1. business and industrial

THE PALESTINIAN
BARÇA ESCALATES
‘HOUSE OF CARDS:’
STRUGGLE VS. OUR
TO THE TOP AS
THE DIAMOND IN
CONVENIENCE
REAL FALLS
THE DECK
PAGE 10 - OPINIONS
PAGE 11 - SPORTS
PAGE 14 - SERIES REVIEW
MARCH 10, 2015
Vol.XLVII, No. 16
Mouse skin pinned
in Jafet, authorities
informed
Outrage and dissent erupt at
Nestlé gender balance lecture
Dana Kambris
Staff Writer
Shereen El Ladki
News Editor
On the eve of Nestlé’s
presentation about women leadership and gender balance, scheduled to
take place last Thursday in
West Hall, an AUB student
sent out a call for protest
via social media. Neil
Singh, a graduate public
health student, took to the
“AUB Feminist Forum”
Facebook group
The skin of a mouse was
pinned to Jafet Library’s
information board two
weeks ago, with the letters “animal rights my
ass” sprawled above it. Repulsed passersby sent pictures of it to their friends,
some posted it on the popular Facebook group “AUB
Guru,” and within hours
it seemed almost everyone
Continued on page 3
New African Club presents
exciting prospects
on campus was aware of
it. After being informed
about the pinned-up post
on the wall, business student Mohamad Ballout
took it down and disposed
of it, but not before people
had taken their fair share
of photographs.
“We told the staff in the
library what we saw, but I
don’t think they really understood us because it
Continued on page 3
Secular Club puts spotlight
on institutional corruption
Malak El Sabeh
Staff Writer
Continued on page 5
Dana Abed
Lifestyle Editor
Michelle Yazbeck
The African Club is the
latest cultural club in AUB
to make waves. A work in
progress since last fall, the
club is the first in the region to highlight the myriad of African cultures,
with all its diversity, in
both an educational and a
social way.
Vania Muriuki, president
of the newly formed club,
said that the club has three
main goals. The first of
which is to be the agent
of change by altering the
perspective the Lebanese
community has on African people. Secondly, to
help African
Members of the AUB
Secular Club roamed the
campus last Tuesday, apparently selling fake license plates and college
degrees. The latest endeavor in a series of successful events by the Secular Club, this amusing
skit was part of a full-day
event organized in collaboration with the NGO
Sakker el Dekkene. The
two joined forces at AUB
last week in an effort to
raise awareness about the
rampant institutional corruption in Lebanon.
Sakker el Dekkene
Continued on page 4
2
NEWS
MARCH 10, 2015
Netanyahu in Congress: the aftermath
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed
the US Congress in Washington last Tuesday. He beseeched the Americans not to go ahead with the “bad
deal” that President Obama is working on, along with the
UN Security council and Germany, in regards to Iran’s
nuclear program.
The mere occurrence of the speech was enough to stoke
international controversy. President Obama was not given
prior notice by the Speaker of the House, Republican John
Boehner, who had invited Netanyahu in the first place.
Obama refused to meet with Netanyahu during his visit
to Washington, claiming that it would be an interference
in the upcoming Israeli elections, as well as stating that
Netanyahu presented no “viable alternatives” to the proposed deal with Iran.
Netanyahu is re-running for office on March 17, and
many have viewed his speech to be some sort of “electioneering” through his appeals to impose fresh sanctions
on Iran. Over 50 Democrats boycotted the speech, after
Obama had slated it as “nothing new.”
The Israeli Prime Minister claimed that “this deal won’t
change Iran for the better, it will only change Iran for the
worse,” instead he foresaw the Middle East turning into
a nuclear arms race. Netanyahu argued that Iran could
produce nuclear weapons in a year or less, and eventually within weeks, if the deal goes through. Moreover, he
warned Congress that Iranian ballistic missiles would
eventually be able to deliver nuclear warheads to any part
of the United States.
“The Jerusalem Post” interviewed ex-Mossad chief Meir
Dagan, who stated that Netanyahu’s statements were a
“political speech that caused diplomatic and defense damage to Israel.” Dagan then stated that “it will take more
time than that,” referring to Netanyahu’s estimate on Iran
producing nuclear weapons in less than a year.
The alternative to the current deal the P5+1 (USA, Russia, UK, France, China, and Germany) are chiseling out
with Iran is not war, but a “much better deal” according to
Netanyahu. However, he does not elaborate on what this
better deal could be, but instead goes on to describe how
Iran is “gobbling up countries” and has a “voracious appetite for aggression”.
The Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 was signed
by the United States as well as Iran, but not by Israel. Netanyahu constantly reminded Congress on Tuesday of the
regional and international threat that Iranian nuclear warheads could pose to Israel and the USA. However, Netanyahu omitted the fact that Israel does possess nuclear arms
of its own, with estimates of potentially 100-200 warheads
according to armscontrol.org; only 25 short of the UK.
Towards the end of his speech, Netanyahu escalated his
tone and stated that “even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand.” What effect Netanyahu’s speech will have
on the ongoing negotiations is unclear, however its effect
on the partisan divide within US politics is one of greater
amplitude.
“The painful truth is that after the applause, Netanyahu
was left alone.” Stated opposition leader Isaac Herzog on
Wednesday. He stipulated that “Israel was left isolated.
And the negotiations with Iran will continue without any
Israeli involvement.”
He fears that the Israeli-American relations have been impaired as a result of Tuesday’s speech.
What is certain however, is that the battle of words is
not over. Obama and the Democrats will keep pushing for
improved relations with Iran, in hopes of succeeding in
doing so before Obama’s term ends in 2017. As the rift
between the White House and Congress widens, it could
turn out to be a bumpy two years for President Obama.
“Make this the year YOU discover a new destination.”
Banksy had previously described the West Bank as “the
ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers”
back in 2005.
One thing to keep in mind when interpreting his work
is the importance of its location—it is part of the piece
itself. In Gaza, he used destroyed homes and buildings as
his canvas, leaving his paintings in blatant contrast to the
debris surrounding them. He left behind four pieces, in
which he depicts real life for ordinary Palestinians.
The first is of a Greek goddess, channeling the form of
a famous sculpture, on a concrete slab that survived the
destruction of its building. The second depicts children
swinging from a watchtower, a brutal reminder of the
condition of Palestinian children. The third shows a white
kitten with a pink bow, playing with what seems to be a
ball of tangled wire, because according to Banksy’s website, “on the internet, people only look at pictures of kittens.”
Banksy concludes his documentary with a message, in
which he condemns the world’s idle stance and encourages people to take action: “If we wash our hands of the
conflict between the powerful and the powerless, we side
with the powerful—we don’t remain neutral.”
We hear about Gaza in the news, and we expect to see the
graphic, brutal images that we have grown accustomed to.
Enter Banksy, and Gaza becomes a canvas of lost dreams
and washed-out potential. His work has a way of awakening humanity and putting pity to sleep.
Banksy’s art has shaken the world, and he has the international community taking a long, hard look at Gaza
once again.
jpost.com
Ali Nasrallah
Staff Writer
Banksy returns to Gaza
Banksy first visited Palestine’s West Bank in 2005. He
produced a series of iconic pieces, including one of his
famous “rat-race rats,” captioned “We will return.”
Banksy kept his word. Roughly a decade since his first
visit, the world-famous invisible graffiti artists returned
for his first project of 2015. His goal? To shed light on
Israel’s 50-day military operation against Hamas in the
summer of 2014. The attack killed over 2,000 Palestinians
and injured an additional 3,000—most of them civilians
according to the United Nations—leaving Gaza in ruins.
Seventy-two Israelis also died in the operation, 67 of them
being soldiers.
Gaza is the world’s largest open-air prison. Banksy believes this description of Gaza is unfair to prisons saying:
“They [prisons] don’t have their electricity and drinking
water cut off randomly almost every day.” No one is allowed to enter, and no one is allowed to leave as Gaza is
surrounded by the “Apartheid Wall.” The vast wall is four
times as long and twice as high as the Berlin Wall, which
collapsed in 1989.
Banksy appears to have gotten to the West Bank via a
network of illegal tunnels from Egypt. The artist’s publicist, Jo Brooks, refused to disclose when the visit took
place. Some speculate it might have been around three
months ago, when a Western graffiti artist with a translator was spotted by locals. Banksy’s identity remains unknown—he is is everywhere but nowhere at once.
Regardless, Banksy’s undercover documentary was recently released on his website.
Taking on the format of a travel advert, it bears the title
btimes.co.uk
Tamara Jurdi
Staff Writer
NEWS
MARCH 10, 2015
3
Mouse skin pinned in Jafet, authorities informed
Continued from page 1
was so strange,” said a bystander. “We asked them to take
it down, and they didn’t take us seriously at first. We came
back an hour later and it was still up on the wall, so a student finally came to take it down, and he threw it away in
the garbage outside the library.”
Fine Arts major Zina Ibrahim, whose snapchat picture of
the mouse skin was originally posted on the “AUB Guru”
forum, said, “it was disgusting that the people working in
the library didn’t even take it down and left it for so long,
[before Mohamad] decided he would take it down and
throw it in the garbage outside.”
The skin is suspected to have been taken off of a mouse
by a student in the Cell Biology Lab. On the same day
as the incident, lab students were dissecting euthanized
mice. According to biology students, a brief introduction
was given to the class before any dissection took place.
These measures are put in place to inform everyone that
the animals are properly euthanized beforehand and are
considered hazardous material to be disposed of as such.
“I knew it was probably a mouse from one of the dissection lab sessions,” said Kinda Darwish, a fourth year
English Literature major. “But for someone to go through
the trouble of sneaking it out of their lab and skin it, just
so they can post it on a bulletin board for no logical reason
is disgusting. I think it’s inexcusable and these students
should be identified and forced to fail their lab for not
abiding by the protocol.”
As the post circulated on Facebook, several students
felt the act was disgusting enough to warrant university
disciplinary action. Many of them informed university
administrators and within the next few days, Dean of Student Affairs Talal Nizameddin was aware of the situation,
in addition to the concerned Biology professors and lab
instructors.
While many biology students say they know exactly who
pinned the animal’s skin to the information board, it is believed that none of them have disclosed the student’s name
to the university yet.
“I am currently coordinating with FAS to finalize who
will issue the disciplinary action,” Nizameddin told Outlook.
“Here, there is both a general violation, which I am responsible for, but there is also a violation for lab ethics and
protocol so it is also academic. I hope in the next week or
so we will have this issue finalized and those involved will
be dealt with accordingly.”
Outrage and dissent erupt at Nestlé gender balance lecture
Continued from page 1
encouraging students to join him and philosophy professor Arianne Shahvisi in confronting the company’s allegedly fake feminist claims. The issue quickly gained momentum, and students started stacking reasons to protest
Nestlé’s presence on campus.
“I just think it’s outrageous that AUB has asked Nestlé
to speak at an event promoting women, while there is a
very famous scandal whereby Nestlé has taken advantage
of women in developing countries…but there are other
issues as well,” Singh told Outlook. “Nestlé invests heavily
in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories.”
About 15 people participated in the “flash mob protest,”
with members of the Palestinian Cultural Club, Red Oak
Club, Women’s Rights Club, and African Culture Club
present. Just as Nestlé speaker Yasmine Barbir took the
stage in Auditorium A, the dispersed dissidents stood up
and followed art history student Natasha Gasparian’s lead.
“We are members of the AUB community,” she started
solemnly. “We object to Nestlé’s presence here on campus.
We object to corporate pseudo-feminism. We object to
exploiting women in the global south for profit,” Gasparia
continued with the others chanting after her. “We object
to Zionism, and to your factories on stolen lands. we object to the support of child slavery.”
Singh spoke next, accusing Nestlé of making women
in the global south dependent on baby powder, leading
to the “unnecessary death, malnutrition, and suffering
of millions of children and families in low and middleincome families.”
Professor Arianne Shahvisi then began chanting, with
the protesters repeating after here—“Zionism, out out
out! Corporatization, out out out! Misogyny, out out out!
Capitalism, out out out!”—only to be interrupted by Dr.
Maryam Ghandour, who escorted her outside the room.
“It makes me very proud to see so many of my own students so courageously standing up to the university and
defying its decision to offer a platform to Nestlé,” Shahvisi
told Outlook. “These actions are vital to ensuring that the
corporatization of AUB is resisted, and that the university
remains a place of intellectual debate in the service of a
grave moral responsibility as befits its reputation in the
region.”
While the demonstrators followed Dr. Ghandour to the
Student Affairs Office, the lecture resumed. Nestlé Lebanon’s General Business Manager Yasmine Barbir went on
about the importance of gender balance, and how Nestlé
sought to achieve this in its workplace.
The protest did not seem to faze the predominantly female audience, however, as students were lined up at the
end of the lecture, inquiring about internships and job opportunities.
One student who left the lecture early said that the protest
made her feel “uneasy,” since usually her “opinions would
be very much aligned with the protesters, and being there
[not as a protester] felt like a betrayal to the cause.” She
added that the lecture was a “waste of time, but the protest
was not really related to the subject of the lecture.”
Speaker Yasmine Barbir, an AUB alumna, was visibly displeased with the interruption. “We are a very transparent
and ethical company,” she explained. “How they behaved
was not appropriate, it was disrespectful both to us and
other attendees, but we are ready to hear their thoughts.”
She also said she believes the protesters have a lot of
misconceptions. “They are in an age where there is an
agitation of feelings, and a want to anchor their voice in
the world,” she continued. “But if they do their proper research without being biased to the media, which is always
known to attack and label companies as being capitalists and invading the world...they have to diversify their
sources, read everything and know the truth, because not
a single thing they said was correct, and we are ready to
clarify each point they made.”
“Every student has the full right to give their opinion,”
added Dr. Ghandour, director of career and placement
services. “But they cannot by any [means] interrupt an
activity, they can express their disapproval in different
ways….they could have staged a sit-in, for example,” she
continued. “I understand their point of view, but my duty
is to bring the best, prominent companies to AUB to recruit.”
In light of the corporation’s lecture last week, Singh
recently drafted and released an open letter, calling for the
university to end its ties with Nestlé and any of its subsidiaries. Beginning with social media platforms, he hopes to
continue to gain the support of more students and possibly even student clubs or societies, in order to put increasing pressure on the administration.
In his letter, Singh analyzes in-depth the various injustices reportedly committed by Nestle, writing: “We should
be ashamed that we at AUB have welcomed Nestlé with
open arms, not just today but for years now: Why did
AUB allow Nestlé to open a ‘Toll House’ coffee shop on
our campus? Why is AUB buying water from Sohat and
Pure Life, two of Nestlé’s subsidiaries?
“And why is AUB so lacking in self-respect that we are
asking Nestlé to preach to us about how to conduct business ethically and in a way that empowers women?” the
letter continues. “We don’t need any sermons from the
devil. That is why we, as anti-imperialists, object to Nestlé
being invited to speak in AUB.”
He goes on to explain that “when you work for Nestlé,
you are working toward child malnutrition in the global
south. And when you give Nestlé the chance to speak at
your country’s most prominent university, you are giving
a pro-Zionist organisation a chance to use a microphone.”
In the wake of the protest, one of the demonstrators said
that an agreement was reached with Dean of Student Affairs Talal Nizameddin. This agreement ensures that AUB
will start pursuing certain types of corporations, specifically local ones, and less international companies. “We’re
hoping, as a group, to achieve bigger things,” he added,
“such as addressing the issue of the Nestlé Toll House on
lower campus.”
4
NEWS
MARCH 10, 2015
Secular Club and
Sakker El Dekkene put
spotlight on institutional
corruption
Continued from page 1
describes itself as an organization “that aims to collect
data about the various forms
of corruption spread across
public administration in Lebanon.”
Their work is not only directed at the public, but also
at corporate executives. “This
data is then mirrored back to
the administration and the
public in order to raise awareness and engage both parties
in a transparent and constructive relationship.”
Their contribution to the
Secular Club’s event consisted
of two parts. Throughout the
day, Sakker El Dekene volunteers and Secular Club members approached West Hall
passersby, claiming to sell
government documents, such
as driver’s licenses that don’t
require official examinations.
The stunt quickly grabbed
people’s attention, shedding
light on the dismal state of affairs in Lebanon.
The second part of the
event was a lecture by the cofounder and current president
of Sakker El Dekkene, Rabih
el Shaer, who explained to a
crowd of approximately 60 attendees the story of the NGO’s
inception, as well as the methods adopted to achieve its
goals.
“It all started with a survey
to collect data about the Interior Security Forces (ISF),” El
Shaer said.
“We were surprised to find
out that 87% of the Lebanese
people don’t trust the ISF, although the ISF are supposed
to protect us and protect our
rights. If the ISF are not trustworthy, we can not have a
proper government.”
In light of these findings,
Shaer and a number of other
people such as Abdo Medlej
and Carol Alsharabati, decided to launch Sakker El Dekkene, in the hopes that a nongovernmental organization
can change the status quo, all
the while steering clear from
political affiliations.
“All governmental institutions are corrupted by political parties,” El Shaer explained.
“We decided to give the people a chance to report on corruption firsthand.”
In order to promote their
campaign, the NGO established a small shop, similar
to a ‘dekkene,’ in Gemmayze,
which appears to sell all kinds
of forfeited documents. Members of the NGO have also
regularly taken to the streets
of Lebanon with trolleys selling similar pretend items. Not
to mention the Sakker el Dekkene car, which moves from
one institution to another,
collecting data through surveys and other methods, as
well as helping promote the
campaign.
The NGO also launched
a website (Sakkera.com) and a
mobile application (Sakkera),
through which citizens can
report any corruption they
witness in public institutions.
With over 51 million social
media “impressions” (likes,
comments, shares, hashtags,
retweets), Sakker El Dekkene’s
campaign has gone viral.
“We are growing faster and
people have started coming
up to us and helping us with
our mission,” El Shaer said.
“We want to build a strong
base in order to create pressure for change. We are working on education and on cultural values […] it is going to
be a long term investment.”
El Shaer proceeded to invite
all AUB students to actively
participate in its campaign,
whether online or on the
ground, so as to make the experience as engaging as possible, and positively impact
Lebanese communities.
“Everyone has been a victim
of corruption at some point:
poisoned food, car accident,
medical error.
“We are both responsible
for and victims of corruption,
which is why we must report
it.”
Annual City Debates conference tackles
gentrification of Beirut
AUB Office of Communications
Beirut in times of peace has
been more disfigured than in
times of war, according to local activists who protest urban
development trends in the city,
said participants at an AUB
conference on urban planning,
policy, and design.
The theme of City Debates
2015—now in its 14th edition—
revolved around gentrification
as an aspect of urban change, attracting local and international
scholars who convened in AUB
for a three-day conference that
kicked off last Wednesday.
With the aim of highlighting the processes of urban and
social change associated with
gentrification and focusing on
Mediterranean and Middle
Eastern cities, the conference
was organized by the AUB Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Graduate Programs in
Urban Planning, Policy and Design, in collaboration with the
AUB Neighborhood Initiative.
“In recent years, global capital
flows, coupled with new building regulations that promote
higher built-up densities, have
tremendously valorized certain
parts of Beirut turning them
into massive destruction and
reconstruction sites,” said Mona
Khechen, senior lecturer at the
AUB Department of Landscape
Design and Ecosystem Management and co-organizer of the
event.
“In Ras Beirut’s case there is
the presence of intricate social
and spatial mobilities that are
not captured by western-centric
gentrification paradigms.”
Gentrification is a widespread,
controversial topic in urban
planning that leads to the displacement of the existing demographic of a region and refers to
the shifts in an urban community lifestyle and the increasing
occupation of wealthier residents, or businesses, amid increasing property values.
“These mobilities, in the case
of Ras Beirut, and their ensuing socio-spatial divisions and
inequalities, largely stem from
a country context fraught with
social insecurities and highly
susceptible to political manipulations and rivalries,” said
Khechen.
Marieke Krunen, a PhD student at the Department of Conflict and Development studies
at Ghent University, Belgium,
sketched the process driving
gentrification in Beirut by illustrating it with two case studies:
the Mar Mikhael quarter where
existing shops have been replaced by pubs, restaurants and
designer boutiques with older
buildings giving way to new
real estate projects; and Zokak
El Blat where new buildings are
replacing older ones but cultural
and commercial changes have
not materialized.
“These case studies point towards specific aspects of gentrification processes in Beirut,
such as the lenient legal framework afforded to developers
wishing to evict residents and
demolish their buildings,” said
Krunen.
“Other aspects include the Lebanese diaspora that is an investor in and buyer of real estate,
a major rent gap caused by rent
controls, the high exploitation
ratios and the role of conflict in
processes of displacement and
speculation.”
“These specifically Lebanese
aspects are not always covered
by gentrification theory produced in the West,” she added.
According to Krunen,
the case of Beirut also shows
just how much gentrification
processes can diverge within a
single city, with different networks of capital formation and
visions of the urban future reflecting Lebanon’s history of
confessional conflict.
“Notwithstanding Lebanese
specificities, the case studies
demonstrate that the driving
forces and results of gentrification in Beirut are the same as
elsewhere,” she said.
“The logic of the market is
to provide housing for the privileged, and lower-and-middleincome groups are displaced
and excluded from the city.”
Hisham Ashkar, architect, urban planner, cartographer and
investigative researcher, currently a PhD candidate in urbanism at HafenCity Universitat-Hamburg, Germany, talked
about the laws and regulations
that sustain and support gentrification, such as the Law of
Construction, Law on Antiquities and the Law on rent.
Ashkar argued that the 1992
rent law imposed rent controls
that pushed building owners to
sell their properties in search
of more lucrative investments.
This in turn contributed to gentrification.
More recently, the 2004 construction law allowed developers to exploit a plot by an extra 30 percent, and to raise the
height of buildings by an additional 25 percent, creating a
huge gap between old buildings
and new ones in a single day.
“Usually the developers in
Lebanon expect a 400 percent
profit margin and many abstain
from realizing a project if that
figure is not attained,” he said.
The result is high-end buildings
that are not accessible to the
middle class population, leading
to further gentrification.
NEWS
MARCH 10, 2015
5
New African Club presents exciting prospects
people in Lebanon, especially migrant workers. And finally, to ultimately help African people in their respective
countries.
This is to be accomplished through the many activities
that the club has in mind, including campaigns, debates
and lectures by prominent professors.
Movie screenings, dinners, concerts and dance lessons
are also few of the various fun activities that the club will
soon hold.
The club is also planning on collaborating with other
clubs such as the Book Club, and on organizing trips to
African countries.
The club isn’t strictly dedicated to the African community in AUB. On the contrary, it is open to everyone as it
is an introduction to different African countries and their
cultures.
Michelle Yazbeck, the vice president, said that no matter how well-informed one might be, African cultures are
very diverse, and one can never learn enough about the
beauty and depth of each culture.
The club presents itself as the key to what Africa is truly
about.
However, it isn’t all fun and games. The club aims to
target the widespread intrinsic racism and stereotypes in
Lebanon. Although racism is less prevalent in the AUB
community, some African people have had their fair share
of silly questions and comments on campus.
Hader Mousa, a cabinet member, claims that it’s part of
the ignorance that this society suffers from. Not so surprisingly, they all agree that it’s nothing compared to the
Michelle Yazbeck
Continued from page 1
unfair treatment off-campus.
Only recently, Hader, a Sudanese student, was called
“a’bde sawda” (black slave) when she was buying a movie
ticket. The president also mentioned that she’s had countless horrible experiences, especially in taxi rides where she
is almost always placed under the category of prostitute
and was once asked to go home with the driver to marry
him and cook for him.
“AUB has been and is a safe place for me. I have great
friends here. When I walk outside campus for a while and
come back, I breathe out,” says Vania.
“But even in this safe place, I experienced stereotypes
from students, faculty, and staff, and I’ve had several hurtful situations.
Over the past two years, I’ve learned to accept myself and
have tried to understand where the stereotypes come
from. This club is an attempt to reveal the truth about Africa and hopefully make a positive change in AUB, Lebanon and the region.”
The club has just gotten their foot in the door and their
activities will be up and running as soon as registration
ends. It has received great support from students and faculty members, who helped establish the club.
As the president said, the club has big dreams, and it
seems that they’re not farfetched and will be achieved
soon.
The African Club provides an opportunity to explore
magnificent cultures in the company of good people.
Registration through AUBsis is still available till the end
of this week, and the CRN is 50173.
Roni Rafeh
Staff Writer
Last Friday was a day of mourning for science fiction
fans, as it saw the passing of legendary actor Leonard Nimoy. The name may not ring a bell at first, but a quick
glance at his picture or some of his most famous quotes
will clearly bring to mind exactly who he was. Of course,
most people will recognize him by his most famous character, the iconic Spock.
Nimoy’s defining role was on the classic sci-fi show ‘Star
Trek,’ where he played the Vulcan known as Spock. This,
however, was not his only role as he appeared in other
productions, including the Star Trek movies, some of
which he even directed.
His talents comprised of far more than solely acting and
directing; he was also very fond of photography and was
also a dab hand at writing poetry. Nimoy wrote many poetry pieces, even publishing one only five days before his
death.
He tweeted a beautiful message on the day of his passing
that went as follows: “Life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.”
Not being satisfied with just writing poetry Nimoy also
published two autobiographies, the titles of which showed
his sense of humor. His first book was released in 1975
and was called “I Am Not Spock” while his second book
was released in 1995 and was titled “I Am Spock.”
Nimoy’s death affected innumerable people, since his
role as Spock defined not only one, but several generations. As such, memorials took place around the world,
most of which were Star Trek themed, amongst people of
different age groups and different ethnicities. Even Presi-
dent Barack Obama released a statement about the death
of Nimoy in which he was quoted as saying: “Long before
being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy.” He went
on to also say: “I loved Spock.”
The cyber world mourned greatly, as approximately one
thousand players of the online game “Star Trek Online”
gathered together in the game on Planet Vulcan (Nimoy’s
home planet on the show) to pay their final respects. This
may not seem like a big number, but anyone who has
played an online game knows how difficult it is to organize just a few dozen people let alone a thousand! This tribute emphasizes how well loved he truly was.
Many AUB students had things to say about the death
of the Vulcan. Elias Aboudi spoke of the fond memories
he had of Nimoy: “I was very sad to hear of his death, I
was not a fan of Star Trek at first, it was my dad who loved
the show. I started watching it with him when I was still
a child and quickly started loving the show where Spock
immediately became my favorite character. I still cherish
those moments in front of the television with my dad.”
Leonard Nimoy was extremely well known, even to
those who aren’t fans of Star Trek. Ebrahim Karam, cabinet member of the Cine Club, had this to say: “I never
watched the series but there was this Vulcan hand gesture
that kept showing in a lot of my childhood series like ‘Fillmore’ [and] ‘Boy Meets World.’ As a kid, I actually started
to practice the hand gesture. Now I can do it with both
hands.”
In “Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” with his last dying
breath he tells Captain Kirk: “I have been and always shall
be, your friend. Live long and prosper.”
By leaving us at the age of 83, we can safely say he lived
long and prospered; rest in peace, our dear friend.
deviantart.net
Leonard Nimoy reaches his final frontier
6
EDITORIAL
MARCH 10, 2015
Staff List
A FEMININE TOUCH
Talia Abbas
Editor-in-Chief
A tradition set in motion
by the United Nations
on March 1975 ,8, this
past Sunday celebrated
the annual International
Women’s Day.
The first International
Women’s Day actually took
place in Europe in 1911, and
what was expected to be a
one-off initiative expanded
to over a century’s worth of
celebrating the history of
powerful women making a
difference.
Following a tweet by
The Economist, women
make up the majority of
university students around
in the world. In line with
this statement, the AUB
Women’s
Rights
Club
collaborated with nearly a
dozen other NGOs and AUB
clubs such as Net Impact,
AUB Secular Club, AntiRacism Movement, Red
Oak Club, etc. to celebrate
International Women’s Day
tomorrow in front of West
Hall.
There are plenty of
empowering women who
have left their mark in
society. To name a few
Outlook celebrated: Marie
Curie (1906-1895), the
Polish/French Nobel Prizewinning physicist, Frida
Kahlo (1954-1907), the
Mexican (sur) realist and
modernist painter, Maya
Angelou (2014-1928), the
African American author
and civil rights activist,
DjamilaBouhired
(1935),
the Algerian nationalist who
opposed French colonial
rule and played her part
in fighting for national
independence, and Simone
de Beauvoir (1986-1908),
the fierce French feminist.
Lebanon too has nurtured
some of the world’s most
influential women, such
as Joumana Haddad, an
outspoken poet, journalist
and women’s rights activist.
Even Hind Hobeika, a recent
AUB graduate and creator
of Instabeat, has been
celebrated as an influential
women.
As
we
commemorate
history’s most distinguished
women,
feminism
is
inextricably
linked.
In
all fairness, the term
“feminism” carries with it
more negative than positive
connotations, despite the
constructive changes it has
brought about for women in
society. G.D. Anderson once
said: “Feminism isn’t about
making women stronger.
Women are already strong.
It’s about changing the way
the world perceives that
strength.”
If that’s the case, then what
is strength? Strength is the
unapologetic
fierceness
that these women embody.
Strength isstepping up to
the plate when others shy
away. Strength is the ability
to communicate and inspire.
The moral of the story
is that we all possess the
strength to leave a positive,
lasting impact. That impact
can be big or small, but what
matters is that we can do
whatever we set our minds
to. And I don’t know about
you, but that is something
worth celebrating.
Disclaimer
Contact us:
@OutlookAUB
@OutlookAUB
readoutlook@gmail.com
This comics section is the result of a workshop
offered by comics artist Barrack Rima at the
department of Architecture and Design, with
the support of the Mu’taz and Rada Sawwaf
Arabic Comics initiative.
Sara Kishly
Diana Itawi
Karol El Masri
Aya Krisht
Elia Tawil
Riham El Ghoseini
@outlookaub
01 350 000 (Ext: 3193)
A. U. SHI Comics
© Participants:
Staff Writers
Ali Kobeissi
Chairperson
Ali Nasrallah
Talal Nizameddin
Camille Mroue
Editor-in-Chief
Carole Hassan
Talia Abbas
Chermine Sleiman Haidar
Managing Editor
Christy Choueiri
Ellen Francis
Cynthia Saghir
Arabic Editor
Dana Kambris
Nizar Aouad
Fatima Kazma
Proofreader
Firas Haidar
Sarah Khalil
Imad El Hassan
News Editor
Jane Nasr
Shereen El Ladki
Jason Lemon
Business Editor
Karmah Chehaitly
Mohamad Saleh
Khaled Al Kurdi
Opinions Editor
Lama Miri
Azza El Masri
Lara Mekkawi
Arts and Culture Editor
Laura Al Bast
Vicken Margossian
Laudy Issa
Community Editor
Leen
Bou Nasser Eddine
Linda Bou Ali
Meer Rashid
Lifestyle Editor
Malak El Sabeh
Dana Abed
Mohamad Al Chamaa
Layout Editor
Nerses
Arslanian
Maha Haider
Noor Barrage
Copy Editor
Rayan Al Arab
Loulwa Sweid
Razan Mneimneh
Web Editor
Rifaat Fakih
Joy Waked
Roni Rafeh
Social Media Manager
Serine Haidar Ahmad
Hania Osta
Tala Ladki
Business Manager
Tamara Jurdi
Bassel Abdallah
Yara Beaini
Photography Editor
Yusra Bitar
Philippa Dahrouj
Ziad Lawen
@Outlook AUB
outlookaub.com
Outlook is a weekly publication of the American University of Beirut
(AUB) and represents the voice of the student body. It is an independent,
non-affiliated publication that favors no ethnic, religious or political
group. All columns, articles and reports are the property of Outlook
and do not necessarily represent the views of Outlook or the AUB
community. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way,
shape or form without the written consent of Outlook and/or higher
authorities. Outlook reserves the right to edit all material.
BUSINESS 7
MARCH 10, 2015
What I learned as an Intern at Wolff Olins
Asaad Jaber
Contributing Writer
task at hand. It’s important to know where to draw the line
at what’s “enough” and find satisfaction in that.
Think some of the world’s most recognizable brands.
Rethink them. Begin again. That is what Wolff Olins, the
great brand consultancy that you, like many others, have
probably never heard of, does for companies like Microsoft, GE, and USA Today.
When surrounded by great minds and immersed in
some of their best work, it’s easy to learn valuable things
that apply to life at broad. These are five life lessons I’ve
learned interning at Wolff Olins.
Keep it simple
Simple is straightforward. It’s easy to read. It’s easy to
grasp. That doesn’t mean that simplicity lacks depth or
complexity. It just means that you’re presenting the complexity of the subject with coherence and flow.
Diving into detail inspires you to greater realizations, but
make sure to surface before sharing what you know with
others. You’re hard to hear when you’re still underwater.
Promise what you know you can and not what you wish
you could
It’s tempting to take on more than you actually have
room for on your plate. Don’t.
By my first week at the office, I’d already promised everyone that I was going to make stuffed vine leaves for our
next lunch. My excessive kindness alerted a head strategist to the new people-pleaser in the room. She examined
me with an admiring glance reserved with pity, aware of
the outcome of my promise. “You don’t have to stuff vine
leaves if you don’t want to,” she said. I really didn’t. I don’t
know why I rushed to offer. But what I had to do was work
on a bunch of assignments.
I often budged into other interns’ business just to prove
I could do it all. Sometimes, I’d even lie about completing
work on an assignment to move on to something new. But
my desire to impress kept me from focusing on what I was
asked to do, and a burning sensation that my own responsibilities weren’t enough left me falling short.
Most of the time, “over-delivering” isn’t about taking on
more action. It’s about dedicating attention and care to the
Choose something you like and think you’re good at,
and give it your all
In an intimate conversation with the three strategy interns from my university, a visiting senior executive was
gracious enough to share her journey up the ranks in the
company and to ask about our own backgrounds as well.
My turn came up, and I told her how I switched majors
three times in my first week of college, then once again
after “deciding” on one of them. Her response was entirely candid and enlightening. “Does that make you wellrounded or confused?” she asked.
Although her question flustered me at the time, it forced
me to reevaluate the way I understood my own choices. I
always felt that a skill set in a broad range of fields would
set me apart from others. But most of the times, branching out into various areas left me lagging in exhaustion.
Frances Frei, best-selling author and professor at Harvard Business School, says that an “emotional barrier”
keeps businesses from excelling in a certain field. This
reasoning applies to corporations as much as it does to
people.
As long as you feel guilty about giving up an alternative,
you can’t give anything the focus needed for success. Surrendering to a single path takes courage in a world where
trade-offs are indispensable to success.
“Align your personality with your purpose”
In a talk at the Stanford Graduate School of Business,
Oprah Winfrey offered her two-cents on successful living:
“Align your personality with your purpose, and no one
can touch you.”
The Wolff Olins approach places the purpose of a brand
at the heart of its entire expression from image to impact.
Brands that act from a clear purpose are the ones that deliver the strongest impact in real time.
In the same way, we can let our own actions be driven by
a clear inner purpose: one that isn’t bound by obligation
to a “predetermined” path, but available as steady ground
for any action you wish to pursue.
The importance of intent
Karl Heiselman, the former CEO of Wolff Olins and
Senior Marketing Director at Apple Inc., wrote about the
best advice he received as part of LinkedIn’s “Best Advice”
series. His story was about a visiting professor at his college who asked the students in class to take a little time
off and write what a day in their lives would look like ten
years into the future. Karl talked about how this experience helped him redefine his path and evolve in his career.
At the core of its business, a brand consultancy is all
about intent. Strategists articulate the purpose and vision
of a brand that become guideposts for the “user experience” it delivers.
If you can start with something as simple as an intention,
it will inform your actions and set your life on a path that
is consistently satisfying at more points along the way.
Beirut Beer takes a jab at Almaza
In July 2014, Kassatly Chtaura launched a new beer into
the Lebanese market: Beirut Beer. Kassatly started producing drinks and jams in 1919 and is now well-known
for its non-alcoholic drinks, vodka mixes, and Chateau Ka
wines.
The president of Kassatly had the idea of opening a beer
factory in 2005, and a few years later, they worked with
one of the biggest beer producers in Germany to produce
what is now called Beirut Beer.
Soon after the production of this beer, their ads started
propagating on Lebanese TV stations, billboards, social
media, and radios.
The company first released its ad “to the restaurant” that
is set on a beach filled with attractive women. A regular
joe walks by unnoticed, but after drinking some Beirut
Beer, he is able to answer a girl on how to get to a certain
restaurant in Spanish which impresses her and attracts
the attention of other girls sitting on the bar next to him.
The ad emphasizes the whole idea of being confident and
showcasing your true capabilities.
At the end, the guy is seen talking in chinese to a girl
on the phone. The ad agency “Operation Unicorn,” a new
and upcoming agency in Lebanon, is behind this humorous ad. They have worked with Kassatly before on different ads for products such as BUZZ and Chateau Ka.
The agency released another ad for Beirut Beer revolving
around another average joe at a concert.
After drinking the beer, he is invited to rock out on stage
vimeocdn.com
Tala Ladki
Staff Writer
with the band, which enables him to showcase his music capabilities. Clearly, the beer is targeting the average
lebanese guy and the whole essence of the brand revolves
around confidence and uniqueness.
Although, all of these ads seem interesting, fun and entertaining at first, they become boring when repeated as
much as they are on Lebanese TVs.
The idea behind them seem a little bit overdone.
However, Beirut Beer recently released a new ad called
“Shou Kel Youm Moujadarra?” (Are we having Moujadarra every day?) The ad starts off with a young boy who
loves eating Moujaddara because it’s the food his mother
knows how to cook really well.
We see him grow up, and still eat Moujaddara, until one
day, he is invited over to a friend’s house. There, he tries
something new and suddenly, it’s as if he was reborn. He’s
then seen sipping Beirut Beer with his friends.
The whole point of this ad is to encourage people to
“try something new” i.e. to try Beirut Beer, because it’s
relatively new as opposed to its main competitor ‘Almaza’
which has been around since the 1960’s. This ad is clever
because it utilizes comparative advertising without being
too blunt or tacky.
We really enjoyed this indirect message: Mujaddara
(Almaza) is good but aren’t we tired of eating it every day?
Maybe we should try something new (Beirut Beer). The
ad, unlike the two previous, feels truly unique.
Altogether, all the launch of the new product seems
promising and we are very eager to see how Beirut Beer is
going to perform in the market.
8
BUSINESS
MARCH 10, 2015
AIESEC ‘Youth to Business Forum’ restores hope in Lebanese
entrepreneurship
LAU’s lower campus was bustling with students Saturday
as AIESEC hosted an entrepreneurship and innovation
convention, called “Lebanon Youth to Business Forum,”
or Y2B. The forum, according to the club’s president Mark
Aghajanian, sought to convince the Lebanese youth not
to leave their country, since “nothing is truly lost, there
is always something to fight for [...] great things can be
achieved through dedication and hard work.”
About 150 students, some of them budding entrepreneurs, from 14 different universities attended the all-day
event, each with very different aspirations and expectations.
“I’m here more for the networking aspect for it, since
I’m opening a coding school called Le Wagon,” said NDU
student Malek Houri. On the other hand, AUB business
student Lynn Itani wished to explore the entrepreneurship
sphere, as she is very indecisive about her future.
After an opening speech by LAU’s Dean of the School
of Business, the first keynote speaker, Yasser Akkaoui,
took the stage. Akkaoui, a prominent entrepreneur in the
Middle East and a reference for corporate governance in
the region, encouraged the young audience to “embrace
change and innovation” in their future endeavors, especially since the business world is currently witnessing
deep transformations.
He also reassured students that “failure is not the end of
the world” because if “at the end of the day you find that
you made 51 decisions and 49 bad ones, you will be fine.”
The most inspirational speaker, however, was Samer
Karam, a person who contributed greatly to the creation
Outlook/ Dana Kambris
Dana Kambris
Staff Writer
of an “ecosystem for start-ups” in Lebanon in the past five
years. Karam, who helped create a multitude of Lebanese
start-ups and programs to help start-ups, wants the Lebanese youth to “look at entrepreneurship as an opportunity
to create your own path in Lebanon.” He said that it will
not be easy as “you will lose a lot of hair and a lot of sleep,”
but as long as “you go with your gut feeling and keep moving forward,” great things can be done.
A panel discussion followed, where representatives from
accomplished Lebanese start-ups such as Anghami, Zoomal, Etobb, and other institutions such as Berytech and
Uber, tried to shed light on the difference between the
corporate world and the entrepreneurial one, arguing in
favor of the start-up world in Lebanon.
“This is exactly where you should be,” said Tamara
Zakharia, AUB alumnus and Head of Strategic Partnerships at Zoomal. The panel speakers agreed that there
is much room for growth in Lebanon’s information and
communications (ICT) market, and young entrepreneurs
can benefit from the many start-up support programs of-
fered by the Central Bank, start-up accelerator Seeqnce
and Berytech to grasp this opportunity. Ideas, they said,
are not worth much without having the right team to execute them, claiming that Lebanon is a pool of diversely
experienced people.
“Pressure leads to innovation,” added Zakharia, explaining how the pressure the Lebanese population is constantly subject to can be used to their advantage.
The forum ended with a series of workshops offered
by Microsoft, Anghami, Zoomal, Bader, and Middle East
Venture Partners, where students learned about the basics
of technological innovation, entrepreneurship strategies,
crowdfunding, and financing through venture capitals.
“The panel discussion was much more interesting than
the Anghami workshop we just attended,” said LAU students Isaac Bahsoun and Tala Zein. “It was really motivational whereas the workshop was more informative.”
When asked whether the forum encouraged them to create their own start-up, they replied, “It is an option now.”
OPINIONS
MARCH 10, 2015
Murr Television, or MTV
Lebanon, is sometimes seen
as a stage for freedom of expression and professional programs. It also views itself as to
have “led the way in terms of
its adoption of self-regulation
and a clear code of ethics,” according to its website.
But this self-regulation and
ethics come with the cost of
depicting the criminal Zionist
occupiers as alleged victims,
and demeaning the countless
martyrs that fought their oppression.
MTV constantly violates
Lebanese law in its acknowledgement of the Zionist occupation as being a sovereign
state, as well as directly contacting Zionist officials.
Whether MTV’s actions are
intentional sensitization of
the Lebanese viewer to Israeli
occupation of Palestine, or
merely endless “typos” in its
news broadcasts is something
of a no-brainer,
MTV do not need to further
proof-read their broadcasts.
MTV’s actions are infringements of two Lebanese laws:
the 1943 Lebanese Criminal code, which forbids any
form of interaction with
enemy states, and the 1955
Lebanese Boycott Law, which
specifically states that interaction with Israel is illegal. Not
only that, but Lebanon is also
one of the 32 countries in the
world which do not formally
recognize Israel as a nationstate.
One of MTV’s most insolent
infractions of Lebanese law
was their attempt to interview
Ofir Gendelman, the official
spokesperson of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back in 2012.
Numerous Lebanese news
agencies and popular blogs
have condemned MTV for its
actions; al-Akhbar newspaper
conducted an interview with
Hasan Jouni, a professor of
law at the Lebanese University, who stated that “If MTV’s
own employee conducted
the interview with the Israeli
[spokesperson],
then the station can be prosecuted.” However, the law has
yet to be applied on MTV.
The event which exposed
MTV’s stance was its reported
distortion of the 2014 Israeli
terrorization of Gaza and labelling it as “The war on Israel.”
Perhaps we failed to see how
the thousands of dislodged
Palestinian women and children were an existential threat
to the Israeli occupation.
The repulsion that once accompanied any mention of Israel is no more; it’s as though
being anti-Zionist has become an opinion in Lebanon
rather than a national stance
as television channels like
MTV seemingly act as their
national spokespeople.
The channel has yet to
broadcast news in Hebrew,
however.
More than 20,000 destroyed
homes,
2,200 lost civilian lives, and
over half a million displaced
innocents were so apparently
insignificant to MTV.
The matter is not merely one
of legal persecution, nor a political stance, but a vital case
of humanity and moral values, both of which MTV fails
to demonstrate in this case
and many others.
Israel has committed atrocities against Lebanon and the
Arabs and still does to this
day.
Any form of acknowledgement would be an insult and a
betrayal to the countless martyrs who sacrificed their lives
to liberate Lebanese and Arab
land from the Zionist occupation.
The Lebanese judiciary
needs to put an end to MTV’s
habit.
Since loopholes apparently
exist in the Boycott Law, the
law must be rewritten. The
political cover that MTV enjoys may protect it from the
law for now, but the public
should not tolerate it much
longer.
secular club
Ali Nasrallah
Staff Writer
In the aftermath of ‘The Dress’
cosmopolitan.com
Is MTV above Lebanese
law?
9
Tala Ladki
Staff Writer
There’s nothing more surprising than waking up, checking
your social media, and finding
that the Internet went crazy
overnight.
That was the case when Lebanon awoke on the morning of
Friday, February 27, with the
hashtag #TheDress running
rampant on all social media
platforms accompanied by pictures of a seemingly innocuous
black and blue dress.
I usually find useless hashtags
amusing, and while I enjoyed
seeing what my friends thought
about the dress for the first few
hours of the day, it soon became
a drag.
At first, I was confused. Was
there some kind of inside joke
between the Lebanese that I had
missed while asleep? (Don’t the
Lebanese sleep, anyway?) Then,
upon scrolling some more down
my Instagram feed, I saw that
American comedian Ellen DeGeneres had also posted the
picture of the dress.
At this point, my curiosity
turned into intrigue. What is
this dress? I went on Facebook,
and saw more posts.
I also found an article about it
written in Forbes, and then I got
the picture.
On the day of her daughter’s
wedding, a mother sent the
image to her daughter asking
her how she looks in the dress.
The daughter and the husband
disagreed about the color of
the dress, and sent it to friends
to settle the argument but the
friends couldn’t agree either.
And so, a new internet phenomenon was born.
This matter caught the attention
of many professors at different
universities who immediately
started analyzing why different
people perceive the colors differently.
Why is it, though, that this became such a big deal?
It’s only a dress after all. With
social media being so open and
accessible, the picture went viral
in no time and the controversy
that started among friends and
family soon spread around the
world.
This pandemic of being/producing/sharing “The Next Big
Thing” is contagious, and people are acting in stupid ways for
their 15 minutes of fame.
Acts like these have more momentum than a cruel reality,
that sees a world where there
the exploitation, kidnapping,
hurting and killing of different groups of people remain
hidden, and do not solicit the
necessary condemnation it de-
mands. It is unacceptable when
there are children every day dying of numerous causes—from
destitution, neglect, or conflict—and yet the world remains
largely silent.
“The Dress” is only one of millions of examples that become
serious subjects of debate on social media.
Concurrently with ‘The Dress,’
Twitter was flooded with tweets
about two llamas that escaped
somewhere in Arizona.
The hashtag for this very insightful and controversial issue
was #llamadrama.
Before that, it was #AlexfromTarget. It’s not only Twitter:
blogs and news outlets join in
on the debates as well.
Although these trends are at
times exactly the sort of respite that we need as a country
plagued by an unstable region,
the truth still remains that people would rather look at a video
of a baby and a cat playing or
debating over whether a dress
is black and blue or white and
gold. Maybe it’s a good thing, a
way to blow off steam and have
a good laugh, but let’s give the
more important issues, the issues that affect us and our society, more significance. Wake
up to the reality we’re in, or else
reality will creep up on us when
we least expect it.
10
OPINIONS
MARCH 10, 2015
The future of Lebanon is not in Lebanon
Deporting locals from their homeland is illegal. Exiling locals with no criminal record is also illegal. Unfortunately, we live in a country where almost nothing is illegal.
While Lebanon neither deports nor exiles locals explicitly, it does indirectly kick a lot of Lebanese out of the country. Fresh university graduates, on average, have a starting salary of roughly $1000 a month here—a lackluster
number considering how expensive the tuition at private
educational institutions is. And that’s for the graduates
who actually find jobs. Many end up unemployed on their
parents’ couch for many months, for lack of opportunity
and the abundance of unemployment. So students, naturally, decide or are forced to leave and seek careers abroad.
This depletes Lebanon of its scarcest and most valuable
resource: educated human capital. The future generation,
in which Lebanon has hope and faith in, can do nothing in
the country because the country offers nothing in terms of
opportunities and quality of life.
In a survey of AUB students, the results were both expected and shocking. Less than 22 percent of students (expected to graduate in the next three years) are looking to
stay in the country. 42 percent are leaving to do their masters abroad, while 36 percent are off to start their careers
somewhere else. That translates to over three quarters of
arabianbusiness.com
Tamara Jurdi
Staff Writer
AUB graduates likely to leave—devastating numbers for
the economy. The survey also tested their optimism about
a possible professional future here—64 percent had a generally pessimistic view. Those who do stay, however, are
starting their own businesses and ventures—some out
of entrepreneurial passion, but most out of sheer necessity. Lebanon isn’t an easy country to start a business in,
though. According to Trader Economics, the ‘ease of
doing business’ index ranks Lebanon at 111. The index
ranges from 1 to 181, with a measure of 1 considered to
have the most business-friendly regulations. Shameful.
Lebanon imports around three times more than it ex-
ports, in terms of products and services. In terms of brains
and talent, the Lebanese export a lot more. The Lebanese
diaspora is estimated at 12 to 14 million, more than three
times the local population.
The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies forecast that, if
the economy was to retain its graduates, it must generate
23,000 new jobs per year. It has been generating 3,000.
Lebanon is a country in dire need of reform and change.
The prospect of that happening isn not promising—with
students taking a degree in one hand and a plane ticket
in the other. Where the future of Lebanon lies is still unknown, but it’s certainly not in Lebanon.
The fate of the Palestinian struggle vs. our convenience
Joumana Talhouk
Contributing Writer
During Israeli Apartheid Week, which began on February 23 in the UK and will continue into late March in
other cities around the world, there have been a myriad of
international events and campaigns to shed light on the
Israeli occupation of Palestine. Across the US, lectures,
debates, and film screenings are being held until March
12 on different university campuses and in cultural hubs.
In Europe, some organizers have even struggled against
attempts to suppress the movement.
Meanwhile, what have we done here? A screening of Occupation 101 by the Secular Club, and a protest against the
Nestle presentation by a group of students.
Where are we in the struggle for liberation and how have
we served the Palestinian cause? We are nowhere, and we
have not.
Arab nations in general, historically and currently, have
been either absent or incompetent—or both—in the fight
against Zionism and for Palestine. Today, given the situation in the region following the Arab Spring, I would say
that there is no hope in armed resistance against the occupying forces.
So what can we do? As most Arab countries (if not all)
are only shells of states, participating in the struggle can
only happen at the level of the individual and/or community.
Non-violent struggle has been more effective than
armed resistance in turning global opinion against the
state of Israel, and although it seems like a very long-term
solution, it has so far proven to be realistically the best—if
not the only—hope in eliciting change in Palestine. As reported by Richard Falks, professor of International Law at
Princeton, Israel receives as much foreign economic assistance as all the countries combined in the world. This reality prospectively makes BDS a very powerful movement.
In 2005, Palestinian civil society launched the Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls
for campaigns against Israel for as long as it breaks international law and deprives Palestinians of their rights.
The movement endorses various forms of boycott, calls
on funders to withdraw their investments from corporations supporting Israel financially or otherwise, and tries
to influence governments to pass sanctions against Israel
thereby ending their own complicity in its crimes.
As individuals, we can each support BDS by participating in consumer boycotts. Granted that it’s impossible to
boycott everything produced by Israel or companies assisting it, consumer boycotts are usually targeted and not
comprehensive. BDS launches campaigns in different
parts of the world strategically, and for boycotting to be
effective, people should be up-to-date on BDS’s current
bearing and act accordingly.
Some of the companies most well known for being guilty
of participation in Israeli apartheid are Hewlett-Packard,
Intel, Nestle, Victoria’s Secret, Caterpillar, and Hyundai,
among others. It’s nearly impossible to boycott Nestle or
Intel as they have almost monopolized their respective
sectors. What we can do, however, is avoid buying an HP
if possible, wear a bra that’s not Victoria’s Secret (or not
wear one at all), buy a Honda instead of a Hyundai; just be
aware of what we are buying and the company’s orientation.
Do boycotts work? Yes. Collective boycott succeeds. Simple laws of economics: less demand, less profit. According
to the official BDS website, boycotts after the Gaza massacre resulted in a drop in demand for one fifth of Israeli
exporters in 2009. With the growth of the BDS movement,
particularly after last summer’s attack on Gaza, the ratio
has probably increased. Another dimension to boycotts is
their imperative role in raising awareness and fighting the
normalization of Israeli apartheid.
Ultimately, where something can be done, something
should be done. Participating in boycotts and supporting
BDS campaigns is a small but significant contribution to
the movement, and it’s the least anyone can do. The flash
mob at the Nestle presentation seems to be growing into a
real movement demanding that AUB boycotts and divests
from the company—a strong starting point for AUB students to get involved.
Ignorance and apathy fuel injustice. If we really care,
we start by educating ourselves, fighting our own ignorance and hypocrisy; learning about the struggle and its
current forms, how BDS achieved success in the past and
how much that can affect realities on the ground. Even if
they only extend to our immediate surroundings, we can
change principles from mere labels to tangible actions.
Individual action can turn into collective action, and realizing that can take us a long way in the fight for freedom.
QUESTION THE BOX
How often do you do things without knowing
you’re doing them? How often do you things
without knowing why?
COMMUNITY
MARCH 10, 2015
11
Vicken Margossian
Arts and Culture Editor
As a writer for Outlook and an English Literature major,
one of my wildest fantasies would be to publish a book,
possibly more, one day. So, when I met the wonderful
Arminée Choukassizian, I couldn’t help but notice the
similarities between myself and the published author, and
how much that warmed my heart.
An Iraqi-born Lebanese Armenian, Arminée H. Choukassizian’s name was all over the pages of our humble college newspaper back in the 1964-65 academic year. She
acted as a features’ editor, publishing several noteworthy
pieces that went as far as being featured in other outlets,
including her new book “Memories and Cities.”
A holder of master’s degree in Philosophy in Anglo-Irish
Literature from Queen Mary College, University of London, Choukassizian was also the first Lebanese woman to
graduate from AUB with an MA in English Literature. “It
was very important for me. This was a time when women
weren’t appreciated as much internationally—they still
aren’t. It meant everything to me to be able to achieve
that,” she commented.
An accomplished musician, Choukassizian is an avid
and expert piano player who has been taught by internationally-recognized pianists including Gerlint Bottcher.
She participated in multiple concerts at AUB, including
the largely successful “Chopin and Liszt” piano concert
organized by the AUB Music Club this past December,
and the centennial of Salvador Arnita on 4 March 2015
when she played a prelude by Arnita.
Having previously published several essays and articles,
her venture into the world of publishing a book proved
fruitful with the release of her poetry book “Memories
and Cities” on 30 January 2015.
With a striking green cover—her favorite colour—the
bilingual poetry book is divided into four parts: a section
of English poems, a section of French poems, a section is
titled after different instruments that Choukassizian refers
to as “the strings of the heart,” and a section of pictures
and photographs from different places she has visited.
When asked, she described her book as a timeline of her
life. “I’m quite unorganized,” she said. “So, this book is like
an intimate invitation to the reader into my life—what I
could recollect of it. It traces my life from my childhood
to the time I was in college to my life now and, of course,
my love for music.”
The poems cover a variety of topics such as the ups and
downs of life, dreams, and adolescence. In “Tell Me,” for
instance, Choukassizian invites the reader to let loose and
embrace the limitlessness of fantasy and dreaming big. In
“The Guitar,” she explores the melodic beauty of the instrument and the impact it leaves on the listener.
Feeling; that’s another important subject matter for
Choukassizian. The author believes that words on a page
are a manifestation of that which impacts us personally,
and therein lies the inspiration for her poetry book. The
intricacies of the ruins of Petra, the mesmerising city of
Berlin, the London Ritz, and so on, these are just examples
of the different muses the AUB alumna was affected by
and documented.
Choukassizian recalls her days as a little girl when she
would look up the synonyms of different words she came
across while reading. “My parents felt like I wasn’t spending enough time with peers my own age, so I’d wait for
them to leave the house to sneak out the book they’d hidden from me and read it. My love for words is endless. It
has always been so.” When asked what advice she could offer AUBites, she emphasized the need to learn new words
every day. She voiced her opinion about how words are the
windows to our souls and that it is only through them that
people can truly express themselves.
Her favourite authors include La Fontaine and Molière
whose wit she admires. She also loves the works of Charles
Dickens and D. H. Lawrence.
A huge fan of Ameen Rihani, Choukassizian was honored to be featured in al-Kulliyah, the magazine of the
AUB Alumni Association, where she first published an
article comparing Rihani’s “The Book of Khalid” with
Thomas Carlyle’s “Sartor Resartus” and then see the same
article once again featured in the collection of essays published on the occasion of the centennial of the release of
“The Book of Khalid.”
She says she loves Outlook and tries to obtain every issue published and then regularly gives away copies of the
newspaper to some of her friends. “It’s fulfilling to be able
to return to Outlook after so many years.”
At the beginning of this article, when I mentioned that
meeting Choukassizian warmed my heart, it was mainly
because she is one of us, and that, above all else, gives us
Lorientlejour.com
‘Memories and Cities:’ an invitation into AUB alumna Arminée
Choukassizian’s abundant life
hope. With a successful career in music and writing in her
repertoire, Choukassizian’s next career move is to translate her book of poems into other languages, especially
Arabic, write more short stories and then publish a collection, and maybe return to her Armenian roots and explore that in her writing. Wherever she heads, it is clear
that Choukassizian’s is a fire that won’t be put out any time
soon.
Gamification: a classroom innovation
Noor Barrage
Staff Writer
Gamification is “the concept of applying game mechanics
and game design techniques to engage and motivate people to achieve their goals,” according to badgeville.com;
the sponsors of gamification.
The concept of gamification is new in the educational
context, and is likely to be unfamiliar among many current university students. An English Literature professor
at AUB, Jasmina Najjar is an advocate of gamification in
higher education, and is currently implementing gamification into her classes here at AUB (ENGL 215, ENGL
206 and ??).
Najjar expressed her concern about a false image people
might carry regarding gamification. She emphasized that
gamification does not mean that we sit and play games in
class, rather it takes “game mechanics and puts them into
a non-game context.” Therefore, in order to be effective,
gamification must be aligned with the course objectives,
hence these games must reflect what is occurring in class.
Najjar highlights the many benefits of using gamification
in higher education: it motivates students to get involved
in their own learning; increases interaction among peers
through the use of game mechanics (such as friendly competitive incentive, point system, battles, etc); and provides
an enjoyable learning atmosphere.
Although gamification may come across as a new phenomenon, it has surprisingly been around since Ancient
Greece, but has recently resurfaced as the newest trend,
according to Najjar.
Gamification existed before but no one was really tapping into its potential until very recently. Therefore, although it is not a new phenomenon, it is indeed new in
education.
It is easy to see how gamification can be applied to English Literature courses; for instance, students can be split
into groups and asked different questions with regard to
a text they are studying, and the group with the most insightful response “wins the battle!” Moreover, gamification can also be applied to courses that are less flexible,
such as the sciences or mathematics.
For according to Najjar, “there are definitely other ways
to make subjects that are less flexible use gamification.”
Gamification can be used in all courses, ranging from
more flexible courses, such as those in English Literature,
to less flexible ones, such as mathematics or sciences.
However, it is up to the professor to implement gamification into the course.
Najjar mentioned that, although gamification does indeed
take time to prepare, it requires creativity on behalf of the
professor, as well as additional time to create battles and
other activities. It is most definitely worth utilizing in
courses as it improves student interaction, creates a fun
yet productive learning environment, and allows students
to take their learning into their own hands and learn from
one another.
12
SPORTS
MARCH 10, 2015
Tempers flare between
Lebanese basketball teams
Sagesse and Riyadi
Rifaat Fakih & Dana Abed
Staff Writer & Lifestyle Editor
Sportsmanship should not be
rare, but it would appear to be
for Lebanese basketball teams.
The Riyadi Stadium went
from basketball court to wrestling ring in no time when the
night’s main event turned into
a brawl between Riyadi player
Ali Mahmoud and Sagesse
player Terrell Stoglin, on Sunday March 1st.
The fight reached a whole
new level when the home fans
invaded the court, fighting
aside their favorite players.
The two players shoved each
other before exchanging a few
brutal punches.
Even though the fight broke
out 40 seconds before the final
whistle, Sagesse players refused to continue playing and
forfeited the game, awarding
Riyadi a 20-0 win.
The battle was overheard by
an education major at AUB
who lives close to Manara, who
prefers to remain anonymous.
In an interview with Outlook,
they said: “I heard screaming
and shouting from the balcony
of my house and I asked mom
if there are people shooting or
something.”
Sagesse and Riyadi have been
known to be hot-headed during their games, as this was
not the first time tempers
flared between the two during
matches.
This scandal brings back to
memory last year’s Game 4 of
the final series between both
sides at Ghazir.
A fight broke out between
American players Dewarick
Spencer and Loren Woods,
causing a similar intervention
from the crowd.
Following the horrific scenes
of the Beirut Basketball derby,
Sagesse
Secretary-General
Joseph Abdel-Massih said,
“Fights between players are
common worldwide.” Sadly,
this is true.
The NBA witnessed a couple
of dirty fights lately, but none
of those caused the suspension
of a game or the intervention
of passionate fans.
One of these fights involved
the highly-rated Houston
shooting guard, James Harden
and the two-time Clevelandnative NBA champion, LeBron
James. After fighting for the
ball for a few seconds, Harden
kicked James below the belt,
which resulted in his suspension for the rest of the game
and the following one.
An even harsher clash exploded in the sultry Miami,
where former Mouttahed
player, Hassan Whiteside tackled Suns player Len and the
two shared a beating that went
back and forth.
Both players were expelled
from the game.
The on-and-off debacle between the two Lebanese clans,
has unfortunately (and perhaps unsurprisingly) political
roots. Riyadi’s side is supported by Hariri, thus the Sunnis
are directly affiliated with it.
As for Sagesse’s supporters,
they are the followers of the
Lebanese forces, a party led by
Samir Geagea.
Other Lebanese teams are as
well linked to politics, a fact
that pushed FIBA, The International Basketball Federation
(French: Fédération Internationale de Basketball) to suspend the Lebanese National
Team from participating in
any international tournament,
as from July 2013.
The suspension caused the
Lebanese National Team to
miss their chance in qualifying to the 2014 FIBA world
basketball cup, since they were
not allowed to play in the 2013
FIBA Asia cup. Another Lebanese failure to launch attributed directly to politics.
To turn the frowns upside
down, here’s a fun fact: The first
time Basketball was played in
Lebanon was in the mid-1920s
at the American University of
Beirut. Way to go AUB!
CL Second leg of the round of 16: No
signs of disappointment on the horizon
Joseph Habib
Contributing Writer
The first leg of the Champion’s
League round of 16 was entertaining, to say the least. As the
second legs kicks off Tuesday,
it is safe to assume that we will
not encounter disappointments
and the games will hide a surprise or two for loyal fans. Here
are some predictions for the
upcoming days:
Schalke FC 04 plays at Real
Madrid (0-2): Stick a skewer in
this one, she’s all but over. The
Royals, defending Champions
of Europe, going home with
two away goals is insurmountable. Real Madrid will not have
mercy over Schalke during this
game, changing the odds to
their favor. Outlook’s prediction: Madrid advance doubling
their current margin (1-5).
FC Basel plays at FC Porto
(1-1): Probably the least hyped
match which makes it much
more interesting. This one is a
toss-up, but look for Porto to
defend home turf.
Outlook’s prediction: Porto advance with a 2-1 aggregate.
Shakhtar Donetsk plays at
Bayern Munich (0-0): The goalless, anti-climactic 1st leg was
surely a fluke.
Lookout for Bayern to overwhelm Shakhtar with a BlitzKrieg of goals at the Allianz
Arena.
Outlook’s prediction:
Bay-
ern advance with a 3-0 score.
Paris SG plays at Chelsea
(1-1): The Special One got his
special result. Outshined and
outclassed by the boys from
the City of Lights, the Blues got
away with murder. Chelsea’s
coach Mourinho got the away
goal draw he wanted so bad.
Outlook’s prediction: Mourinho will play close to the vest
with hard-nosed defense playing for a win on the counter
attack. Worst case scenario, he
would be perfectly happy with
a goal-less draw. Chelsea advance on a 1-2 aggregate.
Arsenal plays at Monaco
(1-3): Let’s take a stroll down
memory lane. In 2012, Arsenal’s 4–0 loss to AC Milan in
the first leg was followed by 3
first-half-goals by Arsenal in
the second leg. They cooled
down to a scoreless 2nd half
losing 4-3 on aggregate. What
makes this time different? Arsenal are the away team in the
second leg and they must make
history to move on. No team
has ever overcome a 2 goal
deficit, as the away team, in the
second leg. In 2013, Arsenal,
down 3 – 1 to Bayern, traveled
to Germany to even the aggregate at 3 – 3 only to fall out of
the competition on away goals.
However Monaco are not much
of a home team. In fact, the stadium is so quiet, you can hear
crowd conversations on what’s
for dinner on the pitch. Outlook’s bold prediction: Arsenal
advance possibly with the aid of
extra-time.
Bayer Leverkusen plays at
Atlético Madrid (1-0): Last
year’s runners up won’t go
down without a fight. We can
see Simeone’s men, the Atletico
players, coming out of the gate
firing while keeping a clean
sheet at home, something
they’ve been quite good at doing all year. Outlook’s prediction: Atlético advance 2-0.
Juventus plays at Borussia Dortmund (2-1): This one
won’t be easy for Juventus, especially without their talented
player Pirlo. However Juve’s
frugal defense will fend off the
Dortmund attack with Reus in
doubt and after losing Lewandowski to Bayern.
Outlook’s prediction: Juventus
advance on clean sheet.
Manchester City plays at Barcelona (1-2): Aguero’s late goal
and Messi’s final seconds penalty blunder may have set the
stage for a nervy second leg at
the Camp Nou. Although the
Catalans are still in the driver’s
seat, an early goal from the visitors could put a vastly different
complexion on the tie. Look for
Barcelona’s Champion’s League
experience to thrust them into
the Final 8. Outlook’s prediction: Barcelona advance on aggregate 3-2.
LIFESTYLE
MARCH 10, 2015
11
Seven ways to study more productively
Khaled Al Kurdi
Staff Writer
Just a few weeks after the beginning of the semester, we
find ourselves drowning with papers and exams due dates,
which even the best schedule in the world can’t save us
from. Here are seven ways to ensure better productivity
while studying order to meet all the deadlines and get the
results you aim for after the hard work.
1- Organization and clarity: Set specific and achievable
goals for your day, every day.
Specify the sequence of actions in which you are going
to achieve these goals. Do not exceed the normal rate of
achievable work within the numbered of hours in one day
so that you can actually be able to finish your work easily
and stress-free.
2- Think healthy: Keep water on-hand for continuous hydration. Less water means less energy and efficiency. Have
some small snacks in your study area so that you can reward yourself by having one every time you finish a good
chunk of readings or solving, also to get some energy
from time to time. It might sound cliché but healthy food
should be your friend during this period, junk and fast
food, according to researchers, slows down your mental
activity and thus your efficiency. Research also show that
physical activity helps to increase your focus; you don’t
have to go to the gym to be able to study, but avoid sitting
at your desk for hours at a time. Take a five minute walk
around campus or across the house every 30 minutes to
enhance your blood circulation and recharge your energy.
3- Work in blocks: There are approaches to dividing the
time and taking breaks. This method we present is called
the block method where you work in one hour intervals;
that is 50 minutes of work followed by a 10 minute break.
If this strategy is distracting when working on a long
paper, or solving a set of exercises, you can work for 90
minutes and take a 15 minute break, as the MIT website
suggests.
4- Stay clear social media: To ensure focus, you can’t be
on Facebook, Twitter, or any of the social media platforms
you use. Having your cell phone on silent and away from
you can better keep you focused on your studies and not
get distracted with messages and instant notifications.
5- Do not overnight: Even if you have a tremendous
amount of exams, papers and projects in the span of a few
days, include sleeping hours in your schedule.
If you don’t sleep through the critical hours of each day
your productivity will decline. If you can’t risk sleeping for
eight hours straight because of time shortage, plan your
sleeping in intervals of four hours. This way you have
enough energy to sustain your daily activities.
6- More summaries and less paragraphs: Some courses
have a lot of readings and concepts for you to process, and
it gets boring for you to read them over and over again.
One way of overcoming this and using less time in revision is to create interactive formula/revision sheets that
are linked together. They should be concise so that you are
able to go over the material in details by only reading the
sheets. This way your brain will be able to remember the
summary through the connections and colors you created
and help you retrieve the information while solving the
exam.
7- Say “no” more often: As social butterflies, we always
seem to find time to hang out with friends or go on trips
with university clubs.
You need to set your priorities. We all need a day to have a
break from studying, but doing this during exams period
is not an optimal option because it will waste your time.
Barça escalates to the top as Real falls
Rifaat Fakih
Staff Writer
FC Barcelona carry on with their positive spiral as they
reach the top of the Spanish league, taking advantage of
Real Madrid’s downfall.
Real Madrid are in trouble. After drawing 1-1 with
Villareal last week, they travelled to Bilbao only to fall in
front of Athletic Club.
It is indeed a dream week for Athletic, after beating
Espanyol on Wednesday and advancing to the Copa del
Rey finals, they bring down and break Los Blancos, the
European champions.
Athletic distinguished player Aduriz was the maestro
guiding his side to glory.
His goal at the 26th minute of the match gave the team a
deserved lead, while his young teammate, Inaki Williams,
delivered a scintillating performance on both attacking
and defensive ends.
Despite Madrid coming back stronger in the second half
and spending most of it in Athletic’s zone, the team failed
to score. When the referee blew the full time whistle, the
home crowd roared with joy, celebrating Athletic Club’s
victory over one of the football elites.
Things are different when it comes to Barcelona, however.
The team played against Rayo Vallecano, the spanish
team based in Madrid. The home crowd was cheerful, as
they chanted their hearts out hoping their team will take
advantage of the decline of Real Madrid’s score.
The match against Rayo Vallecano was a must-win for
Barça. A victory meant climbing up to the top of La Liga.
Barcelona’s game against Vallecano was an easy one.
It came off as a normal practice of the Catalans. Suarez
proudly started the counting of the goals early for the
home team, scoring from a precise outside of the foot
shot. Pique followed right after the second half ’s kickoff,
converting a Jordi Alba header that hit the post and
bounced back to him. It was 0-2 after only 49 minutes.
Barça were closing in on another victory.
Lionel Messi tore the opponents apart after scoring
an -11minute hat-trick. This was the 32nd treble of the
Argentina talisman. Messi now has 30 goals to his name
this season – the same number as Real Madrid’s Cristiano
Ronaldo. The final whistle settled the score at 1-6 in
Barcelona’s favor.
It’s a joyful time for Barcelona. After moving into the
final of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday and having
the advantage over Manchester City in the Champions
League, Luis Enrique’s men find themselves at the top of
the table, looking down at their archrivals Real Madrid.
They are ahead of Real Madrid by just one point, but
sometimes, one point is what makes the difference
between a champion and a runner-up.
14
ARTS & CULTURE
MARCH 10, 2015
SERIES REVIEW
Firas Haidar
Staff Writer
Like a hurricane that’s just about to hit land, Frank Underwood ended the second season of “House of Cards”
with two thundering knocks on one certain desk. After
leaving its audience in a state of awe and excitement for
the better part of the year, Netflix’s hit series returns to the
table with a hand that could win them yet another turn.
A few months after the events of season two, where he
took down President Walker, got rid of Raymond Tusk
and became president, Frank (Kevin Spacey, who recently picked up a Golden Globe for this role) finds himself
struggling in his new post. His actions as acting President
of the United States have earned him little love from the
American people and even less from Congress.
And because of the latter’s unhappiness with Frank, his
plan to win the hearts of the American people, aka AmWorks, do not unfold the way he’d hoped. On the other
hand, Claire (Robin Wright), now the First Lady, has her
eyes fixed on the UN Ambassador position but struggles
to get there due to her lack of experience.
Unlike great television shows that gradually fell from
grace as the seasons went by (“Dexter,” anyone?), “House
of Cards” does not make the mistake of repeating what
people loved in its previous seasons. Now that Frank is
president, the whole approach of the series is different, as
it should be.
The snake of a character’s rise to power has reached the
peak, and now, instead of cheating his way to get there, he
must cheat his way to remain. That said, for the first time
in “House of Cards,” the audience get to witness Frank
genuinely receiving punches instead of throwing them. In
addition, a new, somewhat gentler side of the character is
revealed as works his way throughout the episodes.
Another thing about season three is its surprisingly sub-
tle nature. Frank may have promised us a hurricane in the
last few seconds of season two, but that he does not deliver. Some people may not appreciate the lack of spectacular
events happening in the season, but frankly, that’s exactly
what the show needed the most.
The silent approach it adopts allows the audience to get
to know the aforementioned new side of Frank, the relationship he shares with the newcomers, and the one he
shares with Claire.
In fact, two brilliant additions to the series in the form
of a Russian president and a critically-acclaimed novelist
prove Netflix has even more cards to play.
Viktor Petrov (Lars Mikkelsen), the show’s allegory of
Vladimir Putin, is a character the fans will fall for, and face
the same love/hate relationship they share with Frank. The
latter not only finds himself face to face with his Russian
counterpart, but with his equal. The interactions and the
relationship the two characters share will unfold to be as
ruthless and charming as their nature. In that, Petrov is
one of the show’s newest and most powerful assets.
The second character, novelist Thomas Yates (Paul
Sparks), is a little more peculiar than Petrov. Supposedly,
Yates was only hired by Frank to write a book about AmWorks, but the character turns out to be the show’s open
invitation into Frank and Claire’s past and current relationship.
And what a relationship that is. Though Netflix may still
have a few hands to play, its strongest is already on the
table. Due to the subtle nature of season three and the arrival of Thomas, the audience gets a deeper insight into the
relationship the two, equally interesting characters share.
Faced with the attacks thrown towards them and Claire’s
candidacy for UN Ambassador, the relationship between
the two is both shaken and stronger than ever, and the different states it goes through are simply fantastic to watch.
“House of Cards’” third season hits its audience as a
imdb.com
‘House of Cards’ season three: the diamond in the deck
pleasant surprise. It’s almost nothing like the two that precede it and offers new characters that might just become
fan-favorites. If the first season was the hearts and the second was the clubs, then the third is the diamond, and I for
one, can’t wait for the spades.
BAND REVIEW
Hollow Wood’s music makes our hearts flutter
Most “Grey’s Anatomy” enthusiasts,would agree that
one of the highlights of the series is its soundtrack. Quite
recently, the folky tune of the band Hollow Wood made
its way into the show’s new soundtrack, creating some
buzz about the new act.
After listening to the band’s discography, one can
honestly say that the person in charge of compiling the
soundtrack for the show’s new season made a good choice
picking the songs “Seasons” and “Forget Me Forgotten”
as part of the line-up. They do an excellent job at complementing the often-emotional series.
Upon his high school graduation last year, Adam Jones
collaborated with a handful of volunteers on his song
“Little Birds” for a Youtube video, whose teen indie vibe
gained recognition from a number of record labels. Thus
Hollow Wood came to be.
Hollow Wood, comprising frontman Jones, singer and
guitarist Hayden Jensen, drummer Bryan Konkol, and
bassist Jeff Bull Jr., made their debut in 2014 with the release of their first EP “Seasons,” followed shortly after by
their EP “Wallflowers.”
It quickly became clear that the songs contained within
their discography perfectly complement the earthy vibe
Hollow Wood seem to be going for with both their name
and the titles of their EPs.
The band’s songs usually start off with a soft melody,
facebook.com/hollowwoodmusic
Christy Choueiri
Staff Writer
instruments playing in such a mellifluous manner, that
you find yourself slowly being taken by the Hollow Wood
experience. It feels as though the listener is there in the
studio with the band members performing right next to
him/her.
As the songs progress, the lead vocals gradually make
their way into the music, and the raspy quality of the lead
singer’s vocal allows for an even more organic musical feel.
By the time the other vocalists join in, the wide variation of vocals allows for a unison to play out, spreading a
certain type of warmth that is inescapably thrilling. The
pace picks up bit-by-bit, and eventually, the music feels
absolutely raw and vulnerable; especially when lyrics such
as “we are not the children of all of your failures” begin to
seep into the music.
Despite the recognition Hollow Wood has been getting,
some people find that the band isn’t really their cup of tea.
The music is mostly of the folk genre and is therefore not
likely to appeal to everyone as an audience. Also, the band
sounds a bit like Mumford & Sons at times, so certain music buffs find that Hollow Wood’s music is nothing more
than a remake of the “original” band’s music.
Regardless of clashes in opinion, it is fair to say that
Hollow Wood have successfully blended themselves into
the music world; and while they might have elements of
sound that are “nothing new,” it is ultimately their lyrics
that set them apart from others. This is a band to watch
out for.
ARTS & CULTURE
MARCH 10, 2015
15
GAME REVIEW
Laudy Issa
Staff Writer
The only way to survive
in Harran, a quarantined
city infected by a virus that
turns those who comes
across it into zombie-like
creatures, is through killing
the hordes of infected humans or outrunning them.
Neither of those sounds
easy, but Techland’s “Dying Light” is not your classic zombie game, and Kyle
Crane is not your average
protagonist; he’s an undercover operative sent into
the city to track down a
rogue agent and retrieve
government intel. Also, he
just so happens to be a parkour ninja.
This first-person actionsurvival game is definitely a
breath of fresh air for anyone looking for a bit of fun.
Perhaps my favorite element of this unique game
is the intriguing day/night
cycle, and how everything
differs depending on the
time. Gamers have to make
use of every bit of daytime
they can get as they leap
across rooftops and bal-
ance along edges in search
for supplies and tools to
craft weapons with.
“Dying Light” gives players a sense of ultimate
control, and lets them get
around the open world metropolis quickly and quietly. You can’t just hold down
the controller and assume
Crane will make the jump
though; a sense of spatial awareness is definitely
needed, as one wrong move
will get the player killed.
When the sun goes down
and darkness covers Haran,
the creatures that lurk in
the shadows are suddenly
stronger and more violent,
and tensions rise as players
try to evade them and get
to a zombie-free safe house,
though staying out at night
is equally an opportunity
to gain massive experience
points and a danger unlike
any other.
From dramatic slowmotion kills that call for
a self-high-five to vaulting across their shoulders,
Crane develops skills that
allow him to handle the
infected with ease, all the
while gaining experience
alphacoders.com
‘Dying Light’ puts refreshing twist on zombie gaming
points. “Dying Light” plays
nicely, and racing across
the city is smooth and fluid, especially later on in the
game when players become
familiar with the controls,
despite being a bit counter
intuitively mapped.
Combat, with options
like grappling, ramming,
and even kicking your opponent, has to be played
smart, as jumping face-first
into a mass of zombies is a
sure way of getting yourself killed. When facing
multiple enemies, it is best
to retreat, even after unlocking all the equipment
and upgrading all weapons
with elements like fire or
electricity. Basically, you
have to fight wisely or die.
The game has to be entertaining, especially with
how large and immersive
the open world is. I found
myself enjoying the strange
side objectives more than
the actual storyline because all mission structures
are repetitive. Though fun,
they remain unimpressive,
especially with the lack of
surprise twists and turns in
the storyline.
Everything is pretty
straightforward,
leaving
the characters of “Dying
Light” underdeveloped and
its villains cliché. Crane
ends up an errand boy for
survivors and factions in
the city, whether he’s after
food supply air drops or
fighting his way through
the hordes of zombies to
find Antizen, which is the
medication that holds back
the inevitable transformation once bitten. He even
jokes about it to himself in
the story, highlighting the
game’s biggest flaw: how
monotonous and beneath
him these missions are.
Particularly noteworthy is
the level of detail in the environment. Players might
spend half their time looking at the beauty of Harran
from every angle and vantage point. While singleplayer is a blast, “Dying
Light” is even more enjoyable with friends helping
you carve through the infected or when a random
player invades your world
through the “Be the Zombie” mode as a super-powered monster.
I took up Techland’s “Dying Light” to see if a zombie
game could ever match the
masterpiece that is “The
Last of Us.” And while it
does not trump it, the sheer
amount of freedom that it
offers is gratifying. “Dying Light” is a very different shade of fun than your
classic zombie game, mixing parkour with zombie
destruction
fantastically
and succeeding at providing a memorable gaming
experience.
COMIC BOOK REVIEW
‘The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys’ leaves reader craving more
Fatima Kazma
Staff Writer
The brain child of Gerard
Way (My Chemical Romance, “The Umbrella
Academy”) and Shaun Simon (“Neverboy”), “The
True Lives of The Fabulous
Killjoys” (2014) is a colorful and engaging read.
This comic could be
considered a continuation
of the story begun in My
Chemical Romance’s 2010
concept album “Danger
Days: The True Lives of
The Fabulous Killjoys.” The
comic’s storyline takes off
after the defeat of the original four Killjoys.
The protagonist of the
story is an unnamed teenage girl, the same legendary girl that rode with the
original
Killjoys—Party
Poison, Fun Ghoul, Jet Star,
and The Kobra Kid—and
talkingcomicbooks.com
who they gave their lives to
protect.
BlI/nd is an organization
that has taken over the city
(reminiscent of “1984’s”
Thought Police) and monitors people for abnormal or
deviant behavior; anything
that deviates from a better
and cleaner society.
There is no room for emotion in the sterile world of
Battery City, only conformity and order, where the
rule of BLI/nd is absolute
and the outsiders and mis-
fits are reprogrammed, as if
differnce were a flaw to be
extinguished.
As a counter culture to
the white cleanliness of
Battery City, the grimey
and colorful Killjoys have
an ideology.
They are the spirit of individuality in the oppressive
totalitarian society that attempts to do what is best
without considering what
“the best” would cost everyone.
Becky Cloonan (Dem-
eter) brings out the individuality and color of the
comic, with her detailed
and stunning drawings
of fire-lit landscapes and
abandoned ghost towns,
juxtaposing the blinding
white Battery City.
Stellar graphics, however, do not make up for
the shortness of the comic
book. Some parts of the
narrative seem rushed and
other major plot points go
unexplained or pass by as
understated side events.
The tragic side story of Red
and Blue as well as Korse
are crucial to the plot and
yet are crammed into a few
panels. The idea is innovative, but the material is too
dense and the universe created is too interesting to be
contained in a single sixissue volume.
The comic poses an important commentary on
the importance of art and
creativity.
For a society to flourish,
it needs freedom to cre-
ate, to move forward, and
to innovate. Without that
motivation, people become
mindless automatons, replaceable and unremarkable.
The Killjoys each have
unique colors, and each of
them was missed and held
precious to their brethren.
The original four fought for
people’s rights to be themselves, to be free, to not
have to live in constant fear
of being replaced and neutralized because they were
deemed inefficient.
The main message is that
it’s imperative for people to
be allowed the freedom of
choice, as well as the freedom of individuality. That
being different isn’t wrong;
the ability to say with conviction: “[t]here nothing
wrong with me. There is
something wrong with
you.”
16
ARTS & CULTURE
MARCH 10, 2015
COMIC BOOK REVIEW
The supernatural makes its way to Gotham in ‘Gotham by Midnight’
With everything we’ve seen in the Batman comics
and films, from crime to murder to corruption, even a
centuries-old conspiracy, it is hard to imagine anything
darker happening in the gloomy city of Gotham. But
apparently, it can. With the most obvious answer no one
considered before, DC Comics and writer Ray Fawkes
bring us the all-new “Gotham by Midnight.”
As if everything else wasn’t enough, there’s supernatural
activity happening in the iconic city, and this series is our
exclusive ticket to the show.
Ray Fawkes is no stranger to Gotham, and he’s even less
of a stranger to the supernatural element present in the DC
Universe. From his experience writing “Batman Eternal,”
“Constantine” and “Justice League Dark,” he combines all
three concepts in the form of a special task force working
for Gotham PD, led by none other than Jim Corrigan, aka
The Spectre. This unit, consisting of Corrigan, a cop, a
nun, and a scientist, specializes in magic and occult and is
set out to do what the normal police, and Batman himself,
can’t.
Though it’s still too early to consider the other members
of the unit, Corrigan himself is a very interesting character
with a lot potential to work with. He’s a detective, he’s an
occult expert, and most importantly, he embodies the
vengeful spirit that furthers God’s judgment. He alone
can be the center of many story arcs, and with Corrigan’s
connection to Constantine, Batman and others, Fawkes
has a large arsenal of content to exploit.
dcentertainment.com
Firas Haidar
Staff Writer
And that, he does. “Gotham by Midnight” is only four
issues in, but Fawkes wastes no time diving right into the
action. This arc, about spirits trying to plague Gotham,
is not only promising, but also very interesting and
unpredictable. Just like the characters, the readers will
desperately try to make sense of what’s happening and
unbound the mysteries that lurk in the nooks and crannies
of the notorious city.
What gives “Gotham by Midnight” its allure is not just the
story and the characters, but it is also the “supernatural in
Gotham” theme that works in its favour. That is primarily
due to Fawkes’ previous experience with the city, and his
deep understanding of the social philosophy it represents.
That said, some people were critical of this new aspect of
Gotham because the city has been a home for crime for
decades, and to add supernatural elements to it takes away
from its legacy.
Horror is the second piece of the puzzle. Cheap jump
scares being out of question when it comes to comics, the
concepts and premise Fawkes sets are genuinely horrific,
and the characters’ reactions make things even more
interesting.
Fawkes’ work would not have been complete without
Ben Templesmith’s magic. The art is dark, unusual, and
downright terrific. The panels are carefully drawn, colored
and lettered to the point where they get better every time
you look at them. In fact, Templesmith plays an equally
important role in setting the horror as Fawkes does, and
their collaboration is a gift that, so far, keeps on giving.
We have to wait a month for a new “Gotham by
Midnight” issue, but that means Fawkes and Templesmith
have the time they need to continue the outstanding work
they are currently doing. “Gotham by Midnight” is a work
of art that has only just begun to take shape.
ALBUM REVIEW
Ziad Lawen
Staff Writer
It’s not misspelt, nor is it the gun that came out of
Brooklyn, New York in the early 1990s (despite their
continuous reference to guns but we’ll get back to that).
The 90s saw the rise of gangster rap. Since then, the
idea of being “gangster” has been watered down by 21st
century rappers, where self-proclaimed gangsters seem
to symbolise a lifestyle that does not really match their
private lives (think Rick Ross, the Game, etc.).
Smif-n-Wessun belongs to the era when Tupac, Biggie, Big
L, Eazy-E and other genuine gangster rappers dominated
the music scene both locally and internationally. The latter
four have all passed away by means of gangster violence.
These were times when revolutionizing artists (Tupac
and Biggie) had lifestyles that were far more gangster than
their mainstream successes would ever convey. The 1990s
possessed a black-versus-white segregation in the United
States similar to today’s tragedies (think Trayvon Martin
and Michael Brown; think 1992’s LA Riots).
With the cultural context given, we delve into Smif-nWessun’s uniqueness—by which “Dah Shinin’” (1995) will
be our album for means of gauge.
Mix the up-funk and Jazz-instrument-mastery of the
likes of Louis Armstrong and James Brown with the
violence, anger, and glorified thuggery of N.W.A with
quasi-Jamaican accents and you’ll have some hypothetical
form of Smif-n-Wessun.
A group of two New York rappers, Tek and Steele seem
to have a strong grasp of musical sound which can be best
heard in their album, “Dah’ Shinin›.” For those unfamiliar
or disinterested in rap lyrics, Smif-n-Wessun offers a
sound that can be appreciated by any open-minded
musician.
The strength of their album, however, lies within their
language and themes. The significance of their lyrics can
only genuinely be appreciated in contrast to modern-day
gangster rappers in terms of sincerity.
Smif-n-Wessun gives insight to a calamitous, jungle-like
Brooklyn where violence is a productive means rather
than a last resort. This is evident in the opening line of
track 12, “Home-Sweet-Home,” that says: “This is the
story of a place we call home, where the kids pack heat
when it’s time to roam [...] we can’t afford to take shorts
or be playing sports, Empires need to be built, Mack 10’s
bought.”
This stark darkness can be heard again in the chorus of
track 8, “Stand Strong:” “[i]t gets mad deep in the streets
when you gotta watch your back from beasts, enemies,
and even your peeps [...] If you’re for real than you know
the deal, I do or die, never ran, never will.” Of course, in
ways only Smif-n-Wessun can, these ominous lyrics are
played on one of the funkier beats that will induce a headnod in any listener.
Tracks 8 and 12 give us the Smif-n-Wessun insight
on making money in Brooklyn, but track 7, a personal
favourite, seems to sincerely glorify murder, violence and
homophobic sentiments: “Bucktown home of the original
gun clappers!…Got your nooses ready hanging over the
trees…Kill you batty boy and hold your lover for hostage.”
I present these lyrics not to agree with their jeers, but
rather to display their rare lyrical outlook on what seems
to be the unstable, gangster culture of 1990s Brooklyn.
Smif-n-Wessun glorify all those things that our
hyper-politically-correct global society would never
stasheverything.com
Smiff-n-Wessun exudes raw 90s Brooklyn culture
have accepted at the time: anti-governance, cannabis,
homophobia, violence, drug-dealing, street wars, theft,
crime, and others that can be found in “Dah Shinin’.”
Of course, all these themes are presented on tune with
Jazzy rhythms, bass beats, and head-nodding choruses
that will trick the listener into singing-along with these
quasi-Jamaican gangsters.
One article will never do justice to such a group. The
album features other hits such as “Timz N Hood Chek,”
“Wrekonize,” “Sound Bwoy Bureil,” and “Hallucinations.”
This funky gangster rap duo really contributed to New
York’s 1990’s rap scene and hopefully you’ll wrekonize
Smif-n-Wessun is, in fact, spelt correctly.
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@OutlookAUB
@OutlookAUB
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