OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20120507/WLURG39_RTP_20120507_001.2.txt j , I oPrNroNs/pagez Confused? It's Morsecode for”Phi.”Just read the back page, you'll understand. SPORTS / page 6 WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY ‘THE RING-TUM PHI. MONDAY, MAY 7, 2012 BY THE STUDENTS AND FOR THE STUDENTS SINCE 1897 VOLUME CXV, NUMBER 19 Bent talks Da Vinci and anatomy Professor George Bent explains how Leonardo da Vinci was both an artist and a scientist ByTommy Kent STAFF wmrea Professor George Bent discussed how Da Vinci’s artistic ability benefited from his study of anatomy, and vice versa last Wednesday in the Northen Auditorium. Bent, an Art History Professor at Washington and Lee, gave the Sidney Gauss Childress Professorship Inaugural Lecture entitled, “Art into Science, Sci- ence into Art: who attended with his family. In the lecture, Bent emphasized how Da Vinci’s virtuosity in the arts and deep scientific knowledge were never—before- seen complements when applied to ana- tomical studies in that time. Da Vinci, according to Bent, was a famous artist whose services were cov- eted for personal enjoyment. Among his 2*’ patrons, Da Vinci served Ludovico, the /’ Duke of Milan, for 17 years, paint- \ .... " Leonardo da Vinci and the Body.” This professorship, W&L’s first dedi- cated solely to the arts, was established through a gift by J. Donald Childress ’70 \ ing “The Last Supper” and \ others, sculpting, design- ing buildings, improving sanitation and hygiene in the city, creating weap- ons of mass destruc- tion, and beginning \ his initial study of human anatomy. Bent, referring to Da Vinci as the / “left-handed bastard” 1 (as. he was born out of wedlock), said that Da Vinci’s “anatomi- / cal studies were so ef- fective because he was an artist.” Bent said Da Vin- ci’s gifts as a scientist also ~ alluded [his followers]. Da Vinci, according to Bent, worked in a Flor- ence hospital in I500 and spent hours studying, meeting patients, and think- ing about the hospital’s mission. At one point, Da Vinci conducted an autopsy on the body of a I00-year-old man and discovered the cause of death to be hard- ening of the arteries, allegedly the first diagnosis of arteriosclerosis. Bent esti- mated that Da Vinci conducted at least 30 autopsies throughout his life. Not only that, but apparently to get a good understanding of an organ or section of the body Da Vinci believed cutting from the front, side and back was necessary. Da Vinci’s foray into the study of human anatomy was extraordinary for many reasons. Bent said, “Autopsies and human dissections weren’t all that common in Christian Europe. Even on the rare occasion when dissection was recorded for posterity, it was not for edu- cation but to record who it was and what portion of the event.” Additionally, Bent said that first, Christians did not condone cutting up corpses, and no physician had been trained to draw with any kind of fluency. The promary reason forced Da Vinci to abandon his anatomical studies for good when a German spy reported his work to the Pope during the period from l5l3-l5l6 that Da Vinci was working in Rome. The second did not apply to Da Vinci who had unmatched artistic skill. Throughout the lecture, Bent showed several detailed anatomical drawings by Da Vinci, including the heart, the skull, and muscles in the arms. sex organs. and even a fetus in the uterus, the first of such kind and signifying that he had cut into a pregnant woman, “something just not done in [Da Vinci’s] day,” said Bent. Bent said that Da Vinci believed his drawings could help educate physicians without putting them at risk of persecu- tion and that they would enable detailed study instead of only fleeting study dur- ing an actual autopsy. Da Vinci’s adage, “the only way to know something was to find it out yourself”, followed in his ac- tions and boundless curiosity. Bent said that Da Vinci, among many other things, wondered about the science of reproduc- tion and thought about the spinal cord and the head. Bent also said, “We can see that the engineer in him saw that the arm worked by pulley systems.” Bent said that Da Vinci rejected the notion that he was either one or the oth- er: artist or scientist. Bent said, “He was one of the most important interdisciplin- ary thinkers in history.” Bent showed the concurrent influence of art on Da Vinci’s anatomical explora- tions and of his study of anatomy on his art, by explaining how Da Vinci’s por- traits and depictions of the human body became more sophisticated and real af- ter he had worked to understand human anatomy. According to Bent, Da Vinci, who believed that the two objectives of the artist were to show the outward appearance of human beings and to re- veal intention and intellectual motives, “found the key to represent the human figure so accurately.” He went on to elaborate that “The art- ist painterly style began to shift after an- 79 atomical studies. By showing Da Vin- ci’s painting titled “St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness”, Bent exhibited how Da Vinci’s understanding of anatomy allowed him to satisfy not only the art- ist’s first objective, but also the second: “straining muscles” can give a glimpse into the inner motives of the figure. Da Vinci’s “anatomical fidelity” makes the painting “that much more be- lievable and that much more powerful.” explained Bent. “It causes the features to strike us more dramatically. Figures began to become representations of all humanity.” Essentially, the painter, mathema- tician, engineer, and scientist within Da Vinci all worked together to create “breathtakingly beautiful” works of art. Bent said, “The history of art was altered by Da Vinci’s scientific gifts. The his- tory of science was jumpstarted by Da Vinci’s artistic gifts.” In closing, Bent said, “The body is a microcosm that matches the broader uni- verse all around us. Leonardo da Vinci provided the first real window into the universe that each one of us has within us.” Barth discusses concussions Dr Jeflrey Barth describes what scientists need to do to better understand how to treat concussions By Graham Colton STAF F WRITE R Last Wednesday, Dr. Jeffrey T. Barth spoke on “Sports and Combat Concus- sion: Assessment, Intervention, and Re- turn to Play/Duty.” A member of the National Football League Players Association Mackey- White Traumatic Brain Injury Commit- tee and Director of the University of Virginia’s Neurocognitive Assessment Laboratory, Barth said that scientists must “think, observe, and talk with peo- ple” about concussions to provide better treatment for concussed athletes and sol- diers. Citing his research from the 1982 Wall Street Journal article, “Mild Head Injury: The Silent Epidemic,” Barth fo- « cused first on assessing concussions. In addition to confiision, nausea, or vomit, concussed persons may show more se- vere, long-terrn symptoms like retro- grade amnesia and/or posttraumatic am- nesia. Whereas a retrogradevamnesiac forgets events preceding the concussion, Barth said, a posttraumatic amnesiac cannot begin to remember post-concus- sion events until the amnesia subsides. In an experiment early in his career, Barth tested primatesto determine the extent of “axonal degeneration induced by experimental noninvasive minor head injury.” Replicating high-speed col- lisions on the football field, some pri- mates wore helmets that “would...move forward very quickly and stop,” said Barth. Others did not. All of the pri- mates’ brains, however, looked normal. Later in his professional life, Barth and his colleagues at UVA started using Sports as a Laboratory Assessment Mod- el (SLAM) to, as Dr. Barth said, “focus on concussion as a laboratory for clinical research.” By applying mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) research to the gen- eral population, Barth sought to establish “baseline neurocognitive assessments in sports.” After testing 2,350 players from ten universities, he found that “healthy, young, motivated athletes” exhibited “cognitive deficits...afier a very mild concussion.” Confirmed by later high school, col- legiate, and professional studies nation- wide, Barth and his research team found that it typically takes between three to ten days to recover from only a mild concussion. Directly, after a concussion, Barth recommended that athletic trainers use a Standardized Assessment of Concus- sions (SAC) test to correctly diagnose symptoms. As well as proposing three computerized assessments of accelera- tion-deceleration concussions, Barth of- fered three scales to grade the severity of a concussion. The retum—to-play decision, though, is less certain. “In this era of evidence- based medicine,” Barth said, “those who must make critical retum—to-play deci- sions are left in the unenviable position of choosing between scientism or poten- tial charlatanism.” In other words, when deciding if and when an athlete should return to play, the athletic trainer must strike a balance between protecting the athlete’s well-being and returning her/ him to the field of play. These difficult decisions are further complicated by second-impact syndrome (SIS), a “catastrophic increase in intra- cranial pressure due to dysfunction of autoregulation of cerebral circulation.” SIS “most often occurs in athletes less than 24-years-old” who have sustained a “prior concussion following a relatively minor second impact.” Similarly, players in high-contact sports such as football and boxing are especially prone to Chronic Traumatic U Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a “de- generative neurological condition” that, like SIS, afflicts adolescent athletes. If competitors overlook SIS and CTE by returning to play too early, then they risk reactive depression, sub-concussive blows, and acute and chronic cognitive deficits. Although he said that there are not any hard-and-fast rules to concussion treatment, Barth displayed a diagram of the Xenith football helmet, an innovative measure to prevent MTBIS. In this hel- met, he stated, there are “essentially air- bags [that] have a valve in the bottom, so that when they...are compressed down, they can go all the way down because there’s a nozzle that lets the air out.” Despite the doubt clouding retum—to- play decisions, medical scientists at least know the effects of an initial MTBI. First, according to Barth, a “single un- complicated concussion often results in acute neurocognitive and balance defi- cits.” Second, he said that “the risk [for another concussion]...increases three to six-fold” after the first concussion. In his closing remarks, Barth ad- dressed the even greater dangers from concussions that soldiers face at war. By causing primary, tertiary, and quaternary injuries, blasts from Improvised Explo- sive Devices (IEDS) result in complica- tions “very different than what we see in sports injuries,” including but not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex neurocognitive damage. Notwithstanding accurate assessment or interventions like rest, observation, and information provision, a concussion suffered on the battlefield--like one on the gridiron--cannot be treated like any other before it. Instead, healthcare pro- fessionals must “get comfortable with ambiguity,” Barth said. “Every player is different and decisions should be made by the medical/athletic training staff (and the player), taking individual his- tory into account,” he said. OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20120507/WLURG39_RTP_20120507_002.2.txt 2 - THE RING-TUM PHI- MONDAY, MAY 7,2012 opinions All downhill after Annie Persons suggests that students approach life after graduation During a class discussion this afternoon, my professor offhandedly mentioned that she believed adulthood had been the best years of her life so far. Time stood still for a moment as my fellow we At ’ -s' .1» Bynnnie Persons HEAD cor-r EDITOR things and I exchanged ex- pressions of mingled shock and amuse- ment that can only happen amongst stu- dents in a classroom. You know, that look that says, “Okayyyyyy.” Clearly picking up on this, our professor explained that she enjoyed her 205, but found that life early 20-some- ‘ actually “peaked when [she] hit 30.” Now, when was the last time you heard someone say that? In my experi- ence it has been the opposite; I recall countless relatives at my high school graduation luncheon approaching me in their cloudy mid—aftemoon buzz to la- ment how lucky I was to be starting col- away from home in a bubble of essen- tially endless opportunities for fun and enjoyment. I think we can all agree that college is the perfect amalgam of just enough responsibility to make you feel as though you have a purpose, but also not enough stress to hinder any shenani- gans or general merriment that may arise Like the old adage, “attitude is everything’ ) who says college ever has to end? lege, how these next four years would be the absolute best of my life, etc. etc. And, well, given my experiences fresh- man year, I can’t say I blame them. Sure, the work has been tough at times (some- times really tough), but the big picture is that few things are better than living to punctuate your school work. Put more simply, I live in a big building filled with my best friends and no adults. Oh, and class can be pretty interesting sometimes too. Clearly, then, Professor .Wheeler is just an outlier. “How could adulthood 51” possibly be better than college?,” I asked myself resolutely, mentally shivering as the beast of looming adulthood reared his ugly head in my direction. But then I started thinking...maybe it isn’t about where you are in life, but how you act about where you are. Like the old adage, “attitude is everything”-— who says college ever has to end? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggest- ing that you treat your future business cocktail parties as the perfect setting to throw back a few shots and start a game of shandies. What I am saying is that you treat the rest of your life with the same attitude you treat your life in college. For example, by accepting responsibil- ity, but not taking the stupid stuff too se- riously. Knowing what is and_what isn’t stupid stuff when it comes to academics or your job. Knowing the difference be-‘ tween a night when you should go out and let loose, and a night when you aduation? e same way that they approach life in college should stay in with your friends, hus- band/wife, or even a good movie. Know- ing how to go out and let loose without caring what other people think, but also knowing how to maintain a good repu- tation. Taking your superiors (professor, boss, etc.) seriously, but with a grain of salt—they’re human too. Taking life se- riously, but not too seriously. Put another way: a few nights ago ,my friend handed me a curly pink straw to use in my drink. I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, this really tastes better through a bendy straw!” ...and it was true. Let your attitude about life be a bendy straw. Sip things slowly, enjoy them, find the fun in life. Let growing up and graduating be about finding your bendy straw to make the rest of your days, not just your 203, taste a little bet- ter. How to write an opinions article Senior Stockton Bullitt, former Opinions Editor and columnist extraordinaire, oflers advice in his final contribution When I read Georgia Rob- ertson’s opin- ions article on Greek fratemi— ties on campus, I was incensed. Yes, it has been a while since I have written a quality article for the Phi, and yes, I am in a somewhat com- promised posi- tion to write a fraternity review column. But still, the whole fraternity review spiel was kind of my thing. Therefore, I could not have been more delighted to see the onslaught of criticism this column took. Georgia did not say anything original, nor did she actually do anything libelous, so why were students, parents and alumni (okay, it seemed to only be students speaking for parents and alumni, but I’ll just throw them in there) so enraged at the publica- tion of this specificlcolumn? Seriously, I wrote about the quality of the Four Loco, the merits of pledgeship and argued that the J-School is erroneous, and l’ve only gotten two or three Letters to the Editor. This chick gets a whole issue of the Phi dedicated completely to her plagiarized idea. What gives? As I re-read the column, I started to Stu-clcto miin CDLUHNIST so much. The article is an example of in- credibly bad writing. Georgia Robertson may go to a liberal arts school, but her composition leaves much to be desired. So, as a response, I thought I would tell Georgia, and anyone else who is inter- ested, how to actually write a quality opinions article for The Ring-tum Phi. there was hardly a real opinion in the en- tire article. Oh, Fiji has nice guys. Great! Everyone already knows that. This is the main reason why so many people were so mad at the article. Georgia wasn’t clever enough to think of ways that these stereotypes play out in everyday lives, nor did she think that the W&L commu- Yes, we would all like to be Owen Wilson flom “Marley and Me, "’ but we really don ’t own that many pets and our personal lives aren ’t that inter- esting to other people. This is not a complete list of how to write; instead, it’s more of a list of guide- lines to think about while writing an arti- cle for The Ring-tum Phi. Make sure that you do not use these guidelines for any- thing else besides writing an opinions ar- ticle forThe Ring-tum Phi, because they don’t work in many other circumstances. To prepare, I re-read every single opinions article in the year 2012. I did this because I am running the Spring Term option, and frankly, my life is rath- er boring once you take out the alcohol. Interestingly, I did not find as much dirt as I would have hoped. Lately, the qual- ity of writing in the opinions section has gotten better and not worse. As a former opinions editor, trust me, we were much worse a few years ago, mostly because I was committing many of the faux pas I realize why everyone loathed the column WASHINGTON AND LEE Uxwuzsnr THE RING-TUM PHI. outline later in the article. The main thing to remember when MANAGING EDITOR NEWS EDITOR OPINIONS EDITOR ARTS&L|FE EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR HEAD COPY EDITOR STAFF WRITERS COPY EDITORS BUSINESS MANAGERS DISTRIBUTION STAFF JULIANNA SATTERLY NEIL HAGGERTY CAMPBELL BURR PAIGE GANCE LEIGH DANNHAUSER ANNIE PERSONS STOCKTON BULLITT TOMMY KENT GABRIELLE TREMO ELIZABETH CHRISTIAN GRAHAM COLTON KELLY MCMANUS MATT GOSSETT DAVID WILSON DILLON MYERS MISSION STATEMENT: It is the mission of THE RING-TUM PHI to accurately, truthfully, and thoroughly report news affecting the Washington and Lee community for students, faculty, parents and alumni. Our goal is to look deeper into news affecting campus life and hold leaders accountable. Through our reporting, we aspire -to spark discussions that lead to discovering information that prompts change. THE RING—TUM PHI is published Mondays during the undergraduate school year. THE RING-TUM PHI is a member of The Media Board, which can be reached at mediaboard@w|u.edu, but is otherwise independent.THE RING-TUM PHI welcomes all letters. We reserve the right to edit submissions for content and length. Letters and advertising do not necessarily reflect the opinion of THE RING-TUM PHI staffl. This newspaper observes current court definitions of libel and obscenity. THE RING-TUM PHI UNIVERSITY COMMONS ROOM. 341 WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA 24450 TELEPHONE: (540) 458-4060 FAX: (540)458-4059 EMAIL: PH|@WLU.EDU SUBSCRIPTION RATE $45 writing an opin- ion’s article is to think about the reader. Yes, you should already know this, but just in case you didn’t, this is critical to writing opinions. The Phi is dis- tributed to certain people who all feel certain ways about the school. You are pandering to them, not the other way around. So, onto the ten BRIAN SIMPSON guidelines! KANE THOMAS 1, Actually Have an Opinion This is the most important guide- line. Opinions are NOT news. They are views on what people already know about. Take a stance and de- fend the stance. That is literally all you need to do for every opinions ar- ticle. Unfortunate- ly, this approach is taken barely more than half the time in The Ring-tum Phi. Writers get so bogged down in the “what” of their articles that they lose the “why.” Looking at the fraternity article, nity was smart enough to already know that these stereotypes exist. That’s why she found it incumbent upon herself to enlighten the community who is who. Everyone was so pissed because a) they already know who is who and b) there is nothing new or interesting about read- ing something you already know when it’s presented in a straightforward fash- ion. Georgia should have taken what she knows about those stereotypes and used them in some kind of comedic fashion. Also, most articles that I tend to like both read and write are ones that take un- common opinions. We all know that girls like Pinterest and Twitter contains many narcissists, but I tend to like opinions that go the other direction and take the road less traveled. It usually makes for a better read. 2. Minimize Your Own Life’s Story Readers of the Ring Tum Phi prefer anecdotes to stories. Just because the Opinion writer is allowed to use the word “I” in a story, this does not mean that he or she should make the whole opinion about him or herself. The reader does not care about the personal life of the writer unless it serves to prove a greater point. Yes, we would all like to be Owen Wil- son from “Marley and Me,” but we real- ly don’t own that many pets and our per- sonal lives aren’t that interesting to other people. If the story is self-deprecating, then maybe you can extend the story, but for the most part, people hate the articles that are simply vehicles to tell one’s own life story. By doing that, you are making the article about yourself, and the article is always about the reader. ‘ I Likewise, never talk about the actual process of writing the opinion article. If your intro has something along the lines of “As I sat at my computer thinking of what to write...” you should just transfer to Roanoke College and accept that you will always be on a lower intelligence level than the majority of W&L students. 3. Boys are Different than Girls Glad we got that out of the way. By the way, it is not an embarrass- ment to girls that a girl wrote an article about fraternities. Betty Friedan is not turning over in her grave because some- one took a big swing and a miss. Geor- gia, like many other people on campus, just did not recognize the social norms governing our institution. For example, I can never nor will I ever write a soror- ity review article. Does it have anything to do with gender equality on campus? Hell no. Guys and girls at W&L and ev- erywhere for that matter are inherently equal. That’s just the deal. We wrote it a couple hundred years ago on a piece of paper and qualified it somewhat a hundred years ago. But, girls are differ- ent than guys. Frats don’t watch El, and srats don’t watch Spike. Not that tough. You can write articles making fun of fra- ternities because that’s mostly carefree and fun, but when you do the same thing with sororities, problems tend to occur. Lastly, speaking as a male, can we please cut down on the number of fash- ion opinion articles that come out every week? Hearing about problems with Barbour and leggings is like hearing women defend Khloe Kardashian. I’m just asking. 4. How to Curse There is a certain mindset you need to use with cursing when writing an opin- ions article. The readers of The Ring- tum Phi are mostly college students or adults trying to tap into the mindset of college students, so, when writing, you must sound like a college student be- cause your readers want the vernacular. If they did not want the vernacular, they would buy the “Wall Street Journal.” So, make sure you throw in some shits and douche bags just to appease the masses. Otherwise, I don’t really like throwing them in there if I can avoid it (I usually can’t). Listen to what your professors say,_ using a curse word just shows that you lack the vocabulary and imagination to use a proper word. So, stop being so damned shitty with your thoughts, and make sure you definitely avoid using the f-bomb. 5. BEAT AROUND THE BUSH Seriously, Georgia? I know that what you did wasn’t illegal, but you directly called groups of people predators, drug users, homosexual, and douche bags. If you or I did that at a party, there would be bad consequences, like getting pushed under Traveller consequences. That is to say, there are predators, drug users and douche bags on campus (there are also homosexuals but lumping someone’s sexuality with three bad things seems pretty unfair), but they do not need to be labeled in a public setting. So, instead of pointing and shouting so everyone can hear, Georgia should have done what most writers do and that’s hide behind someone’s back, refer to an indiscretion, make a connection and snicker. In the lit- erary world, they call this allusion. The entire mess could have been avoided by referencing stereotypes without directly acknowledging them. , 6. Appease Both Sides of W&L W&L has two sets of students: stu- dents who buy into the game of frater- nities, sororities and the chutes and lad- ders that accompany them and students who aren’t godless heathens celebrating a four-year Bacchanalia. Now, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but that is not to say that those two sets of people do not exist and that they have very dif- ferent expectations from their opinions articles. Many fraternity and sorority members likewise are not into the “Who is the best Greek member/affiliation?” debate. These constituencies need to be addressed and accurately critiqued if you _ are going to write a fraternity or sorority article (just kidding, you should never write a sorority article). And for that matter, appease the W&L moms. Easily the most avid, intelligent and beautiful readers associated with The Ring-tum Phi (Did I mention they have checkbooks?), the W&L moms need to be considered when writing an opinions article for The Ring-tum Phi. You don’t need to think, “Will my moth- er read this?” when writing an article be- cause odds are she might, and she prob- ably won’t care if you mention alcohol.’ But throw in a couple of mom jokes here and there, like mentioning why there are so many 29-year-old sisters coming to campus on Parent’s Weekend, and you will go far in life. 7. Keep in Mind that You Attend W&L This is a very socially conscious school and putting your name on an ar- ticle is a pretty ballsy move as is, but people are going to remember what you say about them, especially if it’s nega- tive. Likewise, they will remember what you say if you are unfairly positive about a certain group of people. Since this isn’t that groundbreaking of a topic, I’ll just let this carry into the next guideline... 8. Live in Reality From the fraternity article by Georgia R.: “While there are a fair share of jerks in any frat, Beta seems to keep a low concentration while still maintaining fun party guys who aren’t overly cocky, weird or nerdy.” “I honestly could name probably two Sig Eps and have never attended or known someone who has attended a party.” “ till, you will be hard pressed to find a socially awkward Phi Psi.” I think that pretty much covers it. 9. You are NOT a Deep Person The articles that people tend to hate most in the opinions section are the ones that talk down to their readers. Geor- gia made this problem by thinking that people didn’t already know stereotypes about fraternities, but it gets much worse. Let’s be clear aboutone thing: no more poems. What can be explained in broken clauses with weird line breaks about how much it sucks to be in a bad relationship can surely be explained using full sen- tences.and paragraphs. A poem is not an opinion. It is an artistic expression that should be in the Shenandoah. Fur- thermore, make inside jokes that every- one can understand. You will get much further with your readers if you refer- ence LeBron or Don Draper, not Imelda Marcos. I mean, really? Imelda Marcos. C’mon. By keeping the jokes and refer- ences simple, the article will be more ac- cessible and will actually get read. Furthermore, do not cliche up the place when your cliches don’t really work. This election is not “one for the history books” nearly as much as 2008, 2000, 1992, 1980, 1960, etc. Also, obvi- ously this election is going in the history books because every election goes into the history books. 10. Grammar Gets You Laid ‘ “One last thing: Coke” is as atrocious a sentence as you can get. Not only does it royally piss off a boatload of people, but it is also a fragment, a wrongly capi- talized word and a raping of the colon, .one of our most virginal punctuation marks. Make sure you follow Vampire Weekend’s advice on the Oxford com- ma.’ It is not used when writing articles in newspapers. If you read enough of my articles, you will notice that I learned this about halfway through my career at W&L. It’s a nice thing to know. .So, Georgia and everyone else inter- ested in writing opinions for the Ring- tum Phi, use these guidelines wisely. Fracois Hollande listened to me, and look where he is. OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20120507/WLURG39_RTP_20120507_003.2.txt MONDAY, MAY], 2012' 3 - THE RING-TUM PHI- oinions This year is a big one for The Phi, as all of our editorial stafl are entering their first years as editors. We thought it would be a good Chance to introduce the fabulous 0 people who run your school paper, so say hello to 2012 3* editorial staff, as brought to you via F acebook [I ’m a pro stalker! ] xoxo julianna Biochemistry and anthro.po,1ogy_ double major ; Likes: Dom Mazzetti,New.York Giants, Audrey Hepburn, Blue Oyster Cult, Rodeos, Oxford Commas, mannequins, spray paint, and frozen peas. Journalism and politicsdguble majplr Likes: Mock Con, Christmas Trees, tuxedos, people from A New Jersey, real pizza and photo-bombing. : inions Business administration major; creative writing minor Likes: Mitt Romney Central, J .J . Redick, “The Graduate,” Leland Yacht Club, Michael Kors, leopard—print ballet flats and hashtags. ‘In . Arts & Life a English and business administration double major; creative Writing minor Likes: Glamour Magazine, Macintosh Apples, caution tape, romantic comedies, "memes and laughing until you can’t breathe. nme mom for English major; creative writing and journalism double minor Likes: Goo Goo Dolls, Harry Potter, Murphy’s Restaurant, Froyo Sunscreen, running and social networking sites. OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20120507/WLURG39_RTP_20120507_004.2.txt 4 - THE RING-TUM PHI- arts&life MONDAY, 1 afles C§t r «E05 1'’ ‘ra- H. —aer22 Taming of the Shrew oes west Just “howdy ” you tame the shrew? The National Players present afresh new twist on the classic Shakespeare comedy By Gabrielle Tremo 5 TA F F w R I T E R This week, Washington and Lee’s Keller Theater was graced with the presence of the National Players. The National Players, the longest running touring company in America, performed the Shakespeare classic The Taming of the Shrew. Shrew, a play whose plot was borrowed from the well-known movie 10 Things I Hate About You, details the “wooing” of two women: Kate—the shrew— and her “more desirable” sister, Bianca. While the play contained many com- plexities and subplots, the main focus was thus: Everyone in the town wants to marry Bianca because she’s pretty and tame, but her father won’t marry her off until Kate, a shrew (or “difficult, temper- amental woman”) is married. The play follows how one man, Petruchio (also known as Heath Ledger, in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You) “tames” Kate into marrying him and obeying him as a loyal wife as well as the rivalry of mul- tiple men for the hand ofBianca. The National Players did a re-hash of the play, and instead of setting it in Italy where Shakespeare had imagined it, put it in the Wild West. Men were adorned in cowboy boots and wide~brimmed hats and women in lush lace dresses. The set was composed of intentionally ramshackle buildings constructed to cor- respond to the run-down houses of West- ern film fame. As ifstraight out ofa Clint Eastwood spaghetti-Western, characters carried pistols, faced stand-offs and drank in saloons. The lights would dim to subtle orange during love scenes, like a classic Arizona sunset. The style ofthis play was drawn from the classical Italian Renaissance theatre pagrfiaf. the Phi needs ectedacarea iwrifers ijfo cover p , , ears on camp.t1s.and ," -staff a Sunday l A tradition of commedia dell’arte. This translates into the “comedy of craft" in English, which was a form of comedy that Shakespeare’s earlier plays were very fond of. While it calls for flatter, “two-dimensional” characters and plays more with traditional archetypal roles, it allows for a greater depth ofcomedy and expanded improvisation. In addition, the Players noted that while the characters themselves may be flatter than those in a tragic play (Romeo and Juliet, for example), it did allow for a greater cohesion of comedy and physi- cal interaction in the form ofinsults and slapstick which, in turn, gave greater leeway into the understanding of the themes ofthe play itself. Throughout the show, the atmosphere was full ofcomedy. Assistant Director of the National Players Michael Kelly said ofthe play, “The world of The Taming of the Shrew is one rife with classic comic situations: servants disguised as their masters, masters disguised as servants, young lovers deceiving their fathers, and joyful triple marriage." The National Players did everything in their power to capture this world. With a combination of slapstick argu- ments, street brawls, and comedic sound effects to accompany the fight scenes, the audience roared in laughter at every motion performed by the actors. Many scenes where the characters verbally in- sulted one another (as is likely to hap- pen in Shakespeare plays) were also ac- companied by physical violence. In the minds of the Players, this juxtaposition of the physical and the verbal insults showcased the intense intellectual and emotional sparring of the characters. For example, the fights between Kate and Petruchio elicited laughter as they literally personified the classic “battle of the sexes.” i On the surface level, the humor was light and witty in a way only Shake- speare could supply. In addition, the in- telligent and comedic delivery ofthe ex- perienced actors brought in a great deal of response from the audience. The National Players did a fantastic revamp of the classic Shakespeare play by adding their own time period, their own effects, and their own interpreta- tion of the words. It created an interest- ing and entertaining production for all those in the theater. Congratulations to the National Players for an excellent per- formancel MAY 7,2012 OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20120507/WLURG39_RTP_20120507_005.2.txt MONDAY, MAY 7,2012 5 . THE RING-TUM PHI { Men’s streak ends Generals lose to 3rd ranked Lynchburg in ODAC championship game By Leigh Dannhauser SPORTS EDITOR Men’s lacrosse jumped to an early lead against Lynchburg on Sunday. After the first quarter they held a 2-0 lead in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship game thanks to goals by junior Mac Means and first-year Garret Paglia. Lynchburg was able to come back in the second quarter and entering the second half led the game 3-2. The Hornets opened the game up in the second half. They out- scored the Generals 8-2 in the second half. Lynchburg greatly outshot Washington and Lee throughout the entire game. They attempted 41 shots compared to W&L’s 23. W&L was kept in the game once again by the goalkeeping of first-year Warren Barenis. He saved 15 out of the 25 shots that he faced while playing the full game in the net. In the first two games of the ODAC tournament he combined for 25 saves as W&L defeated the third and sec- ond_ seeded teams. 7 The Homets proved to be too much for Barenis and the Gener- als, forcing their season to end with a 10-9 record. The Hornets’ season will continue when the NCAA tournament begins thanks to an automatic bid from winning the ODAC title. The NCAA tour- nament begins on Wednesday. The Generals won two of three major awards with the conclusion . of the game. Junior Joe LaSala »- won the ODAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year while first-year Cam- eron Dabir was named Rookie of the Year. LaSala was also selected as a member of the first-‘team all- ODAC squad. Tennis racks in awards White and Meighan take home ODAC Athlete of the Year Awards By Leigh Dannhauser SPORTS EDITOR Both the men’s and women’s teams (took home the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Athlete of the Year Award. The men’s winner is junior Hayden White. He co-won the award with junior Meredick Ceril of Randolph-Macon. White was Washington and Lee’s num- ber one singles player this season. He had a 15-6 singles record. White also teamed up with first-year Taylor Sham- shiri in the doubles matches. They fin- ished their season with a 13-6 record. White was joined by five others who earned ODAC first-team honors. He was joined by seniors Michael Freeman, Jer- emy Becht, and Ben Fass as well as first-