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NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Tuesday is made for gypsy punks: Gogol Bordello comes to town

By Bursten

Imagine taking the Grandmaster Flash out of Gnarls Barkley and replacing it with a Weird Al vs. Borat bar brawl: Presto, you would have Gogol Bordello, the self-described gypsy punk band that is slated to confuse, enthrall and energize audiences at the Meridian on Tuesday. The eight-piece set of rockers from New York City, by way of custom, furiously blends metallic core rhythms with instrumentation that is decidedly out of the mainstream. Accordions and fire buckets, as well as percussive dancing, are common fare for Gogol stages. This is not your mama's world music. It is no goodwill musical mission, no sweet-voiced cultural petit four. It is impossible to walk away from Gogol feeling like you have witnessed a quaint foreign concert, a Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The gypsy punks do not allow audiences to just listen to the snarling, heavily accented songs and lyrics: Listeners have to meet Gogol head-on and immerse themselves in the bizarre culmination of five continents' worth of musicians, or they will end up running away screaming.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Women's tennis keeps win streak rolling with victory over UCF

By Rhodes Coffey

Winning streaks are a funny thing. They are both media darlings and fan favorites, but they can find lessened importance if the teams that own them play sloppily and without fire. However, after its sweep of spring break opponents to stretch the winning streak to six matches, no one can accuse the women's tennis team of playing without desire. Over the past two weeks, No. 75 Rice has downed No. 69 California State University-Northridge, the University of Texas-Pan American and the University of Central Florida, its first Conference-USA foe of the year.After improving its record to 12-4 on the spring season and 9-1 at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, the team will host Abilene Christian University this Friday at 3 pm. While Abilene Christian - Rice head coach Roger White's alma mater - may be Division II, they are seventh in the country and have lost only one of the last ten matches. They also feature the doubles tandem of Irene Squillaci and Aina Rafolomanantsiatosika, the second-ranked team in D-II.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

SA, RUPD create lost-and-found site

By Jocelyn Wright

In response to Rice University Police Department's anti-theft policy implemented at the beginning of last semester, Brown College senator Patrick McAnaney, Lovett College senator Fiona Adams, and Student Association Director of Technology J.D. Leonard worked with Police Sergeant Jesse Salazar and Police Captain Phillip Hassell to create a searchable database of all the items RUPD has taken as well as any other items that are lost or found.McAnaney, a sophomore, first thought of the idea when a friend had his backpack confiscated by RUPD and spent time looking for it at many lost-and-found boxes within separate buildings before finding out that RUPD had it. Adams, a sophomore, said the database would eliminate those unnecessary steps by listing the lost and found items in one central location.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Marfa: West Texas ghost town doubles as desert oasis

By Norbergs

There's a fair chance you've never heard of the town of Marfa, Texas, population 2,121, approximately 600 miles west of Houston. But in certain circles, this small town is a big deal. In the 1970s, the artist Donald Judd, best known for his minimalist sculptures, purchased a former military fort in this then-unremarkable tumbleweed town and began transforming the grounds into what is today an art space for permanent and temporary exhibits and a home to a series of artists in residence. Around this compound, now known as the Chinati Foundation, has grown a veritable artistic and otherwise bohemian oasis in the West Texas desert. The Hotel Paisano, built in the 1930s, is Marfa's oldest claim to fame as part of the setting of the movie The Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Despite its seeming anachronism, it still impresses with its Spanish villa-styled architecture and lush interior - the bar is as hopping as it was during the famous movie's filming and turns out a mean margarita, too. The only other bar recommended by locals was the lounge in Thunderbird Motel. Luckily, we ventured past its imposingly sketchy exterior, an unbroken concrete wall and unlit neon "lounge" sign, to find a surprisingly cool room, its high walls painted dark blue and covered in larger-than-life-sized portraits of Marfa locals. The "Snake Bite" sounded like an intriguing drink, but the bartender at the time was apparently only filling in for a friend and said that he frankly had no idea what was in it. This hang-up was amusing rather than annoying, and seemed to personify this quirky town's laid-back and welcoming spirit.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

BakerShake's Richard III a true thriller

By Brian Reinhart

Shakespeare's play Richard III begins and ends with tremendous swordfights and bloody deaths, but the intense psychological drama that plays out in between is even more gripping in this new production by the Baker Shakespeare company. A strong cast featuring numerous Rice alumni and employees excels in the chilling Baker College performance.The play itself depicts the scheming of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Baker associate Joseph Lockett, Hanszen '91), a physically deformed nobleman whose ambition is to become King of England. He is determined to do so by any means and cruelly divides the other nobles into rival factions before killing them all. Richard's motives are not made clear until he has already murdered several of his foes, adding an element of psychological mystery to the play's early stages.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Willy Week jacks reach outside of the box

By Sarah Rutledge

Although spring break may have allowed students a relaxing respite from school, Willy Week, which began Monday, more than made up for the previous week's lack of activity. Mock Beer-Bike, the Beer Debates and Willy's Picnic may have enhanced the Willy Week experience, but colleges were the real stars of Willy Week with the many jacks they executed across campus.Late Sunday night, members of Martel College sprayed WD-40 in trashcans filled with water balloons at Brown College to pop the balloons.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Women's track uses potent team effort to defend indoor title

By Natalie Clericuzio

Even though track and field is not always recognized as a conventional team sport, the members of the women's track and field team were anything but individualistic in defending their league title two weeks ago at the Conference USA Indoor Championships. Despite placing first in only two events, Rice used 15 top-three finishes to pull out a nearly twenty-point rout to best second -lace University of Texas-El Paso 133.5-114.5 at University of Houston's Yeoman Field House.The Owls will get a chance to rest this week - none of the members earned a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships. However, more Owls were on the provisional list than in previous years: Senior distance runners Callie Wells and Lennie Waite, senior pole vaulter Rachel Greff, senior sprinter Desarie Walwyn and sophomore Sarah Lyons all posted provisional qualifying times during the season.

NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Senior testing included in new national accreditation measures

By Sarah Rutledge

Seniors who dreamed that their last semester of college would be filled with constant parties, easy classes and the occasional contemplation of their future may have to adjust that fantasy this year due to accreditation assessments, which began last week. Though Rice was reaffirmed for accreditation in 2006 - all colleges and universities are evaluated every ten years for the title - due to new measures by the federal government, universities across the country are undergoing an examination process to test what seniors have learned in their time at college.

NEWS 8/24/07 12:00am

Interim decision eliminated for 2008 admissions

By Lily Chun

 Prospective students to the class of 2012 can no longer apply to Rice via interim decision. The Office of Enrollment chose to stop offering interim decision applications in January. Interim decision enabled students to apply to Rice and receive a decision in February instead of April. The option was non-binding and began at Rice in the 1970s.  

NEWS 8/24/07 12:00am

Construction commences

By Stephen Whitfield

Students moving back on campus this weekend will notice a university far different from the one they left last spring. A number of construction projects at Rice have given the campus the look and feel of a giant work zone, something that students will continue to experience for the next few years. 

NEWS 8/24/07 12:00am

Jones School proposes Ph.D.

By Evan Mintz and Julia Bursten

A doctoral program in management may soon become a reality at Rice. The Graduate Council unanimously approved a proposal for the Ph.D. program put forth by the Jones Graduate School of Management at the end of last semester, Graduate Council chair Jim Faubion said. If approved by the Faculty Senate, the program could improve the Jones School's international reputation, strengthen connections between the Jones School and other academic departments, and provide new research opportunities for undergraduates.  

NEWS 8/24/07 12:00am

Outer Loop needs blue light special

By Thresher Editorial Board

In case the massive fences and mud pits did not make the fact obvious, Rice is undergoing a surge of construction. But beyond the large-scale additions of the pavilion, new power plant and two new colleges, there are also subtler improvements in campus life — notably, replacing and upgrading the emergency phone system.  

OPINION 8/24/07 12:00am

Work hard, play hard: a dangerous myth

By D. Michael Lindsay

During college, most undergraduates undergo a process of self actualization, of becoming who they want to be. This week another class of talented, resourceful students began this journey through Orientation Week. Some of the nation's best and brightest become part of the Rice family every August, and before long they will become beloved members of the Rice community. 

OPINION 8/24/07 12:00am

Campus energy policy powered by irony

By Patrick McAnaney

When I opened up my letter this summer from Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman, I was delighted to find that Field Notes from a Catastrophe had been chosen as the common reading. Over the course of my first year at Rice, I had often found that the issue of global warming was little more than an afterthought for most students.  

OPINION 8/24/07 12:00am

Exploring the true drains on American society

By Ian Ragsdale

 In America , we have been told who the drains on our society are. They arc people on welfare, undocumented workers, hippies, hobos and basically anyone who hasn't made a million dollars — and thus hasn't demonstrated his or her ability to put in a hard day's work. Apparently, in America, a hard day's work entitles you to a million dollars.  Yeah, right. Let's wake up and look for the real drains on society. 

OPINION 8/24/07 12:00am

Let’s give hazing a second chance, Rice style

By Evan Mintz

Hazing gets a bad rap. And with the associated deaths, alcohol poisonings and homoeroticism, it is quite understandable that hazing at Rice has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. But there used to be a time when hazing was a grand and glorious tradition on campus.  

NEWS 8/24/07 12:00am

Remembering Norman Hackerman

By Evan Mintz

 Former Rice University President Norman Hackerman, who served from 1970 to 1985, died June 16 in Temple,Texas at age 95. Hackerman, who was Rice's fourth president, oversaw the founding of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management and the Shepherd School of Music. 

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