s a re n ’ t t h o s e t h i n g s So I ’ m c u r i o u s w h a t y o u t h i n k

t h e Ac a d e m y i s , w h a t i t s t a n d s f o r, a n d i f y o u h o p e t o

s e e i t c h a n g e i n t h e f u t u re

C

change yourself You star ted in hip-hop in a scene when there was something to the lyrics then there was an offensiveness to the lyrics then that I think has waned in some ways, especially in regards to misogyny and homophobia You have since vowed to be better than all of that, and I really give you a lot of credit for that

C : We l l t h a n k y o u

S U N : Is t h a t w h a t i t t a k e s , t o w a i t f o r t h e a r t i s t t o h a v e a m o r a l a w

s s i o n , t h e n t h a t ’ s n o t l i k e p r a c t i c i n g w h a t w e t h i n k T h e Fi r s t A m e n d m e n t i s f re ed o m o f e x p re s s i o n , a n d I t h i n k , y o u k n ow, o b v i o u s l y I ’ m a s u p p o r t e r o f t h a t a s l o n g a s i t ’ s n o t d o n e t o h a r m a n y b o d y So m e b o d y e x p re s s i n g t h e m s e l v e s i n t h e w a y t h a t t h e y k n o w h o w a n d m a y b e i t i s t h e i r m u s i c a n d t h e y a r e s a y i n g w h a t t h e y t h i n k , o r e v e n i f i t i s p a r t o f t h e i r p s yc h e o r w h a t e v e r, o r a l t e r e g o o r j u s t t h e i r i m a g in a t i o n , t h e y s h o u l d b e a l l o w e d t o e x p r e s s t h a t I d o n

Zahos is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at zzahos@cornellsun com

BY JAEL GOLDFINE Sun Staff Writer

Common arrived at Bailey Hall Monday ready to talk about greatness, and that is precisely what he did From the moment he walked out on stage, it was apparent from the raucous applause and palpable atmosphere of star-struck adoration that this was an audience that worshipped Common, which makes for a gratifying evening: references are understood, repartee is playful and applause is loud

t h i s a n d t h a t a n d t h a t i s n o t e v e n t h e m S o m

t h e m d o t h

u s e t h e

t

i n k t h a t ’ s t h e w a y t o s u c c e s s , a n d t h e m o r e s u c c e s s f u l y o u s e e a r t i s t s l i k e K e n d r i c k L a m a r o r m y s e l f o r J C o l e o r K a n y e , p e o p l e r a p p i n g a b o u t d i f f e r e n t t h i n g s , t h e n I t h i n k y o u ’ l l g e t a y o u n g e r c r o p o f a r t i s t s w h o t h i n k t h e y c a n e x p r e s s t h e m s e l v e s t h a t w a y, t o o A n d I ’ v e w i t n e s s e d t h a t I ’ v e h a d k i d s c o m e u p t o m e a n d s a y, “ I w a n t t o r a p a b o

After introducing himself, he started the evening off giving the crowd exactly what they wanted, launching into a brief, (maybe not-so) freestyle, liberally dropping Cornell references (Dunbars, College Ave, the usual) to massive applause Although Common’s appearance was as a motivational speaker and not a rapper, he performed from beginning to end His speech centered around his personal doctrine of greatness and the motif that all people have greatness with in them, and deserve to have greatness in their lives, continually repeating the

mantra, “find your path, believe your path and live your path ”

For the most part, his remarks were eloquent and simple, if perhaps intellectually unstimulating However, Common affected the audience with his luminous stage presence, charm and energy, his gloriously warm voice, his smooth, articulate flow of speech, frequent laughter and entertaining tangents; not to mention thrilling and juicy, but tasteful anecdotes about his peers (including Kanye, Drake and Erykah Badu)

My favorite part of the evening was the eventful, if trying and occasionally cringe-worthy question and answer session Common genuinely and thoughtfully engaged with students and their questions about everything from his philanthropies to his inspirations and artistic processes to his feud with Drake; shaking hands, signing a record and indulging the free styles of several over-zealous students F

Jael Goldfine is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at jgoldfine@cornellsun com

S i n c e r e W e a k n e s s : S c h w a r t z ’ s G l a s s M e n a g e r i

BY EMILY FOURNIER Sun Staff Writer

Cornell’s production of Tennessee Williams’s beloved play The Glass Menagerie filled the Schwartz Center’s Flex Theatre last Saturday and will likely do the same for its remaining shows through this Saturday Directed by Prof Bruce Levitt, performing and media arts, the largely autobiographical memory play features only four characters, which allowed the actors to strongly establish their presence Set in the 1930s, the piece describes the struggles of the Wingfield family, all of whose members were well portrayed

The play opens with an introduction by Tom Wingfield (Alexander Quilty ’15), a young man resentful of his obligation to his family and his inability to leave home He explains that the characters in the play may not seem realistic because they lived such strange, cooped-up lives, save for a gentleman caller later to come Soon after, the audience is introduced to Tom’s overbearing mother Amanda (Carolyn Goelzer, a senior lecturer in the Department of Performing and Media Arts) and his painfully shy sister Laura (Elana Valastro ’17) Amanda longs for her days as a Southern belle and seems incapable of letting go of the past and of her children’s father, “ a telephone man who fell in love with long distances” and abandoned the family While she wants greater things for her children, this same desire often leads her to resent their flaws and lack of accomplishments Goelzer captured this character very well, comfortably acknowledging her role as both a provider of comic relief and the main cause of tension within the Wingfield family Ready to prance and giggle in an old lacy ball gown

Iand to engage in shouting matches with Tom, Amanda is a ver y complex and somewhat bizarre character whom Goelzer was able to make seem more probable

Tom is a similarly contradictory character, as he is dedicated to his family yet does not enjoy their suffering Rather, he wants nothing more than to leave their St Louis apartment and his job at a warehouse to travel and become a poet The apartment ’ s fire escape often serves as a place from which he narrates his frustrations Quilty’s portrayal of the devoted but frustrated son and brother was excellent and made it clear that Tom’s eventual decision to leave his family would not be an easy one despite his intention to find his own adventures instead of living through those of others in movies His transitions between sincere and sarcastic were quite frequent, as the script calls for, but seemed natural Tom’s sister Laura may be the most consistent character, but life for her is far from straightforward Valastro demonstrated the young woman ’ s extreme self-consciousness exacerbated by a minor limp and the social anxiety that leads her to drop out of high school and a business course Laura delivers some lines that sound very funny on the surface, but to her were very real, and Valastro did not let audience laughter affect her delivery Her obsession with her glass menagerie, which she spent much of her time taking care of, was easy for others to mock but was a completely legitimate concern for her Valastro maintained an appropriately serious demeanor throughout

The only non-Wingfield character in the production, Jim O’Connor (Nick Fesette grad ’18), served as both a cause of and an antidote to Laura’s anxiety A work friend of Tom’s and a high school crush of Laura’s, he became Laura’s first gentleman caller on a very eventful evening As Tom stated at the beginning of the play, Jim is the most

believable character because he has not been altered by the static nature of the Wingfield home Just being around Jim is difficult for Laura even though he clearly peaked in high school, and says as much himself He is able to get Laura to engage in a normal and pleasant conversation, but reveals his arrogance when he tries to diagnose her problems and sings his own praises rather than truly listening to her Fesette depicted O’Connor’s odd combination of forced jubilance, barely repressed cockiness and genuine kindness to create a character whose quirks are a product of the outside world rather than of a volatile family situation The night ultimately ended in disaster and seemed to be a large factor in Tom’s decision to leave his family, which finished the play along with the famous lines, “So blow out your candles Laura and so goodbye ”

Having strong actors is even more important when the cast is so small, and that certainly was not a problem in this production Though at first it may have seemed that the characters were exaggerated, this was a product of a play being based on memory and thus not being entirely accurate It is a strange concept for a play to intentionally deviate from reality, yet entirely appropriate for such a story Laura’s emotional weakness, Tom’s belligerence, Amanda’s emphasis on helping her children and Jim’s goofy egotism all seemed a bit beyond the realm of possibility because they were not meant to be perfect representations Each actor embraced this idea and played their characters as they were written rather than trying to mold them to fit a more logical setting, making the play exactly what it was supposed to be

Emily Fournier is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at efournier@cornellsun com

Pretentiousness With Purpose

’ m not saying I’m pretentious, but I can understand the misperception All t h i s b a b b l e o n f o r m , “ b e i n g ” a n d international art cinema, to what end? Why can ’ t I just enjoy movies for what they are and end a review with a thumbs up or thumbs down? Why the need for this loose syntax and suspension of decisive judgment? And why am I writing with the assumption that you ’ ve been following my column up to this point?

I’ll accept the last question as a potential problem of mine, but I know, from website analytics and reader emails (or lack thereof ), that my audience is slim and composed mostly of friends who also have the time to ask questions of aesthetics So if I write in an excessively familiar style, The Daily Sun Arts section will survive to see another day Ya feel

But the other questions are game, since shouldn’t criticism seek to clarify and not further obscure? Deconstruction, which I have been lately exposed to yet again, says no, but let’s limit our discussion here to the kind of cultural writing you’d find in newspapers, magazines and blogs, not academic journals. Is a lyrical tendency in criticism allowed, or should a critic’s p r o s e s e e k t o e x p l a i n , d e t e rmine and solve?

A c c e s s i b l e c r i t i c i s m , e s p e -

c i a l l y t h e s o r t s y o u ’ l l f i n d online, has sided w i t h t h e l a t t e r camp as of late Mo s t r e v i e w s dish out plot summar y, with requisite compliments or swipes at the acting, script and image-prettiness, and perhaps end with a note about the film’s sociopolitical relevance The pieces that ‘ go long’ (as in long-form) trace a film’s symbolism and propose one-to-one meanings for c h o i c e s h o t s , o b j e c t s a n d c h a r a c t e r actions

along these lines, but as much as I’d like to gender this kind of dis-

c o u r s e a l o n g ‘ w h i t e m a l e ’ l i n e s , i t a l s o thrives in popular prog r e s s i v e c r i t i c i s m

Critiques that claim to uncover a racist or sexi s t s u b c o n s c i o u s t o mainstream films often raise good points but move so far away from t h e t e x t a t h a n d o r zoom in so close on one aspect, sans context, that they overlook a p e r h a p s r e s o l u t e , invigorating ambiguity What if a film embodies not just one stance say, feminist or anti-feminist but many of them at the same time? Is this not the age of dismantling binaries?

The films of Christopher Nolan and David Fincher are exhaustively analyzed

In her 1996 piece on Pulp Fiction, “Cool Cynicism,” bell hooks set the standard, to my limited knowledge at least, for how to write intersectional film criticism She uses colloquial language to sneak in innovative theses, like when she starts a paragraph saying, “ Ta r a n t i n o ’ s films are the u l t i m a t e i n s e x y c ov e ru

y unsexy mind-

sentence may n

m a k e sense when you first read it, but it does if you take your time poring over it and, c r u c i a l l y,

dence

bell hooks practices a form of criticism veering on poetr y, and it is that poetic spirit, and with it an amorphous form, that separates intelligent analysis from superlative, risk-taking work Yet isn’t poetr y kind of antithetical to criticism? Poetr y keeps its cards close to the chest,

only admitting what it aims to say if the reader focuses, contemplates and re-reads Which brings me to my central question today: Must a piece of criticism be read once to be appreciated, if not understood? Methinks those who would say no would also be reluctant to revisit a film that has a reputation, in any way, as difficult I have not had the chance to review Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice yet, but if I did I would definitely see it once more, maybe twice before attempting to unlock it I am in the midst of an honor’s thesis on cinema, and repeated looks at certain Thai, French and Iranian selections have divulged details, be they plastic or political, that has increased my respect for these filmmakers a thousand fold But while I hope to offer some coherent insight on these artistic subtleties, I also shy away from ascribing definitive explanations, opting for a twisty-turny style of prose that may be driving you mad on this ver y page

A poetic tendency drives practically all the best critics, from bell hooks to Roger Ebert “ The world as processed by the mind, with finally only the bright bits m a g n e t i ze d by e m o t i o n re m a i n i n g t o flash against darkness,” is how Geoffrey O’Brien, a published poet in his own r i g h t , d e s c r i b e s t h e s i e v e d r e a l i t y o f

Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which

is no stranger to charges of obscurantism Manny Farber, one of the most distinct and byzantine voices in the histor y of film criticism, offers the following when praising the “underground films” of such old Hollywood directors as Raoul Walsh and Howard Hawks 1918: “In the films of these hard-edged directors can be found the unheralded ripple of physical experience, the tiny morbidly life-worn detail which the visitor to a strange city finds springing out at ever y step ”

Do these quotes make sense? Not in any clean, easy sense But they preser ve something attractive and this is most important intrinsic to the films under scrutiny, and so testify to their merit In her treatise On Beauty and Being Just, the endearingly esoteric critic Elaine Scarr y writes, “Beauty brings copies of itself into being It makes us draw it, take photographs of it, or describe it to other people ” Criticism will often fail to match the beauty from which it is inspired, but it should at least keep the wheel of appreciation and close attention ever turning

There is, after all, no community when ever y critic aims to to have the last word Zachar y Zahos is a senior in the College of Ar ts and Sciences He can be reached at zzahos@cornellsun com A L ove r ’ s Qu a r re l w i t h t

Penalties Test Composure, Skill and Promote Offense During Regulation

ly is an important variable in the makeup of a good team in any sport In soccer, it is perhaps most important when taking penalties There are many examples of players who lacked composure on the big stage Just a couple of years ago, Sergio Ramos fired a laughable distance over the net in a penalty shootout in the Champions League final This was likely due to his lack of composure and inexperience taking penalties, as he is a defender who rarely shoots

The best penalty takers have the mental strength to pick their spot and hit it, time and time again A good example of this is Wayne Rooney of Manchester United Rooney seems to place most of his penalty kicks in either the lower left or lower right corner, and they are all almost perfectly placed in the side netting of the goal When Rooney hits the side netting, he knows even if the keeper guesses correctly, he has little chance of getting there in time to save it A strategy such as this carries a large risk of hitting the post or missing wide, but Rooney has the composure and ability to hit his spots seemingly nine times out of ten Rooney’s method is a great example of the importance of composure in penalty-taking

Some people suggest that soccer adopt a continuous sudden-death overtime model, like some hockey tournaments, instead of penalty kicks However, there are two reasons that penalty kicks are a better choice to decide games First, penalty kicks don’t overly tire players Soccer has no stoppages of play besides halftime, and most players play all 120 minutes by the

time of penalties Players are completely exhausted, and forcing them to play more would cause injuries and limit their effectiveness in games in the near future

Second, when penalty kicks are in place, teams are encouraged to play more offensively in extra time Managers know that despite all the strategy in penalty kicks, games can go either way when they are decided on penalties Thus, they are more inclined to throw players forward in extra time in search of a game-winning goal then to keep players back defensively and take their chances in penalty kicks This encourages more positive, offensive play in overtime This idea manifested itself in the World Cup final in Brazil this year, as German coach Joachim Low sent in Mario Gotze for Miroslav Klose in the 88th minute When the scoreless tie with Argentina proceeded to extra time, Gotze volleyed home the winning goal just eight minutes before penalties would have occurred Low’s attacking substitution of Gotze, instead of a more defensive player, wound up winning the World Cup for his country

Many people call for penalty kicks to be removed from professional soccer However, penalties are an exciting, fair way for tied tournament games to be decided There is a lot of strategy in penalty kicks, and there is no better alternative, as continuous suddendeath overtime is simply not feasible This is why penalty kicks should be “saved” in soccer

Kevin Linsey can be reached at klinsey@cornellsun com

Howard, Phillies Prepare for Season

CLEARWATER, Fla (AP) Newly trim, Ryan Howard singled in his first two at-bats of spring training and then broke his silence

He had not spoken with media since arriving for his 15th season with the Philadelphia P

trade of Jimmy Rollins and talk of possible deals involving Cole Hamels a n d Jo n a t h a n Pa p

b

n , How a rd knows there are questions about what his future as a 35-year-old on a rebuilding team

So he made clear questions had to be about Philadelphia's spring training opener

with Marlon Byrd, then a Phillies teammate

“To have some early success goes a long way

” R y n e S a n d b e r g

“Looked at some old video and stuff,” Howard said “Back in ’06, I was way down and then it looked like I was steadily creeping up over the years ” Howard lost 15-20 pounds since November, when he started on a diet to eliminate sugars His listed weight had been 250

“It deviates from the game, it’s over, ” he said during Tuesday’s 5-5 tie against the New York Yankees

Tr ying to regain the form that made him one of the top hitters before he tore his left Achilles tendon injur y during the 2011 playoffs, the former NL MVP had an opposite-field single to left in the second inning and lined a single to right in the fourth

He is standing up straighter at the plate and dropping his hands, and idea he discussed last year

LeSean

“You have a cheat day or whatever ever y once in a while,” he said, “but for the most part, just tr ying to stick with it ’ Howard topped 40 homers and 130 RBIs each year from 2006-09, then had consecutive 30-100 seasons before the foot injur y and left knee surger y cost him the first half of 2012 and the second half of 2013 He hit 223 with 23 homers and 95 RBIs last year, when led the majors with 190 strikeouts and had a career low 380 slugging percentage

“ To have some early success goes a long way, ” Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said “I see some better bat speed than I did last year this early ”

McCoy Headed to Buffalo

Ryan’s “ground and pound’ running attack for the Buffalo Bills next season

Two people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on

McCoy, their star running back, to the Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso The people spoke anonymously because the teams had not announced the deal

The deal has been agreed to, but can ’ t be completed until the 2015 league season begins on Tuesday

McCoy had an inconsistent season last year after leading the NFL with 1,607 yards rushing in 2013 At his best, McCoy is an elite multidimensional running

receiver

He enjoyed his best season in 2013, scoring nine touchdowns rushing, adding 539 yards receiving and one touchdown

One reason for McCoy’s drop in production last season was

which all five projected starters never played one game together

McCoy’s addition leaves C J Spiller in search of a new team

He is eligible to become a free agent next week Bu

d draft pick told the NFL Network the Bills informed him of the trade, and told him “they were going in that direction, pretty much giving me a ‘ Thank you for your ser vice ’’

Alonso will be reunited with C

linebacker at his previous job at Oregon Alonso made an imme-

round of the 2013 draft

He emerged as a top defensive rookie of the year contender after leading Buffalo with 159 tackles, two fumble recoveries and tying for the team lead with four interceptions while barely missing a snap in playing all 16 games In Buffalo, McCoy, will be reunited with former Eagles running back Br yce Brown, who was acquired by the Bills in a trade Wi

back, the Bills are intending to

under Ryan and new offensive coordinator Greg Roman

Cornell Clinches Top Spot in Region at Alfred

By ARIEL COOPER Sun Senior Writer

The Cornell equestrian team wrapped up its 2014-2015 season with a show at Alfred on Saturday The Red took fourth place, but clinched its first place spot in the region by 39 points, guaranteeing that Cornell will move on to Zone Finals as a team in April Despite the low scores at Alfred, the squad’s spirits were high and performances were strong, according to head coach Joanna Novakovic

“The team had probably its most consistent show overall this weekend with all team members putting in solid performances, even though we did not end the day with a win,” Novakovic said “This is the kind of consistency I've been looking for and gives me a lot of confidence in the team going into the postseason ”

Because the Red was already so far ahead in the regional standings, there was not as much pressure to achieve the

highest scores at this show

“I feel like our team benefited well from a stress-free show,” said junior Reina Baizan “The outcome of course wasn ' t what we hoped, but a lot of the result had to do with the judge's preference Ever yone rode very well, and we had a lot of very strong per formances, but we just weren ' t getting the scores that we are used to receiving ”

Whitworth earned second place in her open flat class, where she said she drew a horse who was not the easiest ride

“This is the kind of consistency I’ve been looking for and it gives me a lot of confidence going into the postseason ”

Sophomore Victoria Whitworth said that she was pleased with the team ’ s performance

“Although some of our results didn’t show it, it was one of our best shows as a team, ” she said

Team Rallies Around Pregame Veteran Speech

LACROSSE Continued from page 16

siveness of the game

“This was our most complete game We always have either a strong defensive or a strong offensive performance, but I think this last game was where we really came together, ” he said

The game started out close, with Albany dominating the first quarter By the second and third quarters the Red had gained momentum and worked towards a positive finish Many of the Red’s players had multiple goals and assists, providing really outstanding performances Senior attackman Dan Lintner recorded his first goal of the season, while other players like Bradlee Lord came in with multiple scores There were a number of assists and, notably, sophomore Christian Knight made a whopping 14 saves throughout the whole game Overall, the Red proved their ability to work together and win a game against a good team

The long road trip away from Ithaca made many of the seniors reminiscent about their last season playing here at Cornell They were looking forward to having a successful and exciting weekend, making sure to take advantage of their time on the team

“My time on the team has been invaluable to me, ” Stevens said “I take it day by day and try to enjoy as much as possible ”

Next week the Red plays Virginia at Charlottesville Stevens, a 2014 First-Team All-Ivy winner, has big expectations after the win against Albany but warned that Virginia is a top school

“We really will have to bring it on the field I’m confident in our team, but we have to bring our best effort,” Stevens said

Veronica Dickson can be reached at vdickson@cornellsun com

“I felt pretty good about my ride but looking back on it there’s always room for improvement,” Whitworth said about her performance “This whole weekend was a really humbling experience for me and for the whole team ”

Alfred was a highlight for freshman Lily Zhao, who just joined the team this year with no previous riding experience After a lot of practice and hard work, Zhao took third place at Alfred in the walk trot division This weekend’s show marked the second time Zhao has ever competed in a horse show

“It was hard at first there’s a steep learning curve, ” Zhao said of learning to ride “There’s so many different things that go into riding that you never would expect when you first learn like steering, leg muscles and posture ”

When Zhao received her yellow ribbon on Saturday, the entire team was there to share in her success

“When I got off [the horse] and they announced I got third place I could tell my team was so happy,” she said The Red will return to Alfred at the end of the month for regionals, an individual competition for riders who have earned enough points this season to secure a spot Riders who succeed at regionals will have the opportunity to compete individually at zones

“Going into regionals and zones, we need to really focus on stepping up our game and elevating our riding from functional being able to control the horse and execute the maneuvers to elegant and high quality,” Baizan said “We are going to spend the next few weeks going back to basics [and] doing a lot of bareback and no stirrup work to improve stamina, fitness and muscle coordination, before working up to the level of competition at regionals ”

Overall, the Red remains united and ready to take on the postseason According to Whitworth, the fourth place finish will not bring down their confidence

“I was really impressed by the way everyone rode this weekend and I think the team did a really good job keeping [the] team morale high,” Whitworth said “Even though the judging wasn ’ t necessarily in our favor we still stuck [together] as a team ”

Winkler Named MVP of the Meet

vault, jumping 5 20m, followed by his teammate Keith Rayburn in second place, who jumped 5 10m

Senior Stephen Mozia, who cur-

ing third place Akapete also claimed first in the 400 meter dash, followed by her teammate, Zena Kolliesuah, who placed second

“[The women’s team] scored 25 more points than last year so we are seeing improvements continually ”

R i c h B o w m a n

rently holds the all-time Ivy record with a distance of 20 79m, scored first again in the shot-put with a throw of 19 23m In the weight throw, sophomore Rudy Winkler

p l a c e d f i r s t w i t h a d i s t a n c e o f 20 74m, going on to be named the MVP of the meet Bryan Rhodes, who held the 2014 title, placed second with a throw of 20 09

The women ’ s team remained cons i s t e n t w i t h l a s t ye a r ’ s He p s Championship results

“The women ’ s team finished fifth in scoring, same place as last year, but scored 25 more points this time around so we are seeing improvements continually,” said women ’ s head coach Rich Bowman

The team also returned to campus with 33 ECAC qualifying efforts

The highlights of the women ’ s meet included junior Udeme Akapete’s performance in the 200m dash, scor-

In t h e 5 0 0 0 m r u n , j u n i o r Caroline Kellner placed third Red women Taysia Radoslav, Zena Kolliesuah, Katie Woodford and Udeme Akpaete placed first in the 4x440 yard relay with a time of 3:42 03 Re d r u n n e r s a l s o placed second in the 4x880 yard relay in 8:59 65, with a team o f Sh a n n o n Hu g a rd , K r i s t e

Niedrach, Leah Triller and Elyse

Bishop competed in the pole vault event and won first place with a height of 3 90m, followed by her teammate Jennifer Markin in second, who jumped 3 80m

“The team expected to do better We felt there were at least 25 more points we had out there that we didn’t cover The effort was there but things didn’t work out the way we wanted We’ll learn and do better on the outdoor portion, where historic a l l y we ’ ve d

Bowman said

Rachel Cherner can be reached at rcherner@cornellsun com

Men Take Second at 2015 HEPs

Cornell women nish in fth place for second consecutive year

By RACHEL CHERNER Sun Staff Wr ter

Last weekend the Red track and field team travelled to Cambridge, Ma

Heptagonal Championships at Har vard University, the first meet of championship season “ We have won the indoor championship seven of the last 12 years, finishing 2nd in the other five, so expectations are

Nathan Taylor

“We have won the indoor championships seven of the last 12 years so expectations are always high.”

The men ’ s team did see success, finishing second with a total of 98 points The Red finished behind Princeton with a total of 161 points and came away from the weekend with six top ten performances in school history, three event wins, three runner-up performances, and four third place finishes However, the absence of several competitors

made the high expectations seem unattainable “ We knew it would be ver y difficult to take first place going into the meet, as we had injuries to All-American and 2014 HEPS MVP Max Hairston and three-time HEPS champ Larr y Gibson,” coach Taylor said “ Two more injuries to top sprinters put the meet out of reach ” Highlights for the men were numerous, including junior Ryan Hanes third place finish in the 60m dash Freshman Brailin Paulino also placed third in the 200m dash, while sophomore Tobenna Attah placed second in in the 400m dash

event

In the mile event, sophomore James Gowars, won third place with a time of 4:07 40 Cornell took home a first place win with Grant

Red Captures Third Straight Win After Defeating Danes in Dallas

By VERONICA DICKSON

Sun Staff Writer

Making leaps| The Red pole vaulters had a successful meet, with sophomore Grant Sisserson and senior Keith Rayburn finishing first and second in the event, respectively

Why Penalties Belong in Soccer

“TThe field was icy and snowy this weekend in Dallas as the Cornell men ’ s lacrosse team defeated No 8 Albany SMU’s Ford Field not only hosted the seventh annual Patriots Cup, but also endorsed the Wounded Warriors Project, a program that helps wounded serviceman live a better life Several of the team players cited the motivational speaker before their game as one of the reasons they performed so well

“One of the representatives came to speak to us in the locker room before the game, ” said senior defenseman Jordan Stevens “It really set the tone for us ” Attacker and fellow senior Matt Donovan concurred with his teammate

“A veteran from Iraq came in to talk to us and it really gave us a motivational edge going into the game, ” the senior said “It was a great experience and an honor It completely changes your whole mindset ”

Donovan came out of the game with five pointsthree goals and two assists The Red played hard against Albany, with both offense and defense gelling together The Red plays Albany every year and was excited for another chance to compete And the snowy atmosphere did nothing to dampen any spirits

“I believe this was our best game to date,” said senior Connor Buckzek “Jordan Stevens did great and so did our goalie ”

Ivy League Player of the Year of 2014, Connor himself performed spectacularly this game with five goals and one assist

Donovan was equally as impressed with the team dynamic

“I think we had a really good game They have a notoriously strong offense, so going into the game we made sure to pass the ball and keep it on our end of the field,” Donovan said

Donovan was especially impressed with the cohe-

here has to be a winner of today’s game If it’s tied after ninety minutes, we’ll have thirty minutes of extra time, and then a penalty shootout if it is still tied ” It is a familiar refrain to soccer fans For many tournament games, such as the last few rounds of the World Cup or Champions League, a

penalty shootout is used to break a tie The rules of the shootout are as follows: each team gets five shooters, each shot is one player versus the opposing goalie from twelve yards out, and the winning team is the one that scores the most kicks This system has many critics, who argue that penalties often come down to luck; whoever guesses the right way more often will win The shootout still exists as a tiebreaker because there is no better way to pick a winner in a game that can ’ t be decided after 120 minutes

Those who argue that penalty kicks are all luck are incorrect: Penalty kicks actually come down to skill Players are not limited to kicking left, center, or right, because there are other strategies for taking penalties Most goalkeepers will dive low to one side or the other when attempting to save kicks, which opens up the option of

a shooter aiming for the upper corners A penalty shooter aiming for the corners will know it will probably not be saved if they can put it there, but they are much more vulnerable to the embarrassment of shooting wide or over the net Also, penalty shooters have also gotten creative with chipped deliveries This is when the

player waits for the keeper to commit to one side and then slowly chips it into the other side This is risky because the shooter will look bad if the keeper refuses to commit early and just catches a tamely lobbed shot All these strategies carry risks, but they all present alternatives to just slamming the ball in one of three directions Plus, goalkeepers matter too- just because both the keeper and the shooter go left does not mean the shot will be saved

The keeper will need a strong hand on the ball in order to keep it out Penalty kicks are a very exciting and a strategic decider for long games and are not solely determined by luck

Penalties also test a key skill for soccer players: composure It is one of the intangibles that is so difficult to measure, but composure real-