magazine - University of Pennsylvania · 2010. 1. 10. · but the fact that Amy Winehouse’s...

magazine

Volume 8, No. 9 FEBRUARY 25, 2007

2 FIRST CALL FEBRUARY 25, 2008

FIRSTLOOK

COnTRIbuTORSeditor-in-Chief: Michael Sall • editors: TiM PoTenS, Benny laiTMan, erica ToBin, Dan DeuTSch • Chief design editor: charlie iSaacS • Chief art editor: Dan MarkowiTz • Webmaster: TiM PoTenS • business manager: AnnA TolMach • distribution manager: Valeria TSygankoVa • treasurer: rachael huTchinSon • features manager: KAthy wang • reCruitment manager: riVka Fogel • marketing manager: Jun Park • artists: DAn MArKowitz, yue wu Columnists: TiM PoTenS • Writers: MichAel FielD, Steve wAye, chArlie iSAAcS, AMy SMith, AlySSA SongSiriDej

PhotograPhers: Shelby PrinDAville, richArD liebowitz, MichAel SAll

COnTaCT

first Call, kelly Writer’s house

3805 loCust Walk, PhiladelPhia, Pa 19104WWW.firstCallmagazine.Com

[email protected]

4

14

5

Self-defeatiSt generationalyssa songsiridej

review: new moon

Small time guitar hero

THERE’S NO “I” IN “TEAM”8

WE NEED PEACE12

Tim PoTensTim isn’t concerned with McCain’s “liber-alism,” as other conservatives are harping over. In fact, it just may be an asset.

Michael examines gun control.

Alyssa doesn’t want rehab either.

Charlie takes a closer look at the bassist of Roro and the Rothrockin’ Band.

cover: bOY wITh baLLOOn, ShELbY PRInDaVILLE

sTeven Waye

Charlie isaaCs

miChael field

16 croSSword: halloween! woo! The ediTors

10 indian princeSS SaveS the dayA fiction piece.amy smiTh

15 photoSpotlight: glaSSeS in SaliSburymiChael sall

7 photoSpotlight: brother and SiSter dogS

Steven reviews a new compilation of Elliott Smith’s unreleased material.

riChard lieboWiTz

3FIRST CALL FEBRUARY 25, 2008

LETTER FROMThE EDITORS

EDITORIaLPOLICY

FIRST CALL IS ThE UndERgRAdUATE mAgAzInE oF ThE UnIvERSITY oF PEnnSYLvAnIA PUBLIShEd EvERY oThER mondAY. oUR mISSIon IS To PRovIdE mEmBERS oF ThE CommUnITY An oPEn FoRUm FoR ExPRESSIng IdEAS And oPInIonS. To ThIS End, wE, ThE EdIToRS oF FIRST CALL, ARE CommITTEd To A PoLICY oF noT CEnSoRIng oPIn-IonS. ARTICLES ARE PRovIdEd BY REgULAR CoLUmnISTS And wRIT-ERS. ThEY ARE ChoSEn FoR PUB-LICATIon BASEd on ThE qUALITY oF wRITIng, And, In ThE CASE oF CommEnTARIES, ThE qUALITY oF ARgUmEnTATIon. oUTSIdE oF ThE EdIToRIAL And oThER EdIToRIAL ConTEnT, no ARTICLE REPRESEnTS ThE oPInIon oF FIRST CALL, ITS EdIToRIAL BoARd, oR IndIvIdUAL mEmBERS oF FIRST CALL oThER ThAn ThE AUThoR. no ConTEnT In FIRST CALL UnLESSoThERwISE STATEd REPRESEnTS ThE oFFICIAL PoSITIon oF ThE AdmInISTRA-TIon, FACULTY, oR STUdEnT BodY AT LARgE oF ThE UnIvERSITY oF PEnnSYLvAnIA.

firstcallism

it’s not the font that ties the articles together.

it’s the binding. SuPPorteD by the kelly Writers

house

Dear Penn-ders,

So… how about this weather! No, seriously, this is ridiculous – snow? Only last week we were enjoying sun-ny-and-seventies, a cruel tease on Mother Nature’s part to show us ev-erything we’ll be missing out on for the next few months. Thank heav-ens we still have First Call Magazine. There’s nothing better than warm-ing up a mug of FroGro apple cider, lounging in a 15-year-old couch by a non-functional fireplace, and com-pleting yet another First Call cross-word all in one sitting. See, this is what we are here for.

And more than that, of course. If you’ve been following the primaries at all, well, don’t bother watching tele-vision anymore because we have your election fix right here. Outraged that McCain ended up on top (for the Re-publican nomination race, that is)? Don’t be. Tim explains why.

For that matter, if McCain isn’t ex-actly your cup of tea (or warm FroGro apple cider), there are plenty of other issues to rage over. Michael takes a se-rious look at school shootings, and Al-yssa clues us in as to why they might happen (not directly, but maybe in the broader scheme of things, depending

on how you interpret it… and such).On a slightly different note (no pun

intended! Well, actually, the pun was intended, but it just seems lame to ad-mit it. And come to think of it, why do people even use the phrase “no pun intended” anyway when clearly it’s just a devious way of pointing out the pun itself in case they missed it)… so on a slightly different note, Char-lie takes a behind-the-scenes look at one of Penn’s lesser-known musicians. Perhaps you know him, perhaps you don’t, but either way, you’ll need to read on to find out. Steve reviews an-other new album – that is, if it real-ly should be considered new, we’ll let you decide.

And to leave things on a lighter note, Amy tells a short story about a time she locked herself out of her room. In a towel! Lucky for her (un-lucky for us) an Indian princess came to her rescue.

In any case, you have a new issue of First Call in your hands, so how could you really care about anything else? Enjoy the day, enjoy the issue, and don’t worry about the snow. Spring break will be here before you know it.

Goodbye and good luck,Mike Sall


SELF-DEFEaTIST gEnERaTIOnalyssa songsiridej

amy winehouse won a grammy?

I fully believe in the ability of songs to demonstrate the attitudes and

beliefs of a time period. The Sixties had the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” showing the optimism and ideals of the peace and love hippie culture. “Smells like Teen Spirit” expressed the nihilism of the post-Cold War generation.

And we have... “Rehab”?

I know thatthere aren’t very many peo-ple who care about the Grammys anymore, but the fact that Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” was the winner is still a little terrifying. I’m not going to say she’s a no-talent; I actu-ally think she’s quite talented, but let’s look at the chorus of “Rehab.”

They tried to make me go to rehab

I said no, no, no. So on the sur-

face the only thing that bothers me is the repetitive and ir-ritating “no, no, no.” But think about the subtext of those lyr-ics. To me they state, “The people that love and care about me tried to keep me from poisoning the hell out of myself, but I said no be-cause I’m too self-absorbed and self-destructive, and anyway, if I wasn’t addicted to drugs, what would I have to bitch about?”

When I realized what this song—or, more specifically, the popularity of this song—says about my generation, and technically about me myself, I was horrified because it made perfect sense.

The Cold War ended the year I was born. I have no idea what it is like to live under a constant threat. For years, my biggest problems have

been, like many of other people my age, pimples and grades. A ridiculous amount of Americans thinks of them-selves as middle class. I think we may be the very first generation who actu-ally has no external hardships to com-plain about.

And yet emo is a mainstream fashion trend, and depression (and with that, anti-depression medication use) is on the rise. We may not have a draft or a Soviet threat, but we’re probably the first generation that has to worry about our fellow classmates shooting us.

Everything that is plaguing our generation comes almost solely from ourselves. An argument against that statement could be terrorism, but do you really think the sorority girl hid-ing her hangover with a baseball cap, texting under her desk during class, is extremely concerned with a possible

terrorist attack?What’s happened is that since

we’ve been little, we’ve been told we can do anything, be anything, espe-cially if you are smart as many of the Ivy League students are. No one really pointed out that sometimes things

will be hard, some-times things won’t go our way, and sometimes we will be lonely. And since we haven’t been told or taught how to face hardship, little things are enough to bring our coddled psyches down.

And we feel betrayed, because we were expecting things to be daisies and sunshine and no one told us about winter. So we be-come stubborn, sit-ting and waiting for our reward without the annoying work that comes with it. We become whiny because the reward isn’t coming, and finally, we just be-come really fucking annoying.

We can’t blame George Bush or ter-

rorists or anyone else for most of our problems. As a generation we’re wast-ing our talents and our opportuni-ties, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. If we’re going to improve or make anything better we’re going to have to pause for a moment and look within ourselves and face our own is-sues.

Maybe, every once in a while, we should say “yes.”

alyssa songsiridej is a sophomore in the College. you can write to her at songsin@sas.

FC


The whole house shivers; compos-ites tremble against the aging

white walls of the chapter room, buzz-ing to the loud din from below. Friday evening dress rehearsal: from a small locked room in the basement, Roro and the Rothrockin’ Band works out the kinks one day before their Satur-day night frat party.

Six guys – they could be anybody, but lodged in that compartment space they get to itch and sweat, as if they were getting at something, like their impressions of the best rock songs from the previous few decades were going to make them famous. And it’s always one note off, a little too fast or too slow a tempo, something like that. Fortunately, there’s always a sense of assurance that something’s improv-ing, something’s sounding something like something.

So Josh Rosenbaum doesn’t have to wor-ry. He can casually lift his guitar strap over his head and jog upstairs for another quick

break. When he comes back down, his eyes are a bit red behind his thinly rimmed glasses.

He’s a regular complacent guy in a band. Mask and Wig’s hegemony on the student music scene at the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania leaves cover groups like his mired in the living room of a frat house to play at regis-tered events.

But Josh’s completely at ease with it. He’s the bass guitarist and has been for the past year, which is exactly how long Roro’s been around. With one day before their first gig of the spring semester, the band’s got five new songs to perfect and debut, including “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. And as a senior, Josh knows he’s only

got a few more chances to

play live be-fore music

becomes

a mere “hobby.”Every Sunday, Josh makes his

standard appearance for dinner and chapter meetings. Outside of that, he sneaks in a few visits upstairs before, during, and after practice on whatev-er day of the week it’s scheduled. He hesitates before finally asserting that Roro’s been pretty successful, since “practice makes – not perfect, but closer to perfect.”

So, a couple days and thirty songs later, Josh is sprawled out on a mat-tress, satisfied by a good performance the night before. And he thinks every-body seemed to enjoy it. Josh thinks back to the end of his junior year, when his fraternity faced losing every-one in the old band formerly known as the Four Leaf Clovers. Josh, a chill, low-maintenance Floridian who start-ed playing the guitar when he was twelve, used to jam with the former bassist and keyboardist. “I wanted a chance to have that live music experi-

ence,” and now he does it along

side his child-

SMaLL TIME guITaR hEROCharlie isaaCs

a Profile of josh rosenbaum


hood best friend, Robby Rothrock, lead singer and poster boy of the group that came together last spring.

At dinner, the majority of the frat congregates in the chapter room to eat low-quality brisket and crab cakes, but everyone’s busy laughing and retelling entertaining stories about another ridiculous night. Robby Rothrock’s voice dominates a full table the way it does when he sings, and he talks about how the party went from their side of the floor, behind the mic’s.

Josh comes in late and sits at another table, searching for a clean plate, slowly digesting his meal, con-templating his bigger priorities, like one final blitz of midterms and pa-pers and then, the formidable plunge out of college. For Josh Rosenbaum, there’s a chemistry laboratory waiting for him in downtown Philly when he

gets out of school. For now, he could dive into all the funny anecdotes like the rest of them do, but Josh actually knows what he wants out of things. He always has.

“I didn’t fuck up very much at all,” he recalls, adding that Steve, an-other guitarist, made a few mistakes. Josh doesn’t need to play at Fling the way Robby might. He doesn’t need Roro to outdo the Four Leaf Clovers’ legacy and play at Smokes on Sunday evenings. He doesn’t need to be per-fect, and he’ll be the first to say that he doesn’t practice enough. He just finds it enjoyable to play in front of a crowd, so much so that he has trouble work-ing on his chords anytime else.

“Music is a good release – uh, for everyone.” That keeps him content to play simple and solid root notes, no complex scales, no riffs, and no licks. If

it weren’t for the social scene at Penn, for the transient thrill enough under-grads undergo of getting their music live in front of them, Josh is sure that Roro “wouldn’t be able to pull it off.”

And he gets that; he, too, appre-ciates the circumstances of having a college crowd listen and sing along for free while he nonchalantly plucks out each track of pop culture’s most be-loved play list.

“I never developed a good ear,” he says, conceding that he’s better at reading notes than hearing them. He’s not like his friend Robby, who’s also leaving in a few months and in the meantime it’s all about having that good ear. For Josh, it’s enough to just have a good time.

Charlie isaacs is a sophomore in the College. you can write to him at isaacscj@sas.

FC

I love the beach,but I wish I was at First Call...

Come to our next meeting, Tuesday,

February 26th at 8pmin the harnwell (hre)

upper lobby.


PhOTOSPOTLIghT

riChard leboWiTz

brother and sister dogs wear Comfy, warm shoes on a frigid january day

richard lebowitz is a sophomore in the College. you can write to him at lebowit@sas.


The Repub-lican Presi-

dential Primary was not supposed to be over already. Only about six months ago we had a dozen candidates with a dozen differ-ent platforms who were ready to ride it out for a dozen months until their final outcomes exploded with a gi-ant wonderful brokered convention in Minneapolis. They would gather in front of Ronald Reagan’s airplane in Ronald Reagan’s library (twice, no less) and talk about how they all ac-tually agreed, and how any of them would be a great President, and how the only important thing was defeat-ing Hillary Clinton. But then the vi-cious electoral combat broke out, and before we knew it, Mitt Romney

was bowing out of the race to protect America from terror, and Senator John McCain was taking his place as the presumptive nominee.

The GOP should be happy about this, right? They should be ecstatic that they aren’t the ones still slaugh-tering each other in Texas and Ohio. The task of holding the White House in 2008 for the Republicans is monu-mental, and the long drawn-out pri-mary everyone expected was supposed to be the death blow. But here we are with John McCain all alone, and the Republican Party is not happy. Or at least the loud mouths who fancy themselves the defenders of conserva-tism aren’t.

All the Republican talking heads—Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, and so on—are absolutely chafing under the rapidly approaching Mc-

Cain candidacy. These people, the ones who declare that they represent the feelings of real conservatives in the country, hate John McCain. He’s a liberal in disguise who crosses party lines to work with Russ Feingold and (say it with some major disgust, now) Ted Kennedy. McCain likes far leftist propositions like campaign finance reform and a guest worker program for immigrants. A John McCain Pres-idency would destroy the conservative movement, and probably the Union as well, which is why Ann promises to campaign for Hillary, and Rush says he’s even thinking of endors-ing Obama (since Barack is a “blank canvas” that any idea can be painted onto… oh, snap!).

Now, granted these people are paid to be loud mouths, this is still a common sentiment among Republi-

THERE’S NO “I” IN “TEAM”

Why the GOP just can’t stand John McCain


Tim Potens is a junior in engineering. you can write to him at potens@seas.

FC

cans: John McCain is too much of a liberal and too much of a maverick to represent the conservative “main-stream.” Is this true? Is McCain noth-ing more than a maverick senator who is incapable of working with the party as a whole?

No. The fact of the matter is that the Republican Party has refused to accept any real range in ideology and policy for decades.

Let’s jump back to the 1960 Re-publican Convention (yeah, the con-vention was the important part back then, not Iowa) and look at how the nomination shook out. Of course, Vice President Nixon was the leading con-tender and had strong support among the party core, but he was challenged by the two main factions of the GOP. New York Governor Nelson Rockefell-er made a strong bid on the support of liberal big-government Republicans, and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater carried the votes of libertarian small-government Republicans. Goldwater would later win the nod in ’64, Rock-efeller would be Ford’s VP, and both would give their names to these two traditional Republican factions.

Notice anything or anyone miss-ing? Perhaps the Southern Evangeli-cal Republicans? You won’t find them at the convention in 1960…because they were Democrats. Only after the growing support for the Civil Rights Movement among Democrats would the South jump ship, essentially as a unit, to the Republican Party. And it wouldn’t be until the late 70s and then the 1980 election that the social conservatives and fiscal conservatives of the GOP united into a mighty al-liance under the banner of Ronald

Reagan. This movement towards the great Reagan coalition basically de-stroyed the old factions of the Repub-lican Party – either by ideological as-similation into the greater whole or by political ejection into third parties (or even, Reagan-forbid, into the Demo-crats).

This coalition, this obsession with unity, is exactly what we saw at those early Republican debates. Every can-

didate talked about how dedicated they were to cutting taxes, reducing government regulation, and encour-aging business. Every candidate as-serted their allegiance to traditional Christian family values and promised

to protect Christians from the evil left. And every single candidate professed their utter love and admiration for America’s greatest president, Ronald Reagan.

It wasn’t just the run-of-the-mill, party hard-liners either—Mitt and Fred and so on—who were fawning over the memories of the 1980s. Rudy Giuliani, who by most metrics is the closest successor to Rockefeller in the party, harped on his security cre-dentials and how he would defend

When yOu hear the talkinG heads deClare that JOhn MCCa-in is tOO liberal and tOO MuCh a MaveriCk fOr the rePubliCan MainstreaM, reMeMber that they aren’t GivinG hiM very MuCh leeWay.

the faCt Of the Matter is that the rePubliCan Party has re-fused tO aCCePt any real ranGe in ideOlOGy and POliCy fOr deCades.

America (like Reagan!). Ron Paul, who wishes he was as much a badass Republitarian as Goldwater, shouted (from the background) that he too be-lieved in small government (like Rea-gan!). And even John McCain, that radical leftist maverick, promised a presidency in the mold of Reagan.

What we see today is a Republi-can party with absolutely no variance in ideology. The GOP elders (and the conservative loud mouths) are ut-terly committed to hanging tight to the party line. Conservative talk radio was born during the latter days of the Reagan administration, and so Rush and his disciples are perhaps the most committed of any Republicans to the Reagan coalition.

So, when you hear the talking heads declare that John McCain is too liberal and too much a maverick for the Republican mainstream, remem-ber that they aren’t giving him very much leeway. Any deviation from the mean is seen as treason against the name of Reagan.

It isn’t so much that McCain’s policies are far from the base; it’s that they’re different at all. John McCain represents a massive threat to the cur-rent strategy of the Republican Par-ty—he actually thinks for himself ev-

ery now and then. Electing someone who you agree on most but not every issue is simply unacceptable. Even just nominating the most electable candi-date to try to hold the White House doesn’t matter. It’s all about keep-ing the team together. Anything less would be a sacrilege.


InDIan PRInCESS SaVES ThE DaYamy smiTh

the Case of the missing key

I arrived at Devanshi’s door wear-ing a hot green towel. My almost

naked, slightly wet, self was quickly ushered into the room. My friend’s befuddled face amused me, and I was overwhelmingly relieved that she was home this Wednesday evening.

“I locked myself out of my room again. This time in my towel,” I added dismally, motioning to the box of toi-letries I held in my hand. Diva sighed or smiled, one of the two. She did not seem particu-larly surprised, my forgetfulness not new to her after al-most a semester of college. “So Divs, I was wondering, could you go get my key?” I asked, knowing this was not so much of a question as a statement. Of course Devanshi, my reliable, beautiful, In-dian princess of a friend, would save me from the absolute mortification of crossing the Quad to get to the Fisher Hassenfeld Information Center with only my towel to cover my shivering skin and the lingering scent of bath products.

We worked out the essential infor-mation and the back story (although really the back story was the actual story) and I gave her the last four dig-its of my social security number. She left me her cell phone, in case He Who Guards the Extra Keys would refuse to give her the key to room 214.

I situated myself at the window

sill, Diva’s sink and mirror to my left, stationed next to her poster of Klimt’s “The Kiss.” The absolute abyss of pur-ple darkness was slowly blanketing the Quad in front me. Deliberately, I practiced what to say if Michelle, Diva’s roommate, decided to make an appearance. My brush went through my hair, “Devanshi and I, we actually dress like this around each other all the time.” No, that would definitely

give Michelle the wrong idea. “I’m just hanging out waiting for Diva to come back.” Maybe that would be suf-ficient.

Black brush still untangling my saturated hair, I felt clean and beau-tiful; my simple garb strikingly jux-taposed with the elaborate robes the two figures in Diva’s poster sported. I decided at that moment that there was nothing more that I wished to wear besides the cotton habit that already adorned me. With little de-sign, the simple swathe of material was unable to hide my forgetfulness and naiveté or my free-spirited soul. How lovely would it be if only the little people walking around on the paths outside of the window would de-bulk, embracing their bodies and souls and

forever scorning materialism, brand names, and fake identities. We could all live purely in a world of peace.

Noting the freezing temperature the cold glass exuded, I knew this mental image of goodness and mod-est nakedness would never come true. Maybe at a themed dinner party, I con-cluded and retreated into the worries of my mind. And I laughed and had a general good time with myself and my

image, reflected back at me from the mirror and from the window, and with the man and the woman in the poster, who, selfishly, appeared completely caught

up with themselves. “Well fine,” I countered silently, “I can get caught up in my own infiniteness, in the fine purple darkness of this gorgeous night, in the room of an Indian prin-cess, wearing only a hot green towel.”

“I’m back,” Diva called, startling me with the click of the door’s lock. “He said he could not give me your key,” she stated morosely. Suddenly, I shivered, longing for the elaborate garb of my silent friends, and pictur-ing the smooth warmth of my but-ternut squash-colored sweater and blue jeans. Diva smiled. “Just joking,” she said, dangling silver keys in front of her. I concede living in a towel is much too revealing.

my almosT naked, slighTly WeT, self Was quiCkly ushered inTo The room.

you are cordially invited to the

FIRST CaLL MEETIngTuesday, Feb. 26Th, 8pm in The harnwell upper lobby

no rSvp requiredsincerely, www.firstcallmagazine.com

amy smith is a freshman in the College.you can write to her at samy@sas.

FC


On Thursday, February 14th, 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak,

a graduate student at the University of Illinois, stormed into a classroom at Northern Illinois University with a shotgun and two handguns. Ka-zmierczak killed five students and wounded sixteen others before shooting himself.

This incident fol-lows closely on the heels of another major college shooting at Vir-ginia Tech University last April that left 33 people dead. After any major shooting, the firearms industry is put under intense scrutiny for their sales practices, and gun-control advo-cates seek all the press they can get.

Before I go any fur-ther, let me make clear how I feel about gun control. I would identify myself as a political moderate, and my beliefs on gun control also fall into the middle of the political spectrum. I do believe gun control is necessary, but I also be-lieve owning a firearm is not a privi-lege but a right as declared in the Sec-

ond Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights.

I am also a strong proponent of the Brady Bill, named after James Brady, an assistant to Ronald Reagan who was shot during the assassina-

tion attempt on Reagan’s life. The Brady Bill states that a citizen wish-ing to purchase a handgun must be submitted to a background check by the National Instant Criminal Back-ground Check System (NICS) which checks for criminal records.

wE nEED PEaCEmiChael field

the diffiCulties of Controlling gun violenCe

But even with a background check, Kazmierczak had no criminal record to speak of, and he was of legal age to purchase both rifles and hand-guns under current United States gun laws. Thus, it is illogical to place

blame for this shooting on the shoulders of the gun companies. The only person responsible for this horrible deed is the shooter himself.

No bill currently being considered by Congress would stop a man such as Kazmierc-zak from purchasing firearms. There is no bill proposing we sub-mit gun purchasers to psychological evalua-tions. There is no bill that would alert gun sellers that Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, had been re-ferred to counseling by

one of his professors.Many people feel the Brady Bill

is not strong enough to regulate the sale of firearms. Firearm sellers are constantly criticized for trying to sell more guns. They are accused of ig-noring current gun laws and selling

dan markowitz is a freshman in engineering. you can write to him at idaniel@seas and visit his website at http://www.defectivity.com.


guns to minors or without conducting background checks.

Proponents of more stringent gun-control laws claim that gun sell-ers are encouraged by gun companies to sell more guns. They claim if the gun companies were not so encourag-ing, then sellers would be more careful about whom they sell guns to. How-ever, when one stops to think about this, you realize the ridiculousness of it. The company simply wants to make a profit. The companies are not encouraging the sellers to sell guns to minors; they are trying to entice a citi-

zen who walks in to buy a single gun to buy more than one gun. A simi-lar practice occurs at Best Buy and GameStop where the checkout clerks are given instructions to try to sell magazine subscriptions to customers.

At this time, I encourage you not to look for someone to blame. Do not try to think of ways to punish the firearm industry. At times like these, we should instead look at how to stop these incidents from happening.

Many gun-control advocates say the only way to stop these shootings

is to ban the sale of handguns to civil-ians, a practice adopted by the United Kingdom in 1997. However, since the ban, the number of firearms injuries in England and Wales has more than doubled. Clearly, a firearm ban is not the answer.

I would rather look at a smaller sampling. Instead of trying to stop gun crimes in the entire country, I would look at how to stop a shooting at Penn.

After the Virginia Tech shootings many universities across the nation, Penn included, instituted systems that would alert professors and students to a shooter on campus and warn them

to stay indoors or away from certain buildings. You can now go to Penn InTouch and enter your cell phone number to receive text message warn-ings in case there is such an event. However, systems like these do little to stop shootings from occurring.

NIU also has an alert system. Once Kazmierczak began shooting students and professors were warned, but the system did nothing to help the students in the lecture hall where the shooting began. While warning systems may help limit the scope of school shootings, they do little to pre-

vent the shootings.The question then remains: how

do we stop massacres like this from happening?

I don’t have an answer for you. We cannot have guards constantly patrolling hallways. I don’t believe metal detectors at building entrances are the answer either. I don’t have an easy answer, and I don’t know if there is one.

My thoughts and prayers go out the families and friends of those killed on February 14th. Do not think I am

ignoring the losses suffered. What I am trying to do is to focus us. Instead of lashing out at gun companies or sellers, we need to find ways to pre-vent shootings like this from happen-ing again. The University of Pennsyl-vania is supposed to be filled with the brightest students in America, many of whom design award winning inven-tions or service projects. I am begging you to put your minds to another task now. Devise some way to stop these shootings so that no other family has to suffer like so many have.

now you can geT your (almosT) daily dose oF FirsT call.

SubMIT.

REaD.

COMMEnT.

FirsTcallmagazine.com/blog

michael field is a freshman in Wharton.you can write to him at fieldmb@wharton.

FC

do noT Try To Think of Ways To Punish The fire-arm indusTry. aT Times like These, We should insTead look aT hoW To sToP These inCidenTs from haPPening.

no bill CurrenTly being Considered by Con-gress Would sToP a man suCh as kazmierCzak from PurChasing firearms.


I’m typically wary of posthumous or post-breakup releases. They’re

usually preening attempts to electro-shock a geriatric rock n’ roll dinosaur back into relevance, or make an extra buck off the tragic death of an icon. I purchased New Moon, a compilation of Smith’s unreleased material, with trepidation, especially in light of all that Elliott stood for as a musician.

In reference to the title of his 2000 release, Figure 8, Smith says this: “I just like the idea of figure 8, of figure skaters trying to make this self-con-tained perfect thing that takes a lot of effort but essentially goes nowhere.” To me, this is the quintessential state-ment on artistic honesty. Smith made the music the way he wanted because he couldn’t do it any other way, the same way he couldn’t help his squeaky speaking voice or his frightening ap-pearance. Instead of tempering these attributes down to a non-abrasive bromide, the fierce introspection and distinctively shaky vocal delivery fea-tured in every self-contained, perfect world he created are nothing if not univocally his.

And it is for exactly this reason that, whatever it was intended to be, New Moon stands as a worthy retrospective on Smith’s lifework. You couldn’t fit Elliott Smith into a commercially vi-able package if you tried. This is El-liott at his best, stripped down and in-timate, without the symphonic frills that weighed down some of the ma-jor-label music he made at the tail-end of his career. I’m not really into the whole “one squirrelly dude with a guitar waling about his feelings” genre, but I’m a huge fan of Smith’s lo-fi early work because, at his core, Smith was always a punk rocker, even after he ditched his band Heatmiser in favor of a four track and fingerpicks.

There is a vibrant cynicism that un-derlies even Smith’s poppiest songs, and this shines through most stark-ly on his more naked acoustic tracks, which New Moon features predomi-nantly. Somehow, Smith never seems sappy or insincere even when belting

out his most Hallmark-worthy lines. The opener, “Angel in the Snow,” is

classic Smith. A plodding and infec-tiously repetitious bass line backs up Smith sighing, “don’t you know that I love you” with an earnestness that few others could pull off, mostly because the affection he speaks of sounds so tired and worn that it becomes near-ly tragic.

“Going Nowhere” subtly displays the attributes that leaves Smith with

few peers as a folk guitarist. Violent-ly rapid chord changes shift over a jarring rhythmic pattern, and all the while Smith’s gentle falsetto lulls the listener into a daydream as he whis-pers about nothing at all, and the harsh reality of it.

Other standout tracks include “High Times,” “Riot Coming,” and “Whatever (Folk Song in C),” but the best of this album for me by far is El-liott’s cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen.” It captures an idyllic sort of Leave It to Beaver era romance that contrasts so harshly with Smith’s usual invective about soured relationships that I can’t

help but be moved by his pained, wist-ful interpretation.

Although the album sags towards the end with songs like “Fear City,” an uninspiring track left over from Smith’s Heatmiser years, Elliott daz-zles and astounds new listeners and ardent fans alike with the strength of his unreleased material. I don’t buy into the idea that an artist’s legend grows after his death. It sucks that Elliott Smith took his own life in Oc-

tober of 2003 because he is no longer around to make beautiful music. It’s that simple.

Instead of a hastily thrown togeth-er compilation of “greatest hits” as-sembled by dispassionate record ex-ecutives, this collection is reflective of Smith’s career: understated, pro-lific, and sublime. New Moon shines as Elliott did in his lifetime: dull and empty, yet pregnant with the hope of a coming light.

REVIEw: nEw MOOnsTeven Waye

the life of elliott smith in one new ComPilation

steven Waye is a sophomore in the College.you can write to him at waye@sas.

FC


PhOTOSPOTLIghTmiChael sall

glasses in salisbury

michael sall is a junior in the College and Wharton. you can write to him at sallms@sas.


ThIngS TO DO In PhILLYACROSS1. Get some awful Mexican food at this shamelessly College-soaked BYO. Make sure not to dance on the tables, though. They charge extra for that.3. Philadelphia is the _____ capital of the world. Get a cheesesteak or an egg and cheese.5. Don’t forget to check out this brand new skyscraper/temple to Philly’s cable monopoly.6. As soon as spring starts, head down for Dollar Dog Day and watch these guys get hammered by the rest of the NL East.9. Get into the livestock business and raise a herd of these rats with wings.10. At this place you may enjoy ballet performances, classical music, and a very cool, gigantic glass ceiling.14. You could always just grab Amtrak at this station to escape Philadelphia.16. Visit ___ city, well-known for not being new.17. Stroll through this square, enjoying the sight of luxurious hotels and sleeping homeless people. And yes, it’s named after the same guy as DRL.19. This former train station is famous for its cannolis and Amish stores.20. Get around using this public transportation system. It’s clean and safe and efficient. Heh.21. Whatever you do, do not swim in this river. If the chemicals don’t get you, the rowers will. DOWN2. Run up the steps to this place. Then check out some Picassos to feel cultured even though you just mimicked Sly Stallone.

3. King Tut just left this museum, but you can still walk into the giant heart. Ben would be so proud.4. Animals like to chill here.7. Head over to this place, which is surprisingly not an airstrip for our wonderful university but something much less exciting – Philadelphia’s waterfront.8. Learn how much fun a 200-year-old legal document can be at this National Center.11. Visit this city across the river. It’s home to Campbell’s soup and frequent gun crime.12. Like every tourist to this city,

visit the ___. But never go inside; stay outside and look through the huge glass windows from a few yards away. It’s just a crack, anyway.13. Look at this impressive governmental building. And yeah, that’s William Penn on top, not Franklin for once.15. Visit this nearby university, known for Bill Cosby and frequent gun crime.18. Who needs an embassy? We have all the Sweden we need at this store in South Philly.

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