ROFLCon Panelist? NOPE. Chuck Testa. | Photo by Ashley Hansberry.

So it might be a surprise to note that overall, the conference tended to take itself a bit seriously. Some might say, too seriously.

For the uninitiated, ROFLCon was a two-day conference that celebrated, discussed and deconstructed Internet culture. It featured panels, demonstrations, and special guests–familiar faces of Internet superstars, (like this guy, this guy, and this lady) or the unfamiliar faces behind the familiar usernames of movers and shakers behind the web, like Ben Huh, Chris Poole and Alexis Ohanian.

Panels seemed to fall into three categories: there were those that approached light-hearted material in a light-hearted manner, those that approached light-hearted material in a serious manner, and those that approached serious material in a serious manner.

In the first category were panels like Drunk Vegan Black Metal Scanwich Chef and Super Art Fight–lively, delicious and hilarious demonstrations of cooking and competitive art, respectively. Neil Cicierega (the guy who made Potter Puppet Pals and other amazing viral nonsense) carried his solo panel by simply being his funny self. And Craig Allen, the creative mind behind the Old Spice Commercials was expectedly hilarious, and improved everyone’s day by Skyping in Isaiah Mustafa to answer our questions and while a cardboard cutout bikini-Leia stared us down in the background.

Hannah Hart and Vegan Black Metal Chef make magic happen. | Photo by Ashley Hansberry.

Panels like this brought to life the silliness and fun that the Internet truly can be. Drunk people trying to cook is funny, and so is a guy cooking vegan food to death metal by candlelight. Watching comic book artists drawing Rowlf the Dog slip into wild-eyed insanity, doubly so.

Less successful panels took the same silly concepts–memes, jokes and silly videos–and tried to discuss them in an academic or serious way. For instance, “The Distant Future, the Year 2000″ discussed old-school Internet classics like ZomboCom (a Kafkaesque Internet limbo nightmare characterized by an unending loading page, a bizarre welcome message and elevator music) Eric Conveys an Emotion and that dang Badger song. Somehow, the panel fell flat, despite having the owner of Zomboco and the eponymous Eric himself. Even Mr. Weebl, aka Jonti Picking–the most famous of the bunch, as he’s created new classics like Kenya–made an appearance. The goal of the panel was to discuss how Internet culture has changed, but this was better discussed in later panels. Still, hearing Mr. Weebl preform Kenya live was pretty worth the trip.

Saturday’s “Metameme” panel, designed to talk about the way a meme travels, mutates and morphs over time seemed to take itself too seriously as well. Lindsey Weber of Buzzfeed, Christopher Price of Tumblr and the two guys who made Shit Girls Say all tried to discuss the way recent memes have change over time. But everyone, audience and panelists alike, seemed to be having most fun when we were watching the videos and looking at pictures. So it would be at an Internet convention.

Too Big to Know, a panel that was basically about “reading the matrix” of larger sites (YouTube, Reddit and Imgur) might have met the same fate, but David Weinberger of Berkman Center for Internet and Society was an impressive moderator who kept the questions and the momentum of the conversation moving along.

That’s not to say that none of the serious or quasi-academic panels were successful. Saturday morning’s “Supercuts” panel brought together the creators of videos like this, this and this. The three panelists came to talk about their movies, but the conversation covered reality television, presidential politics, cinematic tropes, editing techniques, cinematic rhythm, and the very nature of humanity. It ended in the premiere of Duncan Robson’s supercut, Three Point Landing.

Later in the afternoon, Chris Poole (also known as moot, also known as the founder of the notorious and beloved 4chan) used his panel to discuss the trajectory of the Internet community as he knew it. He used the hour as an open discussion with the audience about what an Internet community could be in an age of Facebook, while members of the audience shared experiences from the good ol’ days of relay chat, message boards and Geocities.

Ben Huh, CEO of Cheezburger, got heckled by trolls. | Photo by Ashley Hansberry.

Not long after Poole, Ben Huh, CEO of Cheezburger Network, took the stage. He clearly intended to discuss intellectual property rights in the age of online creative remixes of images, music and video. But members of his audience had other plans, and Huh’s panel was interrupted. Cheezburger has long drawn criticism for its policy of adding its own watermark to all images posted on the site, particularly by users who feel that their content has been stolen. At least two of those users were very vocal and present, and both were asked to leave the room.

The end of the weekend culminated with one final panel, the topic of which was Internet freedom. Alexis Ohanian of Reddit, Tiff Cheng of Fight For The Future, Derek Slater of Google and Elizabeth Stark of Stanford discussed the task of “Defensing the Internet” against legislation like SOPA and PIPA. The panelists discussed the need for education and action on the part of voters looking to protect the Internet from heavy-handed intervention. There was more than one standing ovation during the course of the panel. Even Tron Guy, a Tea Party conservative, made an appearance.

It is hard to take too seriously a conference in which the phrase “Tron Guy made an appearance” carries gravitas. But ROFLCon deserved the seriousness some of the time. Because memes are fun, and so are pictures of cats, and so is getting free drinks at an after-party with the real-life  Scumbag Steve. But less fun is the threat of a Congress that knows nothing about the Internet passing legislation on the Internet.

This ROFLCon was the last, at least for a while: the creators have announced that ROFLCon III sounds like a good one on which to end. But ROFLCon IV is not out of the question down the line, and is certainly not something to rule out just yet. And who knows what ridiculous memes we might have by 2017?

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The typical term paper after 6 hours of work. | Screenshot by Allan Lasser

The deadlines that precede the end of the semster are rushing towards us at the speed of passenger trains. Unfortunately, there are many who haven’t finished—or started—their final papers. Maybe they’re a freshman still figuring out a work-flow, or maybe they’re a senior who just doesn’t give a damn. The train is coming fast; either brace for impact or get out of its way.

These deadlines don’t have be suicide. A little focus goes a long way and a concentrated effort can knock out a simple essay in just a few hours, regardless of length. But simply staring at a blank page can be intimidating enough, I know. I just knocked out my last term paper and thought I’d pass on some of the tips and tricks I learned during the process.

#1. Break it down

You got assigned a fifteen page paper on East Asian Democracy in the Globalized Hypersphere? That sucks. It might seem like there’s not enough material to fill one page, let alone the rest. Don’t worry, just break it down! Take that fifteen pager and break it down into three papers only five pages long, like the ones you used to write for high school English. Turn each argument into its own essay, then glue them together with transitions at the end. Then go drink.

#2. Print it out

It’s easy to get lost when working on a computer. The siren song of social media steals your focus and redirects it towards wall posts and retweets. It’s time to treat Facebook like the geeky kid who asked you to slow dance at the middle school formal: reject it! Slam down that laptop lid and escape from the screen—but not before first printing out your paper. Having space to think beyond a 13″ screen really helps. Cut up your paper, rearrange it, hang it on your wall; sometimes seeing it differently is enough to spark new ideas. Plus, that print quota isn’t going to spend itself.

#3. Mess up early

Before you start writing, just slam on your keyboard, filling a whole page with nonsense. Here, I’ll give you a head start:

lasefhpaweoinfaeiop fop[oqwjp asdhfo ;-r09u 90u093u o ur09wruiosdfj iosadj fiosj foishf oif8 wp9y83 as h98qy893q2t83 apwy 982y20[u09oiaj sdfoijas023 u9tuqois jd 20823 0u209u2lvn kL JDSIHEPW( 2t0u9 2q3pojpit9-]w iow htlkj o’sd

Don’t understand? Let me clue you in: nothing else you write will be anywhere near that bad. Once the pressure’s off, just start writing and don’t worry about perfection. That’s why editing exists, dummy.

#4. Submit that bitch

Here’s the situation: it’s an hour before deadline and you’ve only written a hundred words, with fourteen hundred left. I won’t sugar coat it: you’re screwed. There’s no way it’ll be good, and your professor will know you phoned it in big time. But don’t worry! It’s just a paper! There are bigger things to worry about: sharks, terrorism, pregnancy. This paper is just a drop in the bucket. So don’t stress out—do as best as you can, construct the frame for a cogent arguement, and hand it in. But really, try harder next time. College isn’t free, you know.

No related posts.

Mothers and daughters were never so opposed as in this episode. Look at how different, and yet how similar, these two are. | Photo via AMC.

This week’s episode of Mad Men explored the relationships between parents and daughters and the inevitable conflicts that arise when the daughters grow up.  The episode was on point and right on time—it was time that Sally finally put on her big girl shoes, it was time we met Megan’s elusive parents, and it was definitely time Peggy and her mother finally had it out.

Sally had a stunning, albeit brief, Cinderella moment this episode. | Photo via AMC.

Sally Draper has undergone major character development in Mad Men‘s most recent seasons. As the child of the dysfunctional marriage of two extremely dysfunctional people, Sally was destined to have a difficult time growing up.

Sally has managed her circumstances admirably with the help of her wise therapist (who saw that her mother was the one who needed the most help), learning to prioritize her frustrations and define herself as an individual. Sally carries the coldness of her mother and the smooth manipulativeness of her father within her—she’s able to spin a situation or shut an enemy down at the drop of a hat (see how she stole five dollars from her grandfather and blamed it on the maid a few seasons back, or how she subtly blamed baby Gene’s toys for Pauline’s fall in this episode).

We’ve seen her growing exponentially over the course of this season, and in this episode we finally saw the “a-ha!” moment; Sally is now a young woman, not a little girl. As she glided into the room, graceful and confident in her adorable and completely 60′s-fabulous getup consisting of a glittery halter top, miniskirt, bouffant, eyeliner, and white go-go boots for her daddy’s big awards dinner, she was never more different than the innocent Sally of season one, with her cupcake dresses and pin curls. Of course, this was no fairy tale, and there was no time wasted between her time as a child and her new identity as a sexual object in the 1960′s. “Soon your daughter will spread her legs and fly away,” Megan’s father Emile said, in a line as biting and terribly funny as the show has ever had.

Sally’s Cinderella moment was, as predicted, sundered quickly and shockingly, when she unwittingly walks in on exactly the type of behavior that Emile sneeringly warned of. Sally returns silently to her chair and eats the fish that she refused as a child. She is a woman now, and does what is expected of her, even when it does not go down easily.

The Calvet family dynamic is, appropriately, devastatingly academic and very, very French. Despite the fact that they are Canadian, the Calvets are continental and fabulous in a way that no one else on Mad Men is. Marie enters the room dressed in head-to-toe magenta with a matching hat and chunky gold jewelry (a bold ensemble even today), then changes for dinner at home in a chic little black dress worthy of Audrey Hepburn. She falls asleep with a lit cigarette in her hand and her shoes on in a wine-induced haze. Her husband Emile is every inch an academic, with quirky little round black frames and tweedy plaids.

Marie and Emile Calvet’s marriage is crumbling and sarcastic, all romance and passion gone, and they take their frustrations out on one another using sex, alcohol, and money. Marie’s dress at the awards dinner (black with a low neckline, sheer netting, and a bold jeweled neck piece) is the height of style, but extremely risque for the time, signifying both her wealth and her reliance on her sexuality as a tool. The tension between Megan and her parents is clear throughout the episode, not only in dialogue (“You’ve changed,” her father tells her) but in apparel. When Marie is in pink, Megan is dressed in green, opposite each other on the color wheel. At the ball, Megan wears a gorgeous and modest coral, while Marie wears daring black. Megan is on her game the entire episode, showing that she is not only a gifted professional, but that she and Don make an excellent team. “Some things never change” is a brilliant tagline, and, not coincidentally, echo the themes of the episode perfectly—family tension will never change.  Her outfits often coordinate with Don and their apartment , but always clash with her parents. They don’t like that their daughter is gifted and happy at what she does, a fact which brings them all down.

Busy patterns clash in this tense relationship. | Photo via AMC.

Peggy’s life has reached a satisfying stability, both personally and professionally. As Abe and Peggy sit together in the office in subtly coordinating outfits (grey, high collars, slashes of red) we know that they are a good match—he likes her for who she is, and respects her role as a modern professional woman.

Joan smartly advises her that Abe may propose when he insists upon dinner at seven one night, and Peggy falls into an old-fashioned tizzy. She goes out and buys the most obviously feminine outfit in the world, a hot pink cupcake of a dress (take note, Pegs: pink is not your color) but, lo and behold, Abe’s request is much more modern than all that. Peggy hesitates, her traditional Catholic upbringing weighing on her, but accepts and is overjoyed when she gets Joan’s honest (and heart-warming) approval.

All is not well, though—Peggy decides to tell her mother, and it does not go smoothly. She dresses in her most traditional 50′s silhouette, but still clashes with her mother, their busy patterns fighting one another. Katherine Olsen is horrified by the news, taking away the delicate cheesecake she brought (“I’m not giving you a cake for living in sin!”) and suggests that Peggy should have let her live in ignorance. Projecting her own loneliness on her daughter, she says “You’re lonely? Get a cat. They live thirteen years, and then you get another one, and then you get another one, and then you’re done.” Of course this was not going to go well. Peggy needed to finally hear her mother’s disapproval after years of tacit silence. They needed to have it out. Peggy’s all grown up now, however, and her mother’s disapproval can’t change her mind now.

The ladies of Mad Men are all doing all right for themselves, forging their own personal and professional identities and celebrating their earned successes, but there is no success without some force pulling them back. In this episode, that force came in the forms of mothers and fathers. We saw hints of true sisterhood among them this week, real steps forward, but the creators of Mad Men know that there will always be a struggle for these women, some insurmountable test for them to defeat.

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The Red Sox are in a competitive league to try to bring another pennant to Fenway Park. | Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Although it’s still early in the season, MLB right now is, for lack of a better description, kind of crazy. Every team is having their moments of really stepping it up, and it’s making the league all the more competitive. It’s still early enough that no team has fallen too far behind, and the ones that are behind are trying as hard as they can not to stay there, giving better teams a run for their money in the process.

That being said, it makes the Red Sox look worse than they are. The AL East is an extremely competitive league. With the usually-shaky Orioles consistently hovering around the top, it can be said that there’s not a single bad team in the league. All five teams have winning percentages at .500 or higher. It seems as though people aren’t noticing that. That, and after a six-game win streak, the Sox are sporting similar records to other solid teams such as the Phillies and the Tigers. The Phillies are in a similar situation to the Sox. They’re sitting in fourth place in the NL East, with the top three teams having a winning percentage over .500.

A Bleacher Report article from Tuesday said the Red Sox were on the verge of their worst season in years. They made some good points about the fact the Jacoby Ellsbury is hurt, our bullpen might be the least consistent in the league, and we have no solid leadership. For one thing, they fail to mention that Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney are finding a pretty good spot in the outfield and at the plate. But either way, they’ve condemned the Sox to fail far too early. There’s still time to get the team glued back together. Even when Andrew Bailey is expected to return, after the All-Star break in July, there’s still a good amount of baseball left to be played in the season. As for the leadership, it may take fans a while to warm up to Bobby Valentine, but once he really connects with the players, the wins will start coming.

The Red Sox are usually a team that cannot really be talked about until late in the season. They tend to have trouble finding their footing at the start of any season. What it really comes down to is if they can find it with enough time to find a spot in the playoffs.

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BU has taken steps against sexual assault culture (like the Take Back the Night rally in March, above) but President Brown's letter represents a truly significant step on the part of the University. | Photo by Kara Korab.

With reporting and contributions by Allan Lasser.

Yesterday, the Boston University student body received a letter, via email, from President Robert A. Brown. Usually these letters contain tragic news; this time the campus had cause to celebrate. In his letter, Brown announced the establishment of a new student center, set to open at the start of the next semester. Brown wrote that the center will be “specifically dedicated to preventing sexual assault through training and outreach and to providing support to victims of sexual assault as well as other forms of abuse, such as hazing.” Additionally, incoming freshman will be “bystander educated,” taught how to care for dangerously drunk friends or strangers. The administration finally proposed a concrete solution to problems that have plagued campus all semester.

Campus news throughout the 2011-2012 school year was riddled with incidents of sexual assault, violent crime, and boys tied up naked in basements. Every month, at least once, students received a letter with some piece of bad news from President Brown, the most recent of which concerned the tragic murder of a graduate student. BU students have come to expect bad news, and many outside the campus community have noticed the worsening climate. Jezebel, a popular online tabloid, went so far as to accuse BU of having a “sexual assault problem,” claiming a complacent attitude and lack of commitment towards any solutions.

It is true that complacency of rape culture has existed at Boston University, and the administration had taken some steps to solve this problem. A task force was implemented to investigate the cases of sexual assault within the men’s hockey team. Students led a Take Back the Night rally on March 30, hoping to bring to light the seriousness of rape within our community. Although resources for victims of assault and abuse existed within the University, they were mostly implicit and unofficial, wrapped up within other student services.

This is precisely why President Brown’s announcement has relieved many students. By acknowledging the University’s unsatisfactory provision of crisis services, by finally appropriating significant funds to its remedy, and by officially educating students about rape culture, BU has taken a turn in the right direction. Even Jezebel commended Brown’s announcement, proclaiming, “Universities, take note: this is how you respond to rape culture on campus.”

Of course, there are still plenty of unaswered questions. When asked about plans, Colin Riley, BU’s Executive Director of Media Relations, explained that he couldn’t make any unfounded assumptions, since “the Center’s location and staffing are still undetermined. There are many questions yet to be resolved.” Riley stated that President Brown’s letter “speaks for itself”—the University is actively working to resolve the problem, but no plans are yet concrete. While the announcement is a big step in the right direction, it is important to remember that it was just that: an announcement, not a binding promise.

The University’s plans may change, and nobody knows what this center will actually contribute to campus. But hopes are high and celebration is deserved, since today it seems as if the darkest days on campus are behind us.

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On Saturday, April 28th, 2012 at approx. 6:35 p.m, an intruder assaulted a female student in Warren Towers. Photo via the Wikimedia Commons.

On Saturday evening, Warren Towers was full of police officers. Both uniformed and in plainclothes, security professionals from BUPD and the Boston Police Department were seen patrolling the halls of Warren Towers.  Some even questioned students, both in common areas and in the middle of the dining hall as they ate dinner. The atmosphere in the entire dorm facility was tense and uncertain. Why were they here? Why were there so many? Hours later, around 9:30 p.m., a BU News alert was issued to residents of Warren Towers that an intruder (male, 5’10, of Middle Eastern descent) had been caught in Warren Towers after inappropriately touching a female student at the 4th floor elevators of A Tower at approximately 6:35 p.m. No other information has been released yet. Evidently, the offender was not apprehended, as police officers were seen questioning students about him. The handling of the situation has left many students feeling at risk and under-informed.

Students are shocked and frightened by the news that an intruder was able to access Warren Towers and commit such a terrible offense, especially after a string of assaults and other crimes in the area of the school this year. As a university that prides itself on its security, it is shocking to see that such a breach occur unnoticed, and—for an inordinate amount of time—unreported on. Throughout the evening, students were anxious and unsure of what had happened—rumors of crimes of escalating heinousness were passed around for the three hours between the crime and the security alert. When the news finally broke, there was little relief to be had.

As a current resident of Warren Tower A, I am used to seeing police officers in and around the building. Security is tighter than any other dorm on campus, and on weekend evenings it’s not uncommon to see one or two police officers around to mitigate a dispute or handle an out-of-control student. Most of the time, seeing one or two blue uniforms makes me feel safe. I thought of Warren Towers as an impregnable fortress. Being surrounded by police officers, however, creates quite the opposite effect. It was obvious that the situation was a serious one, judging by the sheer amount of personnel on site, but it was impossible to know what had happened. Especially after waiting for hours in a sea of stony-faced uniformed officials for an explanation of the night’s events, Warren Towers did not feel like a safe place to be.

Even more curious about the situation is the fact that only residents of Warren Towers were alerted to the intrusion and assault. Many students in Warren Towers at any given time are not residents of Warren, and all students at BU deserve to be alerted when security is at risk. For many students, Saturday night and Sunday were full of rumors—a fact which led to vast misinformation and some harmful rumors being spread.

The fallout from the crime has been remarkable. While discretion on the part of the victim and delicacy in breaking the matter are paramount to handling the situation, I object to the manners in which the crime was investigated and the news was broken. Ideally, a horrifying incident like this one would be discreetly and promptly investigated, and then released quickly to those it affects (namely, all BU students). Instead, students were subjected to hours of uncertainty and tacit silence on the part of the numerous and obvious police officials, followed by a delayed and unclear alert that left students outraged and full of questions: how could an intruder access Warren Towers? How could one escape? Why were more students not alerted, and why did it take so long? Why was the investigation so indiscreet?

After a year marked by numerous crimes on or around the BU campus, including several sexual assaults,  it is more important than ever to consider safety and security at BU. Raising awareness of ways to stay safe (never walk alone at night, learn basic self-defense, have easy access to your cell phone at all times, etc. Read more safety tips here.) and employing them in one’s daily life are of great importance. It is of significant concern, however, that an assumed safe haven like Warren Towers was invaded despite its heavy security. It is equally alarming that the matter was handled with so little discretion or regard for the sense of security of the students. Now more than ever, students need to feel safe and be safe at BU.

Edit: The alert sent out by BUPD did not indicate that the offender was an intruder or a middle-aged man.

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Layering different weights of fabrics not only looks great, but gives warmth and versatility to an outfit. Photo courtesy of theonlyfashionprincess via chictopia.com

1. Layer Up!

Layering is never more important (or fun!) than during the transitional seasons. Donning multiple garments will serve as protection from the elements, but also allow for cooling off when a random heat wave comes through. Start with a simple foundation: a slip dress, jeans and a tee, or a simple blouse. Then add a warm layer with a sweater or scarf (they haven’t exhausted their use quite yet). Adding a light jacket further insulates the outfit without sacrificing style or versatility; the Quad recommends denim or utility jackets for a perfect amount of warmth and light weight. Accessorize with tights, jewelry, and some killer shoes, and hit the town.

2. On your feet

Deciding what shoes to wear is tricky when the weather is so unsure. Rain could hit at any time, but a sudden burst of warmth is equally likely. Now is the time to retire fuzzy and suede options (although suede is having a moment right now–reserve that skin for positively sunny days, or protect them with a waterproofing spray) and opt for more versatile fare. Don’t jump the gun, however, and spring right for sandals, since it’s still a bit too cold for them. This is a perfect time to get the last bit of use out of the booties and other closed-toe options available: oxfords, lace-up ankle boots, cool kicks, and pumps are just right this time of year, because they protect the foot from wetness while avoiding suffocating your legs in excessive warmth.

Layer springy pastels up to stay warm and seasonal. Photo courtesy of stefaniekuncman via chictopia.com

3. Indulge in spring colors

It might be too cold now to wear the springy sundresses that April and May evoke in memories, but that’s no reason to sacrifice seasonal fashion. Pastels like mint and lavender are incredibly hot right now, and many stores are stocking them in a variety of cuts and fabrics. Florals, another spring staple, are also quite versatile, and look just as good layered with warmer fabrics as they do with bare skin. Why not don a piece in a striking pastel and layer it up with a leather or utility jacket? Or pairing a floral sundress with a nubby sweater? Celebrating the season is not limited to those beautiful breezy days.

Ideal weather is hopefully right around the corner, but as long as nature continues to be fickle, following these tips for transitional dressing will preserve warmth and comfort while celebrating the season.

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Participants congregated before the race to check in and get their t-shirts. | Photo by Lauren Michael

On April 28, BU students and community members gathered behind Towers at the Charles River Esplanade for Race For Her, a 5-K race from which all proceeds went to stopping human trafficking. The race was organized by BU Students Against Human Trafficking (SAHT) and Mishaal, a group that strives for access to education in underprivileged communities in South Asia.

Those who registered for the event were given t-shirts with the slogan “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls,” and the line of participants checking in stretched far across the Esplanade. According to SAHT President Alyssa Tochka (CAS ’12), the high turnout “surpassed our wildest dreams.”

“We were only expecting there to be around 70 people,” she explained. Close to 400, including volunteers, showed up.

All proceeds from Race For Her went to the Somaly Mam Foundation, an organization that fights sex trafficking in Cambodia, and to Trust to Reach the Unreached (TRU), a group that helps girls in rural India attend high school. Selam Mehretu (CAS ’12), also from SAHT, said, “We chose [these organizations] because these women need help, and we feel like it’s a good cause.”

This is the first time SAHT and Mishaal have organized Race For Her, but it still made End Slavery Now’s International Calendar of Anti-Trafficking Events. The two groups came up with the idea of a 5-K themselves. “We weren’t following any precedent or any other group that had done one for human trafficking before. So it was our own name and our own organization and everything.” said SAHT Public Relations Coordinator Julia Mackin (CAS ’12).

Runners began the 3.1 mile course at noon. | Photo by Lauren Michael

Both of these clubs are passionate about stopping human trafficking. It’s important to Mehretu “because we are women ourselves, and we consider ourselves lucky that we aren’t trafficked. We think that human trafficking is an incredibly serious issue that not enough people know about, and we were able to raise awareness to actually stop this evil occurrence that’s going on throughout the world.”

Participants chose to run in Race For Her for a variety of reasons. One runner, Carolyn Cicalese (COM ’14), came to support a friend. “My friend told us about the event because she’s volunteering today,” she said. “She was telling us about the cause and that we would get t-shirts, which she was really excited about, so we decided to sign up and support her in that.”

Another runner, Joe Chaides (CAS ’13), said he signed up “because I love running 5-Ks. This is the last one I get to do in Boston before I go back to California. I’m using this as a great way to warm up for my marathon in the future.”

“It’s great that we’re doing it for a cause,” he added.

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The tower engraved above a School of Theology doorway. | Photograph by Allan Lasser

A ghost haunts central campus. The copper-plated specter hangs above the doorways to the School of Theology and the College of Arts and Sciences. Recalling the ambitions of a young university, this phantom tower is the key to a campus that could have been.

The Alexander Graham Bell Memorial tower was meant to anchor Boston University’s unified Charles River Campus. It would house the University’s administrative offices and graduate school and cost a million dollars. The tower’s real value, however, was in its rich symbolism. Named for Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone while on the school’s faculty, it would reify the school’s pride and anticipate a brighter future.  It would cast long shadows over MIT and Harvard from across the Charles and forever alter Boston’s skyline, symbolically integrating the University with its city. It would also establish a trans-Atlantic connection with Boston, England, uniting the two cities with twin towers. The tower would rise from a brand new campus, unifying the school into an eminent whole.

Although Boston University was chartered in 1869, the Charles River Campus was not opened until 1938. Before the establishment of the riverside campus, the University’s different departments and schools were scattered across the city. The School of Law neighbored the State House, the School of Theology sat a few blocks west on Mount Vernon Street, and clustered at Copley Square were the administrative buildings and School of Liberal Arts. The school’s wide distribution became increasingly problematic as enrollment grew.

The interwar period was explosive for Boston University. In 1915, the school’s enrollment was 2,060. Five years later it tripled to 6,795 students¹. The huge student body overwhelmed the older buildings. And, with students spread across central Boston, the school lacked unity and a cohesive campus culture. In 1920 the University purchased 15 acres of riverside property. From it would rise a grand campus. Planners and architects were consulted; the October 24, 1928 edition of the Boston University News² reported on the final design presented to the University’s Board of Trustees. By that time the school’s population had again doubled to around 14,000 students and its facilities were overwhelmed³. As compensation, “the new buildings [were] designed…for almost double the present enrollment of the university,” a prophetic precaution considering today’s enrollment: 31,766 students⁴. Multi-story departmental buildings containing offices, laboratories, and classrooms would encircle campus quadrangles. A magnificent tower would crown the new campus along the Charles.

The Commonwealth Avenue side of the campus design. | Image republished with permission from the Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center

Obviously, this grand campus was never built. A 2007 historical account published by Boston University explained it was “forced to scale back its plans in the late ’20s [because] the State Metropolitan District Commission used the right of eminent domain to claim the land nearest the river for the construction of Storrow Drive”⁵. Yet the pre-WWII highway was never built due to public protest. Storrow Drive wasn’t constructed until after the second World War to address traffic problems arising from increasing suburbanization⁶. Furthermore, the plans of 1928 clearly show the campus bounded by Bay State Road; none of the proposed structures would have intruded upon state property. The University’s explanation for the failed construction of the Alexander Graham Bell Tower does not make sense. It is unlikely that the proposed 1920′s Charles River Parkway disrupted construction. What was the real obstacle?

A likely explanation is found in the publication date of the Boston University News article: October 24, 1928. Exactly one year later came Black Monday and the Great Crash. I haven’t discovered how the depression directly affected the University’s finances. I do know the grand plans for campus rode along a wave of excess and easy credit. I do know that with the economic implosion, enrollment dropped precipitously and resulted in a period of severe austerity for the University. This, much more than an unbuilt highway, seems the most likely reason for postponing construction of the Charles River Campus and abandoning the Alexander Graham Bell Tower.

Arial diagram of the campus complex. | Image republished with permission from the Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center

Although the tower was never built, it has an obvious contemporary analog. The construction of the John Hancock Student Village was another monumental undertaking for the University. The construction of Student Village Phase II (StuVi2), a 26-story steel skyscraper, was another architectural imposition upon Boston’s skyline. Construction of a third tower (StuVi3) was halted due to the 2008 crash and recession. Another display of BU’s prominence that rode another wave of excess and easy credit, the Student Village is a spiritual sibling to the unbuilt tower.

Campus construction has made the 1920′s master plan obsolete. The campus is still decentralized; it is a mile-long riverside strip instead of a densely packed complex. Still, remnants of BU’s past are scattered throughout campus. Scraping away the layers of history reveal the idealism and ambition of a university at the start of the twentieth century. By comparing the campus that is to the campus that could have been, we can better understand the ambitions of the school we call home.

A proposed campus design, as seen from above the BU Bridge. | Image republished with permission from the Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center

~

I would like to thank the Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center for free access to their materials and assistance.

Citations:

^{1 2 3} “Trustees View New Campus Plans.” Boston University News 24 Oct. 1928. Print.

⁴ “Boston University.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_University>.

⁵ ”Between the World Wars.” History. Boston University. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://web.archive.org/web/20071212022404/http://www.bu.edu/visit/about/history/betweenwars.html>.

⁶ Seasholes, Nancy S. “Storrow Drive.” Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2003. 206. Print.

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One of the only physical ads BU Central has is the Chalkwall outside the venue. That, and the posters (aslo in GSU)

As we’ve said before, shows at BU Central are vastly under-attended. It seems to be the kind of place where if you’re in, you’re in and if you’re not… well, you’re missing out.

Saturday’s show was Cults, and they were fantastic. The stark change between the mostly white album cover and sunshine associated with Cults and the darkness of the BU Central show only highlighted how complex the band is, bringing out the underside of a band so inextricably woven into the summer air.

“I’m surprised,” said CAS Senior Becca Antonopolis between acts. “There’s no one here.”

Saturday’s show was Antonopolis’s first concert at BU Central in her four years at the university. Antonopolis explained her absence through the theory that, unless a student is plugged in to the basement’s online presence, the only way to hear about shows is through word of mouth.

Which isn’t to say that the online aspect isn’t useful. Students queuing outside the venue before the doors opened seemed to find the online advertising BU Central does very effective, with most of them finding out about the show through BU Central’s e-mails and tweets.

People queuing outside BU Central before Cults

“There are so many different ways that they can reach you” said COM freshman Lindsey Mann.

Kevin Velasquez has been going to shows at BU Central for a few years, citing Tokyo Police Club and the Smith Westerns as the two most recent. “They’re really good with advertising on campus so I always know what’s going on,” he said. He did, however, agree with the same sentiments expressed by Antonopolis – students need to already be in the know to keep updated on BU Central’s happenings.

“I feel like maybe I’m a little more pro-active about finding events” said Velasquez.

And it seems to be that the pro-active students are the ones having the most fun.

Cults’s self-titled album, Cults, was released at the perfect time – summer months meant summer music and that’s exactly what Cults is: airy, beachy, singularly west-coast dream pop with some fifties throwback mixed in.

Spectral's drummer in a Cults t-shirt, showing both sides of Cults's music - light and dark

Which is why seeing them in a dark basement with only surreal projections and deep red stage lights to illuminate the band was so awesome – it introduced the audience to a whole other side of Cults purely through visual elements. The at times disco trance lighting brought out Madeline Follin’s young alto, whereas on the album it sounds like an airy mezzo-soprano. Brian Oblivion’s shredding guitar parts were hauntingly gorgeous as he played in semi-darkness, lost in the swirling polka-dot lights, particularly on the closing song “Oh My God,” where on the album it only adds to the airy feel.

Madeline Follin's intensity is only multiplied by the disco/techno lighting.

Even though BU Central’s new sound system has a way of pumping the bass and making the lyrics inaudible, the show also brought out the darkness in Cults’s lyrics, which can get lost in its sing-alongable melodies. “You Know What I Mean” was the perfect example, with the disco lights going absolutely crazy at the chorus with Folin just belting/yelling “‘Cause I am afraid of the light / Yeah you know what I mean / And I can’t sleep alone at night/ Yeah you know what I mean!” stomping on the ground and pounding her fist at the air like a kid having a tantrum. This mania played beautifully with the mellow pinpoint lights projecting on the band when she pleads “please come and save me/ tell me what’s wrong with my brain ’cause I seem to’ve lost it” swaying and moving all the while. And they’re just really nice people who seemed genuinely happy to be there, exampled by Folin’s huge smiles between songs and Oblivion’s sweet banter.

“I really hope you guys feel like you made the right decision coming here tonight” said Oblivion with a laugh before launching into “Oh My God.”

All of this passion, and three of the band members had strep. Holy hell.

Belting. Love it.

So in the wake of this revelatory show, why on earth was the 350 person capacity BU Central a little more than half-full?

“I think a lot of it is the stigma that people don’t want to come to school events” said BU Central Manager Jake Cox (SMG ’14)

Even as I asked students how they came to know about the show while we were waiting for the doors to open, Cox announced that they were sending around a clipboard asking students to suggest acts for next year and also write down how they found out about the night’s performance.

“I feel like a lot of people are over-saturated already” said Cox about the basement’s online advertising. Cox also said the solution would be to expand to a more physical ad campaign on campus to nudge the student body into being more pro-active.

“We have a lot to offer” said Cox. “We want to make this more of a community space.”

Cults’ Setlist:

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“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”: a simple sentence that carries with it an awful lot of potential frustration. Working hard to qualify for an internship only to find out its been handed to the CEO’s best friend’s daughter is never a fun moment. Fighting tooth and nail to make it to the final round of interviews and hearing the boss’s cousin scored the position isn’t the greatest, either. The truth, however, is that there’s something to be said for being well-connected. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know and how you worked to meet them,” is a better way of putting it.

The process of securing post-grad employment can never begin too soon. Networking during undergrad can seem an often daunting and sometimes awkward process. With a bit of social tact and the tools of our time, networking during undergrad is manageable, painless, and hopefully fruitful.

When it comes to making meaningful connections, the best place to start is right here on campus. Many of Boston University’s part-time faculty work actively in their respective fields, some of them even holding full-time jobs in addition to their teaching duties. Professors such as these are common in professionally oriented schools like COM, SMG, and even CFA. Don’t shy away from dropping by frequently during these professors’ office hours. Even if you don’t have questions pertaining to class, stopping in for valuable career advice may transform your relationship from academic to professional come the end of the semester. Of course, that’s not saying your professor is going to offer you a job upon graduation – but they may be able to point you in the direction of someone who can.

While connections with professors can be professionally fruitful, the connections you make with classmates are also important. A network of peers with similar career interests may one day provide you with a job opportunity. Helpful advice: don’t hit up the schmuck on Facebook all class long. Those students who also foster their career interests outside the classroom are the ones to connect with.

At BU, we’re lucky enough to have our own Center for Career Development. The CCD advises to “visit early and often.” In much the same way, you should begin networking “early and often.” As part of the CCD’s “3 Steps to Success” program, they advise students to create elevator speeches – prepared pitches to “sell yourself” during impromptu networking opportunities. Along with their useful skills workshops, the CCD provides ample opportunities throughout the year for students to put these skills to good use. This year, the CCD has sponsored several career fairs. Area businesses table at these fairs, business cards in hand, waiting for students eager to network. The next career fair is scheduled for October 17 of this coming fall.

While nothing beats face-to-face networking with peers, professors, and prospective employers, the Internet is also an ideal platform for making connections. Many Boston University students will move back home after graduation and have to search for work in a city different than Boston. Still other students come to BU with a goal – move to LA or New York after graduation. Unfortunately all that “bright lights, big city” isn’t so glamorous when you’ve uprooted your life but can’t find employment. Padding a big city job hunt with ample connections makes the process a far less vulnerable and dim one. This is where the Internet comes in. Using LinkedIn is the obvious choice. There’s also Facebook and Twitter. Following people affiliated with your career of choice and tweeting questions  at them gives them the opportunity to reply quickly. You’re granted the opportunity to get your name on their timeline and in their mind. Target people who work at the location of an organization you’d like to work at. Don’t be afraid to e-mail seeking advice, but always play the student card. In this four-year chunk of pseudo-reality we like to call our undergraduate education, we get to be the fawning fans of those people whose jobs we’d like. An e-mail seeking insight is a stroke of their ego. However, once these four years are up, our inquiries can be seen as annoying acts of job fishing. Play your golden student card while you can.

Making connections is great, but it’s only half the battle. Once an internship has been completed or an e-mail correspondence concluded, don’t let them forget your name. Check back in occasionally. What you do, who you know, how you know them – they’re all important pieces of the post-grad career acquisition puzzle. Most of the basics of establishing and maintaining career connections are self explanatory, but it’s the taking action that calls for gusto. But the image of a rat-infested hole-in-the-wall apartment with a couple grand monthly rent and an empty fridge should be motivation enough for all the undergrad big city dreamers to network, network, network.

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Life after college. | Photo courtesy of Larsinio via Wikimedia Commons

With graduation right around the corner, many seniors still have yet to land jobs. Not surprisingly, they’re starting to get nervous. But not having a job right after graduation doesn’t equate to living at your parents’ house forever. In fact, many employers are still hiring over the summer, according to Eleanor Cartelli, Associate Director for Marketing and Communications at BU’s Center for Career Development. So for anyone who thinks they may be searching for jobs this summer, here’s how you do that in a way that can get you hired.

Cartelli says that the first thing applicants should ask themselves is what exactly they’re looking for. “If the answer is a job, anything I can find, you need to do a little digging to narrow that down,” Cartelli says. “You’re more likely to be successful if you are targeting positions that are a good fit for your skills, values, experience, and personality.”

Once recent graduates know what they’re looking for, they should know where to look for it. Cartelli recommends the BU CareerLink job boards as well as industry-specific job boards. They shouldn’t hesitate to contact someone at a company or organization in which they’re interested to see if the company is hiring. Also, they should check out career fairs, like the Just-In-Time Career Fair that the CCD held last Monday, and actively network.

But there are more preparations an applicant needs before clicking that button to apply. They should double check that the listing is actually what they want to do. “Carefully read job descriptions,” Cartelli says. “Sometimes the job title doesn’t clearly indicate what the job really entails.” With the job description in mind, an applicant should carefully form a cover letter and résumé that address the qualifications of the job. Showing knowledge of the company and of the job impresses employers.

Applicants should also apply this knowledge if they’re called for an interview. They should be prepared to show why they’re the best applicant for the job. “Practice as much as you can,” says Cartelli. “Through BU CareerLink, you can practice using InterviewStream. It is available 24/7 from anywhere. You just need a webcam and the Internet. Be able to address the question of why the employer should select you over all of the other applicants. Be prepared to demonstrate how you fit their needs.”

It’s a good thing recent grads have the time, because the job search doesn’t end there. “Don’t assume that just applying to jobs online is enough,” says Cartelli. “If you’re willing to invest time and energy into doing both a reactive and a proactive job search you are much more likely to succeed.” Applicants should follow up on their applications, but make sure that they respect that their potential employers may not get back to them right away.

Job searching can seem intimidating, but given the right amount of time and effort, it can yield successful results. Organizations like the Center for Career Development are willing to help even when the applicant is an alumnus. So get prepared, don’t hold back, and you’ll be able to get a job.

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