the miami hurricane - april 23, 2009

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April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE NEWS 1

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2 NEWS THE MIAMI HURRICANE April 23 - 26, 2009

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The MiamiHURRICANE

EDITOR IN CHIEFMatthew Bunch

FACULTY ADVISERBob Radziewicz

NEWS EDITORChelsea Kate Isaacs

SPORTS EDITORPravin Patel

ART DIRECTORShayna Blumenthal

WEBMASTERBrian Schlansky

MULTIMEDIA EDITORLauren WhiddonDaniel Bull

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORChristina De Nicola

DESIGNERSFelipe LobonLaura Patricelli

ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORTanya Thompson

ASSISTANTWEBMASTERShayna Blumenthal

COPY EDITORSarah B. Pilchick

BUSINESS MANAGERNick Maslow

FINANCIALADVISERRobert DuBord

OPINION EDITORJoshua W. Newman

EDGE EDITORHilary Saunders

PHOTO EDITORChelsea M. Matiash

COPY CHIEFNate Harris

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORErika CapekEd S. Fishman

ADMINISTRATOR ASSISTANTMaria Jamed

PUBLICRELATIONSJacob Crows

PRODUCTION MANAGERJessica Jurick

ACCOUNT REPSCarolyn Babbit Nico CilettiKatie Norwood Brian Schuman

©2009 University of Miami

The Miami Hurricane is published semi-weekly during the regular academic year and is edited and produced by undergraduate students at the University of Miami. The publication does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of advertisers or the university’s trustees, faculty or administration. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of The Hurricane’s Editorial Board. Commentaries, letters and cartoons represent only the views of their respective authors. The newsroom and business offi ce of The Hurricane are located in the Norman A. Whitten University Center, Room 221.

LETTER POLICYThe Miami Hurricane encourages all readers to voice their opinions on issues related to the university or in response to any report published in The Hurricane. Letters to the editor may be submitted typed or handwritten (please make your handwriting legible) to the Whitten University Center, Room 221, or mailed to P.O. Box 248132, Coral Gables, FL, 33124-6922. Letters, with a suggested length of 300 words, must be signed and include a copy of your student ID card, phone number and year in school.

SUBSCRIPTIONSThe Miami Hurricane is available for subscription at the rate of $50 per year.

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The University of Miami’s Launch Pad team won the Budgetball tournament held Saturday and will be traveling to Washington, D.C., in June for the Budgetball Champion-ship. Thirty-two teams with up to 10 students on each team participated in the single elimination tournament.

Budgetball, similar to Ultimate Frisbee, is a new sport that combines not only physical play but also fi scal strategy. Teams score points by passing the ball to a player in the end zone, while strategically managing their Budgetbucks. Budgetbucks may be borrowed, earned or spent by taking advantages such as an extra offensive player or by taking team sacrifi ces like wearing oven mitts during play.

To win, the team must creatively and responsibly use debt and savings to gain suffi cient advantage over their opponents and score more points.

Team Launch Pad was the only team standing at the end of the day. They used their athleticism and business-savvy techniques to accrue money and beat their

components.“We used the same type of strategy for Budgetball as we do for real companies,”

said Lucas Sommer, the team’s student captain. “We planned out our long-term goals and used resource allocation to build an effective team.”

Sommer is an MBA student and employee at The Launch Pad at Toppel, a place where entrepreneurs get together and work on business plans, starting companies and Web sites. He handpicked 10 other students to be on the team including undergraduates, law students and MBA students. And he is thrilled with their win because not only do they all get to go to Washington, but they also received $750 for The Launch Pad.

“Everyone’s really excited to go to D.C. and we appreciate the opportunity,” Som-mer said. “We’re glad to have won the donation and it will be used to promote the next generation of entrepreneurs at UM. We’re also happy to be representing the university in Washington.”

The championship will be held on June 13-17, where the team will compete with other schools across the country as well as members of Congress.

–Erika Capek

Team Launch Pad victorious in Budgetball tournament

Check out what’s exclusively available at

TheMiamiHurricane.com

See expanded coverage on stories, including a video from Hug the Lake 2009.

Read the letter from Hurricane reader Irene Daboin that inspired our editorial. Like what she says? Hate it? Give feedback by commenting!

Read full versions of stories in today’s paper, including Christina De Nicola’s profi le of Jason Santana and Matt Reed’s profi le of Hazel Henderson, the “Happy Sandwich Lady.”

Read an extended version of the Sports Briefs, which include information about basketball recruits and volleyball’s performance during a spring tournament.

ON THE COVER:Students encircle Lake Osceola on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate “Hug the Lake” 2009. The event coincided with Earth Day, the 39th annual celebration of the event.

Fencing team competes in Miami Madness

HOLLY CLAYTON // Hurricane Staff

EN GARDE: The University of Miami’s fencing club competed at Miami Mad-ness 2009 on Sunday at South Miami Middle School. The team lost against the University of South Florida sabre team, 45 to 43, in the direct elimination round. Two sabre team members medalled in the women’s individual sabre event. On Saturday, two members medalled in individual foil events.

–Shayna Blumenthal

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JENNA KING // Hurricane Staff

SHOWING SOME LOVE: These three lake huggers, standing near Eaton Residential College, show their appreciation for Lake Osceola by participating in an event sponsored by Random Acts of Kindness on Wednesday afternoon.

Earth Day 2009 brings students together to help

DOMINIQUE RIOFRIO // Hurricane Staff

PLANT THEM TREES: Lizanne Ortiz participates in Greek Earth Day 2009 on Saturday by tak-ing out a weed in one of the gardens at Kinloch Park Middle School.

JENNA KING// Hurricane Staff

HUG IT OUT: Nearly 600 people turned out on Wednesday to “hug” the lake.

Yesterday was the 39th annual Earth Day, a celebration of everything Earth. Students from all around the University of Miami have been preparing to celebrate the event, from planting trees at a local middle school over the weekend to hosting a nature-friendly fashion show Tuesday to circling the lake yesterday in support of UM’s most natural spot. The event, which was originally focused on overpopulation, now is more concerned with the control of carbon emissions.

- Matthew Bunch

DOMINIQUE RIOFRIO // Hurricane Staff

COLORED SPADE: Niki Moshell and Alexis Wisley participate in Greek Earth Day 2009. They’ve just fi nished plant-ing a new tree at Kinloch Park Middle School.

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University of Miami Dean of Students Ricardo Hall is optimistic the Ibis Ride shut-tle to Coconut Grove will return next semes-ter. In what capacity is the only remaining question.

“I’m confident that by the time fall comes around there will be some mode of transportation to the Grove, but things may

change,” Hall said. “We may look into different hours, using more or less buses or using more or less monitors, I don’t know yet. We’re go-ing to work with Lionel Moise, other folks from Student Government and As-sistant Dean of Stu-dents Nanette Vega and come to some

agreed-upon solution that doesn’t compro-mise the safety of the students, monitors or drivers.”

The popular shuttle service was can-celed for the rest of the Spring Semester on April 9. The shuttle had faced the chopping block last year after bad behavior, but after an impassioned campaign from Student Government leaders, behavior improved, leading Hall to tell The Miami Hurricane on Feb. 23 that the service was “in a different place now.”

Despite the improvement, Dean Vega cited three incidents in particular that took place the Friday morning prior to cancella-tion that directly ended university-provided service to Grove.

“What prompted cancellation was three incidents that took place the Friday before the Ibis Ride was officially shut down,” Vega said. “Alcohol-related incidents involving a fight between two students in the Grove, in which one broke his nose, a student who had passed out on the bus and was unresponsive, and a student who was intoxicated and did not know where he lived warranted para-

medic attention. It was at this point we real-ized enough was enough.”

SG President Lionel Moise has said he is determined to bring the Ibis Ride back to the university next year which is why SG has scheduled a student forum at 5 p.m. Mon-day at the I-Lounge. All students are invited to attend and voice their opinions on how to improve the Ibis Ride.

“I feel like there needs to be a culture change among the students in regards to the Ibis Ride,” Moise said. “Students need to realize the Ibis Ride is a privilege and not a guarantee. We lost something we love be-cause we took advantage of it. We also want incoming freshman and transfer students to know that this can be taken away if guide-lines aren’t followed.”

SG has also formed a committee that will meet over the summer in hopes of pro-posing a new plan to the Dean of Students administration to bring back an improved, safer Ibis Ride.

Because the Ibis Ride was created though the initiative of the university Stu-dent Government, Dean Vega and the Dean of Students office is giving Student Govern-ment full empowerment to restructure and save the ride.

“I’m not happy over what happened, but I’m glad we’re going to have the oppor-tunity to work with Student Government and the new administration and see if we can develop a better Ibis Ride,” Vega said. “It was a difficult decision to shut it down because most students follow the rules, but we came to the conclusion the shuttle was no longer safe. We’re hoping to change that in the future.”

Mike Pindelski may be contacted at [email protected].

Dean Hall ‘confident’ transportation to Grove will return by Fall 2009Student forum on future of service to be held Monday

BY MIKE PINDELSKICONTRIBUTING NEWS WRITER

If You Go

WHAT: Ibis Ride student forumWHERE: I-Lounge, Univer-sity CenterWHEN: Monday, 5 p.m.WHY: To discuss future options for the Ibis Ride shuttle

RICARDO HALL

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Every UM freshman who has eaten at the Hecht/Stanford dining hall over the last seven years knows Hazel Henderson. The 61-year-old mother of four and grandmother of 14 has been serving food with a smile since 2002 and tries to make the freshman experience better for everyone who visits her station.

Henderson, dubbed “Hazel the Happy Sandwich Lady” by students, is so popular that a Face-book group in her honor currently has over 700 members. When Hazel was moved to the Wellness Center’s Juice Bar in Spring 2006, the student outcry was so huge that she was moved back to Hecht/Stanford, a decision she hoped for.

“Deep in my heart I knew I was supposed to be here, and I prayed on it and tell me prayer doesn’t change things,” Henderson said.

Sophomore John Helfand has lived in Hecht for two years and

has enjoyed having Hazel make his sandwiches this entire time.

“It is just a pleasure to go in there and say hi to her and get a wonderful sandwich made,” Hel-fand said. “Hazel is always smiling and she always makes everyone that talks to her smile. Even if you’re having a bad day, Hazel comes in there and cheers you up.”

Alumnus Billy Bludgus still has good memories of Hazel.

“I graduated four years ago and I still remember Hazel mak-ing my turkey and provolone wrap with the biggest smile ever,” Blud-gus said.

Hazel says the reason she’s al-ways smiling is because of advice her grandmother once gave her.

“When I was a little girl, my grandmother said to me, ‘for every minute that you spend in sadness you lose 60 seconds of happiness,’ so I think I would rather have those 60 seconds,” Henderson said.

On December 2, 2002, Hazel began working at the sandwich station at the Hecht/Stanford Din-

ing Hall. Mel Tenen, the assistant vice president of Auxiliary Ser-vices, recognizes Hazel’s impact at Chartwells.

“Hazel definitely makes a dif-ference in every student’s life with whom she comes in contact with,” Tenen said. “With her warm and caring smile and manner, she shows genuine interest in each of our students ensuring that their experience at the University of Mi-ami is special.”

One reason Hazel loves work-ing in Hecht/Stanford is that she gets to work with freshman.

“I call them newbies, the freshman,” she said. “It’s their first time away from home so they get special care. I am glad I was put over here where they are because I’m grandmotherly and they treat me like it.”

Matt Reed may be contacted at [email protected].

To read the full version of this story, visit

TheMiamiHurricane.com.

Hazel the ‘Happy Sandwich Lady’ brings cheer to ChartwellsBY MATT REEDCONTRIBUTING NEWS WRITER

ALEX BROADWELL // Hurricane Staff

HARD AT WORK: Hazel Henderson is the legendary “sandwich lady” in the Hecht/Stanford Dining Hall. She even has a Facebook group dedicated to her.

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Three chief executive officers gathered with University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala on Mon-day at the School of Business Storer Auditorium to discuss Miami’s future and its role in a “green economy.”

This event featured Lewis Hay, CEO of Florida Power and Light, Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, and John T. Chambers, the CEO of the Cisco System.

These three men, along with CEO of the Silver Spring Network Scott Lang, met with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz earlier in the day for a press conference announcing “En-ergy Smart Miami.”

This initiative will be a public-private partnership with these enti-ties. It will use federal stimulus funds for an investment in “Smart Grid” technology that will make Miami’s current electrical grid more energy efficient. It is the most ambitious Smart Grid plan in the United States to date.

“We’re here today to announce the Smart Grid Initiative that we’re doing in all of Miami-Dade County,” said Lewis Hay in his opening presen-tation in the Storer Auditorium. “We will be rolling [it] out with stimulus money over the next two years.”

Hay detailed his company’s ef-

forts to promote renewable technolo-gies and explained that a reviving economy can be further spurred by government policies that promote plug-in hybrids.

“The economy goes into a re-set once every generation,” Immelt said. “A reset means that people fun-damentally change how they think about the world.”

Immelt agreed that many jobs in the future economy will be based around curbing the causes of cli-mate change, such as human carbon emissions. He cited that technology should be the primary means to pro-mote energy efficiency and conserva-tion.

“This is a very complex city and county with a very complex politics,” President Shalala said before asking the panel her first question. “How [do you plan to execute] the initia-tive?”

Lewis Hay answered that the companies have collaborated in re-searching and driving prices down for wind energy.

“Everything’s not going to be perfect,” he said about implementing the new technology. “We will make mistakes.”

The conference ended with Sha-lala asking these men their thoughts on the future.

“Just be cool,” Immelt told the audience, filled with UM stidents in-terested in Green Energy. “We’re go-ing to try to build the types of compa-nies that you want to work for.”

Ramon Galiana may be contacted at [email protected].

CEOs descend upon UM

Shalala joined by titans of industry at Storer

BY RAMON GALIANASENIOR NEWS WRITER

STEVEN STUTS // Hurricane Staff

KEEPING IT GREEN: Cisco CEO John Chambers, fl anked by FPL’s Lewis Hay and President Shalala, explains the details of Smart Grid Miami to students in Storer Auditorium this Monday.

Get your Tweet on.http://www.twitter.com/MiamiHurricane

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April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE ADVERTISING 7

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8 OPINION THE MIAMI HURRICANE April 23 - 26, 2009

OPINION Should I respect religion? I am inclined to say no on

the grounds that religion doesn’t respect me either.

- Morten Hoi Jensen,contributing columnist

“

”Editorial

Ibis Ride needs rules with teeth

It’s kind of funny to think about the vitriol that surrounded the cancellation of the Ibis Ride just a few short weeks ago. Irresponsibility on the part of stu-dents, haste on the part of the Dean of Students office and disgust on both sides, for different reasons.

Now the dust has settled a bit, and overtures have been made by Dean Ri-cardo Hall that indicate some type of Co-conut Grove transportation will be made available beginning next academic year. But what will be changed? What will be made different to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again?

The answer to this student-created problem naturally comes from a student. Irene Daboin, a sophomore and resident assistant in Stanford Residential College, e-mailed The Miami Hurricane and Dean Hall immediately after the cancellation. Her suggestion? Give the watchdogs on the shuttles some bite. The Ibis Ride is university property, just as a floor in a residential college. If a rule is broken on the shuttle, it should be penalized like it would be if you were stumbling around campus so drunk you don’t know where you are. Irene’s proposal is the creation of a Transportation Security Assistant with the authority to write students up, submit reports to the Dean of Students and call for police assistance if necessary.

Sometimes, the threat of enforce-ment is the only enforcement necessary. If students know that their actions will have real repercussions, they’ll clean up their act (literally and figuratively) before they step foot on the shuttle. To Dean Hall and the rest of the Dean of Students office: listen to this proposal. Most stu-dents want the Ibis Ride back, and they want it to be safe. This is one inexpensive way of making that happen.

To read Irene Daboin’s letter about the Ibis Ride’s future, visit TheMiamiHurricane.com.

Editorials represent the majority view of The Miami Hurricane editorial board.

by morten høi jensen

Twenty years ago, in February of 1989, Sal-man Rushdie began a life of hiding that would last almost a decade. After the publication of Rushdie’s brilliant novel The Satanic Verses, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering all true Muslims to kill him. Last November I met the great author in Miami and was pleased to see him alive and in good spirits. His place among

the greatest minds of our time is undisputed, but for almost 10 years we came dangerously close to losing him.

And yet the people willing to condemn him for allegedly in-sulting Islam abound. Religion deserves respect, we are told, and criticism of it is invariably perceived as an assault on the right to religious belief. The price of religious tolerance quickly becomes the intolerance of freedom, for the simple fact that certain reli-gious values – whether Christian, Islamic or otherwise – are in opposition to the values of a liberal democracy. According to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the brave Muslim dissident whose life has been threatened countless times, female genital mutilation is practiced in over 30 countries. Are secular democratic nations somehow supposed to accept this ritual in the name of religious tolerance?

Take a less extreme and more familiar example. In the Unit-ed States, right-wing Christian organizations such as the Family Research Council have fought quite successfully against manda-tory vaccination against human papillomavirus in young girls on

the grounds that it might encourage sexual promiscuity. Religious conviction thus gets in the way of public health; cervical can-cer, the risk of which the HPV vaccine can lower considerably, is currently one of the major causes of death from cancer among women across the globe.

If I seem to focus somewhat on the influence of religious beliefs on women, it is because this problematic relationship re-mains, to me at least, one of most objectionable issues of main-stream religious belief. You don’t have to delve deep into either the Bible or the Qu’ran to encounter blatant examples of misogyny, particularly when it comes to issues of female sexuality which, as ever, elicit suspicious (and violent) male distrust.

Should I respect religion? I am inclined to say no on the grounds that religion doesn’t respect me either. On the other hand, religious belief is an inalienable right in the same way that disbelief is, and that is something I will always respect and defend without hesitation. What I refuse to respect is the heavy machin-ery of organized religion that continues to threaten the openness of secular democratic values (and thereby other religions, too). Open-armed tolerance of religious rituals and beliefs is a far more problematic and complex issue than people are willing to admit. The cost of this ignorance could be far greater than we realize..

Morten Høi Jensen is a junior majoring in English and creative writing. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Should I respect religion?

by felipe a. yanez

Aside from the newly-placed “art” in the center of campus, apartment 34S – and the en-tire Apartment Area for that matter – are the biggest pieces of crap at the University of Mi-ami.

In the eight months since I moved in at the beginning of the semester, my apartment has gone from a mighty little two-bedroom mini-

fortress with new carpet and a kitchen to a shabby shanty that almost makes me yearn for the dorm days of Stanford and Pear-son. Almost.

Among the things that have had to be fixed over the course of the school year: a refrigerator light that wouldn’t turn on, a window that hung off of one hinge, a broken toilet handle, a bedroom door that wouldn’t even close because it couldn’t fit in the friggin’ door frame, and a bathroom light that turned into a strobe light whenever it was turned on. (Perfect if you like to rave, not so much if you have epilepsy.) And I’m not even including the 56 layers of lead-based paint on the walls, the oc-casional cockroach, and the mysterious stains on the couches.

But despite living in the Detroit of apartments, 8-CARE has always been a valuable resource in delaying the deteriora-tion of apartment 34S. The UNICCO guys on the receiving end of 8-CARE are the handiest group of MacGyvers the university

has ever seen. I’ve called 8-CARE and have had every crappy broken thing about this apartment fixed the same day. I can’t even get my professors to return test grades back in the same month! They’re efficient, use minimal tools, and speak very little. All they need to say is “what’s the problem?” and “BAM. FIXED.” So for that, I want to pay my respects and thank every-body at 8-CARE, one of UM’s unsung heroes.

And if I haven’t made this any clearer, let me close by say-ing this: the Apartment Area sucks. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a freshman or sophomore that couldn’t get into Univer-sity Village, the apartment area is a great upgrade from living in the dorms. As my roommate Derrick said, the Apartment Area is “old but spacious, dirty but welcoming.” But considering the Apartment Area was originally built to house World War II vet-erans attending UM on the GI Bill, and that the third floor of my building, Pentland House, doesn’t have anyone living in it because of the presence of mold, asbestos and probably ebola, I think I can safely conclude one thing: this motherf***er needs to be torn down.

.Felipe A. Yanez is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and political science. He may be contacted at [email protected].

It’s time for the Apartment Area to be replaced

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April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE OPINION 9

UP!speak

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

CARISSA DeMELLOSophomore

“When people say they will call, and never do.”

ANDY PALMEROSenior

“When people use Facebook in the library

when I’m trying to use one to get work done.”

Disclaimer: This article deals exclusively with the is-sue of music sharing, not other media.

You’ve heard a lot about pirates recently, but did you know that Somalians aren’t the only ones making head-

lines?Indeed, the largest and best-known Bit-

Torrent tracker, The Pirate Bay (http://thepi-ratebay.org), was recently brought to trial and charged with “promoting other peoples’ in-fringements of copyright laws” by a group of Stockholm prosecutors working in conjunc-tion with the IFPI, or International Federa-tion of the Phonographic Industry. The trial, which had been closely followed by various international news organizations – though coverage was conspicuously absent from mainstream U.S. media – came to an end on April 17 when the judge deemed four indi-viduals associated with the site guilty.

Using evidence seized in a 2006 raid of the Web site’s headquarters, prosecutors pre-sented proof of the site making 33 specific files under copyright available via peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. However, after taking into account the enormity of the site (22 million registered users tracking 1.5 mil-lion torrents per cycle, with $1.2 million per year in advertising revenues), the defendants’ punishments seem rather light: each must serve one year of imprisonment within Swed-ish penitentiaries and they must pay $3.6 mil-lion to a collection of entertainment agencies such as Warner Bros., Columbia, Sony Mu-sic and EMI.

And the site continues to run! As some-one who hasn’t paid for an album since fresh-man year of high school, I’m thankful.

So as the Pirate Bay guys are submitting their appeals to the court, I encourage every-one reading to continue getting their music for free. Perhaps in time, the labels will aban-don their antiquated business models and re-alize that when one window’s shut, another’s open. And for any industry eyes seeking ex-amples, check out a label called Normative (http://normative.com/), with whom artists establish themselves as independent corpora-tions, not indentured money-earners.

Nick Moran is a junior majoring in English. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Pirate punishmentby nick moran

Speak Up! answers are edited for clarity, brevity and accuracy.

compiled byJOE ALTIERI

CHRIS RAINERJunior

“The fl ippin’ ‘Speak Up!’”

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12 ADVERTISEMENT THE MIAMI HURRICANE April 23 - 26, 2009

13


April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE EDGE 13

Lowe Art Museum student show gets attendees thinking

ABOVE: Professor Carsten Meier ABOVE RIGHT: Lily Johnson-Ulrich’s “Self-Portrait” LOWER LEFT: An etching by Heather Newcomb LOWER RIGHT: Valeria Rocchiccioli with “Bug in the Chlorophyll Shower”

ELIZABETH POTI // Hurricane Staff

For photographer Carsten Meier and many student artists, this past Friday was an excellent evening at the Lowe Art Museum’s student art exhibit and preview.

Meier, a University of Miami assistant professor and experienced

photographer, delivered a thought-provoking lecture to debut his exhibit “Naturell” to the Lowe and to the many art lovers in attendance. An awards ceremony honoring the outstanding artists on exhibit followed. Attendees were also allowed a walk-through of the exposition.

“Spooky things happen in nature,” Meier said when asked why his photography took a turn for the narrative. His work, combining collage, assemblage and nature, seeks to create his own personal reality through digital editing.

“Meier’s work focuses on the individual’s perception of nature and

how the act of seeing a photograph establishes a transitory thread between the viewer and the environment depicted,” said Elizabeth Amore, the media representative for the Lowe Museum.

“We are moving on as photographers into storytellers,” Meier said. He said that his work was only an attempt to make nature more beautiful.

Later, awards were presented to students who demonstrated exemplary performance in different areas of their art study. The viewers were then allowed to roam freely through the exhibit and chat with the artists about their work.

“It was just a fun experiment that turned out to be really cool,” said Hamad Almousa, a student whose piece “Look Into My World” merited the Dr. Marion F. Jefferson Award. “It allowed me to use mirrors in ways we don’t usually use them.”

The exhibits will run at the museum until June 14. The Master of Fine Arts exhibition will open on May 14 and also close on June 14.

Nicolette Roque may be contacted at [email protected].

Award ceremony honors outstanding artists from university art programsBY NICOLETTE ROQUECONTRIBUTING EDGE WRITER

If You Go

What: UM Student / Carsten Meier exhibitWhen: April 18 - June 14Where: Lowe Art Museum

What: Master of Fine Arts ExhibitionWhen: May 14 - June 14Where: Lowe Art Museum

Percussive Poetry: The Infl uence of African DrumsMiami Art MuseumDowntownSunday, April 26, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

14


14 EDGE THE MIAMI HURRICANE April 23 - 26, 2009

Public martyrdom, suburban frustrations and the trials of a young chimney sweep are all themes portrayed in the three short but dramatic operas presented by the Frost Opera Theater. Concluding their 2008-2009 season, excerpts of the works will be performed April 22-25.

The first opera, Pearl, is based on a book by Mary Gordon. It follows a mother’s journey to understand her daughter’s act of rebellion in Ireland, where she chains herself to a flagpole in front of the U.S. embassy. The opera is a work in progress, currently undergoing its gestation and experimental period

until its full debut.The next piece, Trouble in Tahiti,

follows the lives of an American couple, Sam and Dinah, who have much in common with the couple featured in the recent movie release Revolutionary Road. They become disenchanted with suburban life and the opera follows all the troubles that ensue.

Finally, The Little Sweep is the story of a young chimney sweep who is mistreated and, while working, gets lodged in a chimney. He is rescued by the children of the house and finds freedom from his cruel employer. This unique opera can be likened to works such as Annie and Oliver Twist and even includes audience participation.

In performing these memorable works, the Frost Opera Theater hopes

to increase attendance.“Since we have a smaller ensemble,

a lot of people are not even aware of our opera programs,” said Alan Johnson, the music and program director of the Frost Opera Theater. “Our mission is to bring all the hard work of these students out to the university at large.”

Dean Southern, the stage and music director of The Little Sweep, shared similar sentiments.

“I think it is very exciting to see the future of opera,” Southern said. “People should get out to see how alive opera can be.”

Danielle Kaslow may be contacted at [email protected].

The lighthearted melody of a piano could be heard from a small performance room in the Frost School of Music. Inside, a woman with a green University of Miami polo shirt, black slacks and sandals concentrated on the piano keys. Her fingers seemed to dance around them, gently moving like a subtle breeze. Neither a smile nor a frown emanated from her face, just pure focus.

Playing with such tenacity and passion, Julia Mortyakova brings the same characteristics to her leadership roles, like as president of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and CEO of the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students. Mortyakova, who has a Master’s in performance from New York University, is about to complete her doctoral degree at UM in keyboard performance. She has performed around the world, lobbied in Washington D.C. for graduate rights and brought classical music to downtown Miami.

As the GSA president at UM, however, Mortyakova had the difficult task of heading an organization with a fragmented targeted audience. The number of UM graduate students totals about 5,000, yet the GSA only had 26 members. Graduates had no opportunity to interact with other graduates from different fields and the GSA provided social networking who would not otherwise meet.

“Through GSA, I have been exposed to and inspired by people from other fields of graduate study,” Mortyakova said.

In her two years as president, Mortyakova created important policies such as the teaching and research

assistant differential funding policy, as well as the Provost Research Fund.

“Her insight, experience, and knowledge of university policies [were] a tremendous benefit to the GSA,” said Mechelle Francis, the current GSA vice president, who will take over as president on May 15.

Mortyakova’s experience as GSA president led her to lobby for nationwide graduate student concerns as CEO of the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students.

As a musician, Mortyakova was involved in leadership roles on campus as well as in the greater Miami community. She was a member of the College Music Society, Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in education, the Frost School of Music’s Dean Advisory Board and president of the Music Teachers National Association.

Mortyakova’s love for music inspired her to reach out to others who had not heard of classical music or seen it performed. She served as the co-founder and artistic director of the Downtown Community Concert Series.

Since this is Mortyakova’s last semester at UM, though, she spoke of a few college teaching jobs for which she applied. For now, she teaches after-school private piano lessons at the Mendelshtam Theatre in Gulliver/South Miami campus for children and works on her own recording.

With a passion for music and helping others, friends say Mortyakova has shown that success can be achieved through hard work. Said John Constantinides, the GSA parliamentarian, “Julia’s academic talent and leadership both help increased the academic profile of the university.”

Andrea Concepcion may be contacted at [email protected].

BY DANIELLE KASLOWSENIOR EDGE WRITER

BY ANDREA CONCEPCIONCONTRIBUTING EDGE WRITER

Frost Opera Theater to conclude their season with three worksIf You Go

WHAT: Frost Opera Theater 2008-2009 season conclud-ing performancesWhen: April 22 (excerpts from Pearl and Trouble in Ta-hiti), April 23 (Pearl and The Little Sweep), April 24 and 25 (Trouble in Tahiti and The Little Sweep)All performances at 7 p.m.Where: Victor E. Clarke Recital HallCost: $5 for Students/Facul-ty/Staff; $20 General Admis-sion; $10 Seniors

Graduate student leader has multitude of hidden talents

ANDREA CONCEPCION //HURRICANE STAFF

15


April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE SPORTS 15

Starting Pitching

Sophomore Chris Hernan-dez has found his groove and has pitched well in his last three starts. Junior David Gutierrez and sophomore Iden Nazario are coming off solid out-ings last weekend, each tossing 5.1 innings and al-lowing three runs against the potent UNC Tar Heels. VT’s three weekend starters are a combined 12-5 but have given up 13 home runs.

Bullpen Miami freshmen Sam Rob-inson and Daniel Miranda have pitched well in re-lief. Each has found their niche. Kyle Bellamy is still the best closer in college baseball. Four different Hokie relievers have at least one save. They do not have a defi nitive closer.

Infi eld First baseman Jason Hagerty has been the Canes’ hottest hitter. Shortstop Ryan Jackson feasted on Hokie pitching last year in Blacksburg, Va., as he went 5-for-11. Second baseman Scott Lawson leads the team in batting average, walks and doubles. All four Hokie in-fi elders are hitting over .300.

Outfi eld Miami outfi elders Chris Herrmann, Nathan Me-lendres and Dave DiNa-tale have shown fl ashes of brightness but have yet to provide consistency in the lineup. Virginia Tech right fi elder Mike Kaminski is in the top 10 in the ACC in batting average hitting a shade below .400.

Intangibles The Hokies are a good road team, as they are 11-4 away from English Field. Miami has lost their last two weekend series.

- Justin Antweil

MIAMI VS. VTMIAMI VT

BASEBALL

Canes conquer Fla. Gulf Coast

Miami baseball team’s current rankings in the

USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.SPORTS

The position Miami’s rowing team

fi nished at the ACC Championships311


FINAL APPROACH: Jason Hagerty dives into home plate over FGCU’s catcher. The Hurricanes defeated FGCU in another come-from-behind win, winning by a score of 13-7.

For one night, No. 11 Mi-ami’s bats came to life after being quieted by fourth-ranked North Carolina over the weekend.

The Hurricanes (27-13) ral-lied from an early 4-1 deficit to beat Florida Gulf Coast 13-7 Wednes-day night at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in the first of a six-game home stand.

Junior Chris Herrmann knocked a two-out RBI single up the middle to score pinch hitter Iden Nazario for the game winner in a four-run seventh.

“When I was up at the plate today, in my mind I was saying,

‘just try not to do too much and drive in some runs’ and it hap-pened for me,” Herrmann said.

Nazario, who is also Miami’s Sunday starter, had doubled with two outs to jump-start the Canes in a 7-7 deadlock.

“I think the guy can hit and I probably haven’t gotten him enough at-bats. I can tell you he’s starting Friday night as DH,” head coach Jim Morris said. “He’s got a good swing, the ball jumps off his bat. To me, that was the biggest hit of the game.”

Senior Dave DiNatale blasted a three-run homer later in the in-ning to extend the lead to 11-7. Freshman Harold Marinez added four RBIs for the Canes, including a three-run homer in the fourth.

Reliever Daniel Miranda (3-2) pitched 1.2 perfect innings with two strikeouts for the win. Jacob Barnes (0-1) picked up the loss for the Eagles (22-16) as he gave up

four runs in two innings.With 14 games left before the

ACC tournament, Miami hosts a weekend series against the Coastal Division’s last-place Virginia Tech Hokies (24-15, 9-11).

“We just told each other that this is a point in our season where you can either decide to crumble or decide to get together as a team and really rally behind each other and and come out with a lot of heart and a lot of fire,” DiNatale said.

Christina De Nicola may be contacted at [email protected].

UM comes back from 4-1 deficit

BY CHRISTINA DE NICOLAASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

FGCU 7 13 3

Miami 13 15 3

R H E

MIAMI VS. FGCUFor full matchups visit

TheMiamiHurricane.com

16


16 SPORTS THE MIAMI HURRICANE April 23 - 26, 2009

BASEBALL PROFILE

Injuries behind him, Santana now a league leader

Heading into the season, No. 11 Miami knew it would have to rely on a young team of 11 true freshmen.

What head coach Jim Morris didn’t know was that with less than a month left in the regular season, senior right-hander Ja-son Santana would prove to be the biggest surprise.

“I don’t think there’s a day that passes by that they don’t give me a hard time about be-ing here and being so old,” said the 23-year-old, who first came to Miami in 2005. “It’s alright, it’s all fun.”

Santana, a graduate of Coral Gables Senior High, is a testament to how injuries can escalate and alter a pitcher’s career.

“He was a guy who always competed

no matter what the situation, no matter the team he faced,” said Laz Gutierrez, Santa-na’s high school coach who is now a scout for the Boston Red Sox. “I do follow him a lot just because he played for me three years at Gables. He definitely has a special place in my heart forever. I’ve seen him grow up. His success just goes to show you what kind of career this kid could’ve had had he stayed healthy.”

The criminology major sat out his freshman season after having Tommy John surgery. Two years ago he had bursitis and labrum surgery and midway through last season he had rotator cuff, labrum and bicep tear surgery.

“I kept telling myself that everything would be alright and I didn’t think I could just quit that easily,” Santana said. “I wasn’t going to let anything like that stop me be-cause I knew that I could pitch at this level. I knew I’d come back.”

Pitching coach J.D. Arteaga and Morris

Pitcher faced many surgeries while at UM

BY CHRISTINA DE NICOLAASSISTANT SPORT EDITOR


THE HEAT: Senior Jason Santana pitches against Florida Atlantic last week.SEE SANTANA, PAGE 18

17


April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE SPORTS 17

On Saturday, Miami’s 14-year streak of first-round draft picks will end. This is the type of record that may never be equaled, although the USC Trojans are looking like they could threaten it.

The end of this streak has been

signaled for several years.The death knell almost rang last year, when safety Kenny Phillips snuck into the first round as the last pick.

This year, however, no such luck will

be had. Bruce Johnson is Miami’s top prospect, which in and of itself is a sign of the program’s decline. Johnson is given a sixth round grade by most in the business.

And that is it. One late round pick. For an entire senior class at Miami.

I have droned time and again in this space about the atrocities propagated on this program by Larry Coker. This is perhaps the final time I will get to do so and, perhaps, the time that best hammers home the point.

Even when Miami has not won, it has produced NFL players.

Chuck Foreman, Jim Otto and Ted Hendricks are Hall of Fame-quality NFL players that toiled on bad Miami teams in the BH (Before Howard) period. Coming

off Coker’s final 7-6 season, three Canes were drafted in the first round.

So, to say that Coker’s losses speak for themselves is not wholly accurate. Instead, the rot that Coker wrought on this vessel is finally coming to its peak.

Johnson will likely be the only Cane drafted. His college career was largely unproductive, despite a nice recruiting file.

He is a step slow for a guy who is a touch too small. And he is the best we have to offer this year.

The streak will start again soon enough, there is too much talent for it not to. However, maybe it is a good thing to be done with it.

The emphasis of the program seemed

to have shifted. Recruits came in thinking it was their right to be a first rounder.

Lost was the gritty work ethic and fierce drive that made so many players into the stars that now populate NFL highlight reels. Now the players see exactly what happens when you lose that fire.

It is a privilege to go to the league and not a guarantee. Sometimes it is the less talented guy, the Bruce Johnson type, the worker bee, who is left to shoulder a burden that he never should have been left with.

Dan Stein may be contacted at [email protected].

FOOTBALL COMMENTARY

Streak’s end closes door on Larry Coker era

BY DAN STEINSENIOR SPORTS WRITER

Visit blogs.TheMiamiHurricane.com to read more from Dan Stein

18



ROWING

Hurricanes selected for All-ACC team

Senior Laura Cordner and sophomore Emily Wingrove were selected to the All-ACC team as the University of Miami rowing team fi nished third at Monday’s ACC Rowing Cham-pionships at Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Miami earned a total of 34 points on Monday, while Clemson claimed its fi rst-ever ACC Rowing Championship by sweeping the Varsity Four and Varsity Eight events to fi nish with 55 points.

GOLF

Miami fi nishes eighth at ACC Championships

Sophomore Maria Ronderos posted a 74 in the fi nal round as Miami fi nished eighth at the ACC Championships this past weekend at the Sedgefi eld Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

Wake Forest shot 17-over (869) to claim the championship, which was 24 strokes bet-ter than second place North Carolina (893). The Hurricanes shot 316 on the fi nal day. De-mon Deacon sophomore Natalie Sheary cap-tured the ACC individual title with a one-over par 214.

Ronderos fi nished 24th with a 21-over par 234.

SWIMMING/DIVING

Team participates in community service

Head swimming coach Christie Shefc-hunas and the University of Miami swimming and diving team took part in a Habitat for Humanity community outreach program this past Saturday as they paired with members of the Hurricanes soccer team to build a house in the Liberty City section of Miami.

Together, the Canes paired with mem-bers of a professional construction crew and fellow volunteers to help build a home for a deserving family in the Miami-Dade commu-nity.

–Christina De Nicola

stuck by Santana because of that promise.“I’m happy for him more than any-

thing,” Morris said. “The bottom line is he’s going deep in the season now for the first time, knock on wood.”

Despite eight Canes being drafted in the 2008 MLB Draft, Santana watched as the team, which included his high school team-mate and the fifth overall pick, Yonder Alon-so, failed to win the College World Series.

“It would’ve been great to contribute to the team and maybe the outcome could’ve been a little bit different,” he said.

Entering Wednesday’s game,, the 6’2” 200-pounder is tied for second in the ACC with six wins. He has pitched 40.2 innings and holds a 3.10 ERA in ten appearances for the sixth-lowest earned-run average in the ACC. Coming into this season, he was 8-1 with a 3.28 ERA.

“The last time I felt this healthy was in high school, not even, because I was hurt,” Santana said. “It feels great not having to worry about going out there and getting hurt and just being able to pitch.”

Last week, he beat Florida Atlantic for the third time in 21 days and allowed just one run in a career-high seven innings.

“He does that every midweek game,” said closer Kyle Bellamy, who picked up his ACC-leading 10th save in the 3-1 victory. “He’s been battling injuries for five years now and he’s a real good friend of mine and I’m just happy that he’s doing so well.”

And every time he takes the mound, Santana’s family comes in large numbers to cheer him on.

“I know my parents, they’re really happy to see me out there, especially after all I’ve gone through,” he said. “I know it affects them a lot more than people think.”

As the Hurricanes get closer to postsea-son play, Santana hopes to be one of the key factors in the team’s success.

“The biggest thing is just being able to be out there every day and pitch and help the team win,” he said. “As long as every time I go out there I give the team a chance to win, I’m happy.”

Christina De Nicola may be contacted at [email protected].

BRIEFS Coral Gables native tied for second in ACC for winsSANTANA FROM PAGE 16

19


April 23 - 26, 2009 THE MIAMI HURRICANE DEAR V 19

Need more advice? Visit TheMiamiHurricane.com and search “Dear V”

dear ...Method of self-satisfaction shouldn’t be changed by perceptions.

,I was talking with a group of my girl-

friends, and the subject of vibrators came up. I mentioned that I do not own one, and they all thought I was weird. Are vibrators really that common? I always thought they were just marketed toward nymphos. Should I get one?

Sincerely,Manually Operated

Dear Ms. Manual,Take a moment to define the word

“nympho.” Is it a woman with an inap-propriately high sex drive? What do you consider inappropriate? If you ask me, you are putting the colorful world of

masturbation into inappropriately black-and-white terms!

Everyone has some kind of sexual desire. Every sexual desire can vary in frequency and intensity. And of course, everyone gets off on something different. If you have not identified with this aspect of yourself, I recommend you take the time to do so.

The sex toy industry is worth billions of dollars for one very good reason: the variety. When we narrow things down to vibrators, they come in all shapes, sizes, textures, and colors – you name it. So many different vibrators exist because there will always be someone to buy them.

If you question springing for one of these gadgets because you are otherwise

sexually satisfied (through sex with a sig-nificant other or “classic” masturbation), so be it. You don’t really need it.

If you question the purchase simply because you think vibrators are meant only for these so-called “nymphos,” you have another thing coming. The truth is that vibrators are astoundingly common, but who goes around talking about them on the day-to-day? Perhaps vibrators seem so taboo to you simply because they are so often kept on the down low. If you have that itch that you just can’t scratch, there is no harm in trying one out.

Masturbation is a stress reliever. Stress is inversely correlated with health. Therefore, masturbation is a good thing. Again, not just for the “nymphos.”

You might also be interested to know that studies have shown that masturbation can provide relief from menstrual cramps.

Enjoy yourself! I promise, we’re not judging you.

Best of luck!-V

Have a question for V? Hit up [email protected].

20



the miami hurricane - april 23, 2009

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