Articles by: Cody Norman

Fencing Lunges at Expansion

Sports November 5, 2012 at 12:04 pm Comments are Disabled

Fencing, has become a dying sport in the world today. But that is slowly changing as collegiate fencing programs are sprouting up throughout the nation, forming their own conferences and competing in tournaments. With a new president leading the way, Mason’s fencing team is looking to make its mark on Mason sports, clinch the division and go even further in their quest for success. Since its formation in 2008, the team has managed to maintain the number one seed in their conference this season. With one tournament under their belts, Mason’s fencing team won gold in the individual fencing tournament on Oct. 14 and are looking to defend this title in their upcoming tournament on Nov. 18 at Saint John’s University. “Our conference is a large one with two new additions, including Drexel and Georgetown,” captain Khalfan Javaid said. “There are excellent teams with great coaching and we have to work hard to be the best.” Their number one title has come with a lot of determination and dedication as the team is one of the few in the conference without a coach. “Since we do not have a coach, we have to put more research into the sport and […]
Memories to Last a Lifetime: Field Hockey Season Comes to a Close

Featured, Sports November 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm Comments are Disabled

With her last season playing field hockey as a Patriot at its end, senior Kristin Clark looks back on her three year career with a heavy heart, but with memories that will last a lifetime. She is set to graduate in the spring. “I’m so sad that this is my last year,” said Clark. “It was definitely all worth it, though.” Clark, team captain and president of this club, started playing the sport 10 years ago after noticing how enthralled her older sister was with the game. “Growing up, you always want to be like your older siblings, so naturally I wanted to play field hockey as well,” Clark said. “She’s my biggest influence.” Clark joined the field hockey club her freshman year, and is hoping to continue her career as a player after graduation. This past season, the team’s record was 3-5-1. Many of those losses were tight, close games that could have gone either way. This was a major increase from their last season, in which the team lost almost all their games. Clark attributes this change to the new group of freshmen who were fully committed to the success of the sport and their team. “One game […]
Green Colleen: Brownie Bliss

Editorials November 5, 2012 at 11:57 am Comments are Disabled

There is nothing better than a warm, chocolatey gooey brownie. That is, until you add something in the middle. I try to bake something for the Broadside staff each week during deadline, but I wanted to do something a little more exciting than your basic brownie. I also had a bag of peppermint patties in my room that I needed to remove from temptation. It was a perfect combination. I baked the patties right in to the brownies, creating a cool minty bite in the middle of the chocolate confection. I always like the corner brownies best, so I made my brownies in muffin tins to give each one a bit of crunch on the edges. The method is simple. Simply put together a brownie mix, either homemade or boxed, as you usually would. Pour half of the batter into the pan, then drop peppermint patties in. Fill the rest of the muffin cups or brownie pan with batter. Bake at recommended temperature and time. Be careful not to eat the brownies too quickly. The peppermint patty centers may be much hotter than the exterior brownie. If you’re not a fan of minty candy, you could subsitute the patties for […]
Man-Made Selection: Machines Take Over

Lifestyle November 5, 2012 at 11:53 am Comments are Disabled

This is the digital age and people everywhere have surrendered many aspects of their lives to technology. What if someone were to tamper with those systems? Mankind could be in a lot of trouble. What if those systems themselves decided to unshackle from their purposes and turn on their creators? The machine uprising, a war between man and his own technology, might no longer be the works of science fiction. “Two big things have to happen for a machine takeover: computers need to become sentient and thus capable of taking over the world and they need to want to take over the world,” said Dr. Trevor Thrall, Biodefense Director and professor of Public & International Affairs. The point of singularity, the theoretical emergence of greater-than-human superintelligence through technological means, is that first step. We are all very familiar with the incredible power of computers; try passing Calculus II without a calculator. It is not just math, though. Remember Watson, the supercomputer on Jeopardy? A computer that was able to trump the longest and most decorated winner on the show with ease. Man has been competing with his hardwired counterpart for a long time and has been beaten in many fields. […]
The Carouser Report: The D.C. Horror Show

Lifestyle November 5, 2012 at 11:44 am 1 comment

The yellow taxi is spiraling down Route 66, transporting us to safety. The lights of oncoming traffic are a blur and I am trying my best to remain coherent. The driver and I are caught up in a conversation about his homeland, India. I am having a hard time remembering where specifically he hails from, and he is having a hard time understanding my slurred ramblings. The only thing I can focus on is the ever-increasing fare. The numbers are rapidly reaching into the $60 range. I am frantic. I know there is no way I can afford the bill. I am contemplating a high risk jump from the speeding van and taking my chances with the street. Then it hits me like a kick in the groin: the big city, in all its attractiveness, has bested me. Now she is getting her last kick while watching me flee from her grip at 3:30 a.m. As we cruise along, she is laughing as I squirm about in the cab, desperately trying to get out of a pickle. The allure of Washington D.C. draws many to George Mason. Weekends in the big city are a commodity to many who seek the […]
Harvest Moon Cafe Provides Creative Performance Venue for Students

Editorials November 5, 2012 at 11:42 am Comments are Disabled

The Johnson Center Bistro is silent except for a single voice infiltrating the darkness from the stage at the front of the room: “I know now that he will never go away. He will never leave me alone. The Scary Man will always be there, hidden in the darkness of my room.” The audience listens rapt as Kathryn Makin, a senior at Mason, reads her short story Shadows in the Dark, which won second place in a contest hosted by Volition, Mason’s undergraduate literary magazine. When she finishes, her voice fading into silence, a wave of appreciative applause goes up among the wooden tables scattered about the restaurant. Welcome to Harvest Moon Café, a Halloween-themed event organized by Volition, the student-run creative magazine and WGMU, the student-run radio station, that incorporated everything from costumes and live music to open-mic poetry and short story readings and, of course, free food. Although originally planned for October 30, the event was postponed for a day due to Hurricane Sandy. Even so, the JC Bistro was full of people eager to celebrate Halloween by listening to their fellow students share their work and local bands perform their songs. WGMU recruited The Ash Lovelies and […]
Active Leader Program Holds Skills Seminar

Lifestyle November 5, 2012 at 11:39 am Comments are Disabled

According to Nick Lennon, Director of the Leadership Education and Development Office, “Every student has the capacity to be a leader in some way.” The most difficult obstacle to overcome is the myth that you must hold a powerful position or claim some high rank in order to be a leader. There is much more to being a leader than most realize, and that is what Lennon wishes to teach students through his work with the lead office and its two pilot programs, Active Leaders and the SEED program. “This program has become sort of like my mission in life, more than just my job,” Lennon said. “I want to be able to look back and know that I helped to create a more positive world.” The Active Leaders program invites students to take part in a 10-week seminar that builds leadership skills through various activities and reflection both in groups and individually. The program is in its first year and the seminar began at the beginning of the semester. While the program covers a wide array of topics relating to leadership, it focuses on the importance of ethics, and incorporating ethics into every aspect of leadership decisions to facilitate […]
Documentary Features Controversial Chinese Artist

News1 November 5, 2012 at 11:35 am Comments are Disabled

A screening of the film “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” in the Johnson Center cinema Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. The showing is hosted by Mason’s Film and Media Studies department, in conjunction with the English Department and Honors Collegeand will be free and open to the public. This film, a documentary by first-time director Alison Klayman, depicts the story of a Chinese artist who expresses his beliefs and reaches out to the Chinese people through controversial works. Weiwei has continued his work despite government backlash, which has included beating, and the destruction of a newly built studio. According to a description of the documentary from Mason’s Film and Media Studies webpage, Weiwei describes his work this way: “As an artist, I value other artists’ efforts to challenge the definition of beauty, goodness, and the will of the times. These roles cannot be separated. Maybe I’m just an undercover artist in the disguise of a dissident; I couldn’t care less about the implications.” Beth Hoffman, an assistant professor of Mason’s English department, introduced the initial idea of this event. The idea spurred from an Honors 122 course she teaches this semester, Reading the Arts: Performance, Participation and Social Change. “The course […]
Early Identification Program Provides Help to Local Youth

News1 November 5, 2012 at 11:32 am Comments are Disabled

Sophomore Paula De Medeiros knew from the time she first visited the Fairfax campus in seventh grade that she wanted to attended Mason. “The first time we ever went to the Fairfax [campus] it was pretty cool, because I was like, ‘Oh college students,’” De Medeiros said. “It actually made it real for me.” For many of her peers, however, college was just a word; it carried no meaning. The Mason Early Identification Program (EIP) not only cultivated the meaning of college for De Medeiros at a young age, but it also produced long-time friends and the support of the organization’s community. When Lewis Forrest, Executive Director of EIP, walks into the EIP student lounge, he’s greeted with a chorus of “Hi, Mr. Lewis,” from the students whose lives have been changed because of the EIP. “It’s an extended family,” Forrest said. Mason EIP is a college-access program housed at Mason. EIP is designed to encourage students from seventh grade to have the opportunity to be their family’s first generation college student. In eighth grade and high school, students go through a series of classes and seminars to give them a leg up before they enter college. Once in college, […]
World Police and Fire Games to Bring Revenue, International Athletes

News1 November 5, 2012 at 11:29 am Comments are Disabled

In July of 2015, Fairfax, Va. will host the World Police and Fire Games, an Olympic-style athletic competition for public safety personnel from across the world. Mason’s Fairfax campus will host nine of the 68 sporting events during the ten-day event from June 26 – July 5. Founded in 1985, the World Police and Fire Games are a biennial event that offers international firefighters, policemen, customs and corrections officers a chance to showcase their athletic skills and represent their countries in a competitive arena. The games have been hosted all around the world, and will stop in Belfast, North Ireland in 2013, before coming to Fairfax. Though Mason has no obligation as the host site to entertain and serve the athletes and spectators, Benn Crandall, Director of Auxiliary Enterprises, is planning several business ventures for the event. “From a business perspective, it behooves us to do the best job we can,” Crandall said. Crandall hopes for the university to purchase a software program that would allow for the open summer dorm rooms to be rented out like a hotel rooms to athletes and spectators during the games. “For a very small investment, we can make up to a six figure […]