employment guide 2014

2 September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsKatz Resignation..............................................3Student Bloggers.............................................3Casual Fridays.....................................................4Caruso Column.................................................4Football Preview...............................................5Volleyball Preview............................................5Employment Guide: Horror Stories..........6Employment Guide: GPA...................................7

Employment Guide: Self-Employed...............8Employment Guide: Brown Column...........10Employment Guide: Craig Column.............12Employment Guide: Joe Prince-Wright....16Employment Guide: Elvin Soto....................16Employment Guide: Filmmakers...................17Employment Guide: Artists...........................19Employment Guide: Laskas Interview........20

3September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

NEWS

When Aditya Thawardas began reading Tal-kAndroid, he didn’t think he would become one of its writers. But since April 2013, Tha-wardas has been writing for the blog, which focuses on the Android operating system and phone market.

“It’s not like a normal job where you go in and have hours,” Thawardas said. “It only takes about 15 minutes per article. That averages out to about three articles a day, which isn’t hard at all. It’s a good way to make money.”

Thawardas isn’t the only one to take ad-vantage of the blogosphere to punch in and earn some extra cash. According to a 2012 study by Nielsen Holdings N.V., an Ameri-can global information and measurement company, blogging is increasingly popular. The report found more than 6.7 million people around the world publish blogs, and another 12 million write blogs using their social networks. Of the bloggers, roughly half are part of the 18-34 age demographic.

Bloggers are also well-educated, the study said. Seven of 10 bloggers have gone to college, a majority of whom are gradu-ates.

Before writing for TalkAndroid, Tha-wardas, a junior marketing and fi nance

major, was a fan. He later submitted an application and writing samples, and joined the sta! two weeks later.

To get paid, Thawardas is responsible for writing and publishing an average of 17 articles per week, each roughly 200-300 words in length — his pay each month di! ers depending on the uniqueness of his articles.

“Normal articles [that] I write are just summarizing news content,” Thawardas said. “But the unique ones can be a list, like ‘top ten apps for the football season’ or something like that. They [pay] more for those. They get more hits.”

Talk Android currently has nine writers who sign up for stories through a Google Doc set up by the site’s editor-in-chief.

Thawardas said the blog gives writers a base pay between $200-300 each month. On top of that, if a writer chooses to write a “unique” article, the writer is compen-sated with $50 for each of the fi rst two in the month, and $100 for each additional “unique” articles thereafter.

Getting paid isn’t dependant on how many hours he works but by how many online posts he can produce in a period of time. Thawardas said that, while his job is unusual, it’s a good way to earn extra cash.

Thawardas is lucky to write for an estab-lished site — for blogger Robert Ward, a

junior majoring in mechanical engineering, money can be harder to come by.

Ward writes for the science section on Inside the Athletic Grind , a sports blog which launched this year.

“The science [section] is really more informative,” Ward said. “Like, how much water you should be drinking a day [or] if you have a game at 9 p.m., you should be carb loading from 8 to 12. Stu! like that.”

The site’s Twitter account has more than 3,200 followers but, because the blog is young, Ward said it’s a ways away from be-ing able to pay its writers.

The blog has sponsorships and joint ven-tures with some companies, but the deals are still in their beginning stages.

“The money we’ve made so far just goes back into the site, but we don’t have enough to pay each one of our writers,” Ward said.

To pay its writers, Ward said the site would have to have advertisers that could be relied upon on a monthly basis.

According to Ward, while he is solely listed as a writer on the site, because he knows how to code, he has to deal with the overall management of the site as well.

“We haven’t had anyone advertise on our site yet. We’ve had o! ers, but they’re o! ers from companies that have nothing to do with sports,” Ward said. “We kind of want to stick to the sports side of it and

not have just some random advertisements on our site.

Despite the blog’s current inability to earn money for its writers, Ward said blog-ging has more than just cash benefi ts.

“If you just wanted to blog, you could set it up through your Gmail,” Ward said. “And, in terms of how it could benefi t you — I think it’s a lot better to have an actual URL to your name rather than just a Facebook page. It shows you have a little more value.”

While anyone could potentially start independently blogging, Pitt writing pro-fessor Katie Booth worries about the less formalized level of journalism that blog-ging attracts .

“I think there’s a move away from tra-ditional journalism, away from traditional interviewing and research and hard stu! , like actual observation, and towards com-mentary. And that’s alarming,” Booth said. “I think commentary without work is lazy.”

But Booth does acknowledge the po-tential benefi ts that blogging can have in the future job market, like how blogging allows writers to defy traditional genres of writing, and pre-approve an audience for particular works.

“I think blogging has a lot more room for narrative and experimentation that gets edited out of a lot of other writing,” Booth said. “I think that’s important.”

Working with words: Students earn cash through blogging

Dean John Delaney of Pitt’s Katz Grad-uate School of Business and College of Business Administration announced on Thursday that he plans to step down from his position.

Delaney is stepping down because he believes organizations need new leader-ship to remain “fresh and vital.”

“In light of the arrival of the new chan-cellor and all of the inevitable changes

that will follow, the timing for change at Katz/CBA is appropriate,” Delaney said in a statement.

Delaney will remain dean until Pitt se-lects a successor and will then return to Pitt’s business faculty. University spokes-person Cara Masset said the person who will be fi lling the position has yet to be determined.

Delaney became the sixth dean of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Busi-ness and College of Business Administra-tion in 2006. Delaney was instrumental

in opening Pitt’s fi nancial analysis lab in 2008.

Delaney earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial relations from LeMoyne Col-lege in 1977 and his master’s and doctorate in labor and industrial relations from the University of Illinois in 1980 and 1983. He previously worked at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, University of Iowa and Michigan State University.

The University will form a search com-mittee in the coming weeks to replace Delaney by spring. Masset said the Uni-

versity has not determined who will sit on the committee, if the search will be open or closed and if the University will hire a search fi rm.

Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia Beeson said she is pleased Delaney will remain at the University following his resignation.

“It has been my pleasure to work with John Delaney, both in his role as dean and in his participation in the activities of our Council of Deans,” Beeson said in a state-ment.

Business school dean announces resignationDanielle Fox

Assistant News Editor

Conor McAteer Staff Writer


OPINIONSCasual Fridays

EDITORIALEDITORIAL

Human race comes to an end

In Rochester, N.H., the

human race has officially come to an end. The race for state representative, that is. As it turns out, incumbent Democratic state Rep. Rose Marie Rogers defeated her opponent on Tuesday, a man named “human” — spelled with a lowercase “H” — by a count of 181-30. The chal-lenger, formally David Mon-tenegro, legally changed his name to human in 2012. All reports indicate that the hu-man race plans to rebuild.

Rude Awakening

Gina Briggs, 26, was ar-

rested in Ormond Beach, Fla., on Monday for pulling a pistol on a landscaper. Why? Turns out the landscaper’s yard work was too noisy. Ac-cording to the victim, Carlos Repicio, Briggs threatened to shoot him for disturbing her sleep. Luckily for Repicio, she forgot to load the gun, and he didn’t have to find out whether the grass was truly greener on the other side.

Humans vs. Zombies

Police in Coos Bay, Ore.,

have arrested a woman for playing “the zombie game.” At least, that ’s what she said she was doing. Really, she was arrested for assault and home invasion. Jessica Rocha allegedly broke into a woman’s home, pushed her

down the stairs, pulled her hair and bit her on the face. She then told her victim it was all part of “the zombie game.” Thankfully, medical officials say they have come up with a cure for the zombie outbreak: stop smoking bath salts.

Squirrelspotting

In Syktyvkar, Russia, three

students were seen chasing down a squirrel. The students were stopped by a passerby, who allegedly told them to leave the poor squirrel alone. The passerby, a former police officer, then noticed a small, red bundle in the squirrel’s mouth. It turns out the stu-dents were chasing the squir-rel down because it stole their drug stash. Unfortunately, “We couldn’t catch it, so we will never know where the packet will go and where it came from,” the former of-ficer said. In other news, the DEA has alleged that Sandy Cheeks wasn’t just breathing oxygen through her scuba suit.

Gone in 60 minutes

A woman in Fruitport

Township, Mich., has been arrested for shoplifting from a local Walmart. Shirley Ma-son took $600 worth of cloth-ing and attempted to make her getaway in a motorized wheelchair shopping cart because she “didn’t feel like walking.” Thankfully, the po-lice nabbed her after the slow and inglorious cart-chase.

It feels that, often, this country’s understanding of the economy is like an episode of “South Park.”

Specifi cally, it’s like the one in which Randy Marsh convinces the entire eponymous town to spend money on nothing but “the bare essentials. Water and bread and margaritas,” to appease the economy and bring prosperity back.

Sadly, as evidenced by the past fi ve years of recession, things are a bit more complicated than that. GDP is increasing, and the stock market is reaching new heights. But these numbers don’t indicate much for the everyday person on the street. All we see is the unem-ployment rate, which is still more than 6 percent — high for the “prosperous” times indicated by more abstracted measures.

The one thing “South Park” got right in its analysis of the re-cessionary mindset is the search for a scapegoat. When a slowdown occurs — or continues to occur, for that matter — people need to throw blame at somebody’s feet — especially in an age of 24-hour media coverage. So, who shall we ready the pitchforks for? The president of course!

Yes, it is a tradition that goes back to 1876 to blame the sitting president — and his ruling party — for an ailing economy. In that year’s election, the Panic of 1873 — “panic” being old-timey Eng-lish for depression — had led to 7 percent unemployment. The rul-ing Republican Party’s candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, almost lost the election to the party of the

Confederates and secession , the Democrats, a mere decade after the end of the Civil War.

Then there was Herbert Hoover, who was thrown out of o! ce in favor of Franklin D. Roosevelt because of the Great Depression and a 20 percent un-employment rate. And even Ron-ald Reagan, though known now as some sort of conservative super-man, had his disapproval rating touch 50 percent in the early ‘80s as the economy slowly recovered.

Thus, the general rule, as backed by a 2010 Pew study, is that if unemployment is going up, presidential disapproval will, too.

But this is unfair to any presi-dent, even Herbert Hoover. No president can single-handedly change the economy in a consti-tutional manner. It requires, at fi rst, agreeable lawmakers from both the local and the federal lev-el, not to mention a willing public.

These are incredibly di! cult conditions to meet. Yet it was able to happen once in our history with FDR. In 1933, after his elec-tion, he was able to pass bill after bill to try and fi x the economy, because he had the right condi-tions — lawmakers and a public willing to do anything to get out of the depression. And it worked, at least, to an extent.

While economists can argue for days about the exact cause, GDP rose, and unemployment fell following FDR’s election. That said, the Supreme Court even-tually stepped in and found the main New Deal program, the Na-tional Recovery Administration, unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve — also not under FDR’s control — raised interest

rates, thus increasing the price of much-needed private investment. In 1937, the economy plunged again.

What the history of the rela-tionship between the presidential approval rating and employment shows are the issues that led Win-ston Churchill to utter his often-quoted expression, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

We, as Americans, whether liberal or conservative, want our government to be ready to react to every recession, passing the exact laws needed to get everyone their job back with a 15 percent raise. But to fi ght a recession in such a manner, the government would need to be acting under a unifi ed plan that takes no regard for precedent or for even the good of the people, except as a whole — like FDR’s New Deal.

The price of living in a country with freedom is that nothing can be done overnight, and nothing can be attained without sacrifi ce. Compromise is the lifeblood of the democratic process. Unfor-tunately, our current Congress seems to enjoy treating every is-sue as if it were a life and death struggle over the very ideals of the republic and that any step back would certainly end in the destruction of America.

This is unhealthy for our na-tional mindset and unhealthy for the economy.

Take the government shut-down in 2013, for instance. Inac-tion on key issues, such as health-care, inhibits business owners from planning accordingly for

Wasting away in Margaritaville: Get real about the economy

Stephen Caruso Columnist

COLUMNCOLUMN

Caruso 25


SPORTSFOOTBALLFOOTBALL

It’s no secret that Florida International — Pitt’s opponent this Saturday — was a bad football team last year, and it only projects to finish this season as another bad football team.

It’s interesting, too. The program has gained almost as much national recognition in recent years for being so, well, bad, as good teams have received for being good.

Paul Myerberg of USA Today Sports put it best earlier in the year when he wrote, “Turn right at awful, drive straight through terrible, merge through dreadful and stop two miles down the road at Florida Internation-al in 2013, as bad a team as any we’ve seen in the last decade of major college football.”

Just plain bad.The FIU Panthers recently appeared

— as did the other 127 Division I foot-

ball teams — in a graphic released by the Wall Street Journal entitled “How Good (and Bad) Is Your Team?”

FIU was bad — rated in the grid’s lower-left quadrant that brought to-gether teams both “weak” on the field and “embarrassing” off it. FIU was dead last, the weakest and most embarrass-ing (Pitt, on the other hand, was actu-ally featured in the grid’s top 25).

Part of the reason for FIU’s place-ment in the chart is because it lost to Louisville in what was the most lopsided game of the 2013 college football sea-son, 72-0. FIU gained 27 total yards of offense in the game, and quarterback E.J. Hilliard, who will start against Pitt, was sacked four times for -33 yards. You do the math.

Myerberg spoke about the blowout, already looking back on the game with a historical viewpoint.

“In ages to come, FIU fans will speak

Chryst, Pitt try to stay focused on Saturday!s gameRyan Bertonaschi Senior Staff Writer

Florida International University fi nished 1-11 last season. | MCT Campus

VOLLEYBALLVOLLEYBALL

After a successful tournament out West, despite losing their last game to Colo-rado, the Panthers return home and aim to recapture their winning ways this weekend when they host the Panther Classic.

This marks the first home match for Pitt, after competing in tournaments in Ohio and Colorado to open up the season. The Panthers (5-1, 0-0 ACC) have their home debut Friday at 7 p.m. in the Fitzgerald Field House against cross-city rival Duquesne. On Saturday, Pitt will take on Norfolk State, its first match of a day-night doubleheader and wrap up its weekend against Niagara.

The Panthers won their first five matches this season without relinquish-ing a set. They finally were halted last weekend when they faced tournament host Colorado, losing 3-1.

Senior outside hitter Jessica Wynn and sophomore middle blocker Jenna Potts both were named to the All-Tour-nament Team and continue to lead the team in kills and blocks, respectively.

After watching film this week at prac-tice, Wynn reflected on the team’s loss, calling it a game that the team “could have, and should have, won” and said that match was “a learning experience.”

“We need to learn from our loss against Colorado,” Potts echoed. “We were a little shaky because it was our first truly big game. We just need to

bring a lot of confidence into this match [against Duquesne], and, if we’re confi-dent, we’ll pull through.”

Wynn may be looking for revenge against the cross-city opponent. The senior recalled that it has been two years since Pitt last played the Dukes, with the match ending in a 3-0 Duquesne win.

“We’re most excited about that one,” Wynn said about the Panthers’ home opener. “A bunch of people from the city will probably show up, so both sides will really get up for that game and be energetic.”

Potts and Wynn, along with their teammates, according to assistant coach Lindsey Campbell, have been working on service errors along with high ball hitting to better prepare themselves.

“We’re taking what we learned as a team and a staff from Colorado and translating that into practice,” she said. “We’ve also been watching film on Duquesne to get our athletes prepared.”

Duquesne After winning the Atlantic 10 and

making the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Dukes (3-3) have had a streaky season thus far. Duquesne start-ed off its season losing three straight matches but recovered this past week-end when it co-hosted and won three straight at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational.

Besides getting the opportunity to play on her home court, junior setter

Volleyball looks to recapture winning ways in home tournamentCaitlin Hinsey

Staff Writer

FIU 23

Volleyball 24


Customer ServiceHorror Stories

Rule number one: the customer is always right. Rule number two: if the custom-er is wrong, refer to rule number one.

In American businesses, this is standard for customer service. Sometimes, though, the customer is not right.

What follows are three stories, from Pitt students, who work on the other side of the other side of the counter.

Editor’s Note: Some of the subjects of this article have omitted some personal informa-tion because of the personal nature of their stories.

Dale Shoemaker Staff Writer

Art by Abigail Briner | For The Pitt News

Brooke’s Tale

Over the summer, Brooke, a Pitt student , worked as a waitress at a Red Robin in her hometown

of Dickson City, Pa. One day, she said, she watched as a man came in, sat down and ordered his meal. Then, he began making crude and sexual comments to his waitress.

“You can come to my place after this, if you’d like,” he said to her.

“If I lower my standards, you can come with me,” he said to another wait-ress.

His waitress ignored him and brought him his check. Without paying, the man stood up and walked out the door to his car. His waitress chased after him. Having seen the man, a waiter followed

her outside so the man wouldn’t try to hurt her.

“Sir, you have to come back inside!” she called.

“You have to come back inside and pay!” yelled the waiter.

The man ignored both of them. He got into his car, which was parked in front of the front doors of the restaurant. He turned it on and revved the engine, pre-tending not to hear them. Suddenly, he threw his car into reverse, crashing onto the sidewalk, nearly hitting the waiter.

“Sir, if you don’t come back inside right now,” the waiter yelled, “we’re call-ing the police!”

The man pulled back into his parking spot, got out, and followed the two back inside to the lobby. There, the manager of the restaurant confronted the man.

She told him that he could not leave until he paid. If he tried to do so again, she said, she would call the police.

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” the man told her, “you b*tch.”

The manager threw him out then. He didn’t pay for his food. Fifteen minutes later, though, he returned.

“I forgot my cell phone,” he said.

Jon’s Tale

During the school year, Jon, a senior history major at Pitt, works at a local convenience

store. One Sunday morning last year, he said, an older man came in through the first set of glass doors of the store, into the foyer, and sat down. He pulled out a cigarillo, lit it and started smoking it. He inhaled, and then started coughing and wheezing. Seeing this, one of the clerks knocked on the glass and told him to put it out.

“You can’t smoke in here,” she said.The man didn’t look up and didn’t

acknowledge that she had spoken to him. Then, Jon opened the door to the store and told him again to put out his cigarillo.

“Hey man,” he said, “you can’t smoke in here.”

The man looked up, but didn’t say anything.

“Seriously,” Jon said, “you have to put that out. You can’t smoke in here.”

The man continued staring and gave Jon the evil eye. He then stood up, crushed out his cigarillo against the glass window and threw the butt on

She told him that he could not leave untilhe paid. If he tried to do so again, shesaid, she would call the police.

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” theman told her, “you b*tch.”e

The manager threw him out then. Hedidn’t pay for his food. Fifteen minuteslater, though, he returned.

“I forgot my cell phone,” he said.

Jon’s Tale

During the school year, Jon, a senior history major at Pitt, works at a local convenience

store. One Sunday morning last year,he said, an older man came in throughthe first set of glass doors of the store,into the foyer, and sat down. He pulledout a cigarillo lit it and started smokingout a cigarillo lit it and started smoking

the carpet.“I ain’t smoking,” the man said and

shuffled past Jon into the store. Jon went out into the foyer, picked up the butt and threw it away in the trash can. When he went back inside, the man was standing at the counter, talking to the clerk who knocked on the window.

“Honey,” Jon heard the man say, “could you buy me a pack of ciga-rettes?”

Shay’s Tale

At Manor Theatre in Squirrel Hill, ticket prices vary based on the time of day. Shay Park — a

sophomore anthropology and Japanese major at Pitt — said, as a local musician and cashier at Manor Theatre, that a movie must start at or before 6 p.m. to receive matinee pricing.

One day, at around 5 p.m., a man came in to buy tickets for an evening movie. He ordered tickets for the show at 7:30 p.m. Shay told him his total, which was full price. The man became confused.

“Isn’t it matinee price?” he asked.“No,” Shay explained to him. “The

show starts after 6 p.m., so tickets are full price.”

The man protested. “But it’s before 6 p.m. now,” he said.

“No,” Shay explained again. “Mati-nee prices are for show times before 6 p.m. I can’t give you matinee prices just because it’s matinee time now.”

The man then became irritated. “Oh, don’t you start with me, sweetie,” he said.

“I’m not starting with you,” she said. “I’m just letting you know. I can’t sell you that ticket at that price.”

“That’s not how movie theaters work!” the man exclaimed.

“At that point,” Shay said later, “you really can’t argue with them because they’re just telling you how to do your job. Clearly they have an end goal in mind.

“And it’s kind of a delicate balance, because I’m a minimum wage worker, so it’s like ‘I’m not getting paid enough to do this!’ But I’m still [in] customer service, so I have to try to keep my cool. Sometimes people just drive you crazy.”

Pitt Students Share...


Next time you fi nd yourself choosing career work over class work, don’t fret. Evidence shows your transcript won’t be a one-way ticket to a dream job.

A 2012 survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Mar-ketplace discussed what attributes employers value most when hiring college graduates. What employers had to say to employees: to them, nearly everything is more important than GPA.

The surveyors invited 5,000 employ-ers to participate in the study. Sixty-seven percent of employers participants were in management, executive or senior executive positions, while the other 33 percent were labeled “experienced.”

Students may think that grades are the most important part of getting hired, but employers seem to overlook GPA, accord-ing to the results of the study. Internships topped the list of “Relative Importance Of

Attributes in Evaluating Graduates for Hire,” while GPA landed toward the bottom of the list of at number seven out of eight. Also listed in order of most to least importance was employment during college, college major, volunteer experience, extracurricular activi-ties, relevance of coursework and last, college reputation.

“Unpaid internships and volunteer work have a big impact on employers hiring deci-sions,” the survey said.

After graduating from Duquesne Uni-versity with a master’s degree in English , Whitney Robinson said she found out “col-lege GPA is useless in the real world.”

“What matters is that you did well in your area — that teachers can speak well of your work ethic and attitude, not if you had a 4.0,” Robinson said. “My knowledge from college classes is great and incredibly useful, but, at the end of the day, a hard worker with adapt-ability and intelligence is more valuable,”

Robinson works for a fi nancial invest-ment company and said having skills that don’t come from books were what was most

helpful to her when looking for a job. “Certainly you can program or do taxes,

but, if you can’t coordinate a schedule be-tween your co-workers or think on your feet, then book learning isn’t worth much,” Robinson said.

Pitt’s Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance regularly seeks feedback from recruiters regarding what attributes and skill sets employers value in graduates, according to Career Development director Cheryl Finlay.

“There are a number of qualities that all graduates, regardless of degree earned, should leave college with,” Finlay said. “Ex-amples include strong communication skills, a sense of self, motivation and a sense of responsibility.”

Finlay named attributes that couldn’t be part of college course, such as the ability to adapt to changing technology.

“They also need to be refl ective individu-als who have clear personal and professional goals,” Finlay said. “They need to be moti-vated to take on the challenges and demands

of the workplace and, most importantly, they need to have a sense of responsibility toward their community and society.”

Though these traits may come naturally throughout college years, Finlay said that internships are vital, just as the survey shows.

Finlay explained how Pitt helps students to make sure they have an internship expe-rience during their college years with the University Internship Guarantee, which is internship placement for students who com-plete an internship prep program at Pitt.

What do employers have to say about all this?

Lisa Crouse, the Campus Recruiting Man-ager at KPMG, a global accounting fi rm with an o! ce in Pittsburgh, said the fi rm hires a large number of recent college graduates annually.

“College is typically where we fi nd a lot of our positions. We hire college students from across the country and, specifi cally the University of Pittsburgh,” Crouse said.

Shred the transcript: Employers value experience, not GPANerine Sivagnanam

Staff Writer

GPA 8


Pitt students are changing the way we think about college jobs by becoming their own bosses.

In 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics determined that only 3.7 percent of peo-ple aged 16-24 are self-employed. In 2013, the average number of self-employed men and women between the ages of 16-19 was roughly 4.5 million, and the average for 20 to 24-year-olds was 13.6 million. Pitt students make up some of those numbers, a trend that may increase in the coming years as students look for more creative ways to help with the rising cost of tuition.

Among those numbers is Robert Burg-er, a sophomore and entrepreneur.

While most 17-year-olds are dreaming of prom and the big leap to college, at the time, Burger was busy starting his own web development fi rm.

“What attracted me most to being self-employed was the ability to choose

who I worked with and when,” Burger, a information science major, said. “Being able to create my own schedule and fi ll it with clients I wanted to work with was the perfect opportunity for me.”

To get started with creating a business, Burger recommended fi nding a mentor to help teach the basics and make the new business a success. His own mentor, Chris Glod from WakeUpNow, a fi nancial wellness company, helped Burger hone his marketing skills.

Burger said he now o! ers his own ad-vice to other students as long as they are willing to put in the time. He believes in “fi nding your why,” which he said is your reason to create a business and the drive to succeed.

Burger said another key to success in self-employment is to surround yourself with positive people, as positivity will lead to business success.

Not every self-employed job comes through a fi rm or a company, though. Junior Jenna Hymes took control of her

schedule through her job as a nanny to a 5-month-old infant twice a week.

Though Hymes’ route is more tradi-tional, she still experiences the perks of self-employment. Hymes chooses — within reason — which days and hours to work, as well as her salary.

Hymes, a psychology major, said she thinks future employers will be more im-pressed by this job than a traditional job.

“The responsibility of [caring for] a 5-month-old is very great, especially compared to having just a minimum wage-paying job,” Hymes said.

Hymes used networking skills to fi nd the family she works for and encourages other students to develop their network-ing abilities to do the same.

She began by telling people around her that she planned to work as a nanny for the semester and, through mutual associates, found a family whose needs fi t her abilities.

Maya Pilevsky, a sophomore theatre arts major, founded, owns and operates a

fi lm production company called Another Hidden Star Production.

Pilevsky’s company fi lms events like live theater productions, bar/bat mitzvah videos, Eagle Scout ceremonies and ad-vertisements for cookbooks and Kindle apps.

Though Pilevsky says her company is successful, she doesn’t think self-employ-ment is for everyone.

“I don’t believe it is easier to be self-employed. Self-employment requires a certain kind of discipline and maturity and isn’t right for everyone” said Pilevsky.

Pilevsky started her production com-pany when she was 14 and has had other jobs in theater and internships. While it may not be easier than a traditional job, Pilevsky said being a self-employed col-lege student still has defi nite advantages.

“You choose your own clients, hours and job description. When you freelance, you get to seek out the kinds of jobs that

Be the boss: Self-employed students set their own rules

Crouse particularly values employment in general during college, which was second from the top in the survey.

“Having a part time job in a sales role, al-though you wouldn’t say that directly relates to working at KPMG, makes the employee develop attributes that come from that ex-perience such as customer service skills and dealing with the public,” Crouse said.

KPMG will be at the Career Conference in

the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on September 19. KPMG also has come in to Pitt to do resumé reviews for students.

A lower GPA could possibly be more ac-ceptable, Crouse said, if it resulted from ac-tive involvement in college activities that showcase a student’s abilities.

“There has to be a balance. If your grades are very low yet you have no other involve-ment, there is no excuse,” said Crouse.

Though KPMG seemed to be less strict about GPA, in comparison to outside of the classroom strengths, PricewaterhouseCoo-pers (PwC), another accounting fi rm, ranks

it higher on their personal list. Alexa Merschel, the U.S. Recruiting

Leader for PwC, said while they defi nitely take into consideration other extracurricular activities, the fi rm still heavily considers GPA.

“Success at the fi rm is directly correlated with GPA. Higher GPA, in most cases, equates to work ethic and dedication to academic excellence,” Merschel said.

Although GPA is extremely important at PwC, Merschel said they still pay attention to other factors that could balance out an ap-plication with a lower GPA. Merschel said the o" cial GPA minimum is a 3.3, but PwC will

accept above a 3.0 if a student is involved in other campus and career activities.

“However, there are other factors that go into the hiring process, such as extracurricu-lar activities you are involved in and how you have demonstrated leadership skills through various organizations you are involved in,” Merschel said.

According to Crouse, colleges must keep in touch with business professionals to un-derstand what they truly want in terms of preparation of students for their careers.

“Just like any career, it is forever chang-ing,” Crouse said.

GPAFROM PAGE 7

Kat Prosachik Staff Writer

Self-Employed 22

10 September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.comCOLUMNCOLUMN

American colleges and their students fi nd themselves in the peculiar state of perpetual “crisis.” At least that’s what magazine arti-cles, scholarly books and political speeches from the postwar era to today consistently have us believe.

Calls of crisis in the halls of higher edu-cation come at a dime a dozen — but one re-cent alarm is turning a considerable number of mortar-boarded heads — and for good reason. The book, “Aspiring Adults Adrift,” presents convincing arguments that the quality in college students’ education has diminished across the board and that this decline has led directly to underemploy-ment and fi nancial instability among recent graduates. Administrators and students ought to learn one important message from this report: academic rigor and employ-ment preparation are two sides of the same, incredibly valuable coin.

The book, written by sociologists Rich-ard Arum and Josipa Roksa, has provoked wide-ranging commentary in several prom-inent newspapers and magazines since its publication two weeks ago. Most of the respondents have underlined poor study habits and a culture of “student consumer-ism” as culprits for the 23 percent two-year unemployment or underemployment rate for an extensive sample of graduates.

These critiques of college culture are accurate, but they certainly aren’t new. As colleges have competed for applicants and

their tuition payments, they have come to treat 18-year-old students as consumers — explicitly enticing them with expen-sive amenities and implicitly with infl ated grades and with challenging coursework conspicuously absent. Given the increasing ease of getting straight As at prestigious pri-vate and state universities, it should come as no surprise that Arum and Roksa found the average student spends 7 percent of his week studying and 46 percent socializing.

The student-as-consumer model ex-plains a lot about slashed funding for faculty and instruction, expanding budget for stu-dent a! airs and amenities and stagnating student learning as measured by the gen-eral Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) employed by Arum and Roksa. But it also explains another troubling phenomenon: the growth of “employment preparation” as a distinct service o! ered in the university.

As universities compete for students while reducing challenging instruction for those students, they have increased spend-ing on a bundle of programs under the ban-ner of career services or career preparation. Universities recognize that students, now more than ever, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, con-sider high-income careers awaiting them at graduation to be a very important reason to enroll. To assuage their and their parents’ concerns, colleges advertise new career cen-ters and guidance programs. At Pitt, they have pushed the value of the guaranteed

The classroom is the best career service

Simon Brown Columnist

Brown 11


internship program and the FutureLinks internship database.

Universities have always attracted stu-dents with the promise of better employ-ment prospects at the end, either implicitly or explicitly. Today, universities can make the valid claim that they serve as the most important gateways to stable and lucra-tive jobs. Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz,

two economists at the New York Federal Reserve, described this function in appro-priately negative terms: “The value of a college degree has remained high over the past decade in large part because of the declining fortunes of those without one.”

Therein lies the apparent paradox of post-college employment prospects. Uni-versities — and, indirectly, state govern-ments — can decrease funding to students’ instruction as a proportion of spending, thereby infl ating grades and diminishing academic rigor. Yet they can still claim that

their ballooning tuition payments are a lucrative investment compared to not at-tending. Their students are more likely to get jobs only because employment possi-bilities for everyone else are so dismal, not because they’re doing a better job preparing their students for the workplace.

How do we know that colleges aren’t do-ing a better job? In Aspiring Adults Adrift, Arum and Roksa studied students using the CLA test of broad critical thinking and communication skills and found that the average college freshman improved less

than one standard deviation from his or her fi rst year to graduation.

Yet Arum and Roksa also found that CLA scores strongly correlated to two other factors: how frequently students studied for rigorous course work and how easily students found and maintained employ-ment. This score, they found, factored more importantly in employment prospects than connections made at college, which helped only 20 percent of students to land a job.

BROWNFROM PAGE 10

Brown 13

12 September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.comCOLUMNCOLUMN

It takes about 11 years to become a doctor – four years of undergraduate education, four years of medical school, one year as an intern and two years, minimum, of residency.

As a freshman pre-medicine and neurosci-ence student, I spent a good deal of time mak-ing sure that, in four or fi ve years, I would be a “strong” medical school applicant — someone who, as all fi rst-year pre-med students fi nd out at the Health Professions Mandatory Ses-sions, has completed 20 hours of shadowing, 100 hours of clinical experience, 50 hours of campus and community service, leadership experience, 34 pre-requisite classes, a GPA of 3.75 and letters of recommendation from two science instructors, one research instructor and two service-a! liated employers.

In the next few years, I would learn that the implementation of such a strict pre-medicine curriculum forces students to focus on check-ing o" all the boxes of requirements instead of really learning what it means and what it takes to be a “good” doctor. In other words, pre-med students complete all these extra-curricular activities with the short-term focus of being strong medical school applicants, rather than the long-term focus of being good doctors.

I see the connection between the on-paper requirements and the goals of the undergradu-

ate pre-health curriculum — to create a stu-dent who “demonstrates command of the basic sciences, a deep understanding of the profes-sion and a commitment to help others through the practice in a medically related fi eld.”

This is a seemingly fi tting defi nition, one that encompasses everything I would hope doctors possess following their time spent earning an undergraduate education. Supe-rior grades in science classes certainly merit understanding of the basic sciences, shadow-ing and clinical exposure lend themselves to understanding the medical profession and community involvement shows a commitment to helping others.

But this med-student recipe, set by the ad-visers and physicians who sit on the Pre-Pro-fessional Health Committee — a committee that assesses students’ potential in medicine through the lens of medical school admissions committees nationwide — is so rigid that pre-med students fail to recognize themselves as anything other than a list of activities on a resumé, rather than as a compassionate and empathetic human being who will one day assume the responsibility of others’ lives. Yet, as any pre-med adviser will tell you, although learning to be empathetic is great, it won’t in-defi nitely help your medical school application.

I learned this from personal experience.

! e human element: What it takes to be a good doctor

Jessica Craig Columnist

Craig 13

Johns Hopkins doctors review a copy of the “Harriet Lane” handbook. | MCT Campus


Academic rigor and commitment, ac-cording to these results, reliably prepare students for stable jobs and post-college life. Achievement in the classroom and career preparation are not di! erent things and colleges and students should stop advertis-ing and considering them as such. The more universities present their career services as if they are distinct from the diligent study that students should be expected to do in classes, the more students will think their classwork doesn’t bear on their job pros-pects. And, the more students accept this distinction, the more freely administrators and state governments will justify cutting budgets to instruction.

Ultimately, however, this problem will linger until universities receive the state funding — and muster the willpower — to return to their most important fi nancial and social commitment: challenging students to think critically through robust coursework in the classroom.

Write to Simon at [email protected]

BROWNFROM PAGE 11

Entering my sophomore year, I was hoping to gain clinical experience after having spent the summer shadowing surgeons and physi-cians from my hometown in central Maryland. The pre-med advisers and all related websites suggest to volunteer at a hospital, so I did. After I quickly mastered the ability to pour water for patients and to stand at a podium greeting families who, for the most part, ignored me as they pressed through the hospital’s revolving doors, I started looking for a position where I could gain actual hands-on clinical experience. More importantly, I started looking for a volun-teer position where I could make a di! erence in someone’s life.

I took a job as a personal care assistant for a cerebral palsy patient. Through that, I learned about the disease, how it a! ects a patient’s independence and how it changes an entire family’s lifestyle. I was treating and assessing a patient’s needs, assisting in rehabilitation and administering medication and food through a gastrostomy feeding tube.

I had a decision to make, and, for the fi rst

time, I asked myself not what would make me a stronger medical school applicant, but what would make me a better doctor: pouring water for patients or learning to be empathetic, compassionate and humble — qualities that I, and hundreds of other surveyed Twitter users, believe make a “good” doctor?

I chose what would ultimately make me a better doctor — I call it a life experience, be-cause regardless of whether I end up at medical school or not, it has made me more aware and sympathetic towards others.

This is where the pre-med curriculum fails — it leaves little time for life experience. Physi-cians draw on this to connect to patients, to calm them down before surgery and to instruct and be listened to. This is life experience that makes physicians human, not just a resumé of activities and grades, nor robotic sources of information.

Medicine, at its core, is human. And that’s not easily taught, because no two people learn it the same way.

Perhaps, then, pre-med students need to stop confi ning themselves to the four years of a typical undergraduate education and viewing it as the only time in which they can prepare for their medical career. A pre-med adviser

at Pitt, Andrea Abt, suggests that students “join the Peace Corps. , Teach For Americ a, AmeriCor ps, pursue national scholarships, internships or work prior to entering medical school which enhances their understanding of the world and people.” She went on to explain that, “Pre-med at Pitt encourages all students to take one or more gap years. The students (or their parents) create the frenzy to rush to the next step.”

But, as national aid jobs are scarce, intern-ships are often unpaid and employers are pass-ing up bachelor’s degrees for master’s degrees and Ph.D.s, it is not economically feasible to take a gap year, let alone two.

Maybe the pre-med curriculum needs to be rethought to align with today’s competitive job market and constricting economy, while also preparing students to be both good doctors and good people.

In the end, an updated pre-med curriculum will make the medical fi eld more diverse, more human and composed of people who have walked in thousands of di! erent shoes, not just the hospital volunteer-undergraduate/researcher-campus leader shoes.

Write to Jessica at [email protected]

CRAIGFROM PAGE 12


After fi nishing an All-Big East campaign in 2013 with the Pitt baseball team, catcher Elvin Soto decided to move on to the big leagues and was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 16th round. It’s of-tentimes a di! cult jump from college to the minor leagues, and Soto followed that trend in his rookie year.

In 45 games with the Hillsboro Hops, the Single-A short season a! liate of the Diamondbacks, Soto batted a mere .209 with a .589 OPS.

But, after hard work in the o" season, Soto found success again in 2014, hitting .256 with a .748 OPS in 51 games. He was named a Northwest League midseason all-star for his e" orts. On top of that, Soto was an integral part in the Hops’ winning of the Northwest League Championship

over the Vancouver Canadians. Here’s what Soto had to say about his time in the minor leagues thus far.

The Pitt News: What were the biggest improvements you made from 2013 to 2014?

Elvin Soto: Being more patient. Not thinking too much.

TPN: Did you make any adjustments in the o" season that led to a big jump in your number ?

ES: I got after it a little earlier. I wanted to improve in the areas that I really didn’t have a good year in, which was hitting for the most part. I went out to the yard and just hit out there earlier and just started hitting outside a lot earlier than I usually would’ve done.

TPN: Was the adjustment to the im-proved pitching the hardest adjustment

Former catcher recaptures spark, work ethic in Single-AJeremy Tepper

Staff Writer

BASEBALLBASEBALL

Elvin Soto fi nished his Single-A season batting .256. | Courtsey of Craig Mitchelldyer

Joe Prince-Wright is one of Pitt’s most well-known soccer alumni. Earning 31 caps in head coach Joe Luxbacher’s midfield, he graduated in 2011 in four years with a degree in English writ-ing and communications. While at Pitt, he also earned experience in his field, interning at Root Sports, ESPN Radio Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After graduation, Prince-Wright re-fused to give up on either of his careers. He spent several years doing freelance work for the MLS, The Guardian and NBC Sports while also playing profes-sional soccer in the United Kingdom.

Shortly after his professional con-tract expired for Arbroath F.C. in Scot-land, Prince-Wright began looking at other career options in journalism. Eventually, he accepted his current job as lead editor and writer for NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk.

Last week, Prince-Wright spoke to The Pitt News over the phone regarding his college life at Pitt, life as a profes-sional soccer player and his experience covering one of the largest growing markets in professional sports.

The Pitt News: Let’s start at the be-ginning. Tell me about your recruit-ment to Pitt. How did that happen?

Joe Prince-Wright: We had a tryout game. It was really cold, in Decem-ber. There were some scouts from Pitt there. I played pretty well and set up an official visit [to Pitt]. I went to the Pete for basketball, had a great look around, my teammates were great. I loved it. In seven or eight months, I went from not knowing anything about Pittsburgh to playing soccer. Honestly, I’m not just saying this because you work for The Pitt News, but those were four wonder-ful years of my life.

TPN: Were there any specific role models or programs at Pitt that helped you reach the level you’re at in your career now?

JPW: From an athletic standpoint, Coach Luxbacher was a huge advocate of working as hard as you can ... and making sure you are a good athlete and a good person, too. From an academic standpoint, when I came over, it took a while to get used to the American schooling system, so the people up at the Pete that tutor the athletes were a big help. I did internships whenever I could. It ’d be pretty rough because I’d practice 6-10 in the morning, go to class, and then I’d do the internship in the evening. It was demanding, but I knew that being in Pittsburgh, it ’s a great sports writing town, and it would benefit me in the long run.

TPN: After you graduated, you ended up playing at Arbroath F.C. in Scotland. How did they find you here at Pitt? And what was your experience like as a professional soccer player?

JPW: After I graduated, I had a year’s working visa, so I actually came back to the U.S. and worked in Manhattan for Major League Soccer for a year in

their editorial department. I played for two different teams a week ... just keeping myself fit, keeping myself ready. After 10 months I got in touch with the Arbroath manager through mutual friends and they offered me a contract. I left Manhattan to live and play in Edinburgh, and that was a great experience. I got to play against teams like Celtic ... away at Celtic Park in a 60,000-person stadium. It was a won-derful experience and something I’ve always wanted to do since I was young. I’m positive playing at Pitt helped me achieve that goal of getting a profes-sional contract.

TPN: So why’d you make the jump from your playing career to NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk?

JPW: When I was playing in Scotland, I was still writing on the side. I did a whole bunch of freelance work. This opportunity came up ... and I was of-fered the job. At that time, my playing

Prince-Wright fi nds new career after soccerMark Powell Staff Writer

SOCCERSOCCER

Soto 18

Prince-Wright 18

17September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.comCINEMACINEMA

For young, up-and-coming fi lmmakers, a passion for the movies is now just the bare minimum.

“Don’t be afraid to bust your ass,” Tom Fisher, a 2012 Pitt fi lm graduate currently working as multimedia producer at the Carnegie Museum of Art, said.

Fisher emphasized the importance of a strong work ethic and being perceptive when working with an art form as detail-oriented as fi lm, in addition to putting in signifi cant e! ort.

Pittsburgh students interested in fi lm have the advantage of living in a city fi lled with many opportunities for the dedicated, if inexperienced, artist. But a lack of experi-ence can be a handicap for those trying to begin their careers.

“If you’re looking for a job in fi lm stud-ies or media production, they often re-quire three to fi ve years of experience, and that’s for entry level stu! , so it’s kind of a loophole — how can you get your foot in the door if you have no experience?” Fisher said.

This frustrating catch-22 — one that might be familiar to anyone who has job-hunted — may seem like an impossibly high hurdle to jump with no running start, but it is more than feasible to sustain your-self with the right strategies.

“A lot of it is networking — it’s who you know, and it’s making connections, because there isn’t your standard chain of command, like in retail, where you start at the bottom and work your way up,” Fisher said. “Knowing somebody is the X-factor. Filling out applications on SnagAJob.com or Monster.com doesn’t cut [it].”

Personal connections are an asset for success in the fi lm industry, but, as stu-dents, the best place to make these con-nections is in the classroom.

“Basically everything I’ve done in freelance has come from a connection at school,” Fisher said.

After working a part-time gig in a photo lab as his fi rst somewhat-fi lm-related job, he pursued freelance work, which included

a large amount of editing for short fi lms — the next project being one of Steeltown’s Film Factory fi nalists from last year, “The Beat Goes On.” He encourages young fi lm students to always take opportunities, even if the job is without pay.

Though classes in fi lm are also impor-tant for expanding the knowledge base, Fisher insisted that studying fi lm is impor-tant in terms of success in the production of fi lms — the fi lm-intensive programs at Pittsburgh Filmmakers were particularly helpful for him.

Professor Deborah Hosking of Pitts-burgh Filmmakers, one of Fisher’s former teachers, thought his commitment level helped separate him from the rest of the students.

“His seriousness and precision in his work helped [set him] apart,” Hosking said. “That’s probably the biggest reason why he got his job at the Carnegie Museum of Art.”

Fisher’s latest project was shooting a TEDx (independent TED Talk) at the Carn-egie Museum of Art. The speakers were locals who have had success in the media and the arts, one of whom was indie-doc-umentary fi lmmaker Julie Sokolow. The 26-year-old Pitt alumna said that keeping motivation in mind is one of the most im-portant qualities for a young fi lmmaker.

“You want to remember why you’re do-ing it in the fi rst place, and you want to be constantly making work and not making excuses,” Sokolow said.

According to Sokolow, the only way to grow artistically and professionally is by simply creating new content as frequently as possible, and she also partially dismissed the signifi cance of “who you know.”

“As you build your body of work, you build your reputation,” Sokolow said. “It is who you know, but it takes a lot of work to know those people. You can’t sit around and wait to be discovered.”

Sokolow has found an advantage in the documentary format, where the fi lms have been “not just art but advocacy.” Since her fi lms promote social activism, she has been

Pittsburgh fi lmmakers need more than connections for success

Ian Flangan Staff Writer

Filmmakers 21


career was kind of limbo [because my contract expired]. I actually got an of-fer for a new contract the second day after I was offered this job at NBC. In the long term, this seemed like the best decision. I believed in my career and talents as a player, but I didn’t really think I was going to get much further in the soccer world. Crazy things can

happen, you can get spotted ... but I think I was at my peak. It’s been a year and a bit in my job now, and I’ve loved every single second of it.

TPN: As a journalist, players will tell you all the time that you see the game differently when you’re playing on the pitch. Have you noticed that difference since you made the switch?

JPW: I think when you’re playing, you try and block out a lot of the media stuff. I think the big thing that I’ve seen is the tactical acumen and the tactical

knowledge [of journalists] is second to none. Just working out how teams and players play and the stats that go along with it ... I think a lot of players would be surprised. I like to think that my opinion of the game hasn’t changed too much [since becoming a journalist]. Hopefully I can explain things to people better and continue to give them a good insight on what happens on the pitch.

TPN: How do you see the game grow-ing in the U.S. and how does the soccer culture compare to that of the U.K.?

JPW: It’s incredible. In 2007, when I came to Pitt, David Beckham had just started playing for the LA Galaxy ... and now there are 21, 22, 23 teams. The U.S. National Team, I’ve never seen a country get so excited about a World Cup campaign. I think we’re really on the cusp of something here. It’s grow-ing even faster than any soccer analyst or fan in the U.S. could have ever hoped. It’s a pleasure to be involved in, and I hope we’ll see it continue to grow for many years to come.

PRINCE-WRIGHTFROM PAGE 16

you had to make from college to the minor leagues?

ES: I feel like the fi rst year, where I was coming right out to Pitt, I took a little time o! ... I took, I want to say, three weeks, so my timing was kind of o! . It’s kind of hard to get your timing back when you’re seeing Friday night guys every night in the pro level. In college, I was hitting everyday and I was already locked in. So, I guess, the time o! kind of threw me o! .

TPN: What are you looking to improve on this o! season?

ES: Becoming smart towards the game. Getting ready for a longer season, getting my body ready physically and mentally, because it’s a grind. Minor league base-ball people think it’s easy, but you kind of deal with a lot of adversity being away from home a long time. And just keeping my mental approach strong. Not letting things get to me and just going out there and having fun.

TPN: How do you best prepare your body to handle the uptick in games from Class A Short Season (76 games) to Class A (140 games)?

ES: You change your diet a little bit, you work out more. Work out your smaller muscles. People don’t understand that being big isn’t what you want to be as a baseball player. You want to be fl exible. Make sure all of your small tendons and small muscles are being worked on. Doing a lot of shoulder care ... little leg workouts for my knees, back workouts. It kind of all ties in with just mentally preparing yourself. Because, if you’re not mentally prepared for it, then

SOTOFROM PAGE 16

Soto 25

19September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.comARTART

For many artists living and working in Pittsburgh, creative expression isn’t just a fun hobby or a means of making extra cash — it’s a way of life.

That’s the case for local artists Dan-ny Bracken, John Peña and Ben Sota, whose work will be featured in the up-coming “Artists In Residence” exhibi-tion at the Mattress Factory. For the exhibition,which opens tonight and runs through the end of next May, fi ve Pittsburgh artists created installations at the museum.

While these artists are individual thinkers when it comes to their work, they have similar views on Pittsburgh as a hub for creativity.

“Pittsburgh is pretty amazing [in terms of ] how much support there is for artists,” Bracken, who previously lived in Chicago, said. “It’s a small city, so there’s not as much competition, and it’s very a! ordable. You’re able to spend a lot of time focusing on work rather than pay-ing your rent.”

Bracken’s Mattress Factory installa-tion will be a combination of large, multi-sensory pieces and small, visual pieces, which are often synchronized with music, to combine the physical and the abstract.

In a profession as unconventional as art, it can be di" cult to make a living based solely on creative projects.

Sota —a Pitt alum and the artistic director of the Zany Umbrella Circus, a street theater and circus company — has considered art to be his sole job for 13 years.

“My work is performance-based, so I’m di! erent,” he said. “But it’s all about referrals. I’ve never really had money for marketing. It’s hard at times, but [focus-ing on art] is beautiful.”

Sota’s exhibit will be an installation portrait of the Zany Umbrella Circus. In his own words, it’s a “temporary autono-mous zone that operates using commu-nity, connection and inspiration.”

Bracken, too, recognizes the impor-tance of word-of-mouth marketing. In addition to grant funding, he relies on larger, installation-based projects to get exposure for his visual art. He also makes music for fi lm, including the short fi lms “Tell Me” and the 2013 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner for documentary, “Blood Brothers,” to support his income.

Alternatively, much of Peña’s work can be sold directly, and, from those sales, he earns commissions. He also takes on other tasks like speaking at universities and museums, including Carnegie Mellon and La Universidad del Valle in Cali, Co-lombia. But Peña knows that his situation isn’t uniform for all artists.

“There is a whole range of people [working locally as artists], and how they earn their income is very unique to each person,” said Peña.

Peña’s installation will focus on the relationship between humans and na-ture , which, according to mattress.org, “evokes appreciation for the ordinary moments in daily life,” by using three-dimensional word balloons supported in space by wooden sca! olding and beams.

Though their ways of making a living di! er signifi cantly, Sota acknowledges that being an artist in Pittsburgh is like its own community.

“It’s tight-knit within di! erent genres of art form,” he said. “[Local artists] are becoming more interdisciplinary minded, which is a new thing that has happened.”

As far as a set daily routine for these artists, there really isn’t one — their schedules are typically project-based.

“I try to keep normal working hours, but I’m not super strict,” said Bracken. “It really depends what I’m working on, and sometimes I pick up last-minute projects.”

Peña’s routine is a bit more set, but that, he said, is a by-product of his pro-cess. He prefers to handle the business side of his career in the morning, and he also writes a daily note addressed simply to “The Ocean,” which, once returned to

Artists from Mattress Factory discuss making it in Pittsburgh

Britnee Meiser Staff Writer

Mattress 22

20 September 12, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.comINTERVIEWINTERVIEW

The NFL has taken some considerable heat lately for issues off the field. But, when the adaptation of Jeanne Marie Laskas’ article “Game Brain” hits the-aters, the conversation might shift back to effects of what happens on the field.

“Game Brain” brought Bennet Om-alu, a Pittsburgh pathologist, and his studies on concussion-related deaths and suicides in the NFL to the fore-front. His breakthrough came during an autopsy on Mike Webster, a former lineman for the Steelers with four Super Bowl rings. In short, Omalu discovered a new disease known as CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in Webster’s brain. He presented his findings to the NFL, which the league declared ridicu-lous and inconceivable.

Laskas’ profile, which featured in GQ, is currently being adapted into a feature film with Will Smith attached to star as Omalu. It will be written and directed by Peter Landesman, with Rid-ley Scott set to produce.

Laskas, the director of Pitt’s creative writing program, is a renowned author of six books and several magazine arti-cles. Her features have been included in numerous anthologies, including “Best American Magazine Writing” and “Best American Sportswriting.”

The Pitt News talked to Laskas over the phone about her involvement in the film, expanding upon reported news and speculating why the NFL resisted Omalu’s research. Here’s a portion of her edited interview.

TPN: Before you began your re-search, did you have any expectations?

Laskas: There had been quite a lot of reporting on concussions and foot-ball players that had been really well-recorded by The New York Times. Alan Schwarz had really covered it so well that our idea to do a magazine piece was to sort of take the news, but go a bit deeper and turn it into a feature.

So we weren’t expecting to break any news — that wasn’t our objective. Our objective was to sort of personalize what it was like for some of these players and that of their families who had died, like Mike Webster. But in the report-ing, what really stood out was the fact that this guy Bennet Omalu was hardly ever mentioned. I got really curious about why this guy, [who] apparently had discovered this disease, had just fallen off the map.

TPN: What is your involvement in the filmmaking process?

Laskas: I think it’s a pretty typical set-up when you have a book or a maga-zine article optioned to be made into a movie. Usually, the author is made into some kind of consultant, and you can be as involved or uninvolved as much as the director or producer want. I kind of stay away because I honor that it’s their vision now, but I’m available for consultation and to read the script if they like — to offer my opinions for further insight, to provide my research.

TPN: You talked about how the origi-nal article ignores Omalu’s discovery of CTE. Why do you think this was over-looked in the research?

Laskas: It’s a pretty systematic ef-fort by the NFL from the beginning to kind of take charge of the narrative of what was going on in the brains of the football players. And, with traumatic brain injuries, that systematic effort started with their committee they set up long ago, which I detail in the ar-ticle and [is] what the movie will be about, too. They were writing articles in medical journals, and especially Neu-rosurgery, where they state certain sets of research. Omalu comes in out of no-where. He was not part of their team or anyone else’s team. He was a pathologist in Pittsburgh that got Mike Webster’s body and comes up with the finding, and this committee just said he was wrong and weird. They said this many times,

Pitt!s creative writing director talks Hollywood adaptations

Mason Lazarcheff For The Pitt News

Laskas 22


supported along the way via grants of local groups such as Steeltown Entertainment and the Pittsburgh Foundation.

Her latest and most elaborate project is the full-length documentary “Aspie Seeks Love,” which she is directing, producing and editing, in addition to composing half of the score. It follows David Matthews, an artist diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age 41, who posts humorous personal ads on telephone poles seeking love. After 3 1/2 years of work, the fi lm is set to release next year.

“There is no separation between my work and my life. There are no hours. It’s just constant,” Sokolow said.

Both Fisher and Sokolow agreed that part-time jobs are an inevitable part of the independent fi lmmaker’s career path.

“It’s hard to work a job that’s unrelated and to have the time and energy to when you get done with that [job] to do your fi lm work,” Sokolow said. “[But] if it’s what you love, don’t give up — it’s trite, but it’s true.”

FILMMAKERSFROM PAGE 17

Julie Sokolow with the subject of her latest documentary, “Aspie Seeks Love.” Photo Courtesy of Julie Sokolow


sender, goes on display in his “Letter to The Ocean” exhibit. He has accumulated more than 3,000 returned letters since 2003.

For his exhibit at the Mattress Fac-tory, Bracken has been working 9-5 days with assistants to make the most out of his time.

“They invited me to take part a year and a half ago,” said Bracken. “I didn’t have to submit a proposal. They just let me do whatever I wanted. They’ve got great resources for materials and brainstorm-ing and [have been] open and accessible to help me.”

For young artists looking to make a name for themselves locally, metropolitan areas are often a launchpad.

“There’s no book on how to be an art-ist,” said Sota. “Find a mentorship in the city. Take advantage of the resources Pittsburgh o! ers [for artists]. Think out-side the box.”

MATTRESSFROM PAGE 19

so it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t subtle. TPN: Did the NFL do this for finan-

cial reasons, or because they didn’t want to deal with the repercussions?

Laskas: I think it ’s hard to know for sure. I mean, there’s a class action lawsuit now with 3,000 former NFL players, and this is the question. What did the NFL know, and when did they know it? That served as the basis for this lawsuit. So you can have a theory, you can begin and wonder and vacillate be-tween a generous response than a more cynical one. My generous response is they just didn’t want it to be true. They didn’t have time for this nonsense. They just wanted to continue to play football like kids on the street. Until, finally, it became undeniable — in the couple years with Junior Seau’s suicide and Dave Duerson’s suicide. [Duerson ] killed himself by shooting himself in the stomach, leaving a note saying, “please examine my brain.”

TPN: Has your work in Hollywood interfered with your school work?

Laskas: That kind of stuff is negoti-ated. Any faculty member working on a major research project has to figure out how to manage the workload. So maybe you’re teaching more classes one term and fewer the next term, depending on a giant project like this landing on your lap. We had to do a little tap dancing to give ourselves a little wiggle room. You’re essentially trying to time it to match with your sabbatical. The real world doesn’t always fit that pattern.

LASKASFROM PAGE 20

interest you,” Pilevsky said. Like Pilevsky, self-employment has

shown Burger its hard side, too.“I think a lot of people have this mis-

conception that people who are self-em-ployed can do whatever they want, when-ever they want to and are not accountable to other people,” Burger said.

Burger said this couldn’t be further from the truth.

“If anything, self-employed business owners are held even more accountable for their business dealings than someone who is on a paid salary,” Burger said.

But for those who make it, the result-ing resumé can be worth more than the paychecks.

“I think it shows a real strength of char-acter and discipline to be self-employed during college,” Pilevsky said. “In some cases it shows managerial skills and com-munication skills that are di" cult to de-scribe on paper and hard to pinpoint on a resumé.”

SELF-EMPLOYEDFROM PAGE 8


of the Louisville loss in hushed tones to small children, scaring misbehaving kids straight with tales of [former Lou-isville quarterback] Teddy Bridgewater, touchdowns in bunches and offensive ineptitude,” he said. “It got better from there, you’ll say, and I’ll reply: Yeah, but that was pretty bad.”

Bad, indeed.Pitt’s Paul Chryst coaches the team

that calls Pittsburgh — a city that acts as a sports media hub, among other things — its home. The program shares its home field and practice facility with the Steelers, an iconic tradition of in-ternational proportions, so the spot-light is always on Chryst and his group consisting of many former Clairton Bears.

You might wonder: How can Chryst, in biweekly press conferences, talk up his week three opponent? Does he su-garcoat the fact that Pitt is traveling to play David, if Pitt is Goliath?

“Certainly I think as far as their of-fense, I’ve been impressed,” Chryst said of FIU via teleconference on Wednes-day. “They’ve got the ability to hurt you throwing the ball and running. I think the running back is a good player.”

Pitt wide receiver Manasseh Garner was a little more straightforward when he addressed the media on Monday.

“We’ll respect FIU, whether they were the No. 1 team in the country or what they are now,” he said. “They’re still our opponent, and we’re going to practice and prepare just as if they’re the best team in the country.”

Speaking of preparation, forecast-ers are calling for hot conditions (87 degrees, 78 percent humidity) for Sat-urday’s noon game between Pitt (2-0, 1-0 ACC) and FIU (1-1, 0-0 Conference USA). The contest is just the second-ever noon game played at FIU Stadium, also known as “The Cage.”

And although NCAA’s rulebook does not specify, FIU’s athletics site claims that road teams have to agree on which uniform color home teams wish to wear. The site added that FIU’s

decision makers wanted to wear white on Saturday to fend off the Miami heat, even though teams traditionally choose to wear white on the road and dark colors at home.

According to the site, Pitt denied FIU of its wish, and Pitt will wear white uniforms.

One FIU fan added a comment to the site’s post, saying that it ’s a win-win jersey situation for Pitt in its plan to keep cool on Saturday. “Gold helmets would attract much less heat. They re-flect the sunlight. And the head is the most important part of the body to keep cool on a hot day. Just saying ... ”

Hopefully, for Pitt fans, the game will get out of hand early. If it does, it could be fun to note with people in your living room that FIU and Pitt share a list of connections. While some of them are rather odd, they are all noteworthy.

Chryst said that his relationship with FIU head coach Ron Turner dates back a long time, adding to the discus-sion that the schools’ mascots aren’t the only things the squads have in common.

In the early ‘80s, Turner groomed Pitt quarterback John Congemi while serving as Pitt ’s quarterbacks coach under then-head coach Foge Fazio. And, in 1993, former Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who was head coach of the NFL’s Chicago Bears from 1993 to 1998, hired Turner as the Bears offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

And, when Wannstedt resigned from Pitt in 2010 and Todd Graham left abruptly in 2011, FIU had just come off two successful seasons.

FIU’s then-coach, Mario Cristobal, took his team to bowl games in 2009 and 2010, and, after the 2010 season, he reportedly became the frontrunner to be Graham’s replacement at Pitt after interviewing for the job that December.

Instead, Pitt chose Chryst, and Cris-tobal’s FIU Panthers went 3-9 in 2012. Cristobal was fired that year. It’s funny how things play out.

Maybe FIU will win some games again soon. It’ll have to wait another several weeks, though.

FIU hosts Louisville next Saturday.

FIUFROM PAGE 5


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Mary Henry had a memorable week-end, setting a new career high in as-sists. She recorded 59, five more than her previous record. With those 59 as-sists, Henry solely holds fourth place on Duquesne’s all-time assists list with 2,534. Freshman Molly Davet also set a career high with her double-double. The outside hitter tallied 17 digs and 17 kills. Davet’s overall performance helped her nab a spot on the All-Tournament Team, along with teammate Sammy Kline. The sophomore libero had 40 digs.

Duquesne also took home the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament honors, thanks to senior middle blocker Arielle Love, the reigning A-10 First-Team All-Conference member, who had a hitting percentage of .403.

Norfolk State The Spartans come into the Panther

Classic hoping for their big break. Nor-folk (0-6) has yet to win a match this season, winning only three total games

during that span.Despite remaining winless, NSU has

had a few bright spots coming from the new faces on the roster. In the Spar-tans’ first tournament at James Madi-son University, freshman right side/outside hitter Hope Forsythe made the All-Tournament Team. This past week-end, freshman teammate Clarke Tyler earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team at East Carolina.

Senior libero Noelle Eagles is looking to cement her place in the NSU record books. Eagles currently holds the top spot in NSU history and ranks 19th in the NCAA Division I in career digs with 1,427. Junior Darcy Moore also looks to continue her hot streak. The setter finds herself nationally ranked in the top 150 in assists per set, averaging 9.29.

Niagara Niagara has seen mixed results so

far in the season, but the team is coming off a win. The Purple Eagles (3-4) only had one loss in their own tournament and finished 2-1, despite being ranked as the lowest seed.

Niagara is also relying on some time-

ly play by freshman players. Outside hitter Nicole Matheis and setter Alexis Gray have already been improving, with both players being named to the All-Tournament Team in their home tourna-ment. Matheis and Gray are also rising in the ranks in their conference. Matheis has the top two kill performances — 22 and 21 — in the MAAC, while Gray holds the spot for the most assists by a MAAC player with 54.

Defensively, the Purple Eagles have shown that they can be strong. Senior libero Allison Reis has set a high for a MAAC player with 35 digs, while team-mate Alex Stone, a sophomore middle blocker, has nine total blocks.

The Panthers will have home-court advantage when they take the court. Pitt will finally have full support of the University with student athletes, the Pitt Band and Pitt Cheerleaders. Campbell knows the boost that can give.

“It will be good to be in front of our home crowd and let the Pitt stands see how hard we will be working,” she said. “It’ll be a cool crowd. We’re really look-ing forward to it.”

VOLLEYBALLFROM PAGE 5

The volleyball team is 5-1 this season. Zach Schaffer | Senior Staff Photographer


T P NS U DO K U

Today’s di! culty level: HardPuzzles by Dailysodoku.com

the future. This means no investment, no expansion and no consistent sources of new jobs.

Stable government policies encour-age economic growth — realistically, this doesn’t mean rigid policies . Congress will have to adjust taxes periodically and tweak regulations. Passing and implementing pol-icies, such as healthcare, is stable while threatening to make the government shut down over policy change is not.

Yet, stability for the economy should not be seen by the public as a constant straight line. Things like tax rates can fl uctuate from 0 to 40 percent and people, acting as both consumers and producers, will know how to take these changes into account for their business or their budget.

There will always be imperfections in the regulations (or lack thereof), but legislators must change them later on. The government does not have to get the economy right the fi rst time. The economy can help itself.

Email Stephen at [email protected].

CARUSOFROM PAGE 4

it’s going to be a real struggle for you.TPN: How was the experience of being

named a Northwest League All-Star? ES: It shows that you put in the work

and someone’s recognizing it. It was kind of a tough year for me, my fi rst season. This year, I decided to put in the work. It was an awesome experience to be able to come back and be an all-star in a league where there’s a bunch of guys that are pretty good. To be picked for an all-star team out of eight teams and maybe 20, 24, maybe 25 catchers. To be one of the two to get picked, it’s a pretty cool feeling.

TPN: How have you adjusted to the mi-nor league lifestyle?

ES: It’s a quick adjustment, you kind of mature [earlier]. You kind of think back when you were in college and you say, ‘Damn, I had it real easy when I was in school.’ Now you kind of got to fi gure it all out on your own, and you just have to work with your instincts and go along with whatever’s going on.

SOTOFROM PAGE 18

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