George Mason University’s Student Newspaper

Fall for the Book eventsstarted yesterday and willcontinue all week. Divedeeper into your favoritebooks wih the authorsthemselves as they stopby campus. For a de-tailed look into some ofthe participating authors,check out this week’s stylesection.

PG. 6

September 20, 2010Volume 87 Issue 4 www.broadsideonline.com

The six-day Fall for the Bookfestival enters full swing thisweek, with visits from 150 au-thors on subjects ranging fromliterature to non-fiction. Theever-growing event will featureauthors, skits, dance and story-telling to present literature in afun, engaging atmosphere.

The literary festival thatbegan 12 years ago to advancechildren’s education has ex-panded to a week-long event andcontinues to spread from GeorgeMason University to NorthernVirginia, the District of Colum-bia and Maryland, and includesmajor names such as GregMortenson, the author of ThreeCups of Tea: One Man’s Missionto Promote Peace ... One SchoolAt A Time.

“Over the dozen years we’vedone it, we have seen it becomea tradition on campus where thefaculty and students look for-ward to it,” said William Miller,director for the festival andMason’s graduate writing pro-gram.

The festival is a “double winfor faculty and staff,” Miller said.“Some of our events are pat-terned very specifically forclasses, and we match the eventsto classes wherever possible. …The students bring to the eventtheir inquisitive minds.”

The high-visibility event ac-tually began as an annual liter-ary event in Charlottesville runby Mason’s former rector Ran-dolph Church, who figured asimilar festival would take off inFairfax. He was right.

Mason was the originalhome and remains at the heartof the event, due to having“some of the best facilities forlarge scale events,” according toMiller. But in recent years, be-cause some participants werenot too thrilled with trying to getonto campus, key parts of theprogram have been establishedat surrounding venues instead.“It lets them reach out to diverseattendees of all ages,” Miller said.

This year, non-Mason eventsinclude The Help novelistKathryn Stockett’s appearance atReston CenterStage Theater, astanding-room only event thatmay attract as many as 700 peo-ple tomorrow. Many will have tosee it broadcast in overflowspace. Tickets for that event arerequired and are limited to twoper person.

Back on Mason campus,Miller said that Fall for the Book“provides a core of writers thatcome … that gives them highvisibility that says to the stu-dents ‘reading and writing areimportant parts of our culture.’Even in the time that books arebeing read on Kindle and what-ever devices, it doesn’t changethe fact.”

Book itto thefestival

After a dozen years,Fall for the Book is a

Mason tradition

It’s almost 11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11,and the night reveals a small form on thefloor, crouched against a wall behind Stu-dent Union Building II.

“Are you OK?” asks George Mason Uni-versity Police Officer Jorge Feliciano.

A soft voice replies “My arms hurt … ” Minutes before, Feliciano responded to

a report of a young couple having an argu-ment by SUB II. The caller said a youngwoman had fallen to the ground. A youngman fitting the description given by thecaller said that the woman had becomeemotional and run off.

After speaking with Feliciano, thewoman agrees to come out from behindthe building. She says that she is fine, thatshe just needed to be alone. She says herarms hurt when she becomes emotionaland denies that she fell, but Feliciano cansee smudge marks on her legs. Felicianosaid one of the hardest things about beinga police officer for him is seeing any type ofabuse.

However, as a member of the MasonPolice Department, the majority of thecalls Feliciano responds to are thefts, autoaccidents and alcohol-related calls, hesaid.

For the Mason police officers, theuniversity setting comes with unique chal-lenges.

Police Officer Emily Ross is slowly los-ing patience. It’s after 2 a.m. on Sunday andshe is sitting in her patrol car waiting on asober ride for the young woman she pulledover. Ross saw the woman, who said shewas a student at Mason, blow through astop sign on campus. When she pulled herover, a breathalyzer revealed she had a .09blood alcohol content, which is just overthe legal limit

The young woman is crying. Rosswants her off the streets. Ross decides towrite her a ticket for the stop sign and lether call two sober drivers to pick her up.The young woman says she will call herparents.

“I’m hoping this will have a more posi-tive affect on her,” Ross said. As officers atthe university, police have the option to usetheir own discretion in handling some ofthe cases they come across. Besides strictenforcement, police can also choose tosend them to classes, warn them or referthem to the Dean of Students.

Almost 30 minutes later the parentshave not shown up. When someone finallydrives up, it is two of the woman’s friends.Fed up, Ross tells them to “Just go!” Fromher patrol car, Ross watches in disbelief asthe two sober drivers pull out on the roadand proceed to drive away, into the oncom-ing traffic lane.

Ross’s patrol car lights go back on.“People will assume the worst of you,”

said Ross. “They’ll love a firefighter beforethey love a cop.” But Ross said that she canmake a difference with college students.

She turned down a career opportunity towork at the Alexandria Police Departmentin order to stay at Mason. “I didn’t want togive up the community,” Ross said, “Thesekids have more of a chance.”

Feliciano said some students assumepolice are just trying to ruin their collegeexperience, but really, it’s the well-being ofthe students that the police have in mind.Feliciano has recently been on the lookoutfor fraternities that shuttle underage fresh-men off campus to drink then drop themback to the university. He said that he hasfound drunk freshmen wandering aboutcampus, and some have even ended up inthe emergency room.

“We are there just to make sure they aresafe,” Feliciano said.

Whereas some universities employ se-curity guards to maintain campus security,Mason uses a state-certified and nation-ally-accredited patrol force.

Mason police is a “fully fledged, fullservice police department,” said George Gi-novsky, assistant chief of police. The forceis accredited by the Commis-sion on Accreditationfor Law Enforce-

ment Agenciesand is authorized up

to 57 police officers. Police are required to go through a

state certified police academy, Ginovskysaid.

The campus police have full arrest pow-ers at all Mason campuses and also carryfirearms. Ginovsky said their jurisdictionextends to the campus and adjacent roads,but in emergencies, police can also makearrests outside of those boundaries.

The department also runs a policecadet program.

“Police cadets are paid, and I empha-size paid, employees of the police depart-ment who are not armed and don’t havearrest powers,” said Ginovsky. “[They] per-form various security tasks on campus.”

Ginovsky said they are almost alwayshiring cadets, and he encourages studentsinterested in a law enforcement career toapply.

A good relationship with students is“vital,” Ginovsky said. To that end he wel-comes any student who would like to learnmore about campus police to do a ride-along with the police. A request form for aride-along is available at the Police andSafety Building in front of the Rappahan-nock River Deck.

Feliciano and Ross also said they thinkthat building a good rapport with studentsis important. Feliciano said he welcomesstudents to ask him questions or talk tohim.

“Stop by,” Feliciano said. “We are therefor them.”

Not so bad boys?A day in the life of the police who protect and

serve the student body at Mason

The 1990s was the era of longhair, flannel and ripped jeans.Bands like Pearl Jam andSoundgarden sold out stadiumsaround the world, combiningguttural vocals with scorchingguitar licks.

The time of grunge may haveended in the mid-1990s but formany bands, the rock did notstop. In the case of Alice inChains, performing Sunday atthe Patriot Center, even the sad-dest story in grunge music couldnot keep the band down.

Alice in Chains rose to na-tional prominence in1990 with the re-lease of Facelift.

The albumfeatured theband’s signaturesong, “Man in theBox.” Critics and fans wereintrigued by the tradi-tional grunge sound in-fused with thecombination of vocalistLayne Staley’s garbledvocals and guitaristJerry Cantrell’ssmoother style.

While the bandseemed unstoppablefollowing 1992’s

Dirt, things did not stay thatway.

Staley’s well-documentedheroin addiction stalled theband’s recording process andprevented Alice in Chains fromtouring.

A handful of commerciallysuccessful albums followed, cul-minating in the band’s perform-ance on MTV Unplugged.

However, their 1996 perform-ance would be the band’s last fornearly a decade. Staley never of-ficially quit the band, but he didnot tour and spent the last fewyears of his life deep in a heroinaddiction before his death in2002.

But in 2008, the band headedback to the studio to record anew album, Black Gives Way to

Blue, with their new vocalist,former Comes with the Fallfrontman William DuVall.

Alice in Chains will beperforming with former ‘90s

alternative rockv e t e r a n sDeftones and

Mastodon. Ticketsare available through thePatriot Center ticket of-

fice or by calling 703-573-SEAT.

Out ofthe boxAlice in Chains to playat the Patriot Center

George Mason University Police Officers Jorge Feliciano and Emily Ross review some paperwork on top of a patrol car Sunday, Sept. 12 on anadjacent road to campus.

Officer Jorge Feliciano pats down a Fairfax, Va.,man who was arrested for use of false iden�fi-ca�on to avoid prosecu�on and driving a carwithout a driver's license Sunday, Sept. 12 on aroad near campus.

Officer Emily Ross gives a field sobriety test to ayoung woman Sunday, Sept. 12 on Roberts Road.The young woman was pulled over a�er she rana stop sign on campus. The results of a breatha-lyzer showed that she had a blood alcohol con-tent of .09, which is just over the legal limit, Rosssaid.

Officer Emily Ross checks the informa�on on adriver license a�er she pulled over a youngwoman who had run a stop sign on campusSunday, Sept. 12.

Officer Emily Ross talks with a young womanshe pulled over a�er she saw her run a stopsign on campus Sunday, Sept. 12. The youngwoman had a blood alcohol content of .09, justover the legal limit, Ross said.

Antonieta RicoCrime Beat Writer

Matt SnyderNews Editor

Photo By Antonieta Rico

Patrick WallStyle Editor

Officer for a night

Photo By Antonieta Rico

Photo By Antonieta Rico

Photo By Antonieta Rico

Photo By Antonieta Rico

News2 | Broadside

Monday, September 20, 2010

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010Fall for the Book: Child Development Center Book Drive

JC, Sandy Spring Bank Tent10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Buddhist Psychology 101: Ryo ImamuraJC, Meeting Room G6 - 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010Library Workshop: Tuesday Tours @ 10

Fenwick Library, Main Circulation Desknoon - 1 p.m.

Azucar Salsa Dance LessonsJC, Dance Studio6 - 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010Mason Players: Krispy Kreme Fundraiser

JC, Lot K, SUB I8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Commuter Challenge: Kick-Off EventHampton Roads, The Pilot House9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010Center for Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation: Dr.Carol Hamrin

JC, Cinema1:30 – 2:45 p.m.

Panel Discussion: NYC Islamic CenterJC, George’s Restaurant5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

POLICE FILESDrug ViolationPresidents ParkFive GMU students and one non-GMU individual werefound smoking marijuana in a wooded area near thehousing area. Joseph Just, 22 (non-GMU, of St. James,N.Y. was trespassed from GMU properties. The otherfive students are to be referred to the Dean ofStudents Office. (29/Aman)

Police Files are taken verbatim from www.gmu.edu/police. Broadside does not make any changes to public records.

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For more events and activities,check out: today.gmu.edu

31 The number of days for theGeorge Mason University v.University of Maryland com-muter challenge.

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EventCalendar

Suspicious ActivityJohnson CenterAn officer responded to the report of suspicious activ-ity inside a ladies restroom. Incident referred to theDean of Students. (58/Duangrat)

Medical AssistScience & Technology IA GMU student felt dizzy and fell to the floor, hittingtheir head. The student was transported to Inova Ac-cess for further evaluation. (37/Radfar)

TrespassingLiberty SquareJeremy Rogers Ross, 21 (non-GMU) was arrested forTrespassing. He was taken to the Fairfax County AdultDetention Center and ordered held on $1,500 bond.(10/Ganley)

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Grand LarcenyPresidents ParkPerson(s) unknown removed a 14ft light pole that waslying on the ground waiting to be installed. Loss esti-mated at $1,000. (39/Ortiz-Durant)

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Theft From BuildingAquatic & Fitness CenterComplainant reported theft of a cell phone. Loss esti-mated at $600. Case is under investigation. (22/Bar-ton)

In spite of problems and“new building quirks,” a ribboncutting for the Hampton Roadsdormitory went off to the sound ofa brass band and the acclaim ofGeorge Mason University Presi-dent Alan Merten on Thursday.

The dorms are “another suc-cess for [Mason],” said Merten.“We have created another villageon campus.”

Students and faculty walkedthrough a soft drizzle to The PilotHouse, where ceremonies wereheld and an enormous cake

shaped like the new dormitorywas sliced and mobbed by a stu-dent body eager for fake trees androofs made from hard icing.

Some students reported a fewproblems with the dormitory.

“The elevator breaks down alot,” said sophomore undeclaredmajor Andrew McLarty. “Otherthan that, it’s pretty cool.”

“The water in the showerused to be freezing,” said junioreconomics major Robert Kramer.“The shower handle would not goup all the way. When I turn it up,though, the water often becomesscalding.”

Residence assistants said

they could not comment on thebuilding’s technical troubles, buttwo other residents complainedabout the water temperatures.

“It’s just a new building,” saidBradley Menard, assistant directorof the Office of Housing & Resi-dence Life. “It’s common for anynew building on campus to haveits problems. The main issue waswater filtration.”

But neither rain nor buildingquirks put a damper on Thursday’sfestivities, which featured plattersof spare ribs, pizza and fried greenbeans.

McLarty called the newbuilding “pretty cool” and sopho-

more nursing major MelanieKeagy, a resident, was also en-thused. “It’s so much better thanPresidents Park.”

“This is a great opportunity tobuild a community,” said Associ-ate Residence Life Director HollieChessman. “The study lounges inthe building are great.”

Students were in good spiritsover their new space, but McLartypointed out one other design flawfor the ribbon cutting: “What Idon’t get is why the cake only hasfour stories when the building isactually seven.”

Wednesday marks thestart of the commuter chal-lenge, a competition betweenGeorge Mason University andthe University of Maryland, tosee which school can most re-duce commuter traffic.

The challenge, whichruns through Oct. 22, willhave participants log howthey travelled to campus eachday, said Josh Cantor, the di-rector of Parking and Trans-portation at Mason.

He said participants aresplit into teams, with prizesawarded to both the individ-ual and team that saves themost trips. In addition to thecontest prizes, there are otherprizes which are exclusive toMason participants.

The challenge will in-volve faculty, students and

staff from both schools andwill make use of a commuterservice called Zimride. Theservice organizes carpools, al-lowing users to find a carpoolpartner and is based off crite-ria such as commute locationand time.

Criteria for the challengeinclude the number of tripssaved, the most carbon diox-ide reduced and the most newZimride users, Cantor said.

Parking will hold a kick-off event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Wednesday at The PilotHouse with raffle prizes. Theevent will feature a panel con-versation as well as a presen-tation of the CampusTransportation and Trafficmaster plan. There will alsobe pizza from noon to 1 p.m.

More information, in-cluding a sign-up form, canbe found at zimride.gmu.edu.

COMMUTER CHALLENGE TO KICK OFF THIS WEEK

What kind of foreign policyis President Barack Obama em-ploying abroad?

Journalist and politicalcommentator Peter Beinart ad-dressed Obama’s foreign policyin the Johnson Center Cinema,saying Obama’s preferred ap-proach is using the “soft power”of the U.S.’s economic strengthto sway countries.

But constrained by the ail-

ing economy and out-shone byrising fiscal juggernauts likeChina, Beinart said Obama’s“honeymoon” phase where hispopularity can be leveraged islikewise running out.

Now he is forced to dealwith America’s domestic and in-ternational issues head-on.

Obama sees the world interms of an international com-munity, Beinart said, drawn to-gether by common causes likeglobal warming, hunger and dis-

ease. But his agenda has alsobeen constrained by military in-volvement in Iraq andAfghanistan.

So Obama is left to play“belt-tightener,” a situationwhere he has to look at theeconomy — the source of U.S.“soft power” — and decidewhere America can cut costs.And he is looking at the military.

“Obama is like the real-es-tate agent that tells America, ‘bythe way, our $1 million house

[America] is only worth$500,000 … We are going tohave to tighten our belts,’”Beinart said.

But will the presidenteven have the power to call offthe military?

Throughout history, thedeeper the military is involved,the more influence they havedomestically — and the mili-tary is well-rooted in the Mid-dle East, Beinart said. He saidthis parallels problems duringthe Vietnam War: overspend-ing, resource constraints andan American public opposed tothe war.

However, the military isnot what defines a successful oran unsuccessful foreign policy,Beinart said. “You judge thesuccess of a foreign policy byhow people are doing at home.”

As Obama works to bringtroops back from Afghanistanand Iraq starting next summer,debates on the war will rage on.

However, Beinart endedhis speech by reasoning thattaking the troops out is not “anadmission of defeat, but a be-

ginning to bringing Americaback [economically].”

The audience’s questionsfor Beinart consisted of howObama was going to approachIsrael during the rest of his termand what role the U.S. wouldplay in stopping al-Qaida andthe Taliban in the years to come.

This remains to be seen asObama has just taken hold ofhis foreign policy, Beinart said.

Obama a ‘belt tightener’

Picture by: The flickr account, TheTruthAbout..,

Gregory ConnollyNews Editor

Kathy MorgeneggBroadside Correspondent

Edmund CotterBroadside Correspondent

New dormitory quirky, but ‘cool’Problems common in new buildings, but students still happy

Journalist Beinart discusses Obama’sforeign policy

Journalist Peter Beinart gave his assessment of President Barack Obama’s foriegn policy in the JohnsonCenter Cinema on Thursday.

Photo By Ezekiel Watkins

Monday, September 20, 2010 | 3News Broadside

Free Tickets for Mason Students!

Center for the ArtsC a l l 7 0 3 - 9 9 3 - 8 8 8 8 o r v i s i t c f a . g m u . e d u / s t u d e n t s

20 YEARSCE

NTER

FOR THE ARTS

199 0 – 2010

ppd =Pre-performance Discussion f f =Family Friendly BB=Black Box CH=Concert Hall HT=Harris Theater TS=TheaterSpace

Joel GreySat., Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.$60, $52, $30 CH ppd

Limited Free Student Tickets Available Now!

GMU Symphony OrchestraWed., Sept. 29 at 8 p.m.$15 Adults, $10 Seniors, Free Students CH

Visual Voices SeriesYee-Haw Industries: 32 Flavors of GravyJulie Belcher and Kevin Bradley, speakersThurs., Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m.Free /Non-ticketed HT

MOMIX: BotanicaSat., Oct. 2 at 8 p.m.Sun., Oct. 3 at 4 p.m.$46, $38, $23 CH ppd

Free Student Tickets Available Sept. 21

The Vision SeriesBiosecurity in the 21st CenturyGregory Koblentz, speakerMon., Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.Free/Ticketed CH

The Mason Players Studio SeriesKimberly AkimboOctober 7-9 at 8 p.m.October 9-10 at 2 p.m.$12 adult, $8 Student/Senior BBLimited Free Student Tickets Available Sept. 28

American Festival Pops OrchestraAnthony Maiello, conductorSat., Oct. 9 at 8 p.m.$46, $38, $23 CH f f ppd

Free Student Tickets Available Sept. 28

Visual Voices SeriesIllegal Alien’s Guide to Reverse AnthropologyEnrique Chagoya, speaker; Navigation PressFri., Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m.Free/Non-ticketed HT

School of Music Faculty Artist ShowcaseFri., Oct. 15 at 8 p.m.Free/Non-ticketed HT

Virginia Opera: RigolettoFri., Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. $86, $72, $44Sun., Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. $98, $80, $48 CH ppd

Limited Free Student Tickets Available Oct. 5

Brooklyn RiderSat., Oct. 16 at 8 p.m.$40, $32, $20 CH ppd

Free Student Tickets Available Oct. 5

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assistant news editor?

Interested in writing weekly for

news in a beatwriting position?

We’re hiring!

E-mail eic@broad-sideonline.com formore information

From Sept. 25-27, membersof the Environmental ActionGroup will be participating in Ap-palachia Rising, a mass mobiliza-tion in the District of Columbia toend mountaintop removal min-ing, a devastating form of coalproduction.

Unlike traditional miningthat extracts coal from under-ground, mountaintop removalmining does exactly what thename implies: The tops of moun-tains are blown off in order to

reach the seams of coal under-neath.

Not only is mountaintop re-moval mining an environmentalcatastrophe, it is also a violationof human rights because it de-stroys the homeland of coalfieldresidents and damages theirhealth through toxic substancesthat contaminate their air andwater. To date, more than 500mountains in Appalachia havebeen destroyed, over 2,000 squaremiles of streams and rivers havebeen buried and an estimatedarea in excess of 1 million acreslies in ruin.

The goal of Appalachia Ris-

ing is to demand a permanent endto mountaintop removal and ajust transition to a clean energyeconomy in Appalachia. Ap-palachia Rising will consist of twomajor parts. The first part willfocus on providing participantswith the skills they need to be ef-fective allies in the fight againstmountaintop removal mining.

On Saturday, informationalworkshops will be offered and onSunday, skills-based workshopswill focus on training participantson how to organize to end moun-taintop removal mining. Allevents will take place at GeorgeWashington University starting at

9 a.m. The second part of Ap-

palachia Rising will focus on massmobilization to end mountaintopremoval mining. The plan is topressure government leaders toeradicate this violation of humanrights by holding a rally on Mon-day, Sept. 27 at Freedom Plazaand then marching to the WhiteHouse.

You can register to be a partof Appalachia Rising at www.ap-palachiarising.org. We can bringan end to mountaintop removalmining, but we need your help.Please join us.

Broadside

OpinionMonday, September 20, 2010

BroadsideGeorge Mason University’s Student Newspaper

Emily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief

© 2007 by Broadside. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor in chief.

The letters, columns and views expressed on this page are solely those of the writers. They do not reflect the views of Broadside or its staff, unless otherwise noted.

Broadside is a weekly publication printed each Monday for the George Mason Universityand surrounding Fairfax community. The editors at Broadside have exclusive authority overthe content that is published. There are no outside parties that play a role in the newspa-per’s content, and should there be a question or complaint regarding this policy, the editorin chief should be notified at the information given above.

Broadside is a free publication. Limit one copy per person. Each additional copy is 25 cents.

Editorial Policy

Jared Barrale, Copy EditorHeather Hamilton, Copy Editor

Liz Milligan, DesignerAla Yaktieen, Designer

Michelle Buser, DesignerRandy Urick, Photographer

Stephanie Knapp, PhotographerDylan Hares, Staff Reporter

Scott Miller, Advertising DirectorCatherine Kutz, Advertising

RepresentativeJacques Mouyal, Business Manager

Kathryn Mangus, Faculty AdviserDavid Carroll,Tech Adviser

Sonya Hudson, Managing EditorMonika Joshi, Copy ChiefMatt Snyder, News EditorGregory Connolly, Asst. News EditorJustin Lalputan, Opinion EditorElizabeth Perry, Asst. Opinion EditorPatrick Wall, Style EditorRamy Zabarah, Asst. Style EditorJohn Powell, Sports EditorCody Norman, Asst. Sports EditorPeter Flint, Photography EditorChristina Salek-Raham, Copy EditorBenjamin Shaffer, Copy EditorMarine Jaouen, Copy EditorMayank Mehrishi, Copy Editor

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Note: Letters to the editor are welcome and are printed on the basis of space, quality and timeliness. Let-ters to the editor must be no longer than 350 words. All submissions are the property of Broadside and maybe edited for brevity, clarity and grammar. Material containing libel, racial slurs, personal attacks or obsceni-ties may be edited or rejected. The author’s name, class year (and/or title where appropriate), major and day-time phone number must be included for verification of authenticity. The deadline for submission is Thursdayby 10 p.m.

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Phone: (703) 993-2950 Fax: (703) 993-2948

Emily Sharrer, Editor-in-ChiefMonika Joshi, Copy ChiefSonya Hudson, Managing EditorJustin Lalputan, Opinion EditorElizabeth Perry, Asst.Opinion Editor

All unsigned staff editorials are written to rep-resent the view of the Broadside staff, a diverseset of opinions determined by the members ofthe editorial board. Letters to the editor,columns, artwork and other commentariesstrictly represent the opinions of the authorsand do not represent the official opinion of thenewspaper.

Editorial Board: Contact us!

4 |

Two weeks ago, Broadsidefeatured a story about an incidentinvolving three students who wereinjured in a car accident caused byanother student, prompting alawsuit.

The story “Riding in carswith boys” was pitched by thelawyer of the person filing suit,who is referred with the aliasLindsey White. On the surface itseems that the defendants inquestion are getting their justdesserts but after digging a bitdeeper, that just might not be thecase.

The defendant was found atfault for the accident by the Fair-fax County court system and heabsolutely should be responsiblefor the medical bills and mone-tary loss due to injury of everyoneinvolved. People must take re-sponsibility for their actions.

However, suing Alpha Ep-silon Pi, the local chapter and its

president for $20 million is unde-niably wrong. Perhaps White feltshe deserved more compensation,but my guess is her lawyer con-vinced her she was entitled to it.

This is a growing trend in oursociety. Too many people thinkthey deserve riches beyond theirwildest dreams because oftragedy. From suing McDonald’sfor hot coffee to bringing a lawsuitagainst the Winnebago companyfor not advising a driver that itisn’t safe to put the vehicle oncruise control and leave the driv-ers seat, lawyers have run amokwith their frivolous lawsuitsegging on this notion of entitle-ment.

Quite frankly, it’s dishearten-ing to see a lawyer try to use thegood students of this campus insuch a shameful manner.

Why contact Broadside in thefirst place? How is that relevant tothis case?

Do White and her lawyer re-ally want to tell her story to pre-vent the same thing fromhappening to others? Lindseymight, but her lawyer probablycouldn’t care less.

He’s using a common publicaffairs tactic to make public opin-ion so bad for AEP and the otherdefendants that they will feel thata settlement is the only feasible

option.Full disclosure, in another

life I worked for my fraternity,Sigma Pi. Every Monday we re-ceived phone calls from lawyersregarding some incident thathappened over the weekend witha member of the fraternity some-where in the country.

Most of the time thoselawyers were simply sniffingaround to see if we were suscepti-ble to settling. They went after us,even if there was no fault on ourpart, because we had a multimil-lion-dollar liability insurance pol-icy, as all fraternities do, includingthe one being sued by White.

If AEP and the local chapterare somehow to blame for irre-sponsible driving then why not goafter some others who are perhapsmore to blame? How about thedefendant’s driving instructor forwhen he got his learning permit?

Maybe the parents are toblame for not instilling in him thetypes of safety measures neededto drive a vehicle. You won’t seethat because to lawyers, it’s notreally about accountability, it’sabout who has the most money.

There was one incident withmy fraternity that I’ll never forget;one which puts this incident atGeorge Mason University in per-spective.

Sam Spady was a 19-year-oldfreshman at Colorado State Uni-versity. After consuming toomuch alcohol, she returned to theSigma Pi house for the evening.Sadly, because the brothers theredid not know how to assess ifsomeone had alcohol poisoning,she died sometime in the night.

She left many friends and aloving family, including a veryheartbroken mother, Patty Spady.Mrs. Spady did not sue my frater-nity. Instead she started the SamSpady Foundation, an organiza-tion dedicated to warning collegestudents on the dangers of alco-hol abuse.

Her story has saved the livesof a number of college students byeducating them on how to knowwhen someone is suffering fromalcohol poisoning. Mrs. Spady’sefforts are nothing short ofheroic.

Every time she tells herdaughter’s story she relives it allover again, but she does it becauseher work is too important. Afterall, that’s what most people dowhen they are faced with adver-sity; they rise up to the challenges,no matter how heart wrenchingthey are, to overcome and achievesomething great.

Well, most people anyway.Some people just want to get rich.

Opinion Columnist

SENIOR

Alan Moore

Suing AEP ‘undeniably wrong’On March 19, President

Barack Obama graced this cam-pus with his presence. His topicwas the health care reform billthat was to be voted on thatweekend. It passed by a razor-thin margin and was signed intolaw.

Now, almost six monthslater, are the promises he made tothis university and the Americanpeople panning out like he saidthey would?

Throughout the push forthis law, he repeatedly made theclaim “If you like your doctor,you’re going to be able to keepyour doctor. If you like your plan,keep your plan.”

However, while there’s noexplicit provision in the law thatmandates this, the law of unin-tended consequences is runningrampant throughout and this isno exception.

That month, CBS featured asmall-business man from Penn-sylvania who owned a 120-personbusiness. Under the law, hewould be mandated to meet thegovernment’s prescribed stan-dards for insurance or face a $750per worker fine.

He offers generous coveragenow. However, in an economywhere businesses are cuttingcosts, it would be much less ex-pensive if he dumped his em-ployees’ coverage and took thepenalty. The problem is that theworkers would lose their coveragewhether they liked it or not.

They would then be forcedon the government’s newly cre-ated exchange. In truth, the pres-ident’s statement is mootbecause more often than not youremployer controls your coverageand that’s where the law is felt.

It matters little if “you likeyour plan.” If your boss doesn’tthen you’re switching.

Obama also said, “It’s timeto give you, the American people,more control over your health.” Iagree, but that’s not what the lawdoes.

As mentioned above, one’shealth coverage is normally con-nected to their job. So, the presi-dent is correct in the implicationthat we don’t have much of a sayon our coverage or rates rightnow.

However, the law doesn’t

change that at all. There is still atax incentive for employer-pro-vided coverage. This entices moreemployers to connect job andhealth insurance.

In truth, the law actuallyputs another player, the federalgovernment, in the system butignores the true issue of em-ployer-provided care.

The prior system worked likethis: We had the insurer dictatingto your employer, who dictated toyour doctor, who dictated to you.

Now the federal governmentis at the top dictating to the in-surer. We are still far down on thelist.

Another key promise thepresident made at George MasonUniversity was “[what] this legis-lation does is it brings down thecost of health care for familiesand businesses and the federalgovernment.”

On the point about familycosts, a Congressional Budget Of-fice report released in Aprilstated that the constitutionallyflimsy provision that mandatesfamilies to buy health insurancewould mean “4 million house-holds would be hit with taxpenalties under the law for failingto get insurance.”

On the nation’s health caretab, similar issues arise. Whilethe CBO’s estimate before pas-sage said that the first 10 years ofthe plan would be “budget neu-tral,” that doesn’t count the plan’sfuzzy accounting tactics.

The plan doesn’t begin until2014, even while taxes and fineswill be collected starting now.

So, in essence, they’re col-lecting 10 years of revenue for sixyears of program costs. This fum-bling hides a potentially hideous20-year estimate in which thetrue cost will be revealed.

Even beyond the budgeting,the physical cost is just as dan-gerous. The April CBO reportwarned that, “Medicare cuts maybe unrealistic and unsustainable,driving about 15 percent of hos-pitals into the red and ‘possiblyjeopardizing access’ to care forseniors.”

What’s more alarming isthat Medicare’s chief actuary alsoreleased a report in April thatsaid overall health spending,after all of the cuts, would still beincreased by $311 billion over thenext decade.

Every president should beheld accountable for their prom-ises, especially for a restructuringthis drastic. Obama made thesepromises to my face earlier thisyear, and six months later hispromises are not being fulfilled.

Obama’s healthcare farce

Thank you, diligent read-ers, for the recent influx of let-ters to Broadside regarding thevulgar and apparently hard-to-love columnist duo, Michatalie.There hasn’t been this muchbuzz surrounding Broadsidesince Alan Moore began pen-ning columns for us.

So far, the pair has made uslaugh, cringe and drop our jawsas they let freshmen know themajor do’s and don’ts of collegeand told readers how to achievethe perfect ChipOrgasm —much to the chagrin of many ofyou readers.

Here’s what we think ourreaders are missing aboutMichatalie’s column: they arenot being serious.

Yes, they are vulgar, use foullanguage and aim to shock, butthey do it all for laughs. So whenthey say you should attend everyfraternity party in one night ornot purchase $5 veggie cups,they want you to laugh withthem and have enough sense toknow you shouldn’t actually aimto be the latest girl in a guy’sbeer-stained bed.

In a letter to the editor thisweek, John Morgan questionsBroadside’s standards since we

choose to print this column. Yes,we do have standards, ones thatwe try to uphold vehementlyevery week. We swear by ourstyle rules, spend countlesshours editing stories and put-ting together a paper every weekfor George Mason Universitystudents that reflects the thingsstudents care about and want toread.

We’re not always perfect. Michatalie may not be

everybody’s cup of tea, and wedon’t expect it to be.

As editors we accept that wewill inevitably print things noteverybody will love, but then,when was the last time youpicked up a newspaper or maga-zine and liked every single thingthe publication printed or hadan opinion on?

Catherine Brusseau, in herletter to the editor this week,writes that Michatalie’s columnis degrading to the image of theMason student body. However,never does Michatalie claim torepresent anybody butMichatalie.

Brusseau also points outthat Mason is ranked within thetop five “Up-and-Coming Uni-versities” on U.S. News and

World Report’s annual list. Wetoo, take pride in that fact, butwe believe that the two havenothing to do with one another.We don’t think Michatalie orBroadside has it within ourpower to reverse any of theprogress made by the universityin academics, faculty, students,campus life, diversity or facilitiessimply by printing certain con-tent.

Despite threats to the con-trary, we hope people will stillchoose to read Broadside.

Just as you respect our rightto print what we want, we willrespect your right to read whatyou want.

We hope somewherewithin our pages there is an arti-cle that gave you informationyou wanted, agreed with or sim-ply read for pleasure that willdrive you to pick up next week’sedition.

Some of you have ques-tioned what purposeMichatalie’s column serves, andour answer is it serves as enter-tainment.

In his letter to the editorthis week, Morgan says thatthere is a difference betweenMichatalie and other “explicit”

yet “still valuable” content, likethat printed by The Onion. Wecontend both are createdequally as parody and existsolely to entertain. Generally,there isn’t any value in watchingTV, surfing Facebook or textinga friend, but these are thingspeople do for entertainment allthe time.

For your reference,Michatalie haters, the columnwill be printed biweekly in thestyle section under the picturesome of you know and havelearned to hate.

If Michatalie doesn’t makeyou laugh, we implore you to notread it, but want to remind youthat it’s not representative of allthe content Broadside has tooffer.

Lastly, we want to keephearing from you readers, be-cause Broadside exists to servethe interests and opinions ofMason students.

All the letters we have got-ten about Michatalie have beennegative, but we want to hearfrom Michatalie lovers as well.

We know you exist andwould love to hear your defenseof the new addition to theBroadside team.

Activists fight for Appalachia

Love it or hate it, Michatalie is here to stay: Broadside’s defense of the controversial column

EAGOpinion Contributor

EAG wants you to join in the fight against mountaintop removal

Lawyers only care about money, not the people involved in their cases

Opinion Columnist

Sophomore

Curtis kalin

EDITORIAL

President needs to stay true to promises

I find the “Michatalie” segment in Broadside to be revolting. George Mason University is ranked within the top 5 of the U.S.

News & World Report’s "Up and Coming Universities and Colleges." Itis disturbing that Broadside would publish something that is so de-grading on the image of the student body.

Moreover, the general lack of decorum that those two girls exhibitis disheartening. I would hope that two young semi-educated womenwould have a little more self-respect, and want that same respect forother young women who are here to gain an education.

I am deeply perplexed on the overall discernment of Broadside'seditor. I do not understand how something so infantile, in both its lan-guage and demeanor, gets approved to go to print. The lack of judgmentthat the editor has shown is inconceivable.

Furthermore, I am outraged at the lack of oversight offered by Ms.Mangus.

As a faculty member I would assume that she has more maturity,and would strive to pass that maturity onto those whom she advises.

I demand that the weekly article be removed from the paper. Therepulsive language that is written every week is inexcusable.

While my correspondence may sound venomous, I feel that I speakfor a percentage of the student body, when I say that “Michatalie” is ablight on Broadside’s image

Monday, September 20, 2010 | 5Opinion Broadside

Thumbs up to Jon Stewart fordeciding to hold his rally to re-store sanity in D.C. We’ll definitely be there.

Thumbs up to readers who sentus letters to the editor this week.The rest of you guys need tostep up your game and let usknow what you think.

Thumbs up to the start of Fallfor the Book. All week you’ll havethe opportunity to listen torenowned authors on campus.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Moore and the spaghetti monster

Mr. Moore’s insulting attack on the Flying Spaghetti Monster isboth troubling and disturbing to those students that have beentouched by his noodley appendage.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism,is just as real as any other religion and very relevant.

In a pluralistic society that prides itself on inclusion and reli-gious tolerance, Mr. Moore’s article has no place in polite circles.

Attacks on the belief structure of any other religion would bemet with disapproval by other student organizations.

I can only hope that there is a similar outcry against this sense-less attack on the followers of the FSM.

Perhaps Mr. Moore needs to realize that we are a secular societyand that a belief in something without any empirical evidence doesnot qualify him as a spokesman for anything.

The Secular Student Alliance does believe in fostering tolerancebetween religious faiths, it simply does not believe in the need for di-vine intercession to determine good behavior.

Christians in particular are quick to call anything that doesn’tgive deference to a non-existent sky fairy an attack on their faith.

It is not; it is simply a statement of belief.I am not a member of the SSA but I imagine that they look at

the world and see injustices defended by an iron-age ethic that is outof place in modern society.

American citizens are being denied equal protection under thelaw simply because they love a member of the same sex.

If you don’t believe in gay marriage, don’t marry a man. How-ever, the rest of society has no need for an antiquated and pernicioustheology that justifies bigotry.

I believe the SSA is trying to build a bridge between the religiousand non-religious, but the first step in the process has to be the recog-nition of the right to disagree with the belief in a deity and to pointout the evil done in its name.

In the Treaty of Tripoli, John Adams and the U.S. Senate ratifieda treaty that stated, “As the government of the United States of Amer-ica is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion, as it has initself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility,of Musselmen, and as the said States never entered into any war or actof hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the par-ties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever producean interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

This treaty was not the work of some new secular threat, butrather the president of the United States in 1797.

Mr. Moore is free to believe whatever he wants, but this freedomis protected precisely because we are a secular nation.

If Mr. Moore’s wish were granted and we began to govern basedon theology perhaps he would find himself outside the orthodoxyand how quickly he would scream for the separation of church andstate.

Or maybe he should just leave the Flying Spaghetti Monsteralone.

Blake Prattpublic administration

Michatalie is infantile and revolting

Catherine Brusseautechnical theater

At this point, Broadside wouldn’t be Broadside without some weeklycommentary on the status of Sodexo at George Mason University. As astudent and former Sodexo employee, I humbly offer my two cents.

There is a lot of speculation about alleged abuses and safety viola-tions here at Mason. I cannot speak to the truth of these rumors; I re-ally have no idea if they are true or not, nor do I think it the mostimportant issue.

What I do know is that while Sodexo pats itself on the back for of-fering a starting wage of a whole whopping dollar higher than the Vir-ginia minimum wage, $8.50 is still a poverty wage for an adult living inthis area.

Sodexo employees should not have to settle for this mediocrity.It’s ludicrous, and so is any corporation that does not pay its work-

ers a living wage while its CEO earns millions of dollars. Two million ayear, in Michel Landel’s case.

I want my fellow students to genuinely reflect on this. Most of us,I hope, are here to learn in and outside of the classroom. Is this reallywhat our value system encourages?

The average cost of living in Fairfax County is estimated above$30,000 a year, and that is a very low estimate.

That means that a living wage in this area is around $17 per hour,twice a meager $8.50. True, there are opportunities to advance to a cer-tain degree in the company, but bills, hunger and the need for adequatefood and shelter don’t wait for anyone to kiss enough ass to get a raise ora promotion.

As for the profits of the company, the annual revenue for Sodexo in2008 was $7.7 billion. As far as Mason is concerned, we all know thatthe majority of the products in the convenience store are at least twicethe suggested retail value.

The greatest irony of all is that the employees watch us spend morewith our freedom funds in a day on $2 gum than some of them willspend in a week for food.

I have worked for Sodexo, and I never witnessed any outright abuse.What I have observed is a demeaning paternalistic corporate culture.

The upper management and supervisors maintain this status quobecause they are “just doing their job” as dictated by whoever is higherup on the totem pole.

The management are no more than cogs in the Sodexo machine,pardon the cliché. They should not be demonized for their actions; theyshould be pitied.

Where the average workers are concerned, many have to toleratebeing spoken to as if they were children by their superiors. That I haveseen. This type of slow, subtle humiliation is sometimes worse than out-right abuse.

As for the perpetuators of this system, has society taught them ortaught us anything but this oppressive way of life?

They are taught that to delegate tasks they must be oppressive, au-thoritative and elitist. We, well at least I, was taught by our Anglo-protestant dominated society to equate a lack of education and languageskills with ignorance and that ignorant people do not deserve any bet-ter than meager wages.

Why? Is it because they are lazy? Is it due to the fact that they areforeign? Or maybe it’s because they didn’t go to college like my parents.

All of these assumptions are wrong. This perceived ignorance isnothing more than a lack of opportunity whose cycle is only exacerbatedby poverty wages.

The next time you buy a sandwich or the infamous $4 Red Bull, askyourself where your money is really going and why. And, most impor-tantly, reflect on what system of values brought this all about.

My two cents about their $8.50I would like to point out that “Secularism is the Devil: a poison

that destroys America from the inside out” by Alan Moore was im-properly labeled. There was no discussion of why or how secularismis making a negative impact on America or, conversely, why religiousintrusion into public institutions would be positive for America andso this headline was erroneous.

The article also made the claim that the Secular Student Alliancedid not respect or honor people of the Christian faith, but this toowent unsupported by any concrete example or evidence. Moorewrites: “In an attempt to denounce intelligent design, the founder ofthis ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster’ internet parody mean-spiritedlymocks Christians for no apparent reason.” This did not properly showhis grievance against the FSM. Even assuming the founder of FSMsaid something along the lines of “people who believe in God aredummies,” people are entitled to their opinions and should be al-lowed to express them (freedom of speech) and even are allowed toenjoy spaghetti dinners with a whole group of people who happen toshare these opinions (freedom of association). While you may viewsmart-alecky atheists/agnostics as victimizing Christians, you shouldremember that Christians have traditionally believed that people whodo not agree with them will face an eternity of torment in hell.

Please don’t call me a Marxist, but I am afraid I must ridiculeyour arguments for their absurdity. Since you offer no pros or cons tosecularism or the alternatives, you have already failed to prove yourpoint by default, but your justification for why non secularism islegally viable is upsetting to me. You say: “There is nothing forbiddingthe teaching of intelligent design, praying in public schools, puttinga copy of the Ten Commandments in a federal courtroom, or evencelebrating a National Day of Prayer.” I refer you the cases of Edwardsv. Aguillard, Engel v. Vitale, Glassroth v. Moore, FFRF v. Obama, andLemon v. Kurtzman as a bonus. If you read these you will understandthe reason why we do not have the things you listed and possibly offera counter to the actual argument you should be countering.

You are also wrong to say that “Liberals would have you believethe Constitution expressly prohibits any mingling of religion andstate affairs.” “Expressly prohibit any mingling” is your own phrasewhich you chose in order to funnel us into your pointless observationthat the Constitution does not literally and specifically account forevery possible controversy. I think, in reality, most liberals would haveus believe that the Supreme Court has used its power of judicial re-view to properly rule on religious controversies arising from firstamendment violations. You have taken an argument, oversimplifiedit, put it into the mouths of your opposition, and countered it withyour own underdeveloped point of view. You should face the fact thatyour beef is not with the general liberal population but with the de-cisions of the federal courts you seem to be totally ignorant of. I thinkyou would have been better served if you had quoted someone likeJustice Scalia on this issue rather than an episode of South Park.

You are also incorrect in your view that the separation of churchand state and religious freedom are “diametrically opposed.” The es-tablishment clause and free exercise clause of the first amendmentare in perfect harmony. One might even argue that without separa-tion of church and state there can be no religious freedom.

“If society overwhelmingly has faith in a divine being who ismanifested by peace, love, and respect, then mankind will strive toemulate those attributes.” I point you to the Dark Ages and the gen-erally well documented notion of religious hypocrisy. “If society over-whelmingly only has faith in the undisciplined self that is manifestedby strife, greed and sin, then we shall perish from this earth.” I agreewith Mr. Moore’s excoriation of capitalism.

Moore’s arguments are absurd and incorrect

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Jonathan Allengovernment and international politics

I thought a university newspaper had standards. I completely respect a newspaper's right to print what they want,

even if what they want to print is fairly controversial and explicit. How-ever, there is a difference between something that is explicit and stillvaluable (like anything written in The Onion) and something that is justflat-out worthless.

Michatalie falls under the flat-out-worthless category. The joke just seems to be "fuck" and the addition of the word "pie"

and "orgasm" to things in order to make them, I'm not quite sure ...funny?

No, it can't be funny, because the ChipOrgasm article was most def-initely not funny, or if it was, it is in the Jersey Shore sort of way, wherethe reader is meant to laugh at how absurdly unintelligent and insult-ing the writers are.

Like I said, I respect your right to print whatever you want, but thatdoesn't mean people have to read it, and if you keep printing articleslike ChipOrgasm, which seems to serve no other purpose then to flauntthe absolute worst George Mason University has to offer, then don't ex-pect people to keep reading you.

Or if, by some miracle, people do continue to read your paper, itwill only be to laugh at how pathetic it has become, just like Jersey Shore.

This bit is directly to Michatalie: how self-absorbed do you have tobe to print a picture of you that is almost bigger than the article itself?Congratulations, now we all know what massive egos you have!

Judging by your article, your ego is not at all deserved. You are thekind of girls that Mean Girls criticizes.

I bet you love that movie, too.

Michatalie takes standards to an all-time low

John Morgantheater

Thumbs down to the con-struction on the healthclinic in Student UnionBuilding I. Now where arewe supposed to find awater fountain?

Thumbs down to the CUEbus for not running earlyon weekends. Now if I wantto go on the Metro I haveto take Mason to Metroand circle around campusfive times.

Thumbs down to the scald-ing water in HamptonRoads. People can onlyshower so quickly.

Molly Maddraglobal afffairs

Week:Quote“Always do sober whatyou said you’d do drunk.That will teach you to

keep your mouth shut.”

— Ernest Hemingway

of the

StyleBroadside6|

Monday, September 20, 2010

74 The number of Jeop-ardy! games contestantKen Jennings won in2004.

Wanted:A glimpse of the Kid

Ann Patchett, this year’s FairfaxPrize award winner, is no stranger to ac-colades. Her first novel, 1992’s The Pa-tron Saint of Liars, was named a NewYork Times notable book.

As her works continued to evolve,Patchett earned several more literaryhonors, including a Guggenheim Fel-lowship.

In addition to her extensive list ofwritings, Patchett has contributed tosuch prestigious magazines as The NewYork Times, The Atlantic and The Wash-ington Post. She has also received praisefor her short story work. In 2006 she was

editor for The Best American Short Stories.Before her acceptance of the Fairfax Awards, student and professional actors

will be performing a stage production of selected scenes from her novels today from7:30-9 p.m. in Harris Theater.

Greg Mortenson is as highly deco-rated for his writing as he is for his hu-manitarian efforts. His book Three Cups ofTea : One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time was number oneon The New York Times bestseller list.

He was also awarded the Star of Pak-istan, or Sitara-e-Pakistan, for his effortsto promote literacy and education in theMiddle Eastern country.

Mortenson works to promote educa-tion among children, especially younggirls. While this work has gained him ac-claim in Pakistan, he has also enduredthreats from Americans following 9/11 andinvestigations by the CIA. Mortenson willbe speaking on Friday at the Concert Hallof Mason’s Center for the Arts.

Known as an expert innoir fiction, Edgar Award-winning author Megan Ab-bott will be visiting Mason.

In addition to beingpublished in several noir an-thologies and collections,Abbott was the editor of AHell of a Woman: An Anthol-ogy of Female Noir, a compi-lation of mystery and crimestories which was nomi-nated for an Edgar award. In2006 Abbot won the EdgarAllen Poe Award for hernovel Queenpin.

Abbott will be visiting Research I on Thursday to discuss her four noirnovels, including her latest, Bury Me Deep.

An Evening with Kid Cudi, the much antici-pated music event organized by George Mason Uni-versity’s University Life and the Office of StudentInvolvement, is quickly approaching and excitementis in the air.

According to the Director of the Office of Stu-dent Involvement Lauren Long, tickets for the eventwere only available for 10 hours before the Center forthe Arts sold out its Concert Hall. While most stu-dents were too late, some are still trying different

ways to acquire those tickets.“I was out of town when the tickets went on

sale,” said junior global affairs major Deena El-Rashed.

“When I got back, they were sold out. I triedposting a Facebook status asking if anyone had anextra ticket, but it turned out everyone else on Face-book was also looking for extra tickets.”

While Facebook might be a relatively effectiveway to find tickets, students may have to result toother ways such as Craigslist or third party ticketsellers like Stub Hub, where tickets for the event arebeing sold for $150.

Many students are upset that the tickets soldout so quickly, thinking perhaps Kid Cudi should beperforming at a larger venue such as the Patriot Cen-ter. Junior music major Christine Gonzales believesit could have prevented a lot of anger.

“The most I’d pay for a Kid Cudi concert is $80,and that’s because I’m a big fan,” said Gonzales. “Theshow should’ve been at the Patriot Center, becausethen there would be more student involvement, andthird party ticket sellers wouldn’t be able to take ad-vantage of students, who have to pay large amountsof money that will never go back to the school any-way.”

While many students could not get their handson a ticket in time, those who did cannot wait to seewhat some may call the voice of their generation.Junior communication major Cristian Pineda wasable to reserve his spot before the show sold out.

“He’s one of my favorite artists,” said Pineda.“I’m really happy [George Mason University] pickeda performer that appeals to our demographic. He’sthe kind of artist that talks about our generation,and real hip-hop.”

An Evening with Kid Cudi is scheduled forThursday at 8 p.m. at Concert Hall in the Center forthe Arts.

Ramy ZabarahAsst. Style Editor

Fast-selling CFA show leaves Kid Cudi tickets in high demand for students

Fall for the

Book speakers

to see

Patrick Wall | Style Editor

Each year, the annual Fall for the Bookfestival sees a bump in attendance. Mostyears, in fact, the increase is by a thousandor more. But for Art Taylor, marketing direc-tor for the event, this year has some new ex-citement.

“While quality is the hallmark of all ofour author participants … we're also excitedwhen authors that we're proud of and en-thusiastic about also capture a wide publicenthusiasm as well.”

For the past decade, Fall for the Book,organized by the City of Fairfax and GeorgeMason University, has worked to bring well-known authors and up-and-comers to thearea to give festival attendees an inside lookat the writing and publishing process.

In addition to nationally-recognized au-thors, Fall for the Book gives Mason profes-

sors a chance to publicize their own work.“Events will feature Mason professors

showcasing their own works and alumnitalking about their experiences,” said Taylor.“Lee Thomas, a Mason alum who's now anEmmy Award-winning TV reporter in NewYork, [appeared] on Sunday, and several[alumni] of Mason's MFA program in cre-ative writing will read from their recentworks on Thursday afternoon.”

But ultimately, the festival aims to workwith the university to bring literature to itscampus.

“While the festival has broadened its ge-ographic scope in recent years … Mason re-mains our base,” said Taylor, “and ourcommitment to serving the student popula-tion remains paramount to our mission.”

Photo courtesy of riverajamie Flickr account

School is back in session,and you are both single and readyto mingle. You go to a party andstart hitting on a cute girl withglasses.

Somewhere in the conversa-tion, she mentions her favoritemovie is Cyrano de Bergerac and,as you shamefully tell her yours isThe Waterboy, you realize thatshe is way out of your league (aca-demically, at least).

For those of you who spentyour high school years watchingOprah and eating Oreos insteadof reading Descartes and analyz-ing the finer characteristics ofFauvist paintings, here are somewords that you can throw aroundin your conversation to make youlook like less of a dummy.

Anomalous means out ofthe ordinary or not normal. Forexample, you could say, “Listen-ing to the guy at the bar dressedin Civil War regalia is an anom-alous way to get dating advice.”

Incorrigible is used to de-scribe something that cannot becorrected. Use it to say somethinglike, “My calculus teacher saidthere were so many mistakes onmy exam, it was practically incor-rigible.”

Describing something aslugubrious means it is mournfulor gloomy. “The kid at Starbuckswith the My Chemical RomanceT-shirt is looking especiallylugubrious today.”

An enigma is somethingpuzzling or mysterious. Try it in a

sentence like, “The female repro-ductive system will always be anenigma to me.”

Pulchritudinous is just an-other word for beautiful. But un-less the girl you are hitting on is aformer spelling bee world cham-pion, you will probably want toavoid calling her pulchritudinous.

Congratulations! You’vetaken the first step on your jour-ney of faking your way through along, meaningful relationship. Goget ‘em, slugger.

Monday, September 20, 2010 | 7BroadsideStyle

Step right up!

Hardly anyone can tell whatchannel The Game Show Networkis. Some do not even know thischannel exists.

Most popular game showstoday, like Deal or No Deal,Minute to Win It or Wipe Out ap-pear on basic cable channels likeABC and NBC.

While these shows still man-age to excite with their milliondollar offers, loud music and crazyantics, game shows today work toohard to get and hold our attention.

The only game shows thatexist today that have the potentialto be “classic” later on are intellec-tual shows like Jeopardy! andWheel of Fortune.

Three game shows of the ‘70sand ‘80s serve as perfect examplesof a game show worth seeing weekafter week and 30 years later(that’s right, on the Game ShowNetwork.)

The first is Match Game. Itsbiggest strength was its simplicity,which is the first thing that sepa-rates it from what we are used totoday.

Two contestants fill in theblank in a funny anecdote and tryto match the answers that sixcelebrities have written down. Theone who matches the most celebswins.

The biggest thing that madethis show a classic was the hostGene Rayburn. He was alwayssmiling, always hilarious andseemed to have a real relationshipwith the celebrities on the show,especially the celebs that alwayscame back like Richard Dawsonand Betty White.

No matter what the episode,which celebrities are on or howmuch money is on the table, you

will always laugh and neverchange the channel.

Another was Make Me Laugh.This was a short-lived game showin the early ‘80s.

The premise was to makecelebrity contestants laugh byusing three different stand-up co-medians. The comedians usedprops, funny voices and beyond,and the longer the celebrity wouldlast, the more money a member ofthe audience would receive.

If you were to go on YouTubeand type in “Make Me Laugh,” oneof the first videos to appear is anepisode with Frank Zappa. Zappawas one of the rare celebrities whobarely broke a smile the wholetime, which in turn, made theepisode one of the funniest ever toair.

Last is Let’s Make a Deal.Nowadays it’s hard to get majorcelebrities to participate in a gameshow. Using big names and mak-ing them look like fools was ahuge part of why the earlier gameshows were so entertaining.

However, not all of the gameshows in the ‘70s and ‘80s had touse movie stars. Let’s Make a Dealmade fools of the audience mem-bers instead.

The audience came to theshow dressed in various differentcostumes and picked from threedoors, each containing a prize. It’sfun, without trying too hard.

So, if you are ever home sickor there is nothing on TV, find theGame Show Network. Whether ornot you know the famous contest-ants or even know how to play, thegame shows of the ‘70s and ‘80swill amuse you and keep you in-terested.

As a viewer you do not winany money on game shows, so youmight as well watch some that en-tertain you.

Kayla BeardslyBroadside Correspondent

Peace Corpsat GMU

The job market is global.You should be too.

Peace Corps is growing and has thousands of new

volunteer jobs available for 2011!

Apply now for programs departing next year.

Find out how you can gain personal and

professional experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Life is calling.

How far will you go?

800.424.8580

www.peacecorps.gov

www.fallforthebook.org

Stein

Patchett

12th Annual

Fall for the Book FestivalSeptember 19-24

Events At Mason’s Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Campuses

The Biggest Names• Novelist Ann Patchett, winner of the 2010 Fairfax Prize• Poets Charles Bernstein, Brenda Hillman, and Jay Wright • Novelists Lan Samantha Chang, Jennifer Egan, Robert Goolrick, Bernice L. McFadden, Rick Moody and Garth Stein• Environmentalist Bill McKibben• Comic strip artist and graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel• Transgender memoirist Jennifer Finney Boylan• Washington Post Michelle Singletary• Political activist David Swanson with The Democracy Project

The Hottest Discoveries• Cookbook authors Lisa Jervis and Tracye McQuirter• Former FBI agent Gary Noesner• Breakthrough poets Allison Cobb, Sandra Doller, Abraham Smith and Ronaldo Wilson

Mason Writers• Historians Jack Censer and Carol Lee Hamrin, media experts Stephen Farnsworth and Robert Lichter, poet Ben Doller, and short story writer • Faculty showcases featuring Tomasz Arciszewski, Michele Greet, David Haines, Andrew Light, Carrie Meyer, Rich Rubenstein, Janine Wedel, Frank Whittington, David Williams, and Diane Wood• Readings by students and alumni from Mason’s MFA Program in Creative Writing

Three Great Exhibitions• Call and Response, featuring works by students and alumni of Mason’s MFA Poetry Program and the School of Art — JC Gallery 123• James Baldwin in Exile, featuring Sedat Pakay’s photographs of the acclaimed author time in Turkey — Center for the Arts Lobby• Tunnel People, featuring Teun Voeten’s photographs of homeless people living the tunnels beneath New York City — JC 116

And a staged reading of Ann Patchett’s works by Theater of the First Amendment!

Artwork by Meaghan Busch, from “Call and Response”

Noesner

Doller

Words for

Rob BockBroadside Correspondent

Words to woo her ... or not

FROM THE VAULT:

Poetry Slam with Alvin LauFriday, Sept. 249 - 10:15 p.m.

The Bistro,Johnson Center

Monday, Sept. 20noon - 4 p.m.

Johnson CenterNorth Plaza

Voli�on Book Swap

Smart People

Tuesday, Sept. 21 - Friday, Sept. 24various �mes and loca�ons for

each event

James Baldwin in Exilepresenta�on given by acclaimed

photographer Sedat Pakay

CAMPUS BOOK EVENTS TO FALL FOR

For a complete list of Fall for theBook events, visit www.fallforthe-

book.org

Monday, September 20, 2010

Sports 889The total number ofshots taken by the men’sgolf team at the Maryland Intercollegiate.

8 | Broadside

Band of brothers

“Intense paintball action. Team building to theextreme. Working on communication skills underfire.” These phrases from Matt Hardman and Alexan-der Wagenknecht, the captains and founders ofGeorge Mason University’s new club paintball team,give a face and an attitude to one of Mason’s newestclub teams.

This time last year, Hartman wanted to form ateam to compete with the thriving paintball pro-grams at Virginia schools like Virginia Tech, VirginiaCommonwealth University, the University of Virginiaand the dominating team at Liberty University.

He looked into seeing how to create the teamand, with the help of some other players he found byonline forums and word-of-mouth, went to Mason’sclub sports coordinator Bob Spousta.

He and his team put money up front for tourna-ment entry fees and hotel costs, hoping to get fund-ing for the 2010-11 season.

They received partial funding at the club sportsmeetings and went on to make their schedule for theseason.

A thousand dollars or more for a gun, $200 for atank, $200 for hoppers, $100 for a mask, $70 for a jer-sey and plenty of money for other necessary recur-ring expenses like paint and the use of a field are justsome of the regular expenses to train a single player.

The cost of going to a tournament can run hun-dreds to thousands of dollars, due to registration feesand hotel rooms for the duration of the event.

The team received significantly less than $5,000of funding for their season, and the players knew thatif they wanted to play, they would need to come upwith a great amount of the money themselves.

They would need near $5,000 to run one line,comprised of six or seven players, and near $9,000 torun two lines as is common in most club paintballteams.

They currently have two lines, about 14 peoplethis season.

In need of money to run the team, they went to

Pev’s Paintball Park in Aldie, Va. and received a spon-sorship that included use of Pev’s field, giving theteam a much-needed place to practice, and hopefullysome money in the future.

The situation may pale in comparison to LibertyUniversity’s team, which has its own field to practiceon every day of the week. Currently, the Mason teampractices once a week; they go for about six hours onSundays.

When asked if they were looking for more play-ers, coaches, and more sponsorships, Wagenknechesaid, “Always.”

“It’s almost like being in a fraternity without thechallenges. When you play together, you learn somuch about each other; you become brothers,” addedHartman.

Armed with experience and some up-frontmoney from their players, they went to their tourna-ment on the weekend of Sept. 10. Out of nine teamsplaying, they played surprisingly well in their first-ever tournament, gelling as a team in their first op-portunity.

“The sport is pretty much all about communica-tion and teamwork; if you don’t have communicationand teamwork, your team isn’t going to do well at all.… We placed fifth out of nine teams. Four of theteams we played against were nationally rankedteams,” said Hartman.

They play in Class AA of the National CollegiatePaintball Association, and if they rank in the top fiveat the end of the season, they will get promoted tothe Class A division. “We’re division AA — it’s likethe starting level. If you rank in the top 5, you’removed up to the A division,” said Hartman.

The tournament was a good omen for them, be-cause of how they played relative to the VCU team,which has a pro paintballer on board, which is oddlynot against rules.

They lost their match against them but tied inthe record. They also beat the Class A, stacked Lib-erty team once in three tries.

The team is hopeful for this season and has sevenmore tournaments stretching from October throughMarch with the championships in May.

John PowellSports Editor

After a strong performanceagainst No. 1 Virginia (2-0-1) in anexhibition game, the GeorgeMason men’s soccer team provedthey can compete with any teamthey face, especially in the ACC.This holds true for another ACCand top-10 matchup at No. 7Maryland (2-1-1) on Tuesday.

The Patriots (3-1-0) have re-lied on CAA Rookie of the WeekSean Cote in goal as he heldGeorge Washington scoreless inhis 45 minutes in goal as well as a

shutout in his first start at Ameri-can. Cote adds to a 2010 recruitingclass ranked #13th in the nation,including key additions forwardWes Sever, defender/midfielderAlex Herrera, defender Zak Haa-paoja and forward Hugh Roberts.

As for upperclassmen, the Pa-triots have a talented array of scor-ers including sophomore forwardTaylor Morgan, senior forwardParker Walton and senior forwardVictor Freeman, who led the Pa-triots with 7 goals last season.

The Terrapins return ninestarters from last year includingJason Herrick and Matt MacMathas well as Casey Townsend, the

ACC All-Freshmen team memberin 2008, who missed 7 games witha leg injury in 2009.

Last season, Maryland made aNCAA Tournament appearanceand fell in the Elite 8 to eventualnational champion Virginia.

The Patriots and Terrapinshave been competitive in recentyears with Maryland taking two ofthree meetings; however the Pa-triots have the latest win cominglast year at Mason Stadium.

When the final whistle blowson Tuesday, the Patriots will comeaway with a 2-1 victory at No. 7Maryland.

Mason looks to tip terps

There is something aboutwatching sports that makes us allhang on to the edge of our seats,just waiting for the next incredi-ble play.

We’re waiting for that game-saving catch or that series-win-ning shot that people will raveabout for years to come.

But, like I said back in Au-gust, we all thoroughly enjoywatching particular athletescrash and burn.

Not literally, of course.Though I could certainly make ajoke about Tom Brady’s car acci-dent here and say somethinglike, “I wonder if Gisele was chas-ing him with a football when hecrashed his car.”

But I won’t do that becausehe got in a car accident. There isabsolutely nothing funny aboutthat.

What is funny, though, isthat LeBron James now lingersamong the top five of Most Dis-liked Athletes in the industry.According to the Q Scores Com-

pany, an organization that meas-ures the general popularity ofathletes, James used to be one ofthe most-liked athletes.

But since “The Decision” onJuly 8, his reputation has sank toa valley so low that it rivals thereputation of Kobe Bryant, anadmitted adulterer and an ac-cused rapist.

The only difference is thatBryant is the kind of guy that justdoesn’t care.

And he shouldn’t. He has become one of the

most recognizable winners in thegame of basketball while Jameshas done his part to befall one ofthe greatest losers in NBA his-tory.

Way to go, LeBum.And speaking of sinking rep-

utations, the Oakland Raiderswere back on the field in weekone of the NFL season. (Forthose of you who didn’t know:Yes, Oakland still does have ateam. Imagine that, right?)

I wouldn’t blame you for for-getting.

The team hasn’t won morethan five games in any one sea-

son since 2002. Yet their reasonfor the team’s loss to Tennesseewas simple: overconfidence.

Huh? Tight end Zach Miller and

quarterback Jason Campbellboth used the excuse in theirpost-game interview and haven’tbudged over the last week.

Apparently Oakland feelslike a 5-10 2009 campaign war-rants them the right to get cocky.

I mean, it was one of theirbest seasons since Jon Grudentook them to the Super Bowlabout ten years ago.

Regardless, I find it incredi-bly funny. Because I’d say thereason they lost is because theyspent their offseason picking upall the scrubs that the Redskinslet go (i.e. Jason Campbell).

They seem to have stackedtheir team with former Redskinsback-ups.

Of all teams, Redskins back-ups!

And let’s be honest, if theseguys aren’t good enough to makethe Skins’ roster, they probablyaren’t good enough to make anyroster.

Cody NormanAsst. Sports Editor

Cale

ndar

Pat CarrollBroadside Correspondent

The epitome of cowardice

Photo By Ali ZamanPhoto By Ali Zaman

Photo By Ali Zaman

George Mason University’s club paintball team in a huddle before a match.

The team breaks out to take cover at the beginning of the game.

Sophomore Aaron Auger ducks down to avoid being hit.

Photo By Daniel McEnrueSenior Victor Freeman scored against Richmond in Saturday’s game.

Tuesday, Sept 21:Men’s soccer @ Maryland

7:30 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 24:Women’s soccer vs.

Old Dominion6 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 25:Men’s soccer @ Old Dominion

7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 25:Women’s volleyball vs.

James Madison7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 26:Women’s soccer vs.William and Mary

2 p.m.

Sept. 24-26:Men’s golf @

Sea Trail IntercollegiateAll day

Sept. 24-26:Women’s Tennis vs.

Mason 3/2 InvitationalAll day

First season of club paintball gets underway

Sports Broadside Monday, September 20, 2010 | 9

F

Tennessee @ New York Giants TEN TEN TEN NYG NYG NYG TEN TEN

Dallas @ Houston HOU HOU HOU HOU DAL DAL HOU DAL

Cleveland @ Baltimore BAL CLE BAL BAL BAL BAL CLE BAL

Atlanta @ New Orleans NO NO NO NO NO NO NO ATL

Cincinatti @ Carolina CIN CIN CIN CIN CIN CIN CIN CAR

Washington @ St. Louis WAS STL WAS WAS WAS WAS WAS WAS

Philadelphia@ Jacksonville PHI PHI PHI PHI PHI PHI PHI JAC

Indianapolis @Denver IND IND IND IND IND IND DEN DEN

New York Jets@ Miami MIA NYJ MIA NYJ NYJ NYJ MIA MIA

Green Bay @Chicago GB GB GB GB CHI CHI CHI CHI

John PowellSports Editor

Cody NormanAsst. Sports Editor

Monika JoshiCopy Chief

Patrick WallStyle Editor

Emily SharrerEditor-in-Chief

Justin LalputanOpinion Editor

Peter FlintPhotography Manager

Sonya HudsonManaging EditorVs.

tball Picks

10 | Monday, September 20, 2010 Broadside

Dear George Mason University Community,

We are honored to participate in this year’s “Fall for the Book” festiv

al at

George Mason University. As journalists, n

ovelists, and poets, we are al

l

storytellers, and we are deeply disturbed by one story that we’ve heard

about right here: the working conditions of Sodexo food service

employees on campus.

In the past year, these dedicated men and women have suffered injuries,

including cuts and burns. One worker has a back injury that has left her

unable to walk well, let alone return to the job.

Everyone deserves a safe workplace - w

hether they are writers, professors,

or food service workers. We call on George Mason University to ensure

that Sodexo is providing workers with the protections and training they

need to do their jobs free from injury.

Working at Sodexo shouldn’t hurt.

Sincerely,

Alison Bechdel, author, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Bill McKibben, author, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Brenda Hillman, poet, Practical Water

Craig Hughes, co-editor, Uses of a Whirlwind : Movement, Movements

and Contemporary Radical Currents in the United States

David Swanson, author, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency

and Forming a More Perfect Union

Jabari Asim, author, A Taste of Honey

Jane Smiley, author, Private Life

Jennifer Egan, author, A Visit From The Goon Squad

Mark Nowak, poet, Coal Mountain Elementary

Sarah Pekkanen, author, The Opposite of Me

FALL FOR THE BOOKPARTICIPANTS SPEAK OUTTO SUPPORT SODEXO WORKERS

32BJ SEIU • www.seiu.org • Raising Standards for Service Workers

1025 Vermont Ave NW, 7th Floor, Washington DC