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Flip to Focus this week to read about creative Halloween

costume ideas.49

Friday, October 28, 2011• Volume 97, Issue 14 • nique.net Make your own costume

By Madison LeeContributing Writer

The National Pan-Hellenic Coun-cil (NPHC) presented its fourth an-nual Homecoming Step Show to a full house in the Ferst Center last Friday night. The competition showcased the rhythmic talent of members from eight historically black fraternities and so-rorities on campus.

A time-honored percussive dance,

stepping is a complex combination of modern and traditional moves that range from stomping and clapping to the vocal chants unique to each frater-nity and sorority.

After the students completed their performances, the judges announced that the winners of the competition this year were both the men of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and also the la-

See Buzz, page 2

See Step, page 5See Roosevelt, page 2

Roosevelt Inst. facilitates

education talkBy Joe Boltri

Contributing Writer

On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 20, mem-bers of the Tech community gathered in the Clary Theater in the Student Success Center to attend an education discussion hosted by the GT Roosevelt Institution. The evening con-sisted of a showing of the documentary Waiting for Superman followed by a panel discussion be-tween those attending and several Atlanta lead-ers involved in the education field.

The three panelists that were invited to field questions from the students and faculty in at-tendance were David Jernigan, Executive Direc-tor for the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) of Metro Atlanta; Jerri Nims Rooker, Director of the Center for an Educated Georgia; and Kim Seoudy, Georgia Recruitment Manager for Teach for America. The goal of the program was to promote an awareness and understanding of the issues faced by the American education sys-tem.

“We wanted to get people engaged initially via the film and let the panelists bring it back to a more tangible level,” said Haley Gillett, Project Coordinator for the screening and dis-cussion and a fourth-year PUBP major. “Having members of the community as speakers made it more real for us as students to get involved as advocates.”

GT Roosevelt Institution leadership also sought to begin a dialogue that could lead to tangible solutions to current problems in the education system. The panel first fielded several rounds of questioning from President of the GT Roosevelt Institution Chris Esposo and then engaged in a general discussion with all those attending.

“We need rigorous thinkers like the people here at Tech to form cross-collaborative partner-ships to make meaningful change,” Esposo said. “Tech’s students aren’t usually exposed to these social issues, but from them we can gain insight that is not found in our regular course work.”

Waiting for Superman, released last year, documents the many flaws that can be found

By Katherine MitchellContributing Writer

Approximately 1,700 members of the Tech community gathered at the campanile in order to par-ticipate in TEAM Buzz, an an-nual day of service geared toward improving the Atlanta area this past weekend.

Initially founded with the idea of bringing the Tech community together while simultaneously providing service to the Atlanta community, TEAM Buzz orga-nizers provided breakfast, a guest speaker, lunch, t-shirts and a post-service celebration to the hun-dreds of students that volunteered their Saturday morning.

“It’s nice to have a day devoted to getting off campus and doing some good,” said Nate Muller, the Outreach Chair for TEAM Buzz, who attributed the success of TEAM Buzz to the change in

scenery it provides Tech students. “Existing in our little stressful bubble in the middle of Atlanta, [we like] to get that warm feeling of helping out someone else rather than having to think about your thermo homework.”

Attendees could choose from approximately 32 projects, in-cluding those that focused on the environment, education, animal rights and medical care, each of which lasted approximately three hours and required participants to venture out into different commu-nities. Grant Park Conservancy, Discovery Program, Furkids, Inc. and MedShare were some exam-ples of the projects available for students to choose.

Joseph Taylor, a first grader at Flat Shoals Elementary, was one of the students who received tu-toring by volunteers via the Dis-covery Program, a student-led Saturday tutoring and enrichment

program.“My favorite part was counting

the strawberries,” Taylor said, who practiced his math skills during the tutoring session.

By the time TEAM Buzz had ended, he had answered fifty addi-tion problems and one word prob-lem and had won two rounds of a counting game.

Norquata Allen, a project co-ordinator and a second-year AE major, attributed her involvement with this year’s TEAM Buzz to past events by the organization.

“I really enjoyed [TEAM Buzz] last year and wanted to become more involved with it,” Allen said.

Despite its recent completion, plans to improve next year’s event have begun already, including serving better food options as an extra “thank you” to TEAM Buzz participants and pushing for more

TEAM Buzz celebrates 15th anniversary with service

Photo by Sho Kitamura / Student Publications

Students gather at the campanile before breaking off into smaller groups. This year’s TEAM Buzz featured over 32 service projects.

HOMECOMING STEP-DOWNStudents take stage at Ferst Center for annual show

Photos by Ben Stewart / Student Publications

Students showcased a variety of different themes at this year’s show.

2 • October 28, 2011 • Technique NEWS

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student body involvement. However, TEAM Buzz isn’t re-

stricted solely to the Atlanta cam-pus. Chan noted that the scope of the group has grown significantly, expanding across the nation to encompass various GT alumni clubs.

In addition, Muller anticipates similar TEAM Buzz events to oc-cur at other universities across the nation. He adds that internation-al TEAM Buzz participation has occurred in France and Amster-dam this year.

The ultimate goal in the end, announced by the the organizers during the morning’s organiza-tional period, has been and will continue to be to get as many people as possible to embrace the idea of “The BUZZness of giving back.”

Buzz from page 1

throughout the American educa-tional system and explores both the efficacy and downfalls of po-tential solutions thereof.

“Either kids are getting stu-pider every year, or something is wrong in the education system,” said Geoffrey Canada, President of the Harlem Children’s Zone and prominent voice throughout the movie. “The problem is our schools haven’t changed, but the world around them has.”

Much to the surprise of the panelists, who admitted that they were initially expecting to be answering questions in front of a room full of PUBP and other non-engineering majors, members of the audience spanned the range of majors and areas of interest.

For example, Henning Blunck, a German exchange-student seek-

ing his Master’s degree in Indus-trial Engineering, said he was curious as to how the problems faced by the American system compared to those faced in Ger-many and throughout the rest of Europe.

“The correlation between where you come from and what you learn in school is striking, both here and back in Germany. We must overcome the resistance to change that comes primarily from those who prefer the current system,” Blunck said.

Ultimately, the panelists stressed the idea that one of the easiest and most effective solu-tions to the system’s many prob-lems is to find motivated and ca-pable teachers.

“The challenge is to find peo-ple who could do anything, who would be at the front of their cho-sen field, and get them passionate about teaching,” Seoudy said.

Roosevelt from page 1

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 3 NEWS

www.nique.netsliver

anybody that has a tablet... doesn’t need a tabletbrush it off jackets!! you’ve got better games to win!we get it, zombies are like scary or whatever, stop making movies nowsliver guy: are you new this semester or in the past have you been remaining quiet, a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a dark knight?i really want to watch that movie without getting drunk and missing the good partswhoa, just got a math boner, i’m not proud of it, but it happenedat least Buzz is still undefeatedthe best way to cleanse the gene pool is for girls to stop dating guys that wear backwards hats. take a break, natural selection, we got thiscome one, SGA. Course critique is a year old now. registration in two weeks. seriously?srsly SGA? fix course critique!!!You’re in college now. It’s time to take off your letterman jacket.cold weather means layersAttention Wannabe Audiophiles: 2 tips: 1. Your Beats(tm) head-phones do not improve the quality of your crappy .mp3s. 2. Mod-ern vinyl means nothing since the music is still recorded digitally first. That is all. For now.To hipster on the Stinger playing the ukelele: stop.what a gloriously wonderful opportunity i missed, sigh...i’m serious about that hat thingbetter late than never but never late is betterSiri, you make my life completestarbucks green tea frapp everytimeSome BME teachers are hypocrites; they are devoid of the very thing they study: life.To the hott girl sitting next to me in the CULC... oh wait, you’re already my girlfriendI wish I could have nominated Sliverking for Mr. GTNice job with the out-of-order safety poles. Those are REALLY effective.

Council ClippingsThis week in Student Government

By Jordan Lockwood and Sam SomaniContributing Writers

Each week, this section includes coverage of different aspects of Student Government, including the Undergraduate House of Representatives, Graduate Student Senate and the Executive Branch of both governments.

Student DeathJames Black, Graduate Stu-

dent Body President, introduced a Joint Resolution to Express Con-dolences last Tuesday in order to formally recognize the suicide of a PhD candidate last week. Nim-rod Rooz was an AE PhD candi-date who passed away on Monday, Oct. 17.

The bill was immediately moved to a vote and passed unani-mously. The Senate is also in talks with Dr. Ruperto Perez, Director of the Counseling Center, to pur-sue new avenues to promote men-tal health among students.

In UHR, the bill was also mo-tioned to a vote after its arrival to the floor and passed unanimously by the representative body present at the time.

PRSBecause of the continued prob-

lems with the old PRS system used for voting procedures and at-tendance, both houses have begun using a new PRS system for tally-ing votes.

The GSS aims to eventually allow constituents to view their senators’ voting records via an online database, made possible by the PRS software.

“Sharing this data with our constituents is critical to ensure that proper communication is taking place around campus and truly the best decisions are being made for the student body,” said Mihir Pathak, Graduate Execu-tive Vice President and ME PhD student. “All things considered, these new systems help conduct

business more efficiently and pro-vide us with data that SGA was not able to collect in the past.”

The new clickers also increase voting facilitation by a count-down timer and the presentation of the breakdown of the votes on a large presentation screen, which is available for all members to see.

So You Think You Can Dance?Morgan Arnold, chair of Arts

and Culture for the Student Cen-ter Programs Council, appeared to defend a bill introduced by John Semmens (ME) to fund the third annual “So You Think Tech Can Dance (SYTTCD)?” competition. “SGA’s assistance is helping to cover the cost of the Ferst Center for our dress rehearsal and for the actual event,” said Arnold. Due to a recent change in the SGA’s policy where organizational dis-counts to rent Ferst were discon-tinued because of an end-of-the-year accumulation of a lump sum, SGA was forced to ask money for SYTTCD’s rental of the theatre for two days. The competition will be held on Feb. 8.

The TowerAnother bill that was passed in

UHR was the approval of fund-ing for six new magazine racks for The Tower, Tech’s undergraduate research journal, which would aid in the distribution of the publication to a wider audience. There was contention in the GSS regarding this issue, however. Some senators were concerned that the purchasing of additional racks was unnecessary to develop a wider circulation. They recom-mended that the existing racks simply be replaced. The organi-zational representative from The Tower explained that the existing racks were being effectively used and that new racks were indeed necessary to reach new readers.

A lot of things went on outside the bubble of Tech

in the past week. Here are a few important events taking place throughout the nation and the world.

Breaking theubbleB

Photo by Sho Kitamura / Student Publications

GSS and UHR have been dealing with issues with their PRS system, which is used for voting procedures and tracking weekly attendance.

EU reveals plan to resolve Euro crisis Banks have agreed to take a 50 percent loss on the Greek debt, the EU announced early Wednesday morning. This agreement represents a significant step towards protecting and ensuring the longevity of the euro. The currency for the majority of EU members, the euro has been on shaky ground of late, especially in light of the incredible amount of Greek debt, as well as that from Italy and other countries.

Occupy Wall Street turns violent

Several cities that have taken significant strides to shut down the Occupy Wall Street protest-ers in their respective areas.

Oakland, San Francisco and Atlanta have all taken action against the protesters.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed ordered 53 protesters arrested and their tents taken down, cit-ing a lack of safety following an impromptu hip-hop concert over the weekend.

In Oakland, police used tear gas on protesters late Tuesday to prevent them from reclaiming an area that had been cleared

and fenced off. The crowd eventu-ally removed the fencing and re-claimed the area after nearly 100 arrests and several injuries.

Officials in San Francisco made several statements to the protest-ers about the waste and unsani-tary conditions generated by the protests. Other cities seem likely to follow suit, with hundreds of arrests being made in cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia over the past week.

Obama releases new student loan plan

On Wednesday, the President announced that he would use an executive order to make new ben-efits available to student borrow-ers as early as 2012.

According to the original plan, which Congress approved in 2010, borrowers would be able to reduce their monthly payments from fifteen to ten percent of their discretionary income as of the year 2014.

The plan also says that borrow-ers’ balances of debt will be for-given after 20 years of payments, rather than in 25 years. Theses anouncements come on the heels of USAToday’s report that student debt will reach over $1 trillion by the end of the year.

The purpose of the new plan, called “Pay As You Earn,” is in-tended to lower monthly federal student loan payments for Ameri-cans whose burden of debt is dis-proportionate to their earning abilities.

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 5 NEWS

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SunTrust CEO defends bankingBy Jordan Lockwood

Contributing Writer

Bill Rogers, President and CEO of SunTrust Bank, ad-dressed students and faculty at the IMPACT Speaker Series on Wednesday evening.

“It is truly a privilege to be able to hear and learn from notable business leaders such as Bill Rog-ers at the weekly IMPACT Speak-er Series. Listening to successful leaders share their experiences and provide advice is very insightful,” says Kia Andrews, President of the Society of Women in Business and a third-year BA major.

Rodgers spoke about Sun-Trust’s ongoing positive relation-ship with Tech, including its ac-tive recruitment of student talent in all academic areas and a recent $200,000 charitable pledge to the Institute. He strongly high-lighted the parallels between the SunTrust and Tech “brands,” and how these brands are each built upon reputation and trust.

Trust among banks is at an all-time low, with more than half of troubled borrowers declining to negotiate with their bank prior to foreclosure or bankruptcy. Rodg-ers stressed that SunTrust is work-ing to restore public confidence in the company, through both continued lending and commu-nity service programs. SunTrust employees volunteered more than 100,000 hours last year and facilitated financial education programs in the Atlanta Public Schools in efforts to support the communities in which SunTrust does business.

After his address, Rodgers was asked by a student about Sun-Trust’s implementation of a $5 fee for debit card users, a controver-sial decision that prompted some customers to leave the bank.

“We wanted our customers to

have a place in the dialogue, and after asking what they wanted, we heard concerns about flexibility,” Rodgers said.

He explained that the debit card fee allows additional choice for customers about which ser-vices they receive and thus more control over how they are billed.

Another question came from George Chidi, a journalist, ana-lyst and Tech MBA alumnus. Chidi asked about the Occupy Wall Street movement, and whether Rodgers felt that any of its demands were valid. Rodgers replied by emphasizing the neces-sity of considering the opinions of everyone and by quoting a pro-tester from Toronto.

Chidi said this response did not address the problems within the financial services industry that inspired the movement.

“It’s instructive to note that, while dismissing Occupy Wall Street with an incoherent, cherry-picked quote, he ignored a very specific, well-informed question about the role weak accounting rules plays in America’s distrust of banks” Chidi said.

Rodgers assumed his role at SunTrust in June 2011, after hold-ing various positions within the company for more than three decades. He has worked in the ar-eas of corporate and commercial banking, corporate finance, re-tail banking and mortgage bank-ing. He spoke at Tech as part of his efforts to reach the public in town-hall style forums such as IMPACT.

The IMPACT Series is At-lanta’s largest university-based speaker series, with weekly pre-sentations that are free and open to the public. Topics include en-trepreneurship (both social and commercial), innovation, leader-ship, and sustainability.

The program is designed to widen students’ horizons and understanding regarding these important issues, as well as to en-gage the Tech community in the important debates that are often discussed in national and interna-tional arenas.

IMPACT is run by the Insti-tute for Leadership and Entrepre-neurship at the College of Man-agement.

Step from page 1

dies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Soror-ity, Inc.

Hosted by Honey B and DJ Outta Space from V-103, “The People’s Station,” the show was fastpaced and attracted an ener-getic crowd.

A number of people in the au-dience were student and alumni of the competing organizations, who showed their support between performances by strolling—ex-ecuting a choreographed series of dance steps—and identify-ing themselves with their unique hand signs while simultaniously performing the calls of their affili-ations.

During their performances, the members of each organiza-tion stepped to a chosen theme in-tended to capture the spirit of the organization.

The first team to the stage were the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fra-ternity, Inc., who initiated the show with a jailbreak routine. The ladies of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. followed with a salon theme, and the men of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. were the next to perform with an act inspired by Harry Potter. Then, the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. showed how the West was won with a cowgirl theme.

“We wanted our theme to re-flect our personality, entertain the audience and be original, while developing steps that were differ-ent and challenged our organiza-tion…it took a lot of practice to make sure everyone was precise and every movement was executed the same way,” said Khrystyan Edens, member of the Xi Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a fourth-year CHBE major.

After intermission, the ladies of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. performed as the natives of a planet preparing for battle against invaders. Next, the men of Kappa

Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. took the stage with a mafia theme before the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. put on a firefight-ing routine. Finally, the men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. ex-plored old school dance styles in their performance.

“The story telling in each per-formance made the show even more interesting…from the Del-tas’ western theme, to the Alphas’ law and order based theme…the show was dynamic because of the different costumes and plot lines. The lighting this year was also phenomenal,” said Jasmine Bur-ton, a second-year ID major who participated in advertising for the event.

While the judges deliberated, NPHC alumni showed off their skills and synchronicity in a Unity Step. The performance highlight-ed their dedication, precision and pride for their respective organiza-tions.

“It was great to see how older members still could show off their moves and represent their letters with style and grace…at the end of the day, the Alumni Step repre-sented how people of all ages and letters come together as one to in-fluence their community. It was a powerful message,” Burton said.

The Step Show was sponsored by Auxiliary Services and the Stu-dent Government Association. It recognized the 50th anniversary of the matriculation of black stu-dents at Tech and ultimately gave the Tech community an opportu-nity to witness the talents of these historically black fraternities and sororities.

“Stepping is an important tra-dition for NPHC organizations because it gives us an opportunity to showcase our culture and have fun at the same time. [It] symbol-izes our unity…as a sisterhood or brotherhood,” said Erin Wilson, member of the Xi Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a third-year IE major.

Photo by Sho Kitamura / Student Publications

CEO of SunTrust Bank Bill Rogers fielded questions about new charges for debit card use and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

OpinionsTechnique

6Friday,

October 28, 2011

A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved. —Kurt Vonnegut

Opinions Editor: Chris Russell

“”OUR VIEWS Consensus opinion

‘Occupy’ highlights students’ apathy for world events

Despite mixed reactions from the press, the Occupy movement has spread from Wall Street to major cities all over the country—including Atlanta. For several days, protestors have occupied prominent parts of the city, with Woodruff Park playing home to most of them.

However, despite being members of one of the most prominent universities in the city, Tech students have had little to do with the protests, either in terms of joining them or taking a stance against them, continuing Tech students’ famed pattern of apathy towards world events.

Some would argue that they are too engrossed in their studies of science and technology to keep up with or participate in current events. However, this argument is flawed. How can a student expect to end hunger without tracking patterns of famine, or use technology to alleviate poverty if they don’t even bother to learn about poverty around the world?

The only way Tech students will become

more knowledgeable about current events is if they both are given the opportunity and themselves take the initiative required to keep abreast of such events. Students should be given access to more major news sources on campus. Despite the growing trend of online news, nothing beats having newspapers lying around for students to read between classes or while having a meal.

That said, all the opportunities in the world won’t mean anything if students don’t take advantage of them. Students should make an effort to at least read the major headlines of world news every day if they want to have any hope of keeping track of what is happening around the world. Moreover, they should make an effort to step outside their bubbles and see the problems firsthand.

It is hypocritical for students to think they can make educated judgments of events surrounding them if they do not take the time to observe them in person.

EDITORIAL CARTOON By CASEy TISDEL

Many are concerned this se-mester by some students’ attitude that a ‘T’ still in possession of its sign must be in want of a new home in a student’s room. They inveigh against the debasement of the venerable tradition of daring Tech Tower ‘T’ thefts into petty acts of vandalism. Others have seen little merit in these freshly purloined letters beyond their maintenance of tradition. Still un-spoken is the chief virtue of these disappearances, which greatly succor students and redound to our institution’s lasting benefit.

This salutary consequence is that this expansion of ‘T’ removal improves our students’ technical, risk management and organiza-tional skills. Consider what stu-dents must leverage under pres-sure to pull off a heist of a ‘T.’ They must design an appropriate mech-anism for removal of the targeted ‘T,’ coordinate their procedures, and proceed safely and discretely, all through teamwork. Students at this excellent educational institu-tion seek opportunities to apply skills and demonstrate abilities in real-world situations. Removing T’s undoubtedly fulfills both.

Additionally, ‘T’ removal con-fers lasting benefits on the very institution whose signs are tem-porarily defaced. Out of love for it and regard for its traditions stu-dents steal T’s, and being able to forever carry a ‘T’ with them may very well foster that extra bond

and fond memory that will cause them to lavishly support their alma mater as professionals, more than compensating for the cost and confusion caused by a missing T. Even if no money is forthcom-ing, alumni will be more inclined to speak fondly of their college days, which can only improve this school’s reputation.

If the administration and SGA do not accept the above argu-ments, they may instead co-opt the nascent movement with the following technique: host an an-nual “True T-Theft Night,” for which student teams scrupulously prepare to heist the T from Tech Tower. This should refocus stu-dents’ aspirations on the true T, provide skills currently practiced through illegitimate venues and create a more aesthetic campus. Participating students, having overcome the roof-sensors, cam-eras, fences, and other unan-nounced obstacles emplaced by the administration, will have one more practicum in their portfo-lios.

Moreover, they will have the experience necessary to abscond with scarlet letters from that cam-pus in Athens. Ultimately, they will enter the workforce stronger and more prepared than ever be-fore, and may it be to our institu-tion’s greatness!

David GibbsBIO PhD student

yOUR VIEWS Letters to the editor

‘T’ thefts strengthen skills, community

The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.

Technique Editorial BoardVijai Narayanan, Editor-in-ChiefKamna Bohra, Managing Editor

Mike Donohue, Business Manager

Emily Cardin, News EditorVivian Fan, Outreach Editor Siddharth Gurnani, Focus EditorNishant Prasadh, Development Editor

Chris Russell, Opinions EditorMatt Schrichte, Advertising ManagerAlex Sohani, Sports EditorZheng Zheng, Entertainment Editor

New BoA practices justify right to protest

By Jacob OllerOklahoma Daily, U. Oklahoma

Well, Bank of America, I think it’s time we had a little chat.

You posted $6.2 billion in profit this quarter. And that’s good. Glad to see you back on your feet. Now it’s easy to see that you’re really not hard up for cash, so this would be an excellent op-portunity for you to stop screwing over Americans. I mean, with Oc-cupy Wall Street, people are actu-ally calling out banks, investment firms and ratings agencies on their terrible business practices.

Bank of America, your profits are great, but this means that the new fees you’ve decided to push onto people with your debit cards are completely unnecessary. For those readers who aren’t aware, there will be a monthly $5 fee to have a debit card with Bank of America. This new way to charge for a previously free service comes as a response to reforms brought to Wall Street by the Dodd-Frank Act which reduced how much banks can charge retailers due to debit card swipes.

And as college students, banks are constantly after our money anyway. If you’re like me, you

probably don’t have the $20,000 or so in the bank that exempts you from these fees, so you may think about switching out.

With $6.2 billion in profits this quarter, it’s not like we should feel upset for them. There’s ab-solutely no reason to stand for these fees. Never mind that Bank of America also plans to cut ten percent (or 30,000) of its employ-ees and close ten percent of its branches. Nah, don’t worry about it guys, America didn’t need those jobs anyway. Oh, wait. And you say the 2,000 people you fired in this wave of layoffs didn’t show up on your $6.2 billion profits, huh? Seems like you didn’t even need to fire those people. But I’m sure you know what you’re doing.

Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan defended his bank’s new $5 fee on debit cards and the firings, saying that customers understand the bank has a “right to make a profit.” Well, I suppose we understand that profits are the point of a business. But we can also understand that you made a profit separate from the institu-tion of this fee and the firing of 2,000 hardworking Americans. So I hope you’ll understand when we say we have a right to protest.

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 7 OPINIONS

A section of strings play a baroque fugue over the boom-ing voice of a choir. For seven minutes, the listener is taken through a highway of shift-ing minor keys, irregular time signatures and highly techni-cal solos comparable in speed and skill to the virtuosos of the classical era like Beethoven and Chopin. The awe-inspir-ing, sweeping passages travel through two thematic move-ments and last over seven min-utes. No, this is not the Atlan-ta Symphony Orchestra.

This is a death metal band, Haggard.

Metal today is distin-guished by harsh, coarse vo-cals, often screaming or yell-ing, accompanied by heavily distorted and detuned guitars. The music is brutish, aggressive and abrasive to most people’s ears. Its darker tone and lyrical content regarding violence and the occult has made people shy away from the genre.

I argue that despite the “culture shock” of metal, it provides one of the most en-couraging outlets for musical development and instrumental skill. Yes, the music is inten-tionally vicious and aggressive, making it appear childish and simple. Screaming and yelling is a practice associated with immaturity and does not mark professionalism in music.

But the whole act is inten-tional, of course, not for rea-sons of degrading the image

and quality of the band, but to convey a different idea than most genres. If we were to sim-ply divide music into overarch-ing genres like pop, rock, jazz etc., then we can say a majority of those center around the idea of tonal aestheticism and emo-tional development. I’m not going to say a majority of songs in that genre are hedonistic or are love ballads; however, jazz was founded on the idea of im-provisation and individuality, where the structured orchestra was replaced by the single gui-tarist and his solo, and most popular genres today build off the values of jazz.

Metal is not a tonal type of music. It is percussive and rhythmic, meaning the qual-ity of each note is not as im-portant as the rhythm and the beat, hence the excessive dis-tortion and screaming.

As for themes on the occult and violence, many songs con-cern death, hatred and other seemingly simple and unde-veloped thoughts. Some bands really are that simple; there are

just as many Justin Beiber and Jonas Brother band equiva-lents in metal. What’s a shame is that it gives metal a bad rep-utation and distracts from the Opeth albums that conceptu-alize the life of a man strug-gling against an oppressive theocracy while searching for his lost true love or the Protest the Hero album that discusses the circular nature of history and pagan religions. Metal often speaks of death because it boldly addresses a taboo, it makes you face your mortality and think about what your life means in perspective.

Despite the fact that its her-itage is in rock and jazz, metal borrows heavily from ba-roque techniques and roman-tic themes. Tchaikovsky and Wagner took grand ideas like classical epics and patriotism to create powerful, bass-driven songs like Overture 1812 and Flight of the Valkyries. The songs were about great battles and awe-inspiring victories, metal is the same way. Bass is heavily emphasized and fast

guitar playing is a staple of any metal band. Bands not only play in the common ma-jor and minor keys, but also augmented, diminished and any other odd tunings to cre-ate unique atmospheres, but, more importantly, implant powerful undertones into the music.

Techniques like sweep picking and tapping facilitate the study of moving arpeggios over shifting tonal centers. Virtuoso bands like Dream Theater have members who are highly educated in music theory from schools like UC Berkely. The study of classical music lays the foundation for a lot of musicians in metal, and they implement those complex ideas to continually develop the genre. Playing fast does not always mean better, but metal musicians spend gross amounts of time training to play at those speeds.

Though metal music alien-ates itself from and appears impenetrable to the average listener, there are simply dif-ferent ideas and music styles that express the same feelings as all music: love, pain, anger, happiness, sadness, elation and confusion. Music is still all about what you prefer, as some would rather take one path than another but they have the same destination, an emotional catharsis.

All I am saying is, give metal a chance.

Sidelined music as valid as mainstream“Despite the fact that its

heritage is in rock and jazz, metal borrows heavily from

baroque techniques...”

Alex Kessler Assistant Focus Editor

Patrick CreaghSecond-year ID

“The Homecoming concert, of course!”

Jeff LandauSecond-year ME

“The Homecoming concert.”

Ian HeinrichThird-year BCHM

“Definitely the football game.”

Audrey ShlapakSecond-year IE

“The Homecoming concert.”

What is your favorite part of Homecoming Week?

BUZZAround Campus

I came to Tech in the fall of 2007. I turned 18 on my plane journey of some 7,500 miles from New Delhi, India, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Young, excited and impressionable, I started in a foreign land, what has turned out to be a memorable journey through college. A journey that is in its fifth year and one that still doesn’t cease to sur-prise me. Over the course of my time here at Tech, I have had a plethora of experiences that have molded me into a young adult who is eager, ex-cited and confident at the pros-pect of life after college even in these uncertain times.

This fall marked the begin-ning of my fifth year at Tech. It was another autumn, anoth-er football season, another set of young giddy freshman, an-other hectic schedule of rigor-ous classes and fewer and fewer familiar faces. What was I get-ting into, I thought to myself. Should I have tried to graduate in four years? Was the five-year plan a mistake? To add to the apprehension was the fact that I was coming back to school after an eight-month hiatus on account of a co-op job. As I put on my backpack and merged into a stream of students walk-ing on the newly named Tech walkway, I smiled. At once, it felt good to be back.

One of the major differ-ences between the American higher education system and other higher education sys-

tems is that undergraduate degrees are more flexible than equivalent degrees in other parts of the world like Eng-land and India. The programs are longer so that students get time to acclimatize to college and have more freedom and flexibility to take the courses and classes they are interested in, allowing them to discover their true passion. Extending one’s degree by yet another year can at times seem waste-ful and pointless but as I see it, there are many pros to spend-ing that extra semester or two at school that far outweigh the costs of not being able to get started on that real world job.

When I first began college, I was thinking about graduat-ing early. However, as I began to take classes and understand the nuances of college life and Tech in particular, I started to realize why many students take that extra year to gradu-ate. As we all know, Tech is an academically demanding school. Being the world class institution that Tech is, it has many wonderful opportuni-

ties on offer like international research, study abroad pro-grams and the highly-coveted co-op program, participation in which makes that four year graduation a rather faint possi-bility. We all have our individ-ual reasons for choosing Tech, but it is these unique offer-ings that made it the winning choice. To not take advantage of these opportunities would be unwise.

Additionally, college is full of young, bright and exciting minds. Unlike the lucky few students who know exactly what they want to do in life, most of us are trying to fig-ure out our true calling after we escape the boundaries of a four-year education. In a situ-ation like this, it makes even more sense to ease into college by taking fewer classes every semester and pushing that graduation date back. This is an even more sensible choice at a school like Tech where most classes require a lot of time commitment and hard work, and spending that extra semester here can only aid in

finding the paths to success. Finally, the connections and friendships that we foster by mingling with one another in an academic environment will be those that we will remem-ber forever.

Though I fully endorse the five-year plan, I do understand that there are some drawbacks to being in school longer. As many classmates and friends graduate and move on to real world jobs, one begins to feel old, costs stack up, loan pay-ments are put off for later, and graduate degrees are delayed. Though these are legitimate concerns, in the long run, the benefits of availing oneself of all that college has to offer will outweigh the costs in both ob-vious and subtle ways.

I have in my time here, gone on a faculty led study abroad program, cooped with a Fortune 500 company, tak-en up many leadership roles, worked part time jobs on cam-pus, volunteered in the com-munity, pursued my hobbies, travelled a lot, fostered suc-cessful romantic and platonic relationships, all while pursu-ing a world-class engineering degree. As I near graduation, I feel well equipped to face any challenges the real world might throw my way. So for all those who have apprehensions about staying at college longer, the five-year plan is a great plan if you take the initiative and embrace all that Tech has to offer.

Graduation delay opens new opportunities“As I see it, there are many pros to spending that extra

semester or two at school that far outweigh the costs...”

Siddharth Gurnani Focus Editor

Photos by Virginia Lin / Student Publications

8 • October 28, 2011 • Technique OPINIONS

Tech students capable of leading charge in fight against cancer

For those who have never heard of it, Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s sig-nature fundraising activity. It is a way for the members in the com-munity to give back by raising funds to enable the ACS to con-tinue its worldwide movement to end cancer. It is an all night event where teams come together to cel-ebrate the survivors, remember those who lost their battle with cancer and fight back against this disease.

The ACS not only hosts events in communities and cities, but is also present on college campuses. Relay is hosted annually at our university and Relay For Life at Georgia Tech could not be pos-sible without support from our campus.

But what is discouraging is the low numbers of participants from the Tech community. Our neighbors up the road in Ath-ens have earned their spot as the number one Relay in the United States by consistently performing impressively, raising more than $420,000 last year alone. Why are we allowing them that title? They continuously raise funds and come together as a campus to unite and fight this fight. Relay is one of their campus’ number one organizations. We need to follow their example. Participation from both the students and the faculty is crucial and it is only possible with each person’s help.

It starts with one person and the creation of a team. One per-son can make a difference. This is evident with the story of Dr. Gordy Klatt, a Tacoma colorec-tal surgeon and the person who envisioned Relay back in May of 1985 when he spent 24 hours cir-

cling the track at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. The first year nearly 300 of Klatt’s close friends, family and patients wit-nessed his walk. Throughout the 24-hour period friends donated $25 apiece to run or walk with him for 30 minutes and his efforts raised $27,000.

How fitting this story is that it began on a college campus and how encouraging this should be to us, the students of the Tech to come together as a community to support this fund. I know that the students of Tech possess pas-sion, motivation and effort. You are here, at a top university recog-nized all over the world. I believe that if some of that effort could be made to support a campus move-ment like Relay that we would witness a positive change in num-bers, support and success for this event.

It is time for us to step up and raise the bar. I am sure that this would make a huge impact on our school and our community.

Everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer. If it is not your immediate family member, it is a friend or a friend’s friend or family member. This disease has caused enough devas-tation, and now it is time to find a cure. It is time for us to fight back. If our country has the capability

of going to the moon, surely we can find a cure for cancer.

Many of you do not believe that you can make a difference, but suppose each person at Tech gave a dollar to fund research. Now take a minute to think about how much money that would gen-erate. Imagine the difference we would make to the cause as a uni-fied body.

Cancer does not discriminate. It has touched the lives of every-one around us; let us come to-gether to touch the lives of those who have survived, are currently fighting and who will soon receive the news that they are a cancer pa-tient. Let us bring about change on Tech’s campus participation in this event and let us come to-gether to fight for a cause we all hold dear to our hearts.

As Erin Sentell, the overall di-rector for this year’s Relay for Life stated, “We all know someone who has battled cancer. Because cancer is indiscriminate and could affect any one of us, it is impor-tant for everyone to work together to fight back by raising money for a cure.”

Who is on board?Anna Elliott is a MGT student

at Tech and the Marketing Director for Relay for Life GT, an organiza-tion on campus dedicated to fund-raising for cancer research.

OUR VIEWS hot or not

Buzzing aboutThis past Saturday, Tech

students went out in droves for the annual TeamBuzz service event, where students go into the streets of Atlanta to volun-teer at service projects around the city. This year, over 1,700 students volunteered for the service project’s 15th anniver-sary. This just proves that, if the cause is worthy enough, it is indeed possible to get a Tech student out of bed in the morning.

HOT– or –NOT“It is time for us to step up and raise the bar. I am sure that this

would make a huge impact on our school and our community.”

Anna ElliottMarketing Director, Relay For Life GT

Tug dugThe wallets of many of the

Greek organizations may feel a lot lighter this year, as the costs of one of Greek Week’s traditional events—Tug—just went through the roof. Facili-ties will no longer be able to provide the deeply discounted rates for digging the Tug pit that they have in years past, meaning that the event will have to either move above ground or find a new source of funding.

HalloweenAfter a week of Homecom-

ing events and parties, the T-Pain concert on Thursday and the Homecoming game against Clemson this week-end, Tech students still have the year’s scariest candy-filled holiday to look forward to. Without a doubt, Tech’s popu-lation of movie, game and TV buffs will provide a plethora of amusing costumes to continue the party into next week.

Gridiron gradsAccording to a report re-

leased by the ACC this week, the graduation rates for foot-ball and men’s basketball players at Tech aren’t exactly inspiring. Tech’s football and men’s basketball players suf-fer from graduation rates of 55 percent and 27 percent, respectively, the lowest in the conference. For comparison, Georgia players rank near the middle of the SEC.

techniq eall we’re missing is u!

pizza meetings on tuesdays 7 p.m., flag building, room137

Save a tree! Read us online!nique.net

www.nique.netsliver

Tech guys make the best boyfriends :)Thank you for sudoku Sliver KingCULC needs better floor outletsTo my INTA 2030 prof... no one cares!Some people rub me the wrong way but you can rub me however you wantsliver guy, no one cares who you are, seriously.no excuse for you to be a jerkhot post office girl, are you single?WHY IS EVERYONE TAKEN EXCEPT FOR MEif you asked me out, i’d say yes, i would, i really wouldcome to the post office. we have free candy. and single women.on campus after dark, i travel with chuck norris.why couldn’t the backstreet boys have performed for homecom-ing?ive never been drunk.sliver twitter facebook myspace cupcakesslivers shouldn’t be filtered.anxiety attackhey guyz schools over in like 2 monthsif our hands go up in class, should they stay there?sleep > productivityreddit > sleepi have conversations with myself in my head #isthisnormalyoud think with the guy/girl ratio up in this place thered be more men going after the ladies, but this is not the case. EXPLAIN.1. I’ve never said Pluto was a planet. 2. I never have any dishes cause of my meal planthe Sliver Surfer will rise and shine. He will wake up and realize he was only a dreamI hope you all are enjoying your day.You know what’s awesome? Me, slivering, alone in my room. THAT’S WHAT.If I read my sliver in the paper next week, I’ll jump for joy!Why do people wear headphones around their necks? I don’t get the appeal.

FocusTechnique

9Friday,

October 28, 2011

@thedailybeast: NATO Postpones Libya Withdrawal: Air patrols still in place to protect civilians. #cheatsheet

WerewolfGo back to the roots of Halloween and be scary in-

stead of sexy. Buy rubber ears, nose and claws. Adhere on with latex glue and paint your face and arms with

Halloween makeup.

Tropical TouristFind the tackiest Hawaiian shirt from Sal-

vation Army and wear with a pair of cargo shorts and flip-flops. Accessorize with a sun hat and don’t forget your camera.

Katy PerryWear the tightest, shortest dress you have

with brightly-colored stilettos. Bold, bright colors and glitter are a must when it comes to Mrs. Rus-sell Brand. Accessorize with a blue wig. Now you’re ready for a great night, and you’ll bring a little Cali-fornia girl charm to this Southern school for under $25.

Big BucketCut the bottom out of a bucket and use the handles

as straps to keep the bucket up. Decorate the bucket with your favorite drink mixer, or even go big by using a bright red trash can to create a Solo cup.

Troll FaceMake a mask of your favorite face by printing out a

picture and taping it to a piece of cardboard. Wear all black, since you are a floating face. Don’t be afraid to voice your displeasure throughout the night.

Spongebob SquarePantsWear a white button-up shirt with a tie, brown

shorts, and high socks. Better yet, go all out and create a 3D, over-the-body, cardboard costume.

PebblesThis cute costume is easy to make and easy to do.

Wear a green shirt and pair with shorts. Cut out and tape black triangles onto the shirt. Make a bone for your hair by using four sheets of white paper and pack-ing tape. Cut two of the four sheets in half width-wise and crumple up

into four balls. Take the remaining

two sheets

of paper and crumple them up length-wise. Wrap all the pieces in packing tape and tape them together. Put your hair up in a high ponytail and insert the bone in-between.

BuzzWhy not be the most loveable character around this

Halloween? Buy a Buzz hat from the campus Barnes and Noble bookstore and pair with a Georgia Tech shirt, black tights, and hi-top Converses. Get all your friends pumped up and ready for a great night, and be full of energy wherever you go. You’re the life of the party.

To Hell With GeorgiaEveryone loves some good old fashioned hate. Show

your school spirit in this funny and creative costume. Wear a jersey or any other UGA(sic) shirt and pair with a devil horns headband.

Decades outfitHit up thrift stores like Salvation Army and

Goodwill to find an outfit from your favorite de-cade for only $5 to $15. Wear a flowing floral dress for the 70s, legwarmers and neon colors for the 80s or denim and shoulder pads for the 90s.

Jedi MasterHave a sand-colored tunic lying around?

Wear some neutral-colored pants and a brown felt robe. Tie it all together with a brown leather belt, and don’t forget your light sa-ber. The only big expense would be some extra facial hair or even a Star Wars mask, and you’re on your way to making George Lucas proud.

Swamp ThingStart with an old hoodie sweater and pur-

chase a lot of thick, cotton yarn, green cloth and mesh. This may be one of the most time intensive costumes, but after a few bottles of ad-hesive and sewing needles you can look just like the crea-ture from the black lagoon.

semi-homemade

By Georgia WangContributing Writer

Halloween is just around the corner. Chances are, you still haven’t come up with a

costume yet. Even bigger chances are, you probably don’t have too much money to

spend on a costume anyway. The Technique has some ideas for creative costumes that

wouldn’t burn a hole in your wallet.

Photos by Ian Bailie, Siddarth Gurnani, Vijai

Narayanan, Basheer Tome / Student Publications

focus@nique.netFocus Editor: Designer:Siddharth Gurnani Lauren TownsendAsst. Focus Editor:Alex Kessler

10 • October 28, 2011 • Technique FOCUS

By Madison LeeContributing Writer

Whether you start planning months in advance or scramble to put something together at the last minute, choosing a costume for Halloween is serious business for students who want to stand out from the crowd and earn their treats.

“Some of the best costumes these days are classic ones with a modern twist or just about any-thing creative that a lot of people wouldn’t really expect,” said Wil-liam King, a second-year CE ma-jor. “I know a girl who’s dressing up as a zombie Amy Winehouse and I’m thinking about going as Leslie Chow from The Hangover.”

“The coolest costumes are the most unique…of course, seeing the same costume everywhere can be really boring, so the more inter-esting and unexpected the better” said Blair Park, a first-year MGT major.

In addition to being creative, for some students Halloween is all about finding the perfect charac-ter costume. “I think that going as a character gives you a greater range of originality…especially if someone can find an obscure mov-ie character or an older TV show like Invader Zim to reference for their costume,” said Christopher Foy, a third-year PHYS major.

“Character costumes are great, I went as Batman once. But I say if you can pull it off, then you can basically wear whatever you

want,” said Diya Radha Krishna, a second-year PHYS major.

For other students, avoiding an outdated or generic costume idea at all costs is the most important part of making the decision.

“I’d have to say that the sexy cop, sexy nurse, sexy-whatever costumes are really out of date. You can’t really be unique when you’re wearing something like that, and I think you should want to put more effort into it,” said Sapphire Liu, a third-year IAML major.

While many students love put-ting together couple’s costumes with their significant others, not everyone feels that matching out-fits are inevitably brilliant.

“When it comes to a non-typi-cal theme like pirates vs. ninjas for a couple’s costume, I’m totally for that. But some ideas, like the re-ally corny ones where you have a donkey, and someone’s the head and someone else is the butt…that’s not cool,” Liu said.

In the end, if you’re a college student on a budget or simply running out of time to decide on a costume, sometimes keeping it simple is just the best option.

“I like to wear something dif-ferent every year…if I can afford it” said Maddie Becker, a third-year IAML major. “I originally wanted to go as Rapunzel from Tangled, but it was hard to find the right dress and everything, so I’ll probably wear an 80’s cos-tume with brightly colored tights instead.”

Each week, the Focus section seeks student opinion on some of the most important and pertinent questions related to the theme of the week.

STUDENTS SPEAK

Costumes to wear on Halloween

By Lauren Townsend Contributing Writer

As the cold weather begins to bring in the colorful array of leaves and pumpkin carving, it also brings a holiday of sinister spookiness: Halloween. From small children trick-or-treating to adults just dressing up for fun, Halloween has been a celebrated tradition in Western culture for about 2000 years.

But the pop culture tradition of Halloween has not always been merely a secular, just-for-fun-event. In fact, the origins of Hal-loween come from a much deeper meaning rooted in spiritual and religious beliefs. About 2,000 years ago, the Celts celebrated what is called “Samhain” on Oct. 31. This festival celebrated the end of the year and is the very earliest origin of what we now call Hal-loween.

During this day, it was said that the veil separating the liv-ing and the dead was opened, and spirits freely roamed the Earth. The popular tradition of Hal-loween costumes came from the Celtic tradition of wearing masks and other such sinister clothing to scare away evil spirits.

The Celts also believed that fairies freely wandered on Sam-hain. Although the Celts did not believe fairies to be evil, they did

believe them to be creatures of mischief. The earliest “trick-or-treaters” were said to be the fair-ies, dressed in beggar garb. If the household the fairies approached did not give them food or a “treat,” the fairies were believed to punish the household with mischievous tricks.

Along with the traditions of costumes and trick-or-treating the tradition of pumpkin carving also started in Celtic legend. Celt-ics told the story of a man named “Stingy Jack”, and, according to legend, Jack trapped the devil in the high branches of a tree by cutting crosses into its trunk. The devil made a deal with Jack that if he let him down then Jack would not be allowed in to hell. But be-cause of Jack’s long life of treach-ery, he was also denied entrance into heaven.

Therefore, Jack was left to roam the earth for eternity with a carved turnip lantern to guide the way. Because of this legend, the Celts carved turnips (which soon became pumpkins) and placed candles in the turnips to make lanterns. During the first century, after the Romans conquered the Celts, Roman culture began to integrate itself into Celtic tradi-tions. The tradition of bobbing for apples, for example, may have

History and evolution of the holiday

Halloween Tech traditions

Photo by Michael James / Student Publications

The Towers Haunted house and Harrison trick or treat are two Halloween traditions that students eagerly await every year.

See Traditions , page 11

By Allyn WoodwardContributing Writer

Halloween is here and with it come the traditions we’ve grown up loving: dressing up, trick or treating and bobbing for apples.

Most of these traditions come from superstition and Celtic ori-gins, but what about Tech tradi-tions? With all the Homecoming events, how is Tech keeping the Halloween spirit alive?

Though many All Hallow’s Eve traditions have continued over the years, most Tech Halloween traditions have been maintained through the Residence Hall As-sociation (RHA).

Other organizations such as the Freshmen Activities Board (FAB) and the Campus Recre-ation Center (CRC) have held events on campus in the past, but RHA has continued to annually host successful events such as the Towers Haunted House and the Harrison Trick or Treat.

Current RHA President and a fourth-year BA major, Mathias Rost, said these Halloween tra-ditions continue because RHA makes it a main event. “The orga-nizational structure and the pop-ularity of the events has helped to keep RHA’s Halloween tradition alive. We have a permanent space and we make sure to budget for these events. We make it a focus,” Rost said.

As a joint project between RHA and the Towers Haunted House committee, RHA’s inter-nal programs committee and four Towers peer leaders are in charge of planning, staffing, and market-ing the event.

As an event that began 15 years ago, its success can be measured

through the donations it has re-ceived.

For their entrance fee RHA and the Towers student staff col-lects canned food items or two dollar donations which are then donated to the Atlanta Food Bank. Generally, RHA and Tow-ers Residence Hall receive about four hundred food cans and near-ly 250 dollars.

For the last four years, entrance has been limited to individuals who are 18 years of age and older and are Tech students, alumni or friends of students.

As another RHA-sponsored event, the Harrison Trick or Treat program is a free event where resi-dents and Peer Leaders hand out

A holiday for both kids, adultsBy Lorelyn Kilby

Contributing Writer

Think back to when you were a young child: Halloween was the definition of everything wonder-ful. You got to play dress up, be handed candy by the fistful, and then stuff yourself silly with the bounty of the night.

It seemed the month of Oc-tober existed only to host this special holiday, but how has this holiday changed as we get older?

The first couple years of trick-or-treating are marked by the ac-companiment of older siblings or parents, trooping around in cara-vans of Red Wheel Wagons ready for when the youngsters would pass out from the taxing collec-tion process.

Parents can only handle this for so many years, however, and once their children get older, they allow them to trick or treat with their friends, while the parents re-tire to candy distribution.

As soon as the later middle school years hit, you suddenly feel gawky and awkward, roaming the streets amidst children seven years younger than you, realizing that the jelly bean costume you have on looked far more adorable when you were eight.

The parents distributing candy are far less enthusiastic to “treat” you, since they find far more grat-ification in giving candy to the lit-tler ones.

After asking several Tech stu-dent at what age they stopped trick-or-treating, the majority ad-mitted they were either 14 or 15, a freshman in high school.

Many also admitted that they did not want to stop, they just felt it socially unacceptable. “Trick or treating in high school can be seen as a stigma associating with the lower grades,” said David Hen-don, a first-year CS major.

Now think about the latest Halloween you have had, or the one you are planning to have this coming Monday. Not quite the same, is it? It is an accepted pos-tulate perpetuated by both reality and media projections that Hal-loween at a college means men and women dressed in provocative “costumes” attending wild parties and getting more than slightly

Photo by Andrew Saulters / Student Publications

Though trick or treating is mostly for young children, dressing up in costumes remains popular amongst people of all age groups

See Kids , page 11

See History , page 11

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 11 FOCUS

Traditions from page 10Pumpkin carving for beginners

evolved from the Roman holiday celebrating the goddess Pomona, who was the goddess of fruit and trees and whose symbol was an apple. Later, once the Roman Catholic Church was established, the church tried to do away with the pagan holiday of Samhain and replace it with the religious holi-day of “All Saint’s Day” on Nov. 1. The tradition of All Hallow’s Eve however still lasted and leads to what is known today as “Hal-loween.”

During the early colonization of America, many settlers brought the traditions of Halloween with them. The early Puritan Church, however, did not agree with the celebration of this holiday, and therefore the popularity of the holiday was scarce. During this time though, many of the legends of the Native Americans and early colonists combined, and it is be-lieved this is where we get many of our traditions such as witches and other superstitions associated with Halloween.

Finally, the modern tradition of Halloween became popular af-ter the influx of immigrants from the Irish famine. And finally in the 1920s, the cultural tradition of Halloween, as we know it to-day, became the norm. In the 50s, Halloween exploded into a multi-million dollar holiday to the plea-sure of adults and kids alike.

History from page 10

By Lorelyn KilbyContributing Writer

There’s nothing that silently screams Halloween more than the shadow of a candle flickering through the goofy gap-toothed grin of a Jack O’Lantern sitting on the front porch.

As the folklore goes, a black-smith named Stingy Jack tricked the devil and made a bargain that when Jack died, the devil could not claim his soul. His ghostly presence was referred to as “Jack of the Lantern” but in time sim-plified to “Jack O’Lantern.”

The Irish began carving scary faces into turnips to ward of Stin-gy Jack and other evil spirits, but

once the tradition was brought to the Americas, it was discovered that a pumpkin made the perfect Jack O’Lantern.

These days Jack O’Lantern’s have taken on a more diverse role than dismissing dark forces. Walking down any suburban street around Halloween, it is hard to miss the plethora of silly, goofy and often artistically impressive faces flickering in the darkness.

Most freshman dorms have Halloween programs this week which give people a golden op-portunity to both observe other pumpkin carvers as well as give it a whirl themselves. Carving a pumpkin is not a difficult task to learn, but it requires patience and

persistence to make something great. It had been about five years since I last carved a pumpkin and I’ll admit I was fairly anxious about how things would go, but with the advice of other carvers and some other tips, everything turned out swell. Here is the list of tips I followed:

1. Choose your design Choose a plan for the pattern

you want to go in with or you could end up with a very abstract face or just a mess.

2. Pick a pumpkinThe heavier the pumpkin, the

thicker the rind, which is useful for complex patterns or faces. I was fairly ambitious in my pat-tern choice, so I opted for a pretty thick pumpkin.

3. Gut the pumpkinCut a circle in the top and

scrap out the insides. This process usually get messy so a drop cloth is recommended.

4. Trace/draw your design onto the pumpkin

This will keep you on the right track and hold together the pro-portions of your design.

5. Start sculpting like Michelangelo

This is the tricky part, but with the right tools (a pumpkin carving kit), steady hands and a heaping portion of patience, your design should come out splendidly.

6. Final touchesJust like any masterpiece, your

carving will need refinement. Make sure cuts are clean and con-cise. This will ensure sharpness in you shadow.

So there you have it. Just wipe the pumpkin off with a paper towel to clear off any remaining pumpkin guts, throw a tea candle in the center and voila! Even if you haven’t carved a pumpkin in years, try it, not only will it look sharp on the front stoop, but the process will bring back memories.

candy on Halloween weekend. Started in 2006 by former Resi-dence Hall Director Christina Hardcastle, the Harrison Trick or Treat program began in the Har-rison and Cloudman dorms as a way to keep the Halloween tradi-tion alive within the dorms.

The Harrison Trick or Treat takes place on Friday night and is open to all Tech students as well as kids in the Greater Atlanta area.

Due to its success, other resi-dence halls have started their own traditions. Graduate and Family Housing has begun their own Trick or Treat on Friday af-ternoon. On West Campus, resi-dence halls Folk and Caldwell will be also be handing out candy this Halloween weekend.

In addition, the Student Cen-

Photo by Lorelyn Kilby / Student Publications

Pumpkin carving is an integral part of Halloween celebrations everywhere. It’s a great way to have fun and showcase creativity.

ters Program Council will be hosting the Fifth Street Fright Festival. Starting Thursday at 4:30 p.m., there will be Hallow-een activity booths and a showing of Final Destination 5.

RHA Advisor and Assistant Director for Staff and Commu-nity Development Alex Becking believes the success of the RHA sponsored Halloween events can be attributed to the students and their involvement.

“These events were always suc-cessful. They view it as an expec-tation of the organization to con-tinue it,” Becking said.

Though Tech has a limited number of Halloween traditions, the interest and success in these new events may lead to other resi-dence halls and organizations cre-ating their own traditions.

inebriated.What constraints has society

inflicted that switch Halloween from an innocent night of fun and frights to a not-so-innocent night of scandals and debauchery? Should there be an age limit on trick-or-treating? As we mature through our middle years, adults are more wary of our actions and find teenagers roaming around amongst youngsters very unset-tling.

This combined with the ex-tended freedom you get as a high school student and the need to, “fit in,” is all it takes to sever ties with the trick-or-treating practice.

Now, since most of us are still children at heart, the fun of dress -up is undeniable, only now it is layered with several other factors that are elements of growing up.

Women are expected to dress up in a way that is parallel to the outfits they wear to any party. “I think when you get to college it is a common norm that all girls wear promiscuous costumes, and if we don’t its considered weird.

“There is a social pressure to conform,” said Zary Peretz, a first-year IE and BA double major. “I believe this norm extends past Halloween costumes. You don’t usually see girls at parties wear-ing their cookie pants and baggy sweatshirts.”

Granted, scandalous costumes are not appropriate in certain situations, the same way a sparkly cocktail dress is not appropriate at a child’s day care. Sure, costumes may get a little ridiculous, but so do some outfits we see people wearing every day.

Halloween itself is unique in that it is neither a religious or po-litical holiday. It is a holiday cre-ated by society and thus ruled by what society deems as acceptable or customary. It is also a holiday that is subject to the age group enjoying it, not exclusive to either one.

Everyone enjoys the mystique and fun in adopting another iden-tity for a night, just children cele-brate by eating candy while young adults celebrate by drinking their own “treats.”

Kids from page 10

By Rachit KansalContributing Writer

A group of little children ea-gerly wait outside a large wooden door knock impatiently for an answer; a band of cheery, squeaky voices burst forth asking the all-important question “Trick or Treat?”

The uniqueness of Halloween lies in the fact that it celebrates the supernatural and glorifies imagination and dressing up to inherit a new personality and identity. Because of the emphasis on fantasy and play, costumes and impersonations become central to the holiday.

This aspect of the holiday came into prominence within the last decade, and has catapulted Hal-loween onto the global stage and made it a worldwide phenomenon.

It has helped to broaden the festival’s horizons into markets that were initially infertile for it. This is the commercial aspect of Halloween.

Halloween is one of the most profitable holidays in the world. The last decade has seen a surge in the sales of elaborate costumes, which coupled with intricately -crafted masks and extensive handiwork became the rage in most cities.

Americans spent over $5.07 billion in the year 2009 alone, with an average of $64.82 per per-son. The majority of the $5.07 bil-lion comes from costumes, deco-rations, candy, and pumpkins.

The driving force behind this drastic change has been the changing tastes of adults. The days of Halloween being a young child’s holiday alone are long gone as more and more adults are host-ing extravagant parties featuring people dressed in creative and ex-pensive costumes.

What is even more surpris-ing is that leading this trend are young adults between the ages from 18-24 years of age.

So what is the reason behind this development?

“Halloween allows an escape like no other festival. With a packed schedule, it’s sometimes difficult to find an outlet. This day is one where I can feel like a child again and go out and have some fun,” said John Smith, a fourth-year IE Major.

John’s opinion seems to echo what others feel as well; over $1.75 Billion was spent solely on Hal-loween costumes in the year 2009.

However, in comparison to other holidays, it still has a long way to go. Father’s Day, Hallow-een’s closest competitor, generates

$3 billion more every year. Moreover, as compared to

Christmas, which generates over $460 billion, it is still commer-cially very small.

“Christmas is something dif-ferent altogether, it’s a much big-

ger deal, it’s being going on for longer and it is closer to a lot of people’s hearts,” said Matt Jacobs, a third-year CS major.

However, the sharp increase in Halloween’s popularity is a clear indication that it is here to stay.

Halloween commercialized, oversold

Photo by Victor Lee / Student Publications

Candy sales are a big money generator during Halloween. Stores like Walmart and Target flood their shelves months in advance.

October 28, 2011

Godbold Scholarship Fund Grows

Godbold Scholar Weston Jefferson (center) talks with Betsy and Bo Godbold at a campus reception for Godbold Scholars. Jefferson credits the Godbolds’ generosity with making his Georgia Tech education possible.

A decade ago, Betsy and Francis S. “Bo” Godbold, IE 1965, initiated a scholarship program for academically qualified undergraduates who lacked the financial resources to attend Georgia Tech.

In 2010, the Godbold Foundation made an additional $1.5 million commitment to the Godbold Scholarship Fund at Georgia Tech, greatly enhancing the capacity to open doors of opportunity to deserving students. Godbold understands the enormous impact that scholarship support can have, because it hap-pened to him. Having lost both of his parents by the age of thirteen, he was a gifted high school student in a small South Carolina town whose financial circumstances made attending Georgia Tech an impossible dream. An unexpected offer of a full academic scholarship brought him to Tech, and earning a degree here changed his life. Godbold is past president and current vice chairman of Raymond James Financial in St. Peters-burg, Florida. “Given what Georgia Tech did for me at an educational crossroads in my life,” he said, “I felt a moral obligation to repay that generosity.” n

Campaign Georgia Tech is a $1.5 billion effort to enable Georgia Tech to define the technological research university of the twenty-first century.

www.development.gatech.edu

The Impact of Philanthropy at Georgia Tech

Ravi BellamkondaProfessor and Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University

Pending approval of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, Professor Ravi Bellamkonda (above, right) will be the first to hold the Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan Chair. Bellamkonda directs the Neurological Biomaterials and Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory, and his research on targeted drug delivery for brain tumor therapy is playing a crucial role in advancing treatments and improving the lives of those dealing with cancer.

David Flanagan, IE 1976, is the president of Elm Street Development in McLean, Virginia, a privately-owned real estate development firm with communities throughout Washington, Baltimore, and the Eastern Shore regions. As a volunteer at his alma mater, David is a former chair of the prestigious Georgia Tech Advisory Board, and is now a member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees and the Campaign Georgia Tech Steering Committee. In 2004, he was named a College of Engi-neering Distinguished Alumnus. In the same year, the Flana-gans funded a GRA Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Systems Biology, currently held by Professor Eberhard Voit. With their most recent gift to establish their latest faculty chair, the Flanagans are not only giving back to Tech, but also helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge in the areas of biomedical engineering and cancer research. n

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Marcus Nanotechnology Building

The largest nanotechnology research facility in the Southeast, with one of the largest cleanroom spaces in the country, is right here at Georgia Tech. In early 2006, one of Atlanta’s best-known businessmen, civic leaders, and philanthropists, Bernie Marcus, made it possible. On behalf of the Marcus Foundation, the co-founder of The Home Depot made an extraordinary commitment of $15 million to complement $45 million state funding that transformed a vision into a reality. That reality is the Marcus Nanotechnology Build-ing, which opened in the spring of 2009. The facility that bears his name provides significant space for multidisciplinary organic and non-organic research in nanoscience, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. With 190,000 square feet of research space, including 30,000 square feet of cleanroom space, it is integral to Georgia Tech’s aspirations to define the technological research university of the twenty-first century. It is a place where Georgia Tech faculty can collabo-rate with researchers from universities and industries throughout the state and region, serving as a vital center for the cutting-edge research that will change lives. “This is a new world,” said Marcus. “This is a field that has great potential in so many areas. If the building was going to be anywhere, it was going to be here.” n

Battlefield 3 stresses team work in multiplayer

New ArkhAm iNstAllmeNt impresses

By Brent HornillaContributing Writer

In 2009, Rocksteady Studios brought us Batman: Arkham Asy-lum, easily the best superhero game of all time; that same year,

they announced the develop-ment of Batman: Arkham City. The highly-anticipat-ed sequel hit the shelves last week, and it was well

worth the wait. The story picks

up a year after the events of its prequel. Mayor Sharp has par-

titioned half of Gotham

to serve as the new home for the residents of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary, dubbing it Arkham City.

While protesting the new facil-ity, Bruce Wayne is apprehended mid-speech and thrown into Arkham as well.

A brief conversation with Pro-fessor Hugo Strange reveals that not only does he know about Bruce’s alter ego, but also that he plans to execute “Protocol 10” by the end of the night.

After you complete a disguised tutorial, Alfred airdrops your cos-tume and gadgets so you can be-gin prowling the place as the Bat-man to find out what “Protocol 10” actually is.

In spite of a few minor kinks, the overall graphics are stunning, but while the cut scenes allow you to experience the more minute details and textures put into the characters, the real beauty is in the environment.

From the oppressive buildings to the littered streets, the game’s cityscape provides a dark, gothic feel that simply fits, making it al-most impossible to grow tired of exploring all of Arkham’s nooks and crannies.

You’ll need to, of course, be-

cause among the game’s massive amount of content are the Rid-dler Challenges, more than 400 of which are scattered across the city, as well as 24 challenge maps through which you can hone your skills and compare your perfor-mance to others’.

From Azrael to Zsasz, Arkham City includes just about every vil-lain you can think of, and most of the ones you don’t find in the main storyline have a set of side missions dedicated to them in-stead.

While all the characters are ex-cellently voiced, Batman and Jok-er especially, the sound effects and score are nothing to scoff at either, meshing nicely with the visuals.

The game play itself is superb, providing us with a seamless com-bat system that never dulls and a detective mode that grants you perks ranging from tracking con-versations to deducing bullet tra-jectories.

True to the Batman moniker, you have an arsenal of stealth tac-tics, martial arts moves and high-tech gadgets at your disposal, all easily accessible via hotkey. Most impressively, the game allows you

By Travis GasqueContributing Writer

On Tuesday, Oct. 25, Dice released Battlefield 3 (BF3), one of the season’s most hotly-antic-ipated first-person-shooters. The environments are vivid, the weap-ons sound crisp and the build-ings shatter from rockets just as a civil engineer would imagine. Al-though there are some flaws, the game is definitely worth a look.

The main campaign frames a story similar to a military thriller.

The main character is being in-terrogated in some unnamed city about his knowledge involving a terrorist plot set to strike New York. Though the story is stereo-typical, the real excitement comes from the gameplay. Missions range from ground fighting in an Iraqi city to sitting in the gunner seat of a F-18 in the middle of an aerial dogfight over the Iran-Iraq border. Every mission is different, and every mission will have you exited to continue the story to see what is going to happen next.

But in the age of internet, the real question is: How is the multi-player? If you are expecting a Call of Duty style one-man army gam-ing experience, you will be sorely disappointed. Battlefield 3 is de-signed for squad-based tactics.

One of the games in online is “Rush,” where teams work either to defend or attack two stations. In this game the concept of squads shines. In order to arm, defend and destroy the stations, one man might be up for the herculean feat,

but when three or more people work together, the task is becomes much more bearable.

For those who are familiar with the Battlefield series, there are a few minor changes to get accustomed to. Some of the more noticeable ones include a rear-rangement of the various gad-gets each class possesses. The as-sault class has switched gear with the support class. Support used to give med-packs and revive downed players with a defibrilla-tor. Support now gives ammo in-stead of med-packs, while the as-sault class does all the doctoring. Another change is the inclusion of jet fighters in the game. Fans of the Battlefield series will know that vehicle combat is a big part of the game. Tanks, boats, jets and helicopters now fill the arena and give people ample opportunities to help their teammates.

All that glitters is not gold, however. There are some glaring problems with current build of BF3.

For consoles, connection issues seem to be a com-mon occurrence. On average, about six out of ten attempts actually connect. Another prevalent is-sue is common to all massively multiplayer games: lag. If there is any sort of lag, your character moves as if stuck in thick gumbo, plodding along only to pop back few meters.

BF3 is a good game, the campaign mode is a decent military thriller and the multiplayer is fun. But the few problems that rear their ugly heads seriously impair the overall perception for the game. The beautiful destructive environments, fun multiplayer and exciting challenge make for a satisfy-ing experience, which is un-fortunately marred by con-nectivity problems.

EntertainmentTechnique

13Friday,

October 28, 2011

entertainment@nique.netEntertainment Editor:Zheng Zheng

Assistant Entertainment Editor:Hank Whitson

GAMES

Batman: Arkham CityCONSOLE: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii

GENRE: Action-Adventure

DEVELOPER: Rocksteady Studios

RATING: T

RELEASED: Oct. 18

OUR TAKE: «««««

GAMES

Battlefield 3CONSOLE: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC

GENRE: First person Shooter

DEVELOPER: Electronic Arts

RATING: M

RELEASED: Oct. 25

OUR TAKE: «««««

See Arkham, page 14

Photo courtesy of Rocksteady Studios

Photo courtesy of Electronic Arts

14 • October 28, 2011 • Technique ENTERTAINMENT

Activity 3 follows familiar horror formulaFILM

Paranormal Activity 3GENRE: Horror

STARRING: Lauren Bittner, Christopher Nicholas Smith

DIRECTOR: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

RATING: R

RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21

OUR TAKE: «««««

By Patricia UcedaStaff Writer

Paranormal Activity 3 had a record-breaking weekend with the best opening day of all time for a horror film.

A prequel to Paranormal Activ-ity 1 and 2, this latest installment in the faux-documentary series focuses on the childhood of the unlucky pair of sisters, Katie and Kristi.

It reveals their mysterious past and the reason why they are haunted in the first place. While this film provides plenty of thrills and is definitely more exciting than the slower-paced Paranormal Activity 2, it leaves much to be desired in terms of story line and continuity.

The setup of this film is one we have come to recognize from the first two films: in over-eager husband/boyfriend wants to in-vestigate spooky sounds and occurrences, starts setting up cameras obsessively and ends up capturing a lot more than he bar-gained for. Lauren Bittner plays Julie, the young girls’ mother, and Christopher Nicholas Smith plays Dennis, her boyfriend who is de-termined to find out what is going on.

This set of tapes is cleverly ex-

plained as being among the stor-age boxes Katie inherited from her grandmother after her death. Unsure what to do with them, she stores them in Kristi’s basement in Paranormal Activity 2. Now we find out that when Kristi’s home was seemingly burglarized in Paranormal Activity 2, the tapes were among the few things taken.

Since these tapes were sup-posedly filmed in 1988, the audi-ence is treated to a few authentic grainy images at first, complete with pixelated dates in the corner. However, once the story starts, it somehow immediately shifts back to high-quality digital imaging, thankfully.

The younger versions of the ill-fated pair of sisters Katie and Kristi are played by Chloe Csen-gery and Jessica Tyler Brown re-spectively, two adorable little girls who become creepier and creepier as the movie progresses.

It all starts with Kristi and her imaginary friend Toby. She insists on talking to him at all times, and Julie indulges her imagination and refuses to listen to Dennis when he finds it disturbing, insisting that this type of behavior is normal for children. However, Dennis starts noticing that strange things have been happening around the house since Toby appeared, and already being a camera lover, he decides

to set up some cameras to inves-tigate.

Spurred on by some creepy visuals, Dennis enlists his friend Randy, played by Dustin Ingram, to help him review the footage and set up more cameras. How they are able to review 24 hours of footage everyday with just the two of them is a mystery, but some-how they manage. As in the other two films, the camera only seems to make the demon angrier as the strange occurrences continue to happen and increase at an alarm-ing rate.

Soon things start to get so bad that you wonder why the adults aren’t doing anything to remove the girls from the situation, as they are dragged all over their bedroom like dolls and hoisted up by their hair. Julie continues to be in denial of any supernatural hap-penings, and it gets a bit frustrat-ing because presumably Dennis has all these incidences on camera and could easily show her to con-vince her. Finally, they retreat to Grandma’s house, but it turns out to be anything but the safe haven they were hoping for.

This film is definitely as scary as Paranormal Activity 1 and 2; there’s just something about the faux-documentary style of filming a horror film that adds a level of realism and authenticity to a sto-

ry. Every creepy sound or object movement is ten times creepier because it looks so realistic, as if it could be your own house haunted by an invisible demon.

Directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost did get a little car-ried away at some points though, especially with several scenes where the audience was scared by the characters themselves seeking to play a practical joke on other characters. Normally every hor-ror movie has at least one of these types of scenes, but this film had a couple, including one with a bab-ysitter that definitely felt a little played out.

The origin of these tapes was cleverly explained, although as they continue to churn out sequels it is inevitable that the found foot-age premise is going to get old. It was already a stretch that these tapes just happened to conve-niently exist, and with the next one suspension of disbelief will be stretched even further.

Additionally, this film had some undeniable continuity errors that may or may not have been intentional. In Paranormal Activ-ity, Katie made it sound as if it was her who was haunted by the demon the most as a child. How-ever, in this film Kristi is the one who spends the most time inter-acting with Toby, or the demon. Katie also mentioned that their house burned down as a child and it seemed like a pretty pivotal mo-ment, however, there is no fire in this film; perhaps that will be in the next one.

Overall, this film was a suc-cessful addition to the Paranor-mal Activity series, with plenty of scares to keep audiences com-ing back for more. Those seeking more clarity on the backstory may be disappointed, as the film’s end-ing is ambiguous to say the least.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

www.nique.net

to truly experience what it means to be Batman: gliding and grap-pling your way through the city and quickly having to assess and dispose of threats as you encoun-ter them. Nothing was quite as satisfying as taking down a dozen or so thugs with just about every-thing in my Wayne-Tech reper-toire.

All the gadgets in Asylum are with you from the get-go, albeit improved, but there are new ones to master as well, like the Remote Electrical Charge. My personal fa-vorite was the Batclaw, which can combine pinpoint disarmament into some brutal combos.

Best of all, Arkham City in-cludes a feature called New Game Plus, which allows players to run through the game again while preserving all their gadgets, up-grades, and Riddler Challenge progress.

Not only are the baddies’ loads tougher, but the counter indi-cator is also removed, allowing hardcore gamers the challenge I know they’ll be craving for after cruising through their first run. Having already beaten the game, I have nothing but praise for it, and I am well into my second play through.

Everything that made Arkham Asylum so great has been tweaked and fine-tuned to perfection in Arkham City, and there are plenty of nods for comic book fans to ap-preciate.

Those who have played Asylum will find the combat system famil-iar, but filled with plenty of new features to spice it up. I would suggest buying sooner rather than later, but make sure to buy a new copy if you can afford to, as it comes with the Catwoman DLC.

Of course, even without it, there’s more than 40 hours of game play to vouch for the boat loads of content you’ll be able to enjoy.

Arkham from page 13

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 15 ENTERTAINMENT

CITY SCENEPhoto by Chris Gooley / Student Publications

MidCity ScareWant a spooktacular time, but don’t want to go far?

Look no further than MidCity Cafe’s Annual Hallow-een Party, which this year falls on Saturday, Oct. 29. At the corner of 6th and West Peachtree, the cafe is just a block and a half from Tech Square, so the Trol-ley can get you most of the way there. MidCity will be having a costume contest with excellent prizes includ-ing a $100 MidCity Cafe gift card and a bottle of Grey Goose. MidCity Cafe was unavailable to comment on the chances of a “Sexy Hobo” winning, but good luck. To keep the party going, Rob Dowell and Warm Art will be spinning 80s and “Haunted House” music start-ing at 10 p.m. till closing time.

Need something that will keep you partying from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.? Well, good thing QUAD at Spring4th Complex is throwing their first huge Halloween party this weekend on Saturday, Oct. 29. Just around the cor-ner from Tech Square by Arby’s is where it’s all going down. There will be seven stages with DJs mixing all kinds of music from house and electro to hip hop and top 40. Two VJs have even made Halloween shows just for the party. There will also be live bands (Starbolt 9, The Unsatisfied, The Sexual Side Effects), vendors, cos-tume contests and even a zombie fashion show.

Quad Halloween

By Chris ErnstContributing Writer

Life prepares fans for future albumMUSIC

Mac MillerI Love Life, Thank You

LABEL: Independent

GENRE: Mixtape

TRACK PICKS: “People Under the Stairs,” “All That” and “Love Lost”

OUR TAKE: «««««

By Brian EdmondsContributing Writer

Mac Miller’s sixth mix tape, and second in 2011, I Love Life, Thank You, follows the familiar Mac Miller formula: girls, weed, alcohol and money. That’s not to say the Life is not a successful ef-fort, as it boasts some of Miller’s most enjoyable work, but fans of the teenage Pittsburg rap-per should not expect anything ground breaking.

Labeled by some as a poor man’s Wiz Khalifa, Miller burst on to the rap scene with K.I.D.S. in 2010. K.I.D.S. felt new and fresh and grabbed your attention. It featured “Senior Skip Day,” which possessed surprising pop radio playability for a song about smoking and skipping school. He followed with “Best Day Ever,” released earlier this year, which featured the huge YouTube hit “Donald Trump.”

At only 19, Miller appears to have a very bright future and he will be the first to let you know. His lyrics boast himself to be the best thing since sliced bread. Also if you didn’t know, he’s probably with your girl right now. If this attitude rubs you the wrong way, then Mac Miller probably isn’t for you.

Despite the inflated ego, Mill-er does know how to pick relaxed

beats that work well with his laid-back flow. He is witty and does not take himself too seriously.

Aside from all these elements, Life features cameos from Talib Kweli and other rappers that keep the mix tape interesting through multiple listens. Above all else, lis-teners can take pleasure in Miller’s attitude toward life. He seems to be living a teenage male’s dream and his rhymes cleverly express his view on life.

Highlights of the tape include “People Under the Stairs,” a remix of the rap group People Under the Stairs’ San Francisco Knights, “All That” a joint effort with Bun B that hits all the right spots and “Love Lost” which features a heart -aching Miller.

As a collective unit, the mix tape lacks a major theme besides advertising the Mac Miller life-style, which should be enough for most casual listeners. But the brevity of Life, which clocks in at

only 37 minutes, leaves something to be desired. Fans can treat Life as an appetizer to Miller’s first commercial album, Blue Slide Park, which drops Nov. 8. Miller will release the album under Ros-trum Records, who ironically also signed Wiz Khalifa.

The joy of Life is the easy lis-tening that it provides, rather than its artistic value. This is more of a supplement to Miller’s larger body of work.

It lacks the originality that K.I.D.S. provided, but has its impressive moments. In the age of iTunes, this mix tape will fit nicely in your collection and a few handpicked songs will flesh out your Mac Miller playlist.

I Love Life, Thank You is worth a listen or two but was definitely released free for a reason. Stay tuned for Blue Slide Park, which should prove to be the deciding factor as to whether or not Miller is here to stay.

Photo courtesy of Mac Miller

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16 • October 28, 2011 • Technique ENTERTAINMENT

ASO features Coucheron in Rachmaninov & ScriabinCONCERT

Rachmaninov & ScriabinPERFORMER: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

LOCATION: Atlanta Symphony Hall

DATE: Oct. 29

OUR TAKE: «««««

By Jonathan PeakContributing Writer

As the holiday season ap-proaches, one expects the average orchestra to begin winding down in preparation for holiday con-certs and shows. However. the At-lanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is not like other orchestras. In the past week alone they have released a new recording and performed a U.S. premiere of a new piece led by David Coucheron, who joined as concertmaster last year.

From Oslo, Norway, the then 26-year-old was the youngest con-certmaster in any major U.S. or-chestra. In the year since, he has proven himself not just as a con-cert violinist, but also as a leader of the whole orchestra.

Having trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, The Julliard School and Guildhall School, earning separate degrees at each, and touring the world playing violin, Coucheron was already an experienced soloist before coming to Atlanta.

“A lot smoother than expected or hoped,” Coucheron said his transition to concertmaster, citing his colleagues’ friendliness and professionalism as key factors, “It is more about what we’re playing.” He acknowledges the importance of collaboration with those both below and above you – regarding conductor Robert Spano, Couch-eron says he has learned a lot and claims that a positive conductor-concertmaster partnership is “in-strumental” to the success of an orchestra. He does, however, rec-ognize the pressures on a leader, saying sometime you just “got to man up.”

Under Coucheron’s leader-ship, the ASO debuted composer Esa-Pekka Salonen’s latest work “Nyx.” Though the Finnish Sa-lonen is perhaps better known for his conducting, he is also quickly

gaining fame for his modernist compositions. Salonen himself describes the piece as “very deli-cate and light”—the name “Nyx” comes from the Greek goddess of the night. As with most modern works, expect the unexpected; rather than clear, united melodies, listen for complex layers between the sections.

For the premiere of “Nyx,” Coucheron is excited to see the or-chestra’s work come together. As a new piece, it is unfamiliar to both audiences and musicians which makes it harder to get together. However, whether new or old, pieces are “always a challenge” and “you play the best you can,” whether creating or fulfilling au-dience expectations, according to Coucheron.

From a preview rehearsal all this and more can be anticipated

from the ASO’s debut led by con-ductors Robert Spano and Couch-eron. The piece features extensive and complex pizzicato from the entire string section which come together with the winds and brass in huge crescendos.

Also, not seeming satisfied with the already numerous sections, Salonen’s piece will occasionally split sections within themselves, adding even more layers of com-plexity. At 17 minutes, the piece is short, but it is not to be missed. Though first played last, the night the orchestra will reprise their per-formance tomorrow evening (Oct. 29).

Alongside “Nyx,” the ASO will also play Rachmaninov’s sym-phony “The Bells” and Scriabin’s “Poem of Ecstasy.” “The Bells,” as a choral symphony, features vocal soloists and the Atlanta Sympho-ny Orchestra Chorus and should prove quite impressive. Rach-maninov based his work off of a Russian translation of Edgar Al-lan Poe’s “The Bells.”

So expect some darkness and mystery in addition to the gran-deur. This will precede the “Nyx,” while Scriabin’s piece, also a more modern piece, will follow the pre-miere.

ASO’s schedule is not slowing down anytime soon. On Nov. 5, ASO will be traveling to New York City to perform at Carnegie Hall, where they will show off their own premiere soloists. The program will be the same as the

above, though “The Bells” will be replaced with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson.

Ohlsson is featured on the At-lanta Symphony’s latest recording, released this past Tuesday, Oct. 25, through the orchestra’s new label, ASO Media. The recording consists of the aforementioned Pi-ano Concerto and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances.

In the coming weeks, the orchestra will continue to play weekly concerts, each unique and spectacular. Of particular note is the Brahms’ Double Concerto playing Nov. 10, 12 and 13. The concerto will feature concertmas-ter David Coucheron and princi-pal cellist Christopher Rex.

The symphony continues to prove their quality and dexterity and can be relied upon to pro-vide a great evening for anyone, whether musically inclined or not. The symphony continues to prove their quality and dexterity and can be relied upon to provide a great evening for anyone, whether musically inclined or not.

To the college student who thinks they would rather not lis-ten to classical music, “it’s awe-some,” said Coucheron, but more seriously, “They should experience it more. It’s easy to underestimate the importance [of classical mu-sic].”

If students choose to attend more ASO events and concerts, they will be sure to agree.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Taylor / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 17 ENTERTAINMENT

ThEmE CROSSWORD: NO TROUBLE AT ALLBy James Barrick

United Features Syndicate

ACROSS1. Wine region5. Sea bird10. Study14. Toothsome19. College subj.20. French dispatch boat21. Charts22. Early TV puppet23. Start of a quip by Fran Lebowitz: 4 wds.26. Bow or Schumann27. Conferences28. -- Dame29. Corset anagram30. Acid31. Wharton’s Frome32. Pelage33. Pontiff’s office36. Charged particle37. Sealed38. Something meant to placate41. -- provocateur

42. Part 2 of quip: 5 wds.45. Closet organizer46. Comedy47. Every48. “Hawaii Five-O” set-ting49. Found in beta, zeta, theta50. Belief51. Shoe part53. -- -cousin54. Madrid miss56. Love personified57. Certain trees58. Cyst59. Part 3 of quip62. -- Dawn Chong63. Alps dwelling66. Bombard67. Backup of a kind: 2 wds.72. Maniacal73. Nottingham’s river75. Hanging fabric76. Gain77. Vigoda and Burrows

DOWN1. Catches2. Yearn3. Anthology item4. Kind of combat weap-onry: hyph.5. Pay6. Manifest7. “The -- that touch li-quor...”8. A hardwood9. Midday10. “Bartered Bride” com-poser11. Stone marker

12. Altar’s place13. CIA cousin14. Composition for organ15. Budget16. Spline17. Weary18. Twelvemonth24. Make into law25. In no way29. Bridge position31. Son of Cain32. Under-wheel wedge33. Reduces34. Marble35. Species of hickory

36. Arteries37. Baseball’s -- the Man38. Rollerblade39. Different40. Decants42. Canter or gallop, e.g.43. Long44. In the money46. Hard to hear50. Manumitted51. Refine, as ore52. Raucous sound53. Septs55. Seemingly wise56. Expression of agreement

57. Songs60. Cultural field61. Corrigenda63. Birds’ crops64. Clothes for riding65. Furthers68. Guthrie the singer69. Bestow70. Little bit71. Reached a conclusion73. Absolute74. Rhine tributary

75. Potter’s clay78. Concern of environ-mentalists79. Sea-purse80. Guatemala neighbor82. Declamation83. Berserk84. Primus -- pares85. Meadow89. Wisdom teeth90. Bellowed91. Vintage sound systems:

78. Tetrad79. Europe-Asia boundary80. Worker81. Part 4 of quip: 3 wds.85. Fabricate86. Wall, Fleet, etc.87. Back88. Code word for “I”89. Obeyed90. Solicitation91. Convention venue92. Like a university93. Newsreels96. Cargo vessel97. Marine creatures101. Batali or Puzo102. End of the quip: 4 wds.104. Church officer105. Fruitless106. Western107. Word at sea108. Arboraceous109. Research org.110. -- done is done111. Lobscouse

hyph.92. Halley’s --93. Duck94. Nimbus95. Church calendar96. Blink -- -- eye97. Start for physics98. Alluvium99. Patch location100. Distort102. Egg: prefix, var.103. Triumphant cry

techniquethe south’s liveliest college newspaper.

18 • October 28, 2011 • Technique COMICS

NON SEqUITUR by WileyPILED hIghER & DEEPER by Jorge Cham

SUDOKU PUZZLE By SUDOKUCOLLECTION.COm

CROSSWORD SOLUTION from page 17

AD NAUSEUm by lauren Payne

Lauren Payne is a first-year psychology major who enjoys making silly drawings to combat collegiate ennui and to make people laugh.

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 19 COMICS

DILBERT ® by sCott adamsNON SEqUITUR by Wiley

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 21 SPORTS

Color

The Jackets are coming off of a two-game road stretch in which the Jackets went 0-2. Tech was held to its lowest points and yardage totals of the 2011 season last week against the Miami Hurricanes. Despite their recent shortcomings, the Jackets still remain among the nation’s leaders in points per game and rushing yards per game. If the Jackets want to get back to winning form and remain undefeated at home, they will have to do the following.

First, the Jackets will have to expose one-on-one matchups. If the Jackets can correctly execute their option plays and put their specialty players in space on the field, the defense will be forced to make a play in the form of an open-field tackle. If all of the correct blocks are hit against the Clemson defenders, there will be less pressure on Washington to have to make a big play on every down. If Washington can hit a big run or two, the Tigers will have to put more emphasis on stopping the quarterback run and the perimeter game will open up.

Secondly, Tech will have to effectively cover Clemson’s receivers in one-on-one matchups. Sophomore cornerback Louis Young and junior cornerback Rod Sweeting will be facing off against Clemson’s Watkins and Hopkins. If the Jackets put too much emphasis on covering a specific receiver like UNC tried against the Tigers, another one will be wide open and Clemson will take advantage. If Sweeting and Young can limit the big plays by the receivers, the Jackets should be able to keep the game within striking distance.

Finally, the Jackets will have to sustain drives with strong play on first and second down. In the two recent road contests against Virginia and Miami, the Jackets often found themselves in third-and-long situations that forced them to predictably throw the ball. Head Coach Paul Johnson will have to find some individual matchups during the game that the Jackets can exploit on first and second down in order to prevent throwing situations If Tech can create manageable third down scenarios, they will be able to stick to their option game.

TIG

ERS

JACKETS

VS.

PREDICTION: Tech 38, Clemson 35

By Alex Sohani, Sports Editor

Photo by Jarrett Skov / Student PublicationsPh

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by J

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CLEMSON AT TECH - OCT. 29 (8:00 p.m.)The No. 5 Clemson Tigers are 8-0 and bring their highest-ranked squad since 1959 to Bobby Dodd Stadium to face off against the Jackets

on Oct. 29. The Tigers are coming off of an explosive 59-38 performance against UNC in which they scored 35 points in the third quarter. The Tigers face off against the Jackets as favorites on the road in a primetime game that will be broadcast nationwide. In order for the Tigers to continue their success and remain undefeated, they will have to do the following.

First, the Tigers will have to maintain balance on offense and spread the ball around evenly. Quarterback Tahj Boyd is complet-ing 61.9 percent of his passes with 24 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Boyd has a balanced wide receiving corps with seven receivers averaging over 13 yards per reception. The receivers are led by true freshman Sammy Watkins, who has 819 yards and is leading the ACC in receptions with 54. If the Tigers can spread the ball to other receivers such as DeAndre Hopkins and Dwayne Allen, Tech defenders will have to evenly allocate their pass coverage and Watkins could possibly be more open for big plays.

Secondly, the Tigers will have to establish a strong run game. Running back Andre Ellington has had a productive season with 745 yards and seven touchdowns on 146 carries. Ellington has been nursing a nagging injury, but if he can produce some strong runs, the Tigers will have an advantage over the Jackets. Tech has allowed four 100-yard rushers this season and Ellington was productive in the previous matchup in 2010 with 166 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. If he has another big day against the Jackets, he will be able to control the clock and keep the Jackets’ offense off the field.

Finally, the Clemson defense will have to step up and force the redshirt junior quarterback Tevin Washington to run the ball. The Tigers have struggled at times on defense, but if they can stick to their assignments, they could force the Jackets to be one dimensional and make Washington to have to make plays with his feet. If the Tigers can force third and long situations, the Jackets will be forced to throw the ball, an area of the game they have struggled with during conference play.

22 • October 28, 2011 • Technique SPORTS

www.nique.netsliver

Big Bang Theory is funny because it’s like watching my friends on TV.You’d think in the time it takes to login to GT computers they’d log you into i still believe in you yellow jackets!!!!!!!There should be a whole page in the Technique dedicated to sliv-ersI forgot everything I learned at Tech since graduatingWhoadear sliver guy, i just want ONE of my slivers to be published. PLEASE?!switching from being a sci major to a management major... thank god.2011 homecoming step show was awesome! damn i need me a nphc frat boyfailing all my classes. this can’t be good. i think i’ll apply to state...hey everyone! stealing t’s defeats Tech traditions... it has to be a capital T. duhare they protesting being poor?Cheerwine!!!!!if i sliver enough, something might get infreshmen, learn to sliverthis is what i do when i’m bored at work: spill my thoughts onto sliveryou’re welcome for slivering.why couldn’t the backstreet boys have performed for homecom-ing? #cantgetoverthe9 0si to go gay bars to get free drinks #nohomocan we get an options class that teaches shuffling???Why doesn’t the band play Pokemon songs? I wanna be the very best!Who remember when Hoffman wrote for the Technique.....I miss him...PSYCH!the weekly polls have interesting questions, it’s just.. nobody ever answers it.To the person who slivered a Tobias quote: you made my day.

a 12-play drive that took 5:24 off the clock and gave Miami a 7-0 lead midway through the opening period.

The Jackets had two more pos-sessions in the first quarter, but they were unable to move the ball very far on either one due to a failed conversion attempt on a fake punt and a 34-yard run by redshirt senior A-back Roddy Jones that was called back due to offsetting penalties. Tech stayed within a touchdown, though, as Miami’s last two possessions of the first quarter were fruitless as well even though the Hurricanes reached Tech territory on both.

A sequence early in the second quarter showcased Tech’s fortunes in all three phases of the game. The Jackets had the ball to open the second quarter, but for the fourth straight possession they were unable to cross midfield and had to punt. The Tech defense stifled Miami’s offense once more and forced the Hurricanes to punt

Hurricanes from page 24

Volleyball from page 24

near midfield, but freshman punt returner Zach Laskey lost the ball while attempting to pick up the bouncing punt and Miami safety JoJo Nicolas recovered in Tech’s end zone for a Miami touchdown. The score gave the Hurricanes a 14-0 advantage with 10:17 left in the opening half.

“Clearly today was the worst that has happened to [Laskey],” Johnson said.

Tech responded with its best drive of the day. Starting from its own eight-yard line after a poor kickoff return, the Jackets took more than nine minutes off the clock on a 20-play, 92-yard touch-down drive. Washington carried the ball nine times and punched the ball in from a yard out for a touchdown, and Tech cut Mi-ami’s lead to 14-7.

Following the score, only 1:02 remained in the first half, but that turned out to be enough time for the Hurricanes to score. After a 48-yard kick return and a 32-yard reception, Miller ran up the mid-dle for 14 yards to reach the end

Photo courtesy of Danny Karnik / Georgia Tech Sports Information

Roddy Jones tries to stiff-arm a defender. The Jackets struggled to find success in the running game with only 134 rushing yards.

zone, capping a 37-second drive and giving Miami a 21-7 lead that lasted into halftime.

The Jackets had the ball first in the second half and crafted a lengthy drive, advancing from their own 20 to the Miami 32, but they ended up turning the ball over on downs on a failed fourth-down conversion.

Tech’s defense forced another three-and-out and a punt, but the offense failed to move the ball past Tech’s own 30-yard line before be-ing forced to punt. Miami quickly moved downfield and picked up a 39-yard field goal that gave them a 24-7 lead and a three-score advan-tage with 13:55 left in the game.

Redshirt freshman quarter-back Synjyn Days replaced Wash-ington for Tech’s next series, but after picking up one first down, he lost six yards on a run and a fum-ble on the next play. Harris threw a quick interception to sophomore outside linebacker Jeremiah Atta-ochu, but Tech—with Washing-ton back in at quarterback—only gained two yards on its next series before punting.

Miami took over with 10:34 left in the game and rode running

backs Miller and James to a 14-play drive that took 7:31 off the clock. The drive ended with an incomplete pass on fourth down, but it effectively eliminated any chance that Tech had of coming back. Miami went on to win 24-7.

The loss came despite a strong overall effort from Tech’s defense. Because of a strong performance from Miller, who had 93 rushing yards and a touchdown, Miami managed 263 total yards. Harris completed just eight of 23 pass at-tempts in the game for 140 yards.

In many regards, the play of Tech’s special teams unit was the deciding factor. Laskey fumbled the punt that was returned for a touchdown, and poor blocking on kickoff returns forced the Jackets to start from inside their own 20-yard line twice.

“We couldn’t overcome the special teams that we had today, and that is a reflection on me,” Johnson said.

The Jackets will face a chal-lenge as they look to reverse their fortunes. Tech will return home from the two-game road trip to face undefeated No. 5 Clemson on Saturday, Oct. 29.

the Virginia Cavaliers on Oct. 22. The Jackets rebounded off of the loss the previous night with a 3-1 victory, their fifth ACC win of the season. Mead posted 19 kills in the 25-21, 25-20, 19-25, 25-17 win.

The first set went to the Jackets on four kills by sophomore out-side hitter Jennifer Percy and 12 assists by Colson. The Jackets then followed up with a 25-20 second set win with six kills from Mead and kills from three other team-mates. The Jackets then stumbled in the third set, with the Cavaliers taking a 25-19 victory and bring-ing the match score to 2-1. The loss would not affect the Jackets, however, as Tech won the fourth set and the match with a solid 25-17 win led by six more kills from Mead.

After the win against the Cava-liers, the Jackets travelled to Mur-freesboro, Tenn. to face the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State in their only midweek match of the season. The Jackets stumbled despite winning the first set and MTSU earned the 17-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-22 win.

The Jackets began the first set quickly with seven blocks and five players netting at least two kills in the 25-17 set win. The Blue Raid-ers responded quickly in the sec-ond set, holding a 16-15 lead over the Jackets before winning nine of the last 12 points to even the match. MTSU continued their success in the third set, easily tak-ing the 25-15 victory.

The final set of the match saw a back-and-forth exchange as the Jackets continued to rally from being down against the Blue Raiders. Tech could not make the comeback from down 24-20, eventually falling 25-22 and los-ing the match 3-1.

The Jackets return home on Oct. 28 to face Wake Forest dur-ing Homecoming weekend.

Photo courtesy of Danny Karnik / Georgia Tech Sports Information

Jeremiah Attaochu attempts a sack of Miami’s Jacory Harris. Attaochu helped the defense hold Miami to 262 yards of offense.

Technique • October 28, 2011 • 23 SPORTS

Alex Mitchell is a MGT major in his fourth year at Tech. He has watched sports his entire life, and takes a critical view towards many of the trending topics in the sporting world. To contact Alex with your opinions about Time Out, email him at timeout@nique.net.

T I M E - O U Tw i t h A l e x M i t c h e l l

Hello, sports fans and welcome to another edition of Time Out. For this edition, I have decided to give my opinion on something other than how disappointed I am with the Tech football team’s second loss of the season. With basketball season right around the corner, it is a perfect time to give you my thoughts on Tech’s up-coming basketball season.

For those of you that keep up with college basketball, you may have seen a number of publica-tions that predicted that Tech would finish tenth in the ACC this season.

With only 12 teams in the conference, a tenth place finish would, needless to say, be a rough way for Head Coach Brian Grego-ry to start his Tech career.

As much as I would love to pick against the experts, they may have this one right, but it has nothing to do with a lack of talent.

A lot of people thought that this would be a tough year for the Jackets when Tech announced

that it would renovate Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Jackets will now be forced to play five of their first six “home” games 27 miles away from campus at the Gwinnett Arena. The team’s other home games will be played at the 18,000-seat Philips Arena.

These displacements will defi-nitely be an extra burden on the team this season for a couple of reasons.

First, in the case of Gwinnett, the team will have to make travel arrangements to games that it would normally be able to walk to. In essence, the games will be treated as road games, especially considering that only a handful of regular Tech fans will be there to watch the games. Most of the stu-dents will not travel to the games and the alumni in the Atlanta area will not want to drive 30 minutes on a Monday night to see Tech play an opponent like Delaware State.

Second, in the case of Philips, neither the Hawks nor the Dream

can sell out at home, so how is a team that went 13-18 last season supposed to sell 18,000 tickets? It will be demoralizing for the play-ers to play in front of an empty stadium where fans could hold conversations from other ends of the stadium.

After learning that they will not be having a home game this season, the Jackets got some more bad news when guards Iman Shumpert and Brian Oliver left the program. Shumpert left Tech for the NBA, but will probably suffer from not playing basketball at all this season. Meanwhile, Oli-ver chose to leave Tech and trans-fer to Seton Hall. Add those losses to the loss of guard Moe Miller due to graduation, and you get a recipe for disaster.

Miller, Shumpert and Oliver combined to average 33.6 points per game last season. The other 11 players on the team combined to average 34.2. Replacing these three players will require a re-building effort for the Jackets this season, which poses another prob-lem for this year’s squad.

The Jackets, as mentioned above, play in the ACC. In case you do not know, the ACC is one of, if not the best, conference in all of college basketball. The league boasts powerhouses like North Carolina and Duke who are ranked No. 1 and 5 in the pre-season coaches poll, respectively. Both are on Tech’s schedule this season. So is Florida State, which should be a ranked team. It will be hard for the rebuilding Jack-ets to compete with these teams when these teams get better every

season. In the ACC, you either reload

or you implode. UNC and Duke are great at reloading, and Tech, with its one incoming freshman and 11 scholarship players, does not appear to be in the business of reloading.

Along with the problems men-tioned above, Tech also will be breaking in a new coach with Gregory. Gregory did not recruit any of the players who are on Tech’s roster, so none of the play-ers envisioned playing for Gregory

and none of the players were re-cruited to play in Gregory’s sys-tem. It remains to be seen if Greg-ory is the coach that Tech needs, but he cannot be worse than the last one, right?

This year’s Tech squad has ath-letic ability in Glen Rice Jr. and Brandon Reed. It also has size in Nate Hicks and Daniel Miller, who are both over six-foot-ten. I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but it looks to be a long season for the Jackets because of factors that none of these players can control.

Photo by Will Folsom / Student Publications

Jason Morris playing in his final game of the 2010-11 season. He averaged 6 points per game on 41.4 percent shooting last season.

Sportssports@nique.netSports Editor:Alex Sohani

Tiger BloodLook ahead to Tech’s Homecoming

matchup against its ACC cross-division rival, No. 5 Clemson.421

Technique

24Friday,

October 28, 2011

By Nishant PrasadhDevelopment Editor

Coming off its first loss of the season, the Tech football team failed to rebound against Mi-ami in last weekend on the road. The Jackets recorded their lowest yardage total of the season against an aggressive Miami defense, ac-cumulating just 211 yards on of-fense, and the special teams unit struggled as well en route to a 24-7 loss.

With the loss, Tech dropped to 6-2 on the season with a 3-2 mark in conference play. After reaching

a ranking as high as No. 12 in the AP Top 25 after the Maryland game, the Jackets are no longer ranked in the Top 25 of any major polls following the loss to Miami, which was their third straight loss against the Hurricanes.

“Anytime you lose, it’s frus-trating…We just have to let it go and move on,” said redshirt junior quarterback Tevin Washington.

The defeat was, to a large de-gree, due to Tech’s worst statistical rushing effort of the season. Tech managed just 134 yards on the ground, averaging 2.8 yards per carry, and the team’s longest run

of the day went for just 11 yards. Only one game in Johnson’s ten-ure as head coach—Tech’s 33-17 loss to Miami in 2009—saw the Jackets rush for fewer yards.

The team’s leading ballcarrier was Washington, who picked up just 36 yards on 20 carries. Wash-ington’s struggles stemmed from the fact that Miami shut down redshirt sophomore B-back David Sims and contained the A-backs on option plays to the edges; Sims and the A-backs combined for 22 carries to Washington’s 20.

Because Miami had success shutting down Tech’s run game

across the board, the Hurricanes rarely had to play eight defend-ers in the box and Tech had few openings in the passing game. Washington completed six of 12 passes for just 63 yards with an interception; after averaging 12.7 yards per attempt going into the game, his mark was just 5.3 yards per attempt.

“It’s not fair to put all of this on Tevin, because there are a lot of us that have to do better…We can’t get to the perimeter,” John-son said.

The misfortunes started quick-ly for Tech. After forcing a three-

and-out after two incomplete passes by Miami quarterback Ja-cory Harris, the Jackets gave the ball right back as Washington was intercepted on a deep pass to se-nior receiver Tyler Melton.

The interception gave Miami the ball at Tech’s 46-yard line, and the Hurricanes took advan-tage of the short field. Running back Lamar Miller carried five times for 29 yards to power the Miami offense down the field, and fellow running back Mike James scored from two yards out to cap

Tech splits two conference matches, loses to MTSUBy Alex Sohani

Sports Editor

After two games on the road in Fla. against Miami and Florida State from Oct. 14-16, the Jackets’ volleyball team finished their five-game road stretch from Oct. 21-26 with matches against Virginia Tech, Virginia and Middle Tennes-see State.

The Jackets split two con-ference matches between Vir-ginia Tech and Virginia before travelling to Murfreesboro, Tenn. and dropping their last non-conference matchup of the season against the Blue Raiders.

The Jackets began their stretch with a trip to Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va., where they dropped a close

five-set match to the Hokies on Oct. 21. The Jackets started strong, taking the first set, but the Hokies finally won 23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 11-25, 15-8 in a match that had 13 lead chang-es and took over two hours.

In the first set against Vir-ginia Tech, Georgia Tech scraped by with a 25-23 victory on seven kills by junior right-side hitter Monique Mead.

The second set went to Vir-ginia Tech despite the Jackets being within reach for the majority of the set. The Hok-ies led 22-19 before the Jackets scored on Mead’s sixth kill of the set to bring the score to 22-20. Virginia Tech then rattled off three straight points to take the set and even the match score at 1-1.

The third set went to Vir-

ginia Tech in a 25-17 decision before the Jackets responded and brought momentum to their side. The fourth set easily went to the Jackets in a 25-11 victory in which Virginia Tech committed four errors and al-lowed the match to be tied at 2-2. The fifth set remained close, with the Hokies leading 9-8 before hitting six consecu-tive points to take the final set 15-8.

Mead finished the night with 24 kills and 15 digs, her seventh double-double of the season. Sophomore setter Ka-leigh Colson aided the effort with 41 assists along with her seven kills and five blocks.

The Jackets then travelled to Charlottesville, Va. to face

See Hurricanes, page 22

See Volleyball, page 22

Jackets’ offense shut down in 24-7 loss to Miami

Photo courtesy of Zach Beeker / The Miami Hurricane

Tevin Washington gets up after being tackled by Miami defenders. Washington led the Jackets in rushing with 20 carries for 36 yards as Tech posted only 211 total yards.

Photo by John Nakano / Student Publications

Nicki Meyer posts a dig in a match earlier this season against NC State. Meyer had a strong weekend with a combined 40 digs in conference play.