The Elephant in the Room: The Silenced Republicans of FCLC

“Elephant?  What elephant?”

 

         Between the anti-Bush greeting cards in the bookstore, the Obama flyers decorating the student plaza and the Bush-as-a-monkey printout taped up in the scene shop, it’s pretty clear where the political loyalties of most of our college’s population lie. But during this hotly contested Election 2008, we must not forget the Republicans in our midst – supporters of John McCain instead of Hillary or Barack. They’re the Few but Proud – the Republicans of Fordham College at Lincoln Center.             

      There is a longstanding College Democrats Club here on campus, but we’ve never had a College Republicans Club that lasted very long.  In fact, when FCLC conservatives, in preparation for this historic election year, tried to gather support for a College Republicans Club, their efforts failed. This was in part because they just couldn’t get the required sixty signatures on their petition – liberal students weren’t very interested in helping the conservative cause, and there weren’t enough conservative students who wanted to publicly express their Republican politics.                

      Artur Jagielski, FCLC ‘09, who helped spearhead the movement to form a College Republicans Club at FCLC, said that the process was difficult because of “some of the criticism I received from several people [Democrats]. I’m sure there are more Republicans on this campus who don’t voice their opinion, and if we could reach out to them, maybe we could form a club here on campus.”      

      But who is it that’s really making the Republicans feel unwelcome at Fordham? It’s got to be the students, right? Everyone knows how hot-headed and opinionated college students can be. Actually, conservative students say that it’s not their peers who are the problem.  It’s the people you’d expect to have a more reasoned approach: the professors.     

      While both the faculty and the student body are filled with Democratic supporters, Jagielski and Republican recent grad Howie Ray, FCLC ‘06, assert that while professors are very narrow-minded, fellow students seem open to debate. “I found a lot of the student body was open to intelligent political discourse,” pointed out Ray. Jagielski says that liberal politics aren’t even much discussed among students: “… I don’t hear much talk about it [liberal politics] outside of the classroom. All I see is pro-Obama posters here and there.”     

     But professors in many departments, say Ray and Jagielski, frequently lash out at the president, loudly lamenting the fact that we have a Republican administration in Washington D.C. And while most FCLC conservatives understand that liberal teachers have complaints about Bush (and are more than prepared for the Bush- related “litanies of woe” professors often launch into), they feel beleaguered nonetheless. Professors, claims Jagielski, “…continuously bash the president [and] conservative politicians without taking into account that there may be Republicans sitting in the classroom. They just assume that if you are a Republican, you must be a bad person.”  

No Age @ Market Hotel

On Monday night, DIY concert promoter Todd P hosted the second show at his newest venue, the Market Hotel, as Los Angeles neo-punks No Age ripped through a sweaty, machine-gun set. The Bushwick loft space belongs to eight artists/musicians who have decided to allow their home to be used for live music. The space itself is absolutely huge for a loft, with a separate room for a bar. With very little lighting and amenities such as a small bleacher section in the back of the room and a coat check (!) in a separate room, the Market Hotel could easily become one of the most fun places to see music in New York.

As for the music, it can only be said that No Age truly know how to make a crowd lose all sense of control and give their bodies over to the sway of their catchy punk bursts. In layman’s terms, everyone was absolutely losing it. Crowd surfing, pillar-climbing, stage-diving and sweat-dripping were all heavily present throughout the course of the band’s set, even after a ten minute break to plug equipment back in. If you get the chance to see these guys, do it. It’s a visceral experience hard to come by at most New York shows. Openers High Places and Rings both turned in strong sets, as well. As for the interpretive, “avant-garde”, poorly-planned dance/music performance at the beginning of the evening: not worth tarnishing this joyous post with any negativity.Check out the following photos to see how hot and crazy it can get in February.

Super Tuesday

 

Photo Courtesy Jess and Colin 

Crowds of jersey-wearing fans, distant chants of “Let’s Go Giants”, and last minute campaigners urging New Yorkers to vote characterized most parts of Manhattan yesterday.

And as excitement roared through the NY Giants’ celebratory Ticker-Tape Parade downtown, an equal amount of excitement cascaded across the entire nation throughout the day and night as polls closed and votes were counted.

Here are the results:

Hillary Clinton took eight out of 22 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, and Tennessee) on the Democratic side. Though she won fewer states than Obama, Clinton’s win in the biggest delegate prize, California, proved to be a big one. Exit polls showed that Clinton maintains strong support among women and among older voters. She also won her home states of Arkansas and New York.

Barack Obama took 13 out of the 22 states (Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Utah) and is currently leading in a very close race in New Mexico. Though taking home more states, Obama still trails slightly on the estimated delegate count. The race is almost evenly split and can go either way in the coming weeks. Exit polls showed Obama’s strongest support among 18-24 year olds and African-American voters in some states. He also took his home state of Illinois at an impressively large margin.

John McCain came out on top on the Republican side taking 9 out of 21 states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma). Unlike the Democratic race, McCain can be named the clear frontrunner of Super Tuesday among the Republican candidates, taking the largest number states and the largest number of delegates. Along with the greatest number of states, McCain also won big in New York and California.

Mitt Romney follows with victories in 7 of the 21 states (Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Utah). Romney stated last night that he intends to continue with the race, though the night proved to be disappointing for him, winning states he was expected to win and failing to impress otherwise.

Mike Huckabee came in third taking 5 out of the 21 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia). Huckabee did better than most media predicted in the past few weeks, victoriously claiming a large number of southern states. Still, he must work to expand his popularity to other regions.

The race remains close and may stay that way until the convention, particularly for the Democrats. The upcoming primaries and caucuses will be crucial. On Feb. 9, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, and the Virgin Islands will be next.

And The Nominees Are…

photo courtesy of oscars.org

Although the Oscar ceremony is in jeopardy because of the still-raging standoff between the Writers Guild and the movie producers, the nominating process went on as it does every late January. On January 22nd, in the wee hours of the morning, the Academy Awards nominations were revealed in Los Angeles. Here then is news about some of the most interesting and hotly contested nominations for the 80th Academy Awards:

Best Picture: “Atonement” surprised everyone by ending a bad awards season run, broken only by a Golden Globe win, with a nomination in this category. “Juno” also snagged a nod, but it is basically just your requisite indie comedy entry. The real contest though seems to be between “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Michael Clayton.”

Supporting Actor/Actress: Though these two categories have been all but locked up by powerhouse frontrunners – Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” and Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There”-- this nomination morning belonged to two veterans who got their first nods. Eighty-three year old Ruby Dee for her role as Frank Lucas’s mother in “American Gangster” and eighty-two year old Hal Holbrook for his brief but heartbreaking performance in “Into the Wild” are sentimental favorites in their two categories.

Best Actor: George Clooney, Viggo Mortensen, and Tommy Lee Jones all scored nods, but it is Daniel Day-Lewis who really stands to win the trophy. Day-Lewis rarely takes film roles anymore, but when he does, they almost always earn him Oscar nods. He is the odds-on favorite to win this award for his performance in “There Will Be Blood,” but you never know – maybe Johnny Depp’s willingness to sport a hairdo like Cruella De Vil’s and sing an impossibly hard score will finally win him the statuette (though heaven knows that sashaying bizarrely, wearing eye-liner, dancing with a bear and making Willy Wonka seem creepily like Michael Jackson have all failed to win Johnny the coveted little gold man in the past).

Best Actress: Yes, this is a strong year for this category, which has three very competitive nominees – Ellen Page for “Juno,” Julie Christie for “Away from Her” and Marion Cotillard for “La Vie En Rose”—although the battle will probably end up being waged between Christie and Cotillard (the two Golden Globe winners), with the precocious Page  Cate Blanchett and the off-the-radar Laura Linney to fill out the category? I guess the Academy wasn’t impressed by Nikki Blonsky or Angelia Jolie, or even Keira Knightly.

Best Original Screenplay: The big news in this category is that three of the five nominees – Diablo Cody for “Juno,” Nancy Oliver for “Lars and the Real Girl” and Tamara Jenkins for the “The Savages” – are women. This is one of those Oscar categories that has been dominated by men; in fact, there have been only a very small handful of women who have been nominated for this award, including Sofia Coppola who won for her script of “Lost in Translation.”

Best Director: Julian Schnabel for his work on “The Diving Bell and Butterfly” was the surprise winner at the Golden Globes, but the Coen brothers, who are said to be at the top of their game with “No Country for Old Men,” have won a fair share of the hardware this season and are still in the hunt to end their long winless streak at the Oscars. But let’s not forget how Oscar works – if “Michael Clayton,” “Juno” or “There Will Be Blood” wins Best Picture, the smart money would be on it to also win this prize as well.

Coachella Comes East!

Photo courtesy scubapup

Or at least of version of it will. It has just been announced, first by Perez Hilton and then by Billboard, that concert promoters AEG Live/Goldenvoice will be bringing their insanely successful music festival formula to the east coast. Not much information has been released, but it has been made clear that the festival will not bear the Coachella moniker. This yet-to-be-named musical orgy will take place at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, a park previously best known for boasting prime views of downtown Manhattan and housing the Liberty Science Center. (Honestly, has anyone seen a nature movie on the “Omnimax” screen there? It is bananas.)

According to Mr. Hilton’s source, the festival will take place sometime in August, putting it in close competition with the Vineland Festival, another musical smörgåsbord taking place in New Jersey in August. Unless, of course, some Vineland residents get their way and that festival doesn’t take place.

While this may not be Coachella: New Jersey Edition, the idea is definitely promising. Certainly good news for people who like good news.

(Also of note: Is this the first Observer Blog post to link to Perez Hilton? If so, awesome.)

Clinton and McCain Take New Hampshire Primary

Yesterday’s results for the New Hampshire primary were a far cry from last week’s Iowa caucuses, making the upcoming presidential nominations “a historic free-for-all” for both the Democratic and Republican parties. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who placed third in Iowa and John McCain, who placed fourth, changed their strategies after their first loss and came out on top in New Hampshire. Clinton received 39 percent of votes, Barack Obama was a close second with 36 percent, and John Edwards followed with 17 percent of the Democratic vote. As for the Republicans, McCain brought in 37 percent, with Mitt Romney getting 31 percent, followed by Iowa winner Mike Huckabee with only 11 percent.

Clinton’s emotional reaction to the pressures of the presidential race on Monday was thought to cause many voters to hear her “voice” and reconsider Clinton. Her turnaround came after her team lowered expectations for her campaign, and expressed concern over Obama’s victory. Romney, who was considered at one point to be a front-runner in the Republican race, undertook his second blow. It has been reported that he hopes to be more successful in the January 15 Michigan primary, his home state where he has been advertising on television since December.

Though the New Hampshire primary made the presidential nominations even more unsure, there is no doubt that it has brought about a sudden spike of interest in the various campaigns. An exciting race is just what we need to draw attention to what really matters in our country at this time.

WeTube So You Don’t Have To: Iowa Caucus Edition

So the returns from the Iowa caucuses are in and, as our mighty Managing Editor Adam Kaufman reported, the victors were Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee. I’ll leave any sort of commentary to any of our other esteemed editors because, well, they’re all smarter than me, but one arena where I feel my input is valuable is the YouTube.

Two videos from the winners:

This is far from an official Obama campaign video, but by gosh it should be. And just for the uninitiated, YouTube is rife with Soulja Boy mash-ups in the same ilk. Do yourself a favor spend three or four hours browsing the catalog.

A reminder: This man won. Just saying.

Check back often for more traditional (and informative) campaign coverage by the other members of the Observer staff. (And don’t forget that Adam already posted what might be the best officially endorsed campaign clip.)

sticks and stones? the worst verbiage of 2007

Sweet! As the coming of 2008 brings fresh outlooks, new resolutions, and (for some of us) savage hangovers, it doesn’t hurt to look back at things we’re leaving behind. With progression comes retrospection — and for the grammar enthusiasts and sundry word-nerds among our ranks, New Years’ Day is a time of celebration of the burial of a new host of clichés.

Indeed, Lake Superior State University’s annual list of “banished” linguistic clichés was unveiled today, calling out 18 of the most hackneyed or misused phrases of 2007. Some strike us as fairly obvious: anyone who watches TV news coverage on a semi-regular basis can attest that “post-9/11″ and “perfect storm” (the latter frequently used to describe any sort of coincidence) could be eliminated from our discourse. Others, such as “sweet” and “random” were culled from teenage vocabularies. “[Blank] is the new [blank],” as in “Apple is the new PC” is another of these aggravating expressions.

Of course, the list does call to attention some less obvious potboilers. Some phrases simply became pervasive enough in their usage that they have been accepted and incorporated. For example, the list’s compilers point out that “decimate,” usually used to mean “destroy” or “demolish,” actually means to be “reduced by one-tenth,” or at least by only a small fraction. From popular parlance, using the word “author” as a verb is completely unacceptable, and the common use of “emotional” as a descriptor fails to denote any particular feeling. Ecstasy, rage, melancholia, ennui — truly, any of these could fall under the umbrella of this ambiguous adjective.

The list is light-hearted by nature, but reflects a more serious point: we could all stand to sharpen our communication skills. One look at the head of our executive branch makes this an even more pressing need. Besides, you certainly don’t have to be an English teacher to appreciate a good chunk of articulate speech.

For the full list, visit www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php. Because in 2008, smart is the new dumb.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated at 54

Photo Courtesy ABC

Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan and leader of the Pakistan People’s Party was assassinated near Islamabad on Thursday. At least a dozen others were killed in a suicide attack at a political rally when Bhutto was fired upon at close range, The New York Times reported.

According to Time, Bhutto’s death will plunge the upcoming elections into uncertainty and the country further into instability. Musharraf has called for three days of mourning, and has warned about the riots that will take place in the streets of Pakistan in the wake of her death.

According to an aide to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, he blames Islamic militants for the assassination of Bhutto.

President Bush released a statement about those responsible for the killing of the former opposition leader. “The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy,” he said. “Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice.”

be merry

photo courtesy krisdecurtis

Merry Christmas, everybody! Hope Santa was good to you.