THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878VOLUME 129, NO. 12 WWW.STUDLIFE.COMFRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2007

STAFF EDITORIAL | DANFORTH CENTER A STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION | FORUM, PAGE 4

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Fashion on the cheap New Indian joint gets four stars

Hit the catwalk (or the cam-pus) with hot new looks. Get tips on how to build up your wardrobe without bottom-ing out your wallet. Scene, Page 10

Stepping Out checks out In-dia Rasoi, a new restaurant in the Central West End. Get the scoop on what to order and what to expect. Scene, Page 8

Business students question need for MBA

Is it worth it to go to gradu-ate school? Those considering a career in business will make the fi rst major economic de-cision of their careers when they answer this question, well before they set foot in the fi nancial world.

The new answer may be surprising. A greater number of aspiring businesspeople are graduating from college and passing on business school al-together to seek out jobs that immediately pay well.

A recent report in The New York Times highlighted the choices of Gabriel Hammond, who enjoys the success of his own $300 million hedge fund. Following his graduation from John Hopkins University and a stint at the investment bank-ing giant Goldman Sachs, Hammond, 28, decided that for him, graduate school was a waste of time and money.

According to The Times report, more undergraduates looking to break into the fi -nancial fi eld are defying the traditional formula—working two years at an entry-level industry job and continu-ing on to a two-year graduate school—and instead are tak-ing positions in the fi nancial industry, expecting to land top-dollar jobs at hedge funds and private equity fi rms with-in two to three years.

In choosing not to return to school to earn a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), many think that their

time would be better spent in a real-world business envi-ronment, making real-world money, rather than back in the classroom.

Students and career coun-selors at Washington Univer-sity say that while this path may be increasing in popu-larity, most students do—and should continue to—keep graduate school in their fu-ture plans.

Sally Pinckard, associate director of undergraduate ca-reer advising in the Olin Busi-ness School, estimates that 60 percent of undergraduate business students plan to re-turn to school for a graduate degree, a steady fi gure over the past few years.

“I don’t see that it’s chang-ing for us,” said Pinckard regarding the number of un-dergraduates in the Business School choosing to continue on to graduate school.

The Olin Business School does not track student careers and education after under-graduate graduation, but ac-cording to Pinckard a major-ity of them say they want to work for a few years before obtaining an MBA.

Carlos Abreu, a junior in the Business School, plans to work in investment banking after he graduates. Following a few years at work, he will apply to graduate business programs with the intention to ultimately go into private equity.

“[Private equity fi rms] want you to have experience as well as knowledge, and if you come

straight out of college you generally don’t have enough experience,” said Abreu.

For students whose career paths depend on the condition of a volatile market, following the fi nancial market is essen-tial to knowing the business environment in which they will enter.

Mike Sher, a senior history and business double major, measures the fi nancial job market in terms of the market itself.

“The last few years, the mar-kets have been unbelievably liquid, which means there’s lot of money fl oating around,” said Sher, who also noted it is common to fi nd recent college graduates “that make a lot of money, upwards of $100,000.”

Sher thinks that whatever recent trend the job market may be seeing, undergradu-ates should not expect the same opportunities of recent graduates.

“The job market is going to be more competitive; not as much money is fl owing around,” he said, adding that while the trend contains some truth, passing on business school is not the norm among business majors.

“I think what’s different in recent years is that you no longer have to have an MBA,” he said of working in private equity or a hedge fund. “But that’s not to say that getting your MBA isn’t worthwhile.”

Job offerings, of course, vary based on factors besides

BY JEREMY ROGOFFCONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Pi Beta Phi dealing with sanctions

After an alcohol-related incident at an on-campus party occurred last semester involving new members, the Missouri Beta chapter of Pi Beta Phi at Washington Uni-versity is facing probation until the end of May.

“Risky behavior was in-volved,” said Director of Campus Life Jill Carnaghi. “On the part of the [frater-nity] as well as the [Univer-sity] we’re concerned for the safety of our students. We’re taking actions that will cor-rect these indiscretions.”

As part of the punishment from the University, Pi Beta Phi will not be permitted to hold social events with alco-hol this semester and may hold up to one next semester. Pi Beta Phi also may not part-ner with other student groups to put on social events for the whole academic year.

Furthermore, the fraterni-ty for women must submit a performance plan, go through an alcohol education program and face tougher restrictions regarding new member edu-cation. Violation of any terms may lead to more severe sanc-tions, according to Carnaghi.

“We don’t do probation lightly,” she said. “It doesn’t need to be a Greek organiza-

tion, either. Any organiza-tion that presents threats to the safety of its members is unacceptable. We need to be ever-vigilant. Too often one thing leads to another that they never thought would happen.”

However, Carnaghi noted that disciplinary action is only intended to “ensure fu-ture success.”

Offi cers of the Pi Beta Phi chapter on campus referred all requests to comment to their national offi ce.

“Pi Beta Phi Fraternity is working closely with its Mis-souri Beta chapter at Wash-ington University, as well as campus administrators to ensure the chapter complies with campus and Fraternity policies,” said Stephanie Gur-ley-Thomas, a national Pi Beta Phi spokesperson.

Gurley-Thomas stressed the history of the chapter on campus and that the chapter has the full support of its alumnae going forward.

“The Missouri Beta chap-ter of Pi Beta Phi is an inte-gral part of the Greek system at Washington University and will continue to remain an ac-tive and involved chapter on campus,” said Gurley-Thom-as. “Although the chapter has received sanctions, they

BY JOSH HANTZNEWS EDITOR

WUTV to turn dreams into reality

It’s not quite Reading Rain-bow and it’s not quite the Twilight Zone. But freshman Michael Wiseman’s Dream Project on WUTV, Washington University’s only student-run television station, will illus-trate and narrate dreams that students describe to him.

“Last year I was talking to a friend about crazy dreams and we thought it would be re-ally cool to put crazy dreams on a TV show and that’s ba-sically how it started,” said Wiseman.

Students can submit dreams they have to Wise-man; he will then break it up into how he wants the dream to be depicted and then tells his illustrators what to draw. The pictures will be aired dur-ing the show a few minutes at a time as Wiseman narrates the dream.

“I think it’s an intriguing idea,” said senior Ben Nanes, WUTV co-general manager. “It could make a great show. I know I have some pretty un-usual dreams sometimes and I imagine it’s the same for other people too.”

Wiseman hopes each show will last 15-30 minutes, de-pending on how much materi-al he receives and how long it takes to tell the story. He can also show multiple dreams, all anonymous, in any given episode.

“Even if you want your name shown I decided against it or there could be terrible consequences to others,” he

said.Since this is not a live show,

WUTV will put the Dream Proj-ect into its library that plays other prerecorded shows at different times throughout the day.

“If [Wiseman] delivers an episode a week, we’ll fi gure out a way to get it a time slot,” said Nanes. “That’s how most of our shows get played. We’re here to help people make shows and get them on the air.”

Nanes hopes to soon have a schedule of what’s playing at all times posted online.

Right now Wiseman is in the process of recruiting illus-

trators and creating and post-ing fl iers to build publicity. He has even asked the art school and psychology department, whom he thinks could benefi t from the show, to make an-nouncements to students.

Sophomore Dana Hamby is one illustrator who has joined the Dream Project.

“Mike introduced the con-cept of the show—students submitting their whacked-out dreams to be illustrated and narrated on the air,” said Hamby. “Lately I’ve been try-ing to do my own illustrating for a kids’ book about a boy who dreams across several pages. I think I’m more excit-

ed about it than he is.”Hamby also said that they

will start out drawing their own dreams since others will likely be hesitant to do so at fi rst.

“Hopefully, following the effort and humor we put into these fi rst couple episodes, students will actually want to see their favorite dreams illustrated and narrated,” he said.

Wiseman hopes to start air-ing as soon as he gets enough material.

To submit a dream, stu-dents and members of the community can e-mail Wise-man at mcwa1@aol.com.

BY JOSH HANTZNEWS EDITOR

BRITTANY MEYER | STUDENT LIFE

Physicist and writer Alan Lightman spoke Wednesday afternoon in Graham Chapel as a part of the Assembly Series. Lightman’s fi rst novel, “Einstein’s Dreams,” was the selection for this year’s Freshman Reading Program.

AUTHOR OF EINSTEIN’S DREAMS SPEAKS

COURTESY OF DANA HAMBY

See MBA, page 2

See PI BETA PHI, page 2

One of the illustrations for the new WUTV show “Dream Project,” which brings students’ dreams to life.

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STUDENT LIFE

Italian FestHead out to 221 West Main St. in Collinsville, Ill. today and tomorrow until 11 p.m. to enjoy the Paisan Pedal Push bike ride through town, a grape stomp and all the Italian beef sandwiches you can handle. The 24th annual fest is sure to provide a good time with great music, dancing and food. Call (618) 344-2884 for more info.

Glass FactoryFor any glassblowers out there, you won’t want to miss the Third Friday Open House at the Third Degree Glass Factory (5200 Delmar) from 6-10 p.m. The free event features work by Ben Klein and Tom Lang, and hot glassblowing demon-strations.

Compiled by Josh Hantz

Friday, September 21

Pulse

Archaeology MonthCelebrate archaeology month at Mastodon State Historic Site, located at 1050 Charles J. Becker Drive in Imperial, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The site is home to the skeletons of mastodons and other animals discovered in the 1800s.

PaintballIt’s not what you’re thinking, but this charity event by Women In Charge hopes to raise a lot of money to help needy women and their kids through education and coun-seling. The event from 7-11 p.m. at the Centene Center for Arts and Education, located at 3547 Olive St., has beer, hors d’oeuvres, wine and live music. The highlight is the art auc-tion featuring works from 50 local artists. Tickets are $35.

OttertoberfestThe Saint Louis Zoo kicks off Ottertoberfest this weekend, a three-weekend long event celebrating the North American river otter with live music, beer, brats and your variation of the “Duck Dance.” Admission is free and each day lasts from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cowboy ComedyCome see the Longhorn Comedy Round Up Show at the CTW Lounge in Alton, Ill. (1000 Belle St.) featuring black cowboy Vernon Davis and his co-host Cuttin T. The show starts at 8:15 p.m. and tickets are $5. Twenty-one and older only.

Sunday, September 23

Saturday, September 22

University takes on SLU in constitution trivia bowl

On Wednesday evening, the Gephardt Institute of Public Service hosted for the first time the “We the People” Intercollegiate Trivia Face-Off, between Saint Louis Uni-versity (SLU) and Washington University in the Mudd Multi-purpose Room.

The event, which com-memorated the 220th anni-versary of the Constitution, drew in about 20 spectators from both schools.

The event’s organization, which began in August, was primarily the work of Evan Krauss, the Gephardt Scholar in the Masters of Social Work program.

“We wanted to make it in-tercollegiate,” said Krauss, “we wanted to make it excit-ing and we wanted to foster competition among our cam-puses.”

Krauss contacted student leaders from both campuses and established two teams of five students, composed of campus organization leaders and law students. The teams attempted to bring together students of different politi-cal viewpoints.

Representing the Univer-sity were law students Bryan Boyle, Seth Bridge and Justin Gelfand; Samuel Gittle, presi-

dent of College Republicans; and Chloe White, a represen-tative of College Democrats.

As a way to celebrate Constitution Day, the trivia face-off attempted to foster a sense of community and a better understanding of the citizen’s role in the life of the constitution.

“What was great about this event is that we had both undergraduate and law stu-dents; it got a different group of people working together,” said Robin Hattori, program director for the Gephardt In-stitute.

Round one, the lightning round, covered the history of the documents and its subsequent amendments. SLU struck an early lead over the University, scoring 1000 points to 800.

After a short break in the action, Washington Univer-sity started round two with renewed vigor.

In this round, the teams were given famous court cas-es and were asked to summa-rize the major decision and analyze its constitutional importance. The University fared better this round, re-ceiving 420 points to SLU’s 380.

In round three, which tested student knowledge of critical constitutional issues of today, teams were given

a subject and were asked to describe two relevant con-stitutional issues. The Uni-versity, given the subject of same-sex marriage, overtook SLU, who were given the sub-ject of Guantánamo Bay. The University earned 150 points, compared to SLU’s 100.

In the end, victory and bragging rights went to the team from SLU, who finished on top after a final score of 1480 to 1370.

“It was exciting to be here,” said a junior from SLU. “I’ve never seen a Constitu-tion Bowl before.”

Students who attended the event seemed to experience it as an exciting and enriching one.

“It was fun,” said White, “though we obviously need to work on our lightning round skills for next year.”

Whether the Gephardt In-stitute will hold a face-off next year remains in ques-tion.

“We would like to attract more undergraduates to the program to make it an annu-al tradition,” said Hattori.

Scott Johnson, a second year law student at the Uni-versity, had choice words for the face-off: “We came here to celebrate our Constitution. We need to continue to foster understanding of it, because too many simply don’t.”

BY MARK DUDLEYCONTRIBUTING REPORTER

MARK DUDLEY | STUDENT LIFE

Bryan Boyle, Samuel Gittle, Seth Bridge and Chloe White compete in the “We the People” Intercollegiate Trivia Face-Off against SLU in Mudd House on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

MBA v FROM PAGE 1the market. Generally, stu-dents must have a very solid college academic record, a proven knack for success at a previous fi nancial job and an array of industry connections to even be considered for pri-vate equity jobs so soon after graduation.

“It all depends what your

motivations are,” said Sher. “If you want to be a stockbro-ker in New York, you might see getting an MBA as a waste of time and money because you’re sacrifi cing your in-come.”

But for Sher, who wants one day to be a small-busi-ness owner, business school

remains on the career agen-da.

“To work your way up [in any fi rm] you need to get an MBA usually,” he said. “I am planning on getting an MBA for networking and building additional skill sets. I still think there is a lot of value to getting an MBA.”

will continue to participate in philanthropy and community service activities as well as the upcoming Greek Week.

Though fraternity mem-bers were unwilling to com-ment, Carnaghi described re-actions to their situation.

“Some were concerned about how the [University] handled it, as well as the national headquarters,” she said. “Others understood. There’s always going to be a mixed reaction.”

Pi Beta Phi alumnae also,

“picked up and moved for-ward” after a meeting earlier this week with the Univer-sity.

Barring any future viola-tions, the probation enacted last April will expire on May 30.

PI BETA PHI v FROM PAGE 1

STUDENT LIFE

Senior News Editor / Sam Guzik / news@studlife.comFRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 STUDENT LIFE | NEWS 3

Freshman Class Council Results

54 Candidate

Independent

BSE Candidate

21.7%

22.8%

51.7%Nate Fergueson

Zoe Madigan

Blake McKisick

President

External VP66.6%Mae Wang

31.3%Nicole Salzman

68.7%Alex Kiles

Internal VP

29.1%Adam Abadier

Other WinnersTreasurer: Luc Elders (54) with 90.5 % Secretary: Lauren Bindler (54) with 91.5%

Economics study links obesity to gasoline prices

A recent study by eco-nomics graduate student Charles Courtemanche found that higher gasoline prices in the United States could lower obesity.

Courtemanche’s disserta-tion, however, received na-tional attention after many in the media misinterpreted its findings.

The study, titled “A Silver Lining, the Connection Be-tween Gas Prices and Obesi-ty,” found that an additional one-dollar in real gas prices could reduce obesity in the U.S. after five years.

Courtemanche found that when gasoline prices go up, people tend to drive their cars less and seek oth-er forms of transportation, increasing the amount of exercise they get from walk-ing. Courtemanche also found that with higher pric-es, people eat at restaurants less frequently and thereby consume fewer calories.

However, the paper re-ceived skepticism.

A number of writers and national talk show hosts, including Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno, felt that Cour-temanche had implied that the government should in-crease gasoline prices as a way of reducing the coun-try’s obesity.

In the September 13 edi-tion of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Leno mentioned the study in his monologue, and Limbaugh discussed the study on his Web site.

Courtemanche denied the allegations, saying that

many people had misin-terpreted his findings. He explained that the study only found that increas-ing gasoline prices could reduce obesity but that the study did not advocate such a price increase or suggest that gasoline taxes would benefit social welfare.

“My paper makes no effort at all to determine whether gasoline taxes would be beneficial for society,” said Courtemanche.

Courtemanche also con-cluded that about 13 percent of the total rise in obesity from 1979 to 2004 could be attributed to falling real gas prices during the period, with the other 87 percent of the total increase in obesity arising from other factors.

While actual gasoline prices have risen between 1979 and 2004, the study focused on real gasoline prices, which is the price of gasoline when adjusted for inflation over the period. When adjusted for inflation, the real price of gasoline ac-tually fell over that period.

In his study, Courteman-che compared average real state fuel prices with trends in obesity over two decades, 1984 to 2004, while also iso-lating potential confound-ing factors such as marital status, income, race and education.

He suggested that future research could focus on the potential social benefit of increases in fuel prices, but he warned that such stud-ies would need to account for all other potential con-sequences of increased fuel

costs.“If you’re talking about

obesity, you don’t want to en-act a policy that would make people poorer, because if people become poorer, then they tend to gain weight,” added Courtemanche. “If you did do something like raise the gasoline tax then you’d want to mash that with some subsidy or reduc-tion in some other tax, like reducing the payroll tax, so that in the end people aren’t left any poorer.”

Additionally, a Sept. 11 article in Reuters about Courtemanche’s study mis-takenly printed that he found that the fall in real gas prices from 1979 to 2004 completely explained the rise in obesity in the country.

The misprint led some writers to misread the study’s findings, including CNBC columnist Jane Wells, who criticized the study in a Sept. 12 blog post.

The Reuters story was eventually corrected to re-flect the fact that the fall in real gasoline prices ex-plained only 13 percent of the rise in obesity from 1979-2004, and Wells post-ed an apology on her blog on Sept. 18.

Courtemanche said that he enjoys the publicity, though he admitted he was upset about the misinter-pretations of the media.

“I don’t mind skepticism about my results,” he said. “The thing that is more bothersome is when people take it out of context and misinterpret it.”

BY PUNEET KOLLIPARASENIOR STAFF REPORTER

JOE RIGODANZO | STUDENT LIFE

Senior Forum Editor / Nathan Everly / forum@studlife.com FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 20074 STUDENT LIFE | FORUM

FORUMFORUMOur daily Forum editors:Monday: Christian Sherden Wednesday: Jill Strominger Friday: Tess Cronerctsherde@artsci.wustl.edu jlstromi@artsci.wustl.edu tacroner@wustl.edu

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We welcome your submissions and thank you for your consideration.

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Editorials are written by the Forum editors and refl ect the consen-sus of the editorial board. The editorial board operates indepen-dently of the newsroom.

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Once an article has been published on www.studlife.com, our Web site, it will remain there permanently. We do not remove articles from the site, nor do we remove authors’ names from articles already published on the Web, unless an agreement was reached prior to July 1, 2005.

Why do we do this? Because Google and other search engines cache our Web site on a regular basis. Our thought is this: once an article has been published online, it’s too late to take back. It is irrevocably part of the public sphere. As such, removing an article from our site would serve no purpose.

The new Danforth Center, set to open next fall, will bring many new features to

campus. Besides all of the new space for student groups and dining options, we are particu-larly pleased about two aspects of the facility: its environmen-tally-friendly design and its student “fun room.”

The $41 million facility is set to be Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-NC Gold certifi ed. The LEED rating system was developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council to set environmentally sustainable standards for con-struction. This system covers six major areas: sustainable sites, water effi ciency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmen-tal quality and innovation and design process.

The Earth and Planetary Sciences building was the fi rst University building to obtain LEED certifi cation. It acquired

conventional certifi cation, which means that it gained 40-50 percent of the points available in the six different categories. The new Danforth Center is on track to receive Gold certifi cation, which re-quires acquiring 60-80 percent of the available points.

One of the most signifi cant ways to minimize our nega-tive environmental impact is through green construction. If the rest of main campus is any guide, new buildings could eas-ily be around for the next fi fty years or more. For this reason we are proud not only that the new Danforth Center will be LEED Gold certifi ed, but that Chancellor Mark Wrighton has committed the University to meeting LEED standards on all new construction projects.

This is the sort of envi-ronmental leadership that we wish from the University and something that we wholeheart-edly support.

We are also optimistic

about the proposed “fun room” that the new center will offer students. It has been a regular complaint of both this paper and the student body that the University lacks a proper student center, complete with entertainment and lounge facilities. We hope that the new “fun room” will satisfy this demand.

According to Student Union President Neil Patel, the room will be similar to Whispers Café in style. It will sport chalkboard paint walls, allow-ing students to draw all over them to post messages or just to kill time. Arcade machines and high-tech chairs that serve as musical amplifi ers are other prominent features. While they would have been great addi-tions, apparently ping pong, foosball and pool tables were not included in the design because they take up too much fl oor space.

Vibrant student centers that offer on-campus entertainment

are becoming more common on colleges around the country and are especially appealing to potential students. We are sure this factored into the Universi-ty’s decision to create the “fun room” in the fi rst place. This bodes well for the lounge, as efforts to attract potential stu-dents tend to be thorough.

At this point it is too early to say whether or not the new “fun room” will live up to its name, but the potential is cer-tainly there. The fact that there was not enough fl oor space in the University Center for certain kinds of recreational equipment, such as pool tables and foosball, raises concerns about whether the fun room will be large enough to satisfy student demands, but it is too early to pass judgment. We urge the University to follow through with the fun room in order to create the ideal student center that Wohl and Mallinckrodt never managed to become.

Danforth Center shows promise, responsibility

STAFF EDITORIAL

JORDAN FERCHILL | EDITORIAL CARTOON

Remember the days when you measured yourself each year with a yardstick and

then marked your new height on the wall? True, my parents wouldn’t actually let me write on the wall (they were slightly displeased when my little brother, then two years old, boldly displayed a penchant for large white canvases), but I still tracked my height en-thusiastically. Especially as a kid who was rather “vertically challenged,” every new inch was a thrilling achievement.

Alas, I’ve since stopped

growing and am now forced to resign myself to being 5’1” forever.

This depressing stagna-tion was reinforced lately by a routine dental check-up. My dentist has a poster in his offi ce that proclaims, “Every-thing I need to know, I learned in kindergarten.”

As much as I hope that he picked up a few more lessons in dental school, the abun-dance of toy trains in his offi ce has led me to suspect there may be some truth to this as-sertion.

Kindergarten was a big year. I learned that sharing is caring. I learned that sand be-

longs in the sandbox. I learned how to count to one hundred, only to be heartbroken later when I couldn’t fi t one hun-dred numbers on the work-sheet that offi cially recorded my fi ve year-old counting abilities. But I learned to cope with that harsh reality as well, thus inching my way up the yardstick of personal growth.

I had thought that college acceptance signifi ed an impor-tant milestone on my growth chart; it meant that I had mas-tered the basic survival skills needed for my journey into independence. I knew I wasn’t done learning, but I fi gured the growth curve would at least

begin to level off. But as I re-fl ect on my fi rst month of col-lege, I fi nd myself increasingly reminded of kindergarten.

In some ways, I’ve been regressing. Living with a room-mate has led me to brush up on those sharing lessons. I’ve learned how to tell time all over again, adjusting for the seven-minute rule. Naptime is once again my favorite after-noon activity. People keep brib-ing me with food. However, in kindergarten I had to behave fi rst; now I just show up and my OAs give me excellent chocolate chip cookies.

The real similarity, however, between my fi rst month of

college and my early child-hood isn’t the parallel between learning the idiosyncrasies of Wash. U. and learning to navigate kindergarten; it is the rapid growth.

I’ve already learned more in just four short weeks of college than in perhaps an entire year of high school. It’s more than just the standard ropes of in-dependence like waking up for class or fi nding food. Not only are my classes more intense, living with complete strangers is full of unexpected lessons. I’ve heard great new Israeli musicians and discovered that I like the TV show “Weeds.” I’m learning, albeit unsuccessfully,

how to juggle. I’ve told my suitemate from Houston about living with seasons, and I’ve compared religious traditions with both Jews and non-Jews when I missed class for Rosh Hashanah.

In sharing my life, I’ve also learned more about myself.

Apparently kindergarten isn’t the only time for personal growth spurts. Sadly, ResLife rules mean I still can’t chart my progress on the wall with a yardstick, but I’m inching up nonetheless.

Eve is a freshman in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at actorels@comcast.

Don’t throw away that yardstick BY EVE SAMBORNSTAFF COLUMNIST

We live in a tabloid culture

Since buying my laptop this summer, I have somehow managed not to change the

Internet homepage it came with. If I were thinking prag-matically, I’d have changed it right away to something useful—Facebook, maybe, or WebSTAC, or—if I were feeling particularly sophisti-cated—The New York Times online. But I guess I haven’t been thinking that way, or I’m just too lazy to change it, because whenever I open Internet Explorer, I am directed to hp-laptop.com, which includes a news-feed window from AOL Today.

Now, I have nothing against AOL. In fact, I have learned many useful things simply from reading the headlines on the rotating news feed on AOL Today. For example, today I am warned about a deadly strain of amoeba that “lurks in lakes” and “has killed three kids this summer.” I learned that a British woman is divorcing Osama bin Laden’s son.

AOL Today also prom-ises me a list of SUVs under $20,000, a list of high-pay-ing jobs one can get with-out a college degree, a list of things that “Everyone Should be Able to Do,” and “The Secrets to a Great Back Rub.” But most importantly, I learn about “Random Drug Tests for Britney (What She Has to Do to Keep her Kids).”

AOL Today has kept me up to date on the Britney saga since I purchased my laptop. Inevitably, there has been a new development several times a week. With links to tmz.com, AOL has been there to document her tragically shaven head, her trips to rehab, her sister’s pregnancy rumors, her plans to release a new album, and—in what I’m guessing was a slow week for Brit-ney—“Britney’s Trashiest Outfi ts.”

Sometimes I wonder what readers AOL had in mind when picking the stories to go in their rotation. I would assume that AOL targets a broad audience. So why

Britney?Let’s face it: increas-

ingly, we live in a tabloid culture. Yes, people lament the paparazzi’s intrusion of celebrities’ private lives, but that didn’t keep US Weekly’s average circulation from in-creasing rapidly since 2000, from 837,000 to 1.4 million, according to The State of the News Media 2006. And it certainly doesn’t keep 2.6 million people from visit-ing Perez Hilton’s blog every day. An obsession with Brit-ney, Lindsay, Paris and the like has become a corner-stone of popular culture.

Although gossip rags, in some form or another, have existed for centuries, the advent of the Internet has

changed the way celeb-rity reporting works, per-haps making it even more invasive than before. For example, when Lindsay Lohan was arrested for cocaine possession this summer, AOL Today displayed new, develop-ing headlines

about her arrest and trip to rehab every time I got on-line—there must have been a team of reporters continu-ously following her, and the story, all day.

With a few keystrokes, we can now know anything we ever wanted to know about anyone in Hollywood. The Internet, then, acts as a cata-lyst for this tabloid culture.

Perhaps our celebrity fascination has to do with an increasingly materialistic outlook on life —celebrities, after all, are just pretty things that we like to look at. Perhaps it’s cathartic—in hearing about Britney’s mess-ups, we begin to feel better about our own. Or, perhaps, it is a simple mat-ter of preferred ignorance—maybe we’d rather see break-ing news about K-Fed’s child support than breaking news about the war in Iraq.

Either way, I guess I’ll keep hearing about Britney and her mishaps—that is, until I fi nally fi gure out how to change my homepage.

Kate is a freshman in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at kgaert-ner@wustl.edu.

BY KATE GAERTNERSTAFF COLUMNIST

“With a few key-strokes, we can now

know anything we ever wanted to know about anyone in Hollywood.

The Internet, then, acts as a catalyst for this

tabloid culture.”

Senior Forum Editor / Nathan Everly / forum@studlife.comFRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 STUDENT LIFE | FORUM 5

“Political Leaning May be in Your Head,” “Left Brain, Right Brain: Are Liberals More Adaptable than Conser-vatives?” or “Brain Type May Dictate Politics”—the head-lines have blared during the past week. The reason: “Neurocognitive correlates of liberalism and conser-vatism,” a study published on September 9 in Nature Neuroscience by David Amo-dio, an assistant professor of psychology at New York University, which concludes that “greater liberalism was associated with stronger conflict-related anterior cin-gulate activity, suggesting

greater neurocognitive sen-sitivity to cues for altering a habitual response pattern.”

Professor Amodio recruit-ed 43 subjects and presented them with a Go/No-go game. Subjects watched flashing Ms and Ws for 15 minutes; one group was told to press a button for every M and make no response for every W while the second group re-ceived opposite instructions. For the first group, M was programmed to appear 80% of the time; W had the same frequency for the second group. The subjects were also asked to report their political orientation on a 10-point scale, with -5 being extremely liberal and +5 be-ing extremely conservative.

Amodio found that con-servative subjects were more likely to continue pressing whichever letter was appear-ing the majority of the time whereas liberals responded more accurately to the change in stimuli. From this, Amodio concludes that “Stronger conservatism (versus liberalism) was as-sociated with less neurocog-nitive sensitivity to response conflicts.”

In other words, liberals are more adaptable to new situations whereas conser-vatives remain committed to their beliefs. Moreover, Amodio then suggests this is related to heritable brain structure, meaning the fact that “liberals […] report higher tolerance of ambi-guity and complexity, and greater openness to new experiences on psychologi-cal measures” is genetic.

This study has serious flaws, and they are endemic to psychological studies. First, these 43 subjects are not an accurate representa-tion of America, so it is dan-gerous to extrapolate from them to 300 million other people. Moreover, this is an impossibly small sample from which it is specious to say that this one incidence of significance is itself significant. Either Amodio needs to test 43 people many more times or he must enlarge the sample size to decrease the possibility that this result is not significant only by chance. Second, respondents only had one-half of a second to respond to the letters flashed on screen.

To then argue that con-servatives support lower taxes or disdain abortion because they resist change as indicated by their poor half-second reaction times is absurd. Even soundbites, the least complex but most popular form of political communication, last at least 15 seconds, and had the let-ters been flashed on screen for that long Amodio surely would have determined that conservatives and liberals respond to information with exactly congruous flexibil-ity.

Third, political ideas may be presented to the low-est common denominator, but they cannot be reduced to something as simple as two letters. To say people process information differ-ently based on flashes of letters is an insult to the term. Moreover, M and W are so physically similar that anyone—and especially dyslexic individuals—could confuse them at a quick glance and in such a sample that individual could have

skewed the results.Finally, the concept of

“change” and “adaptation” is contextually specific, so the author’s use of the terms plays directly into Maniche-an political stereotypes.

For example, outlawing abortion would entail dras-tic change to the American political and social system; in this case, liberals are the ones seeking to conserve the status quo. The mean-ing of change and reaction depends entirely on which party controls the organs

of power (especially the Su-preme Court) and not on an eternal alignment of ideol-ogy.

American news outlets, continuously searching for startling headlines with which to attract more eyes, immediately seized upon this article. Every major American newspaper im-mediately reported these findings without critical reflection.

As Karl Rove realized, the repetition of any statement, regardless of its veracity,

leads people to think it is true. Newspapers’ reporting of this experiment without any critical analysis has without doubt furthered the erroneous idea that humans are hardwired with a certain political outlook.

This study represents everything that is dangerous about psychology and the media’s obsession with it. Nearly every study reported on involves a miniscule, unrepresentative sample performing highly specific tasks from which grand

biological or evolutionary conclusions are dangerously drawn.

The media, too often stocked with journalists lacking either the time, de-sire or intellect to seriously analyze these issues, exac-erbates the hold alluring, but dangerous and harmful, psychology studies maintain on the American public.

Zachary is a senior in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail at zstein-ert@gmail.com.

Psychology, politics and the danger of media

This past summer I made plans with my roommates for ju-nior year. Big plans.

Serious stuff. We hashed it out and made a pact. Junior year, we agreed, we would simply grab adulthood by the balls and squeeze. We would step up, and step into the kitchen. We would decorate and make our apart-ment into a home. We would keep the place clean. So here we are, one month in. Mission Status: Failure.

All that big talk has lost

its bluster. Before school started, we had visions of a sizzling wok and dinner parties and mom’s recipes pulled off with fl air. Now we’re settling for pita pocket

PB&Js and granola bars. As excited as I was to

have a full kitchen, now I honestly can’t imagine us using it. I mean, it took us two weeks to buy a sponge. To date, break-and-bake cookies are our only culinary accomplishment.

It’s not our fault, re-ally. I blame the Village. The cushy location of

the Millbrook Apartments demands that we capitalize on the readily available food

supply. It’s simply not natural to

work hard to produce a meal when a pre-made alterna-

tive is only a few feet away. And hey, there’s no cleanup. I guess you could say that living on campus is depriv-

ing us of vital life skills and effectively stunting our maturation.

Or maybe it’s just one of those sad human truths: many of us only take on re-sponsibility when we abso-lutely have to. Me? I’m sure not doing extra work just for kicks. When life demands that I grow up, I’ll grow up. When the trash smells, I’ll take it out. When I can’t fi nd my calculator, I’ll organize my desk. When there’s noth-ing for dinner, perhaps I’ll cook.

But what is “cooking” anyway? Do Trader Joes’ mi-crowaveable dinners count? If they do, then I’m already one step closer to becoming

a fully functioning adult. I spent an entire summer living off of teriyaki chicken bowls and turkey pot pies. Isn’t that some sort of all-grown-up self-suffi ciency? Or is it just another short-cut for pretenders? All the convenience of the Village, in cardboard and shrink-wrap.

I’m pretty sure adulthood does not come with a meal plan. I keep expecting to un-dergo some major transfor-mation and to suddenly fi nd myself an older, wiser per-son. I expect to be neat and tidy and skilled. But instead I’m stunned by my consis-tency. Our apartment is still not completely unpacked. Our common room remains

littered with unopened, mys-tery boxes.

Just yesterday, I suggested using one of them as an end table. Put a tablecloth on it, and it might even look classy. If we can’t manage to put some posters on the wall, how are we going to muster the strength to go grocery shopping and prepare a meal? It seems pretty hope-less. But there’s an old prov-erb: an empty belly is the best cook. So I’m fi guring, when we really need to do it, we might just grow up.

Tess is a junior in Arts & Sciences and a Forum editor. She can be reached via e-mail at forum@studlife.com

BY ZACHARY STEINERT-THRELKELDSTAFF COLUMNIST

Just grow up (or maybe not)

Tess Croner

In his opening speech at Convocation 2007, our Student Union President, Neil Patel, empathized

with incoming freshman on the daunting experience of leaving home and taking the next big step on the road to adulthood. Much to the laughter of the audience, he said one of the main things plaguing his conscience upon entering college was the status of his relationship with his girlfriend.

But shrouded by the laughter and smiles, for many students there was in-deed a deep connection with Neil’s experience—a con-nection based on the heart-warming, loving, unpredict-able and volatile future of a long distance relationship.

As someone who trans-ferred to Washington Univer-sity while tied to a relation-

ship beyond the borders of America, I can person-ally state that while it may indeed be one of the most difficult transition periods of your life, it is a time of immense personal growth and understanding about the intricacies of life.

In less than a month of living in St. Louis, the con-nection that I had back home unfortunately got lost. As pitiful as that may sound, I cannot help but bask in the lessons learnt from this ex-perience. Rather than trying my best to impersonate the Suzy Orman of long-distance relationships, there is just one essential factor that I would like to share—one in which I strongly believe will maybe, just maybe, be the ‘make-or-break factor’ for others who currently find themselves in the same pre-carious situation: realizing (and I mean truly realizing) if you are built for a long-

distance relationship.University life, especially

at Washington University, can be quite demanding. Classes. Clubs. Studying. Partying. All these things take up an immense amount of our time. What I found difficult in the first couple of weeks of being here was something everyone in my situation goes through: try-ing to squeeze that long-distance relationship into college life.

The simple vocabulary of my words changed from, “definitely,” “of course” and “always” to “maybe,” “I’ll try,” “I doubt it” and “I can’t.” Trifling arguments started taking up a majority of our chatting time. And of course, there were countless inquisitions into who I was spending my time with. It was a quagmire of hopeless thoughts, and the connec-tion gradually dissipated due to the impact of college

life, slight jealousy, silly arguments, and a foreboding lack of time to keep the line open.

So what was the most im-portant move? When I real-ized at the appropriate time that I was not suited for a long-distance relationship and consequently averted a soon-to-be explosion. Many

of us start with the hope that things can work. And by all means, a lot of the times they do. I have met several people who ended up marrying their high school girlfriends/boyfriends after years of keeping it alive through college (if you’re one of these people, don’t

worry, there’s enough hope to go around).

Sadly though, there are those select couples that don’t find it so easy. They fight and they battle to make it work. But at the end of the day, or perhaps even before that day ends, you might want to ask, at what cost? Frustration? Confusion? Should the pursuit of happi-ness involve total unhappi-ness?

There is nothing wrong with “trying to make things work,” which undoubtedly may involve a lot of bumps along the road. However, the important thing is to figure out whether your heart and mind are like SUV’s equipped for the off-road, or whether they’re more like modest compact cars that might be able to handle a scratch, but which ulti-mately fall apart on rough terrain.

If you’re finding yourself

frustrated too often, or if the majority of your time is spent on petty disputes, or if there just seems to be no time at all for your rela-tionship, then perhaps the best thing to do might be to allow each other to let go and grow apart without any added despair.

If you truly believe you are an SUV, then by all means keep working on your long-distance relationship. But if you know yourself to be more like a nice Corolla, incapable of handling a bumpy ride, then it might be best to head for the “free-way.”

As for me, realizing I could not push my little Honda Civic much further was the best choice I could make for both of us.

Adrian is a junior in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via email at aptor-res@artsci.wustl.edu.

Diary of a long, long distance relationshipBY ADRIAN TORRESSTAFF COLUMNIST

“Should the pursuit of happiness involve total

unhappiness?”

“Liberals are more adaptable to new situ-ations whereas conser-vatives remain commit-ted to their beliefs.”

“You could say that living on campus is

depriving us of vital life skills and effectively stunting our matura-

tion”

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SPORTSSPORTSSenior Sports Editor / Trisha Wolf / sports@studlife.com FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 20076 STUDENT LIFE | SPORTS

Washington University came off a rough weekend to fi ght back by taking down the neigh-boring Fontbonne University Griffi ns in Wash. U.’s most deci-sive victory of the season so far.

“The losses this [past] week-end made us all realize that it’s time to kick our game up a notch,” said freshman libero Ali Hoffman.

Tuesday night’s sweep fea-tured an opening set where the Bears nearly tripled their oppo-nent’s score (30-11). The larg-est margin of victory this sea-son had previously been a set against Illinois College, which ended with a score of 30-13. The other sets against their cross-Wydown rival were closer with scores of 30-22 and 30-19.

Wash. U. was engaged in point-for-point battles at times before coming together as an offensive juggernaut that rolled through the Fontbonne defense. The Bears were actually down in the third set before ratcheting it up to a whole new level. After ty-ing with the Griffi ns at 13 points, the Lady Bears sprinted in an 8-0 scoring run from which the

Griffi ns could not recover.Monday night was a night of

simple pleasures as a gaggle of giggling girls gathered with their coach over milk and cookies. Coach Rich Luenemann shared a few encouraging words as the team discussed their weakness-es. Although serious topics were discussed, the players were able to just talk and laugh with each other, further contributing to their team’s spirit.

The bonds linking the Bears have grown stronger as their spirit continues to soar. With this determination to succeed propelled to new heights, the players have been cheering louder and playing harder than ever before.

“Being more vocal on the court is one thing we’re working on,” said freshman Marya Ka-minski. “There was a lot more energy.”

Tuesday night’s game fea-tured one of the Red and Green’s greatest strengths as players set the ball up so a teammate could go for the kill. Junior setter Au-dra Janak was responsible for two out of every three of the 33 assists that night while other players raced to the fl oor for loose balls.

Sophomore Erin Albers, who is the tallest player on the team at 6 feet 2 inches, showed no fear as she dropped to the ground to save a ball that had been shanked into the net. Roll-ing to less than an inch from the lane, Albers popped the ball up enabling a hitter to go for the kill.

Almost every girl had to go low to the fl oor as the team com-bined for 77 digs against Griffi n servers and hitters. Senior cap-tain Haleigh Spencer contrib-uted 21 digs, closely followed by junior Alli Alberts who had 19 digs.

“This was a real confi dence booster,” said sophomore Laura Brazeal.

According to Brazeal, the girls are also doing informal practices and working their butts off in preparation for next week.

The Lady Bears, currently ranked number seven in the na-tion, have no games this week-end as they get ready for the fi rst UAA Round Robin series where they will play Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University and the Uni-versity of Chicago in New York on September 29 and 30.

Bears spike back against Fontbonne

VOLLEYBALL

v Volleyball wins cross-Wydown showdown

BY JOHANN QUA HIANSEN SPORTS REPORTER

Recent Top Performers

Caitlin Malone, SoccerThe junior emerged as an offensive leader on her team over the past week. She scored her fi rst collegiate hat trick, as well as the Bears’ only goals last Tuesday as the team defeated Principia 3-0. She then scored both game winners in their weekend matches, with the fi rst goal in the Bears’ 4-0 win over the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and an overtime goal in a 2-1 victory at Loras College. She also had an assist in the Oshkosh game. For her efforts, she was named UAA Of-fensive Player of the Week and to the national D3kicks.com Team of the Week.

Pierre Hoppenot, SoccerThe junior had a breakout week, assisting Marshall Plow on the game winner in a 2-0 victory against Principia last Tuesday. Later in the week, he again assisted the game winner and scored an insurance goal as the Bears defeated Southwestern University 3-0. Following this performance, he was named to the D3kicks.com Team of the Week.

Tyler Mulkin, Cross CountryThe senior won the women’s 5K race at the Maryville Cross Country Invitational Saturday. Her time of 19:46.60 led Wash. U. to a fi rst place fi nish, 64 points ahead of second place Lincoln University. She was also named to the UAA weekly honor roll.

Ellen Bruegge, VolleyballThe senior was Wash. U.’s representative on the All-Tournament Team at the Teri Clemens Invitational last weekend. Over three matches, she recorded 33 kills and 8.5 blocks over the course of the tournament as well as a career high 16 kills against Juniata Friday.

John Watts, TennisThe sophomore won the A singles fl ight at the Washington University Fall Invita-tional last weekend. In the fi nal, he pulled out a three set win over Michael Green-berg, showing why he was national runner-up last spring. He then teamed with freshman Isaac Stein in the A doubles fl ight, where they advanced to the fi nals.

Corey Kubatzky, Cross CountryThe senior led the men’s team to victory last weekend at the Maryville Cross Country Invitational with his second place fi nish in a time of 16:29.54. Scoring only 15 points, the team fi nished well ahead of second place Fontbonne, which totaled 56 points.

Jaclyn Bild, TennisThe freshman won the B singles fl ight at the Washington University Fall Invitation-al last weekend, defeating teammate Kalee Cassady in the fi nals. She then teamed with junior Ania Tchergueiko in the A doubles fl ight, which they also won. They beat Magida Taracena and Ellen Maty of Lindenwood in the fi nals.

Tommy Bawden, FootballThe junior provided many of the few bright spots last Saturday as the Bears fell to Wheaton College 55-14. Over the course of the game, he recorded fi ve tackles and returned a fumble for 29 yards. He also downed two punts within the 20 yard line.

Junior Alli Alberts reaches for the ball during the Sept. 15 match against #2 ranked Juniata. The volleyball team regained momentum Tuesday after a string of losses on Friday and Saturday.

LIONEL SOBEHART | STUDENT LIFE

SundaySoccer vs. Illinois WesleyanMen at 1:30, Women at 3:30 both at Francis Field

WednesdayWomen’s soccer vs. Webster at 7:00 at Francis Field

Around the WU: This week in sports

WU 3 w FONTBONNE 0

HealthBeat

presents a guide to places of worship in the WU community

Religious DirectoryFor advertising information, call (314) 935-6713 or email advertising@studlife.com

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Senior Scene Editor / Felicia Baskin / scene@studlife.comFRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 STUDENT LIFE | SCENE 7

For years and years, peo-ple worldwide have tried to maintain or lower

their weight by altering their diets. Americans seem to have an obsession with developing new tricks and tips that will ensure weight loss. Many of these methods, however, are not only ineffective, but actually coun-terproductive. The following is an explanation of some of the most common dieting myths and why you should be wary.

Myth 1: Fad diets work long term if you stick to them.

Fad diets are the type that promise quick weight loss by eating certain foods in com-bination with one another or by eliminating some sorts of foods all together. These diets are “scale-focused” and thus, weight lost is due to water loss. Also, due to their restrictive qualities, fad diets can often leave followers with low amounts of important nutrients. Healthy dieting in combination with exercise is the most effective way to lose weight and usually anywhere from one half to two pounds per week is considered a healthy amount of weight loss.

Myth 2: High-protein/low-car-bohydrate diets are a healthy way to lose weight because starches are fattening.

First of all, carbohydrates are not bad for you. I don’t know who started this myth, but it needs to stop. With this said, it is important that when trying to lose weight, you limit the amount of refi ned carbo-hydrates and instead replace them with high-fi ber fruits, vegetables and whole grains. There are numerous problems associated with getting a large portion of dietary intake from protein alone, including de-creased energy (carbohydrates are the fi rst source of energy), which is often associated with feeling weak and nauseous. In addition, many people com-plain of constipation when eating only high protein diets because they are not getting enough dietary fi ber. High pro-

tein/low carbohydrate diets, when followed too long can

also lead to a buildup of ketones in the blood (creating a condition called ketosis) that can induce the production of high levels of uric acid, which is a risk factor for kidney stones and gout (a condition character-ized by painful swelling in the joints).

Myth 3: Certain foods, like grapefruit, celery, or cabbage soup, can burn fat and make you lose weight.

There is no such thing as a food that helps you burn fat. The only thing that helps burn fat is activity and exercise. Still, it is true that if you only ate grapefruits, celery or cabbage soup, you would lose weight due to inadequate nutrition and calorie intake; you wouldn’t necessarily lose only fat. Starvation-type diets encourage the body to go into panic mode and so usually muscle tissue will be used for energy in addition to fat stores, leaving a person looking fl abby and under-toned.

Myth 4: Low-fat or nonfat foods are good for you.

While this may apply to fruits and vegetables, it cer-tainly doesn’t apply to cookies, granola bars or my personal favorite, frozen yogurt. Just because a food item like frozen yogurt has fewer grams of fat than ice cream doesn’t mean it is good for you. This is especially true when consider-ing that it is still loaded with sugars that the body turns to fat. Add toppings to it, and that only perpetuates the problem. So what is the message here? Low-fat or no-fat may be better than high-fat, but it certainly does not mean that it is “healthy” or “good” for you.

Myth 5: Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight.

While we’ve heard about the importance of breakfast ad nauseum, there are still so many students who go with-out breakfast…. or lunch… or dinner, for that matter. I had a close friend last year who took classes during meal times, so

she decided that she would just snack her way through the day. While at fi rst this seemed like a logical idea, a granola bar and fruit snacks during the day and soup or hummus and pita chips for dinner weren’t providing her with enough calories or nutri-tion. She was often left feeling hungry, unsatisfi ed and frus-trated. On the fl ip side of this, I also have friends who enjoy having no specifi c eating time. These “grazers” continuously nosh on foods throughout the day, never really sitting down to have a meal. Both of these approaches to meal times can be extremely detrimental to weight loss efforts. My recom-mendation: if eating during mealtimes is inconvenient for your schedule, eat meals either during class (a small sandwich will go unnoticed in a lecture class) or when it is convenient for you. For example, if you get up at 11 a.m. and have class from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m., eat a meal before and after class. Eating meals will keep your metabolism running, prevent-ing the drop in metabolic rate that occurs in reaction to de-creased food intake, and it will prevent bingeing on snacks later on in the day.

Myth 6: Drinking water will make you lose weight.

While it is true that ample water consumption is an important part of healthy liv-ing and a well-balanced diet, drinking water alone will not promote weight loss. Drinking water instead of high calorie drinks will encourage weight loss because by replacing the other drinks with a zero calorie option, you are saving

several hundred calories. Con-suming fewer calories is what ensures weight loss. I have also heard that water will “fi ll” someone up, replacing food. Some sources do claim that people often mistake thirst for hunger, but I have found that most often, when a person is hungry—i.e., stomach is growl-ing and mouth salivating—only food will satiate them. Still, it is important to drink water and I highly recommend it to dieters and non-dieters alike.

Myth 7: “Going vegetarian” means you are sure to lose weight and be healthier.

This should be rephrased to say, “Going vegetarian almost always ensures that you are going to lose muscle mass and be less healthy with a higher body fat percentage unless you are extremely careful.” The reason for this is that in order to obtain adequate protein, which we need for rebuilding muscles, a vegetarian often has to consume more foods that are higher in calories to get the same amount of protein that someone who eats lean meats and fi sh can get in far fewer calories. Tofu, beans and high protein grains like quinoa need to be eaten in large quantities to obtain the same amount of protein. This is coupled by the fact that proteins from plants are incomplete proteins, needing a second form of plant protein to compliment it (more calories), while those from animals are complete proteins, and can be used by the body right away. Still, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t thin vegetarians or healthy ways to diet as a vegetarian, but it does require a lot more research and

hard work to maintain or lose weight on a vegetarian diet.

Myth 8: Nuts are fattening and you should not eat them if you want to lose weight.

Nuts, while fattening, are sources of healthy fats. Every diet needs fats, as they carry out extremely important func-tions—transporting vitamins A,D, E and K throughout the body and promoting the growth of healthy hair, nails and skin. Nuts also have been identifi ed as a great way to stave off hunger prior to meal times or to add to cereal, dried fruit or yogurt to make them more fi lling. As long as you are careful about portion size, nuts are the perfect addition to plenty of foods. For ex-ample, seven almonds have 40 calories, two grams of protein, zero grams of carbohydrates and three point fi ve grams of fat—pair it with a piece of fruit or some dry cereal and you have the perfect dieter’s snack.

Myth 9: Salads are always the healthiest choice at meal times.

I have personally witnessed several of my friends only getting salads for lunches, dinners or both. While a side garden salad without dressing is always a healthier option than a side order of fries, salads may not always be the healthiest choice. First off, many people add fattening and caloric toppings to their salads—crispy chicken, creamy dressing and full fat cheese all raise the calorie and fat con-tent of the salad. Even fruits can be a downfall as students pile on sweetened dried cran-

berries, apricots and banana chips. Nuts, seeds and beans, while all healthy, also add sev-eral hidden calories to salads. So salad enthusiasts beware: while there are many lower-calorie salad options, there are also salads that far surpass the calorie content of mozzarella sticks, burgers or any of the other tasty Grill options.

Myth 10: Eating after 8 p.m. causes weight gain.

This one is my personal favorite, mainly because I’ve heard it so many times. As in all of the above statements, there is a shred of truth in this tip. You should be aware of mindless snacking. Most Americans, after rising at 6 a.m., are getting ready for bed around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., so they should not be eating too much too closely to when they go to sleep. Also, some people complain of heartburn or indi-gestion that is often associated with eating close to bedtime. Now, here’s why it isn’t true, especially for college students. We are all on completely differ-ent schedules; some of us don’t go to bed until 3 a.m. To be eating after 8 p.m. is fi ne if you stay up that late. Even more importantly, it is not when we eat that infl uences weight gain, but rather how much we eat over the period of a day and how that is balanced with the number of calories we burn. Eating a sandwich at 8 p.m. or eating it at 3 p.m. makes no difference in the amount of food you consume daily, but you should still be aware of late night snacking, as it is the downfall of many careful dieters.

10 dieting tricks myths

Brooke Genkin

Jane Doe

We miss you, Snookums!Good luck at WU!

Love, Mom, Dad & Steven

WU

STUDENT LIFE

Senior Scene Editor / Felicia Baskin / scene@studlife.com FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 20078 STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

I fi rst learned of the impor-tance of eye contact from a story about a friend of a friend who decided, on a

whim, to travel alone to Rome without money or a place to stay. She followed up this brilliant idea with another lightbulb-worthy plan: she got room and board by seducing men on the street, which, ap-parently, wasn’t too diffi cult in Italy’s capital.

During the course of that story I was told that should an American woman make eye contact with an Italian man, he may take it as permission to look her up and down. Now that I’m studying in Florence for the fall semester, I can

attest to this fact. My gender spares me from borderline harassment, but the American women here have no such es-cape. I’ve heard the eye-contact wisdom repeated several times and have seen more than one Italiano ogle a tourist and yell “Ciao, bella!” (Hello, beautiful!) with a glinting eye.

It sounds bad, and it is. Most men you’ll meet here are nice and wholesome, but you do experience groups of street vendors shouting explicit catcalls across open markets (or outing themselves in other ways that would be more than taboo where we come from), and it’s one of the many daily reminders that I am, in fact,

studying in another country.

And that’s the point. It is another country, with dif-ferent social norms and different ways of viewing sex and gender. That doesn’t make it right (because it clearly isn’t) and it doesn’t make it any easier for the women who deal with it every time they go home from class, but it should change the way we view the situation.

Italy, for better or worse, possesses a culture where men feel free to express their emotions and do so relatively

often. It isn’t out of ill will, and if a man yells to a beautiful woman across a piazza it doesn’t mean he’s a potential sex offender. That’s just the way he saw it done and he probably doesn’t know that it could be construed as wrong

behavior. Of course, we American

men see this behavior as wrong, and each of us can (hopefully) give you a disserta-tion about respect for sexual-ity, women’s rights and what we see as basic common sense. But before we pass a death sentence on every Italian man

with a wandering eye, maybe we should step outside of our box for a minute and try to understand where he’s coming from.

We’re often told that we live in a world of multiculturalism, and in this case that message is no less true. It is altogether unacceptable when anyone’s sexual comfort is violated, but unless the situation is extreme (and there’s a lot of gray area there) both sides of the interac-tion have a responsibility to take a step back and look at the bigger picture before they condemn an entire country or an entire gender.

At the same time, there’s something to be said for un-

derstanding tourists’ sensitivi-ties. In a country so heavy with visitors, those men should make an effort to respect American rules when they choose to relate to American girls.

By the same token, Ameri-can women should stop buying those tacky t-shirts that say “Ciao Bella!” in the Coca-Cola font, clichés of fashion that celebrate a part of the culture that we protest.

That being said, if you’re a woman walking down the streets of Rome and you hear a man shout out to you, try to look away. The discomfort isn’t worth it, no matter how good of a story it may make.

Ciao, bella! Adventures in the mecca of sketchiness

My older sister, the chef of the family, always tries to make unique, ethnic dishes. One day, she decided to pre-pare an Indian feast. Though I am the gourmand of the family, I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to try out this new cuisine. However, I stepped out of my comfort zone and ended up discover-ing my love for Indian food.

In the back of my mind, I had a sneaking suspicion that my sister, though a great cook, might not have provid-ed me with the best repre-sentation of authentic Indian food. I recently got to taste some authentic Indian dishes at India’s Rasoi and let me tell

you that you really need to check this place out, even if you are unsure of how much you’ll like Indian cuisine.

First things fi rst: there are some items that you should order at India’s Rasoi no mat-ter who you are (well, that is unless you’re lactose intoler-ant or don’t like mangoes or something). First, try the mango lassi. This is a deli-cious, sweet, and refreshing drink made from yogurt and—you guessed it – man-goes. Next, order some naan. Naan is round bread made of white fl our. It’s similar to pita bread, but it’s hot, has a softer texture and is, in my opinion, much better. You can get normal naan or you can mix it up and get cheese naan, which is topped with

mozzarella cheese and has a sort of pizza-like dimension. I tried this at Rasoi and found it to be absolutely delicious.

Next, it’s time to pick some entrees. I suppose that I can offer a little leeway on what you must order here. Howev-er, my fi rst recommendation is the chicken tikka masala. This dish consists of char-coal-roasted chicken cubes in a moderately spiced sauce. It comes with basmati rice, but in order to enjoy this dish fully, I recommend eating it with the rice and dipping some naan in your extra sauce (there is plenty).

Other entrées I’d recom-mend include the paneer tikka masala and the channa masala, both of which are vegetarian dishes. The paneer

tikka masala includes char-coal-roasted cheese cubes cooked in a tomato and cream sauce with bell peppers and onions. The channa masala is made of garbanzo beans cooked in a blend of Indian spices. Like the chicken tikka masala, both dishes taste de-licious when combined with basmati rice and naan.

There was one dish I would not recommend—the tandoori chicken. While the presenta-tion was nice, I found that the dish lacked fl avor. Basically, it was a whole chicken, served on a sizzling platter. How-ever, the chicken was dry, and I was disappointed that there was no accompanying sauce.

For dessert, I decided to really step out of the box and try something new. I ordered

gulab jaman, which are milk and cheese balls soaked in a honey syrup. Sounds weird? Yeah, it was a bit on unusual side, but the more I ate, the more I liked it. Odd as it sounds, I would say that the balls tasted like mini dough-nuts soaked in sweet syrup. The cheese fl avors were remi-niscent of what you’d taste in cheesecake.

Overall, my experience at India’s Rasoi was great

because I enjoyed the food so much. However, I must say that while the waiters were friendly, the service was slow and we experienced substan-tial waits after ordering our dishes.

One last important note—the restaurant is soon moving to a new location. The new lo-cation will be at the corner of Euclid Avenue and West Pine Boulevard on the fi rst fl oor of the Forest Park Hotel.

OutStepping India’s Rasoi35 N. EuclidSt. Louis, MO 63105Phone: 314-361-5911Price Range: $10-15

Rating:

★★★★✩

BY KATE GALLAGHER SCENE REPORTER

§

Ben Sales

Waiters set up the dining room of India Rasoi in the afternoon on Thursday. The restaurant is located in the Central West End on Euclid Ave.

DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE

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Senior Scene Editor / Felicia Baskin / scene@studlife.com FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 21, 200710 STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

SCENESCENE

When Washington University students arrive for their fresh-man year, almost all of them have at least one thing in com-mon: they’re placed on a fresh-man fl oor in one of the campus dorms. It’s a time of transition and people from every imagin-able background are thrown together to share a living space. For some, the freshman fl oor is just a place to crash at night. But for many students, it’s the place where they make some of the most defi ning friendships of their college careers—and the place to fi nd future room-mates.

Though not completely ran-dom, the process of arranging freshman fl oors involves a cer-tain degree of chance. There’s no guarantee that students will get along, bond or have any desire to stick together after freshman year. Nonetheless, an amazing number of students end up living with freshman fl oormates into their sopho-more years and even later. What is it about the freshman fl oor that’s so conducive to creating lasting bonds—or at least, last-ing roommates?

“Living together in such close quarters makes it like a family,” said Sarah Podolsky, a junior currently living with friends from her freshman fl oor.

Podolsky lived on Lien 2 dur-ing her freshman year. A major-ity of the students from that fl oor continued to live together sophomore year and Podolsky estimated that nearly half of them still live with fl oormates this year.

Senior Marcus Behrens ex-pressed a similar sentiment.

“I think our freshman fl oor was abnormally close,” he said. “[Freshman fl oormates] become your close friends. It’s just like living at home.”

At least half of Behrens’ freshman fl oormates have continued to live together even into their senior years. Se-nior Kelly Gelpi, who lived on Koenig 3 with Behrens during her freshman year, went on to live with four girls from that fl oor during her sophomore year. Behrens himself has had different roommates in differ-ent years, but all of them have been friends from his freshman fl oor; he now lives in an apart-ment building where two other friends from his freshman fl oor live across the hall.

It seems that what Behrens thought was abnormal might actually be quite typical. Junior Meredith Pierce, who lived on Liggett 2 in her freshman year, lived in a six-person suite with old freshman fl oormates in her sophomore year.

“Something big about our freshman fl oor was the vibe that we got,” she said. “Our fl oor got along really well, and we would all go out together. Our RAs did a lot for that, too.”

Pierce’s large group was not unique; four other girls from Liggett 2 lived in a suite togeth-er sophomore year. Of about 45 students on the original fl oor, Pierce estimated that over 25 lived with fl oormates again.

Junior Yogitha Potini, who has lived with freshman fl oor-mates every year, explained that it’s a matter of comfort and familiarity.

“These are the people who

know you better than anyone else, since they’ve been around you all the time,” she said.

But the reasons for living with freshman fl oormates again go beyond friendship bonds. Many students pointed out that there’s a simple convenience factor in living with people you’ve already lived with before.

“You’ve gotten to know these people so well in freshman year, and you know that they’re people you can live with again,” said senior Segolène Zimmern, who lived with her roommate from freshman year three years in a row. “My freshman room-mate and I just really knew each other’s space and when not to cross the line.”

Potini agreed. “With outside friends, even if you’re really close, you don’t know how that will translate into living with them,” she said.

It’s also important to note that Residential Life offers incentives to live with fresh-man fl oormates again through their dorm preference pro-grams. Freshmen dorms often have sister dorms that house sophomores and students from the freshmen dorms get prefer-ence for housing spots in the sophomore dorm the following year. For example, Podolsky’s freshmen dorm was linked to the sophomore dorm Gregg, so many of her fl oormates chose to live together again because they’d get priority for the new and desirable suites in Gregg.

Whatever the reason for liv-ing together again, the pattern seems to be increasing.

“We continue to have more and more sophomores [from the same freshman fl oors] who shoot to live together,”

said Cheryl Stephens, assistant director of Residential Life.

Across the board, students emphasize time spent and physical proximity as impor-tant factors for both creating deep friendships and fi nding convenient future roommates. It begs the potentially touchy question: if you had lived on a different fl oor, would you have made equally strong bonds with other people? More bluntly, is the freshman fl oor dynamic likely to create strong friend-ships regardless of the individ-uals? And the next question: if you hadn’t lived with the people from your freshman fl oor but had met them elsewhere, would you be such good friends?

Behrens offered a mixed answer. “If I didn’t live on that fl oor, I think I would be closer friends with the people that I did live with,” he said. “Wash. U. is small, but it’s not that small. In the fi rst few weeks [of freshman year], people divide up according to the fl oors and buildings they live in.”

Behrens added that many of his friends from Koenig 3 share his interests and participate in similar campus activities and groups, which has strength-ened their friendships and also makes it likely that he would have been friends with them even if they hadn’t lived on the same freshman fl oor.

Pierce remarked that time is

a good friendship-builder, but it’s also a good test of friend-ship.

“It’s easy to be friends with people for a year,” she said.

After freshman year, even people who live together again can experience changes in their friendships, or shift toward other friendships.

Podalsky said this was her experience. “There were other people from my freshman fl oor who I didn’t know as well then, but who have become some of my closest friends now. The dy-namic has to be right,” she said. “Each friendship is different because of what you experience with that person and where you experience it.”

New York City’s 2007 Fashion Week has come and gone, leaving a mark that’s worth notic-ing. From veteran designer Oscar de la Renta’s elegant and subtle fashion show to the Dali-esque fashion show of overachieving wonder boy Marc Jacobs, designers saluted the female body. They’re tossing away the tent dresses of past seasons and concentrating

on high waisted pieces, tailored designs and fabrics that hint at the alluring curves of the female fi gure, achieving masculine cuts with fabrics that retain feminine movement. It’s a concept best displayed by relative newbie Proenza Schouler. Though you won’t be able to get the exact clothes from the runways anytime soon, there are similar pieces in a store near you. LAMB, Phillip Lim 3.1, Grey Ant, Vena Cava and Lela Rose displayed campus friendly outfi ts that can also, with a change of shoes and accessories, moonlight as “going out” wear. For as low as $30, you too can look as fi erce as the models on the runway.

For a peek at what was featured on the Scene runway, also check out elle.com.

FASHION WEEK:BY ANGELA MINSCENE REPORTER

Sophomores Karen Heisler, Alex Choi, Jessica Lewis and Cheryl Chi share a six-person suite in Dauten Hall. As freshmen, they all lived on Beaumont 2.

BY MEGHAN HEALY LUECKESCENE EDITOR

What’s in a freshman fl oor?

JENNY SHAO | STUDENT LIFE

Coming to a store near you

LAMBH&M: Black Skirt: $24.90, White Ruffl e Blouse: $24.90, Grey Jersey: $12.90

TOTAL = $62.70

Vena CavaTarget: Button Down: $19.99, White Cover up: $8.98, Silver Chain: $14.99

TOTAL = $43.96

Lela RoseTarget: White tunic: $9.08H & M: Grey woven skirt: $19.90

TOTAL = $28.98

(left to right)

Phillip Lim 3.1 Grey AntUrban Outfi tters: Black Dress: $58, Blue Knit Sweater: $42Salvation Army: Brown Belt: $2

TOTAL = $102.00

Target: White tank: $4.00H&M: Beige vest: $24.90Urban Outfi tters: Purple vest: $38.00Splash: Jeans: Citizens: $170

TOTAL = $236.90

LIONEL SOBEHART | STUDENT LIFE

LILY SCHORR | STUDENT LIFE