The Soundboard: Fastball maintains creativity without complexity

It’s been a little more than a decade since Fastball’s breakout hit “The Way” smashed onto the radio waves and propelled the band into the mainstream.

Since then, the Texas trio has gradually drifted out of the limelight, but it hasn’t stopped creating music that is both catchy and poignant without being overly complex. Little White Lies, the band’s fifth studio album, continues in that tradition, showcasing the band’s matured, superior musicianship and diversity.

The driving, up-tempo opener, “All I Was Looking for Was You,” sets the tone for the rest of the album, establishing some of the vintage elements of Fastball’s sound. Lead singers Tony Scalzo and Miles Zuniga trade vocals and harmonize throughout this song and the rest of the album – two voices that, while completely distinct and different, blend as beautifully as they did in the late ‘90s.

Fastball has been known for its fusing of eclectic musical influences and varied instrumentation. Little White Lies is not widely groundbreaking for the group in terms of the apparent musical styles with which the band is toying.

However, the band rather daringly experiments on the disco-esque title track, “Little White Lies,” in which Scalzo sings, “I tell myself these little white lies, like I don’t miss you / I tell myself these little white lies, and I just walk around with my eyes closed.”

Another new adventure for the band is “Angelie,” a slow tango-style ballad.

The clap-inducing “Mono to Stereo” is catchy enough for the entire album, with its two-guitar melody and gripping chorus hook. Zuniga sings about a girl who “changed my world from mono to stereo” and whom he thinks about “from Sunday to Saturday.”

The bouncy, piano-driven “She’s Got the Rain” is similarly infectious, displaying the band’s usual knack for effective major and minor chord changes.

The daydreamy “Always and Never” mixes guitar and keyboard melodies for a mellowed-out sound unlike anything on previous Fastball recordings.

“Rampart Street” is a quick-paced rock tune reminiscent of Fastball’s 1996 debut album, Make Your Mama Proud, on which it sounded more like an alternative punk rock band.

The album is rounded out by the brilliant finale, “Soul Radio.” Here, enchanting verses build up to a highly exuberant chorus that drones on and becomes gradually more intense to finish off the record.

Little White Lies is nothing extremely innovative for Fastball. It is not some kind of career-defining, artistic concept album. It is not an experimental excursion into a new genre of music.

It is, however, the mark of a band’s continued mastery of the three-and-a-half-minute rock song and its staying power. Fans of the group’s earlier work will truly enjoy this solid latest effort.

Fastball has proved once again that it isn’t going anywhere, no matter how long ago the ‘90s were.

Kevin Brosky can be reached at kevinbrosky@temple.edu.

Childish Action

In what has almost become a common occurrence on campus, Temple presented another contract offer to the Temple Association of University Professionals, and the union planned a rally as its response to the offer.

The negotiations have been going on for months since TAUP’s contract expired in the fall. Many students are unaware of the details of the situation, and those who try to educate themselves get lost in the back-and-forth between the university and TAUP. The language of the university’s most recent offer attempts to address the union’s concerns. It reads like the university is tired of the fight and wants to resolve the issue quickly.

Quick isn’t what TAUP does best, as it continues to reject offers and accuse President Ann Weaver Hart of being anti-union. The contract dispute will most likely continue into the next semester as a new batch of students arrive on campus, wondering why some of their professors are carrying giant pink elephants that have the words “Labor Relations” written on them.

The lack of knowledge is a big weakness for TAUP when it tries to get students on board for its fight. Even those who try to stay abreast with the issue are undecided in their allegiance to TAUP or Temple. The Temple News has tried its best to keep our readers informed, but it is often hard to determine if Temple is trying to make things difficult for the union as some TAUP leaders have said or if the union is asking for unreasonable demands.

The April 8 offer to TAUP addresses concerns that if a contract is negotiated for the next five years during these tough times, and the economy improves, Temple would be willing to reopen negotiations if both parties agree to negotiate in good faith.

Negotiating in good faith has not been part of the process up until now, so it is hard to imagine that this time will be forgotten when it is time to head to the negotiating table again.

TAUP is usually very eager to take to the press to get its message out, while Temple has been more restrained in its comments, usually only responding to a TAUP event or posting the offers to the union on the Temple Web site.

Both parties need to do a better job talking to each other and listening instead of yelling their sides with their fingers jammed in their ears.

University money needs to be seen in new perspective

Universities are big money. They retain professors, physicians and administrators for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. They spend millions of dollars a year on lawyers and architects.

And, perhaps most relevant to college students, they charge thousands of dollars for students to attend. But huge figures alone, though daunting and worth looking at, do not mean anyone’s money is being spent unwisely.

All this money is an easy target for recession-impacted students and critics. Do university presidents really need to get more than $500,000 in compensation and benefits, they ask. Did Temple need to spend almost $800,000 in 2006 alone for the services of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, one of the most prestigious law firms in Philadelphia?

Beyond that, Temple spent $670,000 in the same year for the legal services of Booth Tucker L.P., in addition to the $481,000 it paid George Moore, who serves as General Counsel for Temple.

This is, simply, big money. It’s easy to doubt the need for a public university to spend that level of funds.

A closer look adds perspective to such large figures. In the same year that President Ann Weaver Hart earned $572,000 in benefits, compensation and an expense account, Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, earned more than $1.1 million. The chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, whose position is similar to Temple’s president, earned about $60,000 more than Hart.

Five hundred thousand dollars is a lot more money than most people will ever make, but it’s not an exorbitant amount to run a large university. And while it’s easy to find excess in such huge salaries when we see our tuition going up every year (and outpacing inflation by a significant amount), taking out our anger on the administration is not a productive way to bring change.

The legal services are more difficult to compare. Penn’s IRS Form 990 lists multiple contractors, some of whom were paid more than $30 million in 2006, but none who are listed as providing legal services.
Pitt’s financial forms do not list any independent contractors.

Temple’s highest paid contractor was not a law firm, but it is important to note. AlliedBarton Security Services was paid more than $6 million, and the architecture firm Ballinger Company was paid more than $5 million.

The fact that the Temple administration salaries are not exorbitant compared to their counterparts does not mean more cannot be done to help make college affordable.

It doesn’t make sense that Temple students, and students at any university, are paying more money each year when today’s weak economy means fewer career opportunities.

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

Patience influences ‘Knowing’ screenwriter’s life, career

On March 20, the film Knowing was released nationwide. A father, played by Nicholas Cage, and his son race to decode messages found in a time capsule. The messages hold information about disasters that occurred in the past and ones that will occur in the near future. It is up to them to find out when the disaster is going to occur and save the world before it’s too late.

Juliet Snowden, a former film and media arts student at Temple, co-wrote the screenplay. Her journey to Hollywood wasn’t easy, but the end result was rewarding.

After graduating from Louisiana State University in 1988, Snowden, then 22, moved to Philadelphia, uncertain about her career as a writer. A friend asked her what she wanted to do, and Snowden answered, “film.” Per her friend’s advice, Snowden began taking film classes at Temple.

“I loved it. It was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Snowden said. “I was writing my own shorts. I was directing them and then editing them. [It was] the first time in my life I felt really alive and excited about something.”

While at Temple, Snowden took three film courses. She said former professor Alan Powell was her favorite instructor.

“He really wanted each and every one of us to flourish as artists,” she said. “Too many professors enjoy putting down their students’ work…what they should be teaching is that it takes years and years to master your craft as a writer, painter, musician, dancer or whatever you aspire to be.”

Powell suggested Snowden move to Los Angeles if she was serious about making movies. Still, she said Philadelphia played an important role in her career.

Snowden said she loved to walk the streets and admire the architecture in Philadelphia and at Temple.
“The city oozes history,” she said. “I can’t wait to come back and show my 5-year-old son the old stomping grounds.”

Snowden said with the film Knowing, she has already made her contribution to the film industry.

“I write from my heart and soul, and if someone responds to that, [it’s] wonderful,” she said. “I feel like that has happened.”

Snowden said people have had strong reactions to her film. She recalled a blog post in which one person said the film made him want to be a better parent.

For Snowden, this is the reward of screenwriting.

Throughout her career, Snowden has written 10 screenplays, two of which have been produced. She said a career in media does not happen overnight.

“[My husband and I] spent two years writing a script [that] never got picked up,” she said. “We began working on another script for one year, which was eventually optioned by Wes Craven.”

Snowden’s career has been 15 years in the making, but she loves movies and writing. She said making money was never her main focus.

“You have to love the craft you are in,” she said.

Snowden and her husband, Stiles White, have worked as screenwriters for the past seven years. She also wrote  Boogeyman, which was released in 2005.

Snowden and White recently finished writing the remake of the Poltergeist, which is planned to be released in 2011. Snowden’s other projects include The Birds and a television pilot.

“Pursue something you love, and hopefully the money will follow,” she said.

She said aspiring media producers should know it’s important for screenwriters to be patient. Aspiring students get caught up in the glamour of the media industry and do not realize screenplays sometimes sit idle for years before they are produced as films.

The original screenplay of Knowing was written 10 years ago by Ryne Pearson. A few years later, Snowden and her husband took on the screenplay and worked on it for two years. It would be another three years before Knowing went into production.

Originally, the film included a time capsule and predictions. Snowden and White turned it into a science fiction film, adding disasters and changing the pay-off of the story.

Snowden also included some of her own experiences in Knowing. During the time she was writing the screenplay, Snowden gave birth to her first child.

“Although it was a blessing, giving birth was one of the difficulties of writing Knowing,” she said. “I was a new mother. [I was] sleep deprived, had raging hormones, yet I was supposed to be creative.”

But motherhood paid off for Snowden.

“Without being a mother, I don’t think I could’ve written such compelling and convincing scenes between a parent and a child.”

Alexandria Brown can be reached at alexandria.brown@temple.edu.

Students prepare Israeli celebration

Marked by more than a backyard barbecue and a fireworks display, Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, commemorates the declaration of the state of Israel by David Ben Gurion on May 14, 1948.

That day still has special meaning for many people, including a group of Temple students who hope to inform the Temple community about the significance of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

On April 29, Temple Students for Israel plans to emphasize the message of unity during the day by hosting a celebration on Main Campus at the Bell Tower. The all-day event will feature an Israeli Army obstacle course, reading materials, T-shirt tie-dyeing and other activities.

Senior KateLynn Plotnick, vice president of Temple Students for Israel, said the celebration will show people what Israeli Independence Day means to her and her fellow members.

“Israeli Independence Day represents democracy, justice and freedom,” the public relations major said. “It represents a miracle. It was a miracle for the Jews to survive the Holocaust and to have their energy and motivation to build a new country. It is a miracle that Israel is the youngest country to have made so much progress technologically, socially and physically over such a small span of time.”

Each year, on the evening before Yom Ha’atzmaut, the speaker of the Israeli Parliament makes a televised speech. The presentation includes groups of Israeli soldiers who carry Israeli flags and other symbols of Judaism. The final piece of the ceremony is the lighting of 12 beacons to represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

“Israeli Independence Day to me stands as a constant reminder that only 61 years ago, the prayers and dreams of the Jewish people were answered and came true,” said Tom Harari, a senior liberal arts major and member of Temple Students for Israel.

“As a son of both Sephardic and Ashkenazi parents, I see Israeli Independence Day from a unique lens,” Harari added. “My father’s family fled Tunisia, while my mother left communist Romania. Both sought refuge and escape from lives as second-class citizens. What they found was the prayers of their ancestors answered: a Jewish state for the Jewish people.”

Temple Students for Israel aims to show other students and the surrounding community that peaceful things happen in the small Middle Eastern country. In light of recent attacks on the Gaza Strip, Temple Students for Israel is hoping to educate Philadelphians on the many positive aspects of the country.

“This day is portrayed as a celebration, but many Zionist Jews suffered and fought for years in order to declare independence and have a free Jewish state for the Jews to call home,” said Ziv Noah, a junior art major.

“The anthem proudly states, ‘the soul of a Jew yearns,’” Harari said. “Israeli Independence Day stands as a reminder, a symbol of what the Jewish soul has yearned for for more 2,000 years.”

Elizabeth Grossman can be reached at ejgrossman@temple.edu.

Film finds beauty in unique family

Since most South Street novices are initially enamored with the massive mosaic display of broken bicycle wheels and beer bottles, it’s no secret they eventually question its wacky origins. Frequenters and novices alike are unaware of the origins of painted tiles and seemingly random rubbish affixed to nearly 50,000 square feet divided into more than 100 murals that become a canvas of sorts on the South Street strip.

In A Dream, a film produced by Jeremiah Zagar, is bent on clearing up the ambiguity.

“My father’s pretty famous already,” said Zagar, who is the son of Isaiah Zagar, “so maybe he’ll be even more famous.”

Now playing at the Ritz at the Bourse, In A Dream is a lyrical documentary that chronicles the lives of Zagar’s father and mother as artists during the 1960s. The film depicts how the entire family unit and the surreal, iconic artwork of his father were emblazoned on edifices in South Philadelphia.

“We wanted to combine the real and the surreal,” Zagar said of the documentary. “The real is the work, and the surreal is the slow-motion, animation and the film.”

Narrated by Julia Zagar, Isaiah’s wife, In A Dream is a love story about the strength of family and is told in three parts. One of the three parts is titled “Part II: The End of an Era.”

“That era is the belief that family is stronger than everything else in the world,” Zagar said. “It’s an era of familial perfection. The end of that era is that families are not always strong. They are living in a dream, and the end of the era is the end of that dream and the beginning of a reality.”

The reality is that despite an idyllic childhood as described by Zagar, he and his brother Ezekiel’s upbringings were anything but conventional.

“My father is very attentive but kind of nutty,” he said. “You would go to an art opening, and he’d be naked and covered in mud. It was awkward because I was 5 years old, and all I wanted was my friends to think I was good at soccer.”

Growing up in a castle of shattered glass with a surreal family history, Zagar describes his childhood simply as “cool.”

“I lived in a house people thought was cool, so we’d invite them over and make them pasta, and they thought we were rad,” Zagar said.

“I always loved the basement in my house because it’s circular,” he said. “It’s small, and it’s completely mosaic from floor to ceiling, so you can see all the way around. It’s total immersion in the work – a glittered cavern.”

As a child, the cinema was Zagar’s sanctuary.

“I wasn’t the most handsome kid,” Zagar said. “I was a little chubby and a little awkward, and I just loved the movies. Movies were the dreams that other people dream.”

After years of watching dreams of other people, Isaiah’s very own dream, showcased throughout South Philadelphia, turned out to be the inspiration for a poetic verite narrative.

In A Dream, essentially a life labor, was seven years in the making, after Julia encouraged Zagar to begin filming his father.

“My father is a product of Philadelphia, and he’s quite the performer, so the first footage I got was not very good,” Zagar said.

When he first began capturing footage, Zagar said his father grew closer to him outside of the city.
“I took him to the country, and when he was isolated from the comforts of home, he became much more intimate,” he said. 

Zagar said the five days in the country were incredibly difficult, as his father told him a story about being molested as a child, his love for his wife and his battle with balancing art and his presumed madness.

“I knew our relationship had changed from father and son to subject and filmmaker and that I had some incredible footage,” Zagar said.

Zagar said the footage obtained in the country was a chronicle of the memories that built a person — his father.

At first glance, Isaiah’s work appears only as shattered glass and Philadelphia debris crafted into a pastel paradise. But look closely, and it becomes clear that his work documents the life, profanity and sexuality of his life.

Zagar said it is because his father sees everything — even his own feces — as beautiful.

“The scene says you can take this dream too far,” Zagar said. “Playing with your poop is unhygienic, regardless of whether it’s beautiful or not. There’s a certain craziness to someone who wants s–t in his hand.”

Zagar said his father had the tendency to go over the edge.

“I think everything he does is a little bit over the line,” he said, “which is part of what makes it so great.”

Refreshingly obscure and appropriately surreal at times, it is the stunning cinematography interspersed with 8 mm film and Super 16 mm footage of his father and mother from the 1960s that makes the documentary a loving representation of an arts-driven family.

Zagar’s years of cinematic appreciation paid off visually.

“We shot the movie on 35 mm film, but most documentaries are digital,” Zagar said. “Film is silver – big, giant blocks of silver. It’s a true reflection of what we see in light and shadow, and it gives you this feeling of the surreal world.”

The vintage footage of his father and mother was easily obtained, since Isaiah compiled massive amounts of footage. As prominent artists and owners of Eyes Gallery, the couple was involved in the South Street corridor’s 1960s hippie movement.

“People were documenting my parents from back then,” Zagar said. “We had about 30 hours of archival footage, and we tried to use all of it that we could…because the movie is very much a mosaic itself.”

Gabrielle DiPietro can be reached at gdipietro@temple.edu.

Diversity more than numbers

Diversity at Temple is visible to the naked eye, but how many students move past staring at a tossed salad of people and are brave enough to taste it?

These are the numbers: 55 percent of Temple students are female, 45 percent are male, 57 percent of students are white, 17 percent are African American, 10 percent are Asian, 3 percent are Latino, and international students make up another 3 percent of the university’s population.

On Main Campus, students identify themselves as Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, gay, straight and bisexual.

“Temple has a lot of numerical diversity, but I’m not sure if students are really engaging in deep, meaningful interactions,” said Walidah Justice, associate director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
“It’s a lot of different types of people in one area who have different goals and interests,” said Stephanie Do when asked what diversity means.

Do, a junior pre-pharmacy major, is a member of the Vietnamese Student Association and said she feels race is just a small part of diversity.

Before enrolling at the university, Nansi Khalil, a junior biochemistry major, said she heard Temple was a diverse school.

“I didn’t realize just how diverse it was,” she said. “Temple has an incredible range of students coming from many unique backgrounds. I was pleased to find that the Temple society includes people from all different income levels and different racial and ethnic backgrounds.”

Khalil, who is from Egypt, is a member of the Muslim Student Association and the Arab Student Association. She said she feels the diversity that Temple has is great, but she admittedly hasn’t made an effort to branch out.

“It’s important for us to appreciate people who are different from us, and it’s also important that we maintain those aspects of ourselves that make us unique,” said Alex Chambers, a senior tourism and hospitality management major and president of Temple’s chapter of Omega Psi Phi, a traditionally black fraternity. “Omega Psi Phi was founded to bring together men of color to help develop them into stronger men and build strength in the black community.”

The focus on community remains a cardinal principle of the Omegas, and the same emphasis can be found in other cultural groups on campus. Sometimes, it takes a visit outside the Temple community to begin to appreciate others.

“It’s funny, before this trip, I can’t remember really having a deep conversation with someone who wasn’t white or Jewish,” said junior Jewish studies major Pesach Kessler, treasurer for Temple Students for Israel and alumni chair of Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Along with 25 of his fraternity brothers, Kessler volunteered during his spring break at several centers in impoverished neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

“My most memorable experience was when I shared stories with the administrator of the [Watts Labor Community Action Committee], a community center where Coretta Scott-King donated many of her personal photos of her life with [Martin Luther King Jr.]. It was incredible.”

“If you look at it from a business perspective, you can really be more successful if you know how to communicate with people from different backgrounds,” said Harshil Kakadia, a member of the Dholidaz Indian Dance Club. 

“Temple is a very unique place,” said Christopher Carey, associate director of the Office of Student Affairs. “It’s rare that you find an environment where you can have conversations with people from different parts of the world.”

Justice’s work with the Office of Multicultural Affairs helps to create spaces for such conversations to take place.

“College is a place where young adults are still forming their worldview and identity,” Justice said. “They can use these conversations to share their thoughts with others and have those ideas challenged.”

Justice said these conversations can influence students to form well-rounded identities of who they want to be.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs has held these kinds of talks in the past and plans to do more. One of its biggest accomplishments has been its Campus Unity Program, which brought more than 110 students from different backgrounds and organizations together for a night that featured ethnic foods and entertainment.

Student Affairs also holds programs to help facilitate diverse interactions. Some events include campus concerts and Free Food and Fun Fridays, held every Friday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Last Friday’s theme was “A Night in Bollywood” and celebrated aspects of Indian culture and cinema.

Quentin Williams can be reached at quentin.williams@temple.edu.

Rain-out still poses threat for festivities

Due to weather problems, Temple’s annual Spring Fling, organized by Main Campus Program Board, has been postponed until tomorrow.

MCPB President Tiffany Thompson said it is up to the administration when Spring Fling is held.

“MCPB does not actually decide when and why it’s canceled or postponed. The administration gets to decide that,” said Thompson, a senior kinesiology major.

Though the official date of Spring Fling was postponed, many events still occurred.

“A lot of other things go on, just the date of Spring Fling itself was postponed until the following Wednesday,” Thompson said.

Weather services have predicted scattered showers for Wednesday, as well. Thompson said MCPB is not sure what it will do if it rains again. A backup plan has not been established yet.

“That has yet to be determined,” she said. “Once we know, we’ll certainly let the student body know.”

Many students were unsure why Spring Fling was pushed back an entire week instead of moved to last Thursday or Friday.

“I’m not sure why it’s on another Wednesday instead of [on Thursday],” said freshman business major Alexis Canary.
She said she was disappointed Spring Fling was not on April 15 because she made other plans the following Wednesday.

“It’s harder for the Temple Police to actually control the campus,” Thompson said, explaining why the administration does not want to hold Spring Fling close to the weekend.

Due to the large volume of people, Thompson said things are less likely to get out of hand if the event is during the week.

“The administration is not fond of it being on a Thursday or Friday,” she said. “It’s harder for the Temple Police to really handle the campus because there will be such a large amount of people there. They’d rather have it on a Wednesday.”

Thompson said it is very unlikely Spring Fling will be held on a Thursday again, but Temple has held it on Thursdays before.

“My freshman year, [Spring Fling] was on a Thursday. I know the Temple Police had a lot of issues with underage-drinking. A lot more than if it was held on the previous day,” Thompson said.

Regardless of the date change, the itinerary for Spring Fling will remain the same except for a few minor changes.

“Everything is still the same,” she said. “The only thing we had to change was we had a digital caricaturist and digital T-shirt making, but because of booking flights, we couldn’t switch that to the 22nd, so they actually did come out on the 15th, but we had to move them to the atrium.”

Spring Fling will be on Liacouras Walk from Montgomery Avenue to Norris Street, 13th Street from Montgomery Avenue to Norris Street and Berks Mall from Liacouras Walk to 12th Street, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow.

“No matter what day Spring Fling’s on,” Thompson said, “everyone will have a good time.”

Valerie Rubinsky can be reached at valerie.rubinsky@temple.edu.

Simple suggestions for a sustainable Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and it’s the time of year when many feel guilty about their dwindling recycling habits. Some might feel the need to pitch in and stem the guilt by cleaning up litter or planting a tree. For some nontraditional ways to give back to planet Earth, take a look at this list for some less common – but just as easy – ways of reducing impacts on the environment.

Reuse those special red cups
Geography and urban studies professor Benjamin Neimark and his Sustainable Environments class want you to think about the last party you attended. As the music faded and guests trickled out, the area was probably littered with red plastic cups used to hold a certain carbonated substance college students have been known to enjoy.

Neimark wants you to imagine how many of those cups were thrown away in a landfill rather than a recycling bin. Next time, save those cups for the next party. Plastic cups are easy to wash and can go in the dishwasher a couple of times. See how many uses you can get out of one, and challenge your friends to do the same.

Convince nonbelievers
Global warming has been confirmed by a majority of scientists as a serious threat to the Earth. However, some people choose to deny the consensus because they love their gas-guzzling SUVs or refuse to believe anything Al Gore says because of their political views. Politely convince nonbelievers by referring them to study materials and explain why putting in a little effort to reduce their impact can help.

Rent, don’t buy
Textbooks can often be found at the top of the list of college students’ biggest expenses. Bookstores charge top dollar for textbooks and then buy them back for a fraction of the original cost.

“There is a Web site where you can rent books for a semester and then mail them back,” said Dina Maslennikova, a sophomore geography and urban studies major and Students for Environmental Action member. “The Web site also plants a tree for each book it rents out.”

Try chegg.com next semester. According to the Web site, students can rent and return textbooks and pay about 60 percent less than they would at a bookstore. This theory helps the environment in two ways – by reusing books and supporting the site’s tree planting. If you decide the book is worth keeping, you can change from rental to purchase at any time.

Advocacy
Student groups are a great vehicle for change.

“We’re dealing with a young, educated group of people who are energetic and politically active,” Neimark said. “They can get the job done.”

Become a political advocate for environmental change. Write to your congressmen. Request that your friends reuse and recycle. Take your own knowledge, and teach others what you have learned. Get involved.

No more new clothing
Instead of going to a chain clothing store to buy a new T-shirt, arrange a clothing swap with your friends. Have everyone go through their closets and pick pieces that don’t fit or are no longer wanted and arrange a trade. This is a great way to freshen your wardrobe with no detriment to the environment or to your wallet.

Shop in second-hand stores whenever possible. Philadelphia is a great city for vintage shopping, and every time you purchase a second-hand item, you reduce carbon emissions from clothing factories. Create a unique look with vintage clothing rather than buying mass-produced Abercrombie & Fitch pieces. The planet will thank you for it, and you’ll look fantastic.

Laura Standley can be reached at laura.standley@temple.edu.

Administrator takes job at CHOP

From SEPTA subways cars to lightposts around City Hall, the university’s recent marketing ad campaign, “125 Facts,” has put Temple in the spotlight.

The “T” is scattered throughout the city as a result of the work by Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Stuart Sullivan, who manages the campaign.

Sullivan, who has served in that position since 2001, announced his resignation from his position last week. He will accept a new post as chief development officer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to work with an incredibly dynamic and world-class institution,” Sullivan said. “At this point in my career, I determined this was a logical step for me to take.”

Sullivan’s resignation will be effective May 8, three days before he begins his new job on May 11. A formal search will begin immediately for his successor.

Sullivan said many of his new responsibilities at CHOP will be similar to those he held at Temple, including managing a large staff, working with volunteers and raising money for operations at the hospital like building and endowment programs.

Since he joined Temple more than eight years ago as vice president for development and alumni relations, Sullivan said he never imagined seeing the financial and branding successes the school is experiencing.

In an effort to better market Temple, Sullivan and his staff created the Office of Institutional Advancement in December 2006. The office is designed to enhance the relationship between the School of Medicine and its graduates and supporters.

Primary functions of the office include organizing external outreach for alumni, friends, donors and greater community, raising funds for the university, advertising, marketing, alumni relations and managing the school’s Web sites, print publications and other forms of communication.

“I believe that we have made a significant progress in establishing a new culture of philanthropy surrounding the university,” Sullivan said. “We have worked very diligently to try to increase the reputation of the university over these years, and I think we have been successful on doing that.”

After considering all the other campaigns his staff has been involved with over the years, Sullivan said the 125th anniversary fundraising campaign, “Access to Excellence,” is one of his biggest accomplishments.

“[The campaign] speaks for itself. Temple has never raised anywhere near this much money in any campaign in the past,” he said.

He attributes much of the success of the campaign to President Ann Weaver Hart, who he says is a “tremendous spokesperson and leader” for the school.

Sullivan said he acknowledges there’s still more work to be done even after he leaves his position.

“All of the work we do is really on a continual basis,” he said. “What we do now is taking it to a certain level so people who come behind us will just continue doing things we’re doing now.”

Sergei Blair can be reached at sergei.blair@temple.edu.

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