Kevin Mejia, who was recently moved to forward from the midfield, scored his season’s first against Virginia, in the 27th minute, chipping a short slotted pass in the box over the keeper. The assist was from his junior classmate Kyle Becker, finishing a series of short passes through the Virginia defense.  Terrific passing between the BC forwards created the goal. Good coordination between Kyle Bekker, Rugg, and Mejia pressured Virginia for the entire game. In the second half, Amit Aburmad, senior forward, and Rugg continued to test Virginia’s defense with runs onto long diagonal passes toward the Virginia box. Both nearly scored on long balls from the Eagles productive midfield. Mejia connected with Diego Media-Mendez, freshman midfielder from California , who dummied the keeper and clipped a shot home in the 48th minute. Mendez’s goal was his sixth of the season, and gave BC a 2-0 lead until Brian Span converted a penalty kick for Virginia in the 70th minute. The Eagles move to a defensive 4-5-1 formation to protect their lead. Excellent delivery on corners from Virginia and the speed of Brian Somerville, forward for Virginia, produced too many chances. BC’s defense appeared scattered at times, permitting Virginia’s forwards Somerville and Brian Ownby too much free space. The Virginia offence repeated tried to score from the wings, and nearly succeeded, winning crosses and corners easily.   In tournament play, the Eagles cannot expect to win and allow as many unmarked runners, and open headers, on set pieces. Excellent goal-tending from Junior Justin Luthy kept Virginia searching for the tie, particularly on a diving, one handed-save in the second half, where he retrieved a header aimed toward the far post which had nearly past his reach.

On Wednesday, November 2, Boston College will play the North Carolina Tar Heels, who are ranked third in the nation, at home on the Newton Campus field. This is the last game of the regular season, and it will test our team’s quality against the ACC’s toughest competition. The cold weather, and home filed  favors BC, but the opposition will reveal our chances in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Whatever the outcome of this week’s game, BC has another opportunity to make the later rounds of the conference and the national tournament.

This past weekend, BC completed a sweep of UMass-Lowell in one game away Friday and one game at Conte on Saturday night. Both games played out very differently but with the same result.

Friday’s game started off as a defensive battle between two instate rivals with the two teams going into the dressing rooms goalless after the first period.

The Eagles responded strong when they got back on the ice with a powerplay tally by Paul Carey, followed by a goal from Steven Whitney barely a minute later.

This goal was perhaps the highlight of the night as Whitney tallied his 50th career point.

Boston College went on to score another in the second period and finally got the empty netter in the third period to secure the win.  Junior goalie Parker Milner racked up 37 saves on the night. This was only two shy of his career record.

Saturday night’s game on The Heights played out differently but the Eagles still finished the night undefeated in the Hockey East league. As costumes packed into the Superfan sections, the team treated its 4,207 fans to an offensive shootout.

Right in the opening period, BC scored four goals coming from Freshman Destry Straight, Johnny Gaudreau, Whitney and Chris Kreider. Destry’s goal was the first of his collegiate career.

Milner counted 37 saves again as the Eagles once again and showed how much of a dominating force the Eagles are in the hockey world.

Although the top ranked team is winning games in excellent fashion, it is evident that there is still work to be done.

According to head coach Jerry York, “Our club’s off to an excellent start,’’ he said. “But there’s still a lot of improvement we expect to make in a wide variety of areas. We accept the fact we’ve had a good start but we’ve got to push forward and just get better as a club.’’

It’s hard to get better as the best team in the nation, but the Eagles will not let their guard down.

Next weekend’s game features a Friday night showdown against University of Maine at Conte Forum. Puckdrop is scheduled for 7pm.

The weather conditions allowed Coach Frank Spaziani to take the ball out of his quarterback hands, as Chase Rettig completed five passes on just twelve attempts for 32 yards. Finch carried the running game, with Andre Williams also contributing 72 yards and touchdown. The only glaring deficiency in the Eagles’ offense was their four turnovers, but such sloppy play is to be expected given the Artic climate.

Defensively, Luke Kuechly totaled 12 tackles as well as a spectacular interception. With Kevin Pierre-Louis out with an injury, Kuechly picked up the slack to continue his absurd streak of 30 consecutive games with double-digit tackles. If the Eagles’ record wasn’t as abysmal as it is currently stands, Kuechly would be a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. It’s clear that no one is more valuable to his team than number 40 is to Boston College.

While the attendance was officially announced at just shy of 30,000, a more realistic estimate may have been one-fourth of that figure. The freezing temperatures combined with the wintry mix to force many fans to stay home rather than witness the matchup of the bottom-dwellers of the ACC.

In picking up their first win in conference play, the Eagles (2-6, 1-4) are now one of three 1-win teams in the ACC Atlantic Division. Coming off a tough loss to Virginia Tech in which the Eagles failed to show up in the second half, the boys from Chestnut Hill knew that this one was a must-win. Although the Terps have shown flashes of talent over the course of the season, their biggest problem (like the Eagles) has been consistency. In perhaps their most winnable conference game of the season, the Eagles came through when it mattered.

To idealists, this win represents a chance for the Eagles to continue their streak of consecutive bowl game appearances. If the Eagles simply win their next four games, 2011 would mark the thirteenth straight season that BC has gone to a nondescript bowl game. A tradition of mediocrity, but a tradition nonetheless.

The Orange Bowl certainly isn’t in the Eagles’ future. However, in a season where everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong, (see: Duke game), BC still has four games left. They might as well play for something. The Eagles face a very capable opponent in the Florida State Seminoles on Thursday night. An unofficial holiday in Chestnut Hill, there is no excuse for the student section to be anything but rocking. Rather than dedicating all efforts to #FireSpaz, it may be time to embrace this season for what it and get behind our team.

Winning the New England Challenge Cup, Connecticut Classic and the prestigious Eastern Regionals all in the same year was a huge step for the program, and they’re hoping to build on this success and show Boston College how talented they really are.

“This year, we’re still riding on the high of last year,” Kate Froehlich, the president of the program, added. “We had one fantastic season and we’re ready to have another one. Seeing how well our hard work paid off last year really keeps us going right now.”

Synchronized skating poses some unique challenges, according to Marion Halftermeyer who, like many members of the team, had only skated freestyle before coming to BC.

The team skates as a block of skaters in unison, each skater performing the same moves for the team to get credit for each element. Often creating circles or intersecting lines, skaters must stay on beat and in their own space to impress the judges and avoid collisions.

“Sometimes we end up crashing into the boards, which is never a good thing,” Halftermeyer said, with a laugh.

For these reasons, each skater must be talented and willing to come to practices, even if they have to get up before the sun rises or travel to east Boston at night.

“Because this is a team sport, we rely on each and every one of our members to perform their best at all times,” Froehlich explained. “We’re truly only as strong as our weakest link.”

This season could be the one that elevates the team to the next level. Last year, they competed at the open collegiate level which meant that they couldn’t qualify for Nationals despite their impressive resume. The team switches between the open collegiate and the more competitive collegiate level yearly, depending on their skill level, and they’re hoping to move up again this year.

With talented freshmen, a new coach and more consistent ice time, this dream could become a reality because they now have a better chance to learn the more complicated routines necessary to compete at the higher level.

“Competing at collegiate would be difficult and would require a lot of hard work and dedication, but I think as long as we pass all the requirements it would be a possibility,” Beth Evans, the vice president of the freestyle team, noted.

Part of the reason the team is so successful is also because of how close they are off the ice. With their post-practice breakfasts, similar backgrounds in competitive freestyle figure skating, and shared goals, this team is as committed to each other as they are to the team’s on-ice success.

“I think that the team was so successful last year because of how close everyone became,” Evans explained. “I always compare the figure skating team to a little sorority. This small, tight knit group allows us to get to know each other on a personal level so that we can move together towards our common goals.”

If last season is any indication, many of these goals and a trip to Nationals could become a reality for this promising and close team.

“Last year we were ‘Triple Gold Medalists,’ and I know that if we continue forward with the same enthusiasm and commitment, we’ll be able to show the BC community how great figure skating truly is,” Evans said.

The law called for the elimination of private banks as middlemen in the lending process, thereby eliminating an estimated $68 billion in transaction fees paid to the private lending institutions.  The savings generated were to be put toward expanding Pell grants and investments in community colleges, as well as reducing the national deficit.

Pell grants were to increase to compensate for inflationary pressure over the coming several years, resulting in an ultimate $425 increase in the maximum grant by 2017.  At the same time, the number of Pell grants offered is to increase by 820,000 by 2020.  Student recipients of federal aid were allowed to reduce the maximum repayment to 10 percent of discretionary income, from the 15 percent it had been previously; any remaining balances will be forgiven after 20 years of regular, on-time payments instead of the previous 25 years.

Though the student loan program overhaul was intended to make college more affordable, analysis has shown that increases in federal aid, which is up 438 percent in the past three decades, has only “enabled colleges to hike tuitions virtually without restraint,” says Jane Shaw, president of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Studies have shown that each $1 increase in the average student loan results in a net tuition increase of 93 cents for public schools and 55 cents for private schools.

Though colleges absorb increases in federal student aid through tuition increases, the majority of the new tuition revenue is spent on administrative costs, rather than costs directly related to instruction and curriculum.

So, what does this mean for current and prospective students?  The two areas students will see most directly affected are the increases in Pell grants and the changes to income-based repayment plans.

In terms of the Pell grant increases, the amount of the increases will be small in comparison to those originally proposed by Obama; they will not be enacted until the 2013-2014 academic year.  Further, the changes to income-based repayment will not be in place until 2014; therefore, the majority of students currently enrolled in Boston College will not be eligible to benefit from the smaller monthly payments future borrowers will be entitled to.

While the intention to make a college education more accessible for the masses is certainly admirable, are we really going about this in the right way?  If federal aid increases only result in simultaneous tuition hikes, it seems that students struggling to pay for an increasingly expensive college education are not actually reaping the intended benefit.  Only time will tell if government officials catch onto this trend in time to prevent it from going out of control.

Now what?

Gaddafi’s death takes away the unifying force for the rebels. This lack of a unified vision could cause a power struggle, which then in turn could easily lead to a civil war. The Middle East is not known for their democratic elections, although the Arab Spring might turn that notion around. Either way, it is imperative that the National Transition Council (the interim Libyan government formed in late February of 2011, often referred to as the NTC) ensure that democratic elections are established in Libya. If this fails to happen, another tyrant could rise to power just as Gaddafi did back in 1969.

What role should the U.S. play from this point forward? Is our work finished or should we make sure a democratic government be established?

There are two sides to this argument. One side posits that because we have the best military and most resources in the world, we have a duty to be the world’s policeman. In others words, we have an obligation as the leader of the free world to make sure anyone who wants to live in a democratic society free of unjust treatment has the ability to do so. The reason for this is not only a sense of moral duty, but also that it is in the best interest of our country (both in terms of national security and the economy) to make sure that democratic governments based on free-market principles are established throughout the world.  The other side to the argument is that a collective body of people (in this case a country) cannot have a moral obligation. Each person within that body certainly can, but not the group itself. In other words, the U.S. as a whole does not have an obligation to rid the world of all its injustices. Even if one were to determine that a country has this type of duty,

it would not be physically possible to simultaneously rid the whole world of suffering and oppression. One has to remember that U.S. taxpayer dollars fund our military’s actions around the globe. Are U.S. citizens willing to pay for the liberation of other countries? Is it acceptable for our politicians to use our tax money in that way? To that extent, how does a country then go about picking and choosing which countries to intervene in? And how susceptible would this decision process be to petty politics?

The U.S. cannot go about the world, fighting war after war, trying to make sure everyone is free. While we do have the best military in the world, it does not follow that we then have to constantly use it for the benefit of other countries. The United States’ armed forces should only intervene when there is a direct threat to our national security.

Open Access Week at Boston College is part of a global event entering its fifth year. It is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access (OA), to share what they have learned with colleagues, and to make OA a new norm in scholarship and research.

“We are in the recognition stage” said Wall of OA as something that aims to transform the way in which research is conducted, maximize research investments, increase exposure of published research, erase economic barriers to knowledge, and enhance the advancement of scholarship.

A short video gave faculty perspectives of OA accompanied by Collection Services Librarian Brendan Rapple’s engaging introduction that explained that OA “in a nutshell is full text availability online” as opposed to the current state in which publishers restrain access to authors of scholarly articles.

OA literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What make it possible are the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder. The introductory pamphlet states, “The question is not whether scholarly literature can be made costless, but whether there are better ways to pay the bills than charging readers and creating access barriers.”

OA has been embraced by reputable universities such as Harvard, Duke, Princeton, and now Boston College. The keynote speaker in a lecture entitled “Born Digital: Scholarship, Libraries, and Open Access in a Digital Era” was Professor John Palfrey, Henry N. Ess Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School. As an expert on intellectual property, international law, and Internet law, Palfrey is a published author of three books and an advocate of OA.

The symposium aimed to raise awareness beyond the library of scholarly discussion to a global access to “preprints of scholarly papers that are free and open to everybody.” Professor Palfrey went on to explain the moral and ethical imperative to reach beyond our universities to give global access to knowledge in the new online era.

Professor Palfrey argues that OA is about individual communities as well as higher ideals shared by these great institutions participating in OA and their obligation to share that knowledge. With the current year-to-year 44 percent price increase in scholarly journals, much of the information remains inaccessible to most of the population. In an attempt to fix this, OA digitizes publications to create a shared corpus of materials to vindicate the “free to all” idea that graces the archway into the Boston Public Library.

Following the keynote speech, faculty members from a plethora of subjects inquired about OA with enthusiasm as it takes hold at Boston College.

Concluding the symposium was a panel of BC faculty including Alec Peck, Interim Associate Dean of the Lynch School of Education, Christopher Baum, Associate Professor and specialist in Economics in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, John Gallaugher, Associate Professor and specialist in Information Systems in CSOM, and finally the Moderator Jane Morris who is the Scholarly Communication Librarian at Boston College and who organized the successful event.

The event was sponsored by Thomas B. Wall, University Librarian, and David Quigley, Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The event was a wonderful opportunity to recognize the achievements and immense passion of faculty scholars at Boston College in light of the promising Open Access which will undoubtedly celebrate the scholarly articles of BC’s talented faculty and share them with the world.

The movement specifically targets awareness for men’s health issues, including prostrate cancer and other cancers that affect men.  Movember has spread worldwide, and now includes over 1.1 million participants.  These participants, termed Mo Bros, are walking advertisements for men’s cancer awareness, and serve as reminders that men suffer from specific cancers that are less advertised than more common types of cancers. Movember was launched with inauspicious beginnings in Melbourne, Australia and has grown into a truly global movement.  Formal campaigns have been launched in ten countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, and Ireland.

A former Observer Editor-in-Chief is also taking part in the cause, in order to honor his grandfather, recently stricken with prostrate cancer.  Michael Reer and his father are not shaving this month to show support for his grandfather through his trying time.  The father-son team is also attracted to the movement because it allows them to pay tribute to Michael’s grandfather’s mustache.

Reer stated, “For me, the object of Movember is to show support for my grandfather by emulating him while raising money for a good cause.  My goal for this month is to raise $1,000 for cancer research and to get a good laugh out of my grandpa when I show up for Thanksgiving.” Therefore, Movember has become a deeply personal activity for Michael and his father, and they hope to raise $1,000 throughout the month for the cause.

You can join or support Team Reer at the Movember website here: http://us.movember.com/mospace/1766964/ or make a team of your own here: http://us.movember.com/register/.  It’s a great cause for men to become involved in and The Observer encourages all of campus to become involved! Movember helps men become more aware of the health issues they face, spreads knowledge about the types of problems that could arise, and hopefully will lead to higher earlier detection rates and higher rates of cancer survival across the globe.

According to Dan Schawbel, who is recognized by The New York Times as an expert on the subject, personal branding is “the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from the crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leverage it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal.”

“In this way individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish recognition and credibility, advance their careers and build self-confidence,” he states.

In many cases, developing a personal brand begins with an online presence.

Managing one’s online reputation is more critical today than ever before.  According to a March, 2011, study by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, sixty percent of Fortune 500 companies have active Twitter accounts, up from 35 percent in 2009.  Twenty-three percent have blogs.  Social media usage among Inc. 500 companies has also skyrocketed, as 83 percent used at least one media platform in 2010.

As Gen Y makes its mark on the corporate world, social media outlets are revolutionizing the way companies do business.

Creating a personal brand can help one to forward a career, expand a social circle, or start a business.  Chances are, many college students are already well on their way to developing a personal brand.  Through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, most students have an online presence; the question is how they might use that presence to advance their careers.

How can a student focus an online presence and begin to form a personal brand?  First, be yourself.  Present your brand in an honest and consistent manner that fits your personality: your projected brand should match who you are.  Communicating and sharing what you are passionate or knowledgeable about will help others to take notice.  Bring to the fore what makes you unique.  The brand should also fit what you are trying to sell, whether that be academic credentials, personal experience, or ability to do a particular job.

In their 1981 book Positioning: the Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout coined the concept of self-positioning:  “The most difficult part of positioning is selecting that one specific concept to hang your hat on.  Yet you must, if you want to cut through the prospect’s wall of indifference.”

“What are you?  What is your position in life?  Can you sum up your own position in a single concept?  Then can you run your own career to establish and exploit that position?”  According to Ries and Trout, these are critical questions a person should ask before determining a brand.

Once a person has established himself or herself by integrating both internet and real-life presences into a cohesive and consistent identity, he or she is faced with the challenge of maintaining and expanding the brand in pursuit of opportunities.

Personal branding is only useful when combined with networking, however.  Starting a blog and interacting with other bloggers, joining Twitter chats, and seeking out mentors who believe in one’s brand are essential to converting an online presence into real tools for career advancement.

Making an impression through personal branding can prove valuable in countless ways.

It is never too early to start thinking about what makes you unique and how you can use that to tailor your online presence to develop a self-positioning concept, and perhaps even land your dream job.

Four students sharing the role of “Eve” (played by Molly Holden, Dana Bogan, Tessa Donovan, Sarah DeVizio) narrated the performance, guiding viewers through a world of Botox, plastic surgery, gym memberships, eating habits and tattoo artistry, revealing the multiple facets of what women believe it takes to have “a good body.” Before each of the monologues, an “Eve” would appear and set the scene for the next one. Moving through Los Angeles, New York, Rio, Africa, Italy, and India, the audience meets a different woman, each with her own unique perspective on what her body means to her.

The show began with a short series of monologues, revealing the dissatisfaction Eve feels for her body.  Some of these women join Eve in their discomfort with their bodies. The audience encounters an Italian woman (played by Meghan Crosby) who wants a breast reduction, and a model (Catty Gambardella) who has become a living Barbie doll due to excessive plastic surgery.

Not all women depicted are unhappy with their bodies. An African tribal woman (Nzinga Williams) is thankful for every part of herself because it helps her do the things she needs to do on a daily basis. She thinks of her body in terms of nature. An Afghani woman even risks her life to get Eve some ice cream in an effort to help Eve to question her relationship with her body.

This thought-provoking performance drew attention to the external and internal conflicts women face that shape the way they view their bodies. Sophomore Molly Holden described her involvement with the production as a positive experience. “Being part of the Good Body cast helped me see how media skews our perception of beauty and also made me more comfortable with my own body,” Molly explained.

“Girls should realize the images we see in the media are not attainable for the most part, and we should engage in dialogues as a means to change this.”

In their quest to free consumers from the constraints of ‘big agribusiness’, food mile activists have demanded locally grown produce be given preference over imported food in American markets. Not only does this proposition go against the principles of free trade, but it has large detrimental effects on poor farmers in developing southern countries, and, despite what these ‘food mile’ activists will have you believe, on the environment and humanity as a whole.

The immediate losers to this food fad are the farmers in the countries from which we import much of our food from. The reason we import from these countries is simple: their prices are much lower, due in part to the fact that their environment is more suited to cultivate the crops, meaning they can grow more than our local farmers with much more fuel efficiency. Even when the transportation via land or sea is factored in, this produce still has a lower carbon footprint than most locally grown food (air and sea transport account for less than 1% of a food’s greenhouse gas emissions).

Another, perhaps deeper, flaw with the concept of only buying locally grown food is its impact on global hunger. As of last Sunday night, the symbolic 7 billionth human was born on this planet, and the United Nations and the U.S. both predict that we will see a total world population of over 9 billion before the year 2050. As our numbers continue to grow at such a fast pace, we need to be constantly increasing the efficiency with which we use the finite amount of arable land in order to provide for Earth’s increasing number of inhabitants. By encouraging citizens to go out of their way to only consume locally produced goods for whatever reason, these activists are demanding that American consumers and governments buy food not produced as efficiently as its faraway competitors. The end result is the demonization of food that is produced cheaply and efficiently in other, often poorer, areas of the world.

We should not be fighting the globalization of food, especially under the guise of eco-friendliness. There are many acceptable reasons for eating locally grown food, freshness and quality being a few, but please let’s not make this choice anything more than that. To do so is to propagate faulty logic and ill-informed choices.

The phrase “education reform” is often used by both conservatives and liberals.  When conservatives mention it, they speak about charter schools and voucher programs.  When liberals mention it, they speak about spending and class room sizes.  Both approaches do not do anything to improve the quality of education.

The conservative approach just makes the alternatives to public schooling slightly less expensive by giving parents $3,000 or $5,000 to send their children where they like.  It does not do anything to help children who attend public schools.  Similarly, the liberals’ approach of spending more on schools and hiring more teachers to reduce the size of classrooms secures fat pensions for teachers and enlarges the teachers union.  This too, does not do anything to help the children sitting in classrooms.

My idea for education would be the following: (a) abolish middle school; (b) abolish art, music, gym, health and sex classes; (c) increase the rigor of the math, reading and writing curriculum; (d) impose a dress code for both students and teachers; and (e) transition teachers to performance-based pay and defined-contribution pension plans.

By the end of high school, students will have spent 12 years on relatively useless schooling.  They graduate knowing less than they should with a degree that is meaningless.  It should not take 12 years to learn how to read, write and do arithmetic.

How many interviewers do you think ask college graduates what middle schools or high schools they attended?  None.  Since it is the education after k-12 which matters the most, the government should get out of individual’s lives as much as possible by abolishing middle school, which is mostly a repetition of elementary school, to save everyone three years.

Students now spend a minimum of 4 years receiving a college education, plus additional years studying a specialized field.  With law school, that is an additional 7 years after high school.  As our economy grows increasingly sophisticated and knowledge-based, the amount of time young people spend towards schooling will likely increase.  A highly educated population is certainly good, but it has its drawbacks.  Additional debt, for example, and more interestingly, undesirably changed social interactions.

With so much time devoted towards schooling, it is harder for men and women to realize when their lives will grow and develop to include a stable career and family.  As a result, the period of adolescence has been greatly extended.  Young women have forgotten to look for husbands, and young men have forgotten to look for wives.  By eliminating middle school (three years of education), the period of adolescence will shorten, freeing young men to pursue higher studies and develop careers at a younger age.  As men will then have careers at a younger age, they will be earlier prepared for marriage, and consequentially hold young women to higher standards of character and morality.

In addition to reducing the amount of time children spend in relatively insignificant k-12 education, I also suggest better utilizing the time they do spend in school by increasing the rigor of the curriculum.  Art, music, gym, health and sex-education classes could all be eliminated to ensure that students focus on the three R’s known as reading, writing and arithmetic.  All students should know script by the second grade (as opposed to the fifth) and should have learned algebra and geometry by the fifth as well.

In order to remove bad teachers from the classroom, a state governor should do what he could through the legislative process to get performance based pay and defined-contribution pension plans for teachers.  Additionally, a governor could offer teachers who voluntarily leave the union a higher salary, in exchange for a contribution defined-pension plan.  It is better to have a half-unionized workforce than a fully unionized one.

Such an educational system would teach its students what they need to know in the least amount of time.

Bernadette was born on January 7th, 1844 into a home of poverty and sickness and therefore, was always a feeble child. She developed cholera as a young child and as a direct result suffered from asthma for the entirety of her short life. She was sick so frequently that it almost affected whether or not she would go into the religious life. She had received the Sacrament of the Sick three times in her life because of her extraordinarily poor health.

Bernadette and her family were all living in one room together in her mother’s cousin’s house for free at the time Bernadette first experienced her visions. On February 11, 1858 Bernadette went with her sister Marie and a friend to fetch firewood at the grotto of Massabielle when she experienced her first vision. Her sister and friend had crossed the stream to find firewood but Bernadette had to sit to take her shoes and stockings off in order to avoid getting them wet. Once she sat in the grotto, she heard the sound of forceful winds, but nothing was moving with the exception of a small wild rose within the grotto. Behind this rose was “a white figure” later described as “a small young lady”, but Marie and Bernadette’s friend had not seen anything.

A few days later, Bernadette returned with a few friends and her sister. Immediately she knelt down, began praying the rosary, and had another vision, which she later learned was of the Virgin Mary.  Bernadette described her as wearing a white veil, blue girdle, and yellow rose on each foot. “The Vision” asked her to come to the grotto every day and Bernadette obeyed. These daily visions came to be known as la Quinaine sacrée, or the “holy fortnight”.

When Bernadette first started seeing these visions, many people in her town were skeptical of her. Even her parents became embarrassed of her and tried to prevent her from going to the grotto. Some people believed Bernadette had a mental illness yet some people believed they were truly witnessing a miracle and became followers of Bernadette’s journey. She was interrogated constantly and always remained true to her story: That her vision told her there was a great need for prayer and penance.

One of the major miracles that occurred at the grotto was when the “small young lady” told her to “drink of the water of the spring, to wash in it and to eat the herb there” as an act of penance. From the outsider’s perspective, Bernadette kissed the muddy ground, ate grass, and rubbed mud all over her face. She claimed that she was told to drink from a spring. It seemed that she had lost her mind and therefore lost what little faith people had in her. To everyone’s incredulity, the next day the grotto became a place with clear running water.

Bernadette experienced a total of eighteen apparitions from Our Lady. The 13th apparition required that a chapel be built near the grotto. Bernadette then told her parish priest Father Dominique Peyramale that this needed to be done, and he told Bernadette that this “vision” needed to identify herself before any such construction could take place. After asking the small young woman many times what her name was, she responded, “I am the Immaculate Conception”. After hearing this response, many churches and chapels were built in Lourdes.

Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers and spent her remaining years with them at the motherhouse at Nevers. There she contracted tuberculosis in her knee and inevitably died of her incessantly poor health. Bernadette died at the age of 35 on April 16, 1879, her feast day. Pope Pius XI canonized her 54 years later in 1933.

Ever since Bernadette had dug that spring, there have been almost 100 inexplicable cures verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau only after thorough scientific analysis of the cured person and the water from the spring. Today, many people travel to Lourdes in order to bring Lourdes’ holy water back home with them. Many sick and injured people go to Lourdes to hopefully experience the healing power of the water driven by faith and prayers, started by a 14 year-old girl who listened.

Prior to becoming Dean, Rogeau served as a professor of contracts, real estate law and Catholic social thought at Notre Dame for 12 years. He graduated from Brown University magna cum laude with a major in International Relations, and went on to receive his law degree from Harvard Law School.  He worked as a professor at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, and then eventually joined the faculty at Notre Dame Law School.

His most recent book, Christians in the American Empire: Faith and Citizenship in the New World Order, explores the theological underpinnings of Catholic social thought as it applies to law.  He explains that many of the ideas underlying American law and public policy in areas like poverty relief, immigration and redress for racial discrimination come directly from Catholic social teaching.

He, however, is generally antagonistic towards conservatism, and takes positions that find Catholic social teaching and conservatism diametrically opposed.  He wrote in America Magazine that in the 2008 election, “hostility was typically directed in that election toward any Catholic who failed to share the view that abortion was the only issue that mattered in selecting a candidate, the message to Catholics of color was particularly stark: Not only were we not ‘real’ Americans in the coded language of Sarah Palin and the Republican Party base; we were not ‘real’ Catholics either” (Real Americans, Real Catholics: Race Religion and the 2008 Election). He finds that African-Americans are “invisible to the Republican Party” and that is something they have learned to live with.

In the same article, Rogaeu writes, “What does an all-or-nothing strategy toward criminalization of abortion say to women in these communities, women who are also routinely vilified for having too many babies? Rather than being offered hope through support for the creation of a society in which poor mothers could envision futures of solidarity and participation for their children, they are told that more of them need to be prosecuted as criminals.” His leftist views are further explained when he boldly says, “Eight years of Republican leadership have failed this nation. President Obama gives many of us hope that the United States can once again be something more than a trading floor for monied elites so shameless in their greed that, having fought tooth and nail for decades to prevent meaningful regulation of their financial activities, they now seek to cover their outrageous losses with public funds.”

According to Director of the Women’s Resource Center Katie Dalton, “The programs [offered] aim to give students the tools to recognize what characterizes healthy and unhealthy relationships with one’s body, to identify strategies and develop a motivation to build a healthier relationship with one’s body, and to evaluate the false and problematic ways that our society and media present the body and manipulate our understanding of beauty.”

In order to plan the week, “The student director, Jaclyn Kundrat ’12, and the vice director, Nicole Laniado ’13, composed a planning committee of representatives from offices and student groups across the university.” Dalton assured that each member of the committee “brought a unique perspective” in order to ensure that the needs of each group of students at BC were met.

The offices represented and that cosponsored events were Art Club, Boston College Libraries, Office of Health Promotion, Dining Services, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, F.I.S.T.S., ALC’s Women of Color Caucus, Office of AHANA Student Programs, Sexual Assault Network (SANet), Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, UGBC Women’s Issues, University Counseling Services, and Mosaic.

Among the various events that were part of the week were Eat This, Not That: BC Dining Edition, Loving Your Body After Trauma, Disordered Eating: How to Help a Friend, and a performance of Eve Ensler’s The Good Body.

When asked about the goals of the Women’s Resource Center in hosting Love Your Body Week at Boston College, Dalton listed three main aims: “To give students the tools to recognize what characterizes healthy and unhealthy relationships with one’s body, to identify strategies and develop a motivation to build a healthier relationship with one’s body, [and] to evaluate the false and problematic ways that our society and media present the body and manipulate our understanding of beauty.”

With its vast array of events hosted by different student groups, the committee seeks to educate as many students as possible about the ways in which they can love their bodies. Specifically, Dalton explained that they “anticipate educating over 600 students through all of the programs.”

Though the Love Your Body events only span one week, the Women’s Resource Center is determined to promote positive body treatment and image throughout the school year. Dalton detailed, “The WRC is seeking to offer more intentional Love Your Body Week continuing education programs. We will be working with the Office of Health Promotion to plan a spring semester event.”

Featuring events that attracted students from all groups around campus, the Love Your Body Week events proved a success for the goals of the Women’s Resource Center and the groups with which they worked to organize the week.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit.

Hence true witness of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.” (CCC 1285) These gifts are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Biblically, the gifts appear in the Book of Isaiah, listed as qualities of the ideal king. “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2-3). Thomas Aquinas, in Summa Theologica, explains each of the gifts, breaking them into two units. Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, and Counsel direct the intellect, while Fortitude, Piety, and Fear of the Lord direct the will toward God.

Wisdom allows us to see God at work in our lives and in the world. Deeper meaning can be found in wonders of nature, historical events, and the fluctuations of life, helping us appreciate the dignity of others and find God in all things. Understanding leads to comprehension of how to live as a follower of Christ.

The conflicting messages of our culture do not confuse those with understanding. Reason and appreciation of truth are perfected. Counsel, or Right Judgment, is the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong. With it we are able to choose what is right and avoid sin, living out the values taught by Jesus. Fortitude, or Courage, helps to overcome fear and take risks to follow Jesus.

It is strength to stand up for what is right, even when facing rejection, abuse, or harm. With courage, a person can both do good and endure evil.

Knowledge gives us an understanding of God. More than just facts, we can learn who He is and what He desires for us and from us. Piety, or Reverence, imbues a sense of respect for God and Church. Recognition of total reliance on God, and trust, love, and humility before God come with the gift of Piety. Aquinas explained that through Piety, the Holy Spirit teaches us to worship God as our Father.

Fear of the Lord, also known as Wonder and Awe, leaves us aware of God’s glory and majesty, knowing He is perfect in knowledge, goodness, power, and love.

The “fear” is a fear of separation, a fear of offending God, not a fear of punishment. Aquinas also draws parallels between the seven gifts and the seven Capital Virtues. The Virtues therefore can be seen as the human embodiments of the gifts, they way we respond to the outpouring of Grace bestowed through the sacraments.

Saint Luigi Guanella was a Northern Italian priest who lived from 1842-1915. He devoted himself to the needs of the poor, and was the founder of two Catholic institutes, including Daughters of St Mary of Providence, and the Servants of Charity, which has the motto of In Omnibus Charitas or “In all things love.”

Guanella was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1964, but couldn’t be recognized as a saint until it was proven that he performed a miracle. That miracle happened in 2002, when a 21-year-old man from Philadelphia, Penn., suffered a horrific, coma-inducing inline skating accident.

Doctors performed two brain surgeries on William Glisson and removed the left, front, and right sides of his skull, but considered him a lost cause. However, a family friend who worked at the Guanella Center for the Handicapped gave Glisson two Guanella relics. The family prayed to Father Guanella, and kept a small piece of his bone next to Glisson.

Nine days later, Glisson came out of his coma.

“You can’t really make any sense but to call what happened to me a miracle,” Glisson said. He was invited to take part in the canonization on Sunday, and carried bread and wine up the steps of St. Peter’s basilica during the mass.

Saint Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro, 1837 – 1905, was a Spanish nun and the co-founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Saint Joseph. Named after Jesus’ father, the “holy laborer,” her congregation gave impoverished women occupational training and support. The order is now in ten countries.

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, and canonized on Sunday.

Saint Guido Maria Conforti of Parma was born in 1865 and died in 1931. He was afflicted by epilepsy and sleepwalking and, as a result, was rejected by the Jesuit and Salesian orders.

He eventually became a bishop for the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fontanellato, Italy. Then, after rising through the hierarchy of the Italian Church with the approval of Popes Pius X and Benedict XV, he founded the Missionary Union of the Clergy.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996, and is credited with healing 12-year-old Kamarizada Sabina of pancreatic cancer in Burundi in 1965.

The sports world has been in a state of chaos recently.  With the football and basketball lockouts happening within the same year, it’s been a frightening twelve months for devoted sports fans.  Throughout this time of turmoil, baseball has been every fan’s constant.  It’s the backbone of the country, and nothing makes this more apparent then when the sports world is upended and baseball remains close to everyone’s heart.

Baseball has become part of the tradition in the United States.  It’s associated with the country just as closely as apple pie. Baseball has been played since the late 1800’s and has only gained momentum and popularity through the decades.  There have been timeless heroes born out of the baseball tradition, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Nolan Ryan.  These are men that have transcended the diamond and have become part of American lore and history.

Many argue that American football has stepped into the limelight of popularity in the sports world, and for good reason.  Football Sundays have become a tradition in this country, just as baseball has always been.  The fast-paced, hard-hitting play keeps the audience interested.  In an age when people are always on the move and attention spans seem to have dwindled, football’s game play matches society’s quickened pace.  But despite the growing popularity of football, baseball reminds fans of a simpler time that was slower-paced and the word “multi-tasking” wasn’t in one’s vocabulary.

The peoples’ dedication to baseball is evident with the attendance of the many games throughout the season.  The baseball season is very long, yet many ballparks sell out their stadiums nearly every game of the season.  For instance, Fenway Park has sold out 700 straight games.  Obviously Boston is one of the most popular baseball markets in the country, but that momentous a streak is impressive nonetheless.  There is something special about going to the ballpark to watch a game, and people understand that.

Most importantly, baseball games are more attainable to the public.  There are so many games in the season that it is much easier to attend one of these games.  Since football only has sixteen games per season, it’s more expensive and more difficult to nab a ticket.  I think attending a game is the impetus that creates a true fan.  If one attends a game, he feels more connected to the team and to the sport.

When one sees his favorite player or team, in person, a passion for the sport is born that is hard to erase.  Since baseball offers a greater chance of seeing a game in person, more people have developed that personal connection to the game, which is why it remains our favorite pastime.

Baseball and football are very different games, and both offer fans great reasons to root passionately for their teams.  While football is faster and more action-packed, baseball is slower, more methodical, and more calculated.

However, the tradition of baseball is too deeply rooted in our country for it to ever be passed in importance by football.  Baseball has become embedded in all aspects of society, including movies, music, and literature.  People will always love baseball and they will always yearn for those late, brisk October nights when teams and players make history on the diamond.

What I believe to be clear is that the original decision to invade Iraq was a mistake. It is unfair to classify those in the Bush administration as heartless warmongers on the hunt for oil. They—in all likelihood—truly believed that disposing of Saddam Hussein would make the world a safer place and give democracy a foothold in the Middle East. But much like Keynesian economics, Wilsonian foreign policy is a road to hell paved with good intentions. In invading Iraq, the Bush White House forgot the oldest rule in the book when it comes to international relations: the balance of power. The stalemated Iran-Iraq War of the 1980’s demonstrated that whatever Baghdad’s expansionist tendencies were, they would be checked by the power of Iran and vice versa. With Iraq now effectively out of the picture as a military power, Iran, a country with a nuclear program more advanced than 2003’s Iraq and a population more than twice that of Iraq with little of the sectarianism, can express greaterinfluence in the region.

This brings us to the current dilemma. Should the United States have continued to lose both capital (over $800 billion thus far) and human lives (4,480 U.S. troops killed and over 32,000 wounded) in order to check the power of Iran? It is apparent that Iraq’s fledging democracy will have difficulties doing this alone, not to mention providing for the country’s internal security. However, the threat of Iran may be overblown. Iranian tanks won’t likely be rolling over the border the day the last American troop leaves Iraq. The same goes for Iran’s position with regard to Israel. Yes, Iran now has a nuclear program and yes, the Iranian president has said he wants Israel wiped of the face of the Earth. Nevertheless, any sudden act of aggression by Tehran will be suicidal, given America’s vast military superiority. There isn’t any real need to keep an infantry force in Iraq just in case the leadership of Iran looses the instinct of self-preservation.

The question over the withdrawal from Iraq concerns more than just Iranian expansionism, however. Iraq is a young, unstable democracy that is prone to sectarian violence. One could make the argument that the U.S. must continue to protect Iraq from internal threats. However, there comes a point when enough is enough. American taxpayers and soldiers should not be expected to pay for the defense of a foreign state indefinitely. Indeed, even the Iraqis supported the withdrawal, rejecting offers by Washington to keep several thousand American troops in the country to train Iraqi forces.

While the Obama administration has made mistakes in everything from Afghanistan to Libya to the economy, it seems to have made the right choice here. We can now say the Iraq War is over, let’s just hope that it stays that way.

Manent is a leading figure in the French rediscovery of political philosophy in the 1970’s and 80’s after the long hegemony of Marxist and postmodernist (“post-structuralist”) currents of thought. In 1978, with Raymond Aron and others, he helped found the French Quarterly Commentaire. Manent is currently completing a new book on Montaigne and a collection of essays on the “theological-political problem.”

Sponsored by The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy as part of the John Marshall Lectures in Political Philosophy, the lecture brought out a large crowd composed of undergrad and grad students alike as well as many faculty.

Manent’s earlier books (Naissances de la politique moderne, Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy, An Intellectual History of Liberalism, The Anthology Les Libéraux, and The City and Man) seek to understand the political and theological origins of modern liberalism, including its spiritual costs and benefits.

His more recent work centers on the health and development of modern liberal democracies. Works such as A World beyond Politics? (2001) and La raison des nations (2006) analyze the “depoliticization” of contemporary Europe and make Manent a significant critic of the European project in its present form.

In Les métamorphoses de la cité: Essai sur la dynamique de l’Occident (2010), Manent explores the West’s great “political forms”: the City, Empire, Church, and Nation, and its substitute for religion, the “religion of humanity.”

In this lecture, Manent took the podium with a light-hearted and humble demeanor despite his international status. Returning to BC in light of a recent work, Manent explains his aim to make sense of the West in terms of political history and political philosophy.

Manent discussed democracy in the United States, specifically in light of our economic crisis. He argues unemployment will wreak havoc where the benefits of democratic life have been taken for granted. When also considering the decline of the European Union, Manent argues that now we have come to doubt American ascendency and European Unity at the same time. Therefore, Manent continues, progress has been deeply undermined, and it ironically comes on the heels of democractic victory.

With the establishment of the United States in a truly democratic revolution, Manent argues it resulted in lack of strong political figures and consequently our own idea of democracy has shrunk to such a degree that we see it as a regime.

Manent explains that what we must learn is that what is best in democracy is not the most pleasing, and indeed not the most democratic. Therefore, we must try to compose a better understanding of what we are.

Manent argues that because the US was founded as a democracy and still can draw upon that foundation, American prospects for success are much better than those of the European Union in both of their current predicaments.

Manent also argued that in considering history, the progressive, or weak perspective, on history is not helpful today because it sweeps events into irrelevance. For Manent, progress is not simply improvement, it is the element of energy through which people pursue things. After comparing progress in different modern regimes and political structures, Manent established that our understanding requires abandonment of the notion of decline and fall.

“We need to unlearn progress as well as decline,” says Manent. He goes on to argue that progress and decline shouldn’t be considered traits of human beings. Rather progress is something necessary in the notion of human progress, for we are always trying to improve things.

Manent maintains that, while we can recognize a symmetry between progress and decline, it is not natural for human beings to make things worse. He concludes, “the notion of progress is only meaningful and necessary within the context of human action.”

In our current situation, we must reconsider the state of the West and the European Union. Manent says, “Our loss demands our attention.” Therefore, we must come to see decline as economic progress because it motivates human action. Manent further explains, “We need to understand Human action as encompassing progress.”

He argues that we must avoid the disposition of the observer at all costs and rather embrace human action.

In considering the type of action which comes into play, Manent expressed his belief that true action is the actualization of human expression.

However, those times are over. Sports like lacrosse now poach potential participants from baseball, weakening its popularity. Playing Little League Baseball is no longer a right of passage for a young man, and increasing numbers of kids are growing up without ever swinging a bat. So, with the sport on a gradual decline in esteem among sports fans, it is time for baseball to finally pass on the title of America’s pastime.

Baseball should gracefully relinquish the honor and give it to football. The high scoring, hard-hitting game of football is more conducive to the nature of today’s Americans than the methodical game of baseball. People today are impatient and constantly looking for action, rendering them poor matches for slow-paced baseball games.

Football is capitalizing on this change in the American mindset, and reaping the benefits. In fact, regular season football contests are drawing more viewers than the pinnacle of the baseball season: the World Series. This fact alone points to a need for baseball to pass on its title.

The balance of power in the National Football League gives it another advantage over Major League Baseball. In the MLB, there are a handful of large market teams that are competitive every year because they take in more revenue than the teams in less populated areas. This enables the large market teams to compose better rosters than the rest of the league year after year.

Contrast this with the NFL, where a salary cap insures that every team spends the same amount of money on players. Due to this restriction the NFL has great parody. Any team can win any game, and aside from a few exceptions, most of the teams are of equal caliber. Before any season, there are a great number of teams with a realistic shot of competing for the Super Bowl, compared with only a handful in the MLB with a realistic shot at reaching the World Series. This equal playing field is something that appeals to Americans, and keeps football fans passionate about the sport and their favorite team.

Football fan’s passion is fueled further by the emergence of fantasy football. Everybody and their mother, literally, has a fantasy football team. This simple game, which parallels the NFL regular season, preoccupies countless numbers of football fans every Sunday during the fall and winter. This game not only draws new fans into the sport and away from sports like baseball, but also increases the amount of attention existing fans pay to football, as they now are interested in more games than just the one their favorite team is playing in.

Fantasy football is a complement to the sport’s popularity, strengthening football’s hold on its fans, but it is not its source.  Football’s acclaim can be attributed to one reason; the sport simply mirrors the culture in today’s America better than baseball does. Times are different, and pitch-outs and extra-base hits have been replaced by touchdown passes and quarterback sacks. With baseball slowly fading away, it’s time for fathers and sons to put down the rawhide, pick up the pigskin, and engage in America’s new pastime.

Michalczyk has been a professor at Boston College since 1974. He began his college education “at the University of Scranton but finished at Boston College in 1966 in Philosophy and French.” Shortly afterwards, he received his MA degree in French Literature in 1967, and finally pursued and received a PH.D. in Romance Language and Literatures with a film focus from Harvard University in 1972.

Before arriving at Boston College to teach, though, Michalczyk “taught French and film at Loyola High School, a Jesuit prep school in Towson, Md.” Additionally, he taught French for one year at Harvard before joining the BC faculty.

According to Michalczyk, he was the Chair of the Boston College Fine Arts Department for nearly fifteen years and now remains Co Director of the Film Studies program.

Michalczyk teaches courses at BC primarily dedicated to the examination of socio-political issues in film. For instance, he has taught Propaganda Film, European Film, Latin American Cinema, Holocaust and the Arts, Conflict Resolution Film, and Genocide and Film.

Directing his attention toward the films he has premiered, Michalczyk explained that he has introduced most of his works to the crowds at the Museum of Fine Arts. Moreover, “many [of his films] were shown on PBS, and some were shown internationally.” Additionally, “a good number are used in classes and conferences.”

Among the films that Michalczyk has created are Confronting Amnesia: Frozen Memories of the Russian Gulag from the Conflict Resolution Series, Michael’s Eagle Eyes from the “I’m in Here” Series, and The Cross and the Star: Jews, Christians and the Holocaust from the Breaking Barriers Trilogy.

The Fine Arts professor has also written multiple books that include Italian Political Filmmakers (1986), Costa-Gavras: The Political Fiction Film (1984), and The French Literary Filmmakers (1980).

Currently, Michalczyk is in the process of developing a feature script entitled “Anya” for potential future production. The script tells the story of “a young girl coming of age in a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania where she encounters disturbing anti-Semitism, especially in her father,” according to the professor’s Curriculum Vitae.

A true champion in his cultural and film endeavors, Michalczyk received the prestigious culture award, known as Les Palmes Academiques, from the French government “for his contributions to, and study of, French culture and language for more than 25 years.”

Moreover, a member of BC’s Art Council, Michalczyk was awarded the “Boston College Alumni Achievement Award for Arts and Humanities” in 2003.

Enthusiastic in the study of culture and film, Professor Michalczyk has proven a vital part of the Boston College Fine Arts faculty.

Participants in the panel made it clear that they did not agree with Church teaching on matters of homos ex ua l i t y; however, three of the four panelists still considered themselves to be members of the Catholic faith.

While we did not agree with the panelists on several key points raised during the event, we would like to commend the GLBTQ for encouraging a dialogue that supports religion, and encourages its members in their search for and pursuit of faith. The Catholic faith supports and loves individuals who are homosexuals, but calls them to chastity – like it does all unmarried individuals.

For this reason, we found this particular event to be a promising beginning to an important conversation.

Up to this point, Christy had considered herself a non-denominational Christian.  The first time she heard about God was in a sixth grade religion class at her Lutheran school where she only spent two years, and hearing about God changed the way she thought about the world.  In the following years, she attended religious services of various Christian denominations every so often with her friends.  She developed a nebulous idea of God as someone who was nice, but she knew little about him beyond that.

An unexpected phone conversation with her uncle in the early weeks of her freshman year at BC led her to Mass that very night.  At that Mass, an announcement was made about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), a program which culminates in the conferral of the sacraments of initiation, and Christy decided to set herself on this path toward the Church.  She had many questions.  She had an idea of God, but she knew that her thoughts about him were nothing more than ideas which she had made up on her own to align with her own understanding of the world as she had known it.

Christy was baptized, received Communion, and was confirmed the week after Easter in 2008.  Her RCIA formation being complete, she was now a Catholic, but her Catholic journey was only just beginning.  She still strove after a deeper understanding of God, and so she purchased for herself a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Interestingly, Christy says, “At the time of my baptism, I didn’t change my lifestyle at all.  I thought myself a good person because I did service and went to Mass on Sunday, but there is so much more than that involved in being a Catholic.”  Like St. Augustine, she says she gained faith and joined the Church before she was truly converted in her heart to living out God’s will.  It was not until the time when she came to recognize in fullness the true reality of heaven and the true reality of hell and the true reality of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist that she began “to see the world and [her] life in the light of eternity.  From then on, there is no way to live life as before.”  This moment was at first “petrifying,” but she began “slowly but surely to trust in the love of God and in the Church.”

The impact of her faith on her life since then has been, in her words, “tremendous.”  In her junior year, she transferred from the College of Arts & Sciences to the Connell School of Nursing, giving herself a fifth year of college, but also leading herself into a profession that will allow her to serve the sick.  Her faith granted her the opportunity to discern for herself more clearly this true vocation which God has called her to.

Christy says that the gift of her faith was a free gift of God, in other words a pure, heavenly grace.  God worked in many modes throughout her life, at each turn mysteriously moving her soul toward a relationship of love with him.

For those who are currently contemplating joining the Church or returning to the Church, Christy encourages (1) prayer throughout the discernment and (2) the seeking of accurate information about the truths which the Church teaches.  Above all, she recommends to those people that they completely trust in God to guide them in the proper direction, keeping in mind that it will not always be easy because they must sacrifice their pride, but it will be rewarding as they reorient their lives entirely around the truth, entirely around God.

Many thought that issues in Greece would not be revisited until the first quarter of 2012, but it is now clear that the time has already arrived.  On Friday, the Greek government will hold a confidence vote and a referendum on the acceptance of the EU aid plan.  This is sending world markets reeling and has forced France and Germany’s leaders to summon Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to Cannes to ensure the aid plan implementation before the G20 Summit. The euro fell against the dollar, and the risk premium on Italian bonds over safe-haven German Bunds hit a euro lifetime high.  Investors see Papandreou’s already slim majority in the Greek Parliament weakening, and this will be a catastrophe.  Without a majority, Papandreou will not be able to enforce the austerity measures required for EU aid, and Greece will default.  This is a terrible scenario for the eurozone, major American and European banks exposed to the Greek and Italian bond market, and the Euro.  But it might be the best option for Greece.  The country will obviously go into an economic depression with high unemployment, a new weak currency, and terrible infrastructure.  But this depression will surely last shorter than a period of massive austerity and unemployment in order to satisfy the larger eurozone nations.  We have seen nations like Russia and Argentina bounce back relatively quickly from default, and the disastrous consequences they have called to private financial institutions (such as Long Term Capital Management).  But they were looking out for the interests of their citizens, and that is likely what Greece will ultimately do.

That run-n-gun attitude served Coach Donahue well at Cornell as it created an exciting style of basketball, and gave Cornell a chance to upset almost any team they played, provided they got hot from beyond the arc.  This is the nature of the jump shot: when the shots fall, a team looks unbeatable, but when the shots aren’t going down, a college team could lose to a collection of middle school kids.

In 2010, Boston College was the perfect example of the hot/cold nature of a jump shot.  The Eagles scored impressive victories over Texas A&M, Virginia Tech (twice), and the University of Maryland (twice); and was one shot away from defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels in Carolina.  Of course, BC also figured out a way to lose to Yale, Harvard, and the University of Miami (twice); and to get blown out in the ACC tournament by the Clemson Tigers.  On some nights, the Eagles looked like they would at least make the second round of the NCAA tournament.  On others, they looked like a team that would be lucky to make the second round of the NIT (BC lost in the second round of the NIT in 2011).

Now, in 2011, Boston College is staring down a season where they have been picked to finish twelfth in the ACC in the media poll.  They will have shooters all over the floor (anyone who attended Ice Jam can attest to Danny Rubin’s stroke), but there is no certainty in the middle of the court.

Any college basketball fan can tell you that, if a team wants to be successful for an entire season and make a deep run into postseason play, they must be able to get reliable, easy, baskets in the paint.  Last season, Boston College was saved several times by Reggie Jackson’s phenomenal ability to drive the lane and either get a layup or draw a foul; this season, Jackson will not be on the floor to create an easy bucket, and someone else will need to step up.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, those baskets will be hard to come by; size is not a strength of the roster this season.  The Eagles have only three players on the roster who are listed at 6’8” or above; all of whom are freshmen.  Jump shots can create upsets, but interior defense, strong rebounding ability, and easy baskets in the paint create sustained success.  It is a tough load to bear, but the three freshmen who will be occupying the middle of the BC lineup must play well if Boston College has any chance of proving the critics wrong and making a run at the NCAA tournament.

There is one good thing about being picked to finish last in pre-season polls; the only way to go is up.  The Eagles have a system in place that will give them an opportunity to surprise teams and pull some upsets.  However, if they are going to actually prove the critics wrong and rise out of the cellar to be a nationally relevant program this season, the three big men for the Eagles will have to step up and play with ability and composure beyond their years.

After a disappointing football season, the window is there for Boston College Basketball to capture the attention of a victory-craving fan base.  Will they rise up?  Ryan Anderson, KC Caudill and Dennis Clifford, you guys are going to be the answer.

The article minimizes the importance of a nurse’s role within the dayto- day medical ield, reducing the function of a nurse to one who conducts “introductory surveys” of patients and records height and weight. The writer fails to acknowledge the importance of a nurse’s care for the patient, or the extent of the studies required and experience necessary to achieve such a vital position within the medical world.

Allison Cotta, CSON ’13, responds to the article: “While I can understand the point made by The Height’s staff regarding the importance of distinguishing between medical professions, I believe implications within the article were quite offensive to an entire undergraduate college.” She continues on to defend the importance of nursing research through doctorate programs: “Advancements in nursing research, led by nurses with Ph.D., have led to immense improvements the quality of care in all patient settings.”

While we certainly understand the importance of distinguishing between a nurse with a Ph.D. and a doctor within the medical workplace, we would like to offer our full appreciation and respect for those who choose the nursing route of the medical profession. It is our irm belief that it is the role of nurses that facilitates the full healing and recovery of their patients; without their dedication and care, patients simply would not receive the full attention they require.

We would also like to extend our appreciation to our esteemed staff member who is a student in the Connell School of Nursing Class of 2013.

In our first issue, The Observer reported that the Student Activity fee had still risen even with the cancellation of the fall concert.  At the time, Student Programs Office Director Dr. R. Darrell Peterson, Ph.D., told The Observer that a working group has been charged with examining the issue and will soon make a recommendation to the Vice President of Student Affairs.  Recently, we have learned that, presumably in an effort to compensate for the difference between the lowered student activity cost and the income from the raised fee, Nights on the Heights is going to enhance the scale and the quality of the events it presents to the student community.  Instead of many quiet events, like scrapbooking, laser tag, and trivia nights on the weekend, the organization will now host larger, more expensive events on the weekends.

Nights on the Heights has cited the upgrade in its events as a mode of reaching on a wider audience. It also argues that the expanded events as a way to fulfill its mission to give as many students as possible an alternative to the BC party scene.  While these are certainly commendable goals, Nights on the Heights has historically had a poor attendance rate amongst students.  The redistribution of student activity funds from the concerts in Conte Forum to the enhanced Nights on the Heights is simply unnecessary.  Faced with the choice between several B-name concerts and refunded student activity funds, many students would certainly choose refunded money.  Why distribute when we could lower costs?

According to The Boston Globe, “The Atlantic Coast Conference’s expansion to 14 teams with the inclusion of Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the Big East is being portrayed as a simple move to expand its footprint in the Northeast.” Additionally, the expansion is reportedly “driven by the football-dominated television contracts.”

Though football television contracts seem to be pressuring the ACC to grow, basketball is serving as motivation as well. “According to sources in the Big East and ACC, the idea is to reestablish the ACC as the preeminent conference in college basketball and was a predatory strike at the Big East, which, while struggling to improve its BCS rankings in football, had established itself as the runaway leader in basketball,” reported The Boston Globe.

However, Boston College Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo assured The Globe, “‘It had nothing to do with basketball…It was football money which drove expansion. It was football money and securing our future.’’’

Not only did DeFilippo explain the reason for the ACC expansion, but he also expressed negative sentiments towards the potential addition of UConn to the ACC. He told The Boston Globe, “‘We didn’t want them in…It was a matter of turf. We wanted to be the New England team.’”

The Globe exposed the alleged reason for Boston College’s icy rejection of UConn, detailing, “[BC] was still fuming over what it perceived to be vitriolic comments made when BC was finally invited to join the ACC and started competing in 2005. UConn and Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit against BC, and Calhoun made comments about never playing BC again.” Thus the negative feelings between BC and UConn have been mounting for the past eight years.

In response to the article in The Boston Globe, The Hartford Courant ran a story about the evident feud, citing comments from UConn president Susan Herbst. According to The Courant, Herbst assured, “‘I don’t believe in institutions fighting each other…We are colleges and universities, after all. I have absolutely nothing against any educational institution, Boston College included. And we never would.’”

After the article about ACC expansion surfaced in The Globe, DeFilippo released a statement to the presidents and athletics directors of the ACC that promised them that Boston College will from now on remain silent on the issue of the conference’s expansion.

DeFilippo stated, “I would like to apologize for any negative effects caused by my recent interview with a Boston Globe reporter.” He continued, “while I harbor some ill feelings toward the University of Connecticut regarding the lawsuit, depositions and derogatory comments from UConn officials when we announced our decision to join the ACC, it was inappropriate to express personal feelings that might have been construed as the position of Boston College or the Atlantic Coast Conference.”

Though DeFilippo’s apology makes clear that BC will now refuse to comment on the issue of the school’s feud with UConn, the articles run by both The Boston Globe and The Hartford Courant only serve to increase the attention paid to the expansion of the ACC as well as the tension between Boston College and the University of Connecticut.

The performance was entitled “Making History and Music-The Jesuit Musical Tradition,” and featured polyphonies written by the famous Tomas Luis de Victoria. Although often times this type of  “church” music may seem monotone and boring for the modern listener, the Ensemble Plus Ultra’s beautiful harmonies and polyphonic sounds rendered the music both soothing and complex.

As the group has only nine total members, the audience was awe-stricken as the group projected the sound of a full chorus. The audience was wowed by complex melodies that created many distinct sounds and harmonies. For each new song, the singers readjusted their positions, shifting high parts and low parts, creating multifaceted sounds that were both collective and individual as well.

There was cutting contrast in the beauty of each performer’s voice: the men could hit the highest of notes, while the women could just as well hit the lowest of bass notes. The diversity of their ranges allowed the group to create sounds that are hardly ever heard, especially in modern music.

The audience was equally impressed when listening to the group sing only in Latin, the language that de Victoria wrote in. The time and energy put into this performance was evident, as there didn’t seem to be any hesitations, or false notes; it was perfect. In a world where so many artists auto-tune or digitally enhance their voices, it was impressive to hear such perfect singing without any amplification or enhancement.

Not only was it amazing that every singer in the ensemble simply had a beautiful voice, it was incredible that the performers were able to work together so beautifully in blending their voices to create such a unified sound. There were no solos for this performance, but rather the members of the group focused on a total sound.

This type of ensemble’s goal is to create a culture through music by taking notes and twisting them in such a way that paints a picture in our mind. While listening to the performance, one couldn’t help but shut his eyes and let his imagination run wild as the notes encouraged colors and images to flow throughout his mind.

It was a concert that one wishes would never end, as it forced listeners to appreciate just how impressive an instrument the human voice can be. Every song received large ovations culminating with the patented standing ovation as the Ensemble closed its performance.

The group itself will perform three more times in the Boston area, ending with a large performance at the First Church in Cambridge. At this performance, the Ensemble will perform both de Victoria’s classics, as well as some 16th century English and Spanish music.