Greetings!

As we prepare to send off a semester, a year, and even a decade, this week's greeting feels more like a goodbye. With the inevitable wind down that comes at the end of each December, we'd like to thank you, reader, for doing what you do best. But before you go into hibernation till February, board the first flight to a tropical oasis, buckle down for a month of full time shifts, or go back to burying your head in a textbook, enjoy this, our last update of 2010. We'll be back to blog up 2011, but until then, try not to miss us too much, okay?

-James

Image source: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/winter-break-color.gif

News Briefs

Purse Goes Up for Auction
Last week the chilling news broke about the Florida man who shot up a school board meeting. Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt but the actions of those involved in the event really stole the headlines. One woman, Ginger Littleton, most notably used her purse to attack the assailant before he fired his gun. This week both she and the iconic purse have become local celebrities which is why she is capitalizing her fame on E-Bay. While Littleton wasn’t successful in stopping the gunman her heroic efforts attracted many media outlets.
Littleton recently said that the thought of putting her faux crocodile leather purse for sale on eBay was decided upon after she was contacted from a local TV station. The auction would benefit Salvage Santa, a program run by Mike Jones -- the security officer who, police said, shot Duke before Duke killed himself. E-Bay though is not completely on board with the idea. E-Bay pulled the auction of the purse because legal requirements weren't met even though the bidding reached $1,225 at one point. Littleton will not miss the purse and credits its real worth as a tool that almost saved several lives.

-Seth Nadler
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And the Mysterious Sea Both Gives and Takes
A huge storm attacked the Israeli Mediterranean Port of Caesarea this week and unearthed one the best finds in years. This is much better than a message in a bottle, trust me-- it is an ancient long-lost marble Roman statue. The statue is headless and armless and only stands at four feet tall but weighs 440lbs. It’s excellent! I’ll concede that I’m a little more than excited because I am a classical cultures major, but in a bigger scope it’s a piece of history thought forgotten but found. The sea took it once and now returned it, and it’s the great cycle of things. However, this great find also comes with some worry because “the storm destroyed the breakers protecting the Roman-era port of Caesarea, threatening to wash away one of the world’s most important historic sites.” One of the cliffs in the port crumbled away under the 60mph winds and 40ft waves, it was declared a national disaster. The interesting part is that the Israel Nature and Parks authority had warned the government about the breakers, unfortunately nothing was done in time to prevent major damage to the site. It’s a shame that the government, not only in Israel but also in a lot of places, don’t react in time to prevent great loss from natural disasters. It is a wait and see attitude that hasn’t worked in the past and honestly never will.

-Celia Vargas

News Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339051/The-sea-gave-Wonder-Israel-ancient-Roman-statue-buried-thousands-years-uncovered-storm.html

Culture Corner

Bed "Thugs?"

The cultural practices for facilitating copulation have been well documented in many species throughout the animal kingdom- from the Humpback Whale to the Dragonfly. But what about the small, less magnificent common vermin, the Bed Bug? After all, in New York City, Bed Bug complaints have doubled since 2006. As they have been springing out from under the mattress and to a department store or movie theater near you, what is the "cultural" practice of Bed Bug mating responsible for the sky rocketing statistics? Female bed bugs may in fact be fleeing their suitors, who engage in the violent practice of "traumatic insemination," during which the "males painfully stab the females through the abdomen, depositing semen" (Abrams, 26). Romance run rampant? The proliferation of the Bed Bug outside of its usual private domain may be a rarely documented instance of insect flight from domestic abuse!

-Ashley C.

Image Source: http://howtokillthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bed-bug.jpg

Source: Abrams, Michael. "Attack of the Bedbugs." Discover Magazine. Dec. 2010: 26.

Poem of the Week

There is no good way to end my time with the Boylan Blog. It was a good year, spent ricocheting between the virtual margins of the Poem of the Week section. That said, I will present for your saccade this poem by Robert Creeley. It is one of confusion, conveyed by desperate, abbreviated language and messages. As the darkness surrounds my days of posting, I look ahead, looking fondly back.


Robert Creeley

I Know a Man


As I sd to my
friend, because I am
always talking, -- John, I

sd, which was not his
name, the darkness sur-
rounds us, what

can we do against
it, or else, shall we &
why not, buy a goddamn big car,

drive, he sd, for
christ's sake, look
out where yr going.



-Joseph Fritsch

Currently Reading

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
Looking for some light reading this holiday season? Look no further than David Sedaris’ latest collection, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. Although Sedaris has provided the subtitle “A Modest Bestiary,” the short tales read more like modern-day fables with a risqué spin, for many of the anthropomorphized animals perpetrate distinctly human misdeeds.

Several stories illustrate the humorous consequences of different character flaws. For example, the overly zealous and power-crazed rabbit of “The Vigilant Rabbit” meets a fittingly sticky end, while the sympathy-seeking, woebegone bear of “The Motherless Bear” learns that things can always be worse.

Sedaris also includes some heartfelt stories like “The Grieving Owl,” which revolves around an owl’s attempt to cope with the loss of his mate through his search for zany facts and the accidental forging of new friendships, and the titular “Squirrel Meets Chipmunk,” which offers an unique perspective on the potential for exogamy.

Sedaris’ sharp, charming wit fuses this collection together quite well. Each tale reads more like a joke and this reviewer would rather keep this article brief than ruin a punch line. If you don’t care for talking beasts, you may want to try one of Sedaris’ older collections. Santaland Diaries is a festive choice; Me Talk Pretty One Day is downright hilarious.

Hear David Sedaris’ Introduction to Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk:


- Brigida Pirraglia

Sedaris, David. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010.

Image Source:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pSO5Oh1UJ1A/TGOzqxgAQsI/AAAAAAAANtU/7Dmakl1DV98/s1600/squirrel+seeks+chipmunk+-+david+sedaris.JPG

Video Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmgx75NPamQ&feature=player_embedded

Currently Listening

Ellis Ashbrook

This week, for the first time in a long time, I had the benefit of participating in a worthwhile musical experience beyond the comforts of my domestic environs. As such, I will refrain from digging into the musically obscure past and instead relay the circumstance of my jovial and wanton Friday night: a house party hosted by, and starring, Ellis Ashbrook.

Unlike the Opera, which maintains anachronistic and aristocratic standards for the audience’s interaction with the musical performance, a house party permits a wonderful gamut of behaviors, many of which are innovated in real time. So while intently listening to the polyphonic interplay that exists in Ellis Ashbrook’s intricate compositions, I gyrated in a Joe Cocker-ish fashion, attempting to deeply internalize the band’s music by combining active participation with intellectual reflection.

At this point in the article, it is entirely necessary to deviate from the highfalutin narrative style already established to clarify the emotional and visceral satisfaction guaranteed to occur in the presence of an Ellis Ashbrook performance.

This band has the balls of the best ’70s rock bands, the power to compel any listener to the dance floor with their toe-jam funky grooves, and the tasteful tonal variety necessary to enchant the modern listener. Not to mention a melt-your-face songwriting capacity that transcends musical genres and historical periods.

And now, back to the smug writing style I know you all enjoy! Natalie and John conjoin harmoniously to sing in harmony the lyrics and melody they beautifully enjoin.

Of sociological consideration: We live in a time where the social institutions largely organized around social class limit the majority’s ability to enjoy prevalent opportunity and economic mobility. Exacerbating this circumstance is the fact that these same institutions solidify the wealth and power of the upper class minority. This abstract system is reflected in the materials and behaviors with which mass media encourages, and downright expects, the majority to engage. In order to be free of this enthralling, vicious cycle, everyone needs to invest in his or her compeers and disregard the culturally ambitious goals rooted in material gain and the accumulation of wealth. While it is only a small step in overcoming this overwhelming dilemma, encouraging and participating in the artistic efforts of one’s fellows not only strengthens localized community, but it also dissociates considerations of success from insidious, impractical, individualistic obsessions with upper class wealth.

So begin with Ellis Ashbrook. They’re hella great, and live right here in Brooklyn!

Listen to the Skunk:


- Oliver Lamb

The Band’s Official Website:
http://www.ellisashbrook.com/

Video Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq1e1wDuu0I&feature=player_embedded#!

Image Source:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/38/l_9e783934b45e448287d4c3d6c6f08eef.jpg

Currently Watching - The Walking Dead

‘Don’t Open, Dead Inside’

Zombies have become a regular in the line-up of the scariest monsters, and with good reason. A decayed, battered, walking corpse whose only real motive is to feed on flesh – that sounds pretty scary. And yeah their motor skills suck, but still they want brains! The zombie filled post-apocalyptic world is the core of AMC’s latest show that premiered this past Halloween. Frank Darabont is producing The Walking Dead, and it’s based on the graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman. I have to say, it’s off to a good start.

I won’t give away too many details because everyone should watch this series. However, the main plot centers on a Southern Sheriff, Rick Grimes, who is hospitalized and then wakes up in an eerie silent hospital days (or weeks?) later. He is totally alone and surrounded by “dead” bodies, and must now find his family. That’s where this series really gets good. At its heart, it’s about finding your own and fighting and surviving. It’s about zombies, of course, but the people that are alive are the real drama and are what drives the plot. How does one cope when all moral sense has left the world?

The series is shot well, and it doesn’t hold back just because it’s on basic cable. The zombies are gory and the things that the humans have to do in order to survive will make anyone squirm and cringe. The first season just wrapped up last week, and it was only six episodes long. The next season will be thirteen and is set to premiere around Halloween of next year. If zombies aren't your thing, suck it up and watch The Walking Dead anyway-- it's that good.

-Celia Vargas

The Walking Dead Trailer:



Image Source: http://www.deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/the-walking-dead-poster.jpg

At This Moment

Sunny and Mariel asked Brooklyn College:

If the US could completly solve one issue to the fullest extent, what issue would you pick: ending crime, eliminating health issues, or eliminating starvation? AND WHY!

Elena-I couldn’t decide because all would be AMAZING and needed.. But I’ll go ahead and say eliminating health issues that way we will have many more to fight against crime and help those in hunger ;)

Joanne: You can never end crimes - people always do bad things. It's human nature. Some people do bad things due to poverty so eliminating starvation can help. If everyone has something to eat and drink everyday and they're satisfied, they won't feel the need to rob others. It also contributes to health - if they eat well, they'd be healthy."

Victor: Well basically if you want to stop any of these things you have to eliminate or at least control the root of the problem: corporate America and most importantly capitalism. The reason starvation and crime has increased more now then ever is because the middle class has been destroyed. So it’s just been a battle between the few who have everything and the many who have nothing. People are getting sick of not only having poor or no health care but also the crap a lot of these processed so called foods and over the counter drugs that all these billion dollar corporations are feeding to the mass public for profit. We become a dollar sign to them and we bought into their lies for 40 maybe even 50 yrs. If you want to end any of these things it has to start with the simple basics- dollar menu or a well cooked meal at home from a food source I know.

Greetings

Greetings one and all of the student body from the headquarters of our delightful Boylan Blog! As finals approach, you all no doubt see in the near future the kindling fires of the rebirth of your personal freedom through the last bit of blocking academic haze, much like the primordial universe is nearly free of interstellar dust in this updated version of the Planck Universe Map! Enjoy your read, and your nights of energy drink crash induced delirium as well.

Image Source: http://www.exec-comms.com/Pictures/Blog3/Planck_universe.jpg

News Briefs

Sharks in Egypt

Don’t believe me? It’s alright, you are just in da’Nile. All seriousness aside, though, the recent shark attacks in Egypt have already claimed one life and injured four others. Now, I am no ichthyologist, but it seems to me that once people start getting attacked by sharks in my relative area, I am going to forgo my evening swim.
There are some very real environmental concerns at work here. First, the shark attacks were likely precipitated by Egyptian waste disposal essentially chumming the water with dead animal carcasses for several weeks, because they thought it was a good way to dispose of them. Poor choice. More pressingly, though, is the likely selachian-o-cide that will occur as a result of an immoderate reaction to a process old as life itself, predators trying to feed on weaker prey.
Already, Egyptian authorities have started hunting for the rogue sharks that were responsible for the attacks. They need to clear out their waters of any such threat to tourists. As egregious as it is when tourists are unsustainable impositions on human communities, it is equally terrible when their intrusion decimates the local flora and fauna. I am going to have to advocate for the sharks on this one. Humans do not need to swim in the ocean, fish do.

-Joe


Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11958194
Image: http://nolanimrod.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jaws4_shark_ns.jpg

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The Absent Awardee

On Friday, the 62nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Nobel Committee honored Liu Xiaobo with the Nobel Peace Prize…in his absence. When told that a man is in prison in Northeastern China, people generally do not applaud, but they gave Liu Xiaobo a standing ovation. Neither Liu, who is currently imprisoned for insurrection, nor his wife, who is under house arrest, could attend the award ceremony. In response, China has interpreted the Nobel selection as a political attack and has accused the Nobel Committee of having an “anti-Chinese attitude.” The Chinese government had, in turn, pressured other countries not to attend the award ceremony. Twenty other countries did not send representatives. In addition, the award ceremony was not to be televised via any media in China.


- Sun Mei Liu

Image Source: http://gdb.rferl.org/B959BE58-8ACC-4B0B-8E5F-C49990216570_w527_s.jpg
Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/world/Nobel-Prize-Committee-Honors-Jailed-Chinese-Dissident-111702844.html

Culture Corner

The Room: A Cult Classic

How does a movie become a cult classic? For the 2003 film The Room, the answer is: by doing everything wrong. Written, directed, produced, and starring the incomparable Tommy Wiseau, The Room is pathetically awful in so many ways. The film, which Wiseau initially marketed as a drama and then as a “quirky black comedy,” has been described as the “Citizen Kane of bad movies.” (In case you’re not a movie buff, Citizen Kane is a 1941 film that revolutionized movies because of Orson Welles’ use of numerous, innovative techniques.) Thus, The Room is the perfect example of everything not to include in a movie.

The plot revolves around Johnny (Wiseau), who thinks he has found the perfect woman, Lisa (Juliette Danielle), until he discovers that she is cheating on him with his best friend, Mark (Greg Sestero). This is a vast oversimplification of the convoluted plot of The Room, however. The film actually contains several plot-holes, subplots that are abandoned before they can be fully developed, and characters that appear and disappear halfway through.

The plot isn’t the only problem. The script itself is one of the strangest things you may ever hear performed. The dialogue between the characters in The Room is unnatural and disjointed, leading me to believe that Wiseau had only the slightest grasp of the idioms of colloquial English. This is apparent in lines like: “Well, maybe you should have a girl, Mark,” “Keep your stupid comments in your pocket!” and “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” The film has it all: poor direction, questionable soundtrack choices, deplorable acting, bizarre use of green screen, and a tasteless and uncomfortably long sex scene complete with male moaning.

Unsurprisingly, The Room, which cost Wiseau $6,000,000 of his own funds to produce, earned less than $2,000 during its initial theatrical run. However, viewers found it so outrageously dreadful that it became uproariously funny. Wiseau received letters and emails praising his work, which encouraged him to continue showing the film once a month at midnight at the Laemmle Sunset 5 Theater in Hollywood. At these interactive screenings, fans dressed up as characters from the film, shouted out memorable lines, threw plastic spoons whenever a framed picture of a spoon appeared onscreen, and tossed footballs to their friends whenever the characters did so. As a result of these fun screenings in L.A., many of Hollywood’s funniest stars came to appreciate the unintentional humor of The Room, including Paul Rudd, David Cross, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Bell. Eventually, The Room became such a widespread cult phenomenon that there are now monthly screenings across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway.

If you want to see what may be the worst film ever made on a $6,000,000 budget, experience the insanity that is The Room. The next showing in NYC will be on December 17th at Village East Cinema, 181-189 2nd Avenue.

To mentally prepare, I highly recommend viewing the following:

This is one of the first scenes of the film and my personal favorite. Johnny demonstrates his love for Lisa by buying her flowers, mumbling, and tripping over a shopkeeper’s dialogue.


This rooftop scene occurs after Lisa gets Johnny drunk and accuses him of domestic violence. Clearly, Mark and Johnny are best friends.


Finally, this is the film’s trailer.


- Brigida Pirraglia

For more information on The Room:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room_%28film%29

http://www.theroommovie.com/screeningspop.html

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20246031,00.html

Video Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S9Ew3TIeVQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCj8sPCWfUw

Image Source:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HT12rSiSzIg/THIC9v8FzzI/AAAAAAAACnY/Bfk-CcBmSrE/s1600/The_Room_movie_poster.jpg

Poem of the Week

The Windhover

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-

dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding

Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding

High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing

In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,

As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding

Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding

Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!



Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here

Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion

Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!



No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion

Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,

Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.



The improvised form of Hopkins’s “The Windhover” allows the language of the poem to elevate and reach “the mastery of the thing.” In some ways, this poem is more difficult to the modern reader than a weighty canto or a foray into language poetry. When the eye sees rhyme, it may assume a certain cohesiveness that is here resisted.



The first line exemplifies the lilt and creativity of the poem. The line’s anadiplosis is uncomfortable, but euphonic. The enjambment occurs not in regards to a clause, but rather a word. “King” is given to the first line for both the rhyme and to address paraphrastically the poem’s subject. “Dom” is left to the second line, where it allows for consonance on the letter “D”.



That’s enough from me. Enjoy this really weird poem.



-Joseph Fritsch

Image Source:http://www.altamontstudios.com/gallery/d/1787-2/Bird+over+field.jpg

Currently Reading

Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann In Jerusalem

Many a historiography has been produced about the German Third Reich, or Nazi Germany. However, amongst the plethora of historical accounts, factual timelines loosely linking cause and effect, our understanding of the unprecedented psychological forces of the totalitarian state is scant. One remarkable exception is Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann In Jerusalem. Arendt, a German-Jewish political scientist schooled in existential thought under Martin Heidegger, escaped the Holocaust by immigrating to America. Arendt eventually came to work as a journalist for The New Yorker, landing a report project to cover the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a lower-level Nazi bureaucrat, in Jerusalem. Through her refreshing, highly original character analysis of Eichmann, Arendt arrives at her definition of the banality of evil – the inability to form our own judgments. This inability on the part of Nazi officers, she argues, enabled the genocide of Jewish people to occur.

Rather than a common crime, genocide is a crime not against a nation or even a plurality of nations, but against the global community of humanity qua the quality of being human. As a crime against an individual must be punished because of a disturbance within the community, the murder of millions of Jews must be punished because of the gravity of the disturbance in the global community of humanity. Because it implies that humanity can be categorized into those with more or less inherent worth, genocide is capable of causing a total collapse of the moral fabric of all human society. Accepting this hierarchy of human worth is equivalent to supporting the political structure. As Arendt points out, and what she was greatly criticized for throughout her life, the Judenstrat, or the Jewish spiritual leaders, were actually complicit in this. By tacitly accepting the privileges Nazis awarded to “prominent Jews” at the expense of “average Jews” and compiling addresses and names of those to be transported to death camps, Jewish leaders affirmed the mindset that allowed for the continued success of totalitarian rule. The Jewish leaders’ compliance may have driven the strength of the Zionist movement prior to the installation of the Third Reich. In fact, Eichmann was originally in charge of Jewish immigration, a position that required him to read core Zionist texts and communicate with Jewish community leaders interested in moving diasporic Jews into their own concentrated states. This idea, as Arendt states, was remarkably similar to the Nazi Party’s original plans.

After her psychological character study of Eichmann, Arendt determines how circumstances of “nature” and “nurture” are capable of transforming a psychologically sound person like Eichmann, whose attorney claimed had the “personality of a mailman,” into a mass murderer. She concludes such a change arises from a combination of two factors. One is the view that a staunch adherence to success is equivalent to morality. For example, Eichmann noted that he felt he should subordinate himself to his superiors because of their occupational success. The other factor is the resultant inability to think independently, instead choosing to adopt the rules of the successful and mindlessly apply them to all situations to form judgments. An inability to think for oneself and form morally sound judgments threatened to undermine general human ethics. This threat proved to be justified years after the end of World War II. Perhaps the lack of a powerful international court today should be addressed. Arendt’s words to individuals capable of committing crimes against humanity support this because, envisioning herself as a judge, she says, “And just as you supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth...we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang” (279).

- Ashley Cohen

Image Source: http://home.comcast.net/~twirlrecords/AdolfEichmannTrial.jpg

Excerpt Source:
Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem. New York: Penguin Group USA Inc., 2006.

Currently Listening

Intermezzo
Richard Strauss called his semi-autobiographical opera, Intermezzo, a Bürgerliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Zwischenspielen (bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes).

The opera is composed of several snapshots that showcase Strauss’ relationship with his wife in their Austrian home. The story fictionally depicts the personalities of Strauss himself (as "Robert Storch") and his wife Pauline (as "Christine")and was based on real incidents in their life. While this work is rarely performed and nowhere near as popular as Strauss’s’ Rosenkavalier, it does have merit in the opera world. New York City Opera revived the opera this past October in a thrilling new production that would rival most Broadway shows. One scene shows Strauss tobogganing in the Alps as snow falls on stage and the next scene features waiters skating on stage in an ice rink.

Strauss’ music seems incidental in that it doesn’t overpower the singing, rather, it complements the action on stage. When Strauss and his wife ice skate there are flute and violin interludes and when they leave Vienna in a hurry there are drums pounding from the pit.

In other words, Strauss was ahead of his time when modern musicians would use this technique in today’s films.

The music moved along quite nicely and the crispness of the clarinet sounded like ice skates on a pond while billowing trumpets create the illusion of a train ready to depart. Strauss' operas are nostalgic to a time before digital reproductions/enhancement in music when composers were only left to the instruments and their imagination.

-Seth Nadler

Image source: http://www.nvcarts.co.uk/ugc-1/fullnews/news/4/5.jpg

At This Moment

Celia Vargas and Sun Mei Liu asked Brooklyn College students: Are you excited for winter break, and also what are your plans?


“Yeah, I am excited; I will go out with a couple of friends to some interesting places.” –Ed C.


“Yes, I need a break from the stress of school to party and get my life together. I have cheer practice five days a week all of January, and I plan to work more hours at my sales associate job in PBTeen.” –Angelica B.


“Yes, and nothing at all.” –Joy H.


“Yes, I'm excited to have the semester over. I will be traveling briefly to visit family for Christmas and then hopefully working a lot once I get back to Brooklyn. Also, I'll likely be dwelling quite a bit on what to do with myself once I graduate in May.” –Michael W.


“Yes, I'm excited. My plans include trying to make a dent in the stacks of unread books that sit upon my shelves, sleeping, and celebrating my 21st birthday!” –Nicole C.
“YES! I am heading upstate and spending time with my family and my boyfriend. Also, hoping to get some snow and go sleigh riding.” –Holly B.


“On December 20th, when my last final lets out, I too will let out. I will let out a scream of joy that has been bubbling inside me for far too long. Don't be deceived by what seems like it may have been a double entente. I truly am excited for this merry occasion. While I'm not particularly religious, the holidays reunite me with my family (the ones that I like) and the non-family (ones that I like but not ALL of the ones that I like. Too many to name.)
We don't particularly have any traditions. My brother and I are planning on having mustaches and Cosby sweaters, but the plan hasn't extended farther than that. Due to a survey and numerous scientific studies that I've just fabricated with my mind brain, mustaches improve the enjoyment of Christmas Season by nearly 78 percent. Also, it makes the song "Last Christmas" by Wham! The most played song on any MP3 player within a 10-mile radius. Again, all of these are fabricated SCIENCE. You can't argue with science, it's proven.
So, Christmas ends and then what? We disappear into oblivion? No. For many Christmas vacation has just begun, while for those of us taking winter classes it's already boiling to a close. That's why I've invented a Time Machine. I'm not kidding. It's all kinds of awesome. Unfortunately (or fortunately for some of you whack jobs) it has been known to turn at least three of your organs into carp, and gives you the limbs of a sloth. OH, and it's been known to have a "Groundhog's Day" effect. Like the movie with Bill Murray. What were you thinking? If you're still interested, you're welcome to be a test subject. I'm not entirely sure I want to get in there yet. Only because if I get stuck repeating last Wednesday for eternity, I'll not only be writing Geology Labs for eternity. Or what if I end up back at Aunt Silvia's house that time she made crab cakes? At least they LOOKED like crab cakes. So, I guess, yeah. I'm excited. But nothing is ever that simple.” –Peter F.

“I'm going to try and get some reading done, working at American Eagle, and celebrating my birthday!” –Kathryn V.

“I'm definitely excited. I'm going to visit my sister and nephew in Alabama; She is having a beautiful baby girl!” –Mariaisabel Z.

“I'm excited! I'm doing a study abroad this winter intersession in Italy, which should be really nice. Even if it is a class, I can't wait to see things like the Pantheon and John Keats's grave!” Christina S.

"I am truly excited for winter break, but unfortunately I have no plans other than to relax and go to my high school for their alumni day." -Johnson C.

"I am very excited! My birthday falls over break so I get to celebrate that school free." -Ashley L.

“Umm I think I'll just be working everyday full-time. I volunteer at school for handicapped kids in the daycare. It's called the Infant Care and Learning Center and is affiliated with Downstate. Other than that, I'll be hanging out with peoples.”- Haran Ratna

“For sure. Studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain. I'll be the first in my family to cross the Atlantic out of America.”- Kate M.

“MCATs lol....what break? But it's all in the effort to free up the Spring/Summer...so work now, play later =)”- Eva R.

“Definitely excited- studying abroad in Argentina. However, it's kind of sad for us seniors, who are almost finished with our last fall semester of college...ever.”- Ankuri D.

“I'm going back home for a month and a half. I'm just going to relax, read, write, and enjoy being with family and friends I haven't seen in four months. I think that it will be a nice time to relax. At the same time, I'll be reading four books I know that I'll need to have read for one of my classes...so it won't be without some work.”- Amy G.

“Heading to the Galapagos for winter intercession! Ready to get tan and learn all about evolution at the very same time!!”- Catherine C.

“It's going to be nice to have a break... luckily for me that means planning for the spring semester and prepping for the LSATs in February.”- Louis D.

“I can't wait!! I'll be chilling and skiing...and studying for MCATs. Sounds like fun right?”- Sarah S.

“I'm excited to be done with this semester, but I'm taking a class over the break, so I'm not too excited about that.”- Leslie A.

Image Source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldab7m3PzI1qbiko0o1_500.jpg

I guess the real question is "how excited are you?" However, even that question can be easily answered: people are very excited for winter break. And they should be! With plans to (time and scenic) travel and catch up on good reads, winter break is a much awaited affair. So, work hard on finals now and play later!

Greetings!

Greetings fellow Brooklyn College students! I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the calm before the storm is upon us. I mean this is in a figurative way of course, in which the storm is just the hair-raising finals that await many after this week. However, once again the Boylan Blog is here to ease your worries with some light reading. So before you buckle down, read our blog, take in the brisk winter air, and imagine winter break is just around the corner! Good luck registering for classes and remember to do those darn pesky, but very informative, teacher evaluations!

-Celia Vargas

Image Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yRQ1YydGYKU/ShQCO5v48yI/AAAAAAAAAqg/n5CjVEQr0AU/s400/vladimir-kush-01.jpg

News Briefs

Spawning destruction? Mining operations threaten Bristol Bay




Clearly this Alaskan Brown Bear would not be pleased with the dissolved sulfur content in his area of leisure. After all, he could easily move to Yellowstone Park if he desired to boil in such fluids!

The Bristol Bay Watershed, located in the southwestern-most tip of Alaska, easily earns the title of one of the most formidable inhabited areas. An awe inspiring manifestation of the power of nature, icy streams cross as they swifty race down cool, grey mountains like the glistening silver braid falling over the bony protruding shoulder of a Dena’ina elder. Lakes are recharged by subterranean springs, sustaining a variety of life as astounding as the vivaciousness of natives, who have subsisted in the same manner, and thus maintained the same cultural practices, as their ancestors. Perhaps the most important practice is sockeye salmon fishing. In addition to fiscal stability and sustenance for their families, the salmon fishing tradition has become an important social activity. Each year, families and friends gather on gravel beaches or headwaters of major tributaries with nets to reap the benefits of incoming waves literally saturated with fish, the surface of the water coruscating with the luster of their gesticulating bodies resembling some sort of mythological water serpent. However, the unique combination of natural processes responsible for the sculpture of this pristine wilderness so revered by its few and proud inhabitants has created what may prove to be a great boon or the greatest disaster to strike the area. A gargantuan ore deposit of copper and gold has been uncovered by employees of the Northern Dynasty and Anglo American mining companies. Their joint forces, now under the name of the Pebble Partnership, propose the creation of both an open pit (above ground) and underground mine. They estimate the value of the deposit to be 100-500 billion dollars. In addition to the value of the ore itself, the company argues that the mining operations would create mining jobs and would be stimulating local businesses through the sale of mining materials and general goods for the mining population. This has been welcomed by many, as the current tourist industry tends to hire migrant workers who leave the area during off peak seasons rather than employing the natives.

However, concern over the fate of the waters which support more salmon than the entire Columbia drainage system combined has raised considerable opposition. If unearthed, sulfur bearing minerals dissolved in the headwaters to important tributaries about the proposed operation perimeter could spread toxic, metal-laden waters and kill a hefty portion of the salmon population. Indeed, Upper Talarik Creek, located near the mine site, is the annual spawning ground for 20,000-100,000 sockeye. Opponents argue that unlike the ore deposit, the value of which can only be utilized once, the salmon population is self-renewing, and is thus able to indefinitely provide a stable source of income. The sentiment of the majority of the population is expressed by that of former Alaskan governor Jay Hammond: “The only place worse to put a mine would be my living room.” Efforts to create a region wide conservation zone to ban all mining and petroleum operations have been taking place through legal avenues. However, the staunch reverence of the majority of the population to the native culture is seen by others who welcome Pebble Partners as self-aggrandizing foolishness. Cultural death, as they see it, should not take precedence of the biological death implicit in the possible starvation from the poverty many in this region face: “Without Pebble, what do we do?” Possibly able to enter the world economy as a provider of ores so coveted by electronic companies, this question is no doubt one which fills the uneasy minds of inhabitants vacillating between allegiance to the past and an improved immediate future.
-Ashley Cohen

Photo: http://sarahpalintruthsquad.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/bear-bristol-bay.jpg
Source: Dobb, Edwin“Alaska’s Choice: Salmon or Gold?” National Geographic Magazine. December 2010.

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Auditory Relief: Prohibiting Excessively Loud Commercials





The House of Representatives gave final congressional approval to the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM Act), a bill that will bar the common advertising technique in which commercials are ear-splittingly loud to grab audiences’ attention.

As Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the bill’s House sponsor, explains “TV programs use a variety of sound levels to build dramatic effect. But advertisements have been neither subtle nor nuanced.” As annoying as they may be to some, from a logistical standpoint, loud commercials make sense because many viewers leave their televisions during commercial breaks. Thus, an extremely loud ad might force them back to determine the cause of the ruckus, thereby recapturing the viewing audience/potential consumers.

This may seem like an obnoxious advertising strategy; indeed, Dick O'Brien, bill-supporter and director of government relations at the American Association of Advertising Agencies, acknowledges this, saying that the viewing experience should be more user-friendly and that “[the members of AAAA] fully understand that advertising works best when it engages consumers, not alienates them.” However, it seems like many advertisers have not grasped this concept because they have been crossing this fine line since the 1960s, which was the first decade in which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received volume complaints from viewers.

With any luck, these deafening ads will soon be a distant memory. For now, the CALM Act is still just a bill, on Capitol Hill, waiting to become a law. If President Obama signs off, the FCC would have one year to implement the standards to coordinate commercial volumes to those of the broadcasted program. Television shows and ads come from various sources, which may complicate the implementation process. The FCC would be able to issue waivers to smaller broadcasters without the finances required to update their equipment. This measure would ensure that smaller stations remain on the air without compromising the regulation's enforcement entirely.

- Brigida Pirraglia

Article Source:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/02/131767993/congress-acts-to-lower-volume-on-tv-ads

Image Source:
http://www.elegantevententertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/holding-ears-300x195.jpg

You’re never too old for School House Rock!



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Merry Christmas!




With the economy turning and turning in the widening gyre, would you dare expect a bonus at your job? Wall Street does! The year 2010 will mark the highest bonus given to bankers since last year's records. This year's bonuses will equal an estimated $144 billion in compensation and benefits, with an average of $500,000 per trader (as estimated in the source below). Why so much? Tom Caglione, as quoted in the article Record Bonuses on Wall Street, insists that larger banks need “top talent to stay with them”. And what better way to do that than to drop $1 million dollars into their pockets! Tyler Hartman at Goldman Sachs was also quoted saying in the article, “Look, the fact is that Wall Street people are smarter and better than the average American, so we deserve bigger bonuses. You think we should give bonuses to janitors at elementary schools? I mean, come on?” In any event, unemployment is still wandering around at 9.8%, and bonus time is right around the corner.

Image: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-03-16-AIGtrough.jpg

Source: http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/25606/record-bonuses-on-wall-street/#more-25606

http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/10/12/wall-street-deja-vu-lackluster-profits-equals-record-bonuses/


--
Mariel Suarez

Culture Corner

Aboriginal Culture



Aborigines are believed to have entered Australia via New Guinea 40,000-50,000 years ago since the last ice age when New Guinea was connected to Australia by a land bridge. It is known that aborigines migrated through Southeast Asia, but there is not enough evidence to support any relation between them and any Asian population. It is known though that many of the aboriginals also inhabited the island of Tasmania, reaching it by a land bridge left over from the last ice age as well, until they were isolated due to sea level rising, ultimately disconnecting them from the mainland. Only when the British settled upon Australia did the aborigines in Tasmania have a chance to travel to Australia; one of the only things the British can be applauded for in this case. In Australia, the oldest human remains to be found along a lake, were those of Mungo Man. So far Mungo Man is the earliest known inhabitant of the country of Australia, having lived between 68,000-40,000 years ago. When Munga Man’s remains were found, his body was discovered with red ochre sprinkled about his bones, a practice that is still done today among the aborigines. Imagine that! A tradition that has outlasted more than 40,000 years and British imperialism! Today, aborigines make up less than five percent of Australia’s population, but their cultural traditions, the bits and pieces that are left over from it, will be held on to with tooth and nail!



-Mariel Suarez



Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/430497029_d520f132d1.jpg

Source: www.wikipedia.com

Poem of the Week - The Power of the Dog

The Power of the Dog

There is sorrow enough in the natural way 
From men and women to fill our day; 
And when we are certain of sorrow in store, 
Why do we always arrange for more? 
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware 
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy 
Love unflinching that cannot lie-- 
Perfect passion and worship fed 
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head. 
Nevertheless it is hardly fair 
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits 
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits, 
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs 
To lethal chambers or loaded guns, 
Then you will find--it's your own affair-- 
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear. 

When the body that lived at your single will, 
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!) 
When the spirit that answered your every mood 
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good, 
You will discover how much you care, 
And will give your heart to a dog to tear. 

We've sorrow enough in the natural way, 
When it comes to burying Christian clay. 
Our loves are not given, but only lent, 
At compound interest of cent per cent. 
Though it is not always the case, I believe, 
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve: 
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong, 
A short-term loan is as bad as a long-- 
So why in--Heaven (before we are there) 
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear? 

- Rudyard Kipling


Here Rudyard Kipling presents to his readers a strikingly simple (yet quite compelling) warning for any would-be dog owners. For Kipling, it's a relationship doomed from day one, and in many ways, he's right. This is the tragedy of owning a dog (or any other pet); you watch them live, learn to love them, and then watch as they die. But Kipling's words shouldn't be taken solely as discouragement. Instead, the poem works to show us the power of the dog, as it is called, and the duality of happiness and heartbreak they inevitably bring.

-James Rodriguez

Image Source: http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.75173589.jpg

Currently Reading

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson


Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio is a novel that can be enjoyed in several capacities. Macroscopically, the chapters synthesize to tell of a small, rural town in Ohio. More specifically, it describes, in vignettes, the rise of George Willlard, an ambitious writer to whom the citizens of Winesburg reveal their piecemeal histories.

The arc of the story proper aside, each chapter of the book can be taken independently. The characters who Anderson sets in motion throughout Winesburg are intricate and obsessed individuals. Each person desperately yearns to convey his story to George Willard. Their motivations are unclear, as some desire preservation and others champion a more moralistic cause.

In total, the book does not insist on one reading. This can be an empowering experience to a reader, especially one who is accustomed to reading through a very specific lens. Perhaps ultimately it is a book that explores the hidden potential for stories that exists all around. What better reason could an author have to tell a story than the following observation of the narrator: "His story is an odd one. It will be worth telling some day" (123).

-Joseph Fritsch

Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio. New York: IndyPublish, 2003.

Image Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Ohio_village_fall_2006.jpg

Currently Listening

Auditory Modernism: Stravinsky and Allegiance to the Earth


As Thanksgiving approached and transpired, a tradition which celebrates both the bounty of the earth as well as the less acknowledged sacrifice of Native Americans, I found myself craving The Rites of Spring by Igor Stravinsky just as much as my coveted slice of pumpkin pie. Ruminating upon my random desire to listen to the dissonant musical stylings that caused a famous riot during its premiere, I realized this should not come as a surprise. After all, the entire composition grew from the fleeting vision painter and set designer Roerich had of a pagan Russian female sacrificially dancing herself to death. Such is the celebration of the earth and mortality! The subtitle of the composition, “Pictures from Pagan Russia,” connotes a fascination shared by artistic contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso with primitivism.

The composition is divided into two portions: The Adoration of the Earth and The Sacrifice. The disturbing choreography of the original performance, chaotic and awful yet rigid and precise (nearly aesthetically geometric, in my opinion) closely parallels the aesthetic of the music. The utilization of musical dissonance, the merging of tones in one composition which are harmoniously opposed to one another, gives a feeling of urgency, which drives the action forward towards some vague resolution or closure. One imagines a crazed procession of Maenads thrashing in a ritual of organized chaos which parallels and therefore reveres the chaotic yet patterned aspects of nature. Seeking the deities’ benevolence and blessing of fertility, the “primitives’” primary concern is the cyclic renewal of life which give natural phenomena an inherent structure.

Polyrhythmic textures replicate the interaction of a myriad of natural processes, each with their own intrinsic cycles or patterns, interacting to form the vast and incomprehensible web of nature, the complexity of which demands veneration. The listening experience is much like the aesthetic impression one gets from the visual experience of a Picasso painting: the subjective fragmentation of the eldritch or “exotic” and its restructuring into the complex geometries inherent in the scientific and mathematic patterns discovered in the natural world.
-Ashley Cohen


Image Source: http://www.ofletters.com/composers/stravinsky.gif

Video of the Dance:

Currently Watching - The Red Shoes

The Red Shoes 

Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, “The Red Shoes” has gone from page to performance in a thrilling new adaptation by the Kneehigh Theater Company.  They are currently using St Anne’s Warehouse (down by the Manhattan Bridge) as the venue for their fall season.  “The Red Shoes” is a dark fairy tale that follows a young girl who becomes so vain that she gets her legs chopped off. As with most fairy tales, there is a moral to the madness and this one warns children against indulgence. The little girl wants the shoes so badly that she shirks off going to church and disrespects her elderly caretaker.

What made the performance great was its use of music and special effects to really draw out the tale. Off stage there are several musicians who are part of the performance themselves and the cast has four principle actors. The actors change roles for each of the scenes taking on the parts of the girl, the old woman, the cobbler, and the butcher.  While the graphic nature of the story is not lost, as seen by two bloody feet hanging in a butcher’s window, its humor is still intact. This production pokes fun at the notion of the girl as “wicked” for fooling around in church (what kid today can sit still for five minutes?!) and the archaic notion of terrifying children through bed time tales.  

There is something ironic with fairy tales as a children’s genre when most of us would never read the unabridged tales to small children. We are more familiar with Disney’s highly abridged adaptations. I grew up watching the little mermaid singing and dancing, not exactly getting her tongue cut out of her mouth as in the orginal. Fairy tales today are used more for entertainment than for actual teaching but they are still fun to read nonetheless.

-Seth Nadler

Image Source: http://operachic.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c83e69e201156f5980a9970c-800wi

At This Moment

What are your thoughts on the insurance industry covering drastic medical procedures like gastric bypass surgery; is that their responsibility?

Sunny- All humans should help all humans if someone is in need, no question. People need help and it’s our job, especially the insurance company, to help them.

Lawrence- Absolutely not! Obesity is a big problem in our country, and covering such procedures will not hold people accountable for their self implicated health issues. I think insurance companies would be wise to take a more proactive approach and offer a monthly deductable for a gym membership.

Rebecca- I believe insurance in most cases does not cover enough in terms of medications, special procedures or specialty treatment (like psychological care etc) But procedures such as gastric bypass surgery, cosmetic surgery, etc should only be covered if the purpose of the procedure is medical and not for vanity purposes. If these procedures will improve the patient’s health, insurance should definitely cover the costs (or a part of it, depending on which coverage the patient has).

Katie- From the insurance industry’s perspective I can understand why they might think a drastic surgery now may be cheaper in the long run (i.e. the cost of treating diabetes). This does bring up the bigger issue of the insurance companies not covering enough preventative medicine.

Dan- It’s fine but they should more thoroughly cover mental health treatment (psychological) to avoid obesity. My stepfather had gastric bypass and he’s still a fat bastard.

Kim- Yes. One cannot control what severe medical procedures will come from a sickness. Everyone pays for their insurance for a reason. It should always be about the “what ifs.”

Joe- They should pay for my gym membership then gastric bypass surgery can be
covered for by insurance companies.

Ben- Hospitals and insurance providers are realizing that procedures to reduce weight [i.e. lapband, gastric bypass] are cheaper to provide than treating weight related illnesses like diabetes for a lifetime. I think insurance should cover everything medical related—even ailments that are caused by gluttony and sloth.

Lodrick- I think that the effectiveness of the surgery sometimes coincides with proper mental health. Without it, the surgery can be useless. Answer= if it includes a mental health education that then approves the surgery: my answer is yes. If it doesn’t then my answer is no.