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• Mason blanks GW: Dudley jacks first home run of 2010 season

  Sports May 3, 2010 at 1:52 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Sophomore second baseman Tori Dudley did not fear falling behind two strikes early in the count. Instead, she found an opportunity to put some good wood on the ball, hitting her first home run as the George Mason University softball team topped the George Washington Colonials 9-0 to sweep the season series on Wednesday at the George Mason Softball Complex. The Patriots moved to 17-22 on the season while the Colonials dropped to 5-36 overall, losing their 11th straight game. Mason had a sluggish 1-5 start, but after going through ups and downs, the team concluded its non-conference schedule with an even 12-12 record. Mason wrapped up with a 14-16 home record. “We knew going into this [season] that we were a young ball club, and there were going to be some growing pains early,” said Head Coach Joe Verbanic. “What I really love is the way that they have learned and embraced working hard and learning the game; they’re really starting to put it together.” After starting slowly, the Patriots tallied their first hit in the third inning as Dudley sent a 1-2 pitch to straightaway center field and over the 225-feet sign, […]

   

• U.S. Army: To join or not to join?: ‘The idea of working 9 to 5 on a civilian job scares me more than getting shot at’

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Alexandra Orellana, Broadside Correspondent Katesha Biagas, a Florida native and George Mason University student, starts her day at 4:30 a.m. The 31-year-old public administration major dons on her full Army combat uniform and heads to campus, ready for a physically and intellectually stimulating day. Biagas is a sergeant in the U.S. Army and a student in the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps. As she walks around campus, she hardly goes unnoticed. Her boots alone weigh approximately two pounds each. “At first I just want[ed] to blend in,” Biagas says. “But then, when I wear my fatigues and people constantly stop me and say ‘thank you for your service,’ it makes [me] feel good.” Biagas joined the Army at age 22. She had completed a few semesters of community college but quit for economic reasons. She was recruited at a Walgreens pharmacy, where she was working full-time to support herself. The Army paid for Biagas’s education and she soon completed her associate degree in radiology. Upon being deployed to Iraq in 2008, the Army placed her as a non-commissioned officer in charge at Camp Adder in Tallil, Iraq. “I had two soldiers under me,” she said. “Even though I was the […]

   

• Faces of Mason: Stories of the people shaping our campus community

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Fareeha Aziz, Broadside Correspondent; Amy Hensby, Broadside Correspondent; Kimberly Sarmuksnis, Broadside Correspondent; Aisha Jamil, Broadside Correspondent; Karima Scott, Broadside Correspondent; Reuben Jones, Broadside Correspondent; Rania Olibah, Broadside Correspondent; Akuender Kodi, Broadside Correspondent; Allie Hunter, Broadside Correspondent Lizzy Nguyen: ‘Cause I’m freaking fabulous’ “Zesty, bubbly, outspoken and nerdy” are all words that describe parts of Lizzy Nguyen’s personality. Once when asked why she should win a body building contest at the hypnotist show on campus, she replied with, “’Cause I’m freaking fabulous!” Nguyen describes herself as an extrovert who loves to laugh and be a comedian, but school work brings out her serious side. This is apparent in her typical routine of conducting research in Dr. Kashdan’s psychology lab, doing Asian impressions or watching the latest episode of Chuck. Nguyen is a senior psychology major in the Honors Program. For the past two years, she has been assisting in ongoing research on social anxiety, relationships and well-being. She’s currently working on her honor’s thesis, which is on daily anger. Of psychology Nguyen said, “What’s cooler than studying people around us . . . happiness, knowing ourselves, why we are the way we are . . . tools we can use […]

   

• Center for the Arts Calendar 2010-2011

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:29 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Patrick Wall, Style Editor George Mason University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) has long been a cultural beacon in the Northern Virginia area. From orchestral shows to theater, the CFA’s schedule gathers together the best of the world’s cultural icons. The 2010-2011 season marks the CFA’s 20th anniversary. To celebrate, the venue will showcase some of their best talent yet. For students looking for a show, the CFA has their bases covered. “The Great Performances at Mason series has such incredible variety and there really is something for everyone.” Said Public and Media Relations Coordinator Jill Graziano. “I see The Merchants of Bollywood doing really well among students given the emphasis that Mason places on diversity and the rise in popularity of Indian culture in recent years.” To purchase tickets to a CFA event, or to view a complete listing of events, visit cfa.gmu.edu or call (703) 993-2787.

   

• It’s all about you: Britt Wright gets personal on WGMU

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:26 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Tea Hadzic, Broadside Correspondent Monday seems to be the most dreaded day of the week for students. But not for Britt Wright. Wright is a weekly DJ and host of his very own radio show on George Mason University’s WGMU. The title of his show is The Wright Hour, an hour-long show airing every Monday from 5 to 6 p.m. Wright’s show is entirely about you. You tell him what you want to discuss and what you want to hear, and he’ll make it happen for you . . . with a spin of his own style. “My duty is to entertain students through music and select conversations,” said Wright, a sophomore communication major from Richmond, Va. “Ideally, I wanted people to finishing their Monday evening off just right . . . and what better way than with The Wright Hour.” Hosting a show during his college career was not in Wright’s plans. He actually took COMM 148, which is the Radio Workshop course, during his freshman year. If a student does extremely well in the course, he or she is asked to host a show in the actual studio. Looks like Wright received an A-plus. Wright has discussed […]

   

• The best of the decade that was

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:25 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Ross Bonaime, Staff Writer This past decade was a huge one for film. It’s hard to believe, but before the last decade, superhero movies were considered risky ventures, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings were just books and the most successful films in 3D were Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th Part III. So with that, let’s look back at the 2000s for the top five films of the last decade. This is my last column for Broadside, so I would just like to say thanks to anyone who took a minute to read my articles each week. 5. The Royal Tenenbaums The decade was ripe with quirky comedies like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, but Wes Anderson’s take on family dynamics was borderline perfection. An incredible cast featuring Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Luke and Owen Wilson in their greatest roles has a style all its own and its views on love, relationships and growing up in mayhem make it a fantastic comedy. 4. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 The 2000s were also about breaking down the norms, something Quentin Tarantino does better than the rest. Tarantino split up his four-hour film into […]

   

• Magic: The Gathering A card game bringing students together

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:23 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Ramy Zabarah, Staff Writer We’ve all seen them, we’ve all heard them and we’ve all judged them, but does anyone actually know them? For most students, the bottom level of SUB I is a place to get a quick bite to eat, grab a drink after a long day of class or play a game of pool to unwind. But for a certain group of students, it’s a place where they can be themselves. Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game introduced in 1993 that has been credited as the precursor for other games such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! But Magic: The Gathering — or Magic, for short — is the main focus of this certain group of students who rule over the kingdom of SUB I. Although Magic is this group’s main game of choice, other similar games might make their way to the table, such as seminal fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and various board games. Games of Magic are played in phases between two or more people. Each player starts out with a certain number of health points, and the objective is to either cause your opponent’s cards to run out, or to reduce […]

   

• New sparring club uses old-world techniques

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:18 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Jason Ulrich, Broadside Correspondent Walking past one of the ballrooms in SUB II, spirited grunts, shoe squeaks and sword thrusts echo as two students engage each other in a sparring match using long swords. Some people join clubs to share in their ethnicity, some to share in a foreign language, while others have a strictly political aim. But there is one club on campus that puts all these aspects of modern society behind them for a couple of days out of the week. It is the George Mason Medieval Swordsmanship club, or GMMS for short. The swordsmen practice in medieval weaponry, helping each other learn different styles and techniques from countries such as Germany and Italy. Most of each meeting is made up of drills and sparring until “the desired result is met, or if something weirder is found,” says James Clark, club president and biology major. “We also laugh, joke and generally enjoy ourselves, even in the middle of a spar.” Still limping into existence, this club normally meets in an aerobics room inside the Aquatic Center or a ballroom in SUB II on Wednesdays and Sundays from 3 to 6 p.m. History professor Samuel Collins is the […]

   

• In Bed With Billy: Reconnecting to the past for the sake of a future

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:16 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Billy Curtis, Sex Columnist Every now and again it’s a good idea to take a moment to stop and evaluate the good in your life. We often forget to do this, and in the process can sometimes disregard what is important to us in the long run. Goals, friendships, relationships: all can be lost as quickly as they were found. But life is funny. Connections are constantly changing; one minute you’re dating someone, the next you are enemies and never speak again — or so you think. The many roles people play in our lives are important, and it’s also important to remember that no matter what happens between anyone you encounter in this life, it’s for a reason. I had been asking myself questions about the ties I had to the people who were important to me presently, to the people I had lost in the past and to the endless possibilities of what the future may hold. This got me contemplating some reconnections, along with some failed ones, a friend of mine and I had been going through recently. Caroline and I had been friends since we were introduced in college, and after graduating, she moved back […]

   

• George checks our NUTS: Annual festival a smash hit with students

  Lifestyle May 3, 2010 at 1:15 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Aisha Jamil, Broadside Correspondent “Check your nuts!” — The memorable slogan blared out by volunteers that no student who attended this year’s Testival will forget. The slogan was also printed on this year’s blue T-shirts that featured several large peanuts on the front with the word “Testival” bolded and enlarged on the back. Testival, which is an annual testicular cancer awareness-raising event, provided George Mason University students a fun way to learn how to check themselves for lumps. With games like Testicle Toss, Guess that Nut, Balls to the Wall and Plinko, students were ready to stop by and play. Winners received prizes such as a blue balls keychain, a ballsy mouse pad, a nutty stress reliever, a ShamWow or a “Check Your Nuts” calendar depicting ordinary objects in suggestive poses. When asked what he learned at the event, sophomore Justin Ladson replied enthusiastically, “I learned how to check my balls!” In order to get the prized T-shirts, students had to talk to three different volunteers about testicular cancer, who taught them how to check for unusual lumps and nodules. “I learned how to do a self-exam,” said sophomore government major Nicholas Mondi. “They actually made me touch fake […]