Observerthe volume xlvi, issue 14

friday, 12/5/2014

Maria FazalStaff Reporter

Case Western Reserve University

Corner Alley joins Uptown

to Greek Life | 4

Andrew Hodowanec/Observer

After rumors took anonymous social media app Yik Yak by storm, university officials have confirmed that the Greek Life Office has requested all fraternities to cancel any social events involving al-cohol for the rest of the semester. This request is following allegations of sexu-al misconduct committed by a number of fraternity brothers.

According to statistics provided by As-sociate Vice President for Student Affairs for Campus Life Susan Nickel-Schinde-

wolf, ten Case Western Reserve Univer-sity fraternity men have been accused of sexual misconduct in the past semester.

In response to this information, Mark Starr, director of Greek Life and Amie Jackson, associate director of Greek Life, advised all fraternities to not host events or parties where alcohol would be served.

“We wanted to address [the problem] and be proactive,” Starr said. “We know that this upcoming weekend is when these things [parties] happen.”

Starr called this request “a big step,” saying it is something the Greek Life Of-fice has not done before.

President of the Interfraternity Con-gress Executive Board Michael Pawel-kowski says Starr and Jackson brought the concerns to him over the weekend and that he then called a Dec. 1 meeting to discuss the request with the fraterni-ty presidents. Pawelkowski emphasized that the request was not a “ban” as ru-mors had said.

“It was an open conversation,” said Pawelkowski. “Chapters could or couldn’t abide by it. It wasn’t a mandate.”

Sgt. Jeffrey Daberko of the CWRU Po-lice Department said that he has noticed that the number of sexual assault reports

Opinionpg. 8

Semester grades:

Sexual misconduct allegations bring halt to some fraternity social events

has been higher this semester than in pre-vious fall semesters.

As of press time, no notification of the sexual misconduct had been sent to the campus community by any campus of-fice. According to Daberko, CWRU PD only sends out security alerts if the situa-tion is perceived to be an ongoing threat. The number of sexual assaults reported to CWRU PD in a given year are published every year in an annual report. The 2014 Annual Security Report denotes that 16 sexual assaults were reported in 2013.

News

A&E

pg. 5Steps in gender

inclusive housing

pg. 12New Pokémon

brings old & new

Sportspg. 22

CWRU skater excels nationally

As the construction teams pack up their tools, the newest and most highly-anticipated addition to Uptown opens.

The Corner Alley at Uptown opened its doors for busi-ness with a soft open the day after Thanksgiving and had their grand opening on Wednesday Dec. 3. The new venue is the second of the local brand, following the success of their downtown location.

The Corner Alley is the brainchild of Mary Lessick and Todd DiCillo. The duo and their team came to Uptown look-ing to add to the vibrant University Circle neighborhood. “We want to reach out to the students, as well as the people working

and visiting the hotels, museums and even the hospitals in this area.” said Lessick. “We looked to culture of the neighborhood in bringing the Corner Alley to Uptown.”

The new bowling and dining complex is a two-story mod-ern building which houses 17 lanes of bowling, a full kitchen, two full-service bars and a video gaming area. The lanes are split into multiple smaller sections, all of which can be rented out. These sections and accompanying lounges allow for more personal interactions with friends and family, while still being open enough to accommodate for a flow from bowling to the food and drinks.

The Corner Alley invited us at The Observer to check out the new building in a preview party. For more coverage, see pages 15 and 23.

JP. O’HaganSports Editor

A-CD+

BF

news

Ki Oh/ObserverGrimberg and his team found a new inexpensive malaria detection method that will allow health care workers to test everyone in a village for the disease.

Research focuses on malaria detectionAdithi IyengarStaff Reporter

Case Western Reserve University’s own Brian T. Grimberg, assistant profes-sor of international health, was recently named one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2014 in Foreign Policy mag-azine. Grimberg was honored for his groundbreaking work on early malaria detection.

“We have a real chance to rid the world of malaria with a rapid, inexpen-sive and reliable diagnosis method,” he said. Grimberg and his team developed a scientific concept for a hand-held instru-ment to rapidly detect malaria.

The device magnetically detects a by-product of the parasites that carry the dis-ease. With the device, for the first time, health officials will be able to go into a village and screen everyone for malaria.

“With our new method, this is an achievable goal because of the decrease in the time and cost per use, which is 10 cents per person,” said Grimberg.

The goal is to find members of the community who may feel fine but are in fact carriers of the parasites who are maintaining malaria transmission.

Grimberg was inspired to complete the project when he found out that the cur-rently used microscopic detection meth-od can take up to an hour to perform. It is also only accurate 50 percent of the time. A five-year collaboration with the Department of Physics helped to yield his new detection method.

Even from a young age, Grimberg was interested in biology. At age 15, he was selected to be a part of the Governor’s Institute for the Gifted and Talented, run by Dr. Chris Cullis, who is currently the chair of biology at CWRU.

He went on to study medical research, mostly focusing on drug resistance.

“Rom tomatoes, to cancer cells, to yeast and now to malaria, I have been fascinated by the ability of organisms to eventually overcome most if not all of the drugs we have thrown at them,” said Grimberg.

International health professor named one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2014

JP. O’HaganSports Editor

Case Western Reserve University School of Law professor Jonathan H. Ad-ler has risen to a prominent role in the Su-preme Court case King v. Burwell, which aims to clarify the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

The ACA is a complex law that few outside the nation’s top legal minds ful-ly understand. However the law can be condensed down into the metaphor of a three-legged stool. The first one focuses on government price control and the sec-ond is a requirement to purchase health insurance (see the sidebar for more in-formation).

The King v. Burwell case focuses on the third tenant of the law, which grants tax subsidies to individuals who fall below or near the federal poverty line. This poli-cy is in place to combat the rise in premi-ums the law may cause.

However there is a provision in the ACA which states that these subsidies are only available to those “who were enrolled in an Exchange established by the State under section 1311….”

Law professor takes on Obamacare

A mere 13 words could cause huge im-plications on the entire 389,365-word law. King v. Burwell is considered by many to be one of the most important cases the na-tion’s highest court will hear this term, and Adler’s research is at the forefront.

In 2011, Adler noticed the statute about the requirement for exchanges to be estab-lished for the state to buy health insurance for people to receive tax subsidies.

He found it interesting, but he like many others thought it wouldn’t become an issue.

“It wasn’t assumed to be of much signif-icance,” said Adler, “ It was assumed that all the states would establish exchanges.”

Within a few months it became appar-ent that most states would be dragging their feet or flat out refusing to set up ex-changes. At this point 33 states have no exchange, which makes residents of these states covered by the national Healthcare.gov exchange.

The IRS remedied this issue by extend-ing the subsidies to those who purchased insurance from the federal exchange. However the law does not explicitly allow for such an action from the IRS, leading to the basis of the case.

According to Adler this was dis-crepancy was highly underestimated by health care law. This was likely due to overestimating the effect of other provi-sions in the law.

“Hindsight is 20/20, but now it is up to the court to make clear what the law says and force the political process to respond,” Adler said.

This is where the case is of importance to the future of the law, as with a new Con-gress the future is murky.

The law isn’t dead but the case is of im-portance on how laws are made. The law wasn’t perfect when it was passed, and now there are repercussions.

In the meantime Adler teaches, debates others on the issue and continues research.

“I had no idea this would turn into such a large issue,” said Adler, “as an academ-ic, when you point out something like this you are lucky to just have printed in a jour-nal or mentioned in the Congressional re-cords. Instead I get to see my legal theory argued in front of the Supreme Court.”

The court will listen to oral argu-ments on Dec. 17 and the nation will wait for the judgment from the highest court in the land.

The law’s goal is to provide near-ly universal health care. This is done through three different provisions. The first “leg” of this “stool” is the so-called “community rating” or governmental price control for those health care for individuals who have pre-existing con-ditions. This government control how-ever could cause a market imbalance as the premiums for healthy individuals could increase to a much higher level, possibly causing such healthy people to forego health care. This exodus from the market could cause a market col-lapse, defeating the purpose of the law, as healthy individuals subsidize others who need insurance payouts.

This is where the other two “legs” come into effect. The second leg is the requirement for every individual to pur-chase health insurance and for each employer to offer affordable health benefits. This aspect of the law has al-ready been argued all the way up to the Supreme Court and upheld as consti-tutional under Congress’s ability to tax and regulate interstate commerce. This has been the most controversial part of the law, and has thus far seen the most opposition and therefore coverage.

The third, which Adler’s research focuses on, grants tax subsidies to pur-chase insurance to those below or near the poverty line.

“Obamacare” explained

Keep checking online during Winter Break for more up-to-date news.

Find it at observer.case.edu

3newsobserver.case.edu

Mass funding: By the numbers

Spring 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2015

Total request: $460,000

Allocated: $136,000

(29.6% of total; 60.3% of ideal)

Ideal: $225,650

(49% of total)

Organizations submitted: 146 Organizations submitted: 141 Organizations submitted: 164

Total request: $457,244

Allocated: $182,184

(39.8% of total; 62.2% of ideal)

Ideal: $292,744

(64% of total)

Total request: $370,000

Allocated: $150,000

(40.5% of total; 80.1% of ideal)

Ideal: $185,914

(50.2% of total)

Each semester, USG allocates funding to each of the student

groups through a process called mass funding. Student groups

submit their budgets, which USG first narrows down to fit within their funding guidelines

(the “ideal” number). Then, they make cuts across the board to

allocate within their own budget.

Campus quiet as Cleveland protestschase after an unarmed man and woman in November of 2012. They talked about how these events were largely overlooked on the CWRU campus.

“We want to lead a campaign that shows people that these are real people, that this could be a Case student,” said Henton. “These are our family members because they are in our community.”

***Freshman Eva Barrett grew up in the

same neighborhood as Tamir Rice. She sees eleven and twelve year olds walking down her street, kids who all could have been Tamir Rice. She could have been Tamir Rice.

Barrett, who has been involved with AfroAm’s #webelonghere movement on campus, was one of a few hundred people who took to Public Square on Nov. 25 to rally for increased transparency following the Rice shooting. Following the protest, she attended a town hall meeting where she listened to the police chief and the mayor make promises that she didn’t think they would keep.

“It was more of a community blowing off steam,” she said. “People brought up ques-tions, but it felt like [the police chief and the mayor] were beating around the bush.”

The weekend following the town hall meeting was spent crammed into a book-store basement with members of the New Abolitionist Association and the Chil-dren’s Defense Fund-Ohio, laying out their demands for the reformation of the police department.

Barrett, along with many other writers, helped to create poems that matched the demands.

They say there are two Clevelands. The white-collar university and downtown ar-eas and the blue collar residential areas, where the people who make the city run live. The Nov. 22 shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice blurred the lines between the two, but with the hustle and bustle of Case Western Reserve University’s finals week, the outrage got lost.

Rice was killed by a Cleveland police officer who mistook the airsoft gun he was carrying for a real weapon. His death, one in a series of incidents of police brutality across the country, sparked a series of pro-tests across the city.

The day after the shooting, members of the CWRU African American Society or-ganized a gathering outside of the Thwing Center to honor Rice and Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed black man who was shot on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, MO. Af-ter four and a half minutes of silence (to remember the four and a half hours that Brown lay dead on the ground), the group of twenty students shared their thoughts on the events.

“It was very quiet, but there was a lot of tension and frustration,” said Destinee Henton, president of AfroAm.

Afterwards, they sat down on the couches in the Thwing lobby to talk about what they were planning to do. They talk-ed about the shooting of 37-year-old Tan-isha Anderson, a mentally ill woman who was killed by police officers in Novem-ber. They talked about the 137 shots fired by 13 police officers during a high speed

Julia BiancoNews Editor

“Our goal was to make the technical terms in the demands relatable and empa-thetic,” said Barrett. “The role of the poets is to take something that a lot of people put in technical terms and legal-ese and make it concrete.”

On Dec. 1, the group gathered gath-ered at City Hall, standing up and inter-rupting a city council meeting to list their demands, which included greater trans-parency through body cameras and more citizen involvement in dealing with police brutality. Each demand was followed by the reading of a poem.

“If these demands are not exacted, you will forfeit your right to govern,” they end-ed, giving the City Council seven days to respond to their demands.

The twelve interrupters, which includ-ed Henton and Barrett, were escorted out quickly after they finished listing their de-mands, even though Barrett says their ac-tions were legal. They joined the 150 pro-testers who stood on the City Hall steps.

“We marched around downtown and claimed the streets,” said Henton.

The city and the nation are currently in the process of implementing body cameras for police officers, with Cleveland’s expect-ed to be finished by the end of the first quar-ter of 2015. After the protesters were es-corted out, some of the members of the City Council condemned the shooting, calling it an “unacceptable, unexplainable mistake.”

***While the city came together, CWRU

remained fairly quiet.“There are a lot of issues that the cam-

pus community doesn’t forthrightly seem to mobilize around, have conversations

around or act around,” said Dr. Rhonda Williams, an associate professor of histo-ry and the founder and director of the So-cial Justice Institute. “More conversation needs to happen, more dialogue needs to happen. People need to get involved in the community in a way that respects the community.”

The Social Justice Institute and AfroAm, along with the Office of Inclu-sion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, are planning on holding a campuswide conversation on Ferguson and the Rice shooting for faculty, staff and students on Dec. 9.

To Henton and Barrett, conversation and knowledge are key. The first step is to make the CWRU community aware of the incident.

“It gets exhausting when there is some-thing that you care about that also affects you and your health and your friends’ health and your students’ health, and the people who are supposed to be supporting you re-fuse,” said Barrett. “It makes me feel sick to know that these kinds of conversations are not happening regularly on campus.”

Still, through the protests, Barrett says that she has seen the Cleveland communi-ty come together.

“All of the people on the front steps of City Hall with their fists up, saying you will forfeit the right to govern, we were all from Cleveland,” said Barrett. “I love my city, but that was the first time that I felt collectively proud to be a Clevelander.”

“When it comes to Case, we need to know that,” she added. “Now we’re all Clevelanders.”

Julia BiancoNews Editor

Based on student’s responses to their Dining Service Survey and complaints voiced at recent meal plan focus groups, Bon Appetit and Auxiliary Services have made meal swipes available at four of the locations in the new Tinkham Veale Uni-versity Center.

Starting on Wed., Dec. 3 at 2 p.m., stu-dents will have the option of using up to two meal swipes per week at Melt Universi-ty, Pinzas, 8Twenty6 and Naan.

Swipes can be used after 2 p.m. on weekdays and during all hours of operation

on Saturdays and Sundays.There will be three specials each avail-

able at Melt University and Naan, and four available between Pinzas and 8Twenty6.

The program is currently a beta test, which will be reevaluated after winter break to see whether it is feasible to contin-ue for the spring semester.

“If Bon Appetit sees that there is a great need for it, then it will continue,” said Jacob Ma, the USG vice president of student life.

Based on comments at USG’s recent meal plan focus groups, Ma worked with Bon Appetit and Auxiliary Services to speed up the process of bringing meal swipes to TVUC.

“We had seriously considered this for

the next academic year,” said Beth No-chomovitz, director of Auxiliary Services. “But there was significant interest by the students this year.”

“If everyone is happy and it works well, we have every intention of continuing it,” she added.

The first bundle of meal swipes will be available from Dec. 3 through Dec. 18.

Students will have the option of swip-ing at Melt for a Case Western barbecue sandwich with fries and a fountain drink; a pick two combo with a drink; or a soup and salad with a drink. At Naan, they can swipe for any entree with two sides, one condiment and a drink; any entree with one side, one condiment, naan and a drink; or

any three sides with two condiments, naan and a drink. At Pinzas and 8Twenty6, they can swipe for a pepperoni or cheese flat-bread with a small side salad and a drink; any build-your-own pasta bowl with a small side salad and a drink; or a meatball roll, small side salad and drink.

Options will change on Dec. 19 and re-main that way for the rest of winter break. If the program continues into next semes-ter, options would change each week, and would be available on Bon Appetit’s web-site.

“I hope the students will enjoy it,” said Nochomovitz. “We look forward to input from the students on how to continue.”

Meal swipes coming to the TVUC

City demands police accountability following shooting of 12-year-old

4 news 12/5/14

New collaborative medical campus will also include nursing, dental students

John BroganStaff Reporter

Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic’s planned institution for medical students is now set to also include nursing and dental students. The addition is to the planned 11-acre Health Education Campus, which will bring to-gether students from the CWRU School of Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic Le-rner College of Medicine.

The goal of integrating all of the pro-grams onto one campus is to inspire cre-ativity and increase students’ knowledge of other medical fields. The integrative design will help students gain a better un-derstanding of the health care process, as well as the unique roles their colleagues play in patient care.

“Collaboration among the professions is the key to improving health care in the 21st century,” School of Dental Medi-cine Dean Kenneth B. Chance said in a press release.

The nursing and dental schools cur-rently occupy buildings on CWRU’s main campus, but will be moving to the Health Education Campus, which will be located on East 93rd St. between Euclid and Chester Ave., upon completion. The medical school’s new physician’s assis-tant program will also be located on the new campus.

The medical, dental and nursing pro-grams’ research initiatives will continue to take place on main campus.

CWRU and the Cleveland Clin-ic together submitted the proposal of a 485,000 square-foot quadrangle building to the Cleveland City Planning Commis-sion. The proposal increases the size of the original project by roughly 300,000 square feet.

The addition of the nursing and den-tal schools will mean the addition of a four-story building which will include a large atrium, which can be used for lec-tures and banquets. With energy efficien-cy and conservation in mind, the plans for the building include a minimum expecta-tion of meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver envi-ronmental building standards.

“This is a stunning building whose design will inspire every person who en-ters,” said Pamela B. Davis, dean of the School of Medicine in a press release. “We cannot wait to see the creativity and innovation that emerges when all of our students and faculty begin to work in this extraordinary space.”

The new campus will also host a den-tal clinic that students at the School of Dental Medicine will work at during their third and fourth years.

The project will also to include a shut-tle system between the main campus and the Health Education Campus.

It is currently unclear how much mon-ey the additional space and construction will cost. There is also no timeline for the expected completion of the project at this time.

Student Affairs to launch new bias reporting system

Mike McKennaDirector of Print

A new initiative out of the Office of Stu-dent Affairs hopes to further strengthen the campus community by creating a stream-lined system for students to report incidents of hate, bias or discrimination.

According to information provided by Vice President of Student Affairs Lou Stark and Director of the Office of Multicultural Af-fairs Naomi Sigg, the new bias report system (BRS) will be unveiled next semester.

The current plan for the system consists of a single, consistent online form that can be used for all methods of reporting. There will also be phone reporting available. Both anon-ymous and named reports can be made.

Stark says that administrative response to student concerns of hate, bias, or discrim-ination have always been coordinated by the office of Student Affairs, so there is no change in that regard. However, he empha-sized that this new system fills in the void of students not knowing who they could go to with such concerns.

Allegations of hate, bias, or discrimina-tion will still be referred to the appropriate authorities such as the University Judicial Board or campus police pending on the seri-ousness of the act.

“The process is not to be a judge, jury and executioner type thing,” Stark emphasized.

According to Stark, the creation of BRS started in March of last year after several con-sultants suggested that the office implement such a program. He says that it was not in response to any specific campus controversy,

including the racist Yik Yak comments post-ed against members of the #webelonghere movement or last year’s allegations against the former Case Western Reserve Univer-sity Law School Dean Lawrence Mitchell. However, he does think in the wake of such events, the timing has been crucial.

“I see this as a very important time [for the launch of this program],” Stark said. “We have worked hard to make sure we build a campus community where everyone feels welcome.”

Stark has said that this initiative has been something students, including many mem-bers of the #webelonghere movement. Stark collaborated with representatives from the Undergraduate Student Government, LGBT Center, graduate student class and women’s center as well as other student or-ganizations and university offices.

“This brings accountability,” Destinee Henton, president of AfroAm said. “If we have a system in place, this gives us an ave-nue to combat [bias].”

Sigg has been in charge of implement-ing the new system, drawing on her expe-riences and implementing a similar effort during her time at Washington University in St. Louis. She emphasized the difference that students can make by using the system when it launches. According to both her and Stark, the launch of BRS will feature a large publicity effort.

“I talk a lot about students using their voice,” Sigg said. “Sometimes in these in-cidents where you report, you might be part of a longer trend we look at or [your report] might be part of something which directly makes something change.”

Miriam RidgeStaff Reporter

Do you have a hankering for communi-ty service? Do you like hot chocolate and free food? Do you have an ugly sweater you’ve been itching to wear? On Dec. 6, Alpha Chi Omega will help you with all of those cravings with their second annu-al Sweaters and Service from 6 to 9 p.m.

Four service activities will take place at the Alpha Chi Omega House on Bell-

flower Road. Students can make small holiday art kits for the patients at Rain-bow Babies and Children’s Hospital, make paracord survival bracelets for ac-tive military from the area, make stock-ings for the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center and knit scarves and hats for the students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

The event is open to the campus. It will also feature an ugly sweater contest and a holiday photo contest for clubs and organi-

zations. The photos will be sent to univer-sity President Barbara Snyder as an unoffi-cial non-denominational holiday greeting from Case Western Reserve University’s students. There will also be karaoke and performances from various student groups next door in Bellflower Hall.

Food from Mitchell’s Ice Cream, Sub-way, Dewey’s Pizza and Chipotle will be available for volunteers.

The original Sweaters and Service event was created in order to fill Alpha

Chi Omega’s desire to have a community service event in the winter to fill the space between their Domestic Violence week in the Fall and the Domestic Violence Walk in the Spring. Alpha Chi Omega empha-sizes bonding in the CWRU community (both Greek and Non-greek) through ser-vice, especially during the holiday season.

“It’s a good way to end the year,” said Rachel Miller, an Alpha Chi Omega sis-ter. “You can have fun while doing good things.”

Students can bond through annual Sweaters and Service event

Starr attributed this lack of informa-tion sharing to the nature of pending investigations.

“When things are ongoing, it’s very messy,” Starr said.

He added that fraternity presidents were notified since the concerns “were things directly involving the Greek com-munity so they were things we [the Greek Life Office and IFC] planned to address.”

Awareness concerning sexual assault and sexual misconduct has been on the rise across the country, with a topic that was once off-limits becoming increasing-ly common in discussions. According to Daberko, an increased emphasis from university president Barbara Snyder and the media on reporting sexual assault may have contributed to the increase in number of reports.

Nickel-Schindewolf also says the rise may be partly due to a new 2013 policy by the federal government. Campuses were instructed to update their sexual assault policies and create a new policy that in-cluded not only sexual assault, but also sexual misconduct.

Nickel-Schindewolf says that it is typi-cal for the number of reports to rise when a new policy comes into effect.

“As we review the semester’s sexual misconduct – and we have looked at it with a critical eye – ten Greek men were in-volved with sexual misconduct,” she said, adding that many of the incidents involved alcohol. “We don’t want to make assump-tions, but we do have these concerns brought forward throughout the semester.”

Pawelkowski stressed that the primary concern should be centered in providing an environment where these situations can be acknowledge and discussed, and

trying to see what can be done as a cam-pus community.

“For the time being, the point is to not have any more issues for the rest of the se-mester,” he said. “Let the current cases be, and have respect for the people that are in those cases.”

“There’s all this chatter about it, and there’s all this media around it,” he added. “But in the end it’s not about the universi-ty, it’s not about Greek life or non-Greeks. It’s about the people who are going through these cases and who are really affected by what’s occurring. I think that that’s the way that people need to start thinking about it – less of we need to do this, this and this but more of we need to become advocates for these individuals.”

A representative speaking on behalf of university administration released the following statement: “Case Western Re-serve takes the issue of sexual misconduct

extremely seriously, and has expanded its outreach and education efforts significant-ly over the past year and half,” the state-ment reads. “In addition, this issue has drawn substantial national attention over the past several months.”

“We do not know whether the increase in reports this fall represents increased awareness of the importance of report-ing or an actual uptick in incidents. What we do know is that the safety of our stu-dents is our top priority, and we constantly look for constructive ways to ensure their well-being. Our request to fraternity lead-ers represents just such an effort. We also encourage all of our students – Greek or not - to exercise care and caution during this final week of classes and throughout reading days and final exams.”

-additional reporting by Julia Bianco, News Editor, and Mike McKenna, Director of Print

from Greek Life | 1

5newsobserver.case.edu

Editor’s choice

RHA proposes Gender Inclusive Housing Initiative

Imagine when you first arrived at Case Western Reserve University, when every-thing was new and you didn’t know what to expect. One of the first people you met was probably your roommate, and for the first few days you explored CWRU to-gether. If your orientation groups were put together by floor, you saw your roommate and floormates all the time during your first week here.

For gender neutral or gender non-con-forming students, there often is no room-mate or floormates. Usually, they are iso-lated from the rest of the students in their dorm by being put in a first-floor single because the residence halls don’t provide a gender option they identify with. If they don’t live on the first floor, Victoria Robin-son, executive president of the Residence Hall Association (RHA), says they usually still live in a single.

After their first year, students are al-lowed to live in coed suites, so changes the initiative proposes would only be mi-nor. Currently, if students cannot fill their suite, they must be unisex so that someone of the same sex can opt into it. Under the Gender Inclusive Housing Initiative, this is no longer a requirement.

RHA has been working with the LGBT Center on this initiative, and many stu-dents have shared their thoughts on the new housing possibility.

Anastazia VaniskoStaff Reporter

Some asked what the roommate policy would be for cisgender (one whose biolog-ical sex and gender identity/expression are in social alignment) students that are open to living on the gender inclusive floors. Robinson says that such students could choose to live with other cisgender stu-dents on the floor, but that everyone would have options to live with any gender.

RHA has also advocated for changing the labels on the bathrooms from unisex to gender neutral.

“Language has an impact,” said Robinson.According to Shemariah Arki, inter-

im director of the LGBT Center, stu-dents have previously shown concern at the lack of gender inclusive housing options at CWRU.

“Many of the students who express frus-tration center their concerns around safety for students who identify as genderqueer, gender neutral or gender non-conforming,” she said. “[Gender inclusiveness] is some-thing we’ve been working on for a while.”

Work on the initiative began last May at the national RHA conference. Various schools were talking about what they were doing to promote gender inclusiveness, and Robinson was inspired to bring these poli-cies to CWRU. Currently, RHA is trying to measure student interest on the policy.

“This initiative helps to move the overall mission of the university (Think beyond the possible) forward while cre-ating a community of scholars where ev-eryone is connected, respected and val-ued,” said Arki.

Researchers use spice to fight cancer

Dr. Afshin Dowlati, professor of med-icine in hematology and oncology at the CWRU School of Medicine, recently pub-lished a paper with several collegeaus that showed circumin, an ingredient in the spice turmeric, killed cells of the cancer mesothelioma.

He first found that hyperactivation of STAT3, a pathway involved in cell growth and death that takes signals from the sur-face of a cell to the DNA, was causing the cancer to develop. If STAT3 is activated often, it increases the chance of a cell be-coming cancerous.

“You can think of a bike messenger in New York City, just running back and forth,” he explained.

The STAT3 has an inhibitor which en-sures that it doesn’t become over activated. In undamaged human cells, genes make a certain quantity of this inhibitor. In meso-thelioma cells, though, the levels of this inhibitor are below normal.

Previous studies have shown that cir-cumin can have many effects on cancer and human cells. Because of this, Dowlati decided to test it on mesothelioma cells. He found that the compound increased the inhibitor levels, regulating STAT3.

It is unlikely that circumin itself will become a treatment for mesotheli-oma because it is difficult to get it to the cells in the human body. Instead, a synthesized compound with a similar structure and properties could provide better results.

It’s often difficult to find a treatment

that matches these criteria, but Dowlati is a fan of the challenge. While in med-ical school, he was drawn to studying cancer, not just because of its biologi-cal mechanisms, but because it is such a challenging field.

Dowlati appreciates the hardships and the room for growth. Because of this, he chose to focus his career on the thoracic cavity, an area where new treatments are investigated and found constantly.

Mesothelioma also presents challeng-es when it comes to finding its cause. Some causes of mesothelioma’s initial development are known, but some re-main undiscovered.

Asbestos has been found to increase the likelihood of a person developing the dis-ease, but it isn’t always the cause. Many times, it is difficult to find the culprit.

“There are areas of Turkey that have a high incidence of mesothelioma,” said Dowlati. “However, it has nothing to do with asbestos. It has to do with certain minerals that are present in the soil.”

In this situation, says Dowlati, it is important to take a step back and look at the big picture. Similarly, he wanted to make sure he would be able to do this in his career.

Unlike most doctors, Dowlati does ba-sic scientific research and performs clin-ical trials in addition to treating patients. With this, he is able to see all the steps that result in applied treatments, from the petri dish beginnings to tests in the human body to the final result of helping patients.

“To be able to help, even a little bit, is really what drives me the most,” said Dowlati.

Kushagra GuptaStaff Reporter

Spotlight on research

Katie Wieser/ObserverStudents participated in Delta Upsilon’s first annual pumpkin smash on Nov. 21. Proceeds from the event went to the Cleveland Food Bank to help provide meals for the holiday season.

6 news 12/5/14

Members of the Feminist Collective gathered at the Tinkham Veale University Center on Nov. 21 to hand out buttons and ask students to document why they need feminism for an online photo album.

Katie Wieser/Observer

Talk highlights parallels between human rights

violations at home, abroad

What are the similarities between Gaza and Ferguson? On Nov. 20, Rhonda Wil-liams, associate professor of history and director of the Social Justice Institute, and Noura Erakat, assistant professor at George Mason University, tried to answer that ques-tion in a discussion called “From Gaza to Ferguson: Human Rights and the Question of Palestine.”

On Aug. 9, a series of protests ensued in London and other cities around the world to call for the end of Israeli military action in Gaza. The talk compared these protests to the protests that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri following the Aug. 14 shooting of unarmed 18-year-old African American Mi-chael Brown by a white police officer. The protests in Ferguson received national atten-tion because of the forceful police reaction.

On Aug. 14, 2014 the shooting of Mi-chael Brown, an 18 year-old black man, by a white police officer, led to a variety of protests and dissent from the people of Ferguson. Brown was unarmed during the time that he was shot down.

The discussion centered on the recent solidarity between the people in Gaza and the people in Ferguson. This includ-ed advice that protesters in Gaza gave to protesters in Ferguson about how to deal with tear gas and police force. According to Erakat and Williams, while the two sit-uations differ in many ways, they still have significant similarities.

In both Gaza and Ferguson, the talk says, people were unable to resist oppression be-cause a biased third party mediated the issue.

“In Ferguson, a city that has 64 percent black population, there is a white mayor, a white school board and a majority white city council and police force,” said Williams.

Similarly, in Palestine, the United States has served as a mediator in their re-lations with Israel. In the 1990’s, the U.S. helped to draft the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement between the two countries which took away much of Palestine’s say in what happened to their territories.

“Palestine was forced to have its eggs in one basket, also because of the fact that the United States holds 33 percent of its national budget,” said Erakat. Financial and political dependency on Israel has taken away most of the power from Gaza’s protesters.

Both also spoke of the reputation of de-mocracy and how it can create a mask of legitimacy that allows the harm of civilians.

“Democracy has always been a question by folks engaged in black liberation strug-gles,” said Williams. “In fact, the whole idea of what democracy means and what the lim-its of democracy are are brought to the fore since the very founding of the country.”

Williams brought up the fact that women and blacks were disenfranchised under the guise of legitimacy and law, despite the fact that it promoted inequality.

Erakat focused on the use of violence on civilians.

“There is this concept that was used in World War II and also used today called mo-rale bonding,” she said. “Morale bombing is the use of weapons and weapon technology to target civilians. The reason that it is not terrorism is because it is used by states, and it is targeting civilians for the purpose of re-ducing support for the war.”

For both Williams and Erakat, the main focus is bringing human rights to those who have had them stripped away, and get-ting rid of hate. Oppressive governments or organizations, whether legitimized or delegitimize, should not be allowed to tar-get civilians or make them feel unsafe in any way, the two say.

Adithi IyengarStaff Reporter

Nov. 21— Felony theft. Wallet taken from purse, Bingham.Nov. 21— Aggravated menacing. Female student menaced by male with knife who fled scene on foot, Euclid Ave. and E 115th St.Nov. 22— Possession of marijuana, Parking Garage 8.Nov. 25— Petty theft. Shoes taken from unsecured locker, Veale Center.Nov. 25— Possession of marijuana, Cutter House.Nov. 25— Petty theft. Items taken from package, Hessler.Nov. 30— Petty theft. Unattended cell phone taken from common room, Triangle Building 2.

CWRU Police Blotter Nov. 19 to Dec. 2

On the beat

Break timeWe are approaching winter break,

which seemed like such a distant speck on the horizon during orientation in Au-gust. It is a time for many to go home, rest, recharge, drink eggnog and catch up on sleep, nutrition and laundry that may have suffered during the academic semester. The CWRU Police Department will keep the lights on here until January, but the break period can pose some safety challenges as well. So here are some tips.

If you are taking public transportation to the airport or other destinations late at night, think about sitting near the driv-er while travelling and putting in a Safe Ride request ahead of time if you need assistance getting to or back from a bus or Rapid stop to your residence.

If you are leaving campus, remember to lock your rooms, secure any valuables you aren’t taking with you, unplug any-thing that needs to be unplugged and clean out the fridge if necessary. There

has been at least one case of an aban-doned and unfrozen turkey requiring a Hazmat response over break.

If you are staying on campus over break, remember that, while the sudden feeling of having the place to yourself can be great, there are fewer eyes on campus, and eyes help deter crooks. Use the same precautions you would during the academic year and call the CWRU PD if you observe suspicious activity around your residence.

On the Beat will also hibernate until after break, so happy and safe holidays to everyone.

On the Beat is a weekly safety column written by Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko and Officer Mark (The Crossing Guard) Chavis of CWRU PD. We welcome ques-tions, suggestions and gripes/groans/moans/complaints about campus life at policecolumn@case.edu.

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Classified

A costumed Santa handed out food at the Grey Wolf food truck during UPB’s International Food Trucks on the quad event on Nov. 21.

Katie Wieser/Observer

7newsobserver.case.edu

Giving back for Thanksgiving

As the weather gets chillier and the hol-idays approach, the spirit of community service on campus seems to strengthen. RHAmen Rush, the Residence Hall Asso-ciation’s annual food drive, is one of the products of this season’s spirit of giving.

This fall, RHA collaborated with Kids Against Hunger to collect food for dona-tions. In previous years, items were donat-ed to the Cleveland Food Bank, but this year, they will also be donated to individ-ual families.

“Families will have a whole meal pack-aged,” said Jennifer Rosen, the executive vice president of external communications for RHA. “We have lots of different cans of vegetables and things like that, other different foods like pasta in there, turkey vouchers and fresh foods.”

Over 400 food items were collect-ed, which Rosen says is a great accom-plishment in comparison to previous years. Food was collected in boxes that

were placed in every residence hall on campus. The event spanned from Nov. 11 to Nov. 21.

This is the first year that RHA orga-nized the event in collaboration with an-other student organization.

“We started talking in April about the possibility of a collaboration [with Kids Against Hunger], and it has come all the way to fruition,” said Rosen. “With a lot of student organizations, things fall through. I’m very impressed with the way that we’ve been able to work through this.”

“I really wanted to take it a step further this year and have this collaboration so that we could work with another organization, impact more people, impact more students on campus and impact more people in the city of Cleveland,” she added.

Rosen said that this year’s RHAmen’s Rush has allowed for a more tangible char-itable impact on the families receiving the food. She hopes that the collaboration with Kids Against Hunger is something that can continue in the future.

Sruthi MekaStaff Reporter

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the generous nature of the holiday is still lingering at Case Western Re-serve University. One particular stu-dent group on campus, the Labre Home-less Outreach Ministry, gives students the opportunity to give back and help Cleveland’s homeless.

The program runs all year round. Students go out every week they can, distributing food for 48 of 52 weeks last year. Currently, six students come together each Monday evening to give those in need a hot meal and some good conversation.

The program is named after Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, the Catholic pa-tron saint of the homeless.

The volunteers of the Labre Pro-gram sometimes start the evening with

a prayer to Saint Benedict Joseph Labre at 5:45 p.m., and then the group heads out at 6 p.m. to distribute meals and any other essentials to the needy. They stop at 18 sites and feed between 20 and 25 people a night.

“Labre is a unique service opportuni-ty as our group goes to where homeless individuals are staying,” said Thomas McKenna, the group’s vice president. “This allows students to really under-stand what these individuals go through in their day to day lives.”

“We spend so much time with these individuals that we are able to build lasting relationships, which is not al-ways the case with service opportuni-ties,” he added.

Volunteers interested in getting in-volved with the Labre Program have to attend a program orientation. More in-formation can be found on the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning’s web page or the ministry’s Facebook page.

Gabrielle BuffingtonStaff Reporter

Student-run organization provides food to

Cleveland’s homeless RHA holds food drive in collaboration with Kids Against Hunger

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Spotlight on service

opinionSemester Grades

Transportation: D Greenies, which could be a lovely resource as the days get colder, have instead—as always—been unreli-able and far from useful for all but the luckiest students; stories of them driving straight past students waiting at bus stops have been numerous. Stu-dents hoping to limit damage to their schedules by using the tracking system are out of luck as well, as it doesn’t ac-tually work—or the drivers don’t turn it on. Safe Ride, too, is unreliable; the service can take up to an hour to show up, assuming it ever does. Case Western Reserve University simply needs to invest in more ve-hicles. The only thing saving campus transportation from an F is that at least campus administrators recognize that there are issues and are looking at ways to remedy them, according to university President Barbara R. Sny-der. We know it’s a tough area to fix, but for the safety and general well-being of students, it needs to improve.

Security: CThe usually empty-seeming secu-

rity tower serves as a clearly visible reason for campus security’s less-than-valedictorian grade standing. This is hardly bolstered by the broken blue lights dotting our campus streets. We’re not necessarily unsafe, but new initiatives implemented haven’t really hit the mark. Increased patrols and fix-ing of systems we already have in place would have been a better response to crime on campus than the construction of something that makes northside feel like a prison grounds.

Editorial

On the positive side, though, there has been a stronger presence of the CWRU Police Department, especially at night on Mather quad—a necessary measure, given the students choosing to walk back to their dorms rather than wait a few eternities for a Safe Ride (see above). The police department’s outreach has helped their grade out as well; their efforts to engage the community are more than appreciated.

Campus response to #webelonghere movement: B-

Student responses to the needed #we-belonghere movement have ranged from fervent support—mainly the movement’s members themselves—to tepid interest—the majority of students. There have also been a few whose reactions were more offensive and mocking—those now in-famous Yik Yak posters. Throughout the movement, university administration has been encouraging, but not particularly ac-tive. For the most part, its official state-ments have been on the right side, but in terms of action, they have largely stayed out of it. It’s great to have students take the lead, but we’d like it to have needed a little less prodding.

TVUC opening: CIf the Tinkham Veale University Cen-

ter has done one thing right, it has been providing a space for big-name visitors, like actress Laverne Cox, to address the campus community. Before its construc-tion, the run-down Ford Auditorium was the biggest space we had, hardly a draw for a visiting speaker.

However, such events could just as easily take place in an event space in a legitimate student center (remember it’s

a university center), so that highlight can’t serve to excuse the severely un-derwhelming rest of the building. It’s simply not functional: The spaces given to student organizations are small (and that given to the LGBT Center has two glass walls, a clear flaw in something that is supposed to function as a safe, confidential space), and study tables are few and uncomfortable. For stu-dent groups hoping to use the building’s spaces, there are originally prohibitively high fees. While these are still in place, at least now the cost burden has been shifted to Undergraduate Student Gov-ernment, rather than falling directly on the concerned organizations. While it has its purpose, surely that $50 million could have been better spent.

Bon Appétit expansion: FBon Appétit, many students’ least

favorite on-campus monopoly, has ex-panded its influence this semester with several restaurants in the new TVUC and absorbing control of both the Rough Rider Room and The Spot. While op-tions in the RRR and The Spot have in-creased, so have their prices. It has also claimed exclusive catering rights to the aforementioned spots, so student groups holding meetings there are forbidden from bringing in food from a non-Bon Appétit source. Bon Appétit isn’t an evil corporation; they pay their employees a living wage, and their focus on sustain-ability is a great initiative, but students have been hurt by their expensive food options. Twelve dollars for a half-cooked Melt sandwich is a bit much.

In addition, while making certain TVUC restaurants meal swipe-eligible

seems like good progress, that came without an increase in the two meal swipes per week that students are per-mitted to use outside of dining halls, keeping their usefulness as anything but the occasional last-minute bite to eat severely limited. It’s also a little too little too late. They get to seem like the good guys by making the change, but why wasn’t this the poli-cy in the first place? If it stays for the entirety of next semester, we’d give them higher marks.

Response to tragedies: A-It has been a tough semester for

the campus community. First was the plane crash that killed four CWRU stu-dents. University response to that was by all accounts excellent; a few memorials were held, and the administration made support and condolences readily avail-able. We have never seen the community come together more than what we went through the following few weeks.

What prevents us for not giving a full A is that on the heels of the loss of the four students, there was another death that university officials missed. Univer-sity response to the death of facilities worker Chris Malloy was late and little; most students found out through Yik Yak or Cleveland.com before the university released an official statement. Members of the university marketing and com-munications office were immediately apologetic, extremely regretful for hav-ing failed to report this to the commu-nity sooner, but nonetheless it stands as a shortcoming in this semester’s ad-ministrative response to campus trag-edies.

Thinking about giving backIn 2012, a group led by the 92nd Street

Y in New York City, including the United Nations Foundation, began promoting “Giving Tuesday” in response to the increased commercialization of the post-Thanksgiving holidays—Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. The organizations wanted to promote a culture of giving and donations after the weekend bacchanalia of buying gifts and cheap televisions.

In the two years since Giving Tuesday began, more than 10,000 organizations have joined in, according to the movement’s website. The “Team of Influencers,” the movers and shakers who lead the push for Giving Tuesday, includes the CEO of a philanthropic organization, the Bridgespan Group; a professor at Stanford University; and the globalization editor of The Economist. The movement is supported by the Huffington Post, Lodestar Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Giving Tuesday came to Case Western Reserve University in 2013. Last year,

more than 20 organizations participated, ranging from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Emerging Scholars Program and Center for Civic Engagement and Learning (CCEL) to think[box] and the Case Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This year, only 16 organizations participated (down from 20). There were new additions to the list, including the CAS Student Scholarship Program and the Graduate Business Students Association.

While most of the school’s efforts in pursuit of a spirit of giving are well-founded and useful, it is unclear that all of them are that way. Unfortunately, including programs that seem irrelevant to the school’s goal changes the message of the entire day.

Giving Tuesday tries to capture a spirit of community and generosity that used to be associated with Thanksgiving itself. While it is not fair to say that this aim has disappeared from the holiday, no one can argue that generosity, once the focus of the last Thursday in November, has been replaced by feasting, a New York parade, and annual Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions football.

We are all guilty of it. On Thanksgiving, I absolutely sat in front of my television to

watch the Lions’ tumultuous, but ultimately successful, game against the Chicago Bears. I didn’t get to watch the Eagles beat up on the Cowboys, but that is probably for the better. And I absolutely would have watched the parade, had it not been for the appealing and inescapable enjoyment of sleep, something with which CWRU students might be unfamiliar.

The point is, this new reality is hard to escape. Thanksgiving, for all of us, is about more than giving thanks.

But that is what makes an effort like “Giving Tuesday” all the more important. While I will admit that I bemoan the creation of these fake holidays (Small Business Saturday….oh boy), there is nobility and appropriateness in the attempt to bring generosity back to the holiday season. In a world where the ubiquitous Salvation Army bell ringers are under attack for their discrimination in donating funds, it is a comfort to see others rising above the rabble and making a difference. To a large extent, CWRU’s efforts conform to this image.

Then again, while CCEL, Habitat for Humanity and the Free Clinic all exemplify the community giving that represents

Giving Tuesday, others do not. This year, donations going to the CAS Student Scholarship Fund, the Graduate Business School Association, and others seem to run counter to the otherwise singular mission. Even some of the other potential donation sites like the LGBT Center, Case EMS, Chisholm Social Justice Fellowship and Flora Stone Mather Center for Women fail to explain how its donations affect the community outside CWRU. This is not an indictment of these organizations or projects, but rather a call to think about whether their inclusion on a day dedicated to community outreach is appropriate.

What we risk is not a cancellation of these programs. They all deserve and will receive donations this week and in the weeks and months to come. However, what we risk is making a strong movement like Giving Tuesday into another meaningless phrase. Already, Giving Tuesday sounds strange and unfamiliar; it is important we do not let people’s first impressions of it be clouded and unfair.

Andrew Breland, senior, is a weekly Opinion columnist. Contact him at awb69@case.edu.

Andrew BrelandThe elephant in the room

With finals approaching,The Observer staff is sick of getting grades. It’s our turn to give them.

9opinionobserver.case.edu

CWRU students: Then and nowAbigail AssmusGuest column

World War I ended on Nov. 11, 95 years ago. There are reminders of this all over campus with the war memorial being put back up behind Amasa Stone Chapel and the exhibit at Kelvin Smith Library Special Collections.

This semester, I am immersed in the war as I conduct research for my senior capstone with the history department. As part of my research, I have been at the university archives looking at student publications from the war to see what student opinions were. As I looked through their newspaper, The Reserve Weekly, I was surprised by the lack of opinion about the international crisis before the war and when it started in 1914. I was even more shocked when there were not any opinion

pieces about the war when the United States entered in 1917.

The more I read, the more I realized how similar these students are to Case Western Reserve University students today. When I look through The Observer, there are no articles about current international topics like ISIS or anything about the Middle East. True, there are important issues like what the role of race is on our campus, but where are the articles about Russia and the Ukraine, or the recent midterm elections and how they impact us? It is not just the lack of current news in the student newspaper; I barely overhear any discussion of current events among students during my downtime or in classes where it could easily come up.

In an article from The Reserve Weekly from March 1919, only four months after the war ended, a student from Adelbert

College wrote: “It is an alarming fact that many students at Adelbert have little knowledge of the important events which are occurring both within our borders and on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.”

So my question is, why is student knowledge about national and international events the same as students’ from 95 years ago? I am guilty of being ignorant at times to the world around me as well. It can be hard to pay attention to the news when there are exams to study for and papers to research and write. But I believe that it is important to not only be aware of events going on in our small campus, but in the world as well.

We will all graduate eventually, some of us sooner than others as the fall semester comes to a close. Discussion about important national and international news should have a higher presence on our campus so there can be more

education about the world around us, not just our campus. We are an important part of campus, but we are also a part of the world. In a world where we have instant access to information on smart phones, it is hard to believe that we are just as oblivious to world events and voicing our opinions about them as Adelbert College students were 95 years ago. I hope that students at CWRU are reminded of how global events can impact small areas like ours during this year, the centennial of the beginning of WWI in Europe, and see how much global and national events today can impact life at Case now and life after graduation.

Abigail is a senior History and English major. She is looking forward to the semester break so she can binge on Netflix all night and not feel guilty about it.

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer exists to report news affecting and/or involving students and to provide an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer at (216) 302-4442 or e-mail observerads@case.edu. The Observer is a proud member of the CWRU Media Board.

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When I finished this column and read it for the first time I thought I should rewrite it. Then I thought no, why su-garcoat it—especially when there are reasons to keep dancing? If everything ends no matter what, why not enjoy it? Why not help someone along the way? Why not make the dance floor more in-habitable for more people?

Scientific strides to benefit medi-cine, publishing a paper criticizing a government with the goal of improv-ing it, studying human behavior or en-gineering new ways to further develop human capabilities are important. But holidays, family and friendship are also important. Love is important. Without other people—without love—every-thing is useless.

I guess the point of this column is to say that finals are important, but not re-ally. As exams stress you out and sleep is an alien concept, have coffee with a friend, call your mom just to say you love her, kiss your significant other, go outside and scream. These things are important.

But remember that it’s okay to find yourself dancing with yourself from time to time. Remember that through your vitality, someone will eventually hear the music and join you.

Jacob Martin is a weekly opinion columnist. He wishes everyone happy holidays. “So let’s sink another drink, ‘cause it’ll give me time to think, if I had the chance I’d ask the world to dance, and I’ll be dancing with my-self.”—Billy Idol

Life and college: Dancing with ourselves

As finals encroach, the true colors of each class year always shine through. Freshmen still feel the novelty of col-lege life, and their naïveté breezes pun-gently through the air. When they go home, it will be nothing more than a nice reprieve from what they think is a lot of work. Homesickness will dis-appear, and when they come back in January, they will be open and eager to party, ready to pick up right where they left off. College as a place for acquir-ing knowledge hasn’t set in yet.

Sophomores are beginning to know work. They have begun to carve a niche for themselves and know the awkward-ness of making eye contact with some-one who lived on their floor freshman year and walking right by without a word. They spend the majority of the week in the library or wherever they study, but still find plenty of time to abandon backpacks on the weekends. They are starting to learn something, but only in a state of sheltered reverie.

Junior year comes without warning. The momentum gained at the end of sophomore year is lost to summer vaca-tion shenanigans as the realization that you are halfway through with college is internalized. August schedules are filled with upper level classes and too many extracurricular activities because of false pride in the deluded sense of grand accomplishment the former real-ization provides. By December, half of

the class stagnates in perpetual foolish-ness while half is ready to evolve and take on real challenges. The end of the year marks a real accomplishment.

Senior year is shrouded in the mist of myth. Some students have plans and are ready to graduate, and some have no idea what they’re doing in May. Some are not ready to give up the im-maturity of previous years, and some are never on campus, already working. Some are taking their most challenging semester, while still others have given in to the seductive dust of senioritis. But seniors all possess an I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude that comes out readily. They are prepared for something, but couldn’t care less what it is.

Despite your year of study, you are constantly in a state of liminality. Col-lege is one big ritual, each year another stage of disorientation and ambiguity on the road to “graduate” status. Per-haps this is why things like high school and college are so challenging. They are marathons against time, and the question becomes how much confusion you can endure.

Time is strange, and I don’t think the disorientation ever stops. Life could be viewed as one big ritual. We are thrust into the world to die: birth puts us in the threshold; death allows us to pass through the door. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just complicating the only simple certainty of humanity. I doubt I need to warn against the dangers of fatalism, but how does one overcome such a ludicrous destiny?

I’ve often looked at life like a grand

ball at some swanky English castle. All men are completing the ritual of the damned, but smaller dance circles emerge. One group is doing a tango, another waltzes, another does ballet and another starts a freeform move-ment to the beat of the music. These circles pop up frequently and begin to overcrowd the universal dance floor, but every now and then it feels like you’re dancing with yourself.

Seen another way, the dance floor is earth, the music is anything that stirs emotion, birth is the dance of hope and death is the dance of the absurd. The individual dances that emerge are what we do to detract from the reality that the reason we are here is to die. One could call any other way of thinking grand delusion.

One could also call everything I’ve just said abhorrent and disgusting. But I ask you: take a look in the mirror and think about yourself, what you’re do-ing here and why you’re doing it. What do you see? What did you once see? What do you want to see?

We have just entered the holiday season. As I observe all of the fresh-men, sophomores, juniors and seniors loosely act in the manners posited above in anticipation of winter break, I really wonder what the point is. Pre-sumably, we are willingly subjecting ourselves to the ridiculousness of col-lege for a better future, however we define better. But what future? Is the promise of material wealth and social status any consolation for impending death?

Jacob MartinThe meaning of Spartan life

10 ad 12/5/14

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arts & entertainment

Aquene Kimmel,Opinion Editor

Anne NickoloffArts & Entertainment Editor

Anne NickoloffArts & Entertainment Editor

Enio ChincaStaff Reporter

Sanjana KrishnakumarContributing Reporter

Cleveland Botanical Gardens welcomes all visitors to its family-friendly event, “Glow.”

Downtown Cleveland has several light displays up through the holiday season, all within walking distance of one another.

Playhouse Square is putting on their annual Holiday plays once again this year.

Wade Oval opened its rink last weekend, and it will remain open until March.

Tour guide to Cleveland winter fun

Cleveland concert cheer

“Christmas lights so bright, you would even say they Glow.”

“Cheap, free and a must-see.” “Don’t be square in Cleveland this year.”

“There’s SNOW way you want to miss these COOL events.”

Lilith Freed/Observer Lilith Freed/Observer Lilith Freed/Observer Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Cleveland Botanical Garden was closed for six days to set up for their winter holiday program, Glow. During that time, the grand Christmas tree in the main foyer toppled over, and a water pressure issue set off the fire alarms, forcing all of the employees outside.

Despite these setbacks, every pine and poinsettia was in place when the Garden’s “winter spectacular” opened on Nov. 28.

Glow includes gingerbread house-decorating, a miniature gift shop where children can buy gifts for their parents and family, a train to take children around the gardens, an old-fashioned candy shop, a Wishing Tree where visitors can write their Christmas wishes and live music. There are also many Christmas trees decorated by the Botanical Garden’s affiliate garden clubs and gingerbread houses made by local children and adults. At night, the gardens are lit up with Christmas lights for anyone who will brave the cold to go see them.

In addition to the food available at the Bon Appétit-run Garden Café, there is also a small bar set up in the main event room where visitors can purchase hot cocoa, coffee and alcoholic beverages.

Admission is, as it is year-round, free for members and for Case Western Reserve University students up to once per week with their student IDs.

Stuck in Cleveland for a little longer than you planned? Luckily, Cleveland music keeps running over winter break. So, whether you’re living nearby or stuck here for some extra time, here is a handful of shows to keep you busy.

At Harkness Chapel, a cappella groups Solstice and Speakeasy will join and become Solsteasy for their Winter Concert on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m. This free concert will also have hot chocolate and cookies, and it lands

What’s the cheapest thing you can do during your winter break?

There are a few different answers to that question, but when you consider a free, Case Western Reserve University-supplied Rapid Transit Authority pass and what’s going on downtown, an easy answer is: Holiday light-seeing.

A quick stroll through Public Square lets anyone see the array of lights set up just outside of Tower City, strung through rows of trees. After a quick walk downtown, Cleveland Playhouse (CPH) also has a free event just a short walk away, called Festival of Trees.

This event, held at Allen Theatre, is open for public viewing through Dec. 30, and is open every day of the week with various hours. Festival of Trees includes dozens of designer Christmas trees put together by CPH itself. No RSVP is required.

Plus, if this hasn’t been crossed off of your bucket list yet, the world’s largest permanent crystal chandelier and new neon lights in Playhouse Square are waiting to be checked out, too. And you never know, you might see the Sax Man performing outside the doors of a theatre.

Check out Downtown Cleveland’s lights free of charge with just a quick zip down the Healthline or Red Line and a 20-minute walk between destinations.

As the weather gets colder and the snow keeps falling, it will get harder and harder to want to go outside. While this winter hibernation is a Case Western Reserve University ritual, there are many exciting events for those who still desire to explore the city. Playhouse Square, Cleveland’s home for theater, will be putting on a variety of performances in the spirit of the various holidays coming up.

The first play they will be hosting is “A Christmas Story,” an old and endearing tale about one boy’s journey to achieve his holiday dream. Inspired by the film, the cast will dress colorfully and youthfully, including a moment with the legendary pink bunny suit. The show opened Nov. 28, and runs until Dec. 21. It starts at 7:30 p.m. during the week, with 2:30 p.m. matinees on weekends. The show is on the pricey side, however, as tickets cost $27.50-$75. As a reminder: Playhouse Square runs most shows every day but stays closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Also in the holiday spirit, “A Christmas Carol” will also be running during the holidays. “A Christmas Carol” is a classic novella written by Charles Dickens. The story depicts one old man’s transformation from a selfish “scrooge” to a generous and kind person. The show runs at 7:30 p.m., with 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. matinees. In case your schedule is packed until vacation, the show runs until Dec. 23. Tickets range from $15 to $70.

Wade Oval in University Circle is celebrating the winter with fun and exciting events. The Rink is open on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 28 to March 8. However, from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2, the rink is open everyday, with shortened hours for Sunday through Thursday and regular hours for the weekend. It costs only two dollars to skate and an additional three dollars for skate rentals. The Rink even offers free skating lessons every Saturday at noon.

In addition to the standard Rink schedule, Wade Oval has also organized various winter activities. On Dec. 7 from noon to 7 p.m. you can skate for free at the Wade Oval Holiday Circlefest, in addition to attending local museums for free. Come to The Rink on Dec. 7 and 21 and you’ll get a chance to skate with Santa himself.

Don’t miss local band performances at Wednesday Night Music at the Rink on Dec 3, 10 and 17 from 6-8 p.m. If you’ve got what it takes to make the best snowman in town, be sure to enter in the Snowman-Making contest, which will be occurring throughout January and February.

Movie Nights will start at 5 p.m. on Jan. 24 with “Little Penguin: Pororo’s Racing,” and will be followed up with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on Feb. 21. If you are looking for a romantic way to spend Valentines Day, attend the “Pink in the Rink” event on Feb. 14.

Cleveland Botanical Garden a holiday hotspot

Downtown Cleveland lights up

Inside scoop on theatrical holiday

eventsWade Oval winter fun

Progam: GlowLocation: Cleveland Botanical

Gardens, 11030 East Blvd. Price: Free with CWRU ID; $16

adults; $12 children

Events: Festival of Trees/Lights Display at Tower City

Location: Downtown Cleveland

Price: Free

Events: “A Christmas Story”/ ”A Christmas Carol”

Location: Various theaters in Playhouse Square

Price: $15-$75

Events: Ice Skating at the Wade Oval Rink

Location: Wade Oval, 1 Wade Oval Dr.

Price: $5

“Not your average Christmas carol!”right before finals start, making it an easy celebration before academic craziness begins.

The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has two different versions of the same concert coming up, performed in Playhouse Square’s Hanna Theatre. On Dec. 14, a family-friendly concert titled “Jingle Bell Jazz Matinee Goes (Pea)Nuts!” costs only $10 and includes events for children. The more adult-focused program is on Dec. 13, and “A Not So Silent Night Goes (Pea)Nuts” has tickets between $25-$50. The laid-back evening is a great idea for a Christmas-themed date, with one of the

best jazz groups Cleveland has to offer.Starting on Dec. 12, the Cleveland

Orchestra will begin its two weeklong running Christmas concert on the weekends. This event almost always sells out, with tickets ranging from $40-$99 without a student ID. However, $10 student tickets are available if bought in advance, so it’s worth planning ahead for this one.

Holiday music can include some rock and roll, too. Grog Shop’s got your back with a handful of holiday-themed concerts over break. These include “A Bleak Christmas”

show on Dec. 18, “Cruel Winter Fest” show on Dec. 23, “Red, Black and Green Xmas” show on Christmas day and a New Year’s Eve show. All of these concerts feature local bands, in addition to the occasional free food. And they’re cheap, at only $8-$15.

For a two-for-one event, visit Mahall’s 20 Lanes for cheap bowling and cheap music. Rock out at “Home for the Holidays: A Punk Rock Reunion” priced at $5 on Dec. 23. Bring a toy, or $5, and get into Bravoartists’ Holiday Show on Dec. 19, featuring local bands Envoi, Skies of December and Meridian.

12 a&e 12/5/14

Courtesy Facebook

“Gotta catch ‘em all”

War film still fits today’s

issues

“Be the lobster”

Now, the nation watches the aftermath of a jury’s decision to let the officer who shot and killed Mike Brown walk free. There is unrest not only in Ferguson, but also in the rest of the country. It came by coincidence that the Film Society held a documentary showing of “Inside Buf-falo” last Thursday, Nov. 20.

The documentary shared the untold story of thousands of black Americans who served during World War II in Italy, only to come back and fight a war of dis-crimination in their own home. Named “Buffalo Soldiers,” the black American soldiers of the 92nd division faced racism in the army, despite the fact that many of them joined by choice.

The documentary encompasses the soldiers’ tough journeys before the war

Do you have the courage? This is the question Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love” and “The Signature of All Things” asked her audience on Monday, Nov. 17 at the Writers Center Stage pro-gram, hosted at Tinkham Veale Center. The program invites remarkable authors, poets and journalists to discuss their art and an-swer questions. Often, the audience is made up of the author’s fans and of artists seek-ing for inspiration. The question Gilbert of-fered, then, was not only specifically direct-ed to artists, but any person in the ballroom.

Courage is essential to almost everything in life. However, in order to have courage, the presence of fear must be acknowledged. As a young girl, Gilbert not only acknowl-edged fear, but also clung to it.

She admitted to her audience that she was afraid of everything as a kid. She was afraid of snow, of “Sesame Street” and practically every story that had an antagonist (which, she noted, was every story). Fear seized her life so much that she was called “Reverend Cry-Baby Pee-Pants.” Gilbert realized that “Fear, at its essence, is a boring thing,” and that defending fear made no sense. So

Gilbert did the scariest thing of all: She promised her life to a writing career. She de-cided that fear would not hold her back from the thing that she loved. In fact, she was so dedicated to writing that she lit a candle at 15

Hoenn Confirmed.For years rumors of the supposed remakes

of the acclaimed “Pokémon Ruby and Sap-phire” versions circled the Internet, especially after the remakes of the original two Poké-mon generations came out for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Then, earlier this year, Nintendo finally announced “Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire” for the Nintendo 3DS. The region of Hoenn was to appear again, in the newest Pokemon remake.

Hoenn Confirmed. How different it feels now to finally say these words out of joy rather than out of hope.

It’s clear from the onset of playing “Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sap-phire” that Game Freak was well aware of this Internet meme, as callbacks to the original “Ruby and Sapphire” are abun-dant throughout the games, and not just in the fact that they are remakes themselves.

The introductory “Welcome to the World of Pokémon” screen features the protagonist looking at a recording of the region’s professor. This bit uses the same graphical style as the original games’ wel-coming screen; the Pokédex itself looks like an older Game Boy Advance system and the new DexNav (a tool used to hunt Pokemon) uses backgrounds with the same sprite art style as the original titles.

Additionally, the games feature an abun-dance of trumpets throughout the soundtrack as a homage to the trumpet-filled “Ruby and Sapphire” soundtrack.

Like other games in the Pokémon series, the game retains the same basic RPG-style gameplay of capturing and battling wild creatures. This comes along with the updates

and as they fought, and it also portrayed their disheartening experience after.

Fred Kuwornu, the Italian-African di-rector, also ensures that the audience will learn of the companionship black and Italian soldiers formed during the war, when all they had was each other. Of the black American soldiers that survived, their service went unappreciated and unacknowledged until much later when those who were still alive were awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for American soldiers. The documentary is also a compilation of history that hap-pened after, of President Obama’s elec-tion and the struggle for social justice.

The struggle for social justice, of course, still continues today. “Inside Buffalo” emerges as an artistic represen-tation of that struggle, and it is a must-watch, especially when there is so much more progress to be made.

Nardine TalebStaff Reporter

Nardine TalebStaff Reporter

Brian ShermanStaff Reporter

Pokémon’s latest game provides virtually endless playtime

in gameplay introduced in “Pokémon X and Y” such as new online features, the Fairy type and Mega Evolutions.

The variety of Pokémon found in “Ome-ga Ruby and Alpha Sapphire” is similar to the variety of Pokémon found in the original games, with some additional Pokémon that were introduced later in the series, such as Gallade, an alternative evolution introduced in “Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.” In addi-tion, some new Mega Evolved Pokémon not featured in “X and Y” can be found in the reimagined Hoenn region this game is set in.

The story, likewise, is quite similar, with the player going out on a journey to beat all the Gym Leaders and become the Pokémon League Champion, thwarting Team Magma in “Omega Ruby” or Team Aqua in “Alpha Sapphire” along the way. Though the story is quite similar, the writ-ing changed significantly from the original version, with more memorable characters and dialogue throughout.

The 3-D art style also allows for a signifi-cantly larger conveyance than 2-D sprites,

and as such, the cutscenes, character anima-tions and overall scenery is rich and amaz-ing to see, especially for an old player of the original “Ruby and Sapphire.”

One of the more anticipated returning features is Pokémon Contests. These Poké-mon talent shows have a Japanese pop-idol feel this time around, which makes it all seem more modern and updated. The play-er is literally and figuratively taken under the wing of number-one contest star Lisia and her Altaria, Ali.

Lisia is absolutely adorable, but perhaps the best part of contests is undoubtedly the Cosplay Pikachu receives after winning a contest. This special Pikachu can be dressed up in one of five outfits: a rock star outfit, a pop star outfit, an adorable dress, a PhD out-fit or a wrestling outfit, and excels at what-ever contest it’s put in.

The game is not entirely a retread of its predecessor, however. In addition to the aforementioned gameplay additions brought over from “X and Y,” “Omega Ruby and Al-pha Sapphire” feature an updated PokéNav,

with four new features: most notably the old-er-styled DexNav and the AreaNav, a handy map with several search functions that can be displayed on the bottom screen.

Secret Bases can now be accessed by friends, and can be even set up like mini-gyms. Additionally, Mauville City has been completely redesigned, now resembling a large shopping mall with a central courtyard.

Finally, the game features an all-new postgame, with a feature allowing players to collect almost every Legendary Pokémon in the series thus far, as well as a brand new story called “Delta Episode” featuring the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza and Deoxys (which I won’t talk about to avoid spoilers).

Not many bad things can be said about these games. Perhaps the biggest disappoint-ment for “Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire” is the lack of trainer customization introduced in “X and Y,” especially when you consider the focus on exchanging secret bases.

Bottom line, if you were a fan of the original games, you will feel right at home playing this game. If you are a new player, and enjoyed the likes of “X and Y,” “Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire” will not disappoint.

Pokéfans will have dozens, if not hun-dreds of hours of content to keep themselves busy, and those into the more competitive side of Pokémon battling will find several handy features introduced later in the game that provide a more accessible and transpar-ent indication of a Pokémon’s potential.

Game: Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire

Console: Nintendo 2DS/3DS Developer: Game FreakRelease Date: November 21, 2014Rating:

Elizabeth Gilbert discusses writing, fear and life at Writer’s Center Stage on Nov. 17

Documentary “Inside Buffalo” follows the problem of social justice

years old and swore herself unto this adven-ture. She told writing (because she loves, as her fans would know, talking to inanimate things): “Let me take care of us (financially). I just want to be with you.”

Sounds a lot like marriage, but that’s the sort of commitment Gilbert described.

The important thing to note is that Gil-bert never threw away fear, yet still did not ignore it. In fact, she made room for it. She embraced fear. Writing, she said, was like going on a road trip with her in the driver’s seat, Creativity in the front seat, and Fear in the back. She would be doing her thing, Cre-ativity would be doing its thing, and she told Fear: “You’re gonna be doing what you do – screaming that we’re gonna die.”

Her perspective is refreshing, and it works. Those “road trips” she takes is what led to the worldwide success of “Eat, Pray, Love,” a book based on her own experience.

She also told a story of Little Brother, who went to a themed party dressed as a lob-ster, when the theme was Medieval Times. The room was filled with French aristocrats, princes and princesses, kings and queens. When Little Brother found himself in the midst of such high class, dressed like a fool, he thought, “Well, I made it this far.” His courage and impressive costume attracted attention and fascination. They loved him; they made room for him. Be the lobster, Gil-bert said. They might make room for you.

So again, the question is, do you have the courage?

The latest Pokémon game plays off of previous conventions, but adds in never-before-seen features, like wild Pokémon detection tools.

13a&eobserver.case.edu

Stephanie Kim/Observer

CWRU THOUGHTS

Maria FazalStaff Reporter

Janet LanmanContributing Reporter

The Case Western Reserve University community is known for thinking beyond the possible. Each week, this column aims to capture a slice of campus life.

Q: What are you looking forward to now that the semester is almost over?

A: I’m ready to go home for break! I’m ready for my vacation, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to spend Christmas with my grandkids.

Classic ballet rings in the holiday season

I’m going to have my little grandkids over and have an old-fashioned Christ-mas tree and have them string it up with popcorn and ornaments. I’m going to do things I’ve never done before and make this Christmas really special. This is the best, best part of the whole year.

“The Nutcracker” is a Christmastime staple for me. After performing in the ballet for 10 years, I still get butterflies when I hear the music in commercials and department stores during the holiday season. Dayton and Cincinnati Ballets have both proven to be inadequate in my quest for a beautiful and classical Nutcracker experience, so I turned to the Joffrey Ballet for its production, paired with the Cleveland Orchestra.

The party scene, while remaining the most dull portion of the story’s plot, was vivid with bright costumes and a dynamic set. Small touches, such as candle snuffers to extinguish the Christmas tree, kept the ballet true to its Victorian-era roots.

The battle scene was similarly jazzed up with firing cannon and smoke. The stage transformed into a winter wonder-land with a dazzling land of snow, when the choreography picked up and the Jof-frey’s dancers shone to the music enriched with the children’s choir.

Christine Rocas lit up the stage from the beginning as Clara’s elegant mother. I was delighted to see her reappear in a glit-tering tutu as the snow queen when she performed a beautiful pas de deux with partner Rory Hohenstein.

Rocas later demonstrated her artistic tal-ent and malleability as the unique Arabian

Event: The Cleveland Orchestra and Joffrey Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”

Location: State Theatre, 1519 Euclid Ave.

Rating:

Joffrey Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” comes to Cleveland

summer.case.edu

Course load got you feeling like you’re swimming upstream? Do more than just tread water this summer—turn the tide with Summer Session!

Taking summer classes can help you work ahead or reduce your course load, graduate on time (or early), or improve your performance in a previously completed class.

And the cost? Well that’s another kettle of fish altogether. Tuition for courses numbered 1-399 is just 50 percent of the regular rate, so you’ll save money, too.

With 107 courses in 32 fields—including 25 new offerings and eight study abroad courses—Summer Session offers the same high-quality CWRU education with smaller classes and significant savings.

Stop feeling like a fish out of water—carpe summer by making your plans now. View the preview schedule at summer.case.edu.

May term: May 11–298 Week Session: June 1–July 275 week Session: June 1–July 24 week Session (1): June 1–266 Week Session: June 15 – July 274 Week Session (2): July 6–31

Carpe Summer

Summer 2015Session

dancer. The piece was much slower than I am accustomed to, but each movement was so extravagant, the audience hung on her every move. Rocas was the star of the show as she transitioned between characters from Clara’s regal mother to the beautiful, classic snow queen, to the sultry and enticing Arabian, ex-ecuting near flawless technique in each role.

The Joffrey Ballet’s version, choreo-graphed by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Ar-pino, focused on the whimsical nature of ballet rather than the underlying love story portrayed by many other versions.

In fact, Clara didn’t have a pas de deux with her beloved Nutcracker at all. Their rendition instead focused on the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince, beautifully danced by April Daly and Miguel Angel Blanco.

Although I wished for more personality with the Sugar Plum, her execution was in-credible and I held my breath when she per-formed a daring flip before the final fish dive.

Overall, the Joffrey’s Nutcracker was a magnificent production that remained true to the beauty of the ballet as origi-nally envisioned.

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Eldred loves losersEllie RamboCopy Editor

“Your word is cow.”“Could I have the definition please?”“It means cow.”“Could you use it in a sentence?”“Please spell cow.”“C-O-W.” “That is correct.”This is not a typical spelling bee, as

demonstrated by unusual example sentenc-es and definitions unlikely to be found in any dictionary.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spell-ing Bee” is also not a typical musical. This show, which ran in Eldred Theater from Nov. 14-23, incorporates improv comedy and audi-ence member participation into its script.

At the beginning of the show, people from the audience—who have been selected while waiting in the lobby—are called on-stage, and sit in the bleachers with the show’s young spellers. They spell words along with the scripted characters, and although some of these words are easy (cow, Ohio) some of them are much more challenging (cystitis, qaimaqam). Although the volunteers are soon eliminated, characters talk, sing and throw candy to the audience throughout the show.

The scripted characters include two judg-es, six spellers and an intimidating comfort counselor named Mitch Mahoney (Jason Slei-senger), who leads disqualified contestants offstage with a hug and a juice box as part of his court-mandated community service.

2015 Spartan Challenge entrepreneurship competition offers more than $20,000 in prizes

Case Western Reserve University undergraduate students are invited to join students from the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Music to participate in

the 2015 Erony Spartan Challenge, a mentored entrepreneurship competition.

The top three teams from the Business Planning and Mentorship stage will be awarded funding ($10,000, $5,000, $2,500) to enable them to begin

implementation of the business concept.

Letter of Intent Contest Information Session presented by

Joyce Erony, WRC ‘81Teams interested in applying to the 2015 Spartan Challenge are asked to register and submit a

“Letter of Intent” electronically to: Professor Colin Drummond at colin.drummond@case.edu

Due: Midnight Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015

Those students interested in participating should plan on attending 1:00pm on Monday, Jan. 19

Room 410, Nord HallMore information is available

at http://bme.case.edu/SpartanChallenge

Loveable play brings comedy, drama to stage

The spellers compete for a spot in the National Spelling Bee, and will do what-ever it takes to make it to Washington, D.C. The adults are as eccentric as the spellers, and the cast does an excellent job making the characters not only funny, but also like-able and interesting.

The most moving moment in the show comes when one of the spellers, Olive Os-trovsky (Bessie Bulman), is given the word chimerical (definition: highly unrealistic, wildly fanciful). The word brings her need for parental love to the surface as she sings to her mother, who has left Putnam County to go on a spiritual journey in India.

The situation sounds silly, but its introduc-tion earlier in the musical gets the joke out of the way and leaves Olive alone at the compe-tition, with a mother on the other side of the world and a father who would rather work late than come see her spell.

The actors who play the two adult judg-es, Rona Lisa Perretti (Sara Bogomolny) and Vice Principal Panch (Brett DiCello), act as Olive’s imagined mother and father. The three of them sing an ethereal trio with the rest of the cast doing back-up vocals. In a musical with many cute songs and jokes, this song stands out as an intense moment of emotion. Bulman’s beautiful voice gives

it the power to make you care about one of the quirky characters onstage for some-thing more than her spelling skills.

After all, for the kids on the bleachers, this competition is about more than spell-ing. Marcy Park (Natalie El Dabh) spells to demonstrate her superiority, Leaf Coneybear (Zachary Palumbo) to show that he’s smart despite what his family says and Logainne SchwartzandGrubenniere (Alexis Attinoto) to prove to the world that she can be a winner.

Logainne is the youngest speller, but also the most politically involved. The daughter of two overbearing fathers, she is the president of her elementary school’s Gay Straight Alli-ance and often makes references to feminism, politics and the corrupt nature of the Ameri-can food industry. She feels extreme pressure to prove that someone from her background can be successful, pressure that makes her desperate to win the bee. She often repeats a phrase that she probably has heard from her parents: “America hates losers.”

That may be true, but this is a musical, and musicals love losers. And with the help of the characters in this show, the audience is one step closer to loving them, too.

Play: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”

Troupe: Eldred Theater Location: Eldred Hall, 2070

Adelbert Rd.Rating:

Courtesy Lizzy KalikasinghNerds become stars in Eldred’s latest play “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

15a&eobserver.case.edu

There were three things in abundance at The Corner Alley’s media preview night on Friday, Nov. 21: food, workers and bowling balls.

However, the bowling balls weren’t just rolling down the lanes. They were fixed onto the walls, holding up railings leading upstairs; they were lined up on shelves be-hind the bar, 99 of them in total; they were popping out of decorative ledges like con-temporary bubbles.

Almost as abundant were tables of food, which welcomed visitors with calamari, stuffed mushrooms, risotto balls, cannoli and countless other samples. Staff mem-bers swarmed around each visitor, asking if they were hungry, if they were thirsty, if they wanted to bowl.

Almost a little too welcoming, for an introvert.

A harp player, stationed on the ground f loor, played modern, heavenly tunes as people toured around the build-ing, cocktails in hand. Some started bowling, and quickly got sawdusty fin-gers from the brand new bowling balls, while others visited the arcade game on the second f loor: a revamped version of “Mario Kart.”

As more and more suits walked into The Corner Alley, the music started get-ting a little more upbeat.

And a lot more loud; it was suddenly very apparent why the place had invested so much in thick soundproofing on the ceiling, sandwiched between bowlers and Cleve-land Institute of Art student apartments.

Soon, the harpist was replaced with a DJ, playing a mix of old and new jams like “Break on Through” by The Doors, and “Never There” by Cake.

Just this simple playlist choice reflects The Corner Alley’s history.

Eat, drink, bowlAnne NickoloffArts & Entertainment Editor

The Corner Alley fits right in with Uptown Cleveland

Andrew Hodowanec/ObserverThe Corner Alley’s Media Preview Night offered not only a taste of bowling, but also a taste of the restaurant’s Italian-based menu.

The original Corner Alley, located downtown, has been a constantly happen-ing place for years. Rarely is the building not packed with visitors. But here, at its University Circle counterpart, the party is just getting started.

With black lights illuminating the bowl-

ing pins and flashing lights zipping down along the bumpers, the new Corner Alley isn’t some gaudy Cosmic Bowling joint. It’s modern, stylish. On the wall of the stair-case, a map of Northeast Ohio features a single dot for every human living here. Wavy, laid-back modern furniture lines the rooms. Bars are the center attraction.

However, The Corner Alley isn’t just a bar and bowling alley combo. It’s also a swanky restaurant.

“This is more of a casual dining experi-ence,” said culinary director Todd DiCillo. “Hearty, fun, Cleveland food.”

Nothing on the menu exceeds $15, with regular sandwich orders leveling off around $10. The creators of the joint took student budgets into account when pricing food and drinks. Ultimately, The Corner Alley is a place where visitors can drink, eat and bowl in fluidity; it’s a place for all kinds of hanging out.

The Media Preview VIP Party had all the lanes filled, with wait lists being checked off towards the end of the night. The sound of balls crashing into pins filled

the background, and the DJ played Earth Wind and Fire’s song “September,” which had most of the tipsy crowd dancing with bowling balls in their hands.

Other visitors relaxed at various tables, enjoying plates of Kalamari (a little too salty), or a cannoli or two. Outside, valet parking attendants huddled around the bonfires in front of the doors. More staff members swarmed around the build-ing, asking everyone the same stream of questions: “How are you doing? Have you bowled yet? Did you try the dessert?”

However, with a fuller crowd, it wasn’t as overwhelming to be asked those ques-tions. It felt more earnest. Plus, when de-scribing the possibilities of doing different programs, like student bowling nights or roasting s’mores at the bonfires outside, the idea of blending the alley with the student community surrounding it became all the more obvious.

As the night wound down and visitors started to leave, one thing was certain: While The Corner Alley is new to Univer-sity Circle, it’s already a hit.

Andrew Hodowanec/ObserverBowling balls are the decoration of choice at The Corner Alley.

16 a&e 12/5/14

Mike SuglioStaff Reporter

Allison DuchinStaff Reporter

The impressively bearded band Four Year Strong took the Grog Shop’s stage to a roar-ing crowd after three other punk rock bands opened for them.

Thursday, Nov. 20 was another stop for the band on its “Go Down in History Tour,” and as soon as the band began to play, mayhem ensued.

Within minutes fans were crowd surfing and hanging from the ceiling. Literally.

Patrons jumped up and down to the music and formed a consuming mosh pit. Fans not wanting to be a part of the madness, includ-ing myself, were pushed far back to the bar as we watched the chaos from afar.

The night didn’t start out crazy, however.Prior to Four Year Strong was the very

energetic Transit. Upon taking the stage, the incredibly smug (and at times cocky) punk rocker, Joe Boynton, jumped into the crowd and began his set.

Throughout the set Boynton often held the microphone to the audience who sang along with him. Unlike Four Year Strong’s set, many audience members weren’t as fa-miliar with the music, but the ones who sang along were very much into Transit.

Boynton was quite the performer, often singing his songs while crowd surfing or hanging from the rafters—a feat I have nev-er seen at the Grog Shop.

Transit, an emo band formed in 2006, performed in Warped Tour, with a sound

With finals coming up within the next week, everyone is stressed about studying and cramming for their exams. However, second to knowing the information and ac-tually showing up, it’s important to under-stand how you study best.

There are two study styles at Case West-ern Reserve University that have persisted: the theory of “dress well, test well,” and the comfort and ease of sweats. Which is your study style?

“Dress well, test well,” is a theory of putting energy into deciding your test day apparel in order to stimulate productive thinking, just like if you were going to an interview. A suit is in no way required like it is on an interview, but dressing well could simply consist of a well put-together outfit. This plays on the same notion of giving a good impression and getting focused.

Sophomore Alex Beisner believes in this testing mentality and puts it to use through-out the semester, progressing this idea for finals: “During finals, I do dress better or more formal than usual to put on a more se-rious and professional air.”

Junior Alan Burke has an intense pro-cess of preparing for an exam. It includes varying study techniques based on what kind of class it is and is planned down to the music he listens to right before entering the test. He is also a believer in the “dress well, test well,” as it stems out of a habit.

“I dress well during exams because it’s how I dress normally, and I like to recreate the same vibe during a test as I have when I study or go to class,” said Burke. “I gener-ally dress well partly because it does make me more confident and motivated, but ad-

Band: Four Year Strong/TransitLocation: Grog Shop, 2785 Euclid

Hts. Blvd. Date: Nov. 20Rating:

Playlist of the Week

“Archie, Marry Me”— Alvvays

In a just world, “Archie, Marry Me” would have been the chart-topping hit of the summer. On this track, Alvvays have composed a pop melody so gorgeous and ethereal that its power will leave you spellbound and humming for weeks. This is songcraft at its finest. Alvvays will grace the stage of the Beachland Tavern on Dec. 13. Tickets are $12 and the show starts at 8:30 p.m.

Teddy EisenbergStaff Reporter

“From a Motel 6”— Yo La TengoIt has been 21 years since these Hoboken-rooted

indie rock gods first released the wildly wonderful “Painful” in 1993; this week Matador records has fittingly decided to reissue an expanded version of the album. The dense rocker “From a Motel 6” showcases the band’s ability to craft soundscapes without becoming trapped within them, blending guitar squalls and recessed vocals into a dreamy and subtly addictive listening experience. This Matador re-issue, dubbed “Painful (Extra Painful)” was re-leased Dec. 2.

“Blood in the Streets”—Ghostface Killah Feat. AZ

Despite clocking in at barely over two minutes, “Blood in the Streets” is a devastat-ing new single from Ghostface Killah, and its rhymes circle around 99 percent of the rapping population. With fresh sounding production that recalls Jay-Z’s “American Gangster,” AZ lends his considerable lyrical chops to give this song an incredible flow. Ghostface Killah’s latest, “36 Hours” will be available on Dec. 9 from Tommy Boy Entertainment.

“Here Comes Your Man (Demo)”—The Pixies

In addition to a re-release of “Painful,” this week also saw the revamping of the Pixies “Doo-little,” an album that helped write the Holy Scrip-tures of college radio rock. Among the extras add-ed to this album are several demos of the original cuts, allowing even longtime Pixies fans to revisit the group’s classic sound as if for the first time. The demo of “Here Comes Your Man” is a stand-out cut that blends the Pixies wave of mutilating crunch and hummable pop into an all-too-short three minutes.

“Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart”— Owen

“Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart” is perhaps the most spectacular reinterpretation that can be heard on Owen’s new cover album, “Other People’s Songs.” Originally a duet be-tween Against Me!’s Laura Grace and Tegan and Sara’s Tegan Quin, duo Mike Kinsella and Sarah Mitchell recast this tune with a troubadour croon, painting a relaxed picture of cozy guitars and strings. Like any great collection of covers, Owen’s release, available on Dec. 2, offers new perspectives while also encouraging us to revisit the original versions.

“Girlfriend”—Matthew SweetMatthew Sweet is one of power pop’s true

savants, and fueled an always-welcome revival of the genre in the 1990s with exceptional songwrit-ing and killer guitar playing. “Girlfriend” serves as an example of both: a fine piece of guitar pop that, despite having recognizable roots, never sounds derivative. If you like rock, pop, indie or music of any kind, this album is an essential edi-tion to your collection.

Teddy Eisenberg is a third year programmer at WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland. He hosts The ’59 Sound, an exploration of rock music, every Thursday morning from 8-10 a.m.. and co-hosts the variety talk show Max and Teddy in the Morning at Night (Sometimes) on Mon-days from 5-6 p.m. The crackle of vinyl warms him on cold Cleveland nights.All photos courtesy soundcloud.com, maniadb.com, amazon.com, & sharethefiles.com

Retro Pick of the Week:

Find all these tracks online with our weekly Spotify playlist at observer.case.edu

Bearded band’s mayhem at Grog Shop

reminiscent of Taking Back Sunday or Fall Out Boy. The band has recently settled into more of a Death Cab for Cutie vibe, however.

I was often distracted from Transit’s performance by the high number of fans jumping off the stage and into the crowd. This gymnastics show was quite a sight to see and, remarkably, no one was hurt. There was a short moment where I wanted to give it a try, and then better judgment sank in when I realized I would probably break at least a few bones in the process.

Luckily, no bones were broken during Four Year Strong’s show.

Formed in 2001, the band has built up an impressive following.

Singer Dan O’Connor asked the audience who had seen the band before this perfor-mance, and nearly the entire crowd roared and raised their hands. I immediately could hear the fans around me begin to discuss “crazy” past shows.

The crowd went berserk during the popu-lar hit, “Wasting Time” and fans jumped off the stage into the crowd where multiple people were crowd surfing.

With such diehard fans, Four Year Strong proved to be a strong concert at Grog Shop. After all, the small venue looks best when it’s packed.

What’s the CWRU study style?

mittedly I’m also a little bit pretentious and vain. It happens. But dressing in sweats or athletic clothing makes me feel too relaxed, a little bum-like.”

While “dress well, test well,” is a study style that can promote confidence in the test taker, others find it constricting or distracting to be focused on their clothes instead of the material at hand. The al-ternative to this study style is vying for clothes more associated with relaxation such as leggings, yoga pants, or sweats. This more simplistic and less intensive look allows some people to focus by hav-ing no other distractions.

Junior Karen Zoeller reinforces the idea that people who choose sweatpants while taking an exam can focus more on the test material. “I think my confidence comes from my knowledge of the material, not my clothes,” said Zoeller.

Zoeller describes that the preparation is stressful enough, and putting focus into her clothing only increases her stress, unlike Beisner and Burke.

These two polar views on how to ap-proach exams divide our campus. From a random survey of 61 students, 49 percent responded that they follow the “dress, well, test well” mentality, while the remaining 51 percent said that they prefer the comfort of sweats or other less constricting clothing to go into exams. These surprisingly even statistics show that there is a disagreement among people at CWRU when it comes to finals clothing choice.

Whatever makes you feel prepared for finals, stick to it. Whether it is the confi-dence and focus that comes from dressing up or the focus by not being distracted by anything else in more comfortable clothes, be true to your test strategy.

observer.case.edu fun page | 17

fun

Crossword PuzzleAcross1. Ancient Athenian philosopher6. Flower stalk10. It was (contraction)14. Suffered15. Protagonist16. Employ17. Canny18. Acquire deservedly19. Always20. In a crosswise di-rection22. Distribute23. Drunkard24. Thigh armor26. Examine again30. A type of virus32. Severe pain33. Brain science37. Pace38. Lad39. Mouselike animal40. Hooking42. Fend off43. Black-and-white diving bird44. Boat

45. French farewell47. Dowel48. Lummox49. Contemplative56. Hello57. Letters, etc.58. A group of soldiers59. Assist in crime60. Feudal worker61. Name of a book62. Prong63. Marsh plant64. Marble

Down1. Agreement2. Teller of untruths3. Aquatic plant4. Adolescent5. Amazing adventure6. Piece of paper7. Rip8. Makes a mistake9. Pecuniary10. Reflexive form of “them”11. Spouses12. Mountain crest

13. Arid21. Solemn promise25. In the past26. Indian music27. Quaint outburst28. Cancel29. Frighten30. Tubular pasta31. Suspended33. French for “Black”34. Klutz’s cry35. Delight36. Scream38. Guitar player41. Prompt42. Sailing competition44. Animal doctor45. Excuse46. Elder47. Stacked48. Gossip50. Convenience51. Eat52. Trigonometry (ab-brev.)53. Greek letter54. Electrical unit55. Type of sword

CO

MIC

S

You can also just ignore any science assertion where ‘quantum mechanics’ is the most

complicated phrase in it. By xkcd

Ivory Tower by Kevin Yong

12/5/14 18 | fun page

affinityanalogartlessawakebleakbloodchildlikecoinsdeeddregsferalfoolishglassglossgoosehedgehops

imagineinsaneleisureloessmetaphormincemonkeynearbypartyplainpuerilesandsatinsleepsmilesnobsubside W

ord

sear

chAries

(Apr. 19 - May 13)It’s time to challenge

yourself to see how much you can procrastinate with

studying for finals before you will surely fail all of them.

Taurus(May 14 - Jun. 19)

You should go on a tour of the U.S. during your break.

Gemini(Jun. 20 - Jul. 20)

Cramming for your finals now might seem like a good idea, but today is the day to start studying. Don’t sCWRU

yourself.

Cancer(Jul. 21 - Aug. 9)

At this point the best thing you can do for your future is

join the circus.

Leo(Aug. 10 - Sep. 15)

It’s that time of year again when you convince yourself

that happiness is more important than As. Hold on

tight!

Virgo(Sep. 16 - Oct. 30)

Home-cooked meals and holiday cookies will serve

to remind you that the freshman fifteen isn’t just

for freshmen, and it doesn’t have to happen while class

is in session.

Libra(Oct. 31 - Nov. 22)

Squirrels are allowed to hibernate, but you aren’t

until after finals.

Scorpio(Nov. 23 - Nov. 29)

Take a hint from the hawk that was chilling on the quad

today. Take no prisoners.

Ophiuchus(Nov. 30 - Dec. 17)

Go on break early and figure out the meaning of life.

Sagittarius(Dec. 18 - Jan. 18)It’s our time, baby!

Capricorn(Jan. 19 - Feb. 15)

Congratulations! You’re going to do great on your

finals! This horoscope only applies to the five people

who are studying right now.

Aquarius(Feb. 16 - Mar. 11)

Guess what? That class you just signed up for has

assigned winter break reading. Over 1,000 pages,

due by the day we get back. Who needs a break anyway?

Get back to work.

Pisces(Mar. 12 - Apr. 18)

If you start to feel a little hopeless during finals, just

think of the twelve hour nights of sleep you’ll be

getting soon.

Horoscopes

Nutcase

19sportsobserver.case.edu

The Jolly Scholar

Comedy & Bingo Night

Wednesday, December 10

Call the Jolly Scholar for your next holiday party. We’ll cause

any party to get Jolly.

jolly.scholar

@JollyScholar

216.368.0090mpv3@case.edu

MTW 11a – 12aRF 11a – 2aSat. 12p – 2aSun. 12p – 12a

Catering!

The Jolly Scholar is the place to be on Sunday with wings for miles and Johnny Football love.

Sunday Wingday

Football (UAA)Conference All

Wins Losses Percent Wins Losses Percent

Chicago 2 0 1.000 7 1 0.875

Washington 1 1 0.500 4 5 0.444

Case Western Reserve

1 1 0.500 3 6 0.333

Carnegie Mellon 0 2 0.000 3 6 0.333

Football (PAC)Conference All

Wins Losses Percent Wins Losses Percent

Washington & Jefferson

7 0 1.000 9 0 1.000

Thomas More 7 1 0.875 8 2 0.800

Waynesburg 5 2 0.714 7 2 0.778

Bethany 5 2 0.714 6 3 0.667

St. Vincent 3 4 0.429 3 6 0.333

Westminster 3 4 0.429 3 6 0.333

Case Western Reserve

3 5 0.375 3 6 0.333

Carnegie Mellon 3 5 0.375 3 6 0.333

Geneva 2 5 0.286 3 6 0.333

Thiel 2 5 0.286 3 6 0.333

Grove City 0 7 0.000 0 9 0.000

Sports Standings

CalendarVarsity Sport Friday 12/5 Saturday 12/6 Friday 12/19Men's Basketball

@ Adrian 5:00 PM @ Bucknell 7:30 PM

Women's Basketball

Home vs. Denison 1:00 PM

Swimming and Diving

@ Wooster Invitational 10:00

AM/ 6:00 PM

@ Wooster Invitational 10:00 AM/ 5:00 PM

Track and Field

Home for Spartan Holiday Classic 11:00 AM

Wrestling @ RIT Invitational 9:30 AM

Varsity Sport

Sunday 12/28

Monday 12/29

Tuesday 12/30

Wed. 12/31

Men's Basketball

Home vs. Geneva 8:00 PM

Home vs. St. Vincent or Trine

TBA

Women's Basketball

vs. TCNJ @ Williamsport

7:00 PM

vs. Delaware Valley @ Williamsport, Pa

1:00PM

Home vs. John Carrol

1:00 PM

Wrestling @ Citrus Invitational, Fort Lauderdale FL

@ Citrus Invitational, Fort Lauderdale FL

VolleyballConference All

Wins Losses Percent Wins Losses Percent

Emory 6 1 0.857 34 3 0.919

Chicago 4 3 0.571 26 12 0.684

Washington 6 1 0.857 33 5 0.868

Carnegie Mellon 5 2 0.714 22 11 0.667

Case Western Reserve

4 3 0.571 18 12 0.600

New York U. 1 6 0.143 17 19 0.472

Rochester 2 5 0.286 20 18 0.526

Brandeis 0 7 0.000 7 24 0.226

Women’s Basketball

Conference AllWins Losses Ties Percent Wins Losses Ties Percent

New York U. 0 0 0 0.000 6 0 0 1.000

Rochester 0 0 0 0.000 6 0 0 1.000

Washington 0 0 0 0.000 5 0 0 1.000

Carnegie Mellon 0 0 0 0.000 7 1 0 0.875

Brandeis 0 0 0 0.000 5 1 0 0.833

Case Western Reserve

0 0 0 0.000 4 2 0 0.667

Emory 0 0 0 0.000 4 2 0 0.667

Chicago 0 0 0 0.000 1 4 0 0.200

Men’s Basketball

Conference AllWins Losses Ties Percent Wins Losses Ties Percent

Carnegie Mellon 0 0 0 0.000 7 0 0 1.000

Washington 0 0 0.000 6 0 1.000

Case Western Reserve

0 0 0 0.000 5 1 0 0.833

Emory 0 0 0 0.000 4 1 0 0.800

Chicago 0 0 0 0.000 5 2 0 0.714

Rochester 0 0 0 0.000 4 2 0 0.667

New York U. 0 0 0.000 3 2 0.600

Brandeis 0 0 0 0.000 0 4 0 0.000

20 sports 12/5/14

Only a few teams remain on the court as champions will be decided

With the regular season fully in the rearview mirror, the intramural volley-ball playoffs are well under way. Only one team in each league will be left standing when it’s all said and done. Who will those teams be? Let’s recap the playoffs so far.

In the Co-Rec League, Delt/Theta outlasted PiKapp/Tri Sigma to begin the action. In the round of sixteen, PASSoma bested Delt/Theta in three sets. Set to Kill defeated Fre$h2Breath, while Phi Psi/AXO got the better of Macroballs in three sets. Netter’s Set-ters were victorious against BME (FAKE) Fun Levils. Floss Bosses pre-vailed over Spikey Dinosaurs, and Sig-ma Nu & Friends advanced with a win over Haha omg yes. ZBT/APhi moved

on to the next round with a victory over Pi Phi/Zeta Psi in two sets. Finally, Sets on the Beach kept its season alive with a three set victory against Fiji/DG. In the quarterfinals, Set to Kill defeated PAS-Soma while Netter’s Setters knocked off Phi Psi/AXO in three sets. Sigma Nu & Friends advanced by defeating Floss Bosses, and ZBT/APhi prevailed against Sets on the Beach to move on. In the semifinals, Set to Kill contin-ued its playoff run with a two set win over Netter’s Setters and ZBT/APhi de-feated Sigma Nu & Friends in two sets to advance. Set to Kill and ZBT/APhi squared off in the finals on Thursday, Dec. 4. The result can be found on the intramural website.

In the Fraternity League, round one began with Delta Tau Delta knocking off Delta Sigma Phi in two sets while Zeta Psi advanced with a two set win against

Pi Kappa Phi. Sigma Nu outlasted Delta Upsilon in three sets. SigEp G advanced by prevailing over Delta Chi in two sets. Phi Delta Theta got the best of Phi Kap-pa Tau, and Sigma Chi moved on with a two set victory over Phi Kappa Psi. In the quarterfinals, Phi Kaps defeated Sigma Nu to keep its season alive. Delta Tau Delta prevailed against Zeta Psi in two sets, while FIJI defeated SigEp G. Phi Delta Theta advanced by knocking off Sigma Chi in three sets.

In the semifinals, Delta Tau Delta stunned Phi Kaps in two sets and Phi Delta Theta defeated FIJI in two sets. Delta Tau Delta and Phi Delta Theta squared off in the finals. The results of that match can also be found on the league’s site.

In the Open League, Dirty Sets out-lasted BME SunDevils in three sets to advance. Albaloo got the better of Team

All the Sports in three sets, while Globo Gym advanced with a three set victory against The Juggling Club. The Soc-cer team prevailed over ACE Inhibitors in two sets to advance, and No Casu-alties kept its season alive by besting #TeamGetSwole in three sets.

In the quarterfinals, Bump It Up defeated Dirty Sets to move on, while Globo Gym advanced with a two set win over Albaloo. Netter’s Setters de-feated The Soccer Team in a three set thriller, and PASSoma continued its playoff push by prevailing over No Ca-sualties. In the semifinals, PASSoma defeated Netter’s Setters in two sets to advance to the finals. Bump It Up and Globo Gym squared off on Thursday, with the winner advancing to face PAS-Soma later that night. Results of both matches can be found on the league’s official website.

While the rest of the student body crammed for tests or were already checked out and thinking of turkey and stuffing, the Spartan men and women were focused on their first tri-meet of the year.

The Spartan swimmers and div-ers traveled to Grove City College to compete against both Grove City and nearby Gannon University, a Division II school. While the men pulled out vic-tories in both matches, the women were unable to match the men’s success and fell to both of the other teams.

The men led by four double-winners to defeat Grove City 217-75 and Gan-non 180.5-99.5, advancing to 5-1 on the season. As a team, the Spartans won 10 events in the meet.

Connor Farrell excelled from the diving boards bringing home season high scoring dives. He won the 1-meter high dive event with 314 points and the 3-meter event with a score of 313.90.

The scores improve Farrell’s re-gional qualifying scores. Furthermore, the showing earned Farrell the UAA Diver of the Week Award, the first of his career. Farrell is also the school record-holder in the 3-meter, 11-dive competition with a score of 506.10 at the UAA Championship back in Febru-ary of 2013.

Senior Eric Haufler was among the dual victors for the Spartans, winning both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle races. Haufler touched the wall with times of 48.14 and 1:46.79 to beat the competition. Junior Aaron Tam followed suit, winning the 200-

yard butterfly in just under 2 minutes, touching at the 1:56.05 mark, as well as the 500 free, coming in at 4:46.05.

Finally, freshman Drew Hamilton recorded his first double victory with wins in the 1,000 free and the 400 indi-vidual medley, finishing with times of 9:53.05 and 4:14.15 respectively.

Haufler and Tam also led the Spartan men in the 200 free relay; they placed first with a time of 1:26.17.

The duo of Haufler and Tam were joined by fellow Spartans Elliott Kerbel and Andrew Bollinger in winning the event.

The women were unfortunately un-able to pull off wins in the meet, falling to the hosts by a score of 170-127 and Gannon by a score of 189-90. The Spar-tans fall to 2-4 with the pair of losses.

Junior Rebecca Pakradooni was the only Spartan to leave the pool vic-torious as she touched the wall in the 100-yard butterfly just after the minute mark, with a time of 1:00.13. Pakradoo-ni also swam to a second-place finish in the 200 free.

Despite a lack of first-place finishes, freshmen Brooke Hortness and Ellie Wilson came up just short, placing sec-ond in their events.

Hortness placed second in both dives, with scores of 213.15 and 195.60 from the 1-meter and 3-meter boards while Wilson touched the wall second in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The Spartans returned to competition on Thursday after The Observer went to print. However, they are competing in the Wooster Invitational, a three-day competition spanning from Thursday to Saturday. The Spartans will be look-ing to continue their four-year winning streak.

Swimming and diving teams rise and fall in Grove City Tri Meet

Spartans return to the water this weekendJP. O’HaganSports Editor

David HoffmanStaff Reporter

Intramural volleyball gears up for playoffs

21sportsobserver.case.edu

f

A month into the young basketball season, the Case Western Reserve Uni-versity men have already reeled off a string of impressive victories. Sporting a 5-1 record—the lone blemish being an 87-74 setback at Denison—the Spartans have shown great potential on both ends of the court, while also exhibiting a re-markable willingness to share the ball.

Seniors Dane McLoughlin and Julien Person have been particularly impres-sive, both recently earning all-tourna-ment honors at the DoubleTree Invi-tational tournament. Spurred by their efforts, the team has averaged over 85

Men’s basketball starts out season strong

On a rollpoints per game on 48 percent shoot-ing—a pace that is sure to put rival squads on notice.

Still unbeaten at home, Case has been virtually unstoppable offensively. In winning both games at the Double-Tree Invitational, the Spartans put up 102 points per game with a 21.5 point average margin of victory; in both cas-es, the team dominated from start to finish. Against Penn State Beaver, five Spartans reached double figures as Case shot white-hot—over 50% from the floor including a barrage of three-point-ers—and recorded its highest point total (107) in nearly a decade. Head coach Sean McDonnell has also been pleased with this recent style of basketball, not-

ing that the Spartans “….will always defend, rebound and share the ball,” a fact that has been evident in every game so far this season.

The first six games have also seen a few impressive individual achievements by Spartan players. Against Wilmington College, senior captain McLoughlin be-came the 19th player in CWRU history to surpass the 1,000-point mark, while also collecting the Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Tournament MVP award. In the same game, freshman forward Eric Black also cemented his first-ever all-tournament team appearance by scoring a career-high 22 points on 9-10 shooting. This past week, the Spartans wrapped up a highly successful weekend at the

Doubletree Invitational with McLough-lin and playmaking senior guard Person garnering all-tournament honors. For the rest of the season, McLoughlin is also poised to chase down numerous spots on CWRU all-time lists, including points, three-pointers and rebounds.

The Spartans head out onto the road for the next two games against Adrian College (Dec. 6) and Bucknell Univer-sity (Dec. 9) before returning to the friendly confines of Horsburgh Gymna-sium for the Bill Sudeck Holiday Tour-nament (Dec. 29-30). Conference play begins on Jan. 10 at arch-rival Carnegie Mellon, a game that the Spartans have surely had circled on their calendars since fall practices first began.

Aaron ShangContributing Reporter

Spartans to play final game before break this weekend

Women’s basketball wins two in a row

The Spartans have strung togeth-er two in a row to jump to 4-2 on the young season.

Right before Thanksgiving, the Spar-tan women dropped a close game to Ke-nyon College by a score of 51-47. The Spartans were led by sophomore guard Jessica McCoy, who put up 13 points and helped facilitate the offense with three assists.

The Spartans fell behind early, with their last lead happening at the 13:06 mark of the first half. After that it was all Kenyon—they jumped into the lead with seven unanswered points. The Spartans hit a shot from behind the arc, but this was only momentary relief; Ke-nyon then strung together a 10-1 run to

JP. O’HaganSports Editor

take a commanding lead.The Spartans refused to give up and

answered with a 10-2 spurt to pull to 24-21 but limped into the half, behind 29-23. Kenyon took commanding leads in the second half, going up by as many as 11. Despite drawing close down the stretch, the Spartans were unable to equalize.

The Spartans returned early from Thanksgiving break to host Wittenberg University. Wittenberg had been unde-feated, but the Spartans easily handed them a 66-55 loss.

Case Western Reserve University was led again by McCoy, who con-verted three shots from downtown and added five rebounds to the stat sheet. Brooke Orcutt posted 12 points and seven rebounds of her own, and junior post Laura Mummey added 10 points and eight grabs off the boards.

The Spartans relied on their defense and were able to hold the Tigers to a scoreless opening six minutes of play and kept them from scoring a field goal for the first seven and a half.

The Case lead increased to 11 in the first half, but Wittenberg battled back with a 12-2 run to keep it close. The Spartans regrouped and rattled off a 10-4 run to head back into the locker room for the half with a 31-24 lead.

The Spartans jumped to a 50-35 lead with 13:05 remaining in the game and didn’t look back. Wittenberg attempted to remain in the game but was unable to reduce the lead to single digits.

On Wednesday, Dec. 3rd, the Spar-tans headed back out on the road to battle the College of Wooster. Freshman forward Kara Hageman had a career best of 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Case squad to their second

straight win on a 77-65 final.In addition to Hageman, Mum-

mey was a major factor for the second straight game, as she added 12 points of her own, four rebounds and a pair each of steals and blocks.

The game remained close through the first nine minutes of play until the Spartans put up nine unanswered points to be followed later by a 7-0 run late in the half, and headed into the locker room 44-35. The Spartans had no real pressure in the second half and rolled to their second straight win.

The Spartans return home after the road win to host Denison University on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 1:00 p.m. in Hors-burgh Gymnasium before heading out on break, where they return to action right after Christmas, on Dec. 28th and 29th for the Hoops for Hounds Classic Tournament.

22 sports 12/5/14

The lights shine brightly around the skating rink and over 10,000 people watch from the stands as William Lit-tlefield makes his way from the Zam-boni gate to the center of the rink. He breathes deeply and takes his starting pose. The crowd becomes quiet and the music begins.

At age seven, Littlefield started play-ing hockey with no intentions of being a figure skater. Since then he has become a renowned figure skater, who has com-peted at the national level three times.

“I was at an ice rink for a hockey team try-out and the coach pulled my parents aside and asked to teach me both figure skating and hockey because he liked the way I skated,” said Littlefield.

Littlefield spent most of his life training in Dallas, Texas. He started

Figure skater William Littlefield shares his journey to nationals

CWRU’sice skating pro

Sanjana KrishnakumarContributing Reporter

serious training with Olympic level coaches around age 12 and competed at U.S. Nationals by age 14. Training with these coaches took his skating career to the next level. Littlefield spent two to four hours a day on the ice practicing his routines and learning new stunts.

According to Littlefield, “Skating is half artistic, half athletic and mur-derously difficult. It consumes all of my time; it’s the kind of sport where I would live, think, breath, dream about ice skating constantly.”

It’s even a little intrusive. “I don’t hear music at a party, I hear music and my thought immediately jumps to a program or routine,” said Littlefield. “Skating is the first thing I think about when I wake up and it’s the last thing I think about before I go to bed.”

By the time he turned 16, Littlefield had to focus all of his attention on figure skating and again went to Nationals his senior year of high school. He expresses

his feelings moments before performing:“When I stand in the middle of the

ice and I’m about to complete, my emo-tions vary. Sometimes I feel like a caged tiger and I’m ready to go,” said Little-field. “Other times, especially towards the beginning of the season, I feel less comfortable because it may be the first time I’m performing this routine.”

While he was training for Nationals, Littlefield began looking at colleges because he knew how important it was to get a good education. He chose Case Western Reserve University because it offered him the right combination of ac-ademics and extracurricular activities.

Littlefield states, “CWRU not only had the perfect financial incentive and academic prestige, but it is also located in a place that is historic for ice skating, so all my criteria were met and I had found the perfect match.”

Shortly after coming to college Lit-tlefield had to get reconstructive ankle

surgery. The surgery turned out to be successful, and his ankle became as strong and healthy as it was before. Un-fortunately, the injury occurred during one of his best seasons, which prevent-ed him from participating at the qualify-ing competitions.

“Ankle injury is pretty common with the sport, especially when you advance and start doing more difficult stunts and spins,” Littlefield explains.

Although it’s been a while since Lit-tlefield last competed, he hopes to skate again next season. He is thankful for his friends and coaches who helped him be-come the person he is today,

“I had a good support network,” said Littlefield. “No human regardless of how determined they are will fall 50 times in an ice ring that is 10 degrees on a jump that they know they’re not go-ing to land that day… and keep working on it unless they have a group of people pushing them and encouraging them.”

Wrestling returns to the mat afterdisappointing loss to Baldwin Wallace

Spartans look to rebound this weekend

Nick Lees and Connor Medlang competed against one another in the wrestling team’s opening intrasquad meet of the season, the Spartans return to the mat on Saturday after three weeks off.

Harsha Chandupatla/Observer

Kelsey Aamoth runs in first NCAA Championship Meet to finish season while Spartans track and field to kick off this weekend

A beginning and an endJP. O’HaganSports Editor

JP. O’HaganSports Editor

Kelsey Aamoth competed in her first NCAA Championship meet back on Nov. 22nd to bring Case Western Reserve Uni-versity back to the national cross coun-try stage. Aamoth placed 138th of the

280 runners, despite only finishing the 6K course a mere three minutes behind the leaders. She finished the course in 23:30.2 minutes.

Amy Regan of Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey won the event, finishing in 20:51.9 minutes and UAA runner Lucy Cheadle of Washing-

ton University in St. Louis was the run-ner-up with a time of 20:58.7.

Spartan runners are now moving in-side, however, as the track and field teams will be competing this weekend on cam-pus. Both the men’s and women’s teams will be hosting the annual Spartan Holi-day Classic on Dec. 6th at Veale Center.

They will be facing off against Al-legheny College, Muskingum University and crosstown rival Notre Dame College.

The action will kick off the season for the team and will start promptly at 11 a.m. with the weight throw and pole vaulting events. The distance runs will start off the running events at noon.

The Spartan wrestling squad has had a long break in competition. The Spar-tans last took to the mat in their final home wrestling meet until February on Wednesday, Nov. 19th.

The Spartans fell to the visiting crosstown rivals Baldwin Wallace Uni-versity by a disappointing 45-3 in Hors-burgh Gymnasium.

This dropped the Spartans to 4-2 in dual matches this season, while the 14th-ranked Yellow Jackets improved to 4-2.

Freshman Aaran Gessic picked up Case Western Reserve University’s lone

points with a 5-0 decision versus Zach-ary Taylor in the 141 lbs weight class. Gessic is a perfect 6-0 as a rookie and will look to continue the success when he returns to the mat this weekend.

The Spartans dropped the other nine weight class matchups with forfeits in the 125, 157, 184 and 285 weight class-es. The 133 class saw Baldwin Wal-lace’s Markus Cruz take down CWRU’s Travis Alexander in the next closest matchup. The Spartans also lost the 149, 165, 174 and 197 weight classes to close out the rough defeat.

The Spartans return to competition this weekend as they travel to compete in the Rochester Institute of Technology Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 9:30 a.m. in Rochester, New York.

sports

Top: The new Corner Alley sign entices visitors to the highly anticipated venue. Far Left: The Uptown Lanes will surely be a great place to gather. Left: The ball returns are state of the art, for less delay and more fun. Right: The Corner Alley boasts top of the line pinsetter machines. Far Right: Pair of bowling shoes waiting for their first bowler.

Andrew Hadowanec/Observer

The Corner Alley provides state of the art

bowling experience

The brand new Corner Alley will be a great hangout for all students on cam-pus, though the more competitive of your friends will notice the exceptional bowling experience at the new location.

The newly opened Corner Alley at Uptown boasts the latest and greatest in bowling technology from Brunswick Bowling Company to provide customers the advantage of more play. The bowling alley includes 17 lanes with 11 on the ground floor. This layout breaks down the lanes into three different sections. The Uptown Lanes encompasses all of the 11 lanes on the lower level while the lanes upstairs are broken into the Up-town Lounge and the Euclid Lounge, with four and two lanes each.

A visit to the Corner Alley will begin with a stop at the hostess stand to set up a lane rental and to grab your shoes. Groups can either choose to stay on the ground floor or head upstairs. The staff

JP. O’HaganSports Editor

is extremely helpful and will bring food and drinks to the lanes if you so choose, and will help with any issues that may arise. The sleek yet comfortable couches that surround each pair of lanes provide plenty of seating and convenient cub-bies to place your shoes while you bowl.

All 17 lanes employ Brunswick’s state of the art GSX Pinsetter machines. This series of machines has gone through 14 updates over its history with each model making major updates.

The new machines are capable of set-ting 3,000 games without a stop com-pared to the 800 on older machines. This gives bowlers less of a chance of seeing issues and provides them with a better bowling experience.

The older machines used a v-belt much like a car motor, and the wear and tear on these belts caused the most com-mon breakdowns of pinsetter machines. The new belts are able to be melted back together when they break. “This makes an hour or two long repair take 15 min-utes,” said Terry Yenco, the Corner Al-ley’s lane technician manager.

To further help with minimizing frus-trating stops in play, the GSX pinsetter can is able to call the mechanic even be-fore the player realizes there is an issue. “The machine is really smart,” said Yen-co. “The machine basically texts us on a PDA and gives up the symptom. It then leads you to the problem, cutting back on time spent being alerted and treating the issue.”

In addition to the pin collection and frame resetting mechanism, the pins are counted and restacked using the best technology on the market, the A2 cam-era. With a computerized sensor and camera combination, the machine is able capture the differences in the pins and has greater accuracy in capturing score, which makes for less confusing resets of the score. The score is displayed on touchscreens on the ball return making for a more personal group experience, rather than squinting at old television screens hanging from the ceiling.

The new pinsetters at the Corner Al-ley also incorporate more plastics, mak-ing for quieter collisions. This adds to

the life of the machines. This also gives a much smoother ball return; a noticeable improvement for the player. The tradi-tional bowling experience is maintained with the new machines, but the smooth lanes, accurate pin clearing and count-ing and quick repairs allow for more fun and less grief unless, of course, you are bowling a bad game.

The upper level of lanes includes a window which allows for the casual bowling fanatic to watch one of these top of the line machines function, cre-ating a fun experience to watch all the moving parts behind the scenes.

The improvements were noticeable and made for a great and a uniform bowling experience on all three sets of lanes. The next step is merely to get a group of friends together and play. The current price will be $50 for an hour on one lane with shoe rental for six players. The upstairs lanes will cost a $60 fee on the weekends but management has al-ready starting planning student-minded priced events and will hopefully start those in full next semester.

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