Month: April 2012

Categories
Opinion

Sophomore year rush is justified

Molly Brown

Writer

We all know Greek life is a huge part of campus life here at the University, and many students make the choice to go through rush in the fall of sophomore year.  On other campuses, it is much more common to go through rush during the first or second semesters of your first year. While some students are frustrated by the wait to join a fraternity or a sorority, I feel the delay allows prospective members of the Greek system to explore other organizations and social groups here on campus.

Joining a fraternity or sorority automatically makes an individual part of a social group that incorporates both community service and social activities. There’s an entire selection of people for you to hang out with, study with, go get meals with, etc. This is a great thing, really, but by not rushing their first year, students get to make their own friendships and join clubs or organizations. They can branch out without a greater agenda of a sorority or a fraternity governing their choices. Because students have gone through an entire academic year before rushing, by the end of that year they have a host of diverse friends, some of whom may rush and some of whom who might not. Thus, once a student is involved with a Greek organization, he or she still has friends outside the organization, allowing him or her to maintain a varied social life. Also, because students have already discovered their personal interests in terms of activities, it means greater diversity within an individual sorority or fraternity chapter. There might be athletes, musicians, actors, artists, engineers, scientists, writers—the list is endless. By having members with such a diverse range of talents and interests, the sorority or fraternity chapter also branches out as members support one another in their endeavors.

Another benefit is the opportunity for first-years to get some solid footing during their first year on campus. Orientation and the transition from high school to college are already daunting enough. Can you imagine going through rush on top of the orientation schedule and your first week of college classes? If rush were during a student’s first year, many first-years might feel overwhelmed by everything, which might cause all their various commitments to suffer if they are spread too thin, both academically and socially.  This is not to suggest that academics are not crucial to Greek organizations—in fact, there is a minimum GPA requirement that must be met if an individual wishes to join and/or remain a part of the chapter—but rather an observation on the already-crazy whirlwind those first few weeks of University life and the fact that going through rush at that time might not be the most prudent.

All in all, I believe that the University’s “wait” to rush is beneficial to students because it forces them to develop lives outside of a sorority or fraternity, or even decide if rushing is right for them, before they worry about making a commitment to an organization. Patience is a virtue and students will enjoy being involved in Greek life more if they have had to wait and look forward to its opportunities.

Categories
Opinion

First years should be allowed cars

By Jasmine King

Contributing Writer

My biggest concern when coming to the University for the first time was not being able to bring my car. I was the baby of my high school class, so the first and only year that I could drive my car to school was my senior year. It was heartbreaking to have all of that freedom my senior year, then have it be taken right back from me when I started college. I have my theories on why colleges, not just our University, have the rule that first years are not allowed to have cars. Some of these include trying to force students to stay on campus and force them to find other things to do instead of going home. The latter one makes the most sense to me because if students did have their cars on campus for their first semester, I am sure that some students would want to go home every weekend and not enjoy the activities the University sponsors.

Regardless of the reason behind it, to force students to stay on campus is not the right thing to do about this. Students will call their parents and go home if they want to anyway; it is not as if the University can keep students inside of the “Bucknell bubble” forever. I do not understand why in the second semester of the first year, students cannot bring their cars back to campus. After winter break, students have already made up their minds about whether they like the University and want to stay. At this point they have already grown accustomed to college life. But instead, the administration chooses to divide students by not letting first-years have a car. By doing this, first-years have to use the shuttle, walk or awkwardly ask an upperclassman to drive them to Wal-Mart. Not being able to have a car on campus creates a divide between upperclassmen and first-years. 

The other theory that I have on why first-years are not allowed to have cars on campus is due to the lack of parking space. I realized that this was a problem the first weekend that the University had a home football game. When walking out of McDonnell Hall, I noticed there were no empty spaces for students or visitors, a horrible combination. The issue of parking should hopefully be resolved once all of the construction of Academic West is complete since then the University will have plenty of parking for faculty, students and visitors to park comfortably. Will the end of construction and increased space allow first-years to bring their cars to campus? I sure hope so.

Categories
Opinion

Spring fever contaminates classrooms

By Sarah Morris

Writer

It is always nice to see the flowers come out in the spring. The University comes alive with all of the cherry trees and flowers blossoming out of the cold death we were all seemingly hibernating in to shield our young bodies from the winter months. I wake up in the morning, open my window and see the sun, which I thought had abandoned the Earth for the past 12 weeks.

The best part of spring here at the University might be the glorious moment when I am walking through the quad, loving the breeze, watching classes take place outside as students and teachers attempt to pay attention while they simply enjoy themselves. Then all of the sudden I hear somebody hacking up a lung directly behind me, spewing their germs on their neighbors. This past week, I have been struck with some sort of serious lung issue involving breathing problems and horrible congestion. I thought chest colds and bronchitis kept to themselves once February had past. People need to keep their germs to themselves, especially when it comes to contained classrooms.

The worst part of this not-so-spring-fever is that everyone has it due to the pressure to attend classes as finals are looming in the not-too-distant future. The common sickness really goes to show how much we care about our education; students will attend class despite their high fevers, incessant sneezing and debilitating chills. As much as we care for our education, the spreading of such germs needs to stop. Students must understand that containing one’s sickness is more important than scribbling notes that a classmate can easily provide. I have to admit that I have been one of the disgusting students, attending classes dangerously and coughing through lectures. Unfair to my healthy peers, my attendance—in consideration of my state—is wrong of me.

The truth is, we should be a bit more careful about how we attend classes while feeling sick here at school. Sit far away from your classmates and try, if you can, to bring your own “supplies.” This means bringing your own tissues to blow your nose so you do not have to block people’s views when you have to get up and possibly even drag a trashcan over to your desk if you’re feeling that stuffy. For God’s sake, sanitize your hands before you leave the room so you do not infect the entire world by touching something as simple as the doorknob. I know the pressure to be present at all classes is heavy right now because of finals, but we need to be smarter so that we can help out our fellow classmates from getting sick as well.

Categories
Arts & Life

Univ. students visit Jefferson’s Monticello estate

By Michelle Reed

Contributing Writer

Nestled in the hills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Monticello is more than just an architectural treasure—it’s a place that teaches visitors about America’s past.

On April 14, a bus full of University students made its way toward the hilltop home of former president Thomas Jefferson. The trip was one of the culminating events of the semester-long interdisciplinary series, “Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: An American Origins Story,” sponsored by the Griot Institute for Africana Studies. The series hosted an array of visiting scholars and artists who aimed to closely examine the relationship between Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. For those who participated, the visit to Monticello offered invaluable insight into Jefferson’s life.

With its idyllic mountain views, sweeping lawns and blooming tulips, Monticello is a springtime sight to behold. Before setting foot on the plantation, the tour group was guided through Monticello’s recently built museum. They learned about Jefferson’s initial architectural vision for Monticello and his eventual teardown and redesign of this home. The house now consists of three levels, adorned on top with its famous white dome. Jefferson once said of Monticello, “I am as happy nowhere else, and in no other society.” The visiting group of students and faculty were shown the inner chambers of the house, including Jefferson’s own bedroom, his study and the family dining room.

In addition to the tour of the house’s interior, University members explored many of the plantation’s other spaces: the kitchen, the gardens, the well-protected wine cellar and the incredibly tiny rooms where families of slaves lived. A highlight of the tour was Mulberry Row, an area of intense labor where Jefferson’s slaves farmed tobacco and other crops, worked in the blacksmith shop or nailery and crafted architectural woodwork and furniture in the joinery. Monticello tour guides discussed the large contradiction of Jefferson’s life: he wrote much about the tyranny of slavery, but owned slaves until his dying day.

To learn more about Monticello, visit www.monticello.org.

 

 

Categories
Arts & Life

“A Separation” reveals family complexities

By Carolyn Williams

Senior Writer

Asghar Farhadi’s latest film “A Separation” elegantly deals with the delicate balance of a family in crisis, earning the movie plenty of well-deserved praise, including the coveted Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture.

We open on Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moadi) suing for divorce. An intrinsically honest film from the beginning, the couple faces the camera as they argue their case, making the audience their judge, whose verdict is an unsympathetic voiceover. Simin is reluctantly trying to leave Nader because, after all the work she went through to obtain visas so they can leave Iran in hopes of a better life for their 10-year-old daughter, Termeh (played by Sarina Farhadi, the director’s daughter), Nader refuses to leave. He chooses instead to care for his aging father who has been incapacitated by Alzheimer’s, but won’t give permission for Termeh to leave with her mother, and so Simin’s suit is dismissed. The pair argue, Simin exasperated and Nader unyielding, until they are told to leave, and Simin is informed that her problem is “small.”

So begins the couple’s separation, as Simin moves out of their upper-middle class home to return to her parents. Termeh remains with her father and grandfather, studious and shy, and clearly terrified that her family will collapse in on itself. In Simin’s absence, Nader is forced to hire a working-class woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), to look after his father during the day. Razieh, a devout and anxious woman, brings her young daughter with her to work. Her apparent incompetence as a caretaker creates friction with Nader, and this friction leads to the turning point of the film, bringing both families back to the same courtroom from the beginning scene, and allowing the audience to gain a deeper understanding of all the movie’s characters and overreaching implications.

The cast is excellent and their moving performances prove that each of their characters acts with valid motivation. No one in this film is a “bad guy;” honestly, no one is really so bad at all. The separation and the individuals it affects, becomes, under Farhadi’s expert direction, a microcosm for the social situation in Iran at large. The two families represent different socio-economic and religious groups, but they are all part of the same problem. Simin wants desperately to get out from under the shadow of Iran’s patriarchal society, to give her daughter a chance at a better life elsewhere, but is at the same time unwilling to leave her husband, whom she clearly still loves. Nader spends his days taking care of his senile father, an obvious metaphor for the same society Simin wants out from, and though he loves his daughter and puts much of his time into her comprehensive education, he is loath to give her a chance at a more equal life, struggling with the loss of his own power as a man within Iranian society.

“A Separation” deals with complex domestic and social issues which seem simultaneously familiar and foreign, but, as with all society, the real decisions come down to the upcoming generation. And the watchful Termeh’s final word will be what really enacts change, both in her family, and, potentially, Iran at large.

Categories
Arts & Life

Off the Beat and Path: Bob Dylan’s “Freewheelin’’

By Rob O’Donnell
Columnist

This is a review I have been waiting to write for about two years. No stranger has had more profound an impact on my life than Bob Dylan, and no album has ever captured Dylan’s sound as honestly as “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” As much as I love to pretend otherwise, this is not 1963, so this album is considered out of date by many of you. But this is the man who would later revolutionize the entire music industry, from pop to rock to blues to folk and others. With one song, “Like A Rolling Stone,” called the best song ever recorded by Rolling Stone Magazine, he completely changed the music scene until this very day. He is even considered the godfather of rap, with his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” These songs are from later albums, but you now understand that Dylan is not only relevant to modern music, he is essential. And it all started with his second album, “Freewheelin’.”

After Dylan’s first album, comprised mostly of traditional folk covers, failed in sales, many people dismissed him. But his next album changed the entire folk scene for years to come, and was a major part of the 1960s folk revival. The scene started becoming mainstream with people riding on his coattails until Dylan himself killed its momentum a few years later by going electric. But this album was before that “controversy,” and so it is not important (I believe he was right, by the way).

The first thing most listeners will say about Dylan is that he cannot sing. Whenever people tell me that, I ask them to listen to this album and then I walk away, never to speak to them again. Songs like “Girl From the North Country” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” completely disprove this claim. He has a very raw and untamed voice, but after you get over the shock of it, it’s hauntingly beautiful. 

The lyrics are obviously the album’s strongest feature. Songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Oxford Town,” and “Masters of War” are topical protest songs that had huge influences on the civil rights movement. He would later dismiss them as “finger-pointing songs,” but they are jaw-dropping. He has songs about broken hearts and nuclear war right next to each other, but they make sense together, since the lyrics can be applied to the human condition in general. Take “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” for example. It is a song that many think is about the atomic bomb, but it is about the poverty of the world and the cold-heartedness of the general public. It encompasses pretty much every topic in a sweeping, seven-minute long song. I can’t think of a more fitting song for the end of the semester than “Bob Dylan’s Dream,” the most heartbreaking song about nostalgia and old friendships coming to an end.

So if you need an album for that long car ride home or to just procrastinate studying for finals, you need this album. If you have any interest in history, you need this album. If you have any interest in music, you need this album. If you have any interest in literature or poetry, you need this album. Basically, if you’re a person and you like things, you need this album. 

Categories
Arts & Life From the Mind of Wiley Jack Humor

From the Mind of Wiley Jack: Adios Bucknell

By Jack Wiles

Columnist

Well, after a semester of presenting you with my thoughts weekly, this is my last word before I graduate. (I hope, I’d really be embarrassed if I stayed another year.) To close out, I’d like to share an embarrassing story from my childhood and an embarrassing story from my college days. Let’s see what has changed.

As a child, around the ages of one to three, I used to dislike taking showers or baths. Who wants to get wet if you don’t have to, right? My super hyper, pesky little self would annoy my parents and run from them when they tried to make me bathe. My parents came up with a creative, fun way to get me clean. Their solution: call me Mr. Naked, a high-flying superhero who happens to be nude. I think there was an intro song, and definitely a chant involving the words “here comes Mr. Naked!” that would get me to strip down and sprint down the hallway to the bathroom. Once I was wet, it was done, and bathing was a breeze.

As a college student, around the ages of 18 to 19, I really enjoyed taking showers. Often times, I would take them in the evening before dinner if I hadn’t gotten to it early in the day or if I just felt dirty. One evening, a few members of my first-year hall decided that it might be a humorous prank to take my towel from the bathroom while I was in the shower. At first, when I realized there was nothing between my genitals and the open air for my commute back to my room, I freaked. After I realized there was nothing I could do but be a man and essentially streak, I booked it down the hall, covering as much as I could to my room. I can’t even say I was upset about it after. In fact, it was kind of fun.

As you can see, little has changed with me over time, and that’s how it should be. Respect your inner child–your inner clown–and have fun with life, especially when you’re young. The University has provided an incredible experience, enlightening me both academically and socially. As many of you know, I will be heading to the greatest city in America next year. This, obviously, is Cleveland, Ohio. I will try to be hot in Cleveland just like Betty White, but I can’t hold any promises. Guys, as my great uncle always says, it’s been real, and it’s been fun. But, it hasn’t been real fun. Thanks for reading. Wiley out.

Categories
Arts & Life

Environmental Club offers new sustainable outlet

By Sonali Basak
Senior Writer

The grand re-opening of the University Environmental Center’s sustainable backyard will take place today (Arbor Day) from 4 to 6 p.m.

The yard was built in 2004 and has grown significantly since then. Former Environmental Club president Becca Shopiro ’12 said they have taken a standard-size backyard and planted native species to make it a sustainable garden that can be recreated virtually anywhere.

“There are so many plants now that they are giving many of them away,” Shopiro said.

The growth seen in perennials planted when the project started shows how sustainable the garden truly is.

“I appreciate how they have so many native species. It doesn’t look like a typical garden. It looks natural,” Shopiro said. 

Cathy Curran Myers, interim executive director of the Environmental Center, will begin the event with a welcome message. Throughout the event there will be tours of the garden and all of its features: native plants, organic vegetable gardens, solar panels, rain barrels for storm water collection and a compost bin.

In the front yard, visitors can find information on woodland plantings and light refreshments. The new walkway reuses flagstones from one of the relocated fraternity buildings. The walkway provides storm water management by retaining rain and snow under the surface with a 16-inch gravel foundation.

The creation of the sustainable back yard was part of the larger Campus Greening Initiative. This initiative sees to create greater sustainable resources on campus and create a residential learning environment. Other parts of the initiative include storm water retention innovations, promoting a walking campus and creating energy efficient buildings.

Shopiro said one of the visions of the initiative is to have outdoor learning labs where students can have better opportunities to learn about storm water retention, civil and environmental learning and restoration of natural habitats.

“It’s a pretty magnificent place, though a lot of people don’t know about it,” said Melinda Thomas ’12, vice president of the Environmental Club.

Thomas interns at the Environmental Center and has seen the cleanup of the garden, the new pathways formed and the many potted plants available for giveaways.

The Environmental Center is located on One Dent Drive across from the Observatory. Today’s event is free and open to the public. The native plant giveaway is first come, first served.

Categories
Arts & Life

Chapel Choir to tour Europe’s finest countries

By Sonali Basak

Senior Writer

The Rooke Chapel Choir will embark on its annual tour in Europe on May 21, the day after Commencement. The choir will travel until May 30.

Current seniors are also attending. “I am thrilled to be attending this year as well,” Nicole Lake ’12 said. “It is a perfect way to cap off my Bucknell experience with some of my closest friends sharing beautiful music around the world.”

First-year choir members are equally excited for the tour. Katie Long ’15 said she has already seen photos of the trip and the locations are “absolutely beautiful.” The group is led by professor of music Dr. William Payn, whom the group “loves and adores,” Lake said.

This year, the group will tour Italy, Slovenia and Croatia through the company Encore Tours. Last year, the group toured Poland and the Czech Republic. Two years ago, the group toured the U.K. and Greece.

Lake said there are concerts scheduled, but the group also does a lot of improvisational singing.

“When we were in Greece two years ago, we spontaneously sang in one of the ancient amphitheaters and of course for people who were just curious as to what we sounded like,”  she said.

Becca Nelson ’12 and Matt Micco ’12 were the tour coordinators this year. According to Nelson, the tour was set last March and the group had a choice between going to just Slovenia, or Slovenia, Italy and Croatia.

“We couldn’t imagine passing up the opportunity to perform in Venice,” Nelson said. “I’m most excited to sing in really old venues. Since most of these buildings were built before sound systems were invented, the rooms are designed to have phenomenal acoustics.”

The group will get time to explore each city and sing to different audiences. Their itinerary first brings them to Venice, Italy where they will sing in Chiessa San Rocco, then they will head to Ljubljana, Slovenia and discover Slovenian caves and perform at St. James’ Church. Of all the venues the choir will perform in, Nelson is most excited to sing in these caves.

Next, the group will travel to Dubrovnik, Croatia where they will explore Split, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, and sing at St. Ignatius Church.

“Chapel Choir is so special because we all are capable of creating such beautiful music together and I am really looking forward to being able to do this in an equally beautiful venue. As a first-year, I feel incredibly privileged to have been given this opportunity, and I cannot wait for tour,” Long said.

The choir plans to sing a range of songs it has sung throughout the year. This tour is one of many accomplishments for the choir, which is most well-known for its Christmas Candlelight Service each winter, aired on PBS. The choir sings at Rooke Chapel Protestant Service about three times each month and occasionally at churches in the Lewisburg area. The Chapel Choir Spring Concert will be at 7:30 p.m. this Sunday in Rooke Chapel, when the group will sing what they have prepared for the tour.

“I adore the music that we make together and think that we are one of Bucknell’s hidden gems and that we are so privileged to be able to share this music with the world,” Lake said.

 

 

Categories
Arts & Life

Fly Fishing Club embraces nature’s waterways

By Heather Hennigan
Contributing Writer

Even on a small campus, it seems students can do anything that they want to.

Earlier this semester, The Bucknell University Fly Fishers, abbreviated BUFF, was formed. The club is open to students, both graduate and undergraduate, as well as faculty and staff members.

Club members don’t just grab a pole and run to the river to fish; members practice new fishing techniques, refine their casting and fly-tying abilities, share stream reports and learn about the most successful fishing patterns and times.

Throughout the semester, the club has met twice a month at the Environmental Center and even offered open fly-tying sessions for those interested in learning how to tie their own flies.

BUFF also explored rod building, knots and leader construction. The club embarked on various fishing trips, listened to guest speakers, took field trips to fish hatcheries and visited stream restoration and habitat improvement sites, all while learning about aquatic ecology.

Members gathered at local places such as Penns Creek, White Deer Creek, Spring Creek and Fishing Creek to fish, and participated in a stream cleanup along with other service projects.

Doing all these projects has already gained BUFF a respectable reputation on campus. Seemingly off the beaten path, this club offers students yet another outlet to do what they love or explore something they have never tried.

For more information about this club, visit www.eg.bucknell.edu/sri/flyfishingclub or follow the fishers on Twitter @ BUFlyFishing.