Persistent L Train Delays Hit Students Hard Taking Action, One

Fall 2006, Issue 3
Oct. 3, Oct.16
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•Refugees in Central Park (Pg. 4)
• Wandering through B&N (Pg. 6)
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New Writing Prerequisite
Ups Standards for Students
The L subway line, under construction since 2004, was cancelled for the past two weekends in a row. Tyler Magyar
Persistent L Train Delays Hit Students Hard
By Liza Minno
It's 9:30 A.M. on an early-autumn Tuesday. Lang Junior Logan Axelson waits at the Morgan
Avenue subway platform, the
sixth stop into Brooklyn on the
L subway line. Logan is headed
to a 10 A.M. Urban Studies class
at Lang. He waits ... and waits ...
and waits.
Five minutes go by. Then ten.
Then twenty. Four trains pass,
heading in the other direction.
Meanwhile, bleary-eyed, coffee-clutching members of the
American workforce gather. They
have clearly experienced this before. There are no copies of AM
New York or Metro. Instead, commuters are immersed in War and
Peace and The Theory of Relativity.
"It takes twenty-five minutes ...
if you're lucky," Axelson says,
after a while. "It's a bitch."
Finally, a train approaches the
Manhattan-bound platform. Full
of riders, it looks as if it's about
to burst at the seams. The train
passes without stopping.
Among students' gripes at the
New School, the unreliability of
the L-train must rank very high.
The L-which starts at Rockaway Parkway in Brooklyn, runs
through Bushwick and Williamsburg, and ends at 8th Avenue and
14th Street-is notorious for running behind schedule and, when
it does come, for being crowded
well beyond its carrying capacity.
Commuter advocates argue that
the overcrowding and delays are
the results of three main factors:
the mass influx of residents into
the Williamsburg area over the
last five years, the fact that the
subway system is over a century
old, and the line's ongoing construction and repairs. What is not
clear, at least these days, is how
soon, if ever, these problems can
be rectified.
Williamsburg As Hip-Nouveau
Williamsburg is widely known
as the city's new Bohemian capital, in the tradition of Paris' Left
Bank of the 1920s and New
York's Greenwich Village of the
1960s. Yet skyr<><>.keting rent pric-
es sometimes make the neighborhood feel more like a gated community.
"In the past year, condo purchase
prices have increased 30% and
one-bedroom rentals have gone
up 10% at all of the L stops" up to
the Jefferson Avenue stop, wrote
New York Magazine's Charles
Graeber in October, 2005.
Along with the high prices have
come waves of new riders. In
2000, the yearly L-train ridership hit the 26-million mark. Five
years later, rider-ship had jumped
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Taking Action, One Committee at a Time
By Linh Tran
Around ten in the evening a few
weeks ago, Lang Student Union
facilitator Brittany Charlton returned to her dorm at Loeb Hall,
where she has been an RA for
most of her time at Lang.
She had taken a friend to the
Metropolitan Opera to watch its
open house performance, and as
she talked about her interests in
opera and dance performances,
she laughed. "I'm such an old
woman!" she said.
Charlton, a senior, was born in
Santa Rosa, California, a suburb
of San Francisco. Her mother
hoped that Charlton would become a champion figure skater,
and moved the family to Santa
Rosa for the excellent ice skating facilities. As a child, Brittany
practiced figure skating and ballet.
Yet, when it came time for college, she wanted to go a different
route.
Shortly after arriving at Lang as
a freshman in 2004, she declared
a double concentration in Urban
Studies and Political Science.
Charlton joined the Lang Student Union (LSU) the same year.
Many prominent members left
the organization that year, which
left a spot as a facilitator open. It
was an opportunity to "step up,"
Charlton said. She ran for the poCONTINUED ON PAGE 5
By Lee Varian
In a change that has taken many
Lang students by surprise, the
writing department is raising its
standards this year.
According to Neil Gordon, chair
of the writing concentration, students in introductory writing
classes now have to earn a grade
of B or higher to move on to intermediate level classes. Those in
intermediate classes are required
to earn a B+ or higher to take advanced courses.
The policy is expected to be fully
implemented and binding within
a year, Gordon told Jnprint in an
interview last week. The prerequisites would be specific to each
track of the writing department.
The change would not prevent
students from receiving credit for
the classes, but the classes would
not count as prerequisites.
"Writing is a very hard thing to
do, it is a hard profession and a
hard discipline," Gordon said. "If
a student is allowed to go through
the entire concentration with Cs,
I'm not sure we're doing them
any favors. It's not going to get
them anywhere."
Gordon made clear that the rule
is meant to be an educational tool,
not a punitive measure. Core faculty will meet to deliberate over
students who receive grades that
do not allow them to proceed
within the concentration, he said.
Professors will also review students' work and their own grading standards to ensure that all
students are treated fairly.
"A policy that can't be broken
in a student's interest is a lousy
policy," Gordon added.
When he became chair of the
writing department several years
ago, three of Gordon's best students delivered a list of complaints about the concentration.
High on that list of complaints
were "lax standards of promotion, repeating work throughout
classes, and classes that had no
real intellectual heart," he said.
The new standards are part of
a larger effort to improve the
rigor of writing classes at Lang.
The department has added two
new kinds of advanced writing
classes-Writing for Publication
and The Master Class-in order
to provide a more complete curriculum.
The Writing for Publication class
allows students to conference and
workshop their pieces with pro-
fessional editors, in order to experience 'real world' collaboration.
In The Master Class, students interact with novelists whose books
they read on a weekly basis.
Both courses aim to immerse
students in the professional world
of writing, Gordon said.
At the same time, he added, he
hopes that students get a wellrounded liberal arts education in
their writing classes, which is the
reason that most writing classes
are now assigning more reading.
Gordon says students may have
to submit a writing portfolio to be
admitted into the writing program
in the future, but the Lang administration is still developing such a
policy.
Though the number of students
''
We don't want to be
less progressive. '
emolled in writing classes has
shot up dramatically since 2003,
Gordon insisted that the new standards are not a way of combating
overcrowding.
"We have to balance how many
classes we can physically give,"
he explained. "lt wi\\ a\w&'js \Mi
hard for freshman
and soph o-
mores to register for writing
classes, but that's not what we're
trying to address with this policy.
"However," he added, "if it does
help overcrowding, great."
All teachers are supposed to be
informing their students, but it
seems that many students have
not yet heard about the policy. In
an informal poll of Lang students
who are currently enrolled in introduction or intermediate writing
classes, Inprint found that only
five out of twenty-five recalled
their teachers announcing the
new standards to them. Two students were not sure and eighteen
said they had not been told.
"Communication is always a
problem," Gordon acknowledged.
"We don't want to be a less progressive department, we don't
want to be a less creative department," he said. "We understand
that students come from all over
the country to be here. What we
want is to ensure that no one
leaves one of our classes feeling
they haven't been challenged and
educated in a fundamental way."
EUGENE LANG COLLEGE THE ftEW SCHOOL FOR LIBERAL ARTS
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It takes a certain demonic apathy to turn someone's twentyminute train ride into an hour
and a half-long trek through an
urban purgatory of closed stops
and obnoxious shuttle buses.
That was the case for the past
two weekends, when commuters
who normally took the L-trainamong them many New School
students-were deferred to the
JIMIZ, condemned to slog back
and forth between the Metropolitan L stop, a mere two stops
from Manhattan, and the Myrtle
JIMIZ stop in Bushwick.
If the MTA really wanted to
help its riders out, they would
operate shuttle buses along the
entire L line instead of sending
riders off to the inconvenient J/
MIZ. But the MTA should not be
shutting down such a prime subway line in the first place, which
cut off a sizeable population of
twenty-somethings and Italian
and Puerto Rican families from
getting to Manhattan, and pre-
Table of Contents
Letters to the Editor
Page 1:
• L Train Travails
• Writing policy changes
• Profile: Brittany Charlton
Page2:
•Editorials
• Letters to the Editor
Page3:
•College (in)activisim
• East Village no longer
• Dubious internet pals
•Anti-college?
• Politeness, explained
Page4:
• Drs. Without Borders and
a refugee camp in the city
• Closing of CBGB
Page 5:
• Cover Stories
• Around the Courtyard
• LSU changes policy
Page 6:
• Great requited reading
• Stev~ Reich's birthday
• Great American poets
• Student theater group
•Fashion Week; Coterie
Page 7:
'Reviews
Page 8:
• Photo Essay: Wall St.
• Refugee camp, con.
• Steven Segal?
Except for editorials, opinions expressed herein are those of individual
writers and not of lnprint. Please
send any letters and submissions to
inprint@,,newschool.edu. lnprint does
not publish unsigned letters. Letters
may be edited for length and clarity. Submissions must be received
two weeks before publication date
for consideration. lnprint is not responsible for unpublished letters or
submissions.
NEXT SUBMISSION
DEADLINE:
OCTOBER9TH
vented potential shoppers from
reaching Williamsburg's hip, locally-owned businesses.
The New York Times recently
reported that the MTA, faced
with giant, looming budget deficits, was contemplating raising
fares and reducing service, which
would have the effect of extending
today's average wait for a train to
twenty minutes. The next day, the
MTA denied any such plans.
Whether or not the plans are
true, it's dire news to hear from
an agency that is known to give
less for more.
When they're not contradicting one another, MTA spokesmen
seem to be trying to make the argument that the end result of all
the delay-causing construction
will be a beautiful new, hyperefficient and entirely automated
L line. But it remains to be seen
whether that means we'll get
more trains and less crowding, or
an underground version of Stanley Kubrick's soft-spoken but
deeply maniacal HAL.
RE: Parsons? Don't Read
This, By Justin LaneBriggs, Oct. 3rd
We all know that Lang and
Parsons are different schools.
I know it well, since most of
my closest friends are Eugene
Langers who I met through the
dorms. I have such love for my
friends, for their faithful companionship and support through
the craziest times, when I've
been at my worst.
On any given night, one might
find me scrambling through
scraps of paper and cups of coffee at 4 A.M. In the next room,
a bunch of my Lang friends
might be up for very different
reasons-drinking beer and
watching a Daily Show re-run,
discussing Kant, or talking about
politics.
We have different workloads,
and different requirements. I
often wish Parsons was more like
Lang because I respect the way
that Lang gives students freedom
to learn exactly what they wish.
One of my friends put it most
eloquently: "Where Lang is like
summer camp, Parsons is like
boot camp."
Parsons students are constantly
battling the school's efforts to
fail us for absences and lateness.
We cannot even be certain of our
immediate future at the school,
let alone smug enough to be "so
confident of [our] success [that
we'd consider] spending more
time learning the same as wasting it," as you flippantly worded
it.
Over the years I've taken
extra liberal arts courses out of a
genuine interest to learn. I often
participate in seminars. Yet, I
don't wish to merely be written
off as one of your "exceptions"
to the mute Parsons student rule.
It's true that I should devote
more time to my liberal arts
courses, but at times it really
becomes a physical impossibility.
Since school started, I am struggling to get fiveB hours of sleep
a night, no exaggeration. If this
is true of someone like me, who
loves reading and writing, think
of Parsons students who are
visual learners and slow readers,
juggling their studio course loads
with the required classes.
Keep in mind that international
students form about one-third
of the diploma-earning student
population at Parsons (according to the Parsons website), and
many have struggled with the
English language. Imagine the
momentous task at hand for an
ESL student, following the reading and keeping up with the writing assignments required for the
seminar classes. How would they
venture to engage in sociological, philosophical, psychological
debate with their Lang counterparts? Especially when Lang
students seem so apt to snicker at
a Parsons student's most sincere
contributions?
Imagine if, on top of your Lang
course load, you were required to
attend a Parsons studio class or
two, maybe to build a functional
chair out of cardboard without
the help of adhesive, or tailor a
suit to perfection in three weeks,
ending in a formal critique by
your teachers and peers?
What if you went to South Korea to study liberal arts because
you felt the school had more to
offer you for your profession?
Would you participate in class
with as much conviction as you
do now?
"After all, they could be shopping right now," you wrote. If
you were trying not to "be too
much of a snob," you failed.
What Parsons students need
from Lang students is compassion-as my friends have so
readily shown me-not condescens10n.
- Connie Wang, Parsons,
Senior, Fashion Design
on application than theory. In a
lot of cases, this means students
lack a certain critical edge.
It's true, too, that there is a
"Madison Ave. crew" at Parsons,
and they have no interest in improving the world in any way.
But I think I speak on behalf of
all Parsons students when I say
this:
Piss off.
What makes you so privileged
that you can compare Parsons
students to the lazy, pseudo-inI'm calling your bluff.
telligent hipsters (who probably
The nature and tone of your
couldn't get into NYU) that
essay shows it's clear you're
populate Lang?
looking for a fight-gloves off
Don't try to think highly of
and all. It's obvious that, through Lang by comparing yourself to
your cheap shots, you're alluding Parsons. Parsons is one of the
to a deeper conflict of cultures.
most elite design schools in the
You only went halfway to expose world. Your article is an insult to
it, though. Frankly, if you want
Parsons' history, excellence and
to start some wars, you should go culture.
Trust me, the drive of one
all the way.
mediocre Parsons student is the
So I'll continue where you
started, and rebut your claims.
same as ten Lang students. It's a
Did you ever stop to think
spit in our collective face to have
that maybe, just maybe, Parsons
someone the likes of you be so
condescending.
students required to take Lang
Riddle me this: Why would
courses have no interest in the
you go to Lang if you got into
name-dropping, the desperate
attempts to make obscure referNYU? It doesn't cost much
ences and the illogical rhetoric of more.
Lang kids? Intellectual masturbaI'll tell you why: Because you
tion is not learning-if you think didn't get in.
it is, we most certainty can't help
Sorry to burst your ego bubble,
you.
but thoughts like these are in the
minds of every Parsons student
You wrote that our lack of
participation makes it seem as
you encounter, and we have yet
though we are so confident of
to be been convinced otherwise.
our success that spending any
And you wonder why Parsons
more time learning would be the
students don't talk in your lecture
same as wasting it. After all, you
classes?
continued, we could be shopping - Thomas Jock.in, Parsons, Juright now ...
nior, Communication Design
Yes, you're right, we want to
Note: Jockin is a former designer for
be successful. Parsons, unlike a
Inprint.
liberal arts college, focuses more
Opinions
3
At Lang, Activism Wanted
Not the Place It Used to Be
Pardon Mai?
By Jen Kolic
By Elisabeth Garber-Paul
Today's Polite
World Explained
Despite all the talk about The
New School's tradition of activism, the student body seems to
seriously lack the awareness, interest and organization necessary
to achieve anything of substance
in that department. Most New
School students-those who are
paying attention, at least-are
quick to bitch about political and
economic issues, but reluctant to
take action.
Of course, if an ideologically
reviled figure, like John McCain
or Newt Gingrich, comes to visit
our school, we'll join the fray and
make it clear they're not welcome
here. The McCain fiasco was
more about personal territory than
anything. After all, how dare this
warmonger come and spread his
propaganda on our turf?! Doesn't
he and New School President
Bob Kerry know this is a liberal
school?
To be frank, it gets harder and
harder to tell each year, as the
school population rises. Does
anyone still come for the activism?
It's sad to think that the students
at this supposedly liberal school in
the heart of New York City could
become so self-involved and isolated from the social and political
issues of the outside world. But
somehow that's exactly what's
happening.
I understand the Jack of motivation; I was indifferent to the whole
activism scene for a while. After
two large-scale rallies around
the time of the Iraq invasion utterly failed to have any effect
(including convincing the rest of
the world that not all Americans
wanted this war), I thought protests just didn't work. I gave up
on them.
But the reason it's not working
is because there aren't enough
people consistently speaking out.
During Vietnam, college activists
turned the whole country upside
down, because they just wouldn't
stop protesting the war and the
entire American system.
Sure, we don't have a draft to
worry about (yet), but plenty of
kids who aren't even old enough
to drink are still being made to
risk their asses for no good reason.
We should care. Imagine that,
instead of having a 21st birthday
party, you get killed thousands of
miles away from everyone you
love. If you think that sucks profoundly, then why don't you get
off your ass and say so, instead
of just taking the safe route and
blindly bashing the right whenever politics come up in conversation?
Worldcantwait.org has a massive,
multi-city, anti-Bush and anti-war
walkout and protest scheduled for
October 5th. All you supposed
activists and liberals, I'm calling
you out. Thursday's the day, 47th
and Broadway. Either put up, or
shut up.
Pot-Heads Only Live Once
By Zach Warsavage
Posted near elevators and on
bulletin boards throughout the
New School, a sign reads "You
Only Live Once." At first, this
catchy phrase seems to pop off
of the page, bringing associations of living life on the edge,
of following your own voice. But
in the backdrop of the bold lettered phrase, small balloon-like
marijuana leaves float aimlessly.
At the bottom, the poster reads,
"That's The Problem."
Oh ... so that's the problem with
smoking marijuana? I get it now.
It's because you only live once.
These posters are the product of
an anti-drug campaign designed
by a Lang psychology class last
Spring. The professor of the class,
Noel Garrett, also the Director of
Student Support and Crisis Management, designed a final project
for his class to inform students of
the harmful effects of drugs. This
seems to me like a fine idea.
But this is a slogan better suited
for an anti-college campaign than
an anti-drug one.
Without even opening the pamphlet, believers of reincarnation
and opponents to anti-pot propaganda will most likely be confused at this eye-grabber.
The poster has silhouetted shadows of a group of college students
partying, with hands in the air, almost reaching for the balloons. It
looks like they're having a pretty
good time. All it needs is some
smoke, and this is a pro-marijuana campaign. It would be a typi-
In 2003, Alistair Economakis, son of a Greek shipping
magnate, sent non-renewal
notices to all the tenants
occupying the building at
47-49 East Third Street, announcing that their twentyyear leases would be up in
four months.
He wants to tum the 11,600
square foot building into
his family's personal mansion, with five bedrooms, six
bathrooms, a den, playroom,
gym, library, study area, dining
room and kitchen.
It makes me think, why would
someone that wealthy want to live
on the same block as the Hell's
Angels headquarters?
That's when I decided to take
another look around my neighborhood, and discovered that
things were changing even faster
than I thought.
The liquor store nearby no longer had their bulletproof partition.
I stopped in a few days later to
pick up my favorite cheap champagne, but they'd stopped carrying it.
In Tompkins Square Park there
weren't any travelers or crusty
punks bathing in the water fountain. There was nothing to watch
but yuppies and their yap dogs.
Over on Avenue B, my favorite
dives were gone, replaced with
wine bars and alehouses, where
two drinks cost a day's salary.
Saturday nights that used to see
the streets crawling with locals
are now teeming with the thirty-
By Amber Sutherland
This week's questions come from
my lovely and devout readers,
Natti and Julia.
How much do we really need
to know about your Lang boyfriend in our class?
bridge-and-tunnel
something
crowd.
The music is leaving just as
quickly. Hilly Kristal is taking his
renowned CBGB to Las Vegas.
Other clubs have also fallen by
the wayside, or are facing pressure from skyrocketing real estate
prices. Presumably, that makes
landlords happy because more expensive, Chelsea-style clubs are
coming downtown-think Crash
Mansion, Butter, Libation-and
bringing expensive drink and
ticket prices with them.
Perhaps the neighborhood is just
coming full-circle. You could say
that CBqB and Continental was
the gentrification of the 1970s.
This next stage of gentrification comes with the new population-transplants, Upper East
Side rich kids and students like
me. As I bemoan the neighborhood I got drunk in during high
school, I wonder, in ten years,
who the Economakis family will
be complaining about.
Feeding Fake Friendships
cal night for many New School
students, after all.
Garrett said over the phone By Samantha Schaifer
that the student who designed
the pamphlet wanted people to
read the inside. "You only do
live once," he said, "so you must
know the facts."
I agree. People should read the
facts about drugs that they might
be using, but not because they
feel guilty that they may have
squandered their one chance on
earth by getting high in college.
Why not just tell smokers they're
Many students feel detached
going to Hell?
Inside, listed under the head- from the people they pass every
ing "Common Misconceptions," day on their way to class, even
the pamphlet refutes the idea that if they are friends on profile
"Marijuana cannot cause lung websites like the Facebook. The
cancer." It reads in bold, "stud- truth is, the Facebook isolates
ies strongly suggest that smok- the college community, fostering
ing marijuana is highly correlated friendships that only exist in cyberspace.
with lung cancer."
A new feature on the Facebook,
But on the next page, under
"Facts About Marijuana," the the "News Feed," is designed
pamphlet reads, "It's hard to to make these relationships feel
know for sure whether regular more meaningful. Whether or not
it succeeds is another question.
marijuana use causes cancer."
The feed scoops up information
The pamphlet also makes a
from
friends' profiles and delivvague comparison between the
ers
it
in a continuously scrolling
danger of cigarettes and maristream
on your screen. As soon as
juana: namely, that marijuana is
you
log
in, you receive hundreds
more cancerous. Yet, the pamof
''headlines"
pertaining to the
phlet doesn't offer any scienlives
of
your
three-hundred
and
tific evidence. The conclusion?
ninety-seven
close
Facebook
pals.
Marijuana is worse because it is
smoked to "extinction," while a Whether you wanted to know or
smoker only tokes on a couple not, you will be bombarded with
everything from a person's relainches of a cigarette.
tionship
status to what they've
Apparently, knowing the facts
been
posting
on their friends'
doesn't mean you need to know
walls.
what a fact is.
Jeremy Schlangen
What's wrong with this picture?
The Facebook isn't really an intimate group of close friends sharing a cup of coffee over chit-chat,
but a superficially connected network of mock-friends, strangers
and acquaintances who wind up
knowing more about one another
than they ever intended.
It is disturbing to think that our
generation is so willing to make
intimate details about their personal lives available for almost
anyone to read. It doesn't make
sense that virtual friends have
access to our sexual orientation
or our politics, when people involved in our real lives may not
know nearly as much about us.
It's easy to create disposable
social groups, especially while
living in a fast-paced, fragmented
society like New York City. College students clearly feel disconnected from their peers. The latest
Facebook innovation seems sure
to accelerate the trend.
Eugene Lang College is ranked
number one in "class discussions
encouraged" among liberal arts
colleges in the U.S. on the Princeton Review's Best 361 Colleges
List. Some people think this is
"awesome," but I am not among
them. Many students come to college to be inspired by brilliant,
pedigreed instructors, not to listen to rich 20 year olds blather on
about which "Sex and the City"
character they most identify with.
Seriously, that show was cancelled.
By the end of my first semester
at Lang, I knew much more about
my classmates than I had ever
hoped to. I could write the biography of one student in particulareverything from her courageous
upbringing at an exclusive private
school in Manhattan, to her more
recent escapades waitressing for
handbag money in the meatpacking district.
This student's unfailing self-absorption managed to dominate the
class. Ironically, the overly personal nature of the class discussion actually diminished the integrity of the classroom dynamic.
In general, class discussions
should actually relate to the material covered in the course. Relating anything in your life to your
Russian Calligraphy or Wikipedia: Cultural Studies in Practice
courses would be a great stretch,
so don't try. If, however, you find
yourself taking Amber's Charm
School next semester, it would be
prudent to share your social mishaps with the class. If you're just
another rich kid from the tri-state
area, stick to the material. If you
find your peers unable to heed
this advice, Natti and Julia, just
let it serve as a warning never to
take a women's studies course.
How tight is too tight, in the
men's pant department?
Oh dear. This question demands
the usage of all sorts of euphemisms that I am uncomfortable
with. I understand, however, that
finding a well-fitting, stylish and
inoffensive pant is the primary
concern of every Lang student.
Tell the boys to consult their
anatomy books: none of that stuff
ought to be visible. See also: David Bowie in "The Labyrinth."
What is a good hipster first
date?
I suppose you ought to do something ironic: put on your tight
pants and go bowling, or play
mini-golf, or try to succeed at
life. If you really like each other
and want to get earnest, you could
make some sort of vegan dinner
while listening to Neutral Milk
Hotel and drinking PBR. And
then talk about your feelings and
cry or something.
Sutha907@newschool.edu
4
News & Features
CBGB Shuts Grimy Doors, Forever
By Josh Kurp
club open through October.
Kristal says he is currently
searching for a site in Las Vegas
to open a new CBGB.
"I have some developers who
have some really great space
down there," he said in a recent
interview with MTV. "It's a big
undertaking, and these developers are putting the money into it,
and I want to make sure that, for
my benefit and theirs, we make
this work."
According to Kristal, the new
club will open its doors sometime
in 2008.
Music lovers know CBGB as
a place where bands such as The
Ramones, Television, the Patti
Smith Group, and Talking Heads
cut their teeth.
The Lower East Side venue
opened its doors in December of
1973, originally hosting bluegrass
and blues acts.
The precise meaning of its acronymic name has always been a
~ matter of dispute, even to some
§' CBGB veterans.
~ "In 1976, when I first started
j showing my photographs of
g: CBGB, people were always askStickers and graffitti on a wall in CBGB are soon headed for Las Vegas.
ing me what the hell CBGBOMFUG meant," said Godlis, a
CBGB, the acclaimed punk rock urinal, band sticker and bar glass
photographer who has worked for
club that has been a downtown from its 315 Bowery residence
CBGB since its opening.
landmark for more than thirty and ship it to Las Vegas, where its
"But I swear, only Hilly knew
years, will be closing its doors history will be preserved.
what that OMFUG really meant,"
forever this Halloween.
CBGB 's lease officially ran
he added. "Sure looks great on a
After a five-year battle with the up on August 31st of this year,
t-shirt though."
club's landlord, (the Bowery Res- but Kristal brokered a deal with
According to Kristal, CBGBidents Committee (BRC), Hilly BRC, agreeing to pay $35,000 a
OMFUG officially stands for
Kristal, owner of CBGB, says he month-nearly twice the previ- Country, Bluegrass, Blues and
has decided to pack up every last ous rent-in order to keep the
Other Music for Uplifting Gor-
mandizers.
"What is a gormandizer? It's a
voracious eater of, in this case,
music," Kristal explained.
Bluegrass did not survive for
very long at CBGB. According to
Kristal, punk began at CBGB the
day the band Television paid him
a visit.
"I was on a ladder in front of the
club fixing the awning in place,
when I looked down to notice
three scruffy dudes in tom jeans
and t-shirts looking up at me inquisitively," Kristal said.
'"WHAT'S GOIN' ON?' or
something of that nature, was the
question they asked," he continued. "They were Tom Verlaine,
Richard Hell, and Richard Lloyd,
three of the four members of the
rock group Television."
A few days later, Terry Ork,
Television's manager, came to
CBGB and booked a performance
for the band.
Soon thereafter, the club began
drawing acts that were, at that
time, part of the musical counterculture. Now, these same bands
grace the walls of the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland,
Ohio.
The club is renowned for its tiny
stage and overwhelming sound
system, which David Fricke,
senior editor of Rolling Stone,
described in an interview with
Inprint as "one of the best in the
country."
The only rule for musicians was
that they had to play original music. As for the patrons, they were,
according to Tommy Ramone,
Now, the days of the Ramones
are long gone and ticket prices
can sometimes exceed $40. There
is a gift shop next door, which
sells everything from CD cases to
underwear with CBGB's logo on
them.
The merchandising has not
proved sufficient to cover the
rent, however, so it's viva Las Vegas for CBGB-a fact many are
not pleased with.
"It's going to be so much worse
in Vegas," said Danielle Maclndoe, a sophomore at Parsons.
"Instead of its 'fuck authority'
stance, it will just be a tourist attraction."
CBGB's problems with BRC
took root in 2000, when the BRC
alleged that the club had not paid
rent for several years, and owed
them $400,000. The two have
battled ever since over the unpaid
rent and interest.
"We've seen this coming for
a while," said Aaron Collins, a
manager at the CBGB Lounge,
next door to the club. "The most
shocking thing will be when I
walk by and don't see the [CBGB]
sign."
For the club's last show on October 31st, it has booked Patti
Smith and Lenny Kaye. In a fitting tribute, tickets will be $33,
the number of years CBGB has
been open.
Maclndoe says she will miss
CBGB because of its intimacy,
something she does not experience at high-profile arenas.
"It's like a little family there,"
she said. "And no matter the
"artists, bohemians, drag queens,
problem, everyone vvou.ld under-
and Hell's Angels."
stand."
Taking a Refugee Camp to the City
By Hannah Rappleye
It was his first day as the only sur-
geon for a population of 500,000,
and John De Csepel found himself scooping up the bowels of a
patient that had tumbled to the
floor of a sweltering-hot, government-owned hospital in Zalingei,
Sudan.
"I just finished a surgery and the
nurse said very casually, 'Oh you
might want to take a look at this
patient when you have a chance,"'
recalled de Csepel, 42, a specialist
in laparoscopic surgery and Chief
of Minimally Invasive Surgery at
St. Vincents Hospital in Manhattan.
"I'm thinking no big deal,
but then I take off the dressing
and find a massive stab wound
straight through the back of his
abdomen," he continued.
"There, life and death just
doesn't mean as much. They are
so used to death."
De Csepel is a medical volunteer
for the international humanitarian organization, Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors
Without Borders. On the weekend of September 15, he and other
MSF staff left such chaotic scenes
in underdeveloped and war-tom
countries to lead hundreds ofNew
Yorkers-and some unwitting
tourists-through a mock refugee camp the group had erected
on Cherry Hill, near Strawberry
Fields in Central Park.
At "A Refugee Camp in the
Heart of the City," visitors wandered through white tents and
tiny wooden shacks and examined various cooking implements,
makeshift latrines and medical
supplies to get an idea of what life
as a refugee would be like.
"Imagine horsemen coming in
the middle of the night," de Csepel told one group of rapt visitors.
"They kill all the boys and men,
your livestock, and set fire to your
home. What would you do?"
According to MSF, more than
33 million people around the
world have been forced from their
homes by war and conflict in areas like the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Sudan, Columbia, Iraq
and Afghanistan. Of those, 22
million are considered internally
displaced persons (IDPs). IDPs
are displaced within the borders
of their home country and are not
recognized under international
law.
Unlike other non-governmental aid organizations, in addition
to providing medical relief, MSF
is committed to broadcasting the
details of what their volunteers
witness in the field, and lobbies
for international intervention in
extreme cases.
"Bearing witness to the plight
of displaced persons, especially
when their fundamental rights are
violated is a very important part
of our work," MSF/USA President Darren Portnoy told reporters at the Central Park event. "We
may be where no other agency
is present, we may see atrocities
that no other outsiders get to see.
It then becomes imperative for us
to communicate this very clearly
with local authorities, with media, with governments, and international bodies."
MSF was formed in 1971 by a
group of French doctors, including humanitarian Bernard Kouchner, who became disillusioned
with the Red Cross policy of strict ~
neutrality during the Nigerian ~
Civil war of 1967-1970, a con- F-fiict which resulted in the death of Doctors Without Borders volunteers show high school students equipment
up to three million people in the used in a typical refagee camp in Central Park on September 16.
MSF was among the first groups after the Central Park event.
coastal province ofBiafra.
"The doctor's ethic is you go
Kouchner, a Red Cross employ- to respond to the 1994 genocide
ee, returned to France and spoke in Rwanda, in which 800,000 for the worst first, and you do evout against the Nigerian govern- Tutsis and moderate Hutus were erything in your power to help.
ment and the Red Cross, defy- slaughtered in 100 days. They We're not there to teach people
ing the contract he had signed to were also the only aid organiza- how they should live," he added.
bring the plight of Biafrans into tion operating in Srebrenica dur- "That is why we are usually acing the Bosnian War.
cepted."
the international spotlight.
MSF specializes in emergency
In 2005, Tectonidis helped coorAlong with other doctors who
volunteered in Biafra, Kouchner medical relief, including vaccina- dinate the response to a nutritionfounded the Emergency Medical tion campaigns, water and sanita- al emergency in Niger, where, as
and Surgical Intervention Group, tion improvement, maternal care of last July, more than 2,000 chilwhich merged with the French and rehabilitation. Any decision dren were being admitted every
Medical Relief organization to to enter a country is based on an week to MSF clinics for severe
form MSF. The organization's assessment of need, something the malnutrition.
In Niger, MSF used Plumpy
first mission was to Managua, the group's leaders insist they make
capital of Nicaragua, where an without regard to any political, Nut, a nutritious food paste which
earthquake in 1972 killed 30,000 religious or economic interests.
had a 91 % cure rate for malnutri"It is not our business to be in tion, according to Tectonidis.
people.
Eighty per-cent ofMSF's funds
Since then, MSF has expanded someone else's country unless
its aid programs to more than 70 there is excessive mortality," said come from individual donors,
countries, with 3,300 internation- Dr. Milton Tectonidis, a nutrition- with $122,348,000 raised last year
al staff and 22,500 locally hired al consultant for MSF, at a conferCONTINUED ON PAGE 8
staff.
ence at Cooper Union a few days
News & Features
5
Action Through Committees Around The Courtyard
she took a class taught by Lang
Dean Jonathan Veitch and earned
sition, won, and has been work- six credits towards her master's
ing hard for LSU ever since.
degree.
"If you put a lot of energy into
"It was a really nice introduc[LSU]," Charlton said, "you can tion to the New School for Social
really make a difference."
Research," Charlton said.
When she was a freshman,
The seminar made Charlton an
Charlton proposed forming a unofficial student of the B.A./
university-wide student senate M.A. program, offered by the
(USS). It was an ambitious proj- New School, where undergraduect that numerous students had ate students earn credits toward a
undertaken in the past to no avail, Masters degree while simultanewarned Roger Ward, Vice Presi- ously pursuing an undergraduate
dent for Student Affairs. USS was degree. She has already comofficially recognized a few weeks pleted the first year of her MA in
ago, and she was voted chair last Political Science.
Thursday.
Charlton is satisfied with the
The summer after her freshman progress the LSU has made over
year, Charlton moved to Wash- the past years.
ington D.C. to work in Congress,
"I am happy with our response
where she served as a legislative to issues," she said. Last year, the
assistant to California Senator Di- LSU created a Dean's Forum,
anne Feinstein.
where students can take questions
After her three-week stay in and complaints to Dean Jonathan
D.C., Charlton went to Poland to Veitch and other administrators.
participate in the Transregional
"If LSU hadn't stepped up, we
Center for Democratic Studies, a wouldn't have any student reprePh.D. seminar in Krakow. There, sentatives on committees," like
the Academic Curriculum Committee, Charlton added.
After graduation, she plans to
continue her work at the National
Abortion Rights Action League
(NARAL), where she works full
time as a consultant. Her tentative plan is to stay at NARAL for
about a year, then go to medical
school at the University of California San Francisco.
In ten years, she would "really
like to be finishing up medical
~ school, learning how to perform
~ second trimester abortions, but
::r
~ also continuing work on the po~ litical aspects," of abortion and
§ abortion rights.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE I
Charlton in the courtyard.
LSU Changes Money Policy
By Leijia Hanraham
The Lang Student Union (LSU),
one of Lang's greatest untapped
resources, has just announced
new structural changes for distributing funds.
In order to shift focus to other
issues, LSU will hear and debate
financial proposals on the first
Wednesday of every month rather
than every week. This leaves the
rest of the month open for discussion and planning of LSU-specific projects.
Project proposals must be typed
and submitted three days before
the meeting, so it can be advertised and added to the agenda.
Proposals must include total expenses and a description of the
project and how it will benefit the
Lang community. All events must
be reported back to LSU after
they are completed.
This year, LSU has also specified that they will not be funding
advertisements or senior works,
at the request of the Dean.
LSU, an inclusive, student-run
group, receives $30,000 from
the university every year and is
responsible for distributing the
money.
In the past, there has been controversy over the distribution of
funds. LSU came into existence
in the early 1990's, but disbanded
some years later due to the abuse
of funds. Student facilitators were
sometimes given debit cards and
permission to use them for whatever the organization needed. The
administration now has slightly
more stringent policies in regard
to LSU spending.
One Lang legend has an advisor dipping into the LSU bank
account, buying himself a Vespa
and then disappearing.
Still, LSU has more say over
the students' financial resources
than in virtually any other sphere.
However, LSU is trying to be
more than just a communal bank.
Besides funding student proposals, some of LSU's projects this
semester include getting a microwave for the cafeteria, publishing
course evaluations and asking
Lang's food distributor, Chartwells, to ban Coca-Cola from the
university due to the corporation's
alleged human rights violations.
LSU will also be working with
the new University Student Senate this year, which held their first
elections last Thursday.
"LSU can serve as a touchstone
for a very diverse, active, and socially integrated student body,"
said Kate Goff, an LSU facilitator.
The L train has been closing down after midnight and during
weekends, but a spokesman for the MTA denied that the line is
undergoing construction. What are they really doing?
Interview by Rob Hartmann &
photos by Matthew Mann
Alex Hampshire
"They're having
a masquerade
ball down there.
They're in their
hardhats and
having a blast, listening to Perry
Kuomo or something."
Lilly Atlihan
"The train that
goes to the
hipsters is not
important and
does not warrant
proper maintenance. Fuck the L
train."
Chris Graham
"When the L
train travels
under the River,
there iS not
enough room
in the passageway for the train
and the egos of all the hipsters,
so only one can go through at a
time."
Persistent L Train Delays Hit Students Hard
CONTINUED FROM PAGE I
to nearly 30.5-million.
It was a higher number, evidently, than the MTA expected.
In 2002, the MTA purchased
$443 million worth of new subway cars. Just over two hundred
newKawasaki-madeR143 carsthe newer, wider ones with digital
clocks and message feeds-went
into service, costing $1.5 million
a piece.
Still, problems persist with the
line's train service-namely, the
number and frequency of trains
that run on any given day.
According to the Straphangers Association, a member of the
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), only
32% of passengers on the L-train
can expect to have a seat during
rush hours. The aveq!ge is 49%
on other lines.
"A lot of times I'll get out a
couple stops early and just walk
the extra blocks," Axelson says.
"It's not worth it with the train so
crowded."
The Age of Inconvenience
The New York City subway
system is over a century old,
making it no easy feat to increase
the number of trains and the frequency of service.
The trains have always run on
what's called a "fixed block" system, which requires a certain distance between each train.
According to the Straphangers, the fixed block system sends
a signal to "Train A" as soon as
"Train B" enters a section of
track. To avoid collision, the signal prevents "Train A" from moving into the section of track that
"Train B" occupies. However, the
designated sections of track are
lengthy, and the signal does not
indicate exactly where the train is
and within that large section. Often, trains A and B could be running much closer to each other
without danger of collision.
The Manhattan Transit Authority (MTA) cannot simply run
more trains, they say. It is a matter of reworking infrastructure.
The complications can make the
Lmore crowded than a Yeah Yeah
Yeahs concert at a Bedford Avenue loft.
The L line has been undergoing construction and repairs since
2004, often limiting service and
inconveniencing riders. But some
feel the end, a revitalized L line,
will justify the means.
"The construction is, long-term,
a beneficial thing for L riders,"
says Neysa Pranger, Straphanger
Association Campaign Coordinator.
The focus of the construction
is to shift the L line to a Communication Based Train Control
(CBTC) signaling service. This
will enable the trains to run very
closely to one another, Pranger
says, making service more frequent.
The CBTC service will provide
each train with its own signal.
An MTA worker at a centralized
command center will monitor the
exact location of all trains on the
line.
The L will be the first line ever
to run on CBTC.
Construction Delays for the
Next Century
The construction on the L line
is taking longer than the MTA expected, Pranger said. The L-train
was originally scheduled to shut
down for only twelve weekends
in 2006, but by December it will
have exceeded that number. Unplanned, late-night shut downs
are also expected.
"They're trying to apply 21st
century technology to 19th century infrastructure," Pranger explains.
The result is that many riders
need to seek out alternate routes
on weekends or late at night. The
alternate route most often used is
one or two shuttle buses that ferry
riders from the Metropolitan L
stop and the J stop at Myrtle Ave.
"It sucks when you're in Manhattan and you realize it's after
midnight and you either have to
walk all the way to the J, or spend
extra money on a cab," Axelson
says. "Most weekends when the L
is down I just don't go into Manhattan."
The MTA does not provide message boards to display real-time
service information in any of the
line's stations, making the lengthy
wait a "blind" one.
The boards should be in by
this month, the MTA recently
announced. A spokesman was
unable to say whether the signs
are to be placed under or above
ground. The L line will be the first
line to have the boards.
"Electronic signage will be a
big bonus for riders," Pranger
says, "It would be great for me to
know if I had time to run and get
a cup of coffee or a paper while I
waited."
Confusion and Budget Woes at
tbeMTA
Officials at the MTA contacted
for this article refused to answer
questions about service changes
on the L. Others would not return
repeated phone calls requesting
comment.
Mark Green, a spokesman for
the MTA, denies that there was
construction on the L train. He
does not have access to "a giant
book of answers," he says.
Others were unable to say
whether the MTA will purchase
new trains or complete construction this year.
Two weeks ago, The New York
Times reported a proposed MTA
budget cut of $20 million. If enacted, the cut would increase typical bus and subway wait times
by anywhere from one to five
minutes. There is also a 5% fare
increase outlined in next year's
...,i budget.
1f The chairman of the MTA, Peter
~ S. Kalikow, has adamantly denied
~ that he will endorse such a hefty
cut or fare increase. He has not,
however, proposed an alternative method for warding off the
MTA's anticipated $905 million
deficit in 2008.
Someone waiting/or the L train.
Entertainment
6
Happy Birthday,
Mr. Reich!
High Fashion Vertigo
By Alison Bensimon
New York City, Pier 93, midSeptember:
Gentlemen
in
straight-legged Tsubi jeans, white
Hanes tees and dark Tom Ford
sunglasses; a gaggle of girls chitchatting about the newest Christian Louboutin sky-high stilettos.
Don't be surprised-it's just Coterie, a trade show that's become
a crucial part of fashion week in
New York City.
Coterie is a veritable fashion
circus. Upon arrival, I stepped
onto a red carpet; I figured it was
there to make "regular" people
feel almost famous. Luxurious
and trendy clothing was displayed
in endless rows of booths. I was
overwhelmed: I saw firsthand the
likes of Stussi, Ed Hardy, Antik
Denim, Frankie B, Acne Jeans,
Marc Jacobs and Betsy Johnson.
What's new for the fall? Skyhigh platforms and fur, evidently.
I stopped by a rack of minktrimmed coats-there were only
three left and they still smelled
like perfume. These retailed for a
couple thousand dollars. A seller
came up to me, assuming I was a
buyer. I didn't know what to say,
so I just smiled and walked away.
One booth was illuminated in
pink and featured a cotton candy
machine. The man behind the machine asked if I wanted some. Of
course, I said yes. As I waited, he
caught me staring at a pair of patent leather stilettos and said, "You
have to get them. They come in
white and in black, and they're
called Almost Famous."
Everyone wants to take a bite
of the Big Apple's chic and trendy
fashion scene, especially during
fashion week. I, however, opted
to take a big bite out of my fluffy,
pink cotton candy instead.
At Barnes & Noble, Required Reading Never Was So Good
By Kait McQuaide and Julia Schweizer
Lynch on Lynch? Geek Love?
The Pagan Rabbi? These are titles more likely found at the usedbooks behemoth the Strand, or for
sale on some street corner, than
on an assigned reading list.
That's what makes the New
School so special.
Take a trip to Barnes & Noble
at 105 Fifth Ave., where the New
School has its own section, and
you may think twice about the
dreaded phrase, ''Required Reading List." It's a great place to
browse the stacks for provocative
reading, even when you don't
have to.
A couple weeks ago, Ryan Marsh,
a performance major at The Jazz
and Contemporary Music School,
was picking up Bombing To Win
by Robert Pape, a critique on coercive tactics in modern warfare.
He also had On Guerilla Warfare
by Mao Tse-tung.
That's a far cry from the thick
texts NYU's College of Arts and
Sciences students pick up at the
university's central bookstore any
given semester.
~
One CAS student wandering
~· the aisles at Barnes and Noble
~ last week was clutching five text,0 books-hard-hitting titles like In§. tro to Java Programming Fundag. menials and Foundation Set For
Jazz student Ryan Marsh picks out some required reading at Barnes General and Organic Chemistry.
& Noble
He only had one "real" book.
A Barnes and Noble employee,
Isabelle, added that the reading
list for NYU's Stern School of
Business is "more non-fiction and
classics, more history, poly-sci,
immigration studies and definitely more textbooks." Translation:
their reading is dutifully dull.
The arcane academia that gets
read at Lang is at least handpicked, intended to provoke critical thought (and, occasionally,
complaints about the bad writing scholars are known for), not
to shove opinions down student
readers' throats. That's what textbooks are for.
It's the kind of reading that
makes our unique learning environment that much more satisfying. Not convinced? Pick up a
copy of Pissing in the Snow, by
Vance Randolph. It's that scholarly tome right there in the middle
of the New School section.
Poetry Reading Review
It's the Best American Poetry, and That's All We Got?
By Najva Soleimani
On Thursday, September 21st,
in the Tishman Auditorium at exactly 7 P.M., Billy Collins read
one poem. It wasn't a particularly
memorable one, though Collins
was an entertaining reader.
Following Collins came ten
poets whose work appeared in
this year's Best American Poetry,
an annual anthology founded in
1988 by New School professor David Lehman. Each year, a
guest editor (including past Poet
Laureates Rita Dove and Louise
Gltick) joins Lehman in selecting poems; this year's guest editor was Collins, himself a former
Poet Laureate (2001-2003).
At the reading, the ten poets each
read one poem from the anthology and one from other works.
The readers in the later part of the
evening were the most engaging,
in particular Jennifer Knox. Her
"Hot Ass Poem" named nouns,
such as a man, a bird and a bike,
and described their "hot, hot
ass[es ]."
~
co'°
Billy Collins before reading at Tishman Auditorium.
By Peter Holslin
New York City native Steve
Reich looks a lot like a baseball
fan. In most photographs, he is fatherly and casual, wearing baseball caps and button-down shirts.
It's an unassuming look for an
ambitious person. Reich is one of
the country's most provocative
contemporary composers. His
exhaustive minimalist pieces employ polyrhythms, field recordings and recurring melodic motifs
and are informed by historical
events, African drumming, Balinese gamelan and jazz.
Reich turns 70 on October 3rd,
and concert halls across the city
are hosting "Steve Reich @ 70"
to celebrate.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is set to present some
of his work on October 3rd. On
the 22nd, Carnegie Hall will host
a performance of Reich's new
piece, "Daniel Variations," which
is based on parts of the Book of
Daniel and the late journalist
Daniel Pearl.
The Whitney is also hosting an
event, free with museum admission, on Sunday, October 15, at
2pm. New York artists like Lee
Ranaldo, of Sonic Youth, So Percussion and Alarm Will Sound
will perform some of Reich's
work.
Reich's work is so rhythmically
complex that performances can
be mesmerizing, but the intricacy
and energy can be a challenge to
maintain.
For example, it's no contest that
"Drumming," a four-movement
piece that starts with a simple
wood block and ends, over an
hour later, in layers of poly-rhythmic tapping, clapping and singing, takes an unprecedented focus
to perform live.
So Percussion released their
version of "Drumming" on Cantaloupe Music last year. They
are sure to take on similar Reich
works at the Whitney with meticulous panache. Alarm Will Sound,
who released dexterous instrumental covers of Aphex Twin's
spastic electronica last year, can
also hold their own.
If anyone could take on Reich's
work, it would be eccentric New
York City groups like these.
Whether they can look as casual
as Reich while doing it, though,
is another story.
Call for Submissions
The Lang Theatre Collective
wants you to submit written
work to be directed, performed
and produced by students. We
are accepting original works of
one-act plays, scenes, monologues and poetry. Our goal is
to give voice to the undiscovered talents and eclectic edge
of Lang students. We will graciously welcome submissions
by hand or you can e-mail us
at LangTheatreCollective@
gmail.com. The Lang Theatre
Collective is Sutton Crawford,
Annie Feld, Dan Jacobson,
Devin Murphy, LJ Regine and
Phoebe Tyers. Deadline October 9. 20 page max.
Reviews
7
Prime Cuts, Rotten Apples
Your Guide to the Best (and Blurst) zn
Todays Fine Art
Rating is on a 1 to 10 basis
Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds, • 0
By Jen Kolic
Justin Timberlake ain't what
he used to be. Amazingly, he's
worse.
With a whole boy-band singing
backup, he was annoying. Now
he's actually trying to be serious.
The result is an album that sounds
like every overplayed club song
you've ever heard, all remixed to
the same mind-numbing beat.
"Lovestoned?" Right. He's been
running around telling anyone
who'll listen that he drinks and
does drugs. It makes sense-he'd
JUSTIN 'I'Il\1Bl~I
'
XII >
Film
The Science of Sleep. Dir.
Michel Gondry. Starring Gael
Garcia Bernal, Charlotte
Gainsbourg, Rated R. • 8
"Guy's making me smell the
sperm!" Stephane's coworker
shouts in one of many dream sequences (or are they realities?) in
The Science of Sleep.
Michel Gondry's latest film,
trailing the success of his Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
explores Stephane's (Gael Garcia
Bernal) inability to discern his
dreams from reality, and his borderline-creepy love for his neighbor, Stephanie.
At times, The Science of Sleep
becomes a film about film narrative. Part of the fun lies in the audience trying to distinguish which
scenes takes place in reality and
which do not.
Visually, the film is phenomenal. The animation stands out as
some of the best CGI in yearssimilar to the kind seen in some
of Jan Svankmajer's films, only
less grotesque and more integral
to the narrative.
If you are able to hear through
the obnoxiously loud hipster guffaws that come up every three
seconds in the theater, pay close
attention to Stephane's exaltations for Stephanie-they can reveal a much darker aspect of an
otherwise bright and superficially
self-aware independent film. John Zuarino
Copying Beethoven. Dir. Agnieszka Holland. Starring Ed
Harris, Diane Kruger. Rated
have to be massively coked-up to
think this record is something to
be proud of.
Even the parade of extra musicians (Timbaland, T.I., Three 6
Mafia, Will.I.Am) can't hide the
fact that Justin Timberlake is not
Michael Jackson, not Prince and
wholly, profoundly not Stevie
Wonder, as some critics claim.
Hell, he's not even Will Smith.
Why is he trying, anyway? Recording an album shouldn't be a c:
game of musical dress-up. Then ~
Shi/pa Ray of Beat the Devil, dances on stage during a performance.
again, you can't expect
much from an artist
who still doesn't write
all of his own material.
FutureSex/LoveSounds is repetitive,
overproduced
and
lyrically devoid of any
discernible substance;
imagine a train wreck
at a disco. On "SexyBack" he whines, "I'll
let you whip me if I
misbehave." If it were
up to me, he'd get the
buckle end of the belt.
In Gondry's surreal world, Gael Garcia Bernal engages in battle.
PG-13. • 7
Hey kids, break out the Ludwig
van records-Beethoven is hip
again!
In Copying Beethoven, Ed Harris plays a modernized Beethoven
in his later years, an old mischievous rock star.
When Beethoven seeks a copyist
to assist him with his latest masterpiece, the 9th Symphony (most
recently heard on cell phones
nationwide), Anna Holtz (Diane
Kruger) is recommended due to
her "God-given talent for writing
music." She isn't shy about repeating that over and over again.
After the standard "women
can't do anything, prove me
wrong" scenario that we've seen
here from Working Girl
to Beauty
and the
Beast, the
film covers new
ground,
reminding us that
1820s Vienna was
a swinging place to be. "I haven't had a
hard-on since he could hear," remarks one ofBeethoven's friends,
while old Ludwig himself takes
great pleasure in mooning an astonished Anna.
As far as biopics go, Copying
Beethoven is refreshing, even
with a few subplots that go nowhere. This is not your greatgreat-great-great-great grandfather's Beethoven.
Copying Beethoven opens October 13th. -Almie Rose Vazzano
with lyrics inspired by Edward
Gorey drawings. It may be overClub Date: Live at the Paradise
amplified, plodding, tinny and rife
in Boston. Starring the Pixies
with a harmonium's drone tones,
has been twenty years since the but it is unique and enticing.
Led by the melodic growl of
Pixies exploded onto the scene in
Boston with abrasive guitar lines singer Shilpa Ray, this five song
and mystifying lyrics. When the EP sends shivers down its listenPixies unexpectedly disbanded er's back with its opening track,
in 1993, they broke the hearts of "Plea Bargain." No wonder they
have a residency at Sin-e.
fans across the country.
Backed by a harmonium (which
Recently, however, they reunited and their intimate concert is a kind of pedal-pumped organ),
filmed at The Paradise in Boston Ray delivers lines like, "snorting eight balls of text book lies,"
is unreal.
Kim Deal 's voice is as angelic as with all the grime of a New York
ever. The voice of Black Francis City alleyway. Her overpowering
(or whatev- moans are in a sensuously perfect
er he is call- key.
A listener may wonder what's
ing himself
these days) going to happen next. Will she
still reso- snarl or croon? Maybe both? Einates with ther way, as Ray puts it, "I cooked
grief. Har- these for you guys, so you better
monized, eat them and enjoy it!"
Beat the Devil celebrates the
the two balrelease of this EP at Sin-e (150
ance eac
"Wmterlong." "Monkey Gone to Attorney St. at Stanton St.), on
Heaven" is pure bliss. Kim's ethe- October 4th.- Chelsea Werner
real call in "Where is my Mind?"
will make you cry.
Spank Rock, YoYoYoYoYo • 9.5
After watching the bonus footThis album accomplishes what
age from a show in 1986, it's hard
most
artists could only hope for
to look at the Pixies in the same
on
their
first record: the kind of
way. Twenty years is a long time,
kinetic
enthusiasm
that is like a
and it is evident that they have
steamroller
in
been through a lot; a subtle knowtheir
live
pering look from Kim Deal says it
formances.
all.
Spank Rock
They've still got it. - Hannah
.
.
borrows
from
Papageorge
Memphis
Music
Crunk
and
Rio
favela
funk,
East
London
Beat the Devil, Beat the Devil,
grime and Houston chopped-and•7
On their self-titled EP, Beat the screwed, and employs spitfire onDevil combines blues and jazz slaughts as much as slow, filthy
DVD
0
ft
grooves.
Armani Xxxchange's beats
are futuristic and complex, challenging listeners to follow Spank
Rock's fervent lyrics. Every line
essentially functions as a hook.
YoYoYoYoYo serves as a remarkably comprehensive exploration
of the newest sounds in hip-hop.
Very Baltimore. Very gutter. Very
good. - Justin Lane-Briggs
Books
Pride of Baghdad. Author Briank K. Vaughan. Art by Niko
Henricbon. • 7.5
In 2003, a pride oflions escaped
from the Baghdad Zoo during the
American bombing of Iraq. This
is the lions' story.
It's a simple story, but Pride
manages to comment on a controversial conflict in the spirit
of Watership Down and Animal
Farm-through the use of talking animals. Vaughan tells his
story from the lions' perspective,
as they trample their way through
the rubble. All the while, the birds
claim," the sky is falling."
At times, Vaughan's agenda can
be a little overbearing; such as
during the constant debate over
the definition of "freedom." In
one scene, a group of US soldiers
stand over several bullet-ridden
animals. One asks if they're wild
in Iraq, and another tells him,
''No, not wild. They're free." Cue
the bird flying into the smoke.
Pride may not be worth the
$20, but it's at least worth reading for free in some crevice of the
bookstore. It's quick reading and
it makes you think, even if it's
nothing to go fanboy over. - John
Zuarino
-
8
Back Page
Neighborhood Profile: Wall Street
Photographs by Alexander Porter
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Doctors Without Borders in Central Park
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
in the United States alone. With
independent funds, the group can
develop innovative medical treatments like Plumpy Nut-something many aid groups cannot do
because of administrative or costrelated obstacles.
Most organizations, including
UNICEF, only use Plumpy Nut in
emergencies, Tectonidis said.
"This is 25 cents a package,"
he said. "There is no excuse for
not using this, with the millions
of children dying in the world today."
One of the most difficult challenges MSF faces now is getting
aid to those affected by conflict in
Darfur. The region is the focus of
MSF's largest relief effort.
In 2003, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan
Liberation Movement launched
a rebellion against the Sudanese
government, accusing them of oppressing non-Arabs. In response,
government-armed Arab militias
known as "janjaweed" were released into Darfur and began terrorizing the black African population, raping women, murdering
men and destroying villages.
MSF and other foreign observers say that more than 200,000
people have died, 5 million have
been internally displaced, and an
estimated 200,000 have sought
refuge in neighboring Chad.
The Sudanese President, Omar
el-Bashir, recently refused to allow UN peacekeepers into the
country. The United States has officially described the violence in
Darfur as genocide, but MSF does
not plan to call for international
military intervention, as they did
during the Rwandan genocide.
"In Rwanda, we were treating
patients and they were being massacred at the gates of our hospital," explained MSF's Executive
Director, Nicolas Torrente, at the
Cooper Union Event.
"It was a difficult decision for
us to take, because humanitarian
work is a peaceful endeavor," he
continued. "We don't feel that
humanitarian work has lost its
meaning," in Sudan.
Most MSF employees describe
their work as immensely gratifying, but acknowledge its dangerous nature. They usually work in
remote areas, like Sudan, where
the threat of violence is high.
On July 16, an MSF ambulance
was shot at while traveling on a
road in Darfur and the driver was
beaten. Four days later, an MSF
team was whipped and robbed in
the same area.
"We're a soft target, clearly,"
Torrente said. "It's still easier to
kill aid workers than it is to attack
armed soldiers."
"There are some times when
you say something, you're dead,"
added Tectonidis. "But you've got
to stand up sometimes. You've
got to fight back."
(Right) Illustrated instructions
for latrine use in
a refagee camp.
(Bottom) Equipment used at the
camp.