Life

Much ado about the red, white and blue

By Lauren Akselrod Cavalier Daily Associate Editor While the commencement of the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City last Friday brought the world together, the traditional torch lighting sparked controversy. Among the words of the 100 pages of the Olympics' charter, it states that the host country is responsible for making each and every participant and visitor feel respected and comfortable. And no moment holds more significance in light of this charter than the symbolic commencement of the games. In past opening ceremonies, participants in neutral clothes have performed the torch lighting.

SHE WAS BORN DEC.

Letters of love and loss for Liana

"Heaven holds a sense of wonder And I wanted to believe That I'd get caught up When the range in me subsides" - from "Silence," by Sarah McLachlan I remember us sitting in the red futon listening to Sarah McLachlan. I listened to the same song yesterday.

Odds and Ends

Laundry love By Alexandra Valint Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Romantic intrigue is back in the most unlikely of college settings: the laundry room. Second-year College student Jarrett Conaway has set his recently completed script of the short film "SudLuv" in the world of washers, dryers and dirty clothes. With the crew and shooting location in place, Conaway is only missing the cast. Auditions start today for the comedy that centers around three male characters and one dirty escapade.

Going the Distance

Your heart is racing and your body is saturated in sweat. Breathing hard you feel like you cannot endure another second, but you know the reward that the end will bring: Pride. So you press on.

A Brazilian accent on a half-hearted festival of flavor

Copacabana promises to bring Carnevale to Charlottesville. The attempt is admirable, but perhaps falls just short of its mark. It is difficult to create an atmosphere that will transcend standard shopping center surroundings, but the interior of Copacabana looks oddly more like a Chinese restaurant than a Brazilian one.

The Deans List

Inside the administrative realm of Garrett and Peabody Halls, many of the University's deans are, at any moment, assisting a student with financial aid problems, academic concerns or any number of day-to-day issues.

Odds and Ends

Now introducing . . . Amateur Night By Katie Sullivan Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Your chance to see the next Dave Matthews may be tonight. The Spotlight Committee of University Programs Council will be sponsoring Amateur Night, featuring both scheduled acts and anyone else who wants to get up and perform, from 8 p.m.

Unearth summer job applications before it's too late

I can't say that I'm on top of things this semester, considering that my desk chair, purchased in late August, remains unassembled in its box.

Odds and Ends

LGBT Resource Center serves up "Chutney Popcorn" By Lytle Wurtzle Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Reena seems to have her share of problems: her traditional Indian mother will not accept her lesbian lifestyle, her girlfriend Lisa is suffering from commitment-phobia, and she wants to act as a surrogate mother for her unwilling sister. Reena, the heroine of director Nisha Ganatra's first feature film, "Chutney Popcorn," grapples with the same issues that many young people face in their everyday lives, including family divisions and relationship dilemmas. But "Chutney Popcorn" serves up these issues with a queer bend, which is why the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center will feature it Wednesday night at their weekly Queer Movie Night. "Popcorn," a romantic comedy starring former "Law & Order" actressJill Hennessy, is being shown at 7:15 tomorrow night at the LGBT Resource Center, located in the faculty apartments on Rugby Road.

Getting Physical

T hey're fast. They're fierce. And they'll whip you into shape. Last weekend at the University of Maryland at the ninth annual fitness exposition, entitled Beginning to Balance, University aerobics instructors and trainers took fitness to a whole new level. Amidst photographers and professionals, participants, including a group of about 30 fitness instructors and trainers from the University, engaged in a series of activities that invoked the feeling of a hard-core work-out video. Colorful spandex-clad women and men decorated the spacious gym, and water bottles quickly circulated throughout the crowd.

Art You Can Eat

Ladies and gentlemen, this time we've really done it. The mustard is leaking from our ears, softening the pulsing rhythm of locomotive persistence.

Odds and Ends

By Lauren Akselrod Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Graduation looms ahead. The "real world" is out there and closer than ever before. Whether it's the pursuit of a career in health care or the wish to work for a microbrewery, now is the time of year students start to squirm at the realization that the comforting University world soon will be a distant memory. Yesterday in the Newcomb Hall ballroom, the College of Arts and Sciences and University Career Services sponsored their annual job fair.

Odds and Ends

Sign on for Short Courses By Laura Good Cavalier Daily Associate Editor From the quick moves and high lifts of prep step dancing to the alcoholic etiquette and "mixology" of bartending, the University's short course program has an area of interest for just about everyone.

Inspiring

A bass player with a mop of curly black hair starts to play a gently thrumming back-beat. A drummer joins in, playing a softly swishing rhythm on the snare. Sitting backward on a piano bench, a man in jeans, a black sweater and trademark braids begins singing in the voice of the saxophone. Such is the magic of Bobby McFerrin. McFerrin came to the University this weekend to conduct three master classes and play two concerts. Music performance faculty member John D'earth summed up the feelings of many of the participants during his introduction. "This is a precious moment, and it will be gone," he said. McFerrin is an internationally famed jazz singer whose improvisational skills have earned him numerous awards and accolades, including a gold album and 10 Grammys.

Cooling the itch in the sleepless city of fruit and produce

About a month ago I started getting that itch that college students get over winter break. You know, the one that starts bugging you while you're sitting on a couch that you haven't moved from in so long your skin has begun to graft itself to the leather.

Odds and Ends

Not so 'super' Bowl By Alexandra Valint Cavalier Daily Senior Writer It is undeniably the largest sporting event of the year.

Sugar, spice and everything Thai

The Thai 99 of old offered a dimly lit, cozy but slow dining experience in what felt like someone's living room.

Thinking Outside of the Book

W hen it came time to decide on a major, fourth- year College student Bahie Rassekh wasn't interested in merely following the pre-med path or limiting her studies to the confines of a single discipline. So she joined the ranks of students who have majored in fields such as "Irish Studies" and "Persuasion." Coming into the University, Rassekh had a strong interest in studying health and she thrived on the challenge of completing her pre-med requirements. But she also liked sociology and psychology, and she thought that a health-centered education would be incomplete without focusing on the social aspects that affect a person's well-being. Rassekh instead wanted to personalize her major to encompass community service, along with the educational and medical issues that affect health. And she discovered that she did not have to resort to a traditional program of study to accomplish that goal. Rassekh took advantage of the Interdisciplinary Major Program and put together her own requirements.

Concerto for one

There's an impromptu concert on the piano in the main lounge in Newcomb Hall, open to the public and free of charge.