Special Projects

Survey shows alumni successful after Rice

Rice isn't just churning out doctors, lawyers and engineers, but also business owners, pastors, world record holders and a large number of community organizers, according to an alumni survey conducted by Alumni Affairs this summer. The one thing that united the diverse group of respondents was that no matter what their professions or achievements in life, they felt their Rice educations prepared them well for the path they chose: 91 percent of those who returned the survey said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their experience as a Rice student, Vice President for Public Affairs Linda Thrane said.

Swimming wins three of four dual meets

Hopefully, the expression holds true: the third time is the charm. The swim team has faced University of Houston twice, but the Owls have yet to claim bragging rights over their cross-town rivals. Their final chance before the Conference USA meet will be in January, when they meet UH in Baton Rouge, La., for the Louisiana Triple Dual Meet. Although the final outcome was the same as it was two weeks ago at the UH Invitational, the Owls were able to significantly narrow the Cougars' margin of victory from 52 points to 27 points this weekend. Rice easily overcame its other competitors, beating Florida International University 239-75, University of the Incarnate Word 260-87 and Vanderbilt 256-80.

Wiess Tabletop's Drop Dead is full of life, laughs, farce

Able to win over even the least easily amused of viewers, Wiess Tabletop's production of Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore's Drop Dead is a hilarious, mischevious romp.True, the plot is not the best in the world, and the set is deliberately silly. But this joyfully self-deprecating play is guaranteed to make just about anyone laugh. Director Danny Shanaberger, a Wiess College sophomore, and producers Roque Sanchez, a Wiess senior, and Jacob Pflug, a Wiess sophomore, deserve praise for picking a show well-suited for college theater.

RDT's Muscle Memories more or less memorable

Fans of modern dance and ballet will take pleasure Rice Dance Theatre's fall show, Muscle Memories. The show features performances by Rice faculty and students and a guest performance by students from Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and is choreographed by Rice's Assistant Director for Dance Leslie Scates.Although the majority of the dances fuse modern and ballet, the show includes a traditional Egyptian Bedouin tribal dance performed by Rice's Mediterranean Dance instructor, Kristina Koutsoudas. Other notaperformances include "Nineteen," an energetic dance choreographed by Sid Richardson College junior Emily Jacob and performed by Brown College senior Jennie Wilburn, Baker College sophomore Hilary Koo and math graduate student Taylor Coon, and "Moments, Momentum," choreographed by Wiess College junior Dina Yangirova and performed by Sid sophomore Nazima Zakhidova, Wiess freshman Shuyi Li, Baker senior Alice Chi, Wiess senior Margaret McKinnon and Baker senior McKenzie Smith. Although the performances are almost all modern and ballet, they are very diverse rhythmically and musically, ranging from jazzy and sassy to slow and classy.

'Turkey Day' undervalues day's meaning

While we have gobbled up the latest news on the numerous wars taking place across the world, another war has gone unnoticed, slipping beneath even the lowest of radars. I'm talking, of course, about the War on Holidays.Do you remember a time when we had Christmas Break? Easter Break? Well, those glory days are over, my friends. Wring what little pleasure you can from the memories of those greater times and relish what delight you can from your "Winter Recess" and "Midterm Break."

This Week in Photos

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Volleyball defeats Conference USA leader UAB

The volleyball team notched their biggest victory of the season on Friday afternoon, defeating University of Alabama-Birmingham in a five-set thriller. The Owls followed up their victory with a three-set win over the University of Memphis, giving the Owls a pair of important conference victories. The Owls wrapped up their regular season last night against the University of Houston, which sat directly behind Rice in the Conference USA standings. The Owls had already defeated the Cougars once before this season in four sets.

Commentary: Rice football finally sees the light

All hyperbole aside, we are living in historic times. Last week was one that will fill memory banks and scribbled diaries forever more-an era to be shared fondly with your children and maybe even yelled about to your grandkids. And unless you were standing in line to try some new BioBeer, you were lucky enough to be there in person.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Swimming falls to University of Houston, New Mexico

Winston Churchill once said, "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." After being defeated by four out of the five teams they have competed against this season, this is exactly the attitude the swim team has chosen to maintain, even after falling last weekend to the University of Houston 173-121 and New Mexico State University 151-143. Head coach Seth Huston said he believes in the strength of his team across the board.

Tudor Fieldhouse opens for basketball season

The big blue curtain is finally gone, and Tudor Fieldhouse has finally opened its renovated doors (see story, page 1).First and foremost, we would like to congratulate everyone directly involved with the project for finishing everything necessary for the hosting of both women's and men's basketball home-openers this weekend. The ridiculous Houston weather never quite cooperates with the construction schedules of mere mortals, but despite torrential rains, flooding and a bonus hurricane, the doors will still be open tonight and tomorrow for the arena's game-play inauguration.

Comic: Cingle Cellularity

Tennis fall season shows promise for spring

After a strong individual showing from junior Bruno Rosa at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association South Central Regional Championship and National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship, the men's tennis team will settle down for a long rest over the next few months. The Owls will kick off the spring-heavy year with a match-up against Conference USA rival University of Memphis on Jan. 16. After their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and yet another promising fall season, the Owls look only to improve upon their success with returning strong leadership and new firepower from the eighth best recruiting class in the nation. With much to prove, freshmen Sam Garforth-Bles, Christian Saravia, Isamu Tachibana and Andy Wang as well as returning All-American stars Rosa and senior Christoph Müller have high expectations for this 22nd nationally-ranked team. None, however, exude as much confidence as junior captain Chong Wang.

Women's basketball squad prepares for new start in new home

A new home, a new look, and five new freshmen on the court are all reasons that the 2008-2009 Owls are looking forward to the future. In their lone exhibition match last Thursday the Owls delivered a convincing 81-56 win against Houston Baptist University, showcasing the prospects for the coming season, before getting ready for their home opener against California State University-Northridge tonight. While both players and coaches are excited to prove themselves on the court as the first game inside the newly built Tudor Fieldhouse approaches, they are even more excited about the new court itself.

National spotlight

Brooklyn rockers The National performed at Rice last Friday as part of the weekend's homecoming festivities. The activities culminated with a well-attended Esperanza Saturday night.

RPC gets Esperanza right

After years of declining attendance and profit loss, Rice Program Councilhas found the key to hosting a successful Esperanza.

Letters to the Editor

Gay marriage wrongly opposed

Registrar adds ESTHER restrictions

As online registration for spring semester classes began this week on ESTHER, some students encountered several inconveniences which prevented them from signing up for upper-level courses. For this registration period, the Registrar's Office is implementing the prerequisite rule established by the academic departments, which bars students who have not taken the required courses from registering for classes, Registrar David Tenney (Sid '87) said. Instead, students will need to bring a Special Registration form to the appropriate department and obtain the professor's signature to enroll in the course. However, the main difficulty was differentiating between what the academic departments deemed as hard prerequisites, which are absolutely required courses, and soft prerequisites, which are recommended courses, Tenney said.

Personal story sheds light on death penalty failings

On March 7, 2007 Lee Greenwood watched as her son, Joseph Nichols, an African-American, was brought into the death sentence chamber after he was transported there in a manner designed to scrape away at his dignity. Joseph wrote before his execution, "They cut off all my clothes and stripped me naked. I finally got a pair of boxers but my feet were shackled together, my hands were chained and then another chain bound my feet, went up over my shoulders and bound my hands. This is how our people were brought here from the motherland, naked and chained, and this is how I will leave."

"About Today" with Matt from The National

Last Friday I got the chance to sit down with Matt Berninger, lead singer of The National, after the band's fully "get up and dance" concert in the Central Quad. Clad in all black, wearing sunglasses, drinking whiskey on stage and smoking a Marlboro, he seemed like the ultimate rock star - until I talked to him and found out he was a totally normal guy. Which is the ultimate rock star cliché, right?I asked him a few random and not-really-music-related questions, and what follows are excerpted answers. The full interview will be bouncing around the airwaves of RTV5 at some undetermined point in the future.