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Illustration by Yevgenia Nayberg
By Lynn Vollbrecht'06
When he was a young, African-American graduate student at the University of Chicago, New York Times columnist Brent Staples found people crossing the street to avoid him, or evading eye contact as he made his way down the sidewalks of his Hyde Park neighborhood. Out of nervousness at this perception of how other people were viewing him—termed stereotype threat—he began to whistle, everything from the Beatles to Vivaldi. He noticed that whistling classical music seemed to put people at ease and changed how they reacted to him. Instead of sidestepping, they even smiled.
The threat of having elements of our identity prove a negative stereotype true is pervasive, according to social psychologist Claude Steele, whose book, Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, took its name from the previous anecdote.
We're so aware of stereotypes that they become like "a threat in the air," Steele writes. "This means that whenever we're in a situation where a bad stereotype about one of our own identities could be applied to us—such as those about being old, poor, rich, or female—we know it."
It could be a negative stereotype that attaches fear to a black male simply walking down the sidewalk, as recounted by Staples, or about women's shortcomings with math, or about Asian students academically out-performing their peers. Whether or not these kinds of stereotypes are being intentionally applied or believed, they are known. It's that knowledge, Steele and his colleagues posit, that can negatively affect performance, whether on tests, in the classroom, on the athletic fields, or just about anywhere. Much of Steele's research has to do with how students themselves perceive a negative stereotype during a test or an academic or social situation and how that distracts them from the task at hand, even though—or perhaps especially because—they would normally do well, if not for the anxiety-inducing threat of being stereotyped.
Whistling Vivaldi is "about the experience of living under such a cloud and the role such clouds play in shaping our lives and society," writes Steele, the I. James Quillen Dean for the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Steele's book is part of an "Issues of Our Time" series, which Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the series' editor, describes as "some of today's leading thinkers [exploring] ideas that matter in the new millennium."
Because Steele conducts much of his research about stereotype threat in the context of performance in higher education, his work is a natural fit with issues facing colleges like Beloit, which is taking a hard look at minimizing the effects of stereotype threat as it builds a more inclusive and welcoming community.
"The market niche of a college like Beloit has changed dramatically in the last 50 years," says Steele, who visited campus in September. "Traditionally these schools have served a more homogeneous population, with respect to ethnicity, race, and social class. And now that is changing very rapidly—in another 10 years, what will it look like?"
Walking the talk
Talking about issues of diversity, inclusion, and privilege is one thing, but actually changing entrenched problems like the kind Steele researches—stereotype threat and how it affects academic performance—is another.
Prior to Steele's campus visit, Whistling Vivaldi had served as the common reading for Beloit's 2012 Fall Conference, a day of development for faculty and staff.
"We chose Whistling Vivaldi as a reading last year with the intent of initiating a broader and deeper institution-wide conversation about how we can foster an environment that successfully attracts, supports, engages, and develops students and employees with a broad range of social identities and experiences," says Provost and Dean of the College Ann Davies.
"One of the attractions of the book was that it seemed to invite conversation among people who may not have previously thought very deeply about identity and the ways in which Beloit may be experienced very differently, depending on who you are," Davies says.
The conference and related conversations in Staff Council, an advisory group composed of Beloit College staff, provided some framework for campus initiatives related to the concept of stereotype threat, focusing on everything from the way a physical environment can unintentionally promulgate that threat to how it might influence the work of search committees during hiring processes. Through it all, the core question remained: How can Beloit not only attract faculty, students, and staff from diverse and underrepresented groups, but also engender their success?
This is not the first time college leadership has addressed the subject. In 2008, Beloit launched a diversity plan that was followed four years later by a Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, which made recommendations for building a more diverse campus in light of anticipated federal cuts to U.S. Department of Education programs, such as McNair, TRIO, and Student Support Services.
At the same time, intercultural literacy is one of three core skills called out in Beloit's newly implemented curriculum, along with writing and quantitative reasoning skills.
Not long after the college adopted the new curriculum, four faculty leadership groups came together to discuss teaching and advising and to offer faculty development. Assistant Professor of Anthropology Lisa Anderson-Levy facilitates one such group, focused on the intercultural literacy requirement. The C-group ("C" is shorthand for the intercultural literacy component) has offered a series of Walking the Talk workshops this fall, covering everything from advising to fostering student reflection. A faculty forum featuring a Q & A with Steele on alleviating stereotype threat was among these offerings.
"These workshops, broadly conceived, are intended to improve our practice," says Anderson-Levy. "Practice writ large, and practice in terms of teaching, advising, research."
Another related initiative getting underway this fall is called Sustained Dialogue, aimed at developing 12 to 14 student leaders each semester who facilitate dialogues, build relationships across social groups, and then choose a divisive issue to work toward solving. "While the emphasis is on student leadership," says Davies, "I think we see Sustained Dialogue as a means of developing our whole community's capacities in this way."
One of the challenges of enacting institutional change is finding ways to measure whether or not the efforts are succeeding. Part of the C group's work included creating mechanisms for measuring whether Beloit students are absorbing the intercultural literacy component of their education.
"The members of this leadership circle developed evaluation criteria for students, where we asked them to think and write about the class they were in and the assignments, and whether these helped them develop intercultural literacy skills," Anderson-Levy explains. "That's one kind of assessment that can happen in the context of the classroom."
Determining whether or not the college has successfully transformed into a more welcoming place will be harder to measure.
"Institutional change takes time. It doesn't happen overnight," Anderson-Levy says. "In the same way that it takes a while for us to get our legs under us, to get walking the talk—it takes a while to measure success, too." One way is to look at the kind of students Beloit attracts, she says, and whether students from all backgrounds and walks of life really do feel comfortable at Beloit.
Beloit's institutional commitment to this concept can be seen in the literal change in one department's name—from women's and gender studies to critical identity studies. It reflects the college's focus on diversity and inclusion, says Catherine Orr, professor and department chair.
"I think the critical identity studies (CRIS) major is going to be a location where a lot of work can get done," Orr says. "If we're serious about intercultural literacy, if we're serious about our mission, and we know that students who are going to be applying to Beloit in the next 25 years are going to be more diverse racially, they're going to be more diverse in terms of their class—all kinds of diversity that CRIS could then take up—that's about being serious. It's about institutional change, both reflecting it and promoting it."
Challenges, and challenging conversations
The days and weeks after Steele's visit to campus saw a rise in conversations regarding the topics he addressed and strong reactions from the Beloit College community.
While many see his work as an accessible point of entry for people who might not have previously considered stereotype threat and its implications, others felt that Beloit was ready for more challenging conversations about race, class, gender, and other identity factors.
Some people took issue with Steele's approach to presenting his work when he opened his lecture to a packed house in Eaton Chapel by showing an excerpt from the movie, 8 Mile. The scene depicts a white male rapper being booed off a stage by black men and women when he failed to perform under the pressure of being negatively stereotyped.
Steele's presentation had Professor of Religious Studies Debra Majeed questioning "whether it is possible for us to engage in the dangerous and challenging conversations necessary to thoughtfully interrogate discourses of race, racism, white supremacy, and whiteness as privilege and power in any/all the forms we encounter."
While focusing on curricular opportunities is an important step, Majeed says, difficult conversations also have to take place on an individual level.
"The difficult, dangerous, challenging conversations I mention must occur on the personal level as well," she says. One way that she suggests doing this is "beginning with faculty conversations about our own positionality and reflection on the biases and presuppositions that we bring to the classroom and our encounters with students."
While Steele's visit spurred a lot of dialogue on campus, Orr points out that it's important that the college not let this opportunity for institutional change slide.
"I think Claude Steele's visit is an event—he hasn't come to save us from ourselves," Orr says. "The work is ours. The work of changing an institutional culture and really reflecting on who it is we are, and who we welcome, and who doesn't feel welcome here, despite our best intentions—that's on us."
Steele himself echoed those sentiments when he talked about the work the college has cut out for itself. The key, he says, will be experimentation.
"We keep thinking that somebody's going to show up with exactly the right package to take off the shelf to make a wonderfully inclusive over-the-rainbow kind of campus, and that's just not going to happen. It's going to be hard work, down-on-the ground, trying things out, jettisoning some things, developing other things," Steele says. "It's easy for me to come in for a day and talk about it, but it's very hard to keep institutional focus on it."
Davies said Steele's visit and the dialogue it generated emphasizes how much the college is motivated to change and that many of the ideas about how to build a more inclusive campus will come from the college's own community.
"Institutions of higher education have been discussing issues of power and privilege for 30 years, and not enough has changed," Davies adds. "Our aspiration is to learn by doing—try things, undoubtedly make mistakes, and, we hope, learn from them."
Lynn Vollbrecht'06 is the associate editor of Beloit College Magazine.


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New on the Power Development Platform:
IBM Data Engine for NoSQL - Power Systems Edition
The IBM Data Engine for NoSQL - Power Systems Edition creates a new tier of memory by attaching up to 57 Terabytes of auxiliary flash memory to the processor without the latency issues of traditional I/O storage. This system is configured with software in a development EMULATION mode, and does not contain real CAPI Flash accelerators. It is intended as a development platform and is suitable for software development, unit testing, and code integration tasks.
For more information, refer to the following resources:
- http://ibm.biz/capiflash - Technical Whitepaper about the IBM Data Engine for NoSQL, including best practices
- https://github.com/open-power/capiflash/ - Complete source for Data Engine for NoSQL enabling software, including test cases
- /opt/ibm/capikv - Software installation on this system, which includes example code, sample applications, headers, and shared libraries, compiled in a development "FILE MODE."
To get started with key-value layer APIs (libarkdb) pass a NULL "file" string to ark_create(...). The database will automatically allocate key/value pairs in system RAM instead of flash.
To get started with block-layer APIs (libcflsh_block) create a temporary block file on the local file system (this is for development purposes only, e.g. "fallocate -l 2G ~/blockfile"), then pass that file path to cblk_open(...). The block APIs will read / write data to this test file instead of a real flash accelerator.
Once software is ready for testing on real systems, dynamically or statically-link to production CAPI Flash shared libraries which are available on the system with real accelerators, or available on IBM FixCentral (search for the EJ16 feature code).


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Does your job impact your safety on the roads? As it turns out, it does.
Recently, Insurance.com conducted an analysis of the occupations that carry the highest percentage of individuals who claim an accident when searching for auto insurance. The rankings are based on the information people must supply in seeking an insurance quote.
Sam Belden, Insurance.com's Vice President, explained the results in a statement: "Professions that demand multi-tasking – being on the phone, moving fast on a tight schedule – are prone to more distractions and, from there, more accidents," also pointing out that the lowest-incident drivers - like athletes and homemakers - tend to not be on the road during rush hour.
So, what are the most dangerous drivers on the road, by profession? Click ahead to find out!
By Paul Toscano
Posted Feb 18 2010


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Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner have beefed up security at their Calabasas estate after a paparazzo allegedly trespassed onto their property, TMZ has learned -- but video footage of the incident makes the whole thing smell kinda fishy.
Kim posted the Blair-Witch-style video online yesterday, showing her mom running into their backyard ... in hot pursuit of the rogue photog. They say they even called the cops.
Sources close to the K-Klan tell us, the family has since hired round-the-clock security ... pretty crazy considering they already live in a gated community.
Now the fishy part ... If someone really was creeping around their property, why would a defenseless woman like Kim's mom run out to confront him ... especially a really rich defenseless woman?
Is this a publicity stunt or is she just plain crazy?


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Informatica Corporation (Nasdaq:INFA), the world's number one independent provider of data integration software, today announced its sponsorship of the newly launched GovernYourData.com, a vendor-neutral, online community and resource center focused on data governance success, open to all data governance stakeholders and solutions providers.
The industry's first one-stop data governance resource, GovernYourData.com is the only online data governance site to provide a combination of:
"GovernYourData.com fulfills a long-standing need for an interactive, vendor-neutral community around data governance," said Rob Karel, vice president of product strategy, Informatica. "So many data governance initiatives fail because they are over-scoped and overly dependent on expensive consulting services just to get started and build necessary momentum. By enabling peer-to-peer engagement and free access to practical tools, resources and expert advice, GovernYourData.com will help enterprises take a more pragmatic and ultimately more successful approach to data governance enterprise wide."
"Data governance is critical to every organization, across all industries, and while other data governance sites exist, none appear to offer the openness and scope of GovernYourData.com," said Anne-Marie Smith, principal consultant with Alabama Yankee Systems and DAMA International board member. "I applaud the site's vision of propagating data governance best practices, reducing a data governance initiative's cost and risk, and helping to increase project return-on-investment through open access to tools, expert opinions and current information. I look forward to being a part of this community and its discussions."
Tools to Accelerate and Lower the Cost of Governance Initiatives
GovernYourData.com offers a set of free, self-service data governance tools that help members plan and scope their governance and related data management initiatives in order to increase their effectiveness and mitigate common roadblocks to delivering anticipated business value. These free tools include:
"GovernYourData.com is unique in its breadth, depth and inclusiveness, and we are pleased to be an early participant," said Andy Hayler, president and chief executive officer of The Information Difference. "We are very excited about the free tools as they provide an important first step in any data governance project and can be used repeatedly to fine-tune governance initiatives."
Information Sharing to Power Data Governance Success
GovernYourData.com is also a community and data governance discussion forum open to all parties. Members share information and experiences and have access to blogs and videos by data governance practitioners, journalists and thought-leaders; reports by industry analysts; and non-promotional whitepapers and other educational content. GovernYourData.com bloggers include:
Additionally, GovernYourData.com provides event listings submitted by parties and vendors from across the industry, links to additional sites providing useful information and resources, book and analyst research recommendations and a data governance Twitter feed tracker.
"It is great to have a content-rich data governance site that extends beyond the views and customers of a single solution provider, and that is free of vendor- and product-specific content," said Sunil Soares. "In maintaining vendor-neutrality while consolidating the tools and information required to power data governance success, GovernYourData.com has all the makings of a 'go-to' industry resource."
Tweet this: News @InformaticaCorp Sponsors First One-Stop #DataGovernance Resource http://bit.ly/TPQRrx GovernYourData.com
Informatica Corporation (Nasdaq:INFA) is the world's number one independent provider of data integration software. Organizations around the world rely on Informatica for maximizing return on data to drive their top business imperatives. Worldwide, over 5,000 enterprises depend on Informatica to fully leverage their information assets residing on-premise, in the Cloud and across social networks. For more information, call +1 650-385-5000 (1-800-653-3871 in the U.S.), or visit www.informatica.com. Connect with Informatica at http://www.facebook.com/InformaticaCorporation, http://www.linkedin.com/company/informatica and http://twitter.com/InformaticaCorp.
Note: Informatica and PowerCenter are trademarks or registered trademarks of Informatica Corporation in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other company and product names may be trade names or trademarks of their respective owners.


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DiscoverClassics For KidsEdvard Grieg 3: Other Scandinavian Composers
Edvard Grieg 3: Other Scandinavian Composers
Update: 2018-10-20
Music by composers from the three official Scandinavian countries -- Norway, Denmark and Sweden -- and a couple of unofficial ones -- Finland and Iceland!
In Channel
Ragtime music is truly African-American music. It combines rhythms that were brought to this country by slaves, with musical forms brought over to the United States from Europe. Ragtime uses syncopated rhythms -- that is, the accents in the melody are shifted away from the strong beats in the bass line underneath.
Scott Joplin 2: Ragtime Music
From a very early age, Scott Joplin supported himself as a performing pianist. Eventually, he earned a living selling his compositions, too. Thanks to Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, the most famous of all piano rags, Joplin became known as the King of Ragtime Writers.
Scott Joplin 1: About Scott Joplin
Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is based on a story by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann. In The Nutcracker, a Christmas present -- a nutcracker -- comes to life as a handsome prince. He takes the young girl who received him as a present on some fantastic adventures.
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 3: The Nutcracker
Some composers in Tchaikovsky's day didn't think his music sounded "Russian" enough, but Tchaikovsky was Russian through and through. Tchaikovsky wrote symphonies, operas, songs, chamber music -- and of course, several wonderful ballets.
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1: About Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Zoltan Kodaly was born in a small town in Hungary. His father worked for the Hungarian railroad, so the family moved around a lot. This meant that as a kid, Zoltan heard folk music from many different parts of the country. When he grew up, Hungarian folk music became his passion. Kodaly spent a large part of his life collecting his native music, and teaching his countrymen about it.
Zoltan Kodaly 1: About Zoltan Kodaly
Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn's older sister, was a talented pianist and composer. So was Clara Schumann, wife of composer Robert Schumann. Also featured: music of Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, Cecile Chaminade, Germaine Tailleferre, Hildegard von Bingen, Amy Beach, and Thea Musgrave.
Felix Mendelssohn 5: Women Composers
When Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn put on Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream to entertain their family, the two of them played all the characters! Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream illustrates many of the characters and situations in the play.
Felix Mendelssohn 2: A Midsummer Night's Dream
By the time he was a teenager, Felix Mendelssohn was already an excellent pianist and composer. And Mendelssohn was very talented in other areas. In addition to German (his native language), Mendelssohn spoke French, English, and Italian. He was also a very good painter. And he became quite famous as a conductor.
Felix Mendelssohn 1: About Felix Mendelssohn
Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" is an operetta. An operetta is like an opera, with one big difference. In opera, everything is sung, but in operetta, there are spoken lines between the singing. Composers who wrote operettas in English include Sir Arthur Sullivan (who can't be separated from William S. Gilbert, who wrote the words for Gilbert and Sullivan operettas), Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg, and Rudolf Friml.
Leonard Bernstein 3: Operettas in English
When he was growing up, Leonard Bernstein loved to put on operas and other musical shows with his friends. That interest in musical theater continued all through his life, and produced such great Broadway musicals as "On The Town," "Wonderful Town," and "West Side Story."
Leonard Bernstein 2: Bernstein and Musical Theater
The United States Marine Band is this country's oldest military band. Each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces has its own band, and song. Captain Don Schofield, associate conductor of the United States Air Force Band of Flight, talks with Naomi Lewin about all the U.S. military bands.
John Philip Sousa 3: American Military Bands
John Philip Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever is the official march of the United States of America. Sousa composed his most famous march in his head when he was on a ship coming back from a trip to Europe with his band. When the ship docked, he put the march down on paper and named it after the American flag he was so glad to see when he got home.
John Philip Sousa 2: About "Stars and Stripes"
John Philip Sousa -- the most American of composers -- was the son of immigrants to the United States. Because of his love for bands and band music, John Philip Sousa wrote many wonderful marches. As a result, he is known as the "March King."
John Philip Sousa 1: About John Philip Sousa
"Rhapsody" is an ancient word that means "songs stitched together". The Greeks used to write long poems in praise of their heroes, and then take bits and pieces of those poems and string them together for performance. In music, a rhapsody is a free-form piece that takes different tunes and strings them together.
Franz Liszt 5: What is a Rhapsody?
Franz Liszt was a pianist, composer, conductor and teacher who came up with musical innovations in all those fields. He was the first of the virtuoso performers and invented the solo recital. As one of the greatest pianists the world has ever known, Liszt was a 19th century superstar.
Franz Liszt 1: About Franz Liszt
Jonathan Larson, the composer of the musical ''Rent,'' used the same plot for this musical as Puccini did for La Boheme. Other composers also used classical music when they wrote their Broadway hits. ''Kismet'' is adapted from compositions by Russian composer Alexander Borodin and ''The Song of Norway'' uses tunes by Edvard Grieg to tell the story of Grieg's life.
Giacomo Puccini 4: Classical Music that Turned into Musical Theater
Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme is about struggling artists in Paris. Its title means ''the bohemian lifestyle.'' But Bohemia isn't in France; it's in the Czech Republic. Other composers such as Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Jules Massenet, were also inspired by this part of the world, using its music and describing its beautiful countryside in their works.
Giacomo Puccini 3: Bohemian Music
Around the year 1600, Italian composers started writing theater pieces that use music all the way through them. Instead of speaking, characters in operas sing their lines. From Claudio Monteverdi, who wrote the earliest opera that is still performed, through Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini, Italy has produced some of the world's finest opera composers.
Giacomo Puccini 2: A Brief History of Italian Opera
By the time Italian composer Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858, there had already been four generations of musicians in his hometown of Lucca. Most were church musicians, but Giacomo had other ideas. When he was a teenager, he went to hear a performance of Verdi's Aida. From that moment on he knew that what he wanted to do was write operas. He did, and became one of Italy's most beloved operatic composers.
Giacomo Puccini 1: About Giacomo Puccini
The Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms were never really intended for dancing. But that doesn't mean that people in Hungary don't dance! Richard Graber, the director of a Hungarian dance company in Cleveland, talks with Naomi Lewin about Hungarian dancing.
Johannes Brahms 3: Hungarian Dancing
When he was a young pianist, Johannes Brahms accompanied a Hungarian violinist, and fell in love with Hungarian music. His own Hungarian-flavored dances were written to entertain his friends at parties. Those friends convinced Brahms to publish his dances. When the first set was a hit, Brahms wrote and published another set.
Johannes Brahms 2: The Brahms Hungarian Dances
Through the centuries, there have been exceptional female performers - on the largest stages of the world, and in smaller, more intimate settings. They include Clara Wieck Schumann, Maria Theresia von Paradies, Nadia Boulanger, Dame Myra Hess, Rebecca Clarke, Jacqueline Du Pre, Evelyn Glennie, Maria Callas, Marian Anderson, and Leontyne Price.
Women's History Month 5: Great Women Performers
A program featuring acclaimed conductor JoAnn Falletta, who talks about her early love of music, how seeing her first symphony concert inspired her to become a conductor, and all the listening and preparation that goes into being successful at her job.
Women's History Month 4: What's It Like to Be a Conductor?
There are many women composers these days, and this program introduces some of them: Caroline Shaw, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Lera Auerbach, Kaija Saariaho, Chen Yi, Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Missy Mazzoli, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Tania Leon.
Women's History Month 3: Contemporary Women Composers
Though many societies either forbade or looked down on women who wanted to be composers, many persevered. This show highlights Francesca Caccini, Elizabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, Louise Farrenc, Cecile Chaminade, Germaine Tailleferre, Hildegard von Bingen, Marianna Martines, Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach, Florence Price, and Queen Lili'oukalani.
Women's History Month 2: Women Composers of the Past


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A few years back we went snowboarding in Lake Tahoe together with Mr. VE&T, me, my brother, and his oldest son. At dinner, after a long day on the slopes, my brother and my nephew ordered "super hot" buffalo wings. I'll never forget watching them turn bright red and practically sweating as they (successfully) made their way through dinner. My poor little nephew trying to keep up with my brother!
So, when Isa recently posted a recipe for Ranch Salad with Buffalo Tempeh on the PPK blog, I knew this was my chance to finally experience the glory and horror of red-hot buffalo flavors!
Guess what, I really liked it, and Mr. VE&T loved it. He loved it so much, in fact, that I have already made it twice - at his request. It is just barely at the limits of my heat tolerance. Both times I got about 3/4 of my way through, and then relented and gave my leftovers to Mr VE&T (who was very happy). It was also my first time having Frank's Red Hot sauce, which I first read about over at The Laziest Vegans in the World. I wonder if my brother has a jar of Frank's? Either way, I think he would be pleased with my inaugural Buffalo experience!


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12 sweet ways to end your big feast. And to round out the meal, check out these 25 lovely Thanksgiving starters and sides.
An Old-Fashioned Apple Spice Cake by betteirene
Fig and Anise Clafoutis by Oui, Chef
Toasted Coconut Gelato by NicoleCLang
Rum Apple Cake by Colombedujour
Herb and White Wine Granita by robynmichellelee
Saffron Semifreddo with Cherry-Cardamom Syrup and Salted Honey-Hazelnuts by Brenna
Brown Butter and Cheddar Apple Pie by Midge
Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies by merrill
Cranberry-Molasses Pudding with Vanilla Hard Sauce by CottageGourmet
Salted Pumpkin Caramels by cheese1227


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One man travels to the Ultra Music Festival in search of meaning. He didn't always find it
The growls are indecipherable. I don't know whether to attribute this to the chemicals in this man's system or to the burly forearm around his throat. He alternates between kicking furiously and letting his body go limp in the policeman's chokehold. Eventually, the cop gets him over to a gap in the fence, where I'm assuming he planned to just throw him out and be done with it. The man does something to anger him though, and the cop throws him on the ground. He's beginning to pull the man's arms around his back to cuff him when I turn and see no fewer than six more policemen converging, walkie-talkies still in hand. Various onlookers appear too zoned out to fully process the scene. Next to me, three people continue dancing to the street-side mini-stage, not noticing the commotion. Ahead of me, a shirtless man sways and careens into a fence. This scene is one of my first things I witness at Miami's Ultra Music Festival, the premier destination in the burgeoning electronic dance music (EDM) scene. Welcome to the zeitgeist.
I originally came to Ultra because I know two young DJs, Ronnie Rose and Jon Janerich of CO/OP, who were on the bill for their first time. Ronnie convinced me to come down for the weekend; they'd get me a production pass and I could see the festival from a rarely glimpsed vantage point. EDM—a sort of catch-all term that encompasses everything from old-school house to dubstep—has, in a few decades, gone from a fringe-y culture of dark, sweaty, drug-filled nightclubs to a mainstream, sweaty, drug-filled festival circuit that can fill locations like Miami's Bayfront Park, in the shadows of cruise ships, yachts, and luxury hotels. This is the biggest thing going right now in youth culture.
It's 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, the second day of the festival, when I arrive at CO/OP's room at the Epic Hotel. I walk out to the balcony, where Ronnie is supporting his lithe frame on the railing. He's shirtless and wearing black skinny jeans. A thin chain necklace dangles from his neck. Both he and his German girlfriend, Julia, are smoking. The view from the balcony is dominated by the sharp contrast between the hyper-cerulean of the hotel's pool and the murky Floridian green of the river lurking between the high rises. The table next to Julia holds an ashtray with half a dozen stubbed out cigarettes, loose remnants of late-night room service, and a pint of Bacardi. Ronnie occasionally turns back to the latter, taking straight shots from the bottle, never chasing. He hasn't eaten today. CO/OP's first set of the festival is in a few hours, and he's trying to calm his nerves.
Jon arrives and tells Ronnie he wants to go over some of the transitions for their set. Transitions are the moments where DJs fade one song out and start bringing in the next, often manipulating effects and EQ levels in the process. They start to tinker with a moment in their set where they arrange Florence the Machine's "You've Got the Love" over an electro beat. Ricky, Ronnie's older brother and CO/OP's manager, walks in and jokes, "What, you guys just learning to DJ right now?"
They're right to be a little anxious. Ultra has blown up in tandem with EDM's ascension. It has been a Mecca for years, but 2012 is only its second year as an all-encompassing, three-day spree. Almost every notable DJ on the scene is on the bill. If not quite a victory lap, the festival does seem celebratory. Beyond the party atmosphere, there's a certain reveling in the newness of all of this, of the collective fame suddenly draped on the scene.
David Guetta became this generation's first major EDM pop star when he collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas on "I Gotta Feeling." Avicii's "Levels" soundtracked a Budweiser commercial that ran during the Super Bowl. Despite losing the "Best New Artist" category, Skrillex won three awards at the 2012 Grammys. That night, Deadmau5 performed on the same show as Paul McCartney and Foo Fighters, actually performing with the latter. Around the same time, Skrillex, Diplo, and A-Trak appeared on the cover of Billboard together. Rolling Stone profiles of Diplo and Skrillex followed.
So EDM has arrived, and Miami, long one of its hometowns, goes all out for Ultra. House and electro blast from even the most improbable places near the festival grounds—an upscale steakhouse, poolside at the Epic Hotel, from the facade of a French bistro at 1 a.m. on Saturday. On Friday night, it feels like Skrillex alone has taken over this corner of the city. As I walk to the park, the red and white lights from Skrillex's set light up the sides of buildings hundreds of yards away. The rough rumble and scrape of his music sounds like a war zone from here, distorted by the distance. Earlier in the day, I stood next to Skrillex's DJ booth set when it was still backstage. It looks like a hybrid of a Cylon helmet and a Predator mask.
Skrillex, "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites"
The first set I see is from Tommy Trash mid-afternoon on Friday at the Main Stage. I walk over with the CO/OP crew and we watch from backstage. The DJ booth is set up to accommodate multiple DJs, Ronnie explains, so that the next performer can come onstage and set up and, theoretically, one person's set can flow right into the next one, keeping the party going non-stop. Most DJs use equipment and software similar or compatible with the Pioneer CDJ-2000s that Ultra has on most stages, meaning that nearly all they have to do is show up and plug in a hard drive. Each individual set up consists of four CDJ-2000s, the digital stand-ins for turntables, all hooked up to one mir, often a 900 Nexus. The CDJ-2000s are what the songs are actually played on, and though you can manipulate a track with them, most of that comes in with the mirs, which have the EQ, effects, low, mid, hi, etc.
Most forms of dance music are built on a basic principle: build and release. DJs ratchet up tension until they transition into another song or a "drop." The latter is particularly characteristic of dubstep and electro, the branches of EDM currently dominating the mainstream and most prevalent at Ultra this year (and roughly what Tommy Trash plays). Drops occur when a song builds and builds and then evolves, quickly, into a harder, bass-heavy section. Jon stands beside me saying things like "Wait 'til this drops hard." The common DJ move is a sort of hammer-like mid-air pounding, with DJs bringing their arm down especially hard after the drop. Some then throw both arms out wide in celebration, eliciting cheers. The pre-drop outstretched arm can start to look like a preacher's hand signal. I notice there aren't any female DJs. Like, at all.
During Tommy Trash's set, I meet Arlen, a sound engineer for Skrillex and Bassnectar. Arlen has been a part of this scene for 14 years, promoting shows and working as an engineer for a variety of artists. He's seen it balloon, particularly in the last two years. I ask him about what sort of changes he's seen in the crowd. He says that "bros" are a new addition to the scene, and seem to be primarily drawn by the dubstep trend. The fact that EDM has been brought out into the mainstream, out from clubs and into parks, has also made it accessible to a younger crowd. He says some within the scene grumble about the recent crossover, but he doesn't seem to mind: The kids genuinely like the music, and that's cool.
Most importantly, Arlen alludes to the paradox of EDM that drew me here—the tension between the party and the more abstract, spiritual experience inherent to a dance show. As far back as the new psychedelia of the late '80s/early '90s rave scene, there are elements of both: the escapism of MDMA and a beat juxtaposed against the communal, the transcendental possibilities. It's an indistinct line. What parameters are used to judge whether something's escapist or transformative? Who judges?
As I talk to Arlen, two dancers join Trash onstage, standing out in front of the DJ booth and leading the crowd. (The presence of dancers becomes perpetual throughout the weekend and almost always seems superfluous. The crowd never needs help getting riled.) They look like women out of some cyber-punk artifact: miniscule black faux-leather bikinis, gaudy sunglasses, occasional edgy strap accessories, giant fake hair like a plastic blonde ridge. Also, glittery body oil.
After his set, I join Tommy Trash in his trailer and ask him about the moment that converted him from playing in Smashing Pumpkins-inspired rock bands to being an electro artist. His answer is one word: "Ecstasy." The faintest bit of nostalgia colors his smirk.
Later that night, after Tiësto's set, I'm trying to find Skrillex backstage amongst the artist trailers. I meet Adam Sellers, a long-time devotee of the EDM scene, PR guy for Above Beyond and Twelfth Planet, and personal friend of Skrillex. I get the sense that Adam has spent many years of his life defending the legitimacy of this scene he loves so much. He calls it the happiest music in the world, stressing the communal quality of it. He feels no animosity toward the new contingent of mainstream fans. He claims the drug use is "grossly exaggerated," and doesn't think EDM is escapist at all. We end our conversation with him telling me about a festival where he saw a man tear off all his clothes and start running around the barricaded walkway in front of a stage. It took the police tasing the man three times to make him finally fall, at which point three cops jumped onto his collapsed, hairy form.
Thanks to my production pass, I'm able to interview Steve Aoki as we drive around the backstage grounds on one of the artist-transport carts. He talks about how the scene's taking off.
"2012 is a really exciting time in dance music," Aoki says. "We're like a four-year-old child. And everybody's excited to see our cute little faces and fucking play with our hair and shit. In Europe, it's decades of electronic music being popular. You play festivals there and there's fucking moms pushing strollers with their kids."
Aoki does seem to harbor some ambivalence about EDM's growth.
"The dance scene obviously has gained attention because, well, you're here," he says. "We're gaining people's attention. But we're always going to be an underground music media form because we're based on the music rather than the vocals. For radio, for pop music, it's about the voice. We're building ourselves around the music. It's an experiential form of music. You have to experience it to understand it. I saw Daft Punk for the first time and it was fucking life-changing even though I was already a dance guy. I was once again reinvented. It gave me something that nothing else in life could give me and it was all samples and music."
There are a few ways you can lose yourself at Ultra. Festivals have that quality—the temporary mid with recurrence. Not one but several massive stages with incredibly expensive and intricate light systems. They're great at creating a world where you forget that outside world exists. Like really forget, like every now and then you need to look up at a building to be reminded "Oh, yeah, I'm in Miami, bitch." (As hundreds of shirts proclaim over the weekend). Then, after it's over, it all starts to feel sort of dream-like, as if three days spent so intensely amongst a few people in such a specialized realm could only have been some collective hallucination.
Of course, the music and the drugs are major escapes, as they have been in other contexts for years. But Ultra and other EDM festivals operate on a different level. For one thing, you can see it in the eyes. It doesn't matter who tells you that tales of drug use are exaggerated. Some people here are flat-out gone.
Then there's the costumes. The rave girl aesthetic is alive and well: nothing but a bikini, sometimes colored hair or accessories like fairy wings, always some sort of knee-high stocking—often furry, usually neon. American Indian headdresses are big. Plastic pacifiers that light up. One guy has a Styrofoam hat made to look like a white alligator head. Another has a strange plastic staff sticking out of his backpack, with a snake's head on top. Beyond entering the festival world removed from the real world, festivalgoers adopt temporary personas to escape.
These are really the bells and whistles, though. The primary difference with the escapist potential of EDM music vs. your typical festival has to do with the basic structures of EDM music. By its very nature—the fact that it's designed to dance to rather than to be performed, per se—EDM is repetitive. It builds, releases, but that release doesn't necessarily signify alteration or progression. More often than not, the same four-on-the-floor pulse throbs underneath everything. Even sober, it draws you in and before you know it, 30 minutes have passed.
It's music to lose yourself in. But I'm not sure what you're left with when it's over. There hasn't been a message, a cathartic release over the course of an hour-long set. I look around me each night, everyone's wasted, or rolling, or whatever, and fixated on the stage, fist-pumping steadily. People don't seem to be dancing with each other. There's not exactly a moment that stands out over another. People cheer on cue, whenever that drop hits. You're just lost.
It's a bizarre tension between community and isolation, escaping yourself and escaping into yourself. On the first night, Tiësto's graphics tell the story. Surrounded by hundreds of square feet of LED screens hung around the stage, Tiësto is a tiny man spot-lit on a massive stage. The screens turned into massive, green, ghostly crowd shots. They are misty, spectral, and here is Tiësto, the individual surrounded by the blurry exterior of that indistinct community around him.
Moments like these push me into the camp that sees the scene as, well, hedonistic. Nobody I talk to this weekend outright says that, necessarily. People allude to the general increase in the prominence of a party atmosphere. With the frat crowd comes more people who want to get out of their minds. People care less about the music than they used to, and the popular strands of EDM trade on a structure that indulges that desire. Nobody asks why. Nobody wonders what particular cultural or societal condition could be behind the wildfire popularity of a music scene that can so easily be construed escapist and not much else. And why would they? This is the party.
I have a theory, one that subliminally informs basically every conversation I've had with a DJ or fan at Ultra. EDM getting so big with Millennials says something about the conditions of the generation. There's a perverse pressure on them. On one hand, we've been raised with the notion that we are the generation that can change things. We're progressive, modern. We've grown up in tandem with the digital revolution and will make great strides with the technology at our fingertips.
And yet, with all this, we have a set of problems to inherit that seem to be ever growing and ever more severe. Political gridlock and inefficacy. Precarious economy. Lack of jobs as the cost of education reaches ludicrous levels. Climate change. Global political fallout from decades of decolonization and, on our part, bullying. Nobody I know who grew up in the '90s was raised to expect any of that.
Few are conscious of this, but it's there, it's embedded. There's a sensation of paralysis, of great unease about the future in most people I know my age. So the sudden rise of a scene where you can chase oblivion makes sense. The moment where our collective inertia may have elevated a form of music not for its merits (which exist), but for the fact that it can represent what we really want: an exit door with strobe borders, a rabbit hole lined in lasers. I'm talking about the moment where the attraction of EDM becomes precisely those three days where you can so fully enmesh yourself in the music that you go beyond the point of thinking or caring about what you might be escaping from. Not catharsis. Erasure.
It's Saturday, day two. I interview Lorin Ashton, who performs as Bassnectar. Lorin is perhaps the most unlikely of the DJs I talk to at Ultra. After growing up in a hippie commune, he got into death metal, punk, and grunge (and still looks it, with metal-god hair down to his lower back). He never got too into drugs and assumed he'd wind up a guidance counselor or teacher. MMA fighters intrigue him because of "how their minds work philosophically." He's exceedingly friendly and open, eager to share thoughts on the scene; he actually gives me his personal e-mail address for follow-up questions when we run out of time.
For Lorin, the EDM scene is all about the communal possibilities. He's interested in the "anthropological study of community" and underground music events. "The rave was the first social experience of my life where I didn't feel any type of physical danger," he says.
To him, the explosion of EDM is a positive motion, a catharsis in and of itself. Via email, he writes that he views it as a movement in which youth culture is rejecting "the paradigm it's been offered and [is] claim[ing] something new and raw and unique as their own...There has been an almost unanimous acceptance that while we still want our music 'live' and 'loud' we want it as big, thick, heavy, extreme, and rich as possible."
Given the aggressive nature of both his old band From First to Last and Skrillex, I expected Sonny Moore aka Skrillex to be, well, edgier. Truth is, he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. He's diminutive, probably no more than 5'6, with a slight build. During his shows, a giant virtual avatar, a robot figure, on the screen behind him mimics his moves.
Moore seems more gracious than you might expect of a 24-year-old overnight sensation. In a few years, he's gone from crashing on friends' couches to one of EDM's crossover stars. Meteoric rise or not, Moore has put in his time as the starving artist. I ask him if he feels any pressure as a representative of the scene to the rest of the world because of the Grammys, the Billboard cover, the Rolling Stone profile, etc.
"I don't think about the mainstream," he says. "Actually, I feel less pressure now. Now I have a lot of freedom."
What does he attributes the scene's growth to?
"I really have no idea, man," he says, casually. "And I don't think anyone should really be trying to figure it out."
Predictably, Madonna's guest appearance at the beginning of Avicii's set causes a lot of trouble backstage. Suddenly, random passages are forbidden, and there's no access allowed to the stage. One manager tells me that an entire patch behind one corner of the main stage, populated by port-a-johns and construction machinery, was set aside so Madonna could practice singing. (None of us believe she actually did any singing onstage.) After being routed around and refused entry at several points on the festival grounds—despite being armed with both production passes and VIP badges—the boys from CO/OP and I find ourselves on the VIP decks overlooking the crowd and Main Stage.
Avicii, "Levels"
The Heineken VIP deck is under a giant white tent and populated with white vinyl couches. There are tall tables dotting the deck, and each couch is accompanied by a coffee table. They're all metal with plastic insets that glow green from within. The bar, situated in the center of the deck, is constructed in the same way. Someone keeps blowing a whistle for no apparent reason, woefully out of time with the music. The floor is slick with spilled alcohol. As Avicii's set nears conclusion—climaxing and ending with his infectious "Levels"—I spy two members of the cleaning crew fixing themselves whiskey and cokes at the bar. This is how the second day ends. All of us are too worn out from the pre-set madness of Madonna's impending arrival to care much about Avicii's set.
Ashley is a 20-year-old photographer just as native to EDM as she is to Miami. She's been coming to Ultra since her mid-teens, and consequently tempers her affection with a sober and realistic view of the festival and its attendees. Also, she's gorgeous. It's an easy decision to follow her around for half the festival.
I first meet her backstage at M83's truncated Saturday set. She's here working for Ultra in some capacity, but also for the University of Miami's primarily EDM station, WVUM. The next day, I decide to take in some random daytime shows. I'm on the scaffolding overlooking the Main Stage when Ashley shows up. Those dancers are out again. The crowd still doesn't need any encouragement, and those dancers still have that weird fake hair on.
Over the course of the day, I walk around with Ashley on and off. Based on what she hears while working at WVUM, she thinks the disco-house of Duck Sauce is indicative of what might be next for the scene. She too has noticed the lack of female DJs, but doesn't seem bothered. According to her, the drug use was more extreme when she first started going to Ultra. She saw crack and heroin. But she says the partying is more widespread now, a more ingrained and prevalent characteristic of the scene. She attributes this to the younger contingent, the high school and college kids who just want to get wasted. I never ask her about her own experience, or lack thereof, with drugs.
Ashley and I go to see Flying Lotus at the amphitheater stage, which is unusual at Ultra for the fact that it's at the base of a moderately sized seating area. Lorin (of Bassnectar) is backstage for Fly Lo's set and confesses he's worried about playing there later that night. "We've destroyed places with seats before..." he trails off.
The counter-argument to this hedonistic weekend, and the scene in general, is Flying Lotus. A self-admitted outsider, Steven Ellison takes the "album as an album" experience more seriously than most. His set draws on hip-hop, free jazz, tribal rhythms, and a variety of EDM approaches, with surprises like Portishead's "Machine Gun" and Radiohead's "Idioteque." His shows are closer to concerts than dances, light-years away from the sets by DJs like Tiësto or Guetta.
If the unrelenting throb of electro somehow reflects and provides escape from the paralysis, Ellison's music does the opposite. Skittering, off-kilter rhythmic shifts, bleeps and bloops that have more in common with a frenetic sax solo, strings, albums that are classical in their song cycle format. This is the small pocket of EDM, the fringe where it becomes spiritual. Ellison's music utilizes the push and pull of strange rhythms and sounds to build towards catharses and unforeseen resolutions. This is EDM that can take you on a journey.
Flying Lotus, "Galaxy in Janaki"
Ellison is not aloof or strange. He seems humble. After his set, Ashley and I follow him and his entourage into his trailer to talk. He's casual; he asks me if I'm doing this story "in a Hunter S. Thompson way." He cracks up when he finds out I'm from Scranton, Pennsylvania. His friend jokes about someone telling them how in Miami "We smoke weed out of receipts!" Ellison dreams of what he could do with his live show if he was big enough to tour stadiums, the sort of light show he could put to his music. He talks about how free jazz and improvisation have always been in his life.
"Especially with [his 2010 album] Cosmogramma, man, I was really moved by my aunt's [Alice Coltrane] work then, when my mom passed away. I was really, like, taking in the family music a lot," he says. "I heard the Lord of Lords album she did and I was like 'I want my shit to be like that.'"
Ellison, citing metaphysics, dreams, and lucidity as inspiration, hopes to continue pursuing that same goal with his forthcoming album, Until the Quiet Comes.
"I wanted my shit to be forever. Not just a trend, a sound."
Sunday draws to a close with a series of heavy-hitters on the Main Stage, with Guetta and Armin Van Buuren bringing the whole thing down. Tonight's more unhinged than the first night with Tiësto, certainly more than the security-stifled night when Madonna joined Avicii for all of five minutes. Fans are jumping the wall and dancing in the walkway. There are tons of Ultra staff members, but they're far more preoccupied handing out glow sticks and big glow tubes to audience members. They walk up and down with giant cardboard bos, tossing them into cresting waves of hands. Ricky and I run up and down the walkway, ducking under what feels like a firefight as fans throw the incandescent tubes back and forth across the center aisle. Up here, the bass is unbelievably powerful. It feels like it takes over your entire body, becomes one with your head and gut, restructures you molecularly. Something's different tonight.
During Guetta's set, there's a woman sitting on the wall separating the crowd from the center walkway. She asks me what short people are supposed to do at concerts and who I write for. I tell her, and she looks back towards the stage with a smile that's hard to read. She starts telling me how she's spent the last several years in South America, and finds the EDM scene here in America uncomfortable ever since moving back late last year.
"Because nobody cares about the music! It's all about the drugs."
In the background, Guetta proclaims "This is the biggest party in the world!"
"And it wasn't like that in South America?"
She purses her lips, looks at me like I've suddenly shape-shifted into Deadmau5 before her, and shakes her head near-comically.
"No, no. There are like, no drugs there. Here, though. It's just about getting fucked up now."
As if on cue, her male friend lurches back and starts trying to talk to her half upside-down, half over his shoulder. He looks like the bro contingent that's relatively new to the scene. His eyes are looking out to something past us and he repeatedly asks for water. He keeps smiling, though. She gives me a "See what I told you?" meets "Well, what can you do" sort of look and follows her friends to get some refreshments in the downtime between sets.
Something's different tonight. When you're actually out in it, under the array of lights, feeling the pyrotechnics shoot up from the top of the stage a hundred yards away, surrounded on both sides by a parted sea of thousands of people losing their shit—this is where, for a moment, I'm unable to keep thinking about this as escapist. What's happening here? Nothing's changed ostensibly; everyone still has that wasted fixation on the stage, everyone's still diving deeper into that oblivion.
I came to Ultra with prejudices, judgments. But I want to think the explosion of EDM is representative of something positive. I want to think that the mass enthusiasm is one of catharsis, not escapism. I want to think that people are seeking release and transformation, not oblivion. But the line between escape-as-therapy and escape-as-oblivion is tricky. I still have my doubts, but I want to think that the EDM scene isn't just a symptom of a generational malaise or paralysis, that it could actually be transformative. I want to think that it isn't just another rabbit hole to lose ourselves in.


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City of Lincoln
Mayor's Office
2009 Media Releases
Mayor Chris Beutler today encouraged Lincoln residents to voluntarily conserve outdoor water this summer by following the designated day schedule for outdoor watering.
"From a precipitation standpoint, we are in fair shape as we begin the season," said Mayor Beutler. "We are currently about four inches below normal precipitation for this point in the year, and temperatures have been slightly below normal. The aquifer is full, and river flows are slightly above normal. At the same time, we need to remember that conditions in other parts of the state impact our water supply. Many areas in Nebraska need more good rains."
Because summer weather is unpredictable, Beutler said it's important to practice water conservation all summer. The City instituted the designated day schedule six years ago.
Jerry Obrist, LWS Utilities Coordinator, said the use of designated days helps to level the daily usage of water throughout the week. He also said the City's water fees are structured to encourage conservation. The more water you use, the higher the rate. The price is $1.16 per unit for the first eight units (about 6,000 gallons). The price increases to $1.65 per unit for the next 15 units (11,250 gallons). It increases again to $2.56 per unit for every 750 gallons above 15 units.
A complete description of water rates and the City's Water Management Plan are available on the City Web site, lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: water).
In addition to following the designated day system, the Mayor's Water Conservation Task Force recommends that citizens:
More information on water conservation is available on the City Web site at lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: conserve).


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I love conspiracy theories and as some of you know I have been doing lectures on "The great Google conspiracy theory". How Google is collecting information for thought control and now that they have started collecting DNA data and adding that to a growing portfolio of user information. Here is a great Reuters / NYT interview with Google's Chief Executive, Eric Schmidt on " Good, Evil And Monopoly Fears".
"We don't have an 'Evilmeter' we can sort of apply — you know — what is good and what is evil,"
Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Google
Then there are the "Big Brother Triblets", Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!
Below is a link to a video from YouTube on how Google is doing things and where they are going.
Remember that this is just for fun, or is it ;-)


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DAYTON, Ohio (Dec. 1, 2010) -- As it begins the long journey home, the ETSU men's basketball will start a month-long, eight-game road swing Wednesday evening as the Buccaneers take on Atlantic 10 Conference foe Dayton. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
The Bucs (2-2), who have played inside the UD Arena twice over the past two seasons, will look to extend their current two-game winning streak. In their previous two trips to Dayton, the Bucs have played well, but have twice come out on the losing end -- falling 78-74 to the Flyers during the 2007-08 regular season opener and then losing a hard-fought, 10-point affair to No. 1 seed Pittsburgh in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
For more on Wednesday's matchup, click on the game notes link above or read the game notes below. For more on ETSU men's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's hoops link.
We are "ETSU"
The ETSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics would like to ask both the print and broadcast media to honor our request to be called "ETSU" ... East Tennessee State in first reference is acceptable, but subsequent references should be ETSU ... On TV graphics please use ETSU ... Our nickname is the Buccaneers, but Bucs is also acceptable.
Buc bits
The ETSU men's basketball team only added to its rich history of success during the 2009-10 season, capturing its second straight Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and earning the program's ninth trip all-time to the NCAA Tournament ... Posting the program's fourth 20-win season in the past seven years, the Bucs overcame multiple challenges during the season before dropping Mercer in the A-Sun finals ... The Bucs were led by a team of "role" players that included forward Tommy Hubbard (Boston), guard Justin Tubbs (Trussville, Ala.), guard Micah Williams (Manchester), guard Adam Sollazzo (Tampa, Fla.), post Isiah Brown (Miami, Fla.), and post J.C. Ward (Marietta, Ga.) ... Hubbard finished the year as a second team All ASun player after leading the Bucs in both scoring (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (8.2 rpg), and was named to the league's All-Tournament squad ... Meanwhile, Williams finished the year on a tear, scoring in double figures in 11 straight games, including a 32-point effort against Campbell en route to being named the A-Sun Tournament MVP ... Only losing senior guard Jocolby Davis off the roster from 2009-10, the Bucs will add Smith back to the mix after receiving a medical redshirt a year ago, and a trio of incoming recruits will also add to the talent pool ... For those reasons, there is certainly reason to be excited and expectations will be high.
The series versus Dayton
ETSU and Dayton have only met once despite long and storied histories ... The Flyers bested the Bucs in that last meeting, which occured just three years ago in the season opener for both teams during the 2007-08 campaign ... ETSU lost that game, 78-74.
Last time out against Dayton
DAYTON, Ohio (Nov. 10, 2007) - ETSU junior guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) scored a team high 30 points, but a late first half rally by Dayton and some lost possessions midway through the second half cost the Buccaneers as the Atlantic 10 Conference's Flyers protected their home court in a hard-fought 78-74 win over ETSU in the season opener for both schools Saturday afternoon at UD Arena ... The Bucs held a lead of as many as nine points midway through the second half, but 14 first half fouls by ETSU helped Dayton stay close early on and the Flyers 43-31 advantage on the boards - particularly a 17-10 edge on the offensive glass - were too much for the Bucs to overcome. ... In the first half, the Bucs rode Pigram's hot shooting to a lead of as many as nine points with 10 minutes left before the break, as the junior guard scored 20 first-half points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a 3-of-4 clip from beyond the line. ... As a team, ETSU would hit on 50 percent of its shots from the field and an impressive 47 percent from beyond the 3-point line in the first 20 minutes, helping to give them the advantage throughout the first half. However, the Flyers managed to stay right with the Bucs thanks to ETSU's 14 team fouls and an 11-of-17 clip from the foul line, as the Bucs held a 41-40 advantage at the break. ... In the second half, both teams traded the lead throughout, with Dayton finally taking their largest lead of the contest at 69-64 with 3:08 remaining in the game thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Flyers' senior guard Brian Roberts. Roberts, who finished with a game-high 31 points, helped put the game away in the final minutes with three foul shots as well, but the Bucs still made things interesting thanks to a long 3-pointer by Pigram with 13 seconds left to make it 74-72. ... After a couple of foul shots by the Roberts, junior transfer Jocolby Davis (Meridian, Miss.) hit a lay up to make it 76-74, but with two seconds left Dayton in-bounded a long pass to forward Chris Wright who hit a lay up to end the game.... While no other ETSU player reached double figures on the night, Roberts was joined by teammates Wright and Marcus Johnson, who scored 22 and 11 points, respectively. As a team, the Bucs hit on 45 percent of their shots, including a 41 percent clip from 3-point range. However, the Flyers matched those numbers with 47 percent from the floor and 46 percent from outside the arc. ... An encouraging statistic for the Bucs was just 12 turnovers on the night.
Last time out
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 27, 2010) - Scoring 61 first-half points, the ETSU men's basketball team's early offensive barrage was simply too much for NAIA Division II opponent Milligan College, as the Buccaneers rolled to a 103-55 trouncing of the Buffaloes Saturday afternoon inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center. ... With the win, the Bucs improved to 2-2 on the year as they prepare for an eight-game road trip that will take them away from Johnson City for over a month. ... The Bucs got a double-double effort from junior Curtis Wilkinson (Bude, Miss.), as the 6-foot-8 forward finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, senior guard Micah Williams (Manchester) had a team-high 17 points to go along with four steals, while junior forward Isiah Brown (Miami, Fla.) netted 16, senior guard Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.) pitched in 13, and senior guard Justin Tubbs (Trussville, Ala.) added 11. ... Junior Adam Sollazzo (Tampa, Fla.) also had a strong night at the point, dishing out a career high 10 assists. As a team, the Bucs enjoyed some efficiency on the offensive end that resulted in 25 assists on 38 made baskets. ... In the first half, the Bucs never let the Buffs even think about an upset. Hitting on 69 percent of their shots from the floor, 50 percent from 3-point range, and 79 percent from the foul line, ETSU built an early 10-2 lead and never looked back. ... In all, the first half ended with Milligan giving up eight turnovers on five ETSU steals, and the Buffs shot just 23 percent from the floor - 18 percent from 3-point range. ... The second half was a little better for the Buffs, as they were only outscored 42-38. However, at that point the Bucs were simply on cruise control. ... Milligan got a game-high 18 points from Hudson Fricke. ... As a team, the Bucs finished shooting 61 percent from the floor, 47 percent from 3-point range, and 70 percent from the line. They out-rebounded the Buffs 41-31, and held Milligan to just 30 percent shooting from the floor. ... In the paint, ETSU outscored Milligan 54-14, and enjoyed a 40-21 edge in bench scoring.
Plans, trains and automobiles await Bucs
After Saturday's game with Milligan, the Bucs will head on the road for the next month, playing a total of eight games away from the ETSU/MSHA Atheltic Center ... Trips to Dayton, Ohio, Charleston, S.C., Starkville, Miss., Oxford, Miss., and Cancun, Mexico await ... In all, the Bucs will travlel 3,776 miles by bus and 1,906 miles by plane during this time ... In total, it will amount to 5,682 miles and 67 hours/33 minutes of travel time.
ETSU duo chasing 1,000-point mark
While senior Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.) is already a member of the 1,000-point club, two other seniors have outside shots at making it to the group:
Name Current Points
Tommy Hubbard 567
Micah Williams 727
With those point totals, Hubbard would have to average just over 14 points a game this season to reach 1,000, while Williams would need to average 10 points a game to reach the mark.
Defense shines despite offensive woes
While much has been made of the Bucs poor offensive effort against Murray State, the squad's defensive effort was superb and encouraging ... Utilizing a new 3-2 zone, the Bucs held Murray State to just 50 points, which is the second time this "calendar" year the Bucs have held a team to less than 50 -- the last time coming Feb. 25, 2010 at North Florida (61-46) ... The Bucs are currently allowing 66 points per game in three contests, which includes allowing just 60 points against Tennessee Tech ... Against the Racers, the Bucs also forced 16 turnovers, out-rebounded Murray State 39-30, and held them to 37.8 percent shooting.
Home Sweet Dome
Since the 1996-97 season, the Buccaneers are an amazing 141-45 inside Memorial Center, good for a winning percentage of 77 percent ... The Bucs had won five straight at Memorial Center during the 2006-07 season before a loss to Belmont (1/2) ... The Bucs then rattled off 10 straight at home to stand at 15-1 on the Memorial Center floor that season, but fell to Belmont in the championship of the A-Sun Tourney... In 2007-08, the Bucs were 11-2 at Memorial Center ... In 2008-09, the Bucs were again 11-2 at home, and last year the team was 9-5 at the Dome.
Bucs counting on
"experience edge"
If the Bucs will be looking for any edge this season, they will find it in the experience department ... All told, the Bucs have 33 years of previous college experience on its 15-man roster, a group that includes players with multiple years of experience like three fifth-year seniors (Mike Smith, Micah Williams and Justin Tubbs), and a fourth-year junior (Isiah Brown).
Smith happy to be back on the floor with Bucs
One year ago, the Bucs were forced to play all put four games without the services of guard Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.) due to an injury � However, Smith is back and brings his 1,221 career points with him � Without Smith, the Bucs struggled to score points last season (69.3 points per game) and relied heavily on its defensive efforts to win games � This year, the Bucs hope to continue to hold team's down offensively, while returning to their normal "high scoring" ways ... In his return game against Kentucky, Smith netted 15 points, and he recently followed up that performance with a career high 26 points against Tennessee Tech
Sollazzo continues number change in honor of Coy
When ETSU's rising sophomore forward Seth Coy (Montgomery, Ind.) was tragically killed in a car accident during the summer of 2009, it left the entire Buccaneer community with a deep sense of loss ... As is often the case, those that are left to mourn have looked for ways to remember the Bucs' 6-foot-11 "Gentle Giant." ... For junior guard Adam Sollazzo (Tampa), who was Coy's roommate, the answer was simple ... Changing his jersey number from No. 20 to Coy's No. 43, Sollazzo will played the 2009-10 season in honor of his friend ... In addition, the Bucs were a special "43" batch on their uniforms this season in honor of their fallen friend and teammate � Sollazzo and the team have chosen to continue to honor Coy in this manner this season.
ETSU the "only" A-Sun team picked among nation's
best "Prestige" programs
Since the beginning of the modern era for NCAA Division I-A basketball - marked by the expansion of the NCAA Tournament field to 64 teams in 1984-85 - the ETSU men's basketball program ranks in the Top 30 percent of the 300 programs that were eligible for the postseason at that time, this according to ESPN.com's "Prestige" ranking released back in 2008 ... Since that time, the Bucs have only added to their list of prestigious honors � The Buccaneers, who have enjoyed eight NCAA Tournament trips, one NIT berth, nine 20-win seasons, and a slew of conference regular season and tournament championships since 1984-85, ranked tied for 82nd out of 300 teams, meaning they were in the Top 27 percent of schools making the list. ETSU was ranked ahead of every current Atlantic Sun Conference team, as well as former Southern Conference rivals Appalachian State, Western Carolina, Georgia Southern and UNC Greensboro. The Bucs also were placed ahead of every current member of the Colonial Athletic Association with the exception of Old Dominion ... In addition, the Bucs ranked ahead of SEC schools such as Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Georgia, Mississippi and Auburn, as well as other major programs such as Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, DePaul, Bradley, Clemson, California and Florida State.


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Word of the Day
pilcrow PIL-kroh noun; a paragraph mark. � Dictionary.com
Website of the Day
Apostrophe Catastrophes
The tagline says it all: The Worlds� Worst. Punctuation;
Number to Know
1:59 2/5: Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, a still standing record.
This Day in History
May 5, 1934: The first Three Stooges short, �Woman Haters,� is released.
Today�s Featured Birthday
Vincent Kartheiser, American actor, 35
Daily Quote
�Growing up, I missed the whole �Three Stooges� thing. Either they weren�t on the station in my hometown, or we hadn�t bought a TV set yet, or they came to town too late for me. I�m pretty sure that at the right age, I would have loved them.� � Roger Ebert
Morning Minutes, May 5
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Using the statistics program Match Analysis, we study four games to see how shape and organization have improved along the Revolution's backline
Special thanks to our friends at Match Analysis for the graphs and statistics used in the following feature.
I've spoken at length in recent weeks about the Revolution's defensive turnaround. It tends to spark an interest when a team goes from conceding five goals in one game (July 2 vs. Real Salt Lake) to conceding just two goals in its next seven games in all competitions. Clearly, there's something a little different going on along the Revs' backline, and I was interested in finding out exactly what ignited the change.
I wrote a feature back in late July about communication between the defenders and goalkeeper Matt Reis, and how that was the key factor in the Revolution's stinginess in the defensive third of the field. Based on my conversations with the players, I still stand by that assessment, but two particular phrases which continued to come up in the quotes led me to investigate a little further.
Those recurring quotes were "keeping our shape," and "putting ourselves in better spots."
Whether I was talking to Cory Gibbs, Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston, Chris Tierney or Seth Sinovic, the message was always the same. It seemed like the point of all this communication was to help the Revs "keep their shape" and "put themselves in better spots."
Now, for soccer fans, this is easy enough to understand. The backline was more organized and therefore was harder to break down. Hence, fewer goals conceded. Done and dusted.
But, of course, it's not really my job to just leave it at that – especially when I've got access to the fantastic Match Analysis program which breaks down games into an endless stream of statistical categories. So if you're not a fan of stats and numbers – or if you simply prefer to analyze the game from a more subjective point of view – you can probably stop reading now. But if you're intrigued, I found some telling data which I think shines a bit of light on how "keeping their shape" has helped the Revs tighten up defensively.
Above are two graphs showing the number of touches central defender Darrius Barnes had in each region of the field for a pair of games earlier this season. The graph on the left represents the 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids on April 24, while the graph on the right represents the 4-0 loss to Chivas USA on May 5.
As you can see in the graph on the left (April 24 vs. Colorado), Barnes covered the entire defensive half of the field in the 2-1 loss to the Rapids. More than 30 percent of his touches were in the wide areas, which is generally unusual for a center back. You'll notice an even more widespread distribution of touches in the graph on the right (May 5 vs. Chivas USA) – almost 50 percent of Barnes' touches were in the wide areas, while almost 30 percent were in the attacking half of the field. (Full disclosure here: The Revs played a man down for a large portion of the 4-0 loss to Chivas USA on May 5, which would obviously have some effect on Barnes' positioning. Still, the point remains the same).
So what do these graphs tell us? From my perspective, the fact that Barnes' touches were spread out all over the field tells me the Revs weren't keeping their defensive shape. Unsurprisingly, these two graphs represent a pair of losses in which the Revs conceded six total goals.
For comparison, let's take a look at the same graphs from the Revolution's last two games, in which the club earned one win and one draw.
Once again, these are the graphs showing Barnes' touches in the last two games. The graph on the left represents the 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union on July 31, while the graph on the right represents the 1-0 win over D.C. United on Aug. 7.
Against Philadelphia, Barnes never touched the ball in the attacking half of the field and more than 75 percent of his touches were central – he had just five touches in the entire game outside the central defensive region. The pattern is similar in the D.C. match, as Barnes had just two touches in the attacking half of the field (one of which was a throw-in). Once again, almost 75 percent of his touches were central. When he did go outside, it was always to the right to support the defender on his side of the field, as he never touched the ball in the left channel.
For me, these comparative graphs show us the influence both organization and defensive shape have had on the Revolution's recent turnaround. In the two games in which Barnes often roamed out of his central position – a.k.a. the games in which New England was less organized – the Revs conceded six goals. In the two games in which Barnes largely remained central – a.k.a. the games in which New England had improved defensive shape – the Revs conceded just one goal.
Whatever you want to call it (organization, shape, picking up the right spots), it's clearly had an effect on the defensive side of the ball.


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These are troubled times in this majestic land, but there is one problem in our great nation which stands out above all others.
These are troubled times in this majestic land, but there is one problem in our great nation which stands out above all others.
�Voter fraud, do we know how big of a problem it is?� asked one inquisitive Fox News anchor recently.
I�m going to guess it�s bigger than ringworm, but less than Bieber fever. Actually, I didn�t realize we have a voter fraud problem in this country. Yes, conservatives and their media division, Fox News, are up in arms over voter fraud, and this year � almost entirely in swing states with Republican-controlled legislatures � they are doing something about it.
States are spending millions of dollars to combat voter fraud through strategies like purging voter rolls and requiring photo IDs even though a study by a group that supports these laws, the National Republican Lawyers Association � which by the way, if you ever just want to smoke some cigars and play some golf with some real douchebags, they�re your guys � found it�s not as big an issue as you would think.
�The national association of Republican lawyers found 340 cases of voter fraud over a 10-year period in all of America,� CNN reported.
Oh my gosh! That�s almost .7 cases per state per year. It also includes registration fraud like registering the wrong address or writing Mickey Mouse on a petition, which photo IDs would not address.
Even Pennsylvania, which is defending its voter photo ID law, said this: �The parties are not aware of any incidents of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania � There is no evidence that in-person voter fraud is likely to occur in November 2012 in the absence of the photo ID law.�
I rest my case, your honor. It doesn�t happen. This won�t stop it. I think you can see why we have to do it now. Next case: leash laws for unicorns.
It�s odd that Republicans are throwing money at this problem that doesn�t seem to have any evidence behind it. I can think of another issue that has a larger body of scientific work behind it that they are somewhat reluctant to tackle.
�We don�t know what is causing climate change on this planet, and the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is not the right course for us,� Mitt Romney said.
So who does requiring photo IDs affect?
�It will specifically target minorities, the poor, elderly, students,� MSNBC reported.
Finally the free ride for this country�s minorities, poor, elderly and students is over. No more living on Easy Street for people who already live on Skid Row. The only thing more blatant would be if you had some Republican state representative from Pennsylvania touting how voter ID laws would hand the presidential election to Republicans.
�Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done,� said Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny.
Nobody is videotaping this, right? Because if so, I�m going to look like an asshole.