Inside The Crusader

Opinions..................5The Eg g p lant..........10Features..................9Sports.....................13

Volume LXXXIX, Number 10 February 15, 2013 Worcester, Massachusettswww.facebook.com/thehccrusader www.twitter.com/thehccrusadercrusader@g.holycross.edu www.thehccrusader.com

Bridget Bowman

Staff Writer

This past weekend theAlternative College The-ater (A.C.T.) presentedSpring Awakening. Therock musical, set in late19th-century Germany,follows the stories ofteenagers transitioninginto adulthood.

The 14-member castmelded a captivating in-tensity, haunting melodies,and raw emotion into ashow that took the audi-ence on a journey throughthe challenges of adoles-cence.

Director ChristineFreije, ’13 said Spring

Awakening is “an impor-tant musical for HolyCross, especially be-

cause the overarchingtheme of the play is re-pression, which I thinkHoly Cross students have ahealthy dose of,due toshame, sexuality [and] aca-demics.”

Freije, a theater majorand A.C.T. Chair, said Spring

Awakening was a show that

she wanted to bring to theFenwick stage because “it is

so high energy and very dif-ferent than anything wehave done in the past fewyears.” Freije saw the musi-cal on Broadway as ateenager, and said, “It just

blew my mind. I did notknow musicals could be like

that.”The show had high-en-

ergy rock songs capturingteenage angst as well as softmelancholy numbers andeven some comical mo-

ments. The musical is alsoknown for its profanity and

open sexuality. Despite thecontroversial aspects of theshow, Frieje found the col-lege administration support-ive of their efforts.

Freije worked with cho-

reographer Caitlin Murphy,’13 and the actors in orderto find “that happy mediumbetween profanity and notmaking the audience or myactors uncomfortable.”

Murphy said that someof the sexually suggestivechoreography was essentialbecause the themes of “tri-als of adolescence and re-pressed sexuality had to beexpressed through move-ment to keep their in-tegrity.”

The processes of findingthat “happy medium” beganin July when A.C.T. receivedthe rights to the show onFreije’s birthday. The showwas cast the second week ofSeptember, with rehearsals

starting a few days later.The cast and crew workedfor five days a week, for upto three hours a day, withthe time commitment in-creasing as opening nightapproached. The cast evenreturned to Holy Cross aweek early from winterbreak to have day-long re-hearsals.

Spring Awakening a Resounding Success

Freije and her cast’s dedication of an incredible amount of time and effort clearly

paid off, as their production of the rock musical “Spring Awakening” met with re-

sounding success.

Courtesy of Will Fitzmaurice and Annie Le

See SPRING, page 2

Courtesy of Maddie Klett

Sara Bovat

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Only two days after the

33rd anniversary of the dis-astrous blizzard of 1978that killed 112 victims, anequally forceful Blizzard

Nemo made its waythrough the northeast onFriday, February 8 with 28.7inches of snow. The Col-

lege of the Holy Cross suf-fered minimal property

damages, while student lifecontinued rather ordinarily

due to the commitment tothe campus’s various de-partments and studentsthrough a shelter-in-place

procedure. In anticipation for the

snowstorm, William Con-ley, the Director of Admin-istrative Services andEmergency Coordinator,initiated preparations twodays prior to the storm onWednesday, February 6.Similar to the procedure forany extreme weather fore-cast or expected natural dis-aster, Conley spearheaded ateam of campus representa-tives to organize a proce-

dure for before, during, andafter the storm. This emer-gency response team rangesfrom Rev. Philip Boroughs,

S.J. as President of the Col-lege to the Edwin Cool-

baugh from Residence Lifeto Dining Services to ChiefRobert Hart from the Of-fice of Public Safety.

The team collectively tack-led concerns regarding theweather updates, the aca-demic schedule, cancella-

tions of campus events,food and water, shelter-in-

place requirements, the op-eration of facilities &Services, snow clearing,power outage possibilities,

and the communication ofthe College’s plans to stu-dents, their families, andfaculty. Conley emphasized

that the chief priorities werethe students’ safety and

keeping the campus openfor students to continuedaily activities.

The emergency response

team’s chief priority of thestudents’ safety led to theCollege’s first implementa-tion of a shelter-in-place for

a snowstorm. Conley ac-knowledged that the bliz-

zard-like conditionslargely influenced the

team’s ultimate decisionto establish a shelter-in-place from Friday at 7p.m. to Saturday at 10

a.m. “My concern was that

we would have studentswander outside, get dis-

oriented in the blowingsnow, and get hurt,” re-called Conley. “Specifi-cally, we were

concerned that studentsmight get hit by the nu-merous snow plowsthat were operating inblowing snow low visi-bility, and night timeconditions.”

The governor of Mas-sachusetts issued a banon usage of the roadsthroughout the state.

Therefore, the College’sThursday announcement to

Holy Cross Plowed Through Blizzard

Nemo with Minimal Disruption

Opinions’

“The Pulse

Page” Debates

Gun Control

Page 10

Meet the The Crusader

Editorial

Board for

Spring 2013

Page 9

Courtesy of Colleen Paddock

After 28.7 inches of snow from Blizzard Nemo, students took creative liberties through-

out the weekendto enjoy it.

See SNOW, page 4

2 NEWS The Crusader February 15, 2013

The Crusader is a non-profit, non-partisan, student publication of the College of the Holy Cross. The Crusader is distributed free of charge to all students, faculty,

staff, and employees of the institution.

The Crusader welcomes letters and op-eds from its

readers. Please include your name, address, telephone number,and e-mail address. No submissions will be printed anony-

mously. All submissions may be edited for content, and mustbe received by the Sunday prior to publication. The Crusader re-serves the right not to publish any letter or content deemed

objectionable or which does not meet the editorial standardsof the newspaper. Letters may be mailed, e-mailed, or brought

to The Crusader office in Hogan 235.

The opinions expressed within the newspaper are not

necessarily those of the College of the Holy Cross. Thisnewspaper is printed by Community Newspaper Company.Reproduction of any part of this paper is by permission of

The Crusader only.

The Crusader student newspaperCollege of the Holy CrossPublished weekly since 1925Friday, November 30, 2012Volume LXXXIX Number 8

Please address correspondence to:The Crusader

P.O Box 32ACollege of the Holy Cross1 College StreetWorcester, MA 01610-2395

Email: crusader@g.holycross.edu

Web: www.thehccrusader.com

Sara Bovat, Emily Vyse Co-Editors-in-Chief

Deirdre Koenen, Victoria Fritz, Jess Bailot, Elizabeth O’Brien News Editors

David Perretta, Lauren McDonough, Eric Butts, Jeremy Garneau Opinion

Editors

Alannah Heffernan, Charlotte Errity, Katie DeGennaro Features Editors

Zach Lanning Eggplant Editor

Andrew Fanikos,Tyler Scionti, Beth Fullerton Sports Editors

Bobby Keilig Web Editor

Claire Mahoney Visual Editor

Kevin Deehan Publicity Manager

Andrew Marzo Business Manager

Tim Moczula, Christopher Quinn Sales Managers

James Cerra Advertising Manager

Professor Steve Vineberg Faculty Advisor

Dean Jacqueline Peterson Faculty Advisor

To advertise in The Crusader:Email: crusaderadvertising@gmail.com

Phone: (508) 293-1283

Deirdre Koenen

Chief News Editor

Holy Cross studentsnow have yet another rea-son to give thanks for thefaithful efforts of the Stu-dent Government Associa-tions (SGA) Services, whohave provided a new and

improved means of escapefrom the gated bubble ofthe College on the hill.With the commencement

of the new semester, SGAServices has implementedsome favorable changes inthe weekday shuttle sched-ule and has introduced thenew “Special SaturdayShuttles” to liven up theweekend possibilities ofthe student body.

John Milner, ‘15, the Di-rector of SGA Services,worked with adviser SaraSwillo, the Associate Direc-tor of the Office of Stu-dent Involvement (OSI),and Director of Trans-portation - Jerry Maday - toaccomplish these advanta-geous improvements to theshuttle schedule.

The original weekdayschedule had required around trip of over an hourfor a trip as short as Wal-mart, and there’s really onlyso much you can do toamuse yourself while wait-ing in that superstore. Anyshuttle trip on that sched-ule took up a significantchunk of time from aweeknight, a sacrifice thatany student with a heftyworkload would be reluc-tant to make. A fewchanges have been made tothis route so that it is nowpossible for a student toleave Hogan at 6pm, do aquick errand at Wal-Martand get back to Hogan 3 ahalf hour later.

Milner explained that inthe past there had beencomplaints about the relia-bility and efficiency of theshuttles, and so SGA Serv-ices worked to reevaluatethe system. The revisedroute includes the samestops to Wal-Mart, Black-stone, Auburn Mall,

Shrewsbury Street and

White City; but with a re-arranged set of times toprovide students with amore feasible option forembarking on weekdaytrips. The weekday shuttleservices will now be usingonly one van for the route,and will be operated byprofessional drivers ratherthan student drivers.

Regarding the new Sat-urday shuttles, Milner ex-plained that the Sundayshuttles in the past turnedout to be inconsistent, andoften money was spent onthe shuttles with few to nostudents actually utilizingthe services. He said thatthey have switched theshuttles to Saturday, ration-

alizing that students aremore likely to go on shop-ping excursions on this daythan on Sunday, a day typi-cally devoted to accom-plishing the remainder ofweekend schoolwork.

Students will have theopportunity to visit NatickMall, Patriot Place and the

Wrentham outlets on theSaturday shuttles, whichmade their first trip on Feb-ruary 2nd to Natick. Up-

coming trips this semesterare February 16th to PatriotPlace, March 23th to Nat-ick, April 6 to Patriot Place,and April 20th to Wren-tham.

On February 16th, stu-dents are especially encour-aged to take the shuttle toPatriot Place since therewill be outdoor skating atthis location that weekend.These shuttles leave fromHogan 3 at noon, and willbring students back on ashuttle departing the loca-tion at 4pm.

Thus far, Milner specu-lates that the shuttles havebeen received favorable bythe Holy Cross community.Many students have beenmaking use of them, andthe drivers are continuingto keep records of the stu-dents on board to evaluatethe popularity of the newsystem.

SGA Services are cer-tainly doing their utmost toprovide the student bodywith every opportunity toget off campus and enjoythemselves in the most effi-cient and feasible ways pos-sible.

SGA Services Have

Students’ Best Inter-

ests in Mind

SGA Services

are certainly

doing their ut-

most to pro-

vide the

student body

with every op-

portunity to

get off cam-

pus and enjoy

themselves in

the most effi-

cient and fea-

sible ways

possible.

Implementing changes in the weekday

and weekend shuttle services

By Elizabeth O’Brien

News Editor

On Monday, February 11at around 11:30 a.m., somemembers of the Holy Crosscommunity may have seen awoman standing on CollegeStreet who appeared to beprotesting something and an-swering questions to anyonewho came up to her. Thewoman - Kate - was partici-pating in a vigil for justice afterthe Holy Cross administrationmishandled a very traumatiz-ing event that Kate wentthrough.

She asserts that she wassexually assaulted by a Jesuitpriest while on a study abroadtrip as a student at Holy Cross.Many years later, in 2003, Rev.Michael McFarland, S.J., theformer President of the Col-lege, apologized for what hap-pened and offered assistance.He also promised confiden-

tiality, as did Rev. Dennis J.Yesalonia, S.J., the generalcounsel of the College of thetime.

However, the next yearKate found out that Fr. Mc-Farland had released privateinformation to a third party.She has continued to reach outto members of the Holy Crossadministration, including theCollege’s current president Fa-ther Philip Boroughs, S.J.. Al-legedly she is ignored, andsome of her confidential in-formation keeps on being re-leased without her consent. Fr.Boroughs has taken actionagainst Kate such as banningher from campus and creatingan internal list with her nameon it.

As time goes on, she islearning of many more secu-rity breaches that are occurringwithin Holy Cross’s adminis-tration. In March 2012, Katestarted the Hunger Strike forJustice at Holy Cross. Thisyear, however, she has decidedto initiiate a new vigil, one thatshe predicts might take tenyears. She is determined to

stand up for what she believesin.

“My conscience requiresthat I stand up about theseproblems because I believe thecollege administration is hurt-ing other people the sameway,” said Kate. “This time[my vigil] will not end until Iknow that justice has beenachieved.”

Holy Cross administratorshave contacted Kate manytimes with promises of mak-ing progress with the issue,however the plans have notbeen seen through. For in-stance, she was guarunteed asettlement in 2012, but noth-ing happened.

“I asked the College to coverpart of the medical advice re-lated to PTSD and incomeloss, cover the expenses of thelong ordeal, and pay a ‘com-munity fine’ to nonprofits andpeople in need of help so Icould have at least one clear

way of seeing accountabilityfor the very unreasonable andyears long delay,” said Kate.

The purpose of the vigil isto try and make the HolyCross administration solveKate’s problem after yearshave flown by. She also be-lieves she is not the only onewho is going through this or-deal. “The main reason for thevigil is to communicate differ-ently after all other ways ofcommunicating were futile foryears,” said Kate. “Holy Crosshas been ambivalent about re-solving all the problems Ibrought to the attention of theadministration.”

It is understandable thatsome students might be hesi-tant about sticking up forKate’s cause. Dave O’Regan,Worcester chapter head of theSurvivors Network of thoseAbused by Priests who partic-ipated in the vigil, believes stu-dents should be open todiscussing the issues that Katehas faced.

“When we love our faithand trust in the leadership it iseasy to turn away from the

issue of sexual abuse, a world-wide problem in the Churchtoday,” said O’Regan. “Thestudents can stop and talk withKate when she is outside thecollege holding her vigil andsee that she is a fellow gradu-ate of Holy Cross who hasbeen severely wounded by theinsensitivity of College Presi-dent who has been causing herfurther pain.”

While Kate is very passion-ate about protesting, she is stilla victim and has to deal withdifficult emotional trauma. Itis not always easy being in thespotlight.

“Sometimes talking about itsets me back personally, so Ihave to keep it measured,” saidKate. “Like many victims, Ican freeze when traumaticthings come up, so I am onlypublic when I can talk aboutsome of it.”

Just by recognizing Kate’ssituation, students and faculty

at Holy Cross can help herhealing process. “Social Justiceis reaching out to victims ofabuse and helping them findhealing,” said O’Regan. “Thestudents and faculty can call tolight the plight of Kate stand-ing outside the gates in allweather and ask Holy Cross tomeet with her and mediate hersituation.”

Despite the negative attitudetowards certain members ofthe Holy Cross administration,Kate is able to recognize somejustice in the matter. Fr. Yesa-lonia did reach out to Kate atone point and explained thathe does not have access to theconversations that she hadwith Fr. Boroughs, and madean ethical choice to contacther. He did some investigatingon his own and told Kate whathe found, which was some-thing he certainly was not re-quired to do.

Former Student Keeps

Her Vigil Outside the

Campus Gates

3 NEWS The Crusader February 15, 2013

Emma Cronin

Staff Writer

Last semester, the Col-

lege sent out an email en-couraging students toparticipate in flash mobsacross campus, whichwere to be included in anessentially unknownvideo project entitled “ILove Holy Cross.” Thisvideo, directed by HarryChiu ‘12, features theCrusader mascot energet-ically dancing with stu-dents throughout Mt. St.James. Although it was

virtually unknown at thetime of its launch, thisvideo received the Coun-cil for the Advancementand Support of Educa-tion District I ExcellenceAward in late January.

As Holy Cross websitenews reporter CristalSteur explains, “TheCouncil for Advance-ment and Support of Ed-ucation (CASE) is aprofessional associationserving educational insti-tutions and the advance-ment professionals whowork on their behalf inalumni relations, commu-nications, development,marketing, and alliedareas. The CASE DistrictI awards program recog-nizes the communica-tions work of educational

institutions located in theNortheast and parts ofCanada.”

Cristal Steur states thatthis award is bestowedupon ìindividuals andschools doing innovativework in the fields of spe-cial events, fundraising,stewardship, volunteerengagement, alumni rela-tions, student alumni ini-tiatives, advancementservices, and communica-tions.î Joyce O’ConnorDavidson, director ofalumni relations commu-nications, and ChristianSantillo, assistant directorfor web communicationsin public affairs, acceptedthe award on behalf ofHC at a conference inBoston from January 20-February 1.

When the video wasfilmed, the creators didnot even consider theCASE District I Excel-lence Award as a possibil-ity. In contrast, the Holy

Cross Fund, which con-sists of active alumni anddonors to the College,initiated the video projectin order to propel HolyCross to #1 on U.S.News & World Reportlisting of “most-lovedschools” by alumni. Inaddition, they hoped thevideo would inspire will-ing alumni to donate tothe Holy Cross Fund.

Alumni originally antici-pated two thousand newdonors after launchingthe video. Yet, as directorof the Fund MargaretHayden Bramley de-scribes, “It was a greatsuccess; we exceeded thegoal of 2,000 donors by31 percent. In addition tothese quantifiable results,many alumni were in-spired to share the manyreasons why they loveHoly Cross, and how the‘I Love HC’ campaignbrought back memoriesof their time on campus.”

Alumni and studentsacross the country eagerlyflocked to YouTube towatch the ìI Love HolyCrossî video, and to date,it has about 19,059 views.From dancing with Pub-lic Safety officers tojumping around on theHoval, the Crusader inthe “I Love Holy Cross”video serves as an enter-taining reminder that here

at HC, we are family, andMt. St. James is home.

“I Love Holy Cross” Video

Awarded for ExcellenceVivian Daly

Eco-Action Co-Chair

In 2010, the United NationsGeneral Assembly affirmed thefundamental human right towater, but still one in nine peo-ple on this planet go withoutclean drinking water. Why do somany go without access to safewater when there is plenty in theworld? Well, the water market isestimated to be a $400 billiondollar market, meaning corpora-

tions are interested in gainingaccess to the global water mar-ket, and do so by gaining influ-ence in international governing

bodies like the United Nationsand the World Bank. For exam-ple, the World Bank’s 2030Water Resource Group ischaired by the CEO of Nestleand all water projects must in-clude a corporate partner. Thisforces partnerships betweenbeverage corporations, thoselooking to privatize water forprofit, and the general public,those relying on public watersources for drinking, cleaning,and cooking, and is creating aconflict of interest. Now youmay be wondering, what can weat Holy Cross do about that?

Well, every year over $100 bil-lion dollars are spent on dispos-able plastic water bottlesworldwide; just 1/6 of thatamount [$15 billion dollars]could cut the number of peoplewithout safe access to drinkingwater in half. Here at HolyCross we are lucky enough to

have safe access to drinkingwater, a right that not everyonearound the world has, and yetwe still choose to drink bottledwater, which is thousands oftimes more expensive than tapand sometimes the exact sameproduct (both Dasani andAquafina are just filtered tapwater).

Eco-Action along with over300 students who have alreadysigned our petition are making acommitment to end this waste-

ful action, through the #Un-CapHC campaign. In ourcampaign, we are asking admin-istration to end the sale of dis-

posable plastic water bottles forthe following reasons:

1. Environmental: water bot-tles that are not recycled fill upland-fills and create massiveamounts of waste. Additionally,the amount of oil and energyneeded to obtain, clean, packageand transport the water in plas-tic water bottles is too massivean amount to justify buying andusing them.

2. Economic: Plastic waterbottles are expensive whencompared to essentially free tapwater. It is financially better forus to buy a reusable water bottleand fill it with tap water.

3. Social: Clean water is a fun-damental human right, but hasbeen commoditized through thebottle water industry. Cleanwater has therefore become agood that only the wealthy canafford. Since clean water is ex-traordinarily scarce across the

globe, it is unjust for industriesto rob communities of cleanwater and package it, only to besold elsewhere or back to thecommunity for an outrageouslymore expensive price. As a Je-suit institution, Holy Cross hasthe social responsibility to en-sure that the water we, as a com-munity for and with others,consume is not polluting theearth during production, norharming struggling societiesthrough monopolizing free

water.4. Health: Municipal tap water

is regulated more strictly thanbottled water. Tap water is also

filled with essential vitamins andminerals that are filtered out ofbottled water.

If you are interested in join-ing our #UnCapHC campaignyou can sign our petition at:http://www.ipetitions.com/pe-tition/uncaphc/, like us onFacebook at Holy Cross Eco-Action or follow us on Twitter@PurpleGoesGreen for cam-paign updates, or join us at ournext meeting, February 27, 2013at 7:30pm in Hogan 403. Helpus join over 90 colleges and uni-versities who have alreadybanned or restricted the sale ofplastic water bottles on theircampus!

The Worldwide Water

Shortage: How You Can Help

Despite the time commitment,actress Suzanne Crifo, ’13 said, “Inever regretted any time I spent atrehearsal.” She said Spring Awaken-

ing has been her favorite A.C.T.show of her Holy Cross career be-

cause ofF r e i j e ’sdirectionand thetight-knitcast.

Muchof thecast wasc o m -prised ofu n d e r -classmen,with afirst yearstudent asone ofthe leadr o l e s .P a t r i c kO’Konis,’16, whop l a y e dMelchior,said thathis expe-rience inhis firstA . C . T .p roduc -tion was“fantas-tic: every-one waswelcom-

ing. Christine was a great directorand made the experience just in-credible.”

Many of the A.C.T. members arecurrently spending their junior yearabroad, which allowed a number ofunderclassmen to fill the void.Freije said she tried to not allowclass year be a factor in the castingprocess, and said she enjoyed di-recting a young cast.

“I joke with them that I cast thembecause freshmen will do what I tellthem, but it is actually really nice,”said Freije. “I feel like such a proudmom because I have watched themgrow from being nervous fresh-men, literally week one of their col-lege career, to being these confidentactors onstage.”

The entire cast was very talented,with each cast memberseizing the opportunityto showcase his or heracting and singing abil-ity. Harry Crimi, ‘15,who produced theshow along with Shan-non LoCascio, ‘14 said,“Working with such apassionate cast andcrew makes this showeasy and fun to pro-duce.”

Crimi also said thatWinter Storm Nemomade a significant im-pact on the musical.After a sold-out open-ing night, A.C.T. wasforced to postpone itsshow Friday eveningand faced many can-

celled reservations on Saturday dueto hazardous travel conditions.A.C.T. reduced the ticket price forthe Holy Cross community on Sat-urday evening, which led many stu-dents to fill the theater that night.

The Friday show was postponedto Sunday evening, meaning thecast, crew, and pit band performedfour shows in two days. However,the energy level remained high asthe cast danced, jumped, andpounded their way through therock songs.

Freije’s vision for the musical per-sisted throughout the show, andRev. Jim Hayes, S.J. praised Freijefor her directing talent. “She’ll be

the next Bartlett Sher,” he said, ref-erencing the Holy Cross alumnuswho is now a renowned TonyAward-winning director.

The senior director hopes to con-tinue directing after she graduatesin May. For Freije, the thought ofgraduation relates to the veryessence of Spring Awakening. In theDirector’s Note, Freije wrote,“What this play affirms, for me, isthat despite that sickness I feel atthe thought of growing up, of leav-ing here, change and growth areboth inevitable and beautiful.”

From SPRING, page 1

Courtesy of Will Fitzmaurice and Annie Le

Danielle Santos, ‘14 and Patrick O’Konies, ‘16 gave espe-

cially moving performances alongside thier fellow cast

members in the A.C.T. production last weekend.

4 NEWS The Crusader February 15, 2013

Charlotte Errity

Features Co-Editor

Every year, Holy Cross’ BlackStudent Union puts on a FashionShow that takes place off campus:it is truly fashion’s night out forHoly Cross students, and is becom-ing a modern tradition at the Col-

lege. Planning for this large eventgoes all the way back to the begin-ning of fall semester, when the ex-ecutive board of the BSU plans the

theme “Seven Deadly Sins” andconducts try-outs for the models.

Holy Cross senior and co-chairof the Fashion Show, CatherineBroadbent, ‘13, comments on herinvolvement and the details of the

show. She has been a part of theBSU Fashion Show team for threeyears, and was eager to run theshow on her own and “try things

out I wanted to try.” For example,the E-Board collective decided on

the intriguing theme of the SevenDeadly Sins. “We thought it wasprovocative, while still allowing usto show some on-trend styles in

fashion.” This statement proves it-self in the runway fashions of eachof the six themed scenes: for ex-ample, “statement piece jewelry”

for Greed, and “boyfriend, casualwear” for Sloth. The theme was ev-ident and creative when presented

on the stage.

The show began at 8 p.m., butt h e r e

was a 7PM din-ner op-tion, ify o ubought a

table hott i c k e t ,consid-ering the

t a b l e ssold outquickly.Toupinísi nWorces-

t e rcateredthe pre-s h o w

f o o d .Shuttles

f r o mH o g a nb r o u g h ts tuden t s

and campus members to Mechan-ics Hall downtown for the show.

All proceeds from this eventwent to the charity called “Dress

For Success,” an organization that“promote[s] the economic inde-pendence of disadvantaged women

by providing professional attire, a

network of support and the career

development tools to help womenthrive in work and in life,” accord-ing to the charity’s mission state-ment.

Catherine Broadbent informedthe Crusader staff that the clothingfor the showwas provided three

separate boutiques: “Two [bou-

tiques] are from the Boston area,Reza and

Kim De-signs, andone fromWest Hart-ford, Con-n e c t i c u t ,

that do-nated lastyear as well,called Ooh

La La.”“I would

say fortypercent [ofthe runwaylooks] came

from bou-t i q u e s ,which wasreally new

for theshow and

made [thec l o t h i n g ]

look expen-sive and ap-

pealing to the audience, somethingI think missed the mark in pastyears,” Broadbent says.

The secret to pulling together a

coherent show? “It’s a lot of shop-ping trips and creativity!” Broad-bent adds that one of the showís

scenes, themed to the sin of Envy,

has models dressed in vine: “[Itwas] my Project Runway unconven-

tional challenge moment!”Between the show’s six scenes,

members of the Holy Cross andWorcester community performed,including performances by theRhythm Nation Steppaz, Fusion,

the Boys & Girls Club Dance Team“In Da Zone,” Holy Cross’ Ball-room Dance Team, lyrical teamfrom the Dance Ensemble, and one

of the College’s all-female acappellagroups, Off the Record.

Missed this year’s show? Cather-ine Broadbent says regardless ofthe year, “I think what’s great aboutthis show is how it continues to get

better.”The BSU Fashion Show repre-

sents the slew of talent at HolyCross, while also showcasing the di-

versity amongst the campus. Thisfashion show, a collaborative effort

from members of the BSU andother specifically assigned to theshow, provides a fun and eclecticnight out for the Worcester com-

munity.

BSU Fashion Shows Diversity Through

“Seven Deadly Sins”

Courtesy of Ian Jones

The models flaunt their creativel apparel on the runway at the 7th BSU fash-

ion show on Friday, February 1.

holda shelter-in-place precaution wasconsistent with the level of sever-ity of the state’s response to theemergency.

In Conley’s three years at theCollege, he had previously appliedtwo other shelter-in-places withboth being for hurricanes. Withthe blizzard-likeconditions ofhigh winds andlimited visibilitybeing similar ef-fects of a hurri-cane, awidespread bliz-zard like Nemodemands acomparable re-sponse to a hur-ricane.

Chief RobertHart, Directorof PublicSafety, re-ported that thestudents coop-erated well. He recalled a few stu-dent sightings during the night,but said that they complied to theofficers’ plea for them to returnto their dormitories. Aside from safety, Jacqueline Pe-

terson, the Vice President of Stu-dent Affairs and Dean ofStudents, echoed Conley in ex-pressing the team’s strong hope tonot disturb students’ day-to-dayroutines. She said, “Given that weare a residential campus unlikeother consortium schools wheremany students commute. Weneed to put things in place thatensure students’ safety and alsohelp continue comforts of dailyliving in their homes here.”

Conley further explained that

the emergency response team wasconscious of a typical college stu-dent’s weekend wake-up time of10 a.m., thus chose to lift the shel-ter-in-place for that time. Theyaimed for students to still be ableto go to Kimball brunch, study inDinand Library, and exercise atthe gym as usual.

The shelter-in-place contributed

greatly to their goal of maintain-ing student comfort. Because stu-dents were mandated to remain intheir dormitories during the criti-cal hours of the snowstorm, thesnowplows were able to effec-tively plow throughout the nightwithout the worry that they willrun over any wandering students.

Still, the tireless efforts of manycampus employees were the chiefdrivers behind successfully sus-taining students’ lives throughoutthe weekend. Conley reportedthat nine food service workersspent the night on campus inorder to serve 1,500 students be-tween the hours of 10 a.m. and12 p.m. on the Saturday morning

after the storm. A few of thesedining workers did not even workon the Friday before BlizzardNemo, but nevertheless arrivedthat evening to ensure thatbrunch would be prepared forstudents in the morning.

The workers who plowedtrucked on from 12 p.m. on Fri-day afternoon to about 5 p.m. on

Saturdayevening,total ingto about29 hours.T h e n ,after re-tu r n ingh o m ef o rt w e l v ehours ofs l e e p ,t h e yp i c k e dup where

they leftoff toclear thec a m p u s

pathways and roads for Mondaymorning classes.

There were also five tradesmenwho attended to systems andservice calls.

The one common student com-plaint after the storm was the lackof student parking. Chief Hart,however, found that before andafter the snowstorm there weresufficient available parking spacesin Student Lots 3 and 4, despitethe fact that these lots are furtheraway from the student dormito-ries.

Despite the student parkingconfusion, Holy Cross survivedBlizzard Nemo and carried onwith its mission as usual.

Lincoln Pays Annual

Visit to History Class

Sunday, February 10

Lehy Hall: RA from Lehy called to report that students built

snow fort by the dumpster at Lehy and he wanted it knockeddown *****Your decision on what to do with it*****

Monday, February 11

O’Kane Hall: Hole punched in wall

Public Safety

Blotter

Courtesy of Claudia Betchold

On Tuesday, February 12, Abraham Lincoln time-travelled to modern

times. He paid a visit to Father Kuzniewski, S.J.’s “Lincoln and His

Legacy” to celebrate his birthday with cake.

Courtesy of Estefania Cruzval

The snow plowers drove for 29 hours straight from Friday into Satur-

day then took just a twelve hour hiatus to only begin again on Sunday.

From SNOW, page 1

OPINIONS The Crusader February 15, 2013 5

Opinions The Pulse of EventsIntroducing “The Pulse of Events:” A page dedicated to the debates of our times. This week’s topic: Gun Control.

Jeremy Garneau

Opinions Co-Editor

In the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook

Elementary School in Newtown, CT, there

has been a wave of sadness, anger, and con-

tention throughout the nation. The disputes

between Democrats and Republicans, con-

servatives and liberals, and everyday people

are surrounded over gun control, an issue that

has sparked controversy and debate for

decades. In an attempt to seek justice and

provide peace of mind, some people have

urged for tighter gun control to prevent such

incidents, whereas other groups have ex-

pressed the need to have more guns in homes

and schools for protection.

Recently, President Barack Obama, in the

aftermath of the tragedy, explained the ne-

cessity for universal background checks in

order to give consolation to a nation of griev-

ers, but also to address an issue that was not

at the forefront of Obama’s political agenda

during his first term. Although some con-

servatives oppose the idea of universal back-

ground checks, around 85% of Americans

are in favor of a universal background check

for private gun sales, according to national

surveys. Wayne LaPierre, the CEO and Ex-

ecutive Vice President of the National Rifle

Association, has expressed his opposition

with the background checks proposal. On

May 28, 1999, however, LaPierre urged for

background checks in the aftermath of the

Columbine shooting.

In addition to the background checks,

Obama is proposing a ban on assault

weapons, a stricter watch on “straw pur-

chases,” and an expansion of mental health

programs. The growth of these programs

can help prevent tragic cases similar to Sandy

Hook, since people with mental health issues

pose an added danger while possessing a gun.

By increasing criminal penalties for “straw

purchases,” a person who legally buys a gun

and gives it to someone else, America can

have a closer eye on gun violence. According

to another national survey, in 9 out of 10 gun

crimes, the killer is not the original owner of

the gun who benefitted from a “straw pur-

chase.”

Many passionate Second Amendment ad-

vocates believe that Obama is taking away

their right to bear arms, yet his proposal holds

promise for the future. Obama isn’t trying to

take guns away from law-abiding citizens. He

is taking a bold stand against gun trafficking

after the gruesome tragedy this nation has

witnessed. By focusing on areas such as men-

tal health, safety responses, assault weapons,

and background checks, Obama is trying to

criminalize the people who abuse their right

to bear arms.

The opponents of the proposal also will be

perturbed with the potential ban on assault

weapons. Many of these gun-owning propo-

nents proudly attest to how guns are used for

self-protection from robbers, murderers, etc.

By simply looking back at criminal records,

one can see how many gun crimes are actually

between intimates rather than strangers.

Also, the FBI counted an estimate of 213 jus-

tified firearm homicides per year from 2005

to 2010, which clearly shows how gun usage

for protection is very seldom. And even if

there is a ban on assault weapons, Obama’s

opponents will still have handguns to rely on.

I think Obama’s plan is a great step in the

right direction and conservatives need to un-

derstand that he is on their side. As a nation,

liberals and conservatives need to work to-

gether to help fuel this stand against gun traf-

ficking. If I were to make any changes to

Obama’s proposal, I would recommend that

the plan also focus on gang violence, drug-

related violence, and gun safety education.

This isn’t an issue of gun control, but rather

an issue of gun trafficking and protecting the

welfare and safety of our law-abiding citizens.

I think we as Americans, liberals and conser-

vatives alike, should listen to the wise words

of comedian Chris Rock who recently stated,

“The president and the first lady are kind of

like the mom and dad of the country, and

when your dad says something, you listen.

And when you don't it usually bites you ….".

David Perretta

Chief Opinions Editor

I would like to start off this piece

with a bit of a disclosure: I am from

Fairfield County, many of my friends

from high school lived in Newtown,

and a very close family friend of mine

teaches first grade in Newtown (not at

Sandy Hook). So, though I am not

personally acquainted with the families

of any victims, the atrocity that oc-

curred there was a bit more than the

latest tragedy airing on the news for me

– I have connections to that town.

Furthermore, I am not a gun owner,

nor do I desire to be one. I feel that

these are important things for you to

know before I start discussing my feel-

ings on “gun control.”

Ever since that horrible day, there has

been a clamor within the Democratic

Party to rush the passing of gun con-

trol legislation. While I do support

better gun regulation (as in background

checks), these new limits on what a

law-abiding citizen can and can’t own

are flawed at best. New York Gover-

nor, Andrew Cuomo, recently signed

into law a bill that made it illegal for

anybody to possess a firearm with

more than seven rounds in the clip and

one in the chamber. However, the

state legislature failed to include a pro-

vision that would exempt police offi-

cers from these new regulations. With

the stroke of a pen, every cop in New

York was a criminal until an amend-

ment could be made.

The New York case is a perfect ex-

ample of what happens when legisla-

tion comes from emotion instead of

facts; mistakes are made and resources

must (unnecessarily) be allocated to

correct them. I would not have a sin-

gle thing against this if the laws were

designed to do anything beyond offer

us the illusion of safety. However,

there is little data to suggest that ban-

ning certain guns curbs violence.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was

speaking on Meet the Press the weekend

after the horror in Newtown when he

said one of the most brilliant lines I

have heard regarding the push for a re-

instatement of a Federal “assault

weapons” ban. He pointed out that

when Columbine occurred the ban was

in place and there were armed officers

in the school. Clearly, neither helped.

This begs the question: Why would we

want legislation that has been proven

to prevent the violence it seeks to

curb? I personally believe that we

should stop wasting our time on failed

laws and find a new way to solve the

problem of mass shootings.

The demographics could not be

clearer: emotionally disturbed young

men carry out mass shootings. These

are people with mental health issues

who are a threat to the public. For

some reason, we don’t quarantine these

people. We devote our energy and re-

sources to getting rid of firearms (with

error-ridden laws) and do relatively lit-

tle to improve the mental health of

those committing the crimes. My

question is simple: Why?

Mental health issues still carry a

stigma in America. If you’re sick with

the flu, you have no problem telling the

world that you went to the doctor to

get a prescription. If you’re sick with

depression, then that isn’t the case –

most worry that they would be judged

for admitting that they had to seek

help. That, I think, is the key part of

the solution for ridding ourselves of

these heinous crimes. We don’t need a

superficial ban on assault weapons

(which, by the way, is a make-believe

phrase), but we do need a mental

healthcare system free of judgment

and readily available to those in need.

The past has shown us that arbitrarily

designating aesthetic features as “as-

sault” features does not work, so let’s

try solving this problem at its root.

Let’s stop the people who commit

mass shootings by helping them

achieve mental stability. That’s the

conversation that we need to have if

anything is to be done.

Mental Health Control

Right to Kill With Arms?

Lauren McDonough

Opinions Co-Editor

It’s a refrain that we’ve heard far too often in the

past year, alone: “Now isn’t the time to talk about

it.” We heard it after Aurora in July and again after

Newtown in December. The idea of the saying is

that the tragedy is too fresh, that we need to allow

the nation time to grieve before we talk about why

it happened. And by the time it is appropriate to talk

about gun control, the NRA has skillfully stifled the

conversation or another tragedy has overpowered

the last.

Gun violence is a polarizing issue in the United

States. People tend to take a strong fixed stance, the

two extremes being some variation of “hands-off

my Constitutionally-protected firearm” or “let’s rid

the United States of guns, entirely.” Neither is the

most rational response, although most people can

identify in some way with one or the other.

Personally, I don’t believe that the average Amer-

ican citizen needs to own a gun. A gun gives a per-

son the power to kill another person faster than they

can say, “Whoops.” That a life, or multiple lives, for

that matter, can be ended with the quick pull of a

trigger, an action that requires so little thought, a

move that can be carried out before a person even

has time to think about what they’re doing, is ap-

palling to me.

That being said, it’s irrational to believe that we

could rid America of its firearms given the fact that

it’s so heavily armed with both legal and illegal guns.

So we come to America’s least favorite word: com-

promise. A compromise over gun control is espe-

cially tricky because of the parties involved. The

NRA holds a lot of power over the U.S. govern-

ment. They know what it means to defend a con-

stitutionally protected right, and they do it well.

They are consistent in their goals and actions, and

manage to retain their influence even after horrific

gun tragedies that should ruin their reputation.

Those in favor of gun control, however, are more

of a motley crew. There are different opinions and

goals coming in from all angles – from the Presi-

dent, from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Vi-

olence, and from Gabby Giffords’ Americans for

Responsible Solutions, to name a prominent few.

The only way for this side of the gun debate to gain

traction is by creating a unified front with shared

goals and initiatives.

Once both groups have clear stances, we could

move forward on a national compromise. In my

ideal world, this would include removing guns from

the hands of those for whom they are not neces-

sary – this means everyone but police officers, se-

curity guards, and members of the military. I know

that’s unlikely given the Second Amendment and

the fact that a majority of Americans support hunt-

ing. I understand why hunters are protective of their

right to bear arms. To ask them to give up their

guns would be like asking all drivers to hand in their

car keys because of a spike in highway accidents.

Hunting is a sport that requires skill and is governed

by laws and regulations. Hunting of animals – no

matter what your moral stance on the issue is – can

be a legal pursuit. Killing people, however, is not.

Mass shootings obviously aren’t the only instances

of gun violence in the U.S., but they are frequently

the most talked about because they are shocking

and frightening. They are often also linked to men-

tal health problems. The state of mental health care

in the U.S. is, frankly, a disgrace, but that’s a separate

issue from gun control. Our solution can’t just be to

keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, be-

cause little children, teenagers in gangs, and rash-

thinking grudge-holding adults have access to guns

too, and they may fire without ever thinking about

the consequences, about what it means to end an-

other person’s life. When you own a gun, you are

implicitly saying that you believe that you have the

right to kill another person. And unless your line of

work requires it, you are wrong.

A realistic immediate solution, then, would be

to tighten the regulations surrounding gun pur-

chases, and to ban the purchase of assault weapons

that were designed for war. Long-term, we need to

decide as a nation how we are going to react to the

gun violence that permeates our culture. What is

“the right to bear arms” really worth to us?

The instances of gun violence that we need to

consider when we talk about gun control are the in-

stances that we don’t hear about. The ones that are

glossed over on the nightly news, hidden in a brief

summary in the Metro section of The Boston Globe,

written off as gang violence.

Do these deaths count for less because they don’t

shock us? Have we become so desensitized to gun

violence that when a 15 year old is killed while chat-

ting with her girlfriends in a public park a mile away

from the President’s Chicago home we barely take

note?

Now is the time to re-sensitize ourselves to gun vi-

olence, to express outrage at anything less than legal

gun usage, to refuse to accommodate demands on

our government that put our families, our friends,

ourselves at risk of careless death.

Time to Talk, Time to Act

6 OPINIONS The Crusader February 15, 2013

Off Campus Apartments

Available for 2013-2014

Apartment or House$350 per student monthly

Save your parents $3,000 for the school year

Please call Paul Meany617-331-7188

Tyler Scionti

Sports Co-Editor

Financial aid has long been es-

tablished as a government subsidy

(the opposite of a tax, the govern-

ment gives you money rather than

taking it away) to promote the ed-

ucation of our citizenship. While

that is certainly true, there is a way

that colleges benefit from financial

aid and use it as a form of price

discrimination to maximize their

total profits. Holy Cross, like many

colleges, is a non-profit institution;

that does not mean that they do

not try to maximize profits where

they can to keep the school run-

ning.

Now before we jump right into

all that technical mumbo jumbo,

let’s look at the current situation.

Price discrimination is a practice of

selling a product to each person at

the price he is willing to pay. You

can see this all around you—movie

theaters sell tickets at different

prices, as do restaurants and muse-

ums; those are all forms of price

discrimination. Let’s say I am sell-

ing cookies and I have three peo-

ple: one is willing to pay $2.00, the

other is willing to pay $1.50, and

the last is willing to pay $1.00. You

might think that to maximize my

profit I would want to set a price

somewhere in the middle, however

that is not the case.

If I set the price at $1.50, I make

$3.50, which is more than I would

make if I sold it to the one person

willing to pay $2.00. However, let’s

say I use perfect price discrimina-

tion and sell cookies to anyone at

the exact maximum price they are

willing and able to pay. So, then I

get the one person willing to pay

$2.00, and the person willing to pay

$1.50, and the person willing to pay

$1.00. That gives me a profit of

$4.50, which is the most I can pos-

sibly earn. College financial aid

works in the exact same way.

The practice of price discrimina-

tion mainly takes effect with mo-

nopolies. Holy Cross is not a

monopoly when it comes to get-

ting a high quality college educa-

tion, but in the market for people

who rank Holy Cross as their num-

ber one school, they are definitely a

monopoly. Using price discrimina-

tion, Holy Cross can get every stu-

dent who wants to go there, just

like any monopoly operates.

The price of tuition at Holy

Cross is a steep $55,130 (courtesy

of collegeboard.org). Now, if Holy

Cross were to only accept that

price how many people do you

think would go here? If there was

not any financial aid of any kind

(whether it be $100 or $10,000),

there would be a decrease in the

number of students attending, and

thus a decrease in the school’s

profits. However, if Holy Cross of-

fers financial aid, then they get

everyone who can pay $55,000 and

$50,000 and $40,000, and $30,000.

Basically they get everyone who

wants to go to the school for what-

ever amount they are able to pay

which maximizes the school’s prof-

its.

Holy Cross does not do this to

maximize their profits. The U.S.

Government provides subsidies as

an incentive to get a college educa-

tion. However, Holy Cross does

happen to benefit from the finan-

cial aid program, because it allows

them to accept more students than

they could if there was no financial

aid.

Common Cents:Financial Aid = HC Profits?

Patrick Horan

Contributing Writer

Recently-elected Massachusetts

Senator, Elizabeth Warren, has

prided herself as a fighter for Amer-

ica’s middle-class. However, a few

weeks ago, when a reporter asked her

what income range describes the

“middle-class,” she responded, “It’s

not a numbers issue. I know you’d

expect a very wonky answer for me,

you know, about the percentiles.”

The reporter politely pressed her and

maintained that bills pertaining to

taxes do indeed involve numbers.

Warren again failed to answer the

question and claimed, “When we

strengthen education, when we make

it possible for kids to go to college,

then we strengthen America’s middle

class, and that doesn’t need a dollar

figure.” To explain how the defini-

tion of the middle-class is not related

to numbers, the senator then argued,

“How about somebody who’s taught

school for ten years, and takes off a

year to go to graduate school, and

has an income of only $4,000 in the

year that she’s not teaching? Would

you say that she’s fallen out of the

middle class? I wouldn’t. It’s a whole

lot of characteristics that define the

middle class.”

One would assume that a woman

who claims to be an expert on the fi-

nance industry would be quick to an-

swer the question with relative ease

by citing various statistics, area, me-

dian incomes, and quartiles. While

there is not a precise definition of

the term middle-class (especially

since income varies by region), defin-

ing the middle-class is fundamentally

an issue based on numbers. Senator

Warren’s response is a classic exam-

ple of a politician dodging a re-

porter’s question in order to bring up

a talking point that sounds pleasant

to the ears of constituents. This was

not a good start for her, if you were

hoping that the Harvard Law profes-

sor would bring substantive change

to the beltway (something many

Holy Cross students believed last

fall). She had an opportunity to talk

directly about policy and how it

would affect the ‘average Joe.’ In-

stead, she talked ambiguously. When

she could have talked to Americans

like adults, she talked to them as if

they were children.

Warren’s dodge on this question is

disappointing, but it is not surprising,

except, perhaps in the sense that it

was an especially simple question to

dodge. We live in an age where large

numbers of Americans do not know

who the Vice President is (41% ac-

cording to a 2011 Pew poll) or how

many justices sit on the Supreme

Court (63% according to a 2011

Newsweek Poll). Poll results vary de-

pending upon the pollster and the

sampling size, but you get the pic-

ture: frighteningly large Americans

do not know basic facts about their

own country. What do such statistics

imply to candidates seeking votes?

Most of the people out there do not

have an adult-level understanding of

big issues. Therefore, it’s not critical

to bore them with facts and knowl-

edge about statistics.

The alarming ignorance of Amer-

ican history and government within

the American public coincides with a

rise in the emphasis on empathy in

politics. As George Will pointed out

in a September 2012 article, “A re-

cent The Washington Post/ABC News

poll asked respondents to say which

presidential candidate ‘would you

prefer to have take care of you if you

were sick’ and which ‘would you

rather invite to dinner at your home.’

What is depressing about these ques-

tions is not that they miss the point

of presidential elections nowadays

but that they seem to touch the elec-

torate’s erogenous zones.” Politi-

cians can frequently appeal to pure

emotion over reason. They can win

over the crowds by acting like their

friend as opposed to seasoned states-

men charged with upholding the

Constitution. That is a travesty. We

may like our leaders, but we should

elect them because we respect them,

not because we think they would be

nice company at dinner.

The United States is in a perilous

position. We are at roughly 7.8% un-

employment; but, including the

under-employed and those who have

given up for work, we are at a much

higher 14.7%. American public debt

is over $16 trillion. Retiring baby

boomers continue to put pressure on

smaller, younger generations as they

collect Medicare and Social Security.

So-called Generation Y is on track to

being the first generation in Ameri-

can history to have a lower standard

of living than our parents. Our fiscal

woes ensure serious discussions

about taxation and spending.

These are tough questions that re-

quire adult thinking and adult solu-

tions. If we want adult solutions,

then we should demand more an-

swers out of leaders. We should de-

mand precise answers - not

ambiguity - on questions, particularly

ones that are as basic as “How do

you define the middle-class?”

Treating Citizens Like Children

Sara Bovat

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Out of his window, out of the

Vatican goes Pope Benedict XVI.

On Monday, February 11, the in-

famously unpredictable pope an-

nounced his resignation to the

Catholic worldwide community

and beyond. As of February 28, he

will officially be the first Catholic

pope to leave his post in the last six

centuries.

“Before God,” daringly uttered

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday

morning, “I have come to the cer-

tainty that my strengths, due to an

advanced age, are no longer suited

to an adequate exercise.”

Even though he spoke the state-

ment in one language – Latin – to

a gathering of cardinals in the Vat-

ican, observers around the world

translated this declaration in nu-

merous ways. Although he gave a

generous two-week notice, the one

billion Roman Catholics around

the world underwent a period of

critical shock with the full aware-

ness that an abrupt transition for

the Catholic Church will soon

occur.

The Catholic institution, its

worldwide faithful followers, and

critical observers are not accus-

tomed to abruptness. The simple

principle of a pope “quitting his

job” is perceived as obscene. Be-

cause of the holy connotation so

tightly connected to the role, we

forget that the papal position is es-

sentially just another job. Similar to

a CEO position of a business,

leadership transition inevitably will

happen. However, in regard to the

role of the pope, the world seems

to have unconsciously dismissed

the possibility that the shift can still

occur without a pope dying. As an

instinctive reaction to the unex-

pected nature of Pope Benedict

XVI’s resignation, it is easy to be-

come suspicious of his motive, cu-

riously questioning the plausible

magnitude of scandals that he may

be concealing.

Yet, Catholicism’s extreme dis-

comfort with change extends fur-

ther than Pope Benedict XVI’s

resignation. Whether the issues

pertain to the sanctity of life,

women’s rights, homosexuality, or

divorce, forceful resistance from

the Church always seem to accom-

pany the matters. The criticism of

the Pope’s unconventional depar-

ture from the Vatican only reflects

the patterned Catholic struggle

with transition. He boldly recog-

nizes that despite his accomplish-

ments during his papacy, the

Catholic Church deserves a leader

who can better modernize with the

changing times than a frail, eighty-

five year old.

This rather sobering expression

of honesty can very likely mark a

revolutionary precedence for the

Catholic Church. Not even includ-

ing the radical possibilities for his

replacement, such powerful bold-

ness from the uppermost Catholic

authority figure can hopefully lead

to more open-mindedness from

Window Open For Change

See POPE, page 8

OPINIONS The Crusader February 15, 2013 7

The Roving

Reporter

How did you spend the Blizzard of

2013?!

Responses compiled by Victoria Aramini, ‘14

“Sledding down

Boyden!” –Katie McKenna ‘14

“Tobogganing!”

-Eric Sherman ‘14

“I drank plenty of

fluids to avoid de-

hydration and

watched the last

season of Friday

Night Lights!” –Bianca Llaneza ‘14

“Worrying if 23Caro would collapse

on us!” –Pat O’Neil ‘13

“I avoided my home-

work and watched

the entire first sea-

son of Glee!”

–Casey Sirotnak ‘13

“Building snow

forts!” –Alex Rouleau ‘13

Sarah Free

Staff Writer

Life as it is presented to

us is fleeting. We are

bombarded with the idea

that we must seize every

opportunity that comes

our way because it may

never come again. We live

our lives in accordance

with the notion that we

must take advantage of

where we are, here and

now, because it will not

last forever. Everywhere

we turn, we hear about

the fallibility of life, the

mortality of it all. We are

continuously reminded

of our own brief exis-

tences and how, try as we

might, we cannot make

them last forever.

It is wise to take advan-

tage of these pieces of

advice, for, surely, earthly

life does not go on for-

ever. However, nobody

ever talks about the op-

posite. We never hear

about life’s durability. Far

too seldom do we hear

about the infallibility of

the human spirit and the

strength of human con-

nection. We emphasize

what we cannot have

rather than what we do

have. Maybe we do not

have “forever” in the way

that it is understood by

most of us—an infinite

amount of time to live.

Yet, we do have forever.

The time that we live our

lives is, in essence, for-

ever for our own beings.

We did not

know our-

selves before

we were born

and we do not

know what

lies ahead for

each of us

after we die.

Is our lifespan

then, not our

own “for-

ever?”

By attempting to maxi-

mize the time that we are

here, sometimes we for-

get that life is a balance

of opposites. We forget

that as surely as we will

die, we will live, that we

are as strong as we are

vulnerable. We are as ca-

pable of forgiveness as

we are capable of hurt.

And, as humans, we are

capable of love far more

than we are capable of

hate. Although we may

not have forever, forever

surely has us. We cannot

discount the time that has

been made available to do

the most good that we

can do, and to love one

another in the best ways

that we know how. There

may not be a reason why

the Earth will continue to

spin long after we are

gone. However, there is

surely a reason that we

are here for the brief

amount of time that we

are allowed to spin with

it.

Jeremy Garneau

Opinions Co-Editor

The weekend of February 8 to February

10, many members of the Holy Cross

community gathered together to see The

Alternative College Theater’s performance

of the hit musical, Spring Awakening. This

musical follows the story of a group of

adolescents as they explore the confusion,

power, and inevitability of their sexualities.

The scenes depicted an array of different

problems that dealt with suicide, parent-

child arguments, violence, bullying, death,

and abortions. As graphic and emotional

these scenes were the audience reacted

stronger with a particular scene in the play.

One scene showed a girl getting an abor-

tion, no reaction. Another one showed a

boy committing suicide, no reaction.

However, when two boys briefly kiss one

another, an alarming number of

“EWWWWS” and “UGHHHHS” echo

throughout the audience.

I looked to my friend who instantly un-

derstood the immaturity we witnessed.

And to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or

being overdramatic, I noticed some

shocked expressions towards some people

around me. Although I agree that public

homosexuality may come as a shock to

people, there are times when some reac-

tions are just inappropriate and rude.

Spring Awakening, in its entirety, is a

provocative, rebellious, and thought-pro-

voking musical that hopes to depict the

out-of-control changes that all youth un-

dergo in society. From this tragic and

avant-garde musical, viewers see how

growing up is essential in the midst of the

tumultuous changes happening around

them. The irony in all of this lies in how

a college community immaturely laughs in

a play with such serious and coming-of-

age themes.

In the Holy Cross community and be-

yond, whether you want to believe it or

not, there are people like those in the

provocative scene. I hope I don’t scare

people or illicit any “EWWWWS” by say-

ing this. There are homosexuals on the

Hill and beyond. In fact, the director for

Spring Awakening on Broadway is openly

gay.

In the year 2013, I thought people, es-

pecially a Jesuit collegiate community,

would acknowledge the artistic choices of

this play. Yet more importantly, I thought

people would place some level of dignity

and worth on a fellow human being, re-

gardless of race, sexual orientation, eth-

nicity, etc. I am not suggesting that all

people bow down to the gays. At the very

least, homosexuals should never be at the

receiving end of ridicule and disgust due

to ignorance and differences in opinion.

After seeing this musical, my eyes were

opened to the ignorant immaturity in our

society still alive today. Some people need

to open their eyes after seeing that play in

order to look beyond their sheltered or

one-sided view on life. I just hope that in

the Holy Cross campus and the greater

world, we learn to appreciate the diversity

in our world and respect the human dig-

nity in everyone. No “EWWWS” or

“UGHHHS” required.

Wake up Holy Cross

Free

Thinking:"Why Life is a

Little More

Eternal than it

Seems"

Patrick Horan

Contributing Writer

Every February, the United

States and Canada observe “Black

History Month” or “African-

American History Month.” The

latter term is used for the sake of

political correctness, despite the

fact that most black Americans

are not literally African-Ameri-

cans in the same sense that this

writer is not literally Irish-Ameri-

can (this is where one should

make a distinction between

African-American and of African

descent and between Irish-Amer-

ican and of Irish descent, but I di-

gress). Throughout this month,

we are told of the struggles blacks

have faced over the centuries and

of the courage and fortitude of

individuals such as Harriet Tub-

man; Jackie Robinson; Martin

Luther King, Jr.; and Clarence

Thomas. While the hearts of

those who celebrate Black History

Month may be in the right place,

designating a month to remind

ourselves of such stories should

not be the way we remember such

history.

The origins of Black History

Month go back to 1926 when his-

torian, Carter G. Woodson, the

son of a slave, and the Associa-

tion for the Study of Negro Life

and History announced that the

second week of February to be

“Negro History Week.” They

chose this week to commemorate

the birthdays of Abraham Lin-

coln and Frederick Douglass.

When “Negro History Week” was

created, Jim Crow, lynchings, a

segregated military, and bans on

interracial marriage were norms.

History books also neglected the

sufferings, challenges, and tri-

umphs of blacks throughout his-

tory.

Since the 1920s, thankfully,

things have changed for the bet-

ter, and our education policy

should change to reflect this.

Black History Month was created

to compensate for the lack of at-

tention to black history. We have

moved in the right direction since

then. We no longer treat African-

Americans as if they are in sec-

ond-class citizens under the law.

Now, if we want to teach African-

Americans, Asian-Americans,

Hispanic-Americans, and Ameri-

cans of all other races that they

are guaranteed political equality in

the United States, we should not

teach certain histories in unequal

measures. In a 2006 interview,

black actor Morgan Freeman told

Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes that

the idea of a Black History Month

is “ridiculous” because it relegates

the history of blacks to a single

month. He noted that black his-

tory is American

history. When

Wallace asked

him how society

would address

the problem of

racism against

African-Ameri-

cans, Freeman

r e s p o n d e d ,

“Stop talking

about it.” Simi-

larly, Charles

C.W. Cooke of

National Review

recently wrote,

“Rather than

being treated as a

separate and lim-

ited discipline,

divorced by the

pigmentation of

its subjects from

‘ m a i n s t r e a m ’

American his-

tory, the teaching

of black history

should hew to

the principle of integration. Black

Americans are not visitors putting

on a cultural show, nor are they

legally separated. They are an in-

tegral, inextricable part of the

country’s past, present, and future.

The curriculum should treat them

as such.”

Freeman and Cooke are pre-

cisely right. Black history should

be taught in schools, but it should

not be taught as if it is different

from the rest of history. The

point of studying the heroism of

Harriet Tubman and Jackie

Robinson is to show that the

color of their skin makes them no

less and no more American than

heroes such as Abraham Lincoln

and Babe Ruth. If we wish to

make this point clear, then we

would do well to not separate the

history of blacks from whites and

other races.

8 The Crusader February 15, 2013

Kevin Piro

Staff Writer

Recently, Peter Bergen, National

Security Analyst for CNN, wrote an

article arguing that al Qaeda has

largely been dismantled and that the

threat of al Qaeda is a “localized”

and “containable” one. Among

other claims he makes, one in par-

ticular stands out, that “al Qaeda

and its allies’ record of effective at-

tacks in the West has been non-ex-

istent since 2005.” In an effort to

downplay al Qaeda’s record in the

world, Bergen suggests that the

homeland has not suffered a suc-

cessful attack, conveniently ignoring

the Fort Hood shooting and the

Times Square bomber. Bergen fails

to recognize the threat that al

Qaeda and its affiliates pose not

only to Westerners, but Middle

Eastern and African governments.

Let’s begin with last September.

Our consulate in Benghazi, Libya

was attacked by al Qaeda affiliates

and burned while our ambassador

Chris Stevens and three other

Americans were murdered. It

seems that al Qaeda is still capable

of recognizing our weaknesses and

taking advantage. It took weeks for

the Obama Administration to admit

that this was an act of terror and in

the meantime they painted this as

an impromptu “protest” against an

anti-Muslim video. In reality, this

attack was planned far in advance

and scheduled for the anniversary

of 9/11.

Mr. Bergen discusses how “core al

Qaeda” is on its way to extinction

and that its affiliates are no better

off. Another interpretation, of

course, is that al Qaeda has decen-

tralized and dispersed its operations

throughout the Middle East after

Osama bin Laden’s death. Mr.

Bergen praises drone strikes by

President Obama which have in-

creased in his four years in office

over President Bush’s term. These

strikes were highly criticized during

Bush’s term in office and there is lit-

tle criticism from the mainstream

media now that Obama is in charge.

The Obama Administration even

just approved an executive power

that allows the President to order a

drone strike on American citizens

abroad if they are suspected of

being terrorist operatives. It’s un-

clear on why it’s “legal, ethical, and

wise” for President Obama to kill

that American citizen from the air,

but a human rights violation if

President Bush captures that same

citizen and subjects him to en-

hanced interrogation to discover in-

telligence that might prevent an

attack. (The movie Zero Dark

Thirty illustrates how these tech-

niques aided in the search for bin

Laden.)

Mr. Bergen argues that Indonesia,

the Philippines, Pakistan, and Saudi

Arabia all have had successful cam-

paigns against al Qaeda. This can

be attributed to pressure by the

United States on these governments

to step up operations to dismantle

terror networks across the globe.

What Mr. Bergen does not under-

stand is that these networks are still

dangerous. Mr. Bergen says that al

Qaeda operating from Yemen was

behind the failed underwear

bomber in December of 2009 in

Detroit and the attempt to smuggle

bombs into the country in October

2010 and, yet, these were not suc-

cessful. These incidents, however,

are evidence that al Qaeda is very

much alive and operational.

In the current crisis in Mali, the

Malian government called upon

France to assist in routing jihadist

groups that had taken over the

Afghanistan-sized area of Northern

Mali. Government forces had re-

treated and jihadists established

Shariah law which included maim-

ing thieves, public executions, and

banning any religion other than

Islam. Mr. Bergen argues that since

this is a brutal form of law the ji-

hadists will not win the locals over

and they will eventually rise up

against the jihadists. Mr. Bergen

also says that if this does not hap-

pen, they will cheer international

outside intervention.

But Mr. Bergen misses the point:

Outside intervention is the only way

to stop these Islamist extremists.

When the historic city of Timbuktu

is held at the mercy of Islamic ex-

tremists, there is a huge problem.

When France has to send in troops

to route out extremists, there is a

crisis. It does not matter if these

terrorists are “core al Qaeda.” They

take their inspiration from al Qaeda

leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The al

Qaeda-affiliated group Boko

Haram is killing non-Muslims in

Nigeria and attacked the UN head-

quarters there in 2011.

Mr. Bergen ends by saying that “al

Qaeda and its allies’ record of ef-

fective attacks against the West has

been non-existent since 2005” and

“with threats like these we can all

sleep soundly at night.” In the wake

of Benghazi, this sentiment is not

just naïve, it’s nothing less than

bizarre. Our ambassador was bru-

tally murdered in September in

Benghazi and three Americans were

killed last month during a hostage

situation at a gas facility in Algeria.

Clearly Obama even differs with

Mr. Bergen if our President just ap-

proved drone strikes on American

citizens. Secretary of State, John

Kerry, has just visited Holy Cross,

and we as Americans must hope

that Mr. Kerry, as much as he is for

a drawdown of U.S. forces across

the globe, will understand and rec-

ognize the threats to us and our al-

lies abroad.

History has shown that if we try

to ignore the world, we will still be

dragged into conflict. World War I

drew us in to defend our allies. We

tried to stay out of World War II

and were caught off guard at Pearl

Harbor. Troops were placed in

Saudi Arabia to counter an aggres-

sive Iraqi dictatorship under Sad-

dam and ten years later, in protest,

Osama bin Laden sent nineteen ji-

hadists to kill nearly 3,000 Ameri-

cans on September 11, 2001.

Pulling the blankets over our heads

and going back to sleep, as Mr.

Bergen suggests, will invite more of

the same.

We Should Still Fear Al Qaeda

Eric Butts

Opinions Co-Editor

If you have followed the market

over the last few months then you

know that the Apple stock has lost

about a third of its value. It is always

kind of funny that when a company

does exceptionally well, like Apple did,

the commonly held sentiment is that

it is going to continue to go up for-

ever. Now that it has fallen from its

pedestal as the world’s most valuable

company, reports of its demise have

been frequently overblown.

Apple has not peaked so much as it

has plateaued. Think of it this way,

how many people do you know who

have iPhones? I could probably count

on only one hand the number of peo-

ple I know who do not have them.

When everyone has the product, even

if they are constantly innovating, it re-

ally difficult to sustain the kind of

booming growth that we have seen for

Apple over the last ten years.

The other issue for the technology

giant is increased competition from

other companies. Companies that five

years ago you would never have ex-

pected to give Apple a run for its

money are now lining up to be con-

sidered the next tech monolith. Con-

sider this: Amazon is actually losing

money on its Kindle Fire in order to

increase its market share, but you

know what? It’s working and is gener-

ating a lot of hype for a company

which previously was much more of

an eBay than a Microsoft.

Speaking of Microsoft, despite the

fact that they have been banished to

Apple’s shadow in recent years, they

have massive amounts of capital on

hand and are desperately working to

revitalize their image. If you have seen

a Microsoft Surface, you can attest to

the fact that it is a fantastic product;

one which is definitely comparable to

if not better than the iPad. Consider

also the Nexus tablet Google is pro-

ducing and it is going to be hard for

Apple to maintain its monopoly on

the tablet market.

Therein lies the problem for Apple.

In the iPhone and the iPad, they re-

leased two devices which were so fresh

and so innovative that they were able

to act as a monopoly for several years.

Now that we are seeing other great

products enter the market, Apple can-

not possibly sustain its growth.

The question at hand is: Do you be-

lieve Apple can continue to stay two

steps ahead of the competition? Kobe

Bryant once said, “These young guys

out there are playing checkers, I’m out

there playing chess.” Eight years ago,

laptops were quickly replacing desktop

computers, but now thanks to Apple

it is tablets that are taking over. Re-

turning to the initial question of peak-

ing, the answer depends on how much

faith you have that CEO Tim Cook

has the ability to continue the innova-

tive imagination of the visionary that

was Steve Jobs. If you think Apple has

enough geniuses on payroll that their

next market changing product is right

around the corner, then they definitely

have not peaked. Bear in mind that the

first iPad was released almost three

years ago now, but the other tablets on

the market have emerged only in the

last year. That gives Apple a three year

head-start on developing the next

great product.

However, if you think that the mar-

ket has caught up to them and com-

petition from Google, Amazon, and a

rejuvenated Microsoft is going to be

enough to keep Apple close to the

pack, then you will probably believe

that Apple has hit a plateau. As far as

where I stand, Apple is not going to

continue to grow at the alarming pace

it was able to sustain for so many

years. That said, I have been wrong

before, especially concerning Apple,

so I would not be surprised to be

proven wrong again.

Has Apple Peaked?

other higher Catholic orders on pivotal social issues.

The feminism movement, the rapid advancement

of technology, the increase in pre-marital cohabita-

tion, among other transformative Western societal

developments place rising pressure on the Catholic

Church to evolve from its traditional Catholic doc-

trines. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported

on the same Monday that the Catholic Church is

growing most rapidly in African and Latin American

countries, which also pushes the Church to venture

to new realms of comfort.

Neither Pope Benedict XVI nor I recommend that

the Church needs to stray away from its highly val-

ued Catholic Tradition. Rather, we acknowledge that

traditional Roman Catholicism will inevitably need

to adjust to the changing secular society. If it does-

n’t, it will risk remaining relevant to modern

Catholic laypeople and may struggle to retain mem-

bership. Who knows whom the cardinals will deem

worthy enough to hold the next papal power – an

African, a woman, Barack Obama, a twelve year old,

or another conservative white male. Regardless,

Pope Benedict XVI admirably left the door open

for change with his monumental exit.

Problems with Black History Month

From POPE, page 6

FEATURES The Crusader February 15, 2013 9

Meet the

Editorial Board of The Crusader

Eric Butts’14

Opinions Co-Editor

Favorite Font: Times

New Roman

Jess Bailot’ 15

News Co-Editor

Favorite Font: Times

New Roman

Kevin Deehan ’16

Publicity

Favorite Font:Baskerville

Emily Vyse’14

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Favorite Font: Georgia

Andrew Marzo’14

Business Manager

Favorite Font: Georgia

Bobby Keilig’14

Web Editor

Favorite Font: Times New

Roman

David Perretta’14

Chief Opinions Editor

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New Roman

Charlotte Errity’15

Features Co-Editor

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Katie DeGennaro’14

Featues Co-Editor

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Lauren McDonough’14

Opinions Co- Editor

Favorite Font:French Script

Alannah Heffernan’14

Chief Features Editor

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Andrew Fanikos ‘14

Chief Sports Editor

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Roman

Jeremy Garneau’16

Opinions Co-Editor

Favorite Font: Gar-mond

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Eggplant Editor

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News Co-Editor

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MT

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Publicity

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duster

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Sports Co-Editor

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Visual Editor

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Co-Editor-in-Chief

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New Roman Italic

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Chief News Editor

Favorite Font: California

FB

Victoria Fritz’15

News Co-Editor

Favorite Font: Calibri

10 FEATURES The Crusader February 15, 2013

Features How Not to Seem Like a FreshmanEmma Pcolinski

Staff Writer

Now that the spring semester

has arrived, and you, returning

First Year, are settling into your

new classes and the second half

of your Montserrat, it is time to

grow up. You had your semes-

ter to wander around campus

with your lanyard in tow; now

it is time to perfect the art of

“seeming like an upperclass-

men” or at least “not like a

clueless lemming.” Here are

some easy tips to carry in your

back pocket (not literally, of

course—that would be strange)

to not seem like a freshman.

Most of them are common

sense, but hey—you didn’t

seem to catch on last semester.

1. Don’t brag about your

‘crazy night.’ We all had par-

ticularly wild nights on the Hill.

Some were even so bizarre that

we’re still trying to piece to-

gether the mystery a semester

later. But, if we’re all being

honest with ourselves, the ma-

jority of nights were just amal-

gamations of too much bad

alcohol and people we really

didn’t want to speak with. It’s

okay to have a boring night. It’s

okay to admit it.

2. Don’t wear a skirt out if

the temperature is hovering

around zero degrees Fahren-

heit. Do you really want to be

shivering all night, when your

plans in Carlin or Williams in-

evitably fall through? And not

to sound like your mother, but

you’ll catch your death. Wear

some clothes; sexy does not

mean exposed.

3. Don’t chill on Easy Street

waiting for a party. No parties

will magically appear for you

and your thirty friends to enter

and drink all of the Natty Ice.

The dorms are small and booze

is expensive enough to with-

hold it from strangers.

4. Stop buying Burnett’s and

pretending like it’s casual.

It’s not. Do you really think

you’re doing your throat a favor

by drinking lighter fluid? I don’t

care if it’s magic flavored. Just

put down the plastic handle

and try harder.

5. Don’t aim for ‘drunken

mess’. This will automatically

classify you as ‘The Worst Kind

of Person.’ No discussion. No

one wants to clean up your

vomit or deal with your con-

stant stumbling and slurring.

6. Don’t look for your

HOCRO spouse. He or she

could be hidden in your CRAW

Poetry class. More likely, this

mysterious someone decided

that Notre Dame or UCLA

suits him or her better. You

won’t know until it happens, so

don’t pretend you do. Just enjoy

being with your friends and cre-

ating memories—memories

that involve little to no Bur-

nett’s—to share with that spe-

cial someone eventually.

7. Do all the things. Or not.

Join clubs that interest you, but

do it on your time for you.

Don’t worry about resume

building. The best resume is

one filled with only things you

love.

8. Realize it’s okay to sit

alone in Kimball. Sometimes

your friends just have other

plans. We understand that. We

know you have friends, even if

the only one who was free to

join you for dinner was your

Montserrat reading.

9. Spend a night in. Some-

times it’s just a lot more fun to

not wear real clothes and only

talk to people you like. Some-

times it fun to spend a Friday

sober. Watch a movie, catch up

with a friend, ponder existence,

finally relax for the first time

since August.

10. Learn how to let go of

doomed friendships. Some

people who seemed like great

friends last semester won’t

seem like it this semester. It’s

not necessarily anyone’s fault.

Everyone is discovering his or

her true self. Sometimes all of

the changes in people just don’t

align with each other. It’s okay

to be sad or disappointed. It’s

even okay to be mad. But after

a little while, it’s time to move

onto better things. You’ll con-

tinue to meet fascinating peo-

ple throughout your four years.

Some of them will be at your

wedding and some you’ll hide

from in the Cool Beans line.

Life happens.

11. Stop complaining about

how much work you have. I

know Intro to Philosophy can

be really taxing, and Orgo is lit-

erally the worst thing that hap-

pened since your Cluster Event

was scheduled the night before

your ten-page paper was due;

but honestly, if you saw my 200

plus pages of nonsensical read-

ing for tomorrow, you would

probably faint. It just all gets

done. And if it doesn’t, then

the world continues to spin. I

get that this is ten times more

work than your Generic New

England College Prep

School—which you swear was,

like, super competitive and aca-

demically rigorous—but here,

honestly, it only gets harder

(and more ridiculous).

12. Stop planning your en-

tire existence. You probably

won’t be the next Steve Jobs or

even the next Fitzgerald. The

best things in college—in life—

are unplanned. Let life happen

and focus on becoming the

best you, not the Next Anyone

Else.

13. Stop skipping classes.

Don’t buy into the myth that

this will help you catch up on

work. It won’t. You’ll feel even

more overwhelmed when

you’re sitting up at 2AM trying

to teach yourself an entire

tense of a language you most

likely loathe by now. Don’t

waste precious sick days in bed

on a ‘necessary’ mental health

day. Treat yourself to a nap or

an episode of Arrested Devel-

opment after class instead.

14. Start taking care of your

whole self. Tired? Sleep. Hun-

gry? Eat. Sick? Visit Health

Services. Overwhelmed? Take a

breath. Now another. Now do

something mindless for a little

bit. Maybe even go to Hart or

Loyola to blow off some

steam. And most importantly,

if you’re sad, talk to someone.

Nothing will solve itself if you

swallow all those feelings. Si-

lence only makes problems big-

ger. And if it’s getting to be too

much, go to the Counseling

Center on Hogan 2. There’s no

shame in talking to people who

know how to deal with the ups

and downs of life best. More

people go than you think.

15. Realize that no one really

cares. Remember the time you

went to class sans makeup? Or

missed that toothpaste stain on

your shirt? Really? Because no

one else does. Everyone here is

far too narcissistic and busy to

notice the time you tripped up

the Hogan staircase. Just do

you and smile.

So there’s your comprehensive

guide to seeming like you’re not

a freshman. It’s time to toss

that lanyard and put away your

bitty skirts until St. Paddy’s Day.

You’ve already survived your

first semester, which is an ac-

complishment in itself. There

are still plenty of new things to

come—just wait for Spring

Weekend—but for now, just

walk with conviction and pre-

tend like you know what you’re

doing. That’s the real secret. No

one really knows what he or

she is doing. Just take care of

yourself and stop trying so

hard.

Crusader of the Week:

Erin Cummings’14

Alannah Heffernan

Chief Features Editor

Name: Erin Cummings

Year: 2014

Hometown: Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Major: Math

Favorite song: “Good Life”

OneRepublic

Motto for life: Do it. You

won’t.

Roommates: Ashleigh Alex,

Brianna Stowe, Catherine

Morrison

Campus activities: Math

TA, SPUD

Favorite spot on campus:

Math Lounge

Favorite class taken at HC:

Medical Imaging

Favorite Kimball meal: I

don’t eat at Kimball!

Best dorm to live in: Alumni

Guilty Pleasure: Popcorn with lots of

butter and salt

One word you would use to describe

yourself: Awesome

Three words your friends would use to

describe you: Angel, Aggressive, Flaw-

less

Favorite pastime: Awkward conversa-

tions

Pet peeve: Disorderliness

Favorite TV shows: Breaking Bad, Dexter,

Psych

Best movie: October Sky

Favorite Book: Catcher in the Rye

Role Model: Michael Phelps

Favorite place travelled to: Laguna

Beach, Ca

Childhood aspiration: Be a Princess

Favorite holiday: My birthday

Worst Summer Job: Summer Camp

Do you have an HC bucket list, if so

what’s number one? To be

the face of the Holy Cross Cal-

endar

Favorite word: Tryna

Favorite off-campus Worces-

ter restaurant: The Flying

Rhino

Do you prefer…

…Kimball brunch or Kimball

dessert? Kimball Brunch

…The Crusade r or Fools on

the Hill? The Crusader

…Science Café or Cross-

roads: Science Cafe

Where could you be found…

…on a Tuesday at 11 am? Doing my hair

…On a Friday at 1am? Text me to find

out ;)

…On a Saturday at 9 pm? Causing mis-

chief

…On a Sunday at 6 pm? Napping

Best piece of advice you have ever re-

ceived: Don’t drink the punch!

Fondest Holy Cross memory: Every

St. Paddy’s Day

What would you rather be doing right

now: Chatting with Big Bob

Vampires in The New York Times

Peter McStravick

Music Maven

Last week, there was an interesting clas-

sified, without much elaborative effort to

standout, under “Notices & Lost and

Found” printed in The New York Times,

which read:

Modern

Vampires

Of The

City

May 7, 2013

Hmmm… Potentially sounding like an-

other anticipated apocalyptic date where

cities are run down by garlic-fearing pasty

men, this classified was the not-so-con-

spicuous approach by particular indie

rockers to publicly state their new album

and release date. Naturally, it was not ex-

actly a cutting of the ribbon type of cere-

mony, but a sense of humor shown by

New York’s Vampire Weekend.

Yes, Vampire Weekend will be releasing

their 3rd full-length album this coming

May and will actually be headed to Boston

on May 15th. This album follows their

past two records, Vampire Weekend and

Contra, both of which received much pub-

licity and hype in theindependent and bill-

board music scene. In fact, the music

video of “Giving Up The Gun”, a single

off Contra, included gems Jake Gyllenhaal,

Joe Jonas, and Lil Jon. What’s not to love?

Ezra Koenig, the band’s frontman and

principal lyricist, is ready to be taken seri-

ously. While most bands typically write

dozens of songs in pursuit of creating an

album comprised of the best 12, Koenig

mentions their style is unique; they

write/record songs particular to the album

and continue to master them until they feel

ready. Essentially, after working on this

album for over 20 months, Vampire Week-

end is ready to share their next chapter.

With their debut self-titled album fitting

in with the twee chamber pop of the later

2000s,Vampire Weekend developed

quickly outside the quirky guitar riffs into

a more studio driven attempt, with each

track being more diverse than the next.

With that being said, Vampire Weekend

mentioned that Modern Vampires Of The

City is different than both of their previ-

ous albums, as more time has been spent

and the pressure is much greater. MVOTC

will be the answer to the fallen hipster sta-

tus and the rise of popularity.

In a way, Vampire Weekend’s method of

announcing their release date speaks a lot

about what kind of album this really will

be. The audacity to go through The New

York Times classifieds rather than Pitchfork

or Billboard to proclaim the new album is

odd enough to ask the question: What

have we been missing from Vampire

Weekend? They have put forth such exu-

berant music over the last five years, but

this marketing stunt seems more promis-

ing than peculiar. Sparking the anticipation

for the next four months with this ironic

move is clearly a sign that these New York-

ers want us to notice. So let’s take note of

this.

Overheard on the Hill

"My iPhone is broke, my laptop is covered in a Cheetos film, and my

mother isn't returning my plea texts for more beer money...I cannot

wait for the weekend."

***

"Ash Wednesday is like tomorrow, so I'm going to go to Coldstone

twice."

FEATURES The Crusader February 15, 2013 11

Charlotte Errity

Features Co-Editor

A new, free app called “Vine” has

surfaced since its acquisition by Twit-

ter in October 2012. More and more

bloggers and celebrities have joined

the Vine community to record their

lives through a six-second or less

video.

Currently, the Vine app is exclu-

sively for the iPhone and iPod Touch;

Twitter has claimed that it is working

on bringing the app to other plat-

forms, according to Twitter’s official

blog. With this app, users can capture

anything either in uninterrupted

video, or fragmented filming: it is

clear that should this app be success-

ful, stop motion filming is back. Like

Twitter’s one hundred and forty char-

acter limit, Vine has a six second film-

ing limit. This time limit allows for

constant streaming of videos, mini-

mal to no wait time for the videos to

load, and concise video captures. It’s

almost as if you only see the thesis of

someone’s argument for whatever

they are videographing.

Although Vine has been gaining a

large following since October, for me,

the app earned my attention during

the recent New York Fashion Week

(Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week).

Most of the biggest names in fashion

and blogging have signed up with

Vine, and have recorded their fashion

week experiences via Vine. I’m loving

it, because in six seconds, users can

capture their favorite looks and the

overall aesthetic of the fashion shows

throughout the week. Like Instagram

and Twitter, the Vine app is heavy on

the hashtags. In the Explore section

of the menu (similar to the Explore

section of Instagram), we can see var-

ious hashtags of the moment.

For this week, the top trending hash-

tags and video subjects are #nyfw

(New York Fashion Week),

#vineportraits (video self portraits),

#remake, #loop (Vine videos

recorded on a loop), #magic, #sport

#howto, and #food.

While this app is very new, and

there are definitely some kinks to

work out, I can see a bright future for

Vine, should the expansion onto

other platforms, such as the Droid,

work out. Vine has an unbelievably

fluid design; it’s easy to use, and easy

to find videos that are interesting and

funny to watch (for only six sec-

onds!). Sure, there are plenty of com-

peting video applications on the rise,

such as Keek (a Kardashian/Jenner

favorite), but because of Vine’s cor-

respondence with Twitter, I truly feel

as if things can only get better for this

app.

Will we see Holy Cross students

join Vine soon? Assumingly yes, be-

cause Vine videos are just another

form of expression: something our

generation craves, as proven through

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram,

excreta.

App Watch:

“Vine”

The Pub PollNick Tasca

Studious Statistician

One of the many benefits to being a 21+ student here on the Hill is the Pub. I love nothing more than tohave a casual beer with all my friends on a Tuesday night while listening to the 10 spot. Earlier this academicyear, a couple friends and I toy-ed around with the idea to start the Pub Poll, so with the start of a new se-mester we figured we'd sort of run with it. Whether it's a simple, light-hearted topic, or one that's ratherthought-provoking, the Pub Poll is designed to get people talking. Be sure to check out The Crusader as we'llpost the weekly results. Have a question that you'd like to submit? Send it over to Nick Tasca at

natasc13@g.holycross.edu.

Do you have a list for 100 Days?

Katie E. DeGennaroFeatures Co-Editor

Fashion Guru

Ladies and gentlemen,

This week after battling a bout ofthe coughs and sniffles (I in fact donot mind my own corniness), I de-cided in an effort to aid in my ownrecovery and simplify your fridaymid morning readings, to release my"IN" and "OUT" lists for 2013.While we were all on winter vaca-tion for the turn of the year, I feel itis only necessary to remind you allof the trends worth keeping for the2013 season and those that are bet-ter off in the trash. So it is y o u rchoice. Whether you agree or

disagree with my list is up to you,however, now that the list has gonepublic, all will know when you pub-licly support something that hasbeen outed.

Much like on the SAT's, I will pro-vide a sample for reading purposes-

In : Out

Beyoncé: Bieber

Street Style: Gangnam Style

The Royal Baby: The Royal Wedding

Snap Chat Me Baby: Call Me Maybe

HBO's Girls: The Jersey Shore Grls

Blizzard Nemo: Hurricane Sandy

Fomo: Yolo

Hashtags: Playing Tag

Mixing Prints: Running with ShinSplints

Flu Shots: Top Knots

The Ipad Mini: The Iphone 5

The New York Times: Valentines

2013 Trend Report

Ask AlannahAlannah Heffernan

Chief Features Editor

Romance Referee

Dear Alannah,

I have a dilemma. Recently I have

started seeing someone who is

considerate, smart, outgoing, and

goes to Assumption. It is so nice

to have found a guy that is not so

self absorbed as some of these

guys (or should I say boys) on the

hill. He really wants to date me

and I find it flattering. However, I

just got out of a three year rela-

tionship from high school. I

know that he will just be a re-

bound because to be honest I am

still in love with my ex. This As-

sumption boy is taking me out to

the Chop House this weekend for

Valentine’s Day. I have to admit

it’s nice to brag about how I have

a date for “Singles Awareness

Day.” Am I being too selfish if I

use him just for the free meal and

flowers?

Sincerely,

All I want are flowers!

Dear All I want are flowers!,

Yes, you are being too selfish. You

should not be purposely messing

with some poor guy’s heart just

because you don’t want to feel

alone on Valentine’s Day. While

you should move on from your

ex, you should be moving on for

all the right reasons and not just

for flowers. The best advice is to

be honest with this Assumption

Hottie and tell him that you are

not ready to be in a committed re-

lationship. Enjoy being single be-

cause a girl like you won’t be single

for very long!

Ask anytime,

-A

Need advice? Email me at

akheff14@g.holycross.edu

Pat: Nemo has arrived!

Pat: I am on someone’slist for 100 Days!

Pat: It’s Valetine’s Day!

Dart: It’s a Snowstorm-not a cute fish..

Dart: He is the kid thatsmells...

Dart: I am single...

Pats & Darts

12 FEATURES The Crusader February 15, 2013

The Eg g plant

The Crusader’s Satirical Page

Bobby Keilig

Egg-sistential Contributor

Citing the overwhelming display

of bravado and machismo present

in the average Clint Eastwood "A

Fistful of Dollars" movie poster,

the Office of the Public Safety has

announced its preliminary inten-

tion to consider whether or not

the concept of officers carrying

two guns, one on each hip, is a fa-

vorable proposition. The move

comes in the wake of months of

discussion on gun violence across

the nation, but remarkably there is

absolutely no correlation, inside

sources report.

Dismissing the recent political

battle between the NRA and every

other person in the country as

purely coincidental with regard to

the implementation of a dual-

wielding policy, school officials in-

sisted the notion had more to do

with John Wayne's extraordinary

acting in the films "the Co-

mancheros" and "Rio Bravo" than

anything else.

Sgt. Baileys, a particularly vocal

actor in securing all public safety

officers the right to bear two arms,

kindly agreed to interview with the

Eggplant.

"You look at John Wayne or

Clint Eastwood in any quintessen-

tial Western, and what are they

doing? They're shooting up bad

guys. And what are they packing?

You said it: two guns, one on each

hip. To play the part you have to

look like the part, you know? And

I know what you're thinking, but

no. All analogies attempting to link

our most recent brainchild to the

national discussion on firearm

safety can be dismissed as pure

happenstance."

Nevertheless, some students have

questioned the legitimacy of the

contrivance, which was deliberated

completely independently of fac-

ulty and student body opinion.

Taken aback by the swift nature in

which the plan has cemented it-

self, one Senior was impressed

that school officials have not is-

sued a mass Email about a large

and public SGA meeting that you

would normally associate with

such a brazen scheme. School of-

ficials have typically held such con-

ferences in the past so that large

numbers of students can be asked

to attend so that their opinions

can be fairly and wholeheartedly

ignored.

Parents themselves lacking two

firearms, one on each hip, were

also somewhat befuddled at the

lack of correspondence they have

received on Public Safety's newest

notion. One disgruntled father,

who happens to be an owner of a

collection of malfunctioning

WWII machine guns, has checked

his mail box for updates every day

for the past week-even on Sunday-

to no avail.

Another parent, self-described

as the proud owner of two squirt

guns, was concerned at the speed

in which Public Safety has sought

to upgrade their personal arsenal.

"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's

going to ask for a glass of milk"

she said, referencing the popular

children's book by Laura Nu-

meroff.

Indeed, snipped news clippings

from a Fall issue of the Worcester

Telegram & Gazette reveal that it

was only back in 2011 that officers

were first permitted to carry a sin-

gle sidearm. The newest model in

carrying allotment would be a

twofold increase in holstering abil-

ity, or in other words, officers

would be provided with double

the number of devices designed

solely and purposefully for shoot-

ing other people.

Officers and gun experts were

quick to step up and defend the

logic behind walking around with

an extra pistol so that one can

have two guns, one on each hip.

"We fought long and hard for

policy that would allow officers to

carry one firearm, so I'd love to

see you prevent me from pursuing

the policy that will allow me to

have two, and then three, and then

later four firearms, per hip,

etcetera, etcetera" Cpl. Burnetts

remarked as he waved his arms in

the air to emphasis the lack of fi-

nite possibilities that the term

etcetera denotes. As the best

sharpshooter on the Public Safety

squad, Cpl. Burnetts's word carries

serious weight.

"For Pete's sake there are seri-

ous implications on placing limita-

tions on the number of firearms

that officers can tote," Cpl. Bur-

netts continued. "While some of-

ficers are right handed, some are

lefties-and some can't even make

up their mind. By having two

guns, one on each hip, the risk fac-

tor of human error due to miscal-

culation of hand dominance can

be avoided."

"If students don't like it, we en-

courage them to pursue their edu-

cation in New York or some other

bleeding heart liberal state like

Chicago," the steady-handed

eagle-eyed crack shot added.

School Suspends

Alleged

“Peeping Tom”

Ted Cullinane

Egg-stemporaneous Contributor

CLARK HALL- Sopho-

more Tom Higgins wasn’t very opti-

mistic after receiving his housing

selection at the end of freshman year.

However, after a semester of living

with an adjacent view of a primarily

junior dorm, Loyola Hall, Tom real-

ized his location at Clark Hall wasn’t

all bad when he was able to see into

the windows of various Loyola resi-

dents at night.

“I know I’m weird, but what soph-

omore guy wouldn’t want to watch a

junior girl get changed across cam-

pus,” Tom said as he was being de-

tained by public safety. Higgins later

told us that instead of playing video

games, or spending time on Barstool

sports, he’d plan his nights around

watching various Loyola residents

through their windows.

However, what originally started out

as a creepy habit turned drastic for

Higgins when he was later arrested

and charged with 7 accounts of

voyeurism and invasion of privacy.

“We started getting complaints

from various Loyola residents,” com-

mented a public safety officer, “(Loy-

ola residents) would tell us that they’d

see vague images of a figure in either

the staircase or a fourth floor bed-

room watching them as they

changed.” Public Safety has since sent

multiple emails to tell, then warn, then

mandate students in Loyola to make

sure their window curtains remain

shut when they want privacy.

Ironically for Mr. Higgins, a violator

of voyeurism is commonly referred to

as a “Peeping Tom.” Tom Higgins de-

clined to comment on the irony, but

giggled when the Eggplant staff in-

formed him about his title. Due to his

criminal charges, Higgins will be sus-

pended for the rest of the semester

and will have to live in the Mulledy

basement for the rest of his time at

Holy Cross.

James Fisher

Egg-sotic Contributor

It’s no secret that the ladies love Loyola

Gym, but the all that attention might not be as great

as it sounds.

After servicing countless girls with its ellipticals,

treadmills, and exercise balls, the Gym has decided

to choose someone special and end its storied ca-

reer as the favorite workout spot of Holy Cross

women.

“At this point I just feel used,” complains Loyola

Gym.

“I mean most of these girls show up for 20 min-

utes of cardio and 10 minutes of abs and then im-

mediately leave.” The Gym also adds that the

women it entertains almost never text back.

“I just feel like all the girls care about is

how my equipment makes their bodies feel,” says

the Gym. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a good

run, but I’m ready to be with someone who’s not

just going to show up on a Thursday afternoon

when she needs to preemptively burn off Salty Dog

beers.”

Loyola Gym says it plans to begin its search for

a serious partner when the weather warms up and

its patrons go back to running outside where every-

one can see how in shape they are.

Brendan P. Higgins

Egg-alitarian Contributor

As we all know the transition one

makes from high school to college

can be a very difficult one, but one

student appears to have had a partic-

ularly tough time adjusting. Chami-

nade High School graduate Jack

Himler is finding life on the hill to

be a considerable change from life in

his hometown of Manhasset.

“Yeah, like nobody gets it really.

Like I went to Chaminade, I have

the keys to the world. Like I tried to

cut the line in crossroads to dap up

my man Hannan and kids started ha-

rassing me. Like do you realize

where I come from? Do they not see

the sweatshirt?”

Jack saw early setbacks upon

arriving this fall when he was cut from

the lacrosse team, “Yeah Morrissey re-

ally screwed me over,” He said on

being cut, ”I got screwed out of good

play time at Chaminade so I sent him

tapes of my older bro, he plays at

Princeton. We’re about on the same

level, and Morrissey was not about it,

even after at the first tryout I scored

like six goal. I guess I’m gonna have

to play club or something, at least I’ll

get to run the show. I kinda already

told everyone that I was on the team

so I’m a little worried of the backlash,

hoping if I just don’t say anything no-

body will ask. ” When asked to com-

ment Coach Morrissey said, “This kid

sends me tapes of his older brother

playing lacrosse and says its him when

I don’t let him tryout. No way was I

going to let that kid see the field even

at a tryout, I’d be taking away from

kids who could actually help the team.

He must have said ‘Do you not know

where I’m from’ and ‘Do you not

know what family I’m from’ ten times

each. Kid can barely catch and throw,

I couldn’t bother to have him waste

my time. I told him he could be the

manager if he wanted, I’m hoping he

doesn’t take me up on the offer.”

Jack said of his meeting with

Coach Morrissey, “Yeah he said he

just didn’t have the room on the team

this season and that I basically have a

guaranteed spot next year. I told him

I’d think about it, don’t know if I’ll try

out again though because I feel disre-

spected, you know? Like my older

brother plays lacrosse at Princeton.

I’m family friends with Shane Thorn-

ton at Yale, and I’m like best buds

with Greg Rhodes whose a freshman

playing at Duke and you aren’t even

gonna give me a spot on the roster?

It’s like he wasn’t even listening to

me.”

Jack said that the hardest

thing about coming to college was

overcoming the Chaminade stereo-

type, “When someone hears you went

to Chaminade they think they know

everything about you, but like I’m

nothing like all these jerks here who

went to my school. I’m not entitled,

I’m not incredibly cocky, I don’t do

everything I can to be popular, and I

don’t talk about kids behind their

backs like all these other kids from

Chaminade. I’m different.” Jack said

that he will likely major in Economics

and hopes to work for his Dad’s in-

vestment bank after graduation. He

also said if Club Lacrosse doesn’t

work out he would join the Club

Squash team. He turns twenty-three

this Saturday.

Public Safety Gets Inspiration From

Old Westerns

New York Freshman Has Trouble

Adjusting to Life on The Hill

After Numerous Female Part-

ners, Loyola Gym Decides: It’s

Time to Settle Down

Sports The Crusader February 15, 2013 13

Sports

Peter Zona

Staff Writer

For the past decade, Lance Arm-

strong was considered by many to

be not only the greatest American

cyclist of all time, but possibly even

the greatest athlete of all time. In

light of recent events, it has be-

come evident that he is nothing

more than a fraud. He manipulated

the entire sport of cycling through-

out much of his career, and the

only list of results from this cen-

tury that now has him as number

one is Forbes’s listing of America’s

Most Disliked Athletes.

For years Lance adamantly stated

that he was a clean rider and never

used performance-enhancing

drugs. He would cite the fact that

he never tested positive despite tak-

ing hundreds of doping control

tests. A month ago, in the after-

math of the United States Anti-

Doping Agency’s report that

detailed how he and his teams

cheated the system for years, Lance

confessed to Oprah Winfrey that

he did in fact dope and that in his

opinion, it is impossible for anyone

to win the Tour de France without

the assistance of performance en-

hancing drugs.

However, while it may seem that

he was finally seeking forgiveness

for his past actions, it was likely for

more selfish reasons. He claimed

that he never again doped after his

victory at the Tour in 2005, a claim

that the USADA’s report disagrees

with.

This is significant because coop-

eration with the anti-doping agen-

cies could reduce his lifetime ban

to only eight years, which would be

this year if he could prove 2005 as

the end of his sins.

This would allow him to return

to competition in triathlons and

marathons. While several current

riders have expressed sympathy to-

wards Lance, others like Britain’s

Mark Cavendish have expressed

the wish that he would forever dis-

appear from cycling. Defending

Tour de France champion and

Olympic gold medalist Bradley

Wiggins also expressed disgust

with Lance and feels that he de-

stroyed the reputation of the race

and sport that Wiggins worked so

hard to dominate in last year. Even

though many other riders of his era

were doping, it does not mean that

Lance was the best rider of an even

field, but that he was

better at doping than anyone else.

Regardless of the whole Lance

Armstrong controversy, the future

of American cycling appears

bright.

First, new procedures have gone

into effect and investigations have

begun to try to finally bring the era

of doping in sports to an end. Sec-

ondly, the new generation of

American cyclists has already

begun to demonstrate that they will

be a dominant force in the years

ahead.

Last year, Washington native

Tejay van Garderen finished fifth

overall in the Tour de France and

claimed the white jersey of the best

young rider classification at only 23

years of age.

His season also included top 5

overall finishes at the prestigious

Paris-Nice race, which kicks off the

European season in March, as well

as at the Tour of California and the

U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge in

Colorado. He is widely considered

to be America’s greatest hope for

winning the Tour de France in the

near future. His teammate Taylor

Phinney is another bright star for

the future of American cycling. At

just 22 years old, Phinney experi-

enced success at the Giro d’Italia

and the U.S.A. Pro Cycling Chal-

lenge to go along with his fourth

place finishes in both the Olympic

Road Race and Time Trial.

A third but lesser known young

American to keep an eye out for is

24-year-old Andrew Talansky. His

breakout race was the Vuelta a Es-

paña last fall, in which he placed

seventh.

As if the sport of cycling wasn’t

tough enough already, these three

riders have also been given the task

of righting all of the wrongs the

previous generation committed.

They certainly seem to be up to the

challenge.

Elizabeth Fullerton

Sports Co-Editor

Unfortunately, Nemo prevented

the Holy Cross Women’s Track and

Field team from competing at the

Boston University Valentine Invita-

tional last Friday, February 8. This

meet marked the last opportunity

for the Holy Cross women to com-

pete before the Patriot League

Championships. Luckily, I was able

to ask Egetta Alfonso, head coach

of the Track and Field team, a few

questions regarding the season so

far, and what lies ahead for the

Crusaders…

Up to this point, how do you

think the indoor track and field

season has gone? The season’s

been going well, but I feel as if

we're just beginning and champi-

onships are already upon us. It all

goes by so quickly.

How do you feel about this sea-

son’s roster? I have incredible

women and athletes. They're a very

athletic group and they work very

hard. We lost some excellent peo-

ple last year to graduation, but oth-

ers have stepped up their game to

fill in those gaps.

What do you think of this year’s

group of captains? The captains

this year are Britt Gorski, Kathleen

Brekka, Sarah Meinelt and Mel

Forte. They’re super. This group

has all been through their own

struggles with track and has

bounced back. They're all ECAC

(Eastern Collegiate Athletic Con-

ference) qualifiers, so they repre-

sent the most competitive portion

of our team. And they've already

done so much in terms of service

for the community.

Who has really stepped up in the

past few weeks? Several of my

athletes have really stepped it up.

My girls that are competing at the

highest level right now would be

Steph Okpoebo in the 60-meter

dash, 200-meter dash, and 4x400

relay, Britt Gorski in the 800 meter

run and Mackenzie Arndt in the

pole vault. All three have qualified

for ECAC's. In addition to that:

Kathleen Brekka (1000m,mile),

Oona Wood (500m), Kelcey Ger-

main (Weight Throw), Emily

Hughes (3000m), and Kylene Carey

(55 meter hurdles) have qualified

for New England’s. Marissa Ro-

mano has had some very impres

sive jumps this season under our

new jumps coach Mat Lemaire.

She's very close to qualifying for

New England’s and is ranked well

in the Patriot League.

What are the team’s goals for the

remainder of the season? We al-

ways come in with the following

goals: be loud and proud at the

meets, be competitive, win our dual

meets and place well in the Patriot

League and New England Champi-

onships. We would like to place in

the top 3 of the Patriot League

championships. We missed that

goal last year, placing 4th during the

indoor season.

What is one aspect the team

needs to improve on? They need

to understand that sometimes a

season isn't smooth and perfect,

and when you have some bumps

you have to keep fighting through

it, or you can easily become frus-

trated and negative. Track and field

athletes have to be very resilient.

Not every competition is a PR (per-

sonal record) and sometimes you

just don't have a good day. Then it's

time to move onto the next com-

petition.

Have any new additions to the

team already made a significant

impact? Absolutely. Oona Wood

in the 500-meter run is just short

of qualifying for ECAC's. Caroline

Carley posted a 3:07 in the 1000

meter run early in the season. Liz

Provost has thrown over 39 feet in

the Shot Put right now. Alex Eckert

has jumped farther than 34 feet in

the triple jump

Is there a chance that any school

records could be broken this

season? Yes. Steph Okpoebo has

already broken the 55m and the

300m records. We have some peo-

ple close to breaking other records,

and who knows what will happen

in championship season…

Coach Alfonso, a Holy Cross grad-

uate, continues her role as head

coach in her fourteenth season with

the team. The Holy Cross Women’s

Track and Field Team resume com-

petition at the 2013 Patriot League

Championships in a three day meet,

Friday February 15-Sunday Febru-

ary 17. The team will travel to com-

pete in West Point, New York,

which will be hosted by the U.S.

Military Academy.

Holy Cross, Boston, and Beyond

An Interview: Up Close with Egetta Alfonso,

Holy Cross Women’s Track and Field Coach

Courtesy of Goholycross.com

Egetta Alfonso, the women’s track

and field coach, is intent upon

fininshing the year strong, hoping

to attain a top threee finish at the

Patriot League Championships.

Lance Armstrong A Lying Loser

Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Lance Armstrong, formerly a world-

class cyclist has become a world-

class liar following his departure

from competitive cycling.

How an American Icon Became an American Villian

14 SPORTS The Crusader February 15, 2013

College Hill Apartments

Boyden, Caro & Clay Streets

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John Morton

Staff Writer

As a result of Winter Storm

Nemo, the Bruins’ scheduled game

vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning was

cancelled. However, Bruins’ fans

were still treated to a historic game

with the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals

Game 7 vs. the Vancouver

Canucks. In that season, goalie

Tim Thomas had one of the most

dominating performances in the

playoffs in NHL history.

He saved 94 percent of the shots

he faced and only allowed 1.98

goals per game in the entire play-

offs. With the Bruins’ 4-0 shutout

of the Canucks, Thomas became

the first goalie in NHL history to

record a shutout on the road in a

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

In addition to his Stanley Cup

heroics, Thomas was also known

for his controversial decision not to

attend the White House reception

for the Stanley Cup winners.

Despite this, Thomas will be re-

membered as one of the best

goalies in Bruins’ history and it cer-

tainly was bittersweet upon learn-

ing that he has been traded to the

New York Islanders for a condi-

tional 2014 or 2015 second round

pick.

Thomas, who has decided to

take a year off from hockey, still

has no intention of reporting to

the Islanders, which makes this

trade more of a salary dump than

trying to get a pick in return.

If Thomas does not report to the

Islanders, the Bruins will not re-

ceive the pick they acquired in re-

turn for him.

However, this does not mean

that the Bruins traded Thomas for

free. By moving his 5 million cap

hit, the Bruins have more payroll

flexibility and, if the Bruins decide

to move Marc Savard to long-term

injured reserve due to concussion

related symptoms, they could have

even more money to make a move

at the trading deadline. In 2011, the

Bruins made moves at the deadline

by acquiring Chris Kelly, Tomas

Kaberle, and Rich Peverley, which

helped them win the Cup.

Similar moves for role players

could theoretically occur with this

trade. With the trade of Thomas,

the Bruins are showing their confi-

dence in Tuukka Rask to lead them

to victory in this abbreviated sea-

son.

Rask is 6-1-1 so far, with an

amazing 1.96 goals against average.

In the Bruins’ last game Wednes-

day night in Montreal, Rask out-du-

eled Canadians’ goalie Carey Price

to give the Bruins a 2 to 1 victory.

With the win, the Bruins ensured

their lead in the Northeast Division

and allowed them to keep pace

with teams like the Pittsburgh Pen-

guins in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins have only given Rask

one game off so far, so it will be in-

teresting to see how they manage

his workload with games occurring

more frequently.

Tim Thomas will definitely be

missed in Boston as he proved to

be clutch in 3 Game 7’s in the 2011

playoffs.

Unfortunately, Bruins fans will

no longer be able to see Thomas’

classic barrel rolls in goal as he tries

to save the puck, but this trade will

serve the Bruins well, especially

around the trading deadline. With

this trade, Bruins fans can officially

say that “Tuukka Time” is truly

here.

The End of the Tim Thomas

Era in Boston

Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

The Bruins will be without Tim

Thomas this season.

Tyler Scionti

Sports Co-Editor

While the blizzard last week may

give us very little indication that

spring is on the way, the calendar is

closing in on the 2013 spring sea-

son for the Holy Cross Softball

team. The season will start on

March third in Florida where the

Crusaders will square off vs South

Dakota to start things off in 2013.

Last year the softball team went 9-

36, however they have been work-

ing hard all offseason and hope to

get off to a hot start led by captains

Samantha Fregenti and Alex

Gustafson.

As the Crusaders hope to remain

positive and prove to the Patriot

League that they remain a formida-

ble opponent, Sam Fregenti was

kind enough to give me some in-

sight into her thoughts on the 2013

season.

From the outset the softball team

will face a great barrier in that they

were slotted lower than they’d

hoped in the college rankings, how-

ever they have not given up and will

go out with something to prove in

2013. For some teams, having the

odds against you can be a get detri-

ment to success, but for the soft-

ball team it only adds to their

determination to win. I asked Sam

for her thoughts to which she re-

sponded that the team was pre-

dictably upset but they won’t let it

bring them down.

“We've turned this into motiva-

tion during these past weeks of

pre-season. We're entering game

play with a chip on our shoulder

and setting out to prove everyone

wrong.”

For those who don’t know, this is

Samantha’s final year as a member

of the Holy Cross Softball team;

while her upbeat personality and

leadership skills on the field will be

missed, she will leave many re-

minders of her career at Holy

Cross. When asked what she

thought about her last season Sam

was optimistic.

“I'm going into this season just

really trying to enjoy every mo-

ment… . I'm hoping to have a fun

and successful season, and I think

we have a great group of girls to

achieve this”

Sam led the team with four

homeruns in 2012, and remains the

all time home run leader with 19

career homeruns. Expect her to

add quite a few more to that total

as she further cements her place in

Holy Cross history. Having records

to hang your hat on is all well and

good, but what Sam really wants

this year is a Patriot league title to

end her career on.

Thanks to Sam for the inter-

view, and keep checking for more

news on the women’s softball

team. They may be down but

don’t count them out. With some

fresh new talent and a long winter

to work on their game this team

will hit the ground running in

2013.

Crusader Softball: Down But Not Out

Courtesy of Goholycross.com

Senior Sam Fregenti hopes to once

again provide an offensive spark for

the Lady Saders.

SPORTS The Crusader February 15, 2013 15

John Lackey Hopes

to Start Anew in 2013Tyler Scionti

Co-Sports Editor

Ben Cherington did not break the bank to

bring in a star pitcher for 2013, but many for-

get that he did not really have to. Yes that is

true, the Sox already have a qualified number

two/three starter, and his name is John

Lackey.

John Lackey came to Boston (with very lit-

tle fanfare) in 2010 as one of Theo Epstein’s

biggest acquisitions that offseason. He un-

derperformed from the outset, and earned a

great deal of ire from the fans at Fenway. To

be honest, when Theo signed Lackey I was

never the biggest fan; he has a career ERA of

4.10 and a 1.345 WHIP (walks/hits per in-

ning). Those are not great numbers, but back

then the Sox were able to count on Lester and

Beckett to carry the staff. His habit of always

scowling, rolling his eyes when asked “dumb”

questions, and tossing up his hands when a

teammate makes an error hardly qualified him

for one of Fenway’s most beloved players.

Lackey went down early in 2012 and took

the year off to get Tommy John surgery on

his elbow, which had apparently been gradu-

ally breaking down ever since he set foot in

Boston (how it got past the Sox medical staff

we will never know).

Lackey has returned though; he was one of

the first players up to spring training a week

before he was scheduled to arrive and he has

been looking good so far. Lackey looks to

have dropped 10 pounds over the offseason,

and has been throwing with a little extra on

his fastball giving the Sox coaching staff

much needed confidence in their number

three starter. Clay Buchholz has even went

so far to call Lackey a “legitimate ace,” that’s

a claim that needs time to be determined but

it could be an indication that Lackey is turn-

ing things around.

Lackey may not be the star power, or one

of the “sexy” players that ownership wants,

but he is a fierce competitor and wears his

heart on his sleeve. When guys like Pedroia

and Youkilis play hurt or start fights we cheer

them on, well if Lackey can win Fenway over

maybe he can be one of those players.

Lackey has three years remaining on his

contract, and you can bet the farm that he will

pitch his heart out in every one of them.

Lackey

may have a bad reputation among fans, but

he is a competitor. He wants to win more

than anyone else, and for a Sox staff that

seems too passive, his intensity may be just

what the Red Sox need. He is not ace, but that

doesn’t mean he can’t go out with the mind-

set to win every game.

When he was with the Angels Lackey was

one of the most hated pitchers of the staff,

now he gets a fresh start to show us what he’s

got. Lackey will get about 30 chances to prove

to Fenway that he is still a dominant pitcher,

let’s hope for his sake that he does.

Andrew Fanikos

Chief Sports Editor

Two weeks ago, the Holy Cross Swimming

and Diving teams hosted Bryant University in

their final home meet of the season. Al-

though both squads would come up short of

recording victories at home, with the women’s

team falling by a score of 199-95 and the

men’s team edged by a score of 170-125, both

teams were led by strong individual perform-

ances.

Junior Katie Luther and sophomore Alicia

LiCalzi led the diving team by each recording

first place finishes. Senior Kristen Desrosiers

had a top three finish as well in the 50 yard

back stroke, while junior Kelsey Poremba,

sophomore Kristen Coleman, senior Laura

Webber, freshman Claire O’Brien, and senior

Natalie Livingston all enjoyed strong per-

formances.

Freshman Tyler Wright led the men’s team

with two first place finishes in the 100 yard

butterfly and the 200 individual medley. Jun-

iors Jan Yburan and Nick Videtti finished first

in each of their respective events, the 100

yard backstroke and the three meter dive.

Seniors Brian Power and Brian Lyons each

earned second place finishes along with fresh-

man

Prior to the contest, seniors Kristen and

Katelyn Derosiers, Natalie Livingston, Laura

Webber, Claire Reidy, Brian Power, Brian

Lyons, John Vatalaro, Richard Pellegrini, and

Ned Supple were all honored as for their

commitment and dedication to the squad dur-

ing the last four years.

Pools....Elizabeth Fullerton

Co-Sports Editor

Women’s Ice Hockey Team tied St.

Anselm 2-2 on “Pink the Rink” night,

Friday February 1. The Crusaders came

from behind in this one with key goals

from senior Rebecca O’Quinn and fresh-

man Kati Goguen. Goguen scored the

game tying goal early in the third period.

The Crusaders travel to Castleton,

Vermont to play the Castleton State

Spartans again on February 15. The Cru-

saders have played Castleton state twice

this season, recording a win on January

12 and a tie on January 18. The Cru-

saders are currently 12-5-5 overall and 6-

4-5 in conference games.

...and Pucks

Courtesy of Colleen Paddock, photo editor

Members of the senior class pictured before the start of

the action with the coaching staff.

Holy Cross forwards Tory Bratton, Chelsea Monahan and Nicole

Giannino wait for the puck to be dropped at the “Pink the Rink”

game against St. Anselm. Giannino shared the assist with team-

mate Caroline English for Goguen’s goal that tied the game 2-2. Gi-

annino has 7 goals and 4 assists so far this season. Monahan has 4

goals and 4 assists this season.

Courtesy of Claudia Bechthold, photo editor

16 SPORTS The Crusader February 15, 2013

Purple Pennings With Andrew Fanikos

2013 Winter Homecoming Athletic

Events

Saturday Feb 16:

Men’s Lacrosse versus Sain Johns: 12:00pm Hart Turf Field

Alumnae Basketball game: 12:30 pm Hart Center

Women’s Basketball versus American: 3:00 pm Hart Center

Women’s Lacrosse versus Boston College: 3:00 pm Hart Turf Field

Men’s Hockey versus Connecticut: 7:00 pm

Courtesy of Holy Cross.eduCourtesy of Goholycross.com

Dear Father Boroughs and Mr.

Dick Regan,

One hundred and seventy years ago

Benedict Joseph Fenwick, the sec-

ond Bishop of Boston, founded

the College of the Holy Cross.

Having originally intended to es-

tablish the college in Boston, Fen-

wick was spurned in his efforts to

do so because he intended to es-

tablish an institution grounded in

the traditions of Catholicism, a

faith which was held in contempt

by an Anglo-Protestant dominated

society. Forced to purchase land

high above Worcester on Mount

Saint James, as the inhabitants of

Worcester, much like their Boston

counterparts, wanted nothing to do

with a Catholic College, the odds

were stacked against Bishop Fen-

wick and all who chose to collabo-

rate with him during the college’s

formative years. During these early

years, the school saw itself strug-

gle, its existence threatened by both

flame and politics. In 1852, Fen-

wick Hall went up in flames, forc-

ing the school to both rebuild and

reopen, while the Massachusetts

state legislature refused to grant the

college an official charter. Despite

such numerous and seemingly in-

surmountable obstacles, the college

was able to flourish and continues

to do so to this very day. Bishop

Fenwick took a leap of faith.

Often, it is only by taking such a

leap of faith that progress can be

realized. Crawling, we find, can

only achieve so much, if anything

at all. Like Bishop Fenwick did so

many years ago, we too, as an insti-

tution, must take a leap of faith.

Within recent years, the college has

been crawling with regards to its

athletic program. While the Holy

Cross has enjoyed a modicum of

athletic success, success has sadly

become increasingly difficult to

sustain. We, therefore, inevitably

find ourselves at a crossroads. Holy

Cross boasts 23 Division 1 athletic

teams yet harbors an identity closer

to that of a Division III institution,

as academics take precedence over

athletic success, and rightfully so.

Despite holding such institutional

values the college continues to

compete at the Division I level, re-

sulting in a number of programs

with minimal success and equally

minimal fan support. Not only hin-

dered by institutional values, the

Holy Cross athletic program is hin-

dered by both its location and par-

ticipation within the Patriot League.

As surprisingly as it may be, the

sunny confines of Worcester and

membership in a conference com-

posed of mid-majors does not ex-

actly attract top-tier athletic talent

to the college. While we can change

neither our institutional mentality

nor our location, recent develop-

ments have made it clear that we

can we can change our conference

alignment, a move which if done

right would allow us to continue to

adhere to our institutional values

while simultaneously enjoying an

athletic renaissance. This is the leap

of faith we must now make, a leap

which will pay great dividends,

much like the initial leap of Bishop

Fenwick. We will not leap blindly

however, but will leap with our eyes

open, by joining the ranks of the

“Catholic Seven.”

The so-called “Catholic Seven”

were the seven Catholic colleges

and universities which split from

the Big East athletic conference in

mid-December. Located primarily

in the northeast, these institutions

opted to depart from the Big East

following a joint decision to form

a conference which would prima-

rily focus upon basketball, as op-

posed to football. The seven

schools, DePaul, Georgetown,

Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall,

St. John’s, and Villanova are cur-

rently in the process of finalizing

their departure from the Big East,

seeking out other schools to join

their ranks, hoping to eventually ex-

pand to a conference of twelve

schools, and working on a televi-

sion contract with Fox. Although

Holy Cross was not listed as one of

the five schools the Catholic Seven

has publicly pursued in order to ex-

pand its fledging conference, the

Catholic Seven will have difficulty

convincing all five of their target

schools to join their ranks. Butler,

Xavier, Creighton, Dayton, and po-

tentially VCU will all entertain the

notion to bolt from their respective

conferences, but it is unlikely that

all five will join the Catholic Seven.

This then, leaves Holy Cross, the

oldest Catholic college in New

England, a school which places ac-

ademics above athletics, and one

which is historically a basketball

school, and a school which needs a

shot in the arm for its athletics de-

partment, as a prime candidate to

join the Catholic Seven.

The decision to realign Holy

Cross athletics with the Catholic

Seven makes perfect sense. The

seven schools which currently

compose the Catholic Seven, much

like our Patriot League brethren,

are on par with Holy Cross from an

academic perspective and subscribe

to our institutional mentality of ac-

ademics first, athletics second. Bas-

ketball is king at each of these

seven schools, much like it is at

Holy Cross, and given the current

alignment of each of the Catholic

Seven’s other athletic teams, we

would not have to move our non-

Patriot League teams, from their re-

spective conferences. The fact that

the majority of these teams are lo-

cated in the northeast, asides from

Marquette, would keep travel ex-

penses low. While Holy Cross

would initially struggle to compete

against the likes of Georgetown

and Marquette, the cache of com-

peting in a top flight conference

would no doubt lure top flight tal-

ent. By competing with some of

the best programs in the country,

the Crusaders would once again

enjoy the support of a rabid fan

base. No longer would the gym be

empty for a Saturday night

matchup against a key conference

rival, as it was this past Saturday

against

Lehigh University.

The cache associated with compet-

ing in a top flight conference

would, most importantly, pay big-

time dividends, the dividends the

Patriot League simply cannot com-

pete with. Assuming the Catholic

Seven are able to split from the Big

East and rally new members, the

conference will complete a televi-

sion deal with Fox Sports which

would be worth an estimated 500

million dollars over twelve years for

twelve schools, with each school

making just north of three million

dollars a year. In the words of Dick

Vitale, “yeah baby!” Taking in more

than three million dollars annually

for the duration of the contract

would be quite the shot in the arm

for an institution which finds itself,

like many others, cash strapped in a

poor economy. The money made

through the television deal could be

used to rehabilitate aging athletic

facilities, augment the endowment

through increased capital invest-

ment, increase the number of

tenured professors at the college, as

well as to finance a number of

other projects, such as football

scholarships. Perhaps most impor-

tantly, with greater television expo-

sure on a national network, would

allow the college to further increase

its national footprint, leading to an

increasingly diverse and well-

rounded student body.

In closing, Bishop Fenwick took

a leap of faith on a massive scale. I

implore you to do so as well, be-

cause leaps can lead to big im-

provements. Besides, who wouldn’t

want to have Dick Vitale up at the

Cross for a barn burner.

Sincerely,

Andrew Fanikos,

Dedicated Fan

A Modest Proposal