Monthly Archives: February 2013

First Friday Weekends to begin March 1

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First Friday isn’t just for Fridays anymore.

Old City will extend the Friday fun of exhibit openings to the rest of the weekend in the form of First Friday Weekends. The new events will include Stop-In Saturdays and Brunch & Browse Sundays.

The first First Friday Weekend will begin March 1.

Exhibits involved in March’s First Friday include “The Painterly Pursuits of Brian Keeler” at Rodger LaPelle Galleries, The Betsy Ross House Opening Reception and taxidermist Beth Beverly’s “Life on the Farm at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Beverly is an alumna of the Tyler School of Art. Check back with The Temple News in coming weeks for an interview with Beverly on her exhibit.

Edge contract not renewed

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The university will not renew its contract with the Edge Student Village this year, in anticipation of the opening of 1,275 at Mitchell and Hilarie Morgan Hall this fall, Associate Vice President of Student Life Michael Scales said.

The university has renewed a one year contract with the building’s company Campus Living Villages every year since the Edge opened in 2006, Scales said.

The university leased roughly 750 beds from the complex, which sits one block from campus at 1601 N. 15th St.

Students will still have the opportunity to rent from the Edge, but will no longer be able to do so through the university’s Residential Life system.

Check out the full story in The Temple News on Tuesday, March 5.

Donation to be used for Social Justice Center

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Made possible by a $1.5 million donation, the Beasley School of Law will create a Social Justice Center that will work with nonprofits and agencies in the city to address social justice needs in the area, according to University Communications.

The donation was made by Sandra and Stephen Sheller.

Pick up The Temple News on March 5 for a full recap of the gift and the new Social Justice Center.

Film alumnus wins editing award at Oscars

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Temple film alumnus William Goldenberg won the Academy Award Sunday, Feb. 24, for Best Achievement in Editing for his work on “Argo,” which also went on to win the night’s most coveted award for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Goldenberg was also nominated in the category for editing “Zero Dark Thirty,” which was nominated for five Academy Awards total and won for Best Achievement in Sound Editing.

Goldenberg graduated in 1982 from Temple with a radio, TV and film bachelor’s degree. A Northeast High School graduate, Goldenberg picked up his first Academy Award last night after having been previously nominated for Best Film Editing for “Seabiscuit” in 2004 and “The Insider” in 2000.

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More than 70 percent have updated records

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Two weeks after Temple started its spring campaign to have all students update their living addresses online, more than 70 percent have responded. Students are prompted to update their living address through a pop-up window after logging into TUPortal.

The number of eligible students who would see the window is 34,344, Dean of Students Stephanie Ives said. As of Friday, Feb. 22, 24,551  students have updated their living addresses.

However, Ives said not all students have logged into TUPortal to see the prompt, but, of those who have, the “vast majority complete the information the first time they see the window.”

Bad Books rocks World Cafe Live on Feb. 21

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It may have been cold outside, but that did not stop the sold out crowd at World Café Live from enjoying indie-rock group Bad Books on Feb. 21.

Although Bad Books featured members of Manchester Orchestra as well as Kevin Devine, fans of both artists came to support the super group.

The crowd, comprised of mostly 20-somethings, often yelled out to band members. A particularly vocal fan proclaimed her love for singer Andy Hull. He promised her a meeting after the show, before the fan was quieted down by security.

The band featured more upbeat tracks, like “Baby Shoes” and “You Wouldn’t Have to Ask,” as well as the more somber tunes, like “The After Party.”

The show also featured New Jersey-based band The Front Bottoms and Weatherbox as opening acts.

New Bad Books fan Matthew Lilly described the band as, “encompassing a younger feel to it, yet with a mature spin. They are all extremely talented musicians and I would love to see them again.”

Lilly added, “I thought the atmosphere of the venue was really classy. It. complimented the main act very well.”

Danielle Miess can be reached at Danielle.miess@temple.edu. 

Iannelli: Responding to the the response to the State of the Union

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There are very few things that I hate more than being talked down to, which may very well be why your much-discussed State of the Union response last week rubbed me in the exact opposite direction of my fur on Tuesday, Mr. Rubio.  I caught every single word – and gulp –of your address, Mr. Senator, and to be frank, I demand an apology of sorts.

You see, my compatriots and I are the most connected generation in history.  We are able to, in a moment’s notice, use the spooky magic of the Internet to fact check every single word you broadcast into the public sector in real time.  And we enjoy doing it.  We appreciate facts, and we expect you to use them, abuse them and make them up as you please, like a real politician.  So when you turn in a speech full of enough sweeping generalizations to make a teen abstinence activist blush, inquisitive college kids like me get a tad ornery.

Thank you for kindly informing me that the government creates “complicated rules and laws.”  If you could hang out in my living room and inform me when my fireplace is hot, that’d be a massive help as well. Your job as a Senator is to create “complicated rules and laws,” Mr. Rubio.  You are the government.  If you refuse to make the scary, scary rules that allow our country to operate and keep businesses from dumping asbestos into my local water supply, who will?

Another gem from your rebuttal speech: “Our government can’t control the weather.”  Why not, Mr. Senator?  The Chinese claim to have built weather cannons for the Beijing Olympics that destroyed the city’s typical life-smothering smog.  What say you to that?  Is this why your party fears the Chinese so much?  Can I now blame Philadelphia’s inconveniently snowy February on menacing Chinese weather guns?  I demand answers.

Jokes aside, I wanted to like you, Mr. Rubio.  I wanted to believe that you really were the “Savior of the Republican Party,” as Time Magazine was so quick to anoint you this month.  I wanted to believe that your party’s recent thrashing at the Presidential polls had forced your constituents to modernize and align yourselves with causes that young people could get behind.  Like any semblance of science, for instance.

Instead, you denied global warming, blankly ignored the raging gun control debate, and served the American public more clichéd statements about Republican values than a seventh-grade Social Studies class.  Thank you for informing me that you think government is a bad, bad thing.  It’s great to know that you hate taxes more than Ke$ha hates disinfecting herself.  It was nice to hear that you think that I should be able to afford college, Mr. Senator.

It would have been even nicer if you told me how.

Jerry Iannelli can be reached at gerald.iannelli@temple.edu or on Twitter @jerryiannelli.

Craig: Harlem Shake symbolizes a powerful revolution

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“Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men!” – Les Miserables

A revolution starts with a spark, a small flame to ignite a peoples with a common goal. In this case, a Facebook event is all that was needed to round hundreds of inspired young adults to sacrifice their Friday afternoons for a common cause: dance.

Temple Students gathered around the Bell Tower this afternoon to recreate the famous Harlem Shake videos, creating a sea of costumes and fist pumping that clearly said, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

Yet to what oppressive force can we attribute this phenomenon? With so much going on, it’s clear these Youtube pioneers were making a statement about something.

What about President Obama and his policies?

“Absolutely,” said sophomore Harmon Sachse, “Obama is directly related to this.”

Could this be in response to the recent debate surrounding immigration?

“I think it says nothing at all about immigration,” said junior Joseph McGovern, “I think everyone who’s here was already in the United States.”

Maybe this video will be a defiant rejection of corporate culture. A Temple student, who to protect his identity decided to go simply by “Tim,” commented on this possibility.

“Um,” said Tim, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s about like overplayed pop music that’s exploited by record companies.”

Although the direction of this movement is not clear, we can say for sure that it is a bold expression of our Wayne and Garth given right to party on.

Daniel Craig can be reached at daniel.craig@temple.edu.

$15,000 reward offered in Morgan Hall arson case

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Investigators announced Thursday that a $15,000 award is being offered for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for setting five fires on multiple floors of Morgan Hall earlier this week.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering $5,000 in conjunction with L.F. Driscoll Company which is offering $10,000.

Check back with temple-news.com shortly for more information.

Scott: Valentine’s Day needs to be stopped

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With Valentine’s Day mere hours away, I can’t help but be filled with this burning, uncontrollable passion. You know; fury.

Valentine’s Day is easily the most unrealistic holiday. We plaster everything with hearts, yet we don’t care enough about the person to at least make sure they’re anatomically correct. If you love a person, you’ll include ventricles. Bonus points if they’re functional.

We bath everything in red and pink, and are expected to just ignore what a mixed message that sends. Wikipedia itself, the number one source of information for anyone who’s too busy to do any real research, describes the color as “danger, sacrifice, passion, fire, beauty, blood, anger, socialism and communism.”

So the next time you hand a bouquet of red roses to your significant other, think about how what you’re really giving is a flag to all around that he or she is a dangerous person looking to commit an act of passionate sacrifice into fire to obtain some beautiful blood to appease their angry socialist and communist gods. And do you know what type of flag that will be? A red one.

As for pink, the mighty Wikipedia says that “most variations of pink lie somewhere between red, white and magenta colors.” It’s indecisive, and that’s not what love is supposed to be.

Love also isn’t supposed to be about mass-produced consumerist culture either. It’s supposed to be about sincerity and showing who you truly are. No matter how many Golden Girls re-run marathons they run, Hallmark will never be able to tap into that sassy, yet sagely voice that is uniquely yours.

But if you go on a spiel about how you morally object to this accursed holiday, all you’ll get are people staring at you and continuing to demand some Tums crafted into a heart and carved with some vaguely romantic message. If Valentine’s Day has become a social obligation, what options do you really have?

JULIANA COPPA TTN

JULIANA COPPA TTN

I’ve always opted to make my own cards. It gives me full customization abilities and makes me feel like still having a protractor in my life past the fourth grade is forgivable. Yes, a protractor. I take angles seriously.

For those of you who don’t have a supply of glitter large enough to survive the wackiest Mardi Gras-related apocalypse imaginable, I’d recommend faking it until you are making it. Any implications hidden in that last sentence were solely the product of a compulsive need to rhyme.

For your convenience, here is a selection of very unique Valentine’s Day cards that people will think you took the time to craft. Use them at your leisure.

JULIANA COPPA TTN

JULIANA COPPA TTN

When it comes to gifts, I recommend using the same tactic. Poems, song lyrics and articles of some kind all make great individual gifts. It doesn’t need to stop there, either. Forgot Godiva, make your own chocolate. Master botany. What could possibly go wrong there?

Together, we can defeat the excessive capitalist influence and turn the symbolism of Valentine’s Day into something that really represents what the holiday should be about. We can make it what it always should have been. Well, you guys can. I’ve procrastinated too long and if I don’t get a card and some chocolate soon, my girlfriend is going to kill me.

Zack Scott can be reached at zack.scott@temple.edu or on Twitter @ZackScott11.