Fighting the Reflection
By Lauren Akselrod | March 4, 2002B reathing a sigh of relief, she gives a satisfied smile as her size zero jeans smoothly glide up over her emaciated legs.
B reathing a sigh of relief, she gives a satisfied smile as her size zero jeans smoothly glide up over her emaciated legs.
It's about strength and endurance. It's about concentration and power. It's about individuality working to earn a place in the group. Over the weekend, the 890 members of the University Air Force ROTC detachment held their annual Battle Dress Initiation.
With the steady stream of traffic, blaring radios and tantalizing smells wafting from Baja Bean and Frank's Pizza, the University Women's Center, located on the corner of 14th Street and University Avenue, easily is overlooked. On the north side of the street, the Women's Center houses the needed resources every woman in Charlottesville might seek. Unaware of this valuable source of information, inspiration and support, and surrounded by so much else on one of Charlottesville's busiest intersections, very few students wander in off the street. But don't let the neighboring street's activity distract you. Upon entering through the double doors, a new client first encounters a student secretary who smiles warmly as she offers the next available appointment.
It would be difficult to imagine an Italian restaurant with a better atmosphere than Vivace. Twinkling white holiday lights, a cozy outdoor patio with an ivy trellis overhead and walls inside covered with sulking photographs of Sophia Loren and large oil paintings of Italian seascapes.
By Alexandra Valint Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Intrigued by taste testing griyo and kifto and watching a group of dancers perform to calypso and Ethiopian music? The Association of African and Caribbean Cultures is holding its "Diaspora Bashment," a diverse cultural celebration, tonight in the Student Activities Building. The night will start at 8:30 with assorted meals of sundry African and Caribbean dishes.
Before I hit Club Med for Spring Break, it looks like I'll be hitting Club Clemons. It may be easy to forget from year to year the monstrous amount of work that stands between you and the perfect tan.
It's unusual to have a lecture series named after you while you're still alive. But Jim McDonald, the former director of the Wesley Institute, a United Methodist campus ministry, faces that exact situation. Today marks the inaugural speech in the Jim McDonald Lectures, a series sponsored by the Wesley Foundation in hopes of developing themes that were central to McDonald's ministry, including ecumenical efforts and the relationship between religion and academia. Several religious organizations worked together with the Wesley Foundation to bring Jim Wallis to the University as the first speaker. Wallis is the author of several books, most recently "Faith Works," the editor of "Sojourners" magazine and a nationally recognized commentator on faith issues. Wallis' lecture today will share the name of his latest book, and center on faith-based responses to poverty. Alex Joyner, the current director of the Wesley Foundation, said he understands the speech will discuss Wallis' experiences in writing the book. "He's going to be talking about his travels around the country, seeing how faith-based organizations are making a difference," Joyner said. Joyner said the Wesley Foundation chose Wallis because he works with the same principles that McDonald did. "Jim McDonald was very active in bringing people together, and we wanted to recognize the themes of his ministry," Joyner said.
It's not the first story they'll tell. It's not a story told very often. It's the story of black students, leaders and community members and the role they have played in shaping the University's history. The typical University Guide Service tour focuses on the inspiring architecture, the student leadership and the man who began it all, Mr. Jefferson. The accounts heard predominately focus on the role of white males in the founding and development of the University, rarely discussing the historical role played by blacks. Finally, some questions have been answered. This past weekend, UGS gave a tour entitled "From Slave to Scholar." Guides narrated the tales of many blacks at the University and their struggle for equality. Erin-Marie Burke, a third-year College student and a member of UGS, came up with the idea for the tour several weeks ago, after hearing Carl Mack speak at the University in celebration of Black History Month. "He kept saying this one quote," Burke said.
Tonight, the Russian House is getting wired. No, this is not the plot of a Cold War spy drama - the University's Russian House is being wired not for surveillance, but for satellite television. Beginning this evening, the house will receive two Russian TV channels via satellite, including a news station that will enable house residents and other Russian scholars to improve their language skills and their understanding of Russian current events. The Russian House, located at 102 Cresap Lane, is home to six students and Resident Manager Alexander Melmikov.
Cloistered away, down dusty, gravel access roads, a community of 10 women rise at 3 a.m. They pray, they read, they pray more, they work, they sing, they pray again and they sleep -- time passes like this here, amid the barren foothills of the Blue Ridge.
Beneath the tented area temporarily in front of the University Bookstore, bargain-hunting students meander their way through racks of clothing in search of brand-name fashions at the cheapest prices. The event is a biannual sale sponsored by the University Bookstore, allowing Forrest Haskins, owner of The Missing Button, to bring in trucks full of overstocked and discontinued items from stores like Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch. "We're a traveling outlet," Haskins said.
Everyone comes to the University looking for a niche. Some find theirs in intramural sports or acting troupes, others, in a cappella groups and the mainstream Greek system.
If I were a unabomber ... I mean, if I abandoned the use of my Mach-3 in favor of Taliban facial hair and migrated to a dilapidated chicken coop where I would cackle maniacally as I synthesized mounds upon mounds of TNT, I would have to go Pearl Harbor on the Aquatic & Fitness Center.
The cringing middle-aged couple resolutely kept their heads down as they stealthily tried to make their escape up the center aisle of the Charlottesville Performing Arts Center.
By Lauren Akselrod Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Hunger - it makes our stomachs grumble, it makes us reach out for the nearest carbohydrate-packed snack food. It also takes the lives of over 23,000 children everyday. Although food is taken for granted by many,in poverty stricken countries, often it is extremely hard to come by.
By Mary Vause Cavalier Daily Staff Writer Ask vegetarians about their lifestyle and you may just put down that hamburger. You see them sidling nervously to the fringes of the cookout.
G o ahead. Just try to find a place to eat in Charlottesville on a Monday night. We dare you. Local restaurants close down more often than the ITC server at the start of each week, which we disgustedly learned in our failed attempts to dine at Immigrant Soul, Moondance Cafe, Escafe, Monsoon and Tokyo Rose and thought better of daring CJ's Bomb Shelter and El Girasol.
By Alexandra Valint Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Anyone who is cognizant of the mysterious and universal applications of that wonder known as duct tape, will definitely appreciate today's "Duct Tape-Off." The event is part of the Engineering school's E-Week, which started last Sunday and ends today. Second-year Engineering student Jake Harmon, co-director of E-week, said the preliminaries of the duct tape competition commenced Monday.
When 20 students with blankets and pillows in tow trek across Lambeth Commons on an early Sunday morning, it may look like they're off to a sleepover.
What if you chuck all of this monotony, the spreadsheets and the unbridled passionate dream of a bulging stock portfolio?