Recipe for the Food Network’s success

It’s where I go if I want to grab a midnight snack, ‘unwrap’ some secrets, or practice my Southern accent.

The biggest calamity of living in a residence hall was not being able to indulge in the Food Network. But, at least I had its Web site to whip up some recipes from my favorite TV chefs.

The recipe of the Food Network itself has grown since its launch on Nov. 23, 1993. What once was a platform for professional chefs to show their skills is now an open forum where the everyday cook can compete in a competition, show off in front of America, or even get their own program.

But that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily left with quality programming. Here are the best and the worst – the personalities that make the network taste deliciously decadent or superficially sour.

Chris Stover can be reached at stover@temple.edu.

Urban decay crumbles home on North Sixth Street

See a photo slide show.

A vivid mural stares across a littered street at a dirt lot just one block from the Erie Avenue station on the Broad Street Line. The building that was once there fell years ago, but sections of thin plaster walls still cling to the adjacent brick house. Diagonally across West Erie Avenue, another dusty lot provides the neighborhood with a more recent reminder that it has been left to deteriorate.

The latter building fell just a few weeks ago, on March 6. The contractors have cleaned up the debris, but the chain-link fencing is still there. I talked to two elderly men standing at a side entrance of the East Bethel Baptist Church, which sits across the street. They said the house had been vacant for years, but had been used by drug dealers and users.

The mural across the street is titled “Forgiveness,” and was dedicated in October, 2007. It portrays Kevin Johnson, a North Philadelphia resident who became a quadriplegic after being shot at a party in Southwest Philadelphia in 2003. The title is inspired by his personal and public forgiveness of his attackers. Johnson died in 2006 from complications of his injuries.

“Put down the weight of hate and envy and blame and solitude and wishing that my circumstances could be different,” the mural reads.

The words seem like a quiet challenge to a neighborhood that needs its circumstances to be different.

Further south, another neighborhood with its own mural sees both the success and the failure of efforts to create neighborhoods worthy of pride: a building at North Sixth Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue now lies in a heap of rubble, after its roof partially collapsed.
A 74-year-old woman had been living in another home connected to the building, though she was not hurt. The Philadelphia Housing Authority had placed the woman, whose name was not released, in the house a year ago.

Keep reading below photograph

The city’s Licenses and Inspections department did an investigation, although they did not respond to my inquiries as to the conclusion of the investigation. PHA spokesman Kirk Dorn said they had inspected the building the woman was living in. While there may have been no danger to the woman, it is hard to believe that any part of a building might be safe to live in if another is in imminent danger of collapse.

A mural half a block from the collapsed building stretches along an old brick building. It features tidal waves, anime figures, crowds of people holding a rally, and an angry Statue of Liberty carrying away a young black boy. One of the signs in the rally reads “How would you feel?”

The mural seems to have anticipated the collapse of the building at Sixth Street and Cecil B. Moore: while it is not a disaster, it does not instill much faith in the city, and poses the same question of those who do not have to depend on public housing.

However, it would be a mistake to criticize PHA wholesale. Just one block to the west sit the Ludlow Homes, one of PHA’s newest housing projects. Ludlow Homes are a move away from public housing a la giant concrete boxes, and towards single-story one-unit homes, with the intent of creating a better community atmosphere. PHA thinks a lot about community, considering it houses 84,000 Philadelphians in 13,400 homes and apartment complexes.

If blame can be placed anywhere for crumbling houses that are not torn down or salvaged, and neighborhoods that are left, quite literally, to the elements, it is at the feet of the federal government, who, along with taxpayers, finance the PHA. Taxpayers cannot bear the burden, especially when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development threatens to remove $50 million from PHA’s budget, which it has.

While politicians play their games, Philadelphians try to forgive, and to put down the weight of hate and envy.

Stephen Zook can be reached at stephen.zook@temple.edu.

See a photo slide show. Read other Community Visions columns.

TTN Audio: Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Urban Education

Click below for Nick Pipitone’s audio report on the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Urban Education.

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Developments at the College of Education

To see a story on the College of Education and the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Urban Education, click here.

When C. Kent McGuire stepped in as dean at the College of Education five years ago, he remembers one of his first visits came from Pennsylvania State Rep. James Roebuck of West Philadelphia.

“He did me a great service and came to me as soon as I became dean,” McGuire said. “We’ve been in touch ever since.”

The two have also been fast at work on the same objective since that time: developing ways to improve education in the city.

McGuire’s tenure as dean so far has been marked by his emphasis on expanding urban education research, and his recent collaboration with Roebuck in creating the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Urban Teaching has continued that trend.

But McGuire’s biggest initiative has been to partner with five North Philadelphia schools in 2003 and to establish the Urban Education Collaborative in 2005.

“We had plenty of research going on within the faculty,” McGuire said, “But not much of it was focused on teacher evaluation and efficacy [in urban districts].”

With the partnerships and the UEC, the College of Education obtained a “clinical view” of its research via the School District of Philadelphia classrooms and moved in position to apply their numerous reform efforts.

Through the partnership schools, the College of Education has provided support and learning opportunities for the principals, teachers and students. The UEC was formed to provide a center for the school’s reform strategy and research, through which it could put into action by collaborating with the school district.

“We’re starting to see, through these projects, the opportunity to learn some things,” said McGuire.

Temple originally partnered with five local elementary and middle schools in 2003, a year after the state took control of Philadelphia’s school district and turned more than 45 schools to several private for-profit and non-profit managers.

Two of those schools have since closed as part of a citywide reduction in middle schools, but Temple has retained three and added Gen. George G. Meade School.

Temple’s results as a school manager have been mixed, according to a 2007 RAND Education report, but the partnership has allowed for the opportunity to test specific learning methods and improve teaching quality.

Teachers at all the partnership schools have access to literacy and math education courses at Temple, which is the area’s largest provider of teachers. Partnership school students also have access to Temple pediatricians, social workers, health educators, and psychologists through the Surroundcare program.

The UEC’s goals are more specific. McGuire hired Heidi Ramirez, a former special assistant to the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, to lead the UEC. Ramirez was also recently sworn in as a member of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission. McGuire turned down the commission’s top spot in late January.

Ramirez and the UEC have compiled a lengthy portfolio of research in the past three years in an attempt to address three areas: teacher quality, leadership development and climate for learning.

“On the teacher’s quality side, we’ve built this continuum of programs,” Ramirez said. “Now, with the Governor’s School, it starts all the way when they’re 16 [or] 17 years old.”

The UEC has developed a statewide model for the preparation of middle-grade math and sciences teachers – teachers the state severely lacks – in collaboration with the College of Science and Technology and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Through other programs, the UEC has also developed a Center for Teaching Excellence where current teachers can continue their education, studied teacher hiring practices and school safety in the School District of Philadelphia, and developed two separate academies to support and target aspiring principals in the area.

“All of this work is for supporting urban schools and creating greater access for school children,” Ramirez said.

The new Governor’s School for Urban Education, both Ramirez and McGuire said, is the next step in the UEC’s reform strategy and their continued push to better understand urban education reform.

“It’s very consistent with the role a modern research university should take as a good citizen,” McGuire said, referring to Temple’s work with city schools, while admitting the university’s involvement in the community “makes sense” considering it is publicly-funded.

“But it’s not just service,” McGuire added. “If we do it right, we’ll also be able to study how we do it and get back to knowledge production as well as community service.”

Nick Pipitone can be reached at nick.pipitone@temple.edu.

Temple and Fox Chase Cancer Center Announce Partnership

Temple’s School of Medicine announced a new partnership with Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Fox Chase scientists and researchers will have the opportunity to become members of the Temple faculty to train graduate students in biomedical sciences.

“Graduate students will absolutely benefit from this partnership,” said John Daly, dean of the medicine school.

He said the increased interaction with Fox Chase researchers will also benefit graduate students who are looking to be employed by the cancer center.

“I think that the new partnership will be very beneficial to graduate students,” sophomore biology major Kristen Fida said. “Being in the field themselves, the researchers would focus on more recent research and findings instead of depending on year-old textbooks with out-of-date information.”

To be able to become full-time faculty members, researchers from Fox Chase must first go through an application process involving an application letter requesting employment and a curriculum outline. Both must be approved by the department chair and a committee before it is brought to Daly.

This isn’t the first time Temple and Fox Chase have partnered. The Bone-Marrow Transplant Program was established 19 years ago and has performed more than 1,000 transplants since implemented.

In 1998, Temple and Fox Chase announced an agreement aimed at expanding and strengthening the overall cancer care in the Philadelphia area.

Daly and Michael V. Seiden, the new president of Fox Chase, met over the summer to discuss future collaborations. The final collaboration agreement was signed by the end of December.

Richard Coico, the associate dean of research for Temple’s medicine school, said Temple is hoping that the partnership with Fox Chase will make the university more appealing for the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Award.

By 2012, NIH will award 60 universities more than $500 million a year for translational research. So far, 24 universities and academic centers have been chosen for this award and Temple hopes to become a designated NIH Institutional Clinical and Translational Research Center.

“The university was already awarded the Clinical and Translational Science Award School Planning Grant in order to begin mobilizing a full application for the bigger grant,” Coico said.

In order to receive one of the 60 grants, universities have to demonstrate that they are committed to translational research.

The combination of the new partnership with Fox Chase – including joint pilot projects in the area of clinical and translational research, the development of new educational planning initiatives and the creation of a master’s program in clinical and translational sciences – will help make Temple a strong contender for this award, Coico said.

“Fox Chase is a powerhouse in its field, and a lot of cash comes with association with the center,” Daly said.

The partnership will give Temple access to all of Fox Chase’s facilities including their bioinformatics lab. Fox Chase will also be able to utilize Temple’s facilities.

“Graduate students will obviously benefit the most from this partnership,” Coico said. “But, Fox Chase is going to be the one attracting and working with these graduate students. Ask any group of scientists, and they’ll tell you that graduate students are the most important members of their lab. They’re just so eager and ready to work.”

Abigail Shepherd can be reached at abigail.shepherd@temple.edu

New Guidelines for Students Participating in University Recognized Activities

In an effort to help students balance their time in the classroom and extracurricular life, the Office of the Provost announced new guidelines for students who participate in university recognized activities.

Activities including but not limited to research conferences, dramatic or musical performances, intercollegiate athletic competitions and leadership meetings are now being officially recognized as an important and necessary part of students’ educational experiences.

Each college’s dean is responsible for deciding if a student’s activities are appropriate for his or her college and if it constitutes an absence. Students with questions should contact their dean’s office for more information.

“The guidelines will raise awareness among students and instructors of the need to plan for class absences, encourage student-faculty discussion and collaboration on possible options and enable students to make alternative plans when necessary,” said Vice Provost Peter Jones.

Students need to remain responsible for meeting with faculty to identify possible conflicts between their schedules and their syllabi. The guidelines dictate that the faculty is expected to make accommodations for students so they can remain in the course.

Provost Lisa Staiano-Coico said the goal is to make sure the policy got on the books so students didn’t get punished for representing Temple in the larger world.

“For Temple students to be able to have a very well-rounded education, part of that is being able to participate with other universities,” Staiano-Coico said. “It’s also very important from the university’s perspective. We are proud of our students, and we want our students to participate in those things because it reflects back on how wonderful Temple is.”

Associate Vice President of Administration and Planning Stephanie Gillin said that although the plan enables student participation in these activities, students are expected to continue to satisfy their obligation to the class.

“This is not a ‘get-out-of-class-free’ card,” Gillin said.

Staiano-Coico said the proposal for new guidelines was mentioned to her after beginning at Temple last semester. The idea came from athletic coaches who pointed out that it could be very difficult for athletes to contact and work with faculty members.

Jones then reviewed peer institutions to see the protocol at other schools. He also spearheaded the review of the policy and what was happening to students at Temple.

“Some universities have policies that unequivocally lay down conditions under which students will or will not be able to be considered absent from a class,” Jones said. “At Temple we have chosen to treat these as guidelines for faculty…. In many ways, they simply formalize a practice that has already been in wide and fairly successful operation at Temple.”

Sarah Fry can be reached at sarah.fry@temple.edu.

TSG still waiting for ratification signatures

Temple Student Government still needs 1,250 more signatures in order to ratify the new constitution.

TSG Parliamentarian Jon DeSantis encouraged members to get signatures from their friends and organizations at the Monday meeting. He set up a Web site, www.changefortemple.com, in order to make signing easier. Students only put their TU ID number and their name and then submit their “signature” online.

“Tell your friends and people from your organizations. It takes like five seconds,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis and executives from TSG plan to get 1,500 signatures by April 20.

Bill Bergman, Temple’s vice president of operations, also encouraged student participation when he announced that the National Collegiate Athletics Association will be releasing their report on Temple Athletics today.

The report will appear on the athletics department Web site. Students were asked to make comments. The NCAA researches how the athletic department is governed, how it handles the academic integrity of its students, and the equity it produces.  

The NCAA is responsible for recertifying college athletics every ten years.

“It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about how the university treats their athletics,” Bergman said.

TSG President Juan Galeano informed the General Assembly that applications for the TSG Supreme Court were due yesterday. The Supreme Court acts as the overseeing body to the executive branch and the Senate. The Supreme Court will determine if the Senate and executive branch are doing their jobs.

“It’s a great way to get involved next year. It’s something completely new to Temple,” Galeano said.

MCPB Events Chair Rob Tynan and Student Services Director Gina D’Annunzio  reminded TSG members that Spring Fling is coming soon. Tynan encouraged students to sign up for Penny Wars and the Scribble Dribble basketball game, two events that will occur during Spring Fling this year.

Spring Fling will be on Tuesday, April 15.

Rebecca Hale can be reached at rebecca.hale@temple.edu.

Hillary Clinton comes to Temple, shows cowardice

Apparently, Sen. Hillary Clinton was here at Temple two weeks ago. If you blinked, you probably missed her.

She came like a cat burglar in the night, while most students were away on their spring breaks, napping on their front lawns. In and out, with no damage done. You might want to check for your valuables.

If you’re concerned that you missed one of the momentous junctures in history, then you’ve nothing to worry about. She spouted the same rhetoric that we’ve been hearing the entire campaign, perhaps with a little more spunk and urgency since she’s fallen behind in the delegate count.

If she held the rally while classes were in session, who knows what kind of chaos would have ensued – crowds, protests, maybe even – gasp – an impromptu Obama rally? In fact, the rally at McGonigle Hall is emblematic of her entire campaign.

She creates an artificial atmosphere to convey an image of cohesion for all the television cameras and plants questioners in her audience to praise her while accusing dissenters of being plants from the other side. It’s as though she’s been reading from former George W. Bush adviser Matthew Dowd’s playbook page for page.

Temple political science professor John Masker, while agreeing that she runs an image-obsessed campaign, is more cautious when assessing her decision to come to the university on spring break.

“I could hypothesize that (a) somebody didn’t bother to look at the schedule, or (b) that someone did look and thought it was ideal because there could have been some sort of counter rally, or (c) it was just her schedule and how it worked out,” Masker said.

While at Temple, she touted her experience in the Oval Office and raved about how we, the voters, must think about whom we want to hire for the “toughest job in the world.” If she’s referring to her relationship with Bill, then this is true. But if that is the case, why not just put Monica Lewinski on the ticket?

She said that it took a Clinton to clean up the mess that the first Bush made and it’s going to take a Clinton to clean up the mess the second Bush made. I’m sorry Ms. Clinton, but there was no mess to clean up after the first Bush.

Bush Sr. waged a successful, swift and just war and the only reason the voters held a grudge against the man was because he raised taxes after his campaign platform was no new taxes. Remember, “Read my lips…”

Bill Clinton reigned in perhaps the easiest decade in American history to be president. In the ‘90s, the economy was strong and resilient, there were no foreign threats – or so we thought – and the people were content.

In fact, one could argue that Bill Clinton set up the economic conditions we now face with the establishment of NAFTA and that our current Middle Eastern conflicts are a product of his ignorance of Middle Eastern tensions.

But let’s not go there. How about we just release the oligarchic grip that threatens our democracy and pass the torch to a new era of politics? One that addresses the true ailments of our society, like race and inequality, with a transparency that leaves that no questions in our now dubious minds.

Sam Benesby can be reached at samuel.benesby@temple.edu.

Sports Rewind for 4/1

Men’s Crew
Playing host at the 26th-annual Murphy Cup Regatta on the Schuylkill River last Saturday, the men’s crew team won three gold medals as the Owls’ Varsity 8, Junior Varsity 8, and Novice 4 were all victorious.

Sophomore stroker Tom Masterson and junior coxswain Thomas Goldner were among the eight members who led the defending Murphy Cup-champion varsity squad over Fordham by a mere three seconds.

Like the Varsity 8, the Junior Varsity 8, anchored by senior stroker Sam Cunningham and senior coxswain Rory Roberts, also repeated as champions as they defeated Delaware by two and a half seconds.  The Novice 4 team composed of freshmen Ryan Rickus, Scott Waters and Jeff Wunderlich and Don Norris also won gold by besting Delaware.

The Owls will hit the waters again on Saturday, April 12 and Sunday, April 13 at the Knecht Cup Regatta on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

Women’s Crew
The women’s crew team didn’t fair as well as their male counterparts at the Murphy Cup Regatta, finishing third out of the more than 30 participating teams at the second largest intercollegiate regatta. The Varsity 8, Lightweight 8, Varsity 4 and Novice 8 all finished in third place in their respective races.

The Varsity 8, stroked by senior Anne Mikolajewski, raced past Lehigh by three seconds to secure the bronze medal position. Senior stroker Laura Austin paced the Lightweight 8.
The squad returns to action at the San Diego Classic on April 5 and 6.

Women’s Lacrosse
After a week off, the Owls picked up where they left off with a pair of home wins over St. Bonaventure and Duquesne at Geasey Field this weekend.

The team, which is on a season-high three-game winning streak, defeated St. Bonaventure, 10-8, Friday and triumphed over Duquesne, 12-9, Saturday for their season-high third consecutive win.

Against St. Bonaventure, senior attacker Nicole Caniglia scored five goals while senior midfielder Berkley Summerlin netted three goals and two assists as the Owls (6-3, 3-0 in the Atlantic Ten Conference) won their second straight A-10 game.

Coming off a five-goal week while earning Atlantic Ten Conference Player of the Week honors, sophomore midfielder Chelsea Rosiek scored two goals, including one that gave Temple a 7-5 lead just before halftime of its game against Duquesne. Senior midfielder Whitney Richards knocked in the Owls final two goals unassisted to lead the squad past the Dukes.

The Owls next begin a five-game road trip, four of which are conference games, Friday afternoon with the match-up against La Salle.

Softball
Coming off its most dominant victory in 13 years — a 24-0 thrashing of Coppin State in the first game of a doubleheader at Ambler Sports Complex Tuesday — the women’s softball team earned their first conference victory of the season but had to settle for a split in a two-game series with the Dayton Flyers this weekend.

In the opening game, junior third baseman Courtney Norene led the Owls (8-9, 1-3 A-10) once again, blasting her seventh home run of the season to lead the squad to a 3-2 victory over the Flyers. The long ball, the 19th of Norene’s career, leaves her two behind Temple’s all-time record of 21 set by Adrienne Repsher last season. On the mound, senior pitcher Brianna Dairy had another good outing for the Owls, allowing no runs after the first inning while striking out eight.

Dairy was pounded by the Flyers in the second game, and the Owls were held to only four hits in a 7-0 loss. Dairy gave up four runs in the first two innings while junior Katie Burdeaux allowed three runs in three and one-third innings pitched.

Temple returns to action against league rival Saint Louis next weekend at the Ambler Sports Complex.

- Joe Polinsky

A rare homecoming

Home sweet home.

Those are three words the men’s and women’s track and field teams haven’t heard in a long time.

This Saturday, though, both squads will compete at the Penn Invitational on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus.

It will be the closest meet they’ve had since Feb. 29, when they competed at the NYU FastTrack. It is also the team’s first competition in Pennsylvania since the Bucknell Open, which was held in Lewisburg on Jan. 25.

“It will be nice not having to be on a bus ride for three to eight hours,” freshman sprinter and hurdler Assata Cowart said.  “My legs won’t be cramped.  They’ll be fresh.  There will be no reason to be tired.”

The close meet also gives friends, family, and students the opportunity to attend.

“It will be a fun meet,” Cowart said.  “It will push me to run better and improve in front of my friends and family.”

“There’s no pressure competing in front of people I know,” senior javelin thrower and Philadelphia-native Andrew Fries said.  “But if there is any pressure, it is definitely good pressure.”

Any pressure Fries might have felt on March 22 at the Towson Invitational quickly disappeared, as he qualified for the IC4A Championship during the first outdoor meet of the season with a winning distance of 194-9.

“It was nice, but I’d also like to qualify for [NCAA East] Regionals,” Fries said.  “Right now I’m eight feet off.  Last year I missed it by one meter.  The conference is always important, too.
“I’ve finished second the last two years.  I don’t like to finish second.  I’d like to finish first and get it over with,” he said. “And of course, I’d like to break the school record [in the javelin] of 208.”

Junior thrower Amanda Cole knows a thing or two about breaking records.

She already broke her own school record in the hammer throw with a distance of 173-3 at Towson last month. With that record-breaking throw, she qualified for the ECAC Championship, and Cole now has her eyes set on higher sights.

“Next up for me would be qualifying for Regionals,” Cole said.  “And in the conference I’d like to go after and compete against the University of Rhode Island throwers because they are the best.”

The two-day IC4A and ECAC Championships will start on Friday, May 16 in Princeton, N.J.

As for freshman jumper Idowu Edeki, he is simply trying to show that he “belongs on the team.”

“At this level you have to do your best to show that you can compete against others,” Edeki said.  “I think the Penn Invitational will help show us where we are as a team and as individuals compared to other teams around the nation.”

Last year, the women’s outdoor track team placed sixth in the Atlantic Ten Conference, while the men came in fifth, tying their best ever finish in program history.

This year’s A-10 coaches’ preseason poll, however, tabbed the women for seventh place, while the men were predicted to finish eighth out of 12 teams.

“We want to continue on the roll we finished the indoor season on by playing better at conference outdoor meets,” coach Stefanie Scalessa said.  “The Penn Invitational gets the players onto the surfaces and facilities they’ll see later at the Penn Relays and offers students the opportunity to come see us compete.  We’re on the road so much that sometimes we lose that university support that can only help us do better.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

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