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2 Edition 44, Issue 5

NEWS

VIEWSResponsibility is not optional:Consumers and vendors need to take a closer look at their food.

SPORTSRunning to the spotlight:The women’s cross country team unites for a season of unexpected accomplishments.

Cover StoryCapturing the meaning of the white whale:Melville’s classic inspires new artistic in-terpretation.

8 & 9

4 & 5

6 & 7

12 & 13

A&EDeli is worth the “green”: Northside restaurant is a unique and healthy local option for all diners.

10 & 11

Veggie soup with a side of meat:Chartwell’s failed to adopt clear guidelines for vegetarian-friendly cuisine.

Note from the Newsroom

WHAT’S INSIDE

3Edition 44, Issue 5

The NorthernerUniversity Center Room 335Highland Heights, KY 41076Editor in Chief: (859) 572-6128News & Sports: (859) 572-6677Features: (859) 572-5859Advertising: (859) 572-5232Fax: (859) 572-5772

E-mail: [email protected]

furtherdetailsEntire content is copyright of The Northerner and may not be reprinted without prior con-sent. Views expressed do not represent those of the administration, faculty or student body.The Northerner is considered a designated public forum. Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censor-ship or advance approval. The Northerner staff respects the right to a free and open dialogue as allowed under the First Amendment.

PRINT EDITOR-IN-CHIEFTim Owens[[email protected]]

WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEFJoe Castelli [[email protected]]

NEWS EDITOR Kelly Phelan [[email protected]]

MANAGING EDITORMark Payne[[email protected]]

PRESENTATION EDITOREmily Teaford[[email protected]]

ASST. PRESENTATION EDITORKarli Wood[[email protected]]

ASST. VIEWS EDITORBrandon Barb[[email protected]]

WEB ASST. VIEWS EDITORHeather Willoughby[[email protected]]

A&E EDITORJeremy Jackson[[email protected]]

SPORTS EDITORMichael Collins[[email protected]]

PHOTO EDITORCharlotte Etherton[[email protected]]

ASST. PHOTO EDITOREd Morris[[email protected]]

COPY EDITORSCassie Stone[[email protected]]Chelsea Asher[[email protected]]Judy Hussey[[email protected]]Emily Christman[[email protected]]

ADVISORGayle Brown[[email protected]]

AD MANAGERWilliam Fisher[[email protected]]

northernerstaff contactinformation

GRAPHIC DESIGNERPatrick Delaney[[email protected]]

ASST. A&E EDITORJustin Mattingly[[email protected]]

STAFF WRITERSJesse Call[[email protected]]Dan Robards[[email protected]]Rodney Moore[[email protected]]

ASST. PHOTO EDITOREmily Christman[[email protected]]

I have never read Moby Dick. Hard to believe I know, but my high school English classes were too fixated on Shakespeare and Aldous Huxley. They didn’t have time for stories about ob-sessive captains chasing white whales. But people like North-ern Kentucky University pro-fessor Dr. Robert Wallace find value in the great white whale.

Even Wallace himself had distaste for the book when he first read it — only to find its intrinsic value years later. Since his epiphany, Wallace has cap-tained a ship of his own, com-mandeering a course called “Melville and the Arts.” It’s an in-depth look at Moby Dick and its larger meanings and what each of the books charac-ters mean.

As with all art, in any form, Moby Dick can mean different things to different people. And that’s what’s at the heart of Wallace’s new exhibit — a col-lection of interpretations of the classic novel portrayed in sculp-tures, paintings and even quilts.

The collection, and the class, isn’t just a pet project for Wal-lace. It’s a labor of love that’s

been slowly but surely handled by him and several current and former NKU students since 1994. Like the book or not, you have to appreciate that.

Even if you haven’t taken the class, read the book or even considered Moby Dick as an important piece of literature, I think there is something we can all take away from Captain Ahab and his white whale.

We all have our white whales in life. For a lot of us at NKU, it’s a diploma. But it can also be something in our personal lives that we’re hunting for — and we’ll do whatever it takes to at-tain it — even it means making it our personal obsession.

Wallace and company’s ex-hibit is also a symbol of what education can do, and how what you do can go far beyond the borders of this campus and af-fect and inspire more people than you ever thought possible. If there was such a thing as a “healthy obsession,” this is it.

-Tim Owens

Print Editor-in-Chief

Cover photo courtesy of Ed Morris

See SOUP on page 15

Since 2005, Sierra Nitschke has not eaten any meats be-sides fish. Or, at least, that was what she thought. She recently discovered that many of the seemingly veg-etarian soups she has eaten from Northern Kentucky University’s dining service, Chartwells, are made with chicken and beef broths, and she complained to the orga-nization prompting them to investigate their labeling.

“It was emotionally pain-ful to find out I had unknow-ingly eaten meat. I felt angry and hurt,” Nitschke said. “To have that happen is kind of devastating to a person who has devoted their life to avoiding meat products.”

Nitschke only discov-ered this problem after she

asked a Steely Caffe work-er about one of the soups, and the worker called the kitchen to find out. Accord-ing to Nitschke, the worker then relayed the message to her that all soups are made with chicken or beef broths, prompting her to complain. However, it is not true that all soups contain meat bases, but some of the ones that Nitschke believed were veg-etarian did.

The soups offered by Chartwells are purchased prepackaged from Au Bon Pain, a national bakery chain. Many of the names of the soups do not indicate that they are made with meat.

The soups with names that do not indicate they contain meat base include: southwest

vegetable, potato leek, to-mato rice, potato cheese and broccoli cheddar, according to Au Bon Pain’s Web site.

The food service company goes to great lengths to offer healthy vegetarian dishes at all its restaurants and stores and to make sure they are properly identified, accord-ing to John Ruppert, resident district manager for Chart-wells.

“I think Chartwells has the responsibility to tell us what is in the food,” Nitschke said. “We deserve to know if eggs are used, if it contains meat or meat-stock and whether it is gluten-free. Some of the responsibility lies with us, but we can’t look at a soup or a sandwich and know what the bread or soup is made from.

That is their responsibility.”Ruppert said he agrees.“If we are putting out a

product … we are going to identify it,” he said. “We did check to make sure our op-erations were putting out the correct labels to inform our customers which soups do and do not contain meat broths.”

Several of the soups of-fered have similar names, such as old fashioned tomato and tomato rice; however, only the old fashioned toma-to is vegetarian.

Ruppert said the labels are now “double and triple-checked.”

In addition, Steely Caffe now offers a flip chart that features the soup of the day and includes nutrition facts

and indicate whether the soup is vegetarian or con-tains common food allergens.

“There is a little flip chart they change each day now to show you what is in the soup, and that is great,” Nitschke said. “I really appreciate them doing that.”

Janelle Craft, Chartwells’ marketing director, said stu-dents are encouraged to ask if they have concerns about what is in a food product. She acknowledged that a staff member may not know the answer to the question right away, but they will work to find the answer for you.

Nitschke indicated the same.

“All the soups carry labels

NEWS


Jesse CallStaff Writer

Veggie soup with a side of meatBeef and chicken broths discovered to be base for “vegetarian friendly” soups

Charlotte Etherton/Photo Editor

While Chartwells may offer vegetable soups, some may be surprised to find out that they are made with either chicken or beef broth.

Northern Kentucky Uni-versity received a grant of $575,000 from the Kentucky Department of Education that allows them to partici-pate in the Northern Ken-tucky Mathematics Special-ist Project (NKMSP).

This project will allow 12 local school districts to im-prove their students’ stan-dardized test scores in math-ematics. NKMSP will focus on grades three through eight.

“Almost half of the funds will go directly to the teach-ers and districts,” said Ted Hodgson, co-director of NK-MSP. “For example, each of the 24 teachers will receive 12 graduate credits from NKU, at a cost to the grant of about $6,000 per teacher.

“Teachers also receive yearly stipends and money for classroom materials,” he said. “Other funds sup-port faculty release time (to

design and o v e r s e e project ac-t i v i t i e s ) , s t i p e n d s for district administra-tors, materi-als and texts for the sum-mer courses, NKU indi-rect costs and summer stipends for faculty.”

NKMSP is funded by the Kentucky Department of Education as part of their Mathematics and Science Partnership program. This project came to fruition when the majority of schools of Kentucky tested into the lower quartile.

“In other words, mathe-matics achievement in Ken-tucky is lower than at least three-quarters of the other

states,” Hodgson said. To tackle such a problem,

NKMSP was created. The program targets teachers’ knowledge about curricu-lum.

“Teachers develop exper-tise through a number of means: trial and error, dis-cussions with other teach-ers, readings in professional journals and workshops like those run by the NKMSP,” Professor Steven Wilkinson,

chair of the Deparatment of Mathemat-ics, said.

The pri-mary goal of NKMSP will be to address p e d a g o g i -cal knowl-edge injunc-tion with the main focus on high-qual-ity teaching and learning

strategies (HQTL). “Recent research suggests

that pedagogical content knowledge is more closely linked to student achieve-ment, which is why we plan to focus our efforts on this area,” Hodgson stated. “For instance, effective mathe-matics teachers know how to organize instruction so that students understand com-plex mathematical ideas.”

It is necessary for teachers to have thorough knowledge of student thinking about mathematics, and provide hands-on opportunities to hash out and apply instruc-tion, which leads to success-ful instruction in the class-room, he said.

“Our project includes sum-mer coursework to deepen teachers’ understanding of mathematics and academic year follow-up that focus-es on student thinking and classroom application,” he said. “This is a job-embed-ded project.”

Local teachers will partici-pate in 150 hours per year (for three years) of profes-sional development activi-ties. Exactly 100 of those hours will occur in a summer course series. During two

NORTHERNER


Kelly PhelanNews Editor

With busy class schedules causing scheduling issues and a senator being promoted, three senate seats are open in the Student Government As-sociation.

Marilyn Henry and Madi-son Pfingston resigned, and Danielle Hawks was elected in Spring 2009 to Vice Presi-dent of Administration, ac-cording to Steve Meier, asso-

ciate to the Dean of Students.“I decided to not participate

in SGA this year because my school and work schedule in-terfered with meeting times,” Pfingston said in an e-mail.

SGA President K. Keith Kaseke understands the dif-ficult choice of having to drop out, realizing school comes first.

“We are happy for those

who dropped out because we realize that class is the num-ber one priority for all of us and there are some classes that are just not offered dur-ing any other time,” Kaseke said.

Danielle Hawks, who won her Executive Council seat in the spring election for the 2009-2010 school year, had to re-run for her seat because the entire election was void-ed. Senators are elected twice a year; 15 in the Fall, and an-other 15 in the Spring. Hawks was elected in the Fall, and since those elected to a Sen-ate seat serve an entire year, Hawk’s seat is open, accord-ing to the old SGA Constitu-tion.

With her old Senate seat

open, Hawks would “really like to see a student, in that position, that is passionate about giving back to the uni-versity and willing to think critically about the future well-being of the students and the university. Also, someone involved in an organization or a major that is not already represented within the Sen-ate would certainly be a plus.”

“The wider variety of voic-es we have on the Senate, the more interesting Senate debates about legislation be-come in hopes of remember-ing every population of stu-dents,” Hawks said.

As for the future of SGA, Hawks wants to get the word out about what SGA does.

“A startling number of stu-

dents have no idea what SGA is or what we do,” he said. “Our executive team this year is committed to getting more students’ input, to get-ting more students involved and just being able to talk about SGA without having someone say, ‘What’s that?’”

Pfingston offered advice for those who are consider-ing running for a position in SGA: “As for new people, they should just spread the word that they’re running. All students who are interest-ed in SGA should run (if you meet the GPA requirements and such),” she said.

Marilyn Henry could not be reached for comment.

Grant aims to raise math scoresNKU looks to help teachers at local schools raise students’ test results

SGA Kelly PhelanNews Editor

See Project on page 15

Mathematics achievement in Kentucky is lower than at least three-quarters of the other states -Ted Hodgson, co-direc-tor of NKMSP said.

,,

,,

VIEWS


I have been a vegetarian for over six years. I switched from a meat-based diet be-cause, at the time, I was young and influenced by People for the Ethical Treatment of Ani-mals (P.E.T.A). Soon after (and it continues to this day), I mostly do it for my health.

Vegetarian food is in the news here at Northern Ken-tucky University. (See Jesse Call’s article in “News”). The problem, it seems, stems from the food service company —Chartwell’s— which has not been labeling food properly.

The case is that soups, thought to be vegetarian, contained chicken and beef stock.

Well, I hate to be the bub-ble buster, but from my expe-rience, unless a soup says it is vegetarian, it has chicken or beef stock.

In fact, I have learned over the years that if a food is not labeled vegetarian, there probably is something in it that makes it non-vegetarian.

For example, lets say you go to Burger King and or-der a veggie burger. It does

not claim to be vegetarian, because it is cooked in meat juices. If you go and read the nutrition menu, hanging up at most BK’s, you will see a small disclaimer that says BK does not guarantee the burg-er is vegetarian, or vegan.

If you are a vegetarian that is serious about being a vege-tarian, then it is your respon-sibility to ask and make sure your food is meat-free. If you ask and the vendor can not tell you, walk away.

Now for you vendors: this is a new day in age where people are trying to take re-sponsibility for their health and the things that go into their body. So post informa-tion about your food and train your employees to know what is in the food, in case they are asked.

For example, if I go to Chiptotle and ask for a veg-etarian burrito —notice how it is labeled vegetarian— and ask for pinto beans in the burrito, the person making my food will warn me that the pinto beans are made with bacon, which makes them

non-vegetarian. So, if I want a vegetarian burrito I should opt for the black beans. This is how food service should be.

Responsibility is the key word here for consumers and food vendors. Consumers need to take notice of what

is going into their body, as vendors should take notice of what is going into their food.

Mark PayneManaging Editor

Responsibility is not optionalConsumers and vendors need to take a closer look at their food

Ben KesslerFreshman, Computer

Information Technology

“I think it is.”

Kiran MehendaleGraduate Student,

Business

“It is actually.”

Alex LeedsSophomore, EMB

“I’ve usually always taken the stairs. But I

think it (the Big Green Climb) is a good thing.”

rnpCompiled by

Brandon Barb & Charlotte Etherton

Do you think the Big Green Climb is influ-encing people to take

the stairs?

norse poll responses

Marissa PaoloFreshman, Graphic

Design

“It’s definitely helped me take the stairs a lot

more.”


Some personal responsibility will go a long way in knowing exactly what’s in your food.

For more Norse poll responses and video, visit www.thenortherner.com


NORTHERNER

In speech class we learn that words have connotative mean-ings. So lets take the next few moments to play the word as-sociation game.

When I say retirement, what do you think of? Most of us probably think of cleaning our dentures while sitting in the old-folks home, enjoying a competitive game of Parcheesi — or squeezing a pair of kha-ki’s over your adult diapers so that you can make it through the entire 18-hole course.

But retirement is as relevant to college students as it is to empty-nesters who are getting ready to retire in the next cou-ple years. Unless you win the lottery, retirement for most of us is a life-long investment of planning and saving.

Last week, I mentioned

the American dream and its meaning to all of us. Another part of that dream (and one of the things that makes America so great) is the quality of life. Even for college students, we have much to appreciate out of life. Most of us are fed, we have a roof over our heads and running water — which is more than a lot of people around the world can say. But how do we ensure a quality of life when we are older without having to work for the rest of our lives?

The answer is investing. Although most of us are

still young, have all of our hair and teeth and most of us have not even started to begin our

careers it is never too early to think about retirement. Any college student with a job has a reminder of what fails to await them by the time they retire. Each week, we pay into social security and there is nothing

we can do about it — and for many years, people have en-joyed social security as part of

their retirement. Consider this:

if no changes are made to the system in 2017, the social secu-rity fund will be spending more than it brings in. And in 2041, so-cial security will stop paying full benefits. This is a sobering real-

ity, but a great reason to start thinking about your future.

If social security is not going to be around by the time we retire, and the place we work now does not offer 401k, what is the best way to invest? For

young investors (such as col-lege students), a great way to invest your savings is through a Roth-IRA.

A Roth-IRA is a retirement savings account that you pay into after taxes. This type of account allows flexibility for young investors in a way that if you need cash, you can with-draw your contributions (not earnings) at any time with no penalty. They are also tax-free. So when you finally reach that point in your life when you are eligible to retire, all that mon-ey is free of taxes.

If you have a little bit of ex-tra money to invest, now is the time. Due to today’s recession, most stocks are at the lowest point they have been in a long time.

Dan RobardsStaff Financial Writer

In search of the golden eggYou can never be too young to start thinking about retirement

Retirement is as relevant to college students as it is to empty-nesters.

,,

,,See EGG on page 15


Jeremy JacksonA&E Editor

Capturing the meaning of the white whaleNKU professor and students interpret novel through art

He did not like the book when he first read it in high school. In fact, he hated it and it would be years until the Northern Kentucky University professor reread the classic piece of literature and finally real-ized how incredible it was. Dr. Robert Wallace, a 37 — year veteran of the English department, was so inspired by the novel that he created a class based around it, entitled Melville and the Arts.

“Moby Dick is a hard book to read,” Wallace said. “The class gives the student the ability to read and interpret all the different characters throughout it.”

The class, offered every other spring, takes a good hard look at the elusive white whale and the myriad of individuals that pursued it. Like many classes that are based on a novel, the Herman Melville 1851 clas-sic is read from cover — to — cover, depicting the book’s illustrations as well as what the author was trying to say.

However, with Wallace’s class there is one hitch. The final project, more often than not, includes the

student creating an original work of art instead of writing a research paper.

From poetry and prints, to paintings and ceramics, the idea of creating art as a final project has gained enough momentum over the years that Wallace ac-cumulated enough pieces, which are currently be-ing showcased in an exhibit, Chasing the Whale, in Northern Kentucky, featured at the Zaum Gallerie in Newport.

“We’ve done several NKU shows over the years,” said Zaum owner, Adam Shelton. “But this show is all just based on the book.”

The exhibit features 12 artists, 10 of which are pri-or and current NKU students spanning 1994-2009, all responding to the characters and ideas from the novel. It is the first of its kind outside NKU and owes its inception in part to former student, Fred North, who in 1994 approached Wallace about turning in a painting for his last project, according to Wallace.

“I might never have thought to give that option to


Capturing the meaning of the white whaleNKU professor and students interpret novel through art

my students,” Wallace said in an e-mail statement. “I have given it to every class in Melville and the Arts since.”

Wallace chose to dedicate the show to North and his painting The Lee Shore, at the exhibit’s opening ceremony. Although North died in 2005, his inspira-tion lives on through the other pieces.

Among the other 31 original works, the show was mostly built around 2004 graduate, Kathleen Pierce-field, who created 14 prints depicting various char-acters and themes from the novel.

Her work entitled, The Voyage of the Pequod, depicts a map of the world, marking the numerous travels and encounters of the ill-fated ship and its crew.

“I don’t know how an illustration like this has never been created before Kathleen’s,” Wallace said.

The bachelor in fine arts graduate has had several pieces receive national recognition among Melville scholars. The map can dually be seen in the 2007 edi-

tion of Moby-Dick.But among her favorite work is her print depiction

of the south Pacific Islander and lead harpooner, en-titled Queequeq in his own person.

“I was very taken by the character of Queequeg,” Piercefield said. “He is a skilled hunter, but without brutality.”

In the image, Queequeg stands eight feet tall and his body riddled with tribal tattoos. Wallace con-tends that the Melville character is not standing as a man with a harpoon ready to kill a whale, but a man at peace.

“It is getting to the heart of nature,” Wallace said. “The nature that lies beneath the blood and the chase.”

The majority of the artists in the exhibit are fe-male. And this is due in part, according to Wallace, to a recent trend that borrows itself from ideal-move-ments like Ecofeminism (a movement that empha-sizes, among other tenants, the importance of sym-

EXTRA


symbiotic connection between humans, animals and the environment).

“People tend to think of Moby — Dick as a male undertaking,” Wallace said. “But this is not the case.”

Wallace insists that women have been leading the way in interpreting the nov-el as of recent years, and that bloodier scenes of past illustrations have given way to other ideals.

“In this painting [A Mighty Mildness], Kathleen Piercefield doesn’t stick a giant harpoon in the side of Moby — Dick,” Wallace said. “Instead what we see is the whale, at the end of the book, swimming like a god.”

Other works being showcased at the ex-hibit include a 15 — piece teapot set cre-ated by Danielle Wallace. Adorned with several scenes from the book, one tea cup is incomplete and somewhat hobbled, as if it were the peg — legged Ahab himself.

A series of three quilts were created by English major, Laura Beth Thrasher. The 54 inches by 62 inch blankets display sev-eral scenes and quotes from the novel on

each side. Even more amazing, says Wal-lace, is that all three were completed with-in a single semester.

“Seeing all those many varied responses to Moby — Dick gathered in one place is a great testimony to the power of the novel,” Piercefield said. “And also to the creativity and enthusiasm Dr. Wallace in-spires in his students.”

When it comes to Moby — Dick, there are many images and themes that first come to mind, but in Wallace’s judgment, the show captures more than the conven-tional wisdom.

“Most people think of Ahab and the white whale,” Wallace said. “But if you look around the gallery, there is so much more than that to the book.

Chasing the Whale in Northern Ken-tucky can be seen through Oct. 9, from 10am-5:30pm on Tuesday — Friday and 10am — 2pm on Saturday, at 811 Mon-mouth St., Newport. There will also be a closing reception Oct. 9 from 6 — 9 pm. www.galleriezaum.com.

Ed Morris/Assistant Photo Editor

“Moby Dick Tea Set” by NKU student Danielle Wallace

Ed Morris/Assistant Photo Editor

“Walking with Ahab” by NKU student Christopher Roach

Jeremy Jackson A&E Editor

Melt is unique as it is universalDeli offers distinct options that appeal to vegetarians and meat-eaters


A&E

Situated in the section of Cincinnati known as North-side, Melt Eclectic Deli is true to its name in offering an almost endless menu of vegetarian/vegan entrees. Featuring a vast array of gourmet sandwiches and salads, the deli is especially known for its unconventional pairings of ingredients, such as their Rudy’s Nachos which blends mozzarella, cheddar cheese, chili (vegan or veg-gie) and pico de gallo--all atop a heaping mound of Sun Chips.

They also boast an assort-ment of fresh soups such as white bean with faken baken (made from Tempeh, a soy based meat substitute). Al-though most items offered at Melt are vegetarian, almost

everything can be whipped up via a vegan twist.

As for the carnivores lurk-ing in the bulwark, turkey, chicken and roast beef round out the menu for a few sand-wiches, too. While Melt was established just four years ago, they have already re-ceived some local notori-ety, such as being voted best sandwich and best vegetarian of 2009 by CityBeat.

The main dining area is as varied as the menu itself, offering up retro-style seats and tables, spread through-out the 1920s architecture of the building that is in keep-ing with the common theme that gives Northside its sig-nature look.

The foods being dished up at Melt are more expensive

than the typical deli venue, about $20 for two, but the menu emphasizes freshness in everything they serve up. And they go the extra length to account for every eating disposition that exists, mak-ing the experience well worth a few bucks more.

Foods to try: Got to try Ru-dy’s Nachos ($7.95) and the Blue Gingered Pear salad (½ salad $5.95, Full $8.75): has spring mix topped with toast-ed walnuts, with gorgonzola and gingered pear slices, and drizzled with maple balsam-ic vinaigrette. Also a great melted sandwich is the Lingo ($7.95): contains pesto, roast-ed red peppers, baby spinach and goat cheese melted on focaccia bread.


Melt, located in Northside in Cincinnati, caters to both the dedicated vegetarian/vegan and carnivores alike.

Charlotte Etherton /Photo EditorThe back patio at Melt offers the chance to dine Al dente.


Tim OwensPrint Editor-in-Chief

State of blood and lustJennifer’s Body brings B-movie madness back to the forefront

NORTHERNER

Jennifer’s Body draws in-spiration from the days of B-movie horror — the indeli-ble sub-genre that, instead of trying to be good, celebrates its egregiousness.

It is bad on purpose and it quickly lets you know that.

It is that, and the fact that it takes the hottest woman on the planet right now and covers her with blood for nearly two hours, that makes Jennifer’s Body a smart and ultimately charming bit of schlock horror.

This offering of over-the-top nonsense comes from the brain of scribe Diablo Cody (Juno), whose taste for all things campy makes the script a strong blend of B-movie exploitation and seriously scary horror — and never taking itself too seri-ously in the process.

The plot centers on Jenni-fer Check (Megan Fox), the fiery temptress of her high school in the small town of Devil’s Kettle. Cliché right? It gets better. Jennifer’s also the bombshell of the cheer-leading squad, has every boy at her fingertips (take this literally) and has a nerdy, bug-eyed BFF in Needy Le-snicky (a splendid Amanda Seyfried) to make herself feel better when compared to.

Alls well with this, and the town of Devil’s Kettle, until a night out at the local bar, full of horny high-schoolers and 50-plus-year-old alco-holics, goes awry.

Jennifer and Needy hit up the bar to check out Low Shoulder, and more specifi-cally the dreamy lead singer (Adam Brody), a big city band in the shadows of the national spotlight. But when a fire sends the bar up in flames, the band abducts Jen-nifer, leaving Needy behind to freak out about what is

going to happen to her long-time friend.

It turns out that Jennifer’s uncontrollable lust becomes her downfall when the band performs a satanic ritual on her in order to become a suc-cessful indie band. The deal — sacrifice the body of a virgin for your wish to come true. The problem – they do not know that Jennifer is not a virgin (not since middle school actually) — and after the sacrifice, Jennifer comes back as demon from hell who devours her male classmates after seducing them. It is up to Needy to save the male populace of the school and take Jennifer down for good.

If Jennifer’s Body ever feels slightly off, it is not because of Cody’s knack for funky teenage lingo and cheese-tastic plotlines, but it is director Karyn Kusa-ma’s (Aeon Flux) inability to consistently balance the crazy script and the moments where we should feel truly frightened or tense.

Still, the dynamic of Needy and Jennifer’s friendship turned rivalry is explosive enough to make the film work. Fox plays the per-fect foil to Seyfried’s cutesy, good-girl persona. And be-lieve it or not, Fox has some chops. The film gives her the freedom to show off a cheeky, comedic side that her past roles never allowed her to. Yes, Fox is a marvel to look at — and the film goes out of its way to make sure you notice that. But Fox does evil well. And sorry guys, but if it takes turning the dream of every high school boy across the country into a man-eating spawn of Satan to prove it, then being bad never has been so good.

Grade: B+Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus

Megan Fox plays Jennifer Check, a possessed high schooler who feeds off of the men she seduces.


SPORTS

Mike CollinsSports Editor

Running to the spotlightWomen’s Cross Country team has seen much success this season

The Northern Kentucky University Women’s Cross Country team took sixth place in the Midwest Open (5K) in Kenosha, Wis., on Sept. 19.

Senior Jenna Siemer led the Norse by placing 28th out of a 175 runners. Her recorded time for the race was 19:02.2, according to the NKU Sports Informa-tion Web site. Freshman Danielle Mercer was the 33rd person to cross the finish line, checking in at 19:10.1. Three other NKU runners completed the race in the top 50.

NKU plowed into the national scene for the first time in school history, after their stellar performance in The Queen City Invitational on Sep. 12. The Norse are ranked No. 22 in the Division II polls and they look to build upon their success.

NKU placed third in The Queen City Invitational, finishing with a team score of 50, which was just two points behind Cincinnati and Xavier, according to the

NKU Sports Information Web site. Four runners for the Norse placed in the top 10 at the end of the race.

Sophomore Jerrica Maddox led NKU, taking sixth place with a time of 19:32. Siemer placed eighth with a recorded time of 19:44, Mercer finished ninth (19:46) and sophomore Tarah Cole pulled in at tenth (19:48) to complete the quartet of the Norse’s top 10 finishers on Sep. 12.

NKU began the season with an impressive showing at the Dayton Flyer 5K on Sept. 5. The Norse took first place out of the four other teams that competed in the Intercollegiate Division of the race. Mercer re-corded a time of 19:14 and finished fourth in the divi-sion and 23 overall. Siemer, freshman Cassie Martin and freshman Kayla Justice finished in the top 10 of the division to harness the first place spot.

With a team that has just one senior and four fresh-man, the Norse have surprised many with their ability

to finish races with great finesse. This team is quite young, and there is something to be said about their knack for grinding it out at the end of races. It is not just one or two players finishing strong, and it is not just the experienced runners who are standing at the top.

The black and gold are running swiftly as a unit, getting an insurmountable amount of effort from ev-eryone on the team. The Norse have nine players list-ed on the 2009 roster, according to the NKU Sports Information Web site. The competitiveness within the group seems to have pushed them to where they are motivating each other on the course.

Look for the Norse to continue to rise in the polls as the season progresses. With the black and gold on the rise, opponents beware.

Next, NKU will travel to Louisville, Ky., for the Greater Louisville Classic (5K) at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 3.

Tim Downer/ Staff PhotographerThe Women’s Cross-Country team has seen success this season. They recently placed sixth the Midewest Open in Kenosha, Wis.


NORTHERNER

Rodney MooreStaff Writer

Hockey club preps for return

The Northern Kentucky Uni-versity Hockey Club team, led by team President Nick Wil-liams, hits the ice this fall.

For their first game, the Norse will face-off against the Univer-sity of Akron at the Center Ice Sports Complex in Akron, Ohio on Sept. 25.

Team secretary and defensive player Jeremy Emig thinks Ak-ron will be a great initial chal-lenge to the season.

“We didn’t have the chance to play Akron last year, however the year before we beat them twice,”he said.“The youth of the team along with the ability to score seven or eight goals a game excites me.”

The team appears to be pro-gressing fairly well.

“The young guys are stepping up at practice and they look great,” Emig said.

Emig, along with other play-ers on the team, believe first-year coach and hockey club alumni Karl Mueller will bring out the best in the team.

“We have our returning top scorer Kyle Devlin back, along with a new coach who is eager to be here,” Emig said. The vibe in the locker room is evident. The team is looking forward to winning games and an enjoy-able year all-around.

At the same time, not all things are faultless in the locker room.

“We have a first-year coach, a ton of new guys on the team and we need to build team chemis-try,” team President Nick Wil-liams said. Williams has high hopes for the team but believes that in order to succeed, the team needs to mesh together well both on and off the ice.

The NKU hockey team strug-gled at various times last year, finishing a little over .500 with a record of 13-12. The team still hosts all of their home games at the Northern Kentucky Ice Center and remains a funda-mental part of the Division III league of the American Colle-

giate Hockey Association.“We were low on players last

year and we fixed that with the addition of five to six new guys,” Emig said. “With the addition of an experienced player now turned coach and a new team, the players seem thrilled about the chance to play in the region-al tournament in Michigan.

“We have the ability to score six or even seven goals a game with excellent offensive players like Kyle Devlin and Nick Wil-liams, we just have to keep the other team from scoring.”

That is where starting goalie Matt Wingrove becomes a key-player on the team.

“Last year was a down year for not only me, but for the team but this year I will prevent goals from being scored against us and I will give us the opportu-nity to win every game,” Wing-rove said.

Wingrove likes to play NHL 2010 to learn new tricks in his attempt to defend the net from the opposing team.

“Before a game I stay relaxed by acting normal and just being calm; there is no special ritual I have,” Wingrove said.

Wingrove promised to deliver on a guarantee that the team would make it to the regional tournament this year.

“We don’t have many weak-nesses on the team and the de-fense is stepping up,” Wingrove said.

NKU hockey team host their second home game against Eastern Kentucky University on Friday, Oct. 30 at 10:00 p.m. at the Northern Kentucky Ice Center.

“Anyone who has been there before knows how exciting and high-scoring the games are,” Emig said, “The fans’ get us fired up and fuel motivation to our game.”

You can find the full NKU hockey team schedule, statistics and roster at http://www.acha-hockey.org.

Northerner ArchivesThe NKU hockey club hits the ice for their first game against the University of Akron at the Center Ice Sports Complex in Akron, Ohio on Sept. 25

If you invest smart with companies that are going to be around for awhile, you have the advantage of giving that stock price time to climb higher and can turn some-thing as negative as this re-cession into a profit for you.

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Being a college student,

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There is no “magic pill” when it comes to being suc-cessful in life -- just some hard work and perseverance. It is simple, but it is not easy.

NORTHERNER


Soup from page 5

servers give me mixed an-swers, but they always try to find out for me,” she added.

Considering the limited number of vegetarian soups offered, Nitschke seeks to have more of them offered at locations throughout campus. She feels that a vegetarian soup should be offered each day, even if it is only at one of Chartwell’s various campus food service locations.

“I know everyone can’t be accommodated, but with the outstanding number of veg-etarians on campus, I think we can have a vegetarian soup of-fered each day. That’s what I ultimately want,” she said.

Ruppert indicated he is proud of the vegetarian offer-ings made by Chartwells and

said they have been the result of supply and demand. Rup-pert said that Chartwells has teamed up with NKU’s well-ness program to host “Meat-less Mondays” and to offer special vegetarian products that day. In addition, Chart-wells has added more veg-etable offerings at its Fusions restaurant and opened Fresh Factor, featuring made-to-order salads. Every restaurant offers some kind of vegetarian dish each day, he said.

In addition, all foods created by Chartwells are now cooked using non-trans-fat oils, de-spite the additional cost to the food service provider.

Nietsche said she was in-spired to become a vegetarian in 2005 in an effort to promote

her health.“I became a vegetarian be-

cause the band AFI inspired me by talking about eating well and taking care of your body,” said Nitschke.

summers of NKMSP, teachers will receive 12 cred-its of graduate work — six in Education and six in Math-ematics. The credits can be applied to a master’s degree or a rank 1 certification.

Several NKU staff will be participating in the proj-ect. From the Mathematics and Statistics department: Ted Hodgson, Beth Noblitt, evaluator TJ Murphy and statistics consultant Dave Agard; Teacher Education: Sara Eisenhardt, Mathemat-

ics/Pedagogy instructor Sarah Kasten and evaluator Lenore Kinne. Every faculty member who is participating will still teach at NKU dur-ing the project. Although the grant includes some “re-lease time” (i.e. one to two courses per year), it all de-pends upon the faculty mem-ber and their responsibilities in the classroom.

Twelve school districts are participating. From these districts, two teachers from each district are selected.

These teachers (also known as the “mathematics special-ists”) will then share their experiences and expertise with others in the district.

Applications were avail-able to teachers in June — NKMSP has received almost an accumulative 100 applica-tions from all twelve districts.

Of these applicants NKM-SP staff will choose teachers who meet several pre-requi-sites. These of which include: existing classroom man-agement skills, openness to

new ideas and willingness to work cooperatively to imple-ment new ideas in the class-room. Those who have been selected will be informed of the decision in the next cou-ple of weeks.

While NKMSP is a focused outreach project to local districts and their teachers, there has been talk about NKU students aiding the project.

“I’ve spoken with several undergraduate elementary and middle grades educa-

tion majors about assisting the project – either as part of the summer courses or aca-demic year outreach,” Hodg-son stated. “I’ve also spoken with Noyce project Direc-tor, Kirsty Fleming, about the possibility of involving Noyce scholars in various as-pects of the project. So, un-dergraduates will play a sup-porting role (e.g., assisting with the design of summer courses or visiting the class-rooms of project teachers).”

Project from page 4

Egg from page 7

Vegan vs. Vegetarian• Vegans do not eat any an-imal-based products such as eggs, milk, or any other form of dairy.• Vegans also do not use products made from animals. • Vegetarians largely just avoid meat. • Vegetarians have many sub-groups such as ovo-vegetari-an, pescatarian, etc.

The Northerner Print Edition - Sept. 23, 2009

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