Month: April 2011

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Arts & Life Headline

Goo Goo Dolls headline University’s spring concert

By Katie Monigan

Staff Writer

For typical students, the spring concert is a Friday night activity requiring no more planning than making sure their tickets are purchased before they sell out and picking out what to wear.

For the Concert Committee, it’s all about details. The concert is an exercise in coordinated planning, advertisement and physical labor the day of the event, and it all starts when the performers are selected.

The artist selection is actually quite simple. According to Concert Committee co-chair Brenna Deck ’11, the process starts with online surveys distributed through the Message Center. The committee then works with a “middle agent” to see if the top choices are on tour and assesses whether they fit within the budget.

According to Deck, the Goo Goo Dolls have been thrown around as a possible choice for her entire four-year tenure on the committee because of a successful show they played in Sojka Pavilion the spring of 2007. The committee was waiting for the final class to see that performance, the class of 2010, to graduate before having the Goo Goo Dolls return to campus.

As for Mike Posner, “He’s just all over the place right now—just a strong player in the fun, contemporary, dance-party music scene that Bucknell tends to respond to the most,” Deck said.

Once the performers were selected, the committee was tasked with advertising. For University students, advertising came in the form of a Facebook group, posters and music in the Elaine Langone Center mall to direct students to the box office. To reach the community, advertisement also took place downtown and as far as Penn State with flyers, posters and local radio stations.

The day before the concert, the physical labor started. “We started at two on Thursday afternoon, unloading the truck from the production company, and we finished up at nine,” Mike Christiansen ’13 said. They built the entire stage, which comes on the truck in pieces, and assembled the lighting rigging.

They were back to work at 8 a.m. Friday morning once the Goo Goo Dolls’ equipment arrived and were finished by early afternoon. Then, according to Christiansen, “we took nap breaks in turns.”

“Sometimes we get to watch sound check, which is my personal favorite part. The stage is up, the backdrop is up, the lighting is up and running, the fog machines start and the band or musician comes on and runs through a bunch of material. It’s like a private concert just for us. We get to just sit back and take it in and feel proud of ourselves looking at the massive, very tangible result of all the work we just did,” Deck said.

During the concert, the committee members are responsible for taking tickets, crowd control, line management and just generally helping people safely enjoy the show. They get to watch most of it too.

Once the concert ends, the purpose of their afternoon nap breaks becomes apparent, as they have to break down everything they set up before leaving. This year’s work ended at about 3:30 a.m., which, according to Christiansen, was “early” as they were projected to finish at 5 a.m.

Deck expressed the same positive attitude toward the late-night labor. “We always have plenty of help from student volunteers, so the process moves much more quickly during load-out than it does for load-in,” she said. “We have a fantastic group, and it makes for great committee bonding time. “

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Arts & Life Campus Events Featured Review

Reinterpreted ‘The Bacchae’ performance thrills its audience

By Madison Lane

Layout Editor

Let the bacchanal begin. As audience members filed into Harvey Powers Theater last weekend, they were greeted by the sounds of foreign drums and the sight of a majestic set curtained by long, flowing fabrics. “The Bacchae” was exciting to witness before it even started.

“The Bacchae” is the story of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, as he returns to his home in Thebes. Dionysus, played by Sam Nelsen ’11, narrated much of the story, telling the audience of his birth and his banishment, followed by everything that happens in the city of Thebes upon his return. The story was originally written by Euripides, but the ensemble of this production used a theatrical production technique called “devising” to stage the entire show and even rewrite some of it to make it more relevant to modern audiences.

“As devisors, our ensemble was committed to ‘writing from the stage,’ that is to say we honored all parts of the collaboration as both artistic and interpretational,” director Anjalee Hutchinson said in her note to the audience. “[The show was] an idea conceived by not one but many–an idea better than anyone could have come up with alone.”

For example, a popular line from the very first monologue, delivered by Dionysus, was “All I have to say to that is ‘Haters gonna hate.’” Obviously, Euripides did not write that line, but its inclusion aided in drawing the audience’s attention and guiding their understanding of the plot, as well as adding humor to an otherwise extensive speech.

Another aspect of traditional ancient Greek theatre that this ensemble chose to reinterpret was the idea of a Greek chorus. In ancient theatre, the chorus was composed of about 12 members, whose purpose was to serve as the voice of the common people, interjecting between scenes of the show. In “The Bacchae,” the “Greek chorus” was literally the voice of the college population, the common people seeing the show. They sang songs (such as a parody of “Grenade” about being respectful audience members) that tied the themes of the show into the lives of everyday students.

“I felt like it was so well done, it was utterly seamless in its presentation of the story, and the fact that it was student-led and student-created was mind-blowing,” Andrew Vogl ’11 said.

At every moment, there was something unexpected going on onstage, from oranges stampeding out from under the projection screen to water being flung into the air as an act of freedom and rebellion.

“It enlightened me to how artistic the department is and peaked my interest in attending more shows,” Olivia Cohen ’14 said.

For nearly two months, the cast and crew of “The Bacchae” put hours upon hours of work and all of their energy into making the show a lively, humorous, engaging work of art, and they went above and beyond this task.

“[Working on this show was] one of the most challenging but absolutely rewarding experiences [I’ve had in Bucknell theater],” stage manager Emma Case ’13 said.

The department is constantly trying to address the campus climate and improve it. This was a show about tolerance and taking the time to understand “them”–the other side, someone who is outside your circle of acquaintances. If the University community should take one message away from this show, it is to strive to find balance in your life and the world around you.

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Arts & Life Books Review

‘Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand’ captures readers

By Carolyn Williams

Staff Writer

Helen Simonson’s first novel, “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” captures with perfect aplomb the struggle between reverence for the tried and true and the indefatigable powers of change. Major Ernest Pettigrew (a 68-year-old resident of Edgecombe St. Mary, Sussex) is forced to face this challenge head-on, shaking things up just when he thought that his life had settled into the quiet rhythm of old age.

Major Pettigrew has just received word that his brother has passed away, news which is both personally saddening and a forceful reminder of his own mortality. He is physically rattled by his grief when he happens across the recently widowed Mrs. Ali. Despite the Major’s qualms about sharing his family’s business with a stranger, he finds himself talking to Mrs. Ali, a local shopkeeper and one of the only Muslim women in town. The two discuss their late spouses and their love of Kipling, forming an immediate bond of friendship which quickly develops into something more.

The Major is generally dissatisfied with the direction in which his town—and on a more macrocosmic level, the world—is moving. He is a man of principles, and to see them shattered by the local townspeople’s greed his contemporaries’ disrespect for the traditions he continues to live by and his shallow son Roger’s social climbing is a trial even for Major Pettigrew’s stiff upper lip. Mrs. Ali is a woman of immense tact and understanding, which the Major appreciates, but the townsfolk begin to whisper nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the Pettigrew family is in the midst of a serious debate over a pair of rare Churchill guns, passed down to the Major and his late brother by their father. The Major is adamant about maintaining the guns as part of the family’s legacy, but the younger generation is equally invested in selling them for a profit. Caught between tradition and the wishes of the rest of the family, the Major realizes that his son has fallen far short of his well-meant, but somewhat antiquated, expectations, and that his own motivations in wanting the gun might be somewhat questionable as well.

Everything comes to an unpleasant head when the town golf club, white members only, of course, decides to show their cultural acceptance by hosting a woefully tacky and inevitably offensive “Mughal Empire”-themed event. The Major turns heads when he invites Mrs. Ali, for whom he is steadily developing serious romantic inclinations. Things go horribly awry on all counts, and the remainder of the book deals with the fallout from the ill-fated dinner party.

“Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. Simonson’s smart prose gives her work the feel of a novel of manners to make Jane Austen proud. The Major himself is a perfect construction of tact, intractability and wonderfully sarcastic dry humor. The blossoming romance between the major and Mrs. Ali is artfully done without becoming crude or unbelievable. Simonson’s commentary on societal changes and the challenges of small town thinking is apt, making “Major Pettigrew” a force to be reckoned with.

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Arts & Life Columns Cooking Corner

Cooking Corner: Biscuits

By Emily Fry

Staff Writer

Biscuits

Biscuits are a great recipe to have in your repertoire because they are so versatile. You can make them to go along with dinner, or you can add one tablespoon of sugar to the recipe and serve it with strawberries and whipped cream for a delicious strawberry shortcake. You can add other flavorings to your biscuit batter such as cheddar cheese or craisins and orange zest. Either way, you’re bound to have a delicious treat. Happy Baking!

 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

For topping, 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp milk

 

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and, if you choose, the sugar.

2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender ( if you don’t have one, your fingers will work fine) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and egg, and beat until just combined. The batter should still be sticky and lumpy.

3. Place mixture on a lightly floured surface and knead until it comes together and is a smooth dough. Be careful not to over-knead, that can overwork the gluten, leading to tough biscuits.

4. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/2 inch in thickness. Cut out the biscuits using a round cookie cutter (if you don’t have one, the top of a glass works as well).

5. Place biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg mixture.

6. Bake in a 400 F oven for about 10-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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Sports

Bison Athlete of the Week: Lauren Bernard ’14

By Cooper Sutton and Ben Kaufman

Sports Editors

Lauren Bernard ’14 (Golf)

 

Bio

Class: First-year

Hometown: Malvern, Pa.

Major: Management

 

Stats

Round 1: 75

Round 2: 79

Round 3: 72

+/-: +10

 

 

Lauren Bernard ’14, by shooting a 226, earned a second-place finish at the Big South Championships, a program-best finish at that event. Her final-round even-par 72 highlighted her success in the Championships.

Bernard made three birdies and three bogeys in this competition, which is what led to her career-best performance. Her score in the first round was a 75, the second round was 79 and the third round was 72. Her score of a 226 is recorded second-best in Bison history.

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Sports

Women’s rowing races in Ohio, New Jersey

By Thomas Walter

Contributing Writer

The women’s rowing team again had dual-location meets this past weekend. The openweights traveled to the Griggs Reservoir in Ohio, participating in the Big Ten Duals. The lightweights traveled to the Cooper River in New Jersey, racing in the Knecht Cup. The openweights competed against some very stiff competition from Ohio State, Iowa and Louisville while the lightweights faced Buffalo and Wisconsin.

For most of the day on the Griggs Reservoir, the openweight Bison struggled to crack the top two. The varsity eight finished in third to Ohio State and Louisville in the morning session and then in the afternoon session finished third again to Louisville and Indiana.

The second varsity eight finished with the same morning results as the first varsity eight but managed to overcome Louisville in the afternoon session. The varsity four also finished in third behind Ohio State and Louisville in the morning, then finished in third again to Louisville and Indiana.

After finishing in second in the morning session, the second varsity four was determined to end the losing drought and beat Louisville by 13 seconds in the afternoon.

“In the afternoon, the second varsity four raced an entirely new lineup, one that hadn’t even practiced together before Saturday,” Laura Even ’14 said. “We were able to bring home Bucknell’s first win of the day, and that was a really great feeling.”

“I think that as a team we really showed that we can hold our own and manage to race our way even against some tough competition,” Even said.

The lightweight A team won their race Saturday at the Knecht Cup, while the B team finished in fourth. On Sunday, the A team finished eight seconds and five seconds behind Wisconsin’s A and C teams, respectively, to take third place.

The Bison will be back in action on Saturday on the Susquehanna River in their first and only home race of the year.

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Sports

Water polo loses four in homestand

By Scott Padula

Writer

The women’s water polo fell to 10-14 on the season after losing four home games last weekend. The Orange and Blue lost their first two games on Saturday to Indiana and Harvard. The Bison then dropped their final two games of the weekend on Sunday to Maryland and George Washington.

“I think this weekend showed us that we can have moments of ‘greatness.’ Unfortunately though, we have yet to string together a great game,” Haley Prickett ’11 said.

The Bison lost 16-7 to No. 12 Indiana in their first game of the weekend. The Hoosiers jumped out to a quick lead, netting the first three goal of the game. Indiana’s offensive momentum continued in the second as they tallied eight more to crack the game open. The Bison were unable to mount a comeback in the second half. Hallie Kennan ’12 and Julianne Valdes ’14 each registered two goals, while Kandis Canonica ’11 recorded a team-high four ejections drawn in the game.

In the second Saturday game, the Orange and Blue lost to a gritty Harvard squad 16-13. The contest featured several ties, but the Bison led just once. The Bison trailed by one at intermission but Harvard scored the first three goals of the third quarter to turn their lead into a four-goal cushion. The Bison could not overcome the deficit, and Harvard went on to win the game. Kennan, Mackenzie Ferry ’14 and Stephanie Ovalle ’14 all posted multiple goals and assists in the game.

The Orange and Blue dropped the first Sunday game to the Terrapins 15-9. Kennan led the team in scoring with three goals, while six other Bison found the back of the net. In total, nine different players tallied a point in the affair.

In the final game of the weekend, the Orange and Blue lost 11-9 to George Washington. The Bison never led, but were able to draw it to within one in the fourth quarter. However, the Colonials responded with two goals of their own to clinch the victory. Ferry and Kennan were the only Bison to record multiple points in the loss. In the best performance in goal of the weekend, Brittany Connell ’12 stopped seven shots in 32 minutes.

The Bison will complete their regular season schedule next weekend when they play Mercyhurst, Gannon and Hartwick. The Orange and Blue will face Mercyhurst and Gannon on Saturday. They will then see Hartwick at Kinney Natatorium on Sunday.

“We have all taken what happened this past weekend and can see that we have another chance this upcoming weekend to improve our play. It’s out there for the taking. Hopefully, it doesn’t slip through our grasp,” Prickett said.

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Sports

Women’s lax defeats Manhattan

By Andrew Arnao

Writer

The women’s lacrosse team scored seven straight goals in the first half to pull away from Manhattan and break a five-game losing streak in a home game on Tuesday. The win game three days after the team fell to Holy Cross on Senior Day.

“Against Manhattan, we came out strong at the beginning, and we maintained the intensity throughout the game,” Alyssa DeLorenz ’11 said. “The offense really gelled and worked together, and the defense focused on working as a unit.”

The Orange and the Blue’s scoring streak broken open a game that was tied 2-2 beforehand, allowing the Bison to go into halftime leading 9-3. The second half was more closely contested, but the Bison still finished strong by scoring five of the last eight goals to win 17-11.

Madison Hurwitz ’13 led the offense with six goals, while Ali Carey ’14 and Katelyn Miller ’14 scored four and two goals, respectively. Julia Braun ’11, Sophie Kleinert ’14, Adrienne Wendling ’13, Andrea Feldman ’14 and Lindsey Ferro ’14 also scored a goal apiece. Ashley St. John ’11 led the team with four draw controls, and DeLorenz had a career-high 22 saves in a brilliant outing.

Carey also lauded the effort against Manhattan. “We played well all over the field. We did amazing in transition and were really able to capitalize on our clears,” she said.

The Bison lost to Holy Cross 14-7 on Saturday. They Bison jumped out to a 4-1 lead after several great saves by goalie Alyssa DeLorenz ’11. The Crusaders scored four goals to make it 5-5 going into halftime, then made six straight goals to put the game out of reach.

“We have struggled with coming out strong in the opening minutes of the game,” DeLorenz said, “so for Holy Cross, our goal was to focus on that. Unfortunately, we still couldn’t pull together a full 60 minutes.”

Braun, Carey and Hurwitz each scored two goals, while Kleinert scored one. Carey and Miller each had two assists, while Wendling led the team with five draw controls. DeLorenz had seven saves.

There were 59 fouls for both teams, and the Bison had 21 turnovers compared to the Crusaders’ 10. The Bison led draw controls 15-6.

The team’s four seniors were honored before the game: Braun, DeLorenz, St. John and Christina Garman. Garman also made her first career start in this game.

The Bison women have the weekend off but play their last home game of the season against Columbia next Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Categories
Featured Sports

Men’s lax takes down No. 13 Army

By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

The men’s lacrosse team completed perhaps its most important and thrilling win on the road last weekend, taking down No. 13 Army. With the last-minute 8-7 win, the Bison remain undefeated in Patriot League play and now are ranked 12th nationally.

The monumental win over Army pushed the Orange and Blue record to 4-0, tied atop the league with Colgate. By taking down Army, the team took a major step towards its goal of attaining the first seed in the league tournament.

“Beating Army is always huge,” midfielder Ryan Klipstein ’11 said. “You know that things will come down to the fourth quarter and sure enough this was the case this year. Yet again the team found a way to win but also discovered plenty of mistakes that will be improved upon over the rest of the season.”

The Bison played a far from perfect game. They were outshot 33-25, failed to clear the ball eight of 24 times and lost the face-off battle. The team was lifted by the dazzling play of goalie Kyle Feeney ’13, who made 11 saves in the game. Four of those saves came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to ice the game.

The game was also tight throughout the first half. Tied at 4-4 in the second quarter, Kyle O’Keefe ’13 scored his first goal of the season. The Bison would take this one-goal lead into the locker room for halftime.

The Bison came out strong in the third quarter with two straight goals, scored by Mike Danylyshyn ’11 and Peter Burke ’14. The three-goal lead was short-lived, with the Black Knights scoring two goals of their own to come within one goal at the end of the third quarter.

Chase Bailey ’13 scored the final Bison goal of the day halfway through the final quarter on a man-up play. The Black Knights would not respond until the final minute of the game, and their comeback attempt proved to be too little too late.

Bailey and Todd Heritage ’14, registering two goals apiece, led the Bison scoring attack. Bailey also assisted two goals, giving him four points, the most of any Bison player.

With only two games remaining on the year, the Bison will have to face two league rivals in Lehigh and Colgate. These two games will undoubtedly decide the first place team in the Patriot League.

“The next two games against Lehigh and Colgate are important for the PL tourney seeding and hosting, as well as for national seeding later on and a possible at-large bid,” Klipstein said. “Regardless of these implications, we had set ‘undefeated in the Patriot League’ as a goal from the very beginning. Accomplishing this goal is our number one motivation.”

Categories
Sports

Women’s golf takes third

By Colin Fields

Writer

The women’s golf team finished third at the Big South Championship in South Carolina on Wednesday in its final competition of the spring season. Lauren Bernard ’14 led the team with a final round 72 to tie for second place individually. The team’s third-place finish and Bernard’s second-place finish are record performances for the Orange and Blue at the Big South.

Bernard carded a 226 for the tournament which ranks second in Bison history. The first-year opened up the tournament with a three-over-par 75 and a seven-over-par 79 before shooting a sizzling even-par 72 on the final day to finish in a tie for second. Bernard performed consistently, tallying three birdies and three bogeys on Wednesday.

Jessica Alexander of Coastal Carolina, who also finished the tournament with a 72, was the only player in the field to shoot lower than Bernard for the week. Bernard finished with no worse than a bogey on both Monday and Wednesday.

“I was nervous as a freshman going into the tournament because I wanted to play my best golf,” Bernard said. “I was very pleased with my second-place finish because I was at my best and all of my hard work paid off.”

Bernard’s 226 is second all-time behind her teammate Minjoo Lee ’12 who shot a 224 in last year’s competition. Lee finished with a 247 for the week in this year’s competition.

The two other Bison first-years both had rounds under 80 to help put the Bison in contention. Kasha Scott ’14 shot a 77 on Wednesday and Bridget Wilcox ’14 birdied the final hole Tuesday to card a 79. Captain Kate Jurenovich ’11 also finished the week on a high note with a 77 of her own Wednesday.

“It was a great achievement to play this well and we worked really hard this season to get to where we are. It felt great to finish strong,” Jurenovich said.

As a team, the Bison finished behind Coastal Carolina and Gardner-Webb. Coastal Carolina came into the tournament ranked 40th in the nation. The Bison had a team score of 949 and finished ahead of six other schools.

The third place finish Wednesday was their sixth top-four finish of the year, the most in Bison history.