Hot Chocolate

1 cup of milk

2 heaping tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of sugar or honey

a dash of spice! (cinnamon, nutmeg, or my personal favorite ,cardamom)

1. Put the milk and chocolate chips in a ceramic mug and microwave on 1/2 power for about 2 minutes.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until everything is combined.

3. Drink up! Or pour into a thermos and hit the library.

I make this whenever I need a study break, and it totally hits the spot on cold nights. It beats spending 3 points at Pi, and it for sure beats the packaged stuff. Top it off with some whipped cream if you're feeling fancy. You can definitely multiply the recipe and make this on the stove if you're feeling generous. If you do this on the stove, heat the milk first and then add the rest. If you're into peppermint hot chocolate, throw a couple of mint tea bags into the pot of milk when you're heating it up, and remove them before you add the remainder of the ingredients.

This week, ANR host Andrea Domanick '10 gives us headlines, and explores an old article about the nuances of girls from different northeast colleges. We also feature an exclusive interview with senior thesis writer Nick Marshall. Nick speaks on religion, the afterlife, and best of all, zombies. Really, this is a quality show, with choice music picks holding it all together.

Thanks to contributor Ezra Silk '10 and producer Sam Bernhardt for making the show possible.

ANR Nov. 17 2009

Now, if you’re literate, you’re probably not inclined to sit through a Puddle of Mudd song. But I will make you a few promises to encourage you. First, while Wes Scantlin’s vocals get a little gratingly whiney at times, this is a fairly catchy song. Second, the deeply misogynistic lyrics are ethnographically interesting. Third, if you watch this video to the end, you get to see the band fuck a nebula. I will repeat that. In this video, Puddle of Mudd has sexual intercourse with a nebula. (Thanks to Videogum for the hot tip, bee tee dubs)

Did you catch the part where they misspelled the name of our solar system’s nearest neighboring star?  Or the part where they sing "A long time ago in a galaxy far a wasted?" Did you pick up on all the misogyny? How about the part where Puddle of Mudd fucked a nebula? I guess that’s how stars are conceived (high five, nerds!).

Anyway, to proceed beyond the sarcasm as ridiculous as this video is, I think it actually might actually represent a positive trend. This is the third ill-advised-by-all-reasonable-standards-but-still-sublime sci-fi-related music video I’ve seen in the last week, along with the aforementioned Gaga joint, and the video for Rihanna’s new single “Russian Roulette,” which seems to take place deep in the bowels of the Ministry of Love.

So that's pretty weird. But we should be living in the golden age of the crazy music video. Back when MTV first started up, some people made a lot of noise about how influential the video was going to be. But I don’t think it ever worked out all that well. There were a few years of experimentation in the 80s that produced a few standouts (mostly involving Madonna or Oingo Boingo), but pretty soon videos basically degenerated into either bands playing in a room, or straightforward choreographed dances. I don’t think anyone really liked watching the videos of the late 90s and early Aughts, so when MTV stopped playing them, not many salty tears were shed. By about 2005 or so, I think very few people were aware of new music videos.

Oh man, good times. But anyway, as should be obvious from the way this post has been organized, something critical changed: there was such a thing as a Youtube. Suddenly, everyone with an onramp to the information superhighway had access to an unlimited supply of music videos, unmediated by the standards of a TV network. And for some reason, I assumed that major artists would start using their big fancy budgets to make weird, weird videos that would draw the jaded eyes of kids these days away from their Lolcats and their pornography. But it didn’t really happen. The main impact of Youtube on the world of music videos was that indie bands felt free to make weird little short films that had pretty much nothing to do with their songs. For instance, check out the clip for one of my favorite songs of the year, Baroness’s “A Horse Called Golgotha.”

Weird, right? But engaging, right? You wanted to see what happens to that muscular Christ-figure, didn’t you? That kind of approach works, and for years I was hoping people with access to real special effects would start playing around with crazy narratives. So this year, with the batshit scifi trilogy of “Bad Romance,” “Russian Roulette,” and “Spaceship,” my dreams are being realized. Hopefully in the near future we’ll get a video where Kanye hops on a Sandworm to save the Ringworld from the Second Foundation (double high five, nerds!).

Anyway, good luck to all of you, and enjoy your breaks. When we get back, I’m going to start my reflections on the decade in music. I’ll leave you with this to tide you over untile then:

Our hosts John Gallagher '12 and Ashley Tam '12 are back this week with news about Wesleyan's Do It In The Dark Competition as well as an update on the H1N1 virus at Wesleyan. Ashley was on the scene to ask visiting parents and alumni what they liked best about homecoming.

Stay tuned for our next episode for our exclusive coverage and interviews of the Connecticut Spokebenders Game at Wesleyan.

“It was so not real—the last thing I expected,” said Purdy, who had three saves in the contest, after the game. “The happiest moment of this year so far. I was actually reading [the penalty kicks] pretty well today. It just worked out.”

Purdy, who made two saves as the teams tied 0-0 in Springfield on Sept. 20, also recorded a key stop on Western New England’s first penalty kick, diving to his left to push the ball into the right post and away from the net. That gave Wesleyan a 1-0 edge, as Walter Rodriguez ’13 had converted the opening kick. Each team converted its next three attempts, as Austin Woolridge ’11, Woody Redpath ’10, and tri-captain Nick Whipple ’10 made good for the Cardinals. With Wesleyan clinging to a 4-3 edge, Asante Brooks ’10 stepped up with a chance to send the Cardinals into the third round, but Brooks’ low, driving kick sailed right at the Western New England keeper, who made the stop. Western New England converted its fifth attempt to make it 4-4 and send it into a sudden-victory round. Rory O’Neill’s ’13 kick high and to the left found the back of the net, setting the stage for Purdy’s heroics.

O’Neill had also tied the game for Wesleyan in the 50th minute as the Cardinals rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit. Following a corner kick, Keisuke Yamashita ’10 launched a shot from 10 yards out that was stopped by the Western New England keeper, but O’Neill got to the rebound and put it in to even the score 4:16 into the period, his second goal of the season. Yamashita tallied his fifth assist on the play to raise his team-leading point total to 13.

Western New England had taken a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute on a header by junior Kienan Garn. Following a corner kick, Wesleyan attempted to head the ball out of the goal area, but it stayed in the box and was headed to Garn in the left side. Garn’s header sailed over Purdy, giving the Golden Bears the early lead.

The game marked only the fourth time all season Wesleyan trailed in a game. The Cardinals also faced a 1-0 deficit in its season opener at Williams on Sept. 12, a contest from which they emerged with a 1-1 tie, and at Trinity on Oct. 3, a game the Cardinals won 2-1. Head coach Geoff Wheeler noted after the game that despite having played down only three prior times, the Cardinals did not panic when faced with the deficit.

“I don’t think there was any panic,” said Wheeler. “There’s a real determination to this team that exists that regardless of what the score is, whether we’re ahead or behind, we’re just going to work at it and work at it and work at it, and we did.”

Due to damage to Jackson Field’s grass surface from two games played in persistent rain on Saturday, the match was moved to Smith Field. Wesleyan played on the artificial surface twice in 2008, including a 3-0 loss to Western New England in the season opener. (The Cardinals also fell 3-1 to Trinity on Sept. 27 of that year.)

“Last time we stepped on this pitch, [Western New England] gave us a pretty good shot right to the jaw, and we didn’t handle it very well,” said Wheeler. “We were expecting their best shot [Sunday]; they gave it to us, and I think we responded well….Penalty kicks can go either way, to be honest, but I think we had the momentum going into it, and certainly when you have Purdy, you feel pretty good about your chances.”

Wesleyan had improved to 3-0 all-time in NCAA tournament first-round games on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over St. Joseph’s College of Maine, which was making its first NCAA tournament appearance. Chris Kuehn ’13 scored his first career goal at 31:48—becoming the fifth different freshman this season to tally a goal—off a cross from Ian Waldron ’13. Kuehn, who had entered the game just five minutes earlier, took the pass along the left side of the box and flicked it off the end of his foot inside the left post to give Wesleyan the lead. Wesleyan extended its lead to 2-0 in the 72nd minute as Whipple scored his third goal of the year off a pass from Redpath.

The shutout against St. Joseph’s was Wesleyan’s 12th of the year, extending the school record. Purdy also stopped four shots to record his 10th shutout of 2009. Purdy’s 0.43 goals-against average and 90.6 save percentage lead the NESCAC; he also entered the weekend tied for third in Division III in save percentage and ranked fourth in GAA.

Wesleyan now stands 3-2-1 all-time in NCAA tournament play and 12-1-5 on the season. The Cardinals will travel to Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. this weekend for a Saturday night game against the University of Rochester, ranked eighth in Division III, while 13th-ranked Johns Hopkins University will take on defending national champion Messiah, the top team in Division III, in the other semifinal. The winners will meet Sunday evening at 6:00 with a trip to San Antonio for the NCAA Final Four on the line. The Cardinals took on Messiah in the 2005 tournament, falling 2-1 in overtime.

A year after a disappointing 5-8-2 season that ended with a 2-0 loss at Amherst in the first round of the NESCAC tournament, the Cardinals have added another impressive chapter to the Wesleyan soccer legacy and are poised to continue rewriting the record books this weekend.

“It’s the best feeling ever,” said tri-captain Jory Kahan ’10. “Half the guys can’t stop smiling. Last year was very disappointing, but guys are stepping up this year. It’s a total team effort.”

“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” he added. “All of us, we all believe.”

Placing fifth out of 47 teams, the Cardinal women had a great showing on Saturday, as the entire team qualified for Nationals next weekend. This will be the first NCAA appearance for the Wesleyan women as a team since 2004.

Ravenna Neville ’09, who dominated the 6k run, finished second out of 315 runners, guaranteeing herself a spot at the Championships. Clocking in at 21:39, Neville was only four seconds behind the first-place finisher, M.I.T.’s Jacqui Wentz.

“Ravenna had an amazing race, getting second out of over 300 girls and really showing what an amazing competitor she is,” said Tess Crain '12.

Coming in second for Wesleyan was Julia Mark '13, who placed 25th and finished the race with a time of 22:33. Mark’s 25th-place finish earned her all-New England Division III honors. Rosie Keogh ’13 completed the race with a time of 22:58, taking home 38th place. Close behind was Sarah White '11, who claimed 41st place with a time of 23:01. Rounding out Wesleyan’s scoring five was Crain, who finished 53rd, covering the course in 23:16.

“Yesterday was a big day, the meet we've really been training for all season,” said Crain. “I think that, all in all, we did what we set out to do: We went against a very competitive region and showed how cohesive and strong a team we've become this year.”

M.I.T and Middlebury were the top teams in the race, tying for first with 63 points. Next came Williams with 99, followed by Amherst with 116 and Wesleyan with 159.

Fifty points away from making into the top ten in their race, the Cardinal men took home 11th place with 284 team points. Although it may not have been the ending they had hoped for, the squad put up a good fight against the other 48 teams.

“For most of us it was kind of a heart-breaking end to the season,” said Charles Lang ’11. “But it seems like we're moving in the right direction for next year in terms of the team's overall drive and commitment.”

Leading the way for the Cardinals, Marc Whittington ’13 finished the race with a 39th-place time of 26:24. Ten seconds later, Lang crossed the finish line in 51st place with 26:34 on the clock. Coming in next for Wesleyan was Matt Katz ’11, who placed 62nd with a time of 26:47. Bryan Marsh '13 completed the race with a time of 26:50, taking 65th place, and Jamie Lawrence ’12 finished off the day for the Cards at 67th place with a time of 26:51.

Williams dominated the men's race, taking first with a score of 53. Next up was Amherst with a score of 104, followed by Keene State College (132) and Brandeis University (145). Bowdoin rounded out the top five with a score of 153.

Neville will be making her second straight appearance at the NCAA Championships, as she qualified as an individual in 2008. The title race begins at 11:00 Saturday morning.

Wesleyan struggled to contain the Bantams in the first quarter, as Trinity scored touchdowns on its first two drives. But starting in the second, the Cardinals held Trinity scoreless for a 37-minute span and scored three touchdowns of their own. Two of them came on TD passes by QB Blake DuBois ’12 in the second quarter, the first to Pete Madera ’11, and the other to Dave Brunelli ’12. Both scores were set up by special teams pouncing on the Bantams in the punting game. The first came after Matt Maloney ’11 blocked a Trinity punt and recovered it himself at the Bantam 32-yard line, and the second came following Trevor Rhodes' ’12 recovery of a punt muffed by Trinity, 11 yards from the end zone.

On the opening kickoff of the second half, Joe Byous ’12 forced a fumble by the Trinity returner and recovered the ball at the Bantams’ 26-yard line. Though the Cardinals failed to capitalize on that drive, their defense pinned Trinity near its own goal line and forced a punt that allowed Wes to start in Trinity territory on the next possession. They finally scored on a fourth-and-goal run by Shea Dwyer ’10 for the Cardinals’ third straight touchdown. Each kicker had missed one of his extra point tries, making the score 20-13 as the third quarter ended. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Trinity got back on the board after a 49-yard pass set up a rushing touchdown from inside the five-yard line. Neither team could score again, and the game went to overtime.

While Trinity had first possession Wesleyan performed admirably on defense, holding the Bantams to a 28-yard field goal. When the Cardinals got the ball, they had no more success than Trinity, with Matt Alexander ’12 converting the first field goal of his career in a pressure-packed situation. This set up a second overtime period, in which things went quickly downhill for Wesleyan, as DuBois’ pass of the series was intercepted in the end zone. The defense again did an excellent job, making three stops for no gain, but again, Trinity converted on its field-goal try, this one a 42-yarder for the win.

A win would have made Wesleyan the first team to win at Trinity in 35 games; the Bantams have not lost in Hartford since Week 2 of 2001. It also would have ended Trinity’s win streak against the Cardinals, which has now extended to 10 games.

The loss was a bitter end to a promising season for the Cardinals, who improved their record by two games from last season’s 1-7 struggle. In addition, the team lost two games in overtime by a combined six points, which meant they were that close to being 5-3.

Daddario was a versatile athlete during his time as a Cardinal. He lettered three times in both football and baseball, captaining the 1938 football squad. Even now, he is still recognized as one of the best players to hit the gridiron at Wesleyan, leading the football team to three straight winning seasons and a 15-8-1 record over this time. Twice, he received the C. Everett Bacon Award as the team’s MVP. After graduating Daddario went on to play professional football with both the Hartford Blues and the Providence Steamrollers. On the baseball diamond, Daddario played in the infield, and during his senior year, he had a batting average over .500. After his successful Cardinal sports career, Daddario entered the Secret Intelligence division of the military and served in Italy from 1943-1945. When he returned to the United States, he served as Middletown mayor from 1946-1948, a Municipal Court judge from 1948-1950, and a U.S. Representative from Connecticut's 1st congressional district from 1958-1970. From 1950-1952, he served as a Major in the Connecticut National Guard during the Korean War.

Wink Davenport was a prominent basketball player at Wesleyan. He lettered three times and served as team captain during his senior year. During his time as a Cardinal, he broke the record for points in a game with 44, as well as career scoring average with 19.6. He also lettered twice in golf. Davenport continued his sports career after Wesleyan, winning a gold medal with the USA Pan Am volleyball squad in 1967. He also played for the USA Olympic team in 1968, the USA World Cup squad in 1969, and captained the U.S. national championship club team in 1971. After his playing career, Davenport became a official, refereeing at the USA Cup, the World Junior Championships, the World Championships, the World Cup, and the Olympics.

During her time at Wesleyan, Knight was a member of both the cross-country and track teams, captaining both. She broke school records in the mile with a time of 5:07.3 and the 1500m with a time of 4:43. Since her time as a Cardinal, Knight has run over 40 marathons, with her best finish coming in the Boston Marathon in 1985 with a 17th-place finish among women. Knight also took part in two Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984 and 1988. Now, she annually runs in her two favorite races, the five-mile Backcountry Bushwhack in Greenwich, Conn. and the 5k Chilmark Road Race on Martha’s Vineyard. She currently holds the Connecticut record in the East Lyme Marathon and has represented Team Adidas in marathons around the world. Now, she teaches English at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Conn.

Appenteng started in every men’s soccer game during his four years at Wesleyan. During his senior year, he helped lead the team to an ECAC New England Division III title. He also received all-New England and All-American honors. In track, he ran the 440-yard dash and was part of the New England Division III champion mile relay in his senior year. Before Wesleyan, Appenteng was raised in Ghana and attended school in England. After Wesleyan, he went to Columbia Law School and then became a partner in the New York-based law firm of Thatcher, Proffitt and Word. He is a Wesleyan Trustee Emeritus and chaired the committee that recommended Michael Roth as president. The Wesleyan Alumni Association awarded Appenteng the Baldwin Medal for his service to both the University and to society.

The 1994 Cardinal baseball team was the first Wesleyan athletic squad to play in an NCAA Division III tournament. Led by head coach Peter Kostacopoulos, the team had a school-record 30-win season. The men qualified as the top seed and host of the New England regional, going 3-0 and earning a spot in the NCAA Division III World Series as the New England representative. The Cards won their first two games but lost to the defending national champions, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, in a winners'-bracket game. In their first elimination game, the Cards beat the University of California-San Diego before playing a rematch against Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The squad lost in the title game, 6-2. Some of the remarkable players included pitcher Craig Brewer ’94, who was named a second-team Division III All-American after posting a 12-0 record and a 2.06 ERA, and co-captain Mark Woodworth '94, the current Wesleyan head coach. Will Brandenburger '95 led the team with a batting average of .402.

These five members will be forever enshrined in the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame. The display is located in the Warren Street Lobby of the Freeman Athletic Center.

I am both saddened and hurt by your recent Wespeak. While I appreciate that you think you are looking out for the Wesleyan campus community (which I love by the way) and their health, you are wrong about two of your main points. First and foremost, as I stated in my original Wespeak, I do not, did not, and never have had the H1N1 virus. Secondly, even if I did have the swine flu, I would never try to infect others! In fact, you are next door, and did NOT ever get swine flu from me - you did acquire pneumonia, but that wasn't from me! I didn't have that either!

Unfortunately, you seem to have misunderstood my Wespeaks, and now, as a result of your advice, people have ceased to come within a 25-yard radius of me. My social life is really suffering from that, now. You can only make so many friends while shouting across a 25-yard divide. Please, Mr. Kaltsas, and also broader Wesleyan community, understand that I do NOT have the piggy flu, and that I am not a danger to infecting anyone. :-(

One Love,

Ben Carman

p.s. Dear Wesleyan. Christopher Kaltsas has SARS and wants to infect you. Watch out for this man!

Before I go any further, I will explain what the Stupak does. This Amendment disallows private insurance companies from offering abortion coverage to anyone who is part of the federal insurance exchange, even if a woman pays for private premiums. Up until the last minute, a compromise called the Capps Amendment had been agreed upon that would maintain the status quo on abortion; no federal funding (due to the Hyde Amendment of 1976 which forbids federal funding of abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the woman), but women would be able to use their own money to buy insurance that would cover them. Then before the final vote, anti-abortion representatives threatened to vote against health reform unless there were new restrictions placed on abortion rights. Insurance companies are allowed to offer a rider, which is a separate policy that covers only abortion, yet the cost of such a plan would end up being similar to the cost of an out of pocket abortion. The Stupak Amendment is the only part of the entire health care reform that tries to prevent insurance companies from covering a service they already cover.  Thus the Stupak Amendment oppresses all women, but especially women of lower economic standing.

I don’t want to get into an argument about the morality of abortion or whether or not you think your tax dollars should have to pay for an “elective procedure.” I want to draw attention to the fact that your representatives, many of whom have claimed to be pro-choice, have sold you out. Do not listen when they tell you we have won the war and this is only a battle. People will try to convince you that our representatives had to compromise in order to get everyone on board with health care reform. Look at what has been compromised: women! I am infuriated at the perpetual perception that women’s issues are not main issues, that other matters are more important. When will it be our time? When will women’s issues be valued? When do our rights come first?

Women, we comprise 50 % of the world. We are not peripheral. We are core. Make your voice be heard. Oh and to view a list of which democrats sold you out, go to: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/11/07/who-voted-take-away-your-basic-rights-tonight-the-64-dems-who-voted-yes-stupak.