UTLOOK THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT VOL. XLII, NO. 26 | TUESDAY, AUG 10, 2010 | THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION SINCE 1949 INSIDE [email protected]Editorial Opinion Campus News 2 3-5 6-10 Bliss Street, West Hall 208 tel: 01 350 000 ext.3193 www.aub.edu.lb/outlook Arts & Culture Out of The Box 11 12 You should work at a newspaper! 2 Op-Ed O O n Saturday June 26 AUB President Peter Dorman addressed the graduating class, saying AUB was “the greatest edu- cational experiment ever un- dertaken in the Middle East” and that they were about to embark on a “personal ful- fillment quest.” University Student Faulty Committee (USFC) VP Elias Ghanem reminded his fellow students of the reasons for the class boycott and expressed emo- tion over the loss of a friend. Finally, keynote speaker and Professor Emeritus at Har- vard University Walid Kha- lidi clarified the region’s con- fusing history in a way that only his acquired skills can and revealed the challenging nature of the task ahead for the new generation. In the clear skied afternoon, the area surrounding the Green Field and the Charles Hostler Student Center (CHSC) saw the commotion of graduating students bus- Foaud Badaoui Senior Staff Writer continued on page 6 Commencement Ceremony 2010 Classes of ‘75 & ‘85 graduate 7 Campus News The struggle for independence 9 Campus News Dorman praises the experiment that is AUB, Ghanem urges Board of Trustees to help financially and Khalidi reveals AUB’s historical influence in Lebanon and the region Graduates and their families during commencement. tling about and of early com- ers attempting to get a good seat for the distribution of degrees. Some like Olayan School of Business (OSB) graduate Amr El Mais, rushed to put their robes on as others, like Faculty of Ag- riculture and Food Sciences (FAFS) graduate Abir Hash- em, waited anxiously for a spare pair of shoes in order to alleviate the damages of a last minute wardrobe mal- function. The vast expanse of the Green Field was covered by white plastic chairs in or- der to accommodate around 2700 guests, excluding the graduating class itself. As a cool breeze carried the sound of the AUB choir rehearsing, the 60 or so ushers await- ed the time when they would have to organize the throng of impatient guests and fami- lies into separate faculties. In his speech, AUB President Peter Dorman welcomed the students, their families and the present political figures and representatives. His first few sentences were in Ara- bic and were received with warm applause. He congrat- ulated the 1860 new gradu- ates of the 141st Commence- ment since the founding of AUB. Dorman praised the university as being extreme- ly diverse and full of contro- versies and passionate indi- viduals, but emphasized that “we are fundamentally one” when it came to such things as aspirations, freedom of speech and the pursuit of ex- cellence. He told students they were now in a “turning Photo courtesy of AUB
Transcript
utlookThe American UniversiTy of BeiruT
vol. Xlii, no. 26 | TUesdAy, AUg 10, 2010 | The IndependenT sTudenT PublicaTion since 1949
Bliss Street, West Hall 208 tel: 01 350 000 ext.3193www.aub.edu.lb/outlook
Arts & Cultureout of the Box
1112
You should work at a newspaper!2
op-Ed
o
on Saturday June 26 AuB President Peter Dorman addressed
the graduating class, saying AuB was “the greatest edu-cational experiment ever un-dertaken in the Middle East” and that they were about to embark on a “personal ful-fillment quest.” University Student Faulty Committee (uSFC) VP Elias Ghanem reminded his fellow students of the reasons for the class
boycott and expressed emo-tion over the loss of a friend. Finally, keynote speaker and Professor Emeritus at Har-vard university Walid kha-lidi clarified the region’s con-fusing history in a way that only his acquired skills can and revealed the challenging nature of the task ahead for the new generation.In the clear skied afternoon, the area surrounding the Green Field and the Charles Hostler Student Center (CHSC) saw the commotion of graduating students bus-
Foaud BadaouiSenior Staff Writer
continued on page 6
Commencement Ceremony 2010
Classes of ‘75 & ‘85 graduate 7
Campus Newsthe struggle for independence 9
Campus News
Dorman praises the experiment that is AuB, Ghanem urges Board of trustees to help financially and Khalidi reveals AUB’s historical influence in Lebanon and the region
Graduates and their families during commencement.
tling about and of early com-ers attempting to get a good seat for the distribution of degrees. Some like olayan School of Business (oSB) graduate Amr El Mais, rushed to put their robes on as others, like Faculty of Ag-riculture and Food Sciences (FAFS) graduate Abir Hash-em, waited anxiously for a spare pair of shoes in order to alleviate the damages of a last minute wardrobe mal-function. the vast expanse of the Green Field was covered by white plastic chairs in or-
der to accommodate around 2700 guests, excluding the graduating class itself. As a cool breeze carried the sound of the AuB choir rehearsing, the 60 or so ushers await-ed the time when they would have to organize the throng of impatient guests and fami-lies into separate faculties.In his speech, AuB President Peter Dorman welcomed the students, their families and the present political figures and representatives. His first few sentences were in Ara-bic and were received with
warm applause. He congrat-ulated the 1860 new gradu-ates of the 141st Commence-ment since the founding of AuB. Dorman praised the university as being extreme-ly diverse and full of contro-versies and passionate indi-viduals, but emphasized that “we are fundamentally one” when it came to such things as aspirations, freedom of speech and the pursuit of ex-cellence. He told students they were now in a “turning
Photo courtesy of AUB
EDItorIAl
MohamadYahia HamadeEditor-in-Chief
2 OUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
Ain’t cha ever comin’ back? No, I’ve got my memories
I’ve been trying my best over these past few months to avoid cli-
ché through avoidance. I even avoided any emotion-al sincerity with my hom-bres. I gave a little hint of earnestness in musing over the plethora of poorly writ-ten documents and official-esque invoices in the ar-chives, but there were spots of dishonesty through my attempt at satire. I couldn’t keep up with my sardonic social commentary. I tried to be funny and I tried to project wit, but I felt an un-settling blankness in the few moments when the weight of the sentiments I left un-written didn’t always in-stantly dissolve. To be honest, my relation-ship with Outlook has been a long one and one that I am only just beginning to recog-nize as incomparably signif-icant and unforgettable.It took me sometime to consciously decide to head down to campus this week. I walked past Main Gate. On my way to West Hall, I greeted the guy at the news-paper stand – I’ve done for the past four years and I still don’t know his name.As I waded through the empty newsroom, I scanned the room slowly and tried – but to no avail – to blink. Ev-erything was still the same since the last time we had
a full house attending the Monday staff meetings. The notes and blueprints I had prepared for the last is-sue were long gone, but the tallies of passive-aggressive and offensive remarks were still up on the dry board. The clenched fist sticker we put up on the board was still there, along with AUB’s an-them and our favorite res-taurants takeout menus for the long nights we would spend in the newsroom. I eventually sat down and started working on the issue to meet the deadline. At that moment I got bored and called the information desk after their working hours to realize that all student clubs were evicted from West Hall, except for the Red Cross, Campus Yearbook, the University Student Fac-ulty Committee (USFC), and Outlook. However, an AUB official who preferred I don’t mention their name told me that things might change in fall and every-one would get the boot - and maybe Outlook.AUB now is denying stu-dents a chance to stay at this place, and it was unsettling to know that a building that the student body and Out-look called home for de-cades is going to turn into an unused and wasted building. West Hall will officially be a stranger’s spot on campus, just like the cafeteria and last year’s tuition fees. The club signs are long gone and now pieces of paper with strange names hang in their places, like a conquered fort raising the invaders flag. Now, since I’m me, I can only talk about my expe-riences and not the ones you’ve had at AUB and all the clubs of West Hall. I wanted to write for Outlook since I first visited the AUB campus during my tenth grade orientation. I still re-member the first time I ever stepped foot in the news-room during my freshman
year. I was awestruck. Soon after that I had attended my first meeting in an over-packed room full of new writers, and when I first left with my first assignment to cover a conference by a po-litical figurehead. The day before, I’d been exploring the campus and ransacking the cafeteria with my friends (who also joined Outlook). It was only a matter of hours before I would meet and rub elbows with the movers and shakers of the country and my first conference was can-celed due to car bomb that targeted a Lebanese poli-tician and echoed through the streets of Beirut. Despite that unfortunate incident, I still fired my questions at ev-eryone still attending while sweating through the roof and without any idea of what to say next.And after four years and climbing to the highest rank in AUB’s independent stu-dent newspaper, Outlook and I casually parted ways with a French goodbye. Af-ter a year-long and 12-hour-a-night, seven-day-a-week commitment this past year I was burned out and too tired to stick around and train the new team it is someone’s job to do the rest now. I had ex-posed the faulty ambulance system AUB uses, exposed the inept USFC working be-hind the students-body, and received a smattering of an-gry emails and IMs for jok-ing that MUNers can’t write proper English. I had paid my dues and that was that.As I’m about to start work-ing in a newspaper and a television station, I have come to realize that noth-ing since my time at Out-look and the soon to be abandoned edifice across Marquand House, has ever taught me so much.For all the faults – and be-lieve you me there are plen-ty in each issue – Outlook is wholly representative of an inimitable relationship
with writing and identi-ty that I can truly say I nev-er had before and will nev-er have again. Each success was collective and each fail-ure was shared. The sol-idarity in making some-thing with other passionate and talented people with-out a single shred of tact or oversight was an experience that can never be recreat-ed. From our makeshift beds on the tables to secret meet-ings and interviews inside (and around) West Hall, and the occasional breaks we’d take and head out to social-ize with buddies in the now-abandoned smoking area. Going from staff writer to editor and considering to stay on board is not the typical route previous ed-itors have taken. I admit I had some reservations this past spring in establishing a new board in front of a to-tally new staff after having been separated for so long. I know – and so do you from all the gossip that’s been go-ing around – is that the pa-per has suffered hardships over the past three years – financial, content-relat-ed and otherwise – the stu-dents who are still here and who still sacrifice their sleep and sanity are doing their best to keep themselves and this institution alive. Never pity them or decide against criticizie a poor story or mis-spelled headline, because this is, as a student body, our single link to a sense of tra-dition in journalism and to college as an institution. Say what you will about its redundancy or triviality, but if Outlook ever falters or falls apart, all we would be left with at AUB is shameless self-promotion and the stuff the politically overcharged USFC will shove down your throat.This is probably the last ed-itorial I will ever have in this newspaper. It’s bizarre to know after four years of go-ing here, and as stirring and
moving as this sense of final-ity is to me, it is something that will never be under-stood to someone who has not experienced a semester of work at Outlook. Howev-er, as I knowingly take these few steps beyond the com-forts of wearing sandals and shorts to work, having din-ner on the conference table, and dancing to the Macaer-na, I never expected in a million years that this place would ever be the hardest thing to leave and, at the same time, be the steadiest and most powerful launch-ing pad I could have ever had in my undergrad years.The newsroom has change a lot since I joined Outlook. Under my editorship, our one computer was thrown out and thanks to a hefty donation we now enjoy six brand-new computers at our disposal. It seems that all the passive-aggressiveness and obscenities shouted out are now a dime-a-dozen. I can’t say that I always catch the glimpses of myself and my history here, it’s all unhid-den, as I did at the place at which my journey began.But now it’s not my office or newsroom anymore, and this is certainly no longer my newspaper. Once I leave this campus, and if I leave this city, Outlook will evolve into something miles away and generations apart. I can’t say for sure if I know what will become of it or who will take over or stick around and what programs they’ll be using. I do, however, have this des-perate, uncompromising hope that my editorship and experience here is indicative of those still unshaped, be-cause I only ever truly un-derstood myself as an ele-ment of this environment whether I was here or some-where else.Ultimately, Outlook is still going to the place where kids play house and publish newspapers.
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oPINIoNOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
last night I woke up, and things had differ-ent aspects. the sky
was so dark; the wind was so strong, that they stole my eyes and took them far away, to a place where everyone is planning to be. Since September 23, 2007, and over the last three years, time has passed like mag-ic in this institution. though my passion to gain more ex-perience and knowledge only grew over the days, I real-ly did not think that I would be ready to fly that fast, and I wanted to leave everything
behind my back.It is kind of crazy how sim-ple things now matter to me, simple things that I will re-member for the rest of my life; like daily waking up in the early morning, driving all the way to the campus, at-tending classes, practicing some sports in Hostler, meet-ing some friends, having cof-fee brakes near West Hall, and spending over-nights in Jafet during the finals peri-od… Now, since I am officially back on my own, it is the time to make new decisions, to plan
Moussa ChalahStaff Writer
My last wordsfor the future that I want, and to achieve higher dreams day after day. AuB not only gave me the equipments for this promising domain, but also provided me with the best manual to use them. It is the bridge between the ad-olescent me and the maturity I gained each time I crossed the chemistry stairs down to the biology department. It is the path from the ambitious past to the towering future.Indeed, I would like to dedi-cate my success for one genu-ine loyal friend that never let me down, one friend that was
there for me all those vigor-ous days; outlook, the amaz-ing magazine that made me always strong enough to rise upon the climbs. Since 1949, its eternal mission has start-ed, and stills the main source of spreading the students’ thoughts. Few days later, twenty six June will come. Caps will be flying all around the Green Field; smiles will be filling the faces of my family, my friends, and my colleagues. the more I perceive this, the more I notice how much I will miss this beloved land…
For the past 12 years, I’ve advised the stu-dent newspaper at a
large Florida university. But only a handful of my students have ever become newspaper reporters. And I like it that way. So do they. Newspa-pers aren’t what you’d call a growth industry. these days, it’s easier to land a job on the Deepwater Horizon than in a newsroom. So I tell ev-ery student I meet at Flori-da Atlantic university: Work hard at the university Press and I promise you a job in al-most any other industry. I’ve alienated my fellow advisers in FAU’s Student Govern-ment because I boast loudly and proudly, “No other extra-curricular activity on cam-
pus is better for your career -- no matter what that is -- than the newspaper.” That’s be-cause nothing else in SG is as complex and deadline-driv-en. A Homecoming Commit-tee chairwoman once protest-ed to me, “We host a whole week of awesome and fun activities!” “Yeah, but you have a whole year to orga-nize it,” I replied. “the news-paper staff publishes a pa-per every week and updates a website every day -- which is much more impressive to a potential employer than tak-ing 11 months to organize a parade and a dance.” Even getting elected student body president isn’t as compelling to an employer as being edi-tor-in-chief. Honestly, what’s an SBP do? Mostly, they en-dure long meetings and give long speeches about “serving the students.” their tangible accomplishments are few. At most schools, the EIC actual-ly hires more people and sets more policy. the SBP is of-ten locked in, forced to man-age a staff that’s either elect-ed separately or appointed by others. And the SBP’s budget, while much bigger than the EIC’s, is already spent before he even has a chance to redecorate his of-fice -- consumed by pre-allo-cated items like campus rec and program board and the
Student union. His discre-tionary budget is typically a mere few thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the EIC has to contend with replacing the writers, photographers, and designers who just graduat-ed and training the newcom-ers while publishing a paper at the same time. In addition, the EIC decides what gets covered and what doesn’t, writes stories and columns, placates irate readers, and soothes heated staff conflicts that inevitably arise on dead-line. Who’s going to impress more during a job interview? Indeed, who will handle the pressure of the job interview more skillfully? And let’s ex-plode a myth right now: You don’t need to be a journalism major to be editor-in-chief of most college newspapers. right now, our EIC is a Span-ish Studies major. She’ll be able to brag about her man-aging and multitasking skills to employers who have noth-ing to do with media. Here are some of the professions our newspaper alumni have sought over the past 12 years -- and landed with the help of the university Press... lAW-YErS Getting into law school is tough enough. Distinguish-ing yourself once you’re there is damn near impossible. You have only two routes: land an internship with a prestigious
Michael koretzkyAdviser, Florida Atlantic University Press
Dear students: Even if you don’t read a newspaper, you should still work at one
law firm or a high-ranking judge, or become editor of the school’s law review. Those top internships are all about who you know. No connec-tions? No joy. But working at your college paper as an un-dergrad means you’ll be light years ahead of your competi-tion for law review positions. tEACHErS If you become an editor -- news, feature, en-tertainment, photo, design, web -- and recruit and man-age a staff of your fellow stu-dents, then you’ve already taught. three of our alums advise high-school newspa-pers. PuBlIC rElAtIoNS Pr people work with the me-dia. You’ll have a better shot securing a PR job right out of school if you’ve already worked in the media. Every year, I’ve gotten more calls from PR firms looking for in-terns than I have from me-dia outlets. BuSINESS our newspaper has had a bud-get ranging from $80,000 to $100,000, and our business manager doesn’t just collect time sheets. He’s responsi-ble for everything that isn’t journalistic -- from distri-bution to high-tech equip-ment purchases. It’s a big job. Maybe that’s why one of our business managers is an investment banker in New York City and anoth-er graduated right into an
elite Bank of America man-agement training program. one of our best is in dental school -- he wants to run his own dental practice, and he says he’ll have no problem navigating complicated in-surance claims because he’s already dealt with the byzan-tine bureaucracy of FAU’s fi-nance department. uNIQuE & uNuSuAl one former editor works for a Christian nonprofit and travels to plac-es like Haiti and Ethiopia to write about the health clin-ics there. others have landed full-time jobs in Washington, D.C., writing press releases for PEtA and organizing pro-tests for Greenpeace. right out of school, our sports edi-tor managed a minor-league baseball team in New Mexi-co. our entertainment edi-tor managed a nationally re-nowned rock band in New York City. But my favorite was the business manager who volunteered to teach jail inmates in her spare time be-cause she wanted to become an FBI profiler. She applied to a prestigious program, and her application cited how she deftly handled the dysfunc-tional personalities in both the jail and the newsroom -- and that the latter was hard-er. She got in.
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oPINIoNOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
First and foremost, this is actually my first and last op-ed (sniff) so
bear with me. Since the ed-itor was wise enough to put in place almost no restric-tions on what we could write, and since I am finished with AUB forever (hopefully), I would like to use this oppor-tunity to just give my im-pression of my time here and to offer some advice to those planning to continue their studies here.Advice number one: Be grate-ful! Yes although we all love to bitch and complain (I plan to do plenty of that here), re-member how fortunate we all are in being able to study in this university. Also, to those of you who still think other-wise, try saying that in the face of someone who’s study-ing in the lebanese or the Beirut Arab university. that being said, I think that there are plenty of problems
which plague AuB, many of which can be resolved by the students themselves. one such problem is that of politi-cal interference in the uSFC elections. Yes, I know you’ve all heard that for the ump-teenth time, but since the message has yet sink in, I’m going to repeat it here: Seeing the brilliant job our political elite has done in running our country, do you really want them to extend their enlight-ened rule over AUB?Another major problem here in AuB is that of the registra-tion process, because the fact is, the software currently in use is abysmal: it can’t handle large amounts of users caus-ing it to crash often during registration hours, it needs a manual for it to be operated and it’s easily hack-able. Yes, there are programs out there that allow you to register 5 courses at once. Moreover, I believe that with a little pres-sure from students, the ad-ministration would be forced to get the higher-quality reg-istration programs that are out there, while an interme-diate step would involve the It team patching the sys-tem’s numerous bugs. this brings me to my next point, that of the reason be-hind the massive pressure that comes with registration. registration can be extreme-ly stressful owing to the huge variation in the quality of AUB’s professors. This leads to a massive competition be-tween students over the sign-ing up with the good ones. to
be perfectly clear, I am not saying that all of AUB’s pro-fessors are terrible, what I am saying is that while there many brilliant, even inspi-rational people teaching at AuB, there are others who balance things out. this for-tunately can be easily reme-died; even more, the means for doing so are at our finger-tips. What I am referring to is teacher evaluations.My main beef with the cur-rent system is that we have no idea how the evaluations are being used. I have re-ceived completely different answers, which is never a good sign. A first step AUB could take is to clarify exact-ly how it uses the surveys. An ever better move would be for it to publish the surveys, comments and all, in order to increase transparency which would lead to both, the en-abling of students of mak-ing better choices and to force underwhelming professors to clean up their act. In conclusion, I make these remarks not because I feel my entire experience here was an utter waste, but rath-er to make it even a better one for those who wish to study here. one last note, while grades are extremely impor-tant, what gives students the extra edge is their co-curric-ular activities. What I mean is that while building up your social life or actually doing some studying, find some time to join a club (or write for outlook!), it really is that important.
Mohamad El JabiStaff Writer
AUB’s lessons and problems
Ah, spring! The flowers bloom, the birds are making nests, the cats
are all lazy, and people are beginning to fall in love all over again. Except this year, spring was on and off from March till beginning of May! So this whole love business, Does it come and go like the seasons?I noticed that at every turn, there is a couple or a “would-be” couple sitting next side by side. love, where did that thought come from? Isn’t it all just hormones flying out of control? Is it nothing but chemical reactions in the brain? Does the spring season stimulate the feelings of hap-piness and want and need in our minds and make us grow attached to people we have known for a while now?But spring changes and sum-mer comes. Summers are hot and stuffy. It is impossible to even hug your friends from the sticky heat! Is this why problems arise? Is it all just the season? Then summer turns to august, and it brings a feeling of nostalgia where you no longer know what it is you really want. It seems as if, like the leaves, you are falling out of love…Finally winter. Its cold out like your heart, you just want to sit at home watching tV drinking your coffee or hot co-coa. You’re happier this way, it’s soothing and relaxing.
But New Year’s makes you want to meet someone soon just to go to that club with your friends on New Year’s. So you meet someone, you start talking, spring comes, and the cycle repeats itself.Is it all just the season? Some of you may not go by this pat-tern. Some of you may see winter as the season you want someone to keep you warm at heart, and summer the sea-son where you want to be left alone to tan on the beach, or have ice cream under the air conditioning. there seems to be a pattern.If all our emotions are affect-ed by the seasons; If love, hate, joy, and depression are brought about by the whim of the weather… does it mean that none of them really last? Can we grow out of love? Can we forget to hate? Can we be-come pessimistic? Or mirac-ulously become cheerful and optimistic once again? If it is, then all our emotions are just an illusion. They are just our hormones and bodily chemi-cals reacting to the weather oour horoscopes are based on the orientation of the plan-ets and other space fea-tures billions of light-years away, why can’t our emo-tions be based on something not even a hair’s breadth away from our physical self? It’s all around us! The feel-ings that we get are superfi-cial. It is an illusion, a game our young minds are playing with the weather. Let’s hope that global warming will im-prove us and not make us worse, but from the looks of things, it’s going to be too hot this summer for you to want to speak with anyone, and it’s going to be a messed up win-ter again which will throw people’s mood swings in ev-ery direction!So next time you think you’re in love and you’re suddenly caught in a twisted love rela-tionship and messed up tri-angle, just remember this: let us put all the blame on the Weather Man!
Deedee JilaniCartoonist
Seasons change
Join the ever-growing team ofstudent journalists at AUB now!
So, this is like my final Op-ed, like ever. Why? Well, because I gradu-
ated! Yes, I got my Masters in Public Health, thank you very much. Given the word limit I have, on a par with the limitless things I have to say, I chose to sum up my amaz-ing AUB-ish journey by shar-ing with you the things that I have learned throughout the years that I have spent in this university... which I just love! Indeed, over the years, I have sought to embrace AuB-ish life in all its facets—between writing for outlook, taking pictures for Yearbook, stamp-ing people’s hands for Out-doors, selling lemonade for red Cross, collecting dona-tions for uNESCo, planting trees with CCECS, selling ‘seeds of hope’ with IBSAR, and chanting with AUB’s awesome choir –and there’s a lot more where all of this came from- I have learned a thing or two. ok, maybe a bit more. one, and most impor-tantly, I have learned that in whatever you do, never crave for recognition. Indeed, when you do something, do it
because you wholehearted-ly want to and not because you have to. Even when you study for your quiz, keep in mind that you’re here for the learning and not just grade-yearning purpose. Don’t kill yourself in striving for other people’s recognition because at the end of the day, when it comes to me, ‘everything I do/did, was so because I simply love to ‘stand out’ and ‘help out’ in every way I can. An-other advice from yours tru-ly here would be to never pro-crastinate. People, do not waste your time wondering whether you should or should not go on doing something. By all means, and as Nike would have it, just ‘‘Do it’’! Thirdly, never regret— I have learned it the hard way that ‘you can never plan enough because you can never anticipate all future happenings’. And while sitting back and worry-ing over what has been seems to be what the majority will wind up doing, believe me, it will get you nowhere. I mean ‘why cry over spilt milk’, eh? And lastly, do not bite more than you can chew. only when you know your limita-tions can you then transcend these and turn any obstacle that might come your way into a vantage point. In the end, never forget that there is more to college than what lies in the classrooms. Every day of our lives is a day of learning and as Dan-iel J. Boorstin would have it ‘‘the greatest obstacle to dis-covery is not ignorance—it is the illusion of knowledge.’’ Cherish every moment you still have left in AuB and embrace it so that it would be imprinted forever in your mind ad forever more in your heart— Amen to that.
AuB: engraved in my heart
Maya terroStaff Writer
I really don’t know what to write, I have been in de-nial since the start of this
semester that I am actually graduating. I have had great experiences at AUB and met a lot of interesting and nice people. On our way home after the last day of classes I was reminiscing with my friend about our days spent at AUB and how much we are going to miss some of our professors who have al-ways been awfully kind and have been there for us and have always lent a helping
hand; such professors have touched our lives in great ways, they have taught us things that we would have never learned in academ-ics without them and even things that we can carry out into our daily lives and find useful. Additionally, Psychology as a whole has taught me interesting and helpful things that I can ap-ply to daily life, such as how to put people’s habits to ex-tinction, and it has taught me a new critical way of perceiving the world and people around me, and this is just the beginning. I must say that I am really glad that I had the chance to be part of outlook in my se-nior year, even though I didn’t attend many of the meetings but outlook has helped me meet a lot of interesting and nice people and has given me the chance to write about a topic that is very dear to my heart; a psychology column called Psyched out.let me tell you about my last day at AuB, after nag-ging about having to attend an extra session (which was supposed to be a day off, the
first day into the reading pe-riod) , I went to AuB with friends and decided to hang out there for a while to say goodbye to our undergradu-ate days. little did we know that the weather was going to be terrible and spent the entire day at the outlook Newsroom taking silly pic-tures. I am also compelled to tell you about other mem-orable days after the news-room day (during finals), but then I’d go on forever about those wonderful memories. I couldn’t ask for anything bet-ter than those final memo-rable days at AuB that have carved memories that would last a lifetime.let me stop there, at my last day and not get into all the memories that I have had at AuB and all the fun moments because if I start telling such stories from how I met my friends to the silly moments we have had then believe me I might end up writing a book and not the graduation op-ed of this outlook issue. Basical-ly, AuB was a great experi-ence and I enjoyed every mo-ment with the most special people ever!
rita obeidStaff Writer
My time at AuB
Ramadan Kareem fromthe Outlook team!
Evil Sudoku WeatherWednesday
thursday
Friday
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CAMPuS NEWSOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
point” in their lives, destined to improve their commu-nities and to “add luster to their alma matter,” without ever feeling detached from AuB: “this campus will al-ways be your home.” Dorman also hinted at the inevitabil-ity of the implementation of the 15 credit policy by stating that education must remain affordable; the cheering in response to this statement was loud from the family sec-tion, but noticeably dimmer from the graduates. Finally, Dorman asked Dean of Stu-dent Affairs Marun kisir-wani and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architec-ture (FEA) Ibrahim Hajj to stand, as both are leaving AUB. Dorman said Hajj’s contributions to the FEA re-sulted in higher standards, improved research and in-ternational recognition. ki-sirwani was, according to Dorman, the “master at ad-vocating issues” relating to both students and adminis-tration. Dorman commented that whoever ignored his ad-vice did it at their own peril and that his loss will be deep-ly felt.VP of the uSFC Elias Ghanem saluted the “first graduat-ing class of the second decade of the twenty first centu-ry” and spoke with nostalgia about “cherishing every mo-ment we lived on campus.” Ghanem spoke with admira-tion of the AuB bureaucracy and administration, stating that if “AuB made us better individuals,” it’s because “we have indeed learnt by exam-ple.” He praised the admin-istration and specifically the Office of Student Affairs for making sure that “every stu-dent’s voice is heard and ev-ery issue addressed.” But his speech wasn’t purely compli-mentary as he did criticize the 15 credit policy set to be established in one year and urged the Board of trustees (Bot) to help stop its imple-mentation. Ghanem admit-ted the sad state of the econ-omy and told the Bot that students counted on them to make sure AUB wouldn’t have to resort to the 15 cred-
it policy (this time, the ap-plause came from the stu-dents). Ghanem also listed a few of the USFC’s accom-plishments, namely the re-institution of the class rings and speakers’ corner, and saluted Hajj for his work on the FEA. He also called ki-sirwani the embodiment of wisdom, the students’ guide, and the “figure that single handedly made AuB bet-ter.” Ghanem also said a few words in memory of karim Habr and stopped sudden-ly, in mid sentence, unable to continue with a steady voice. Encouraging applause resonated and he remind-ed everyone to drive safely “tonight and every day.” Fi-nally, Ghanem turned an eye to the parents: “this is your day […] we love you.”keynote speaker Walid kha-lidi’s speech was enlighten-ing to both academics and laymen and gave a concise yet revealing account of how intertwined AuB was with the Arab world’s develop-ment. Declaring that the “ar-row of time does indeed start in the past” before continu-ing into the future, khalidi recounted the main events of the 20th century that af-fect us to this day, from the collapse of the ottoman Em-pire to the supremacy of Is-raeli military activities and the extinguishment of Pan-Arabism and secularism in the region. khalidi talk-ed about how the close rela-tionship Howard Bliss (son of AuB founder Daniel Bliss) had with uS President Wil-son resulted in the uS send-ing advisors to lebanon to evaluate just how dissat-isfied locals were with the French and British systems in the 1920’s. He stated that, although under Wilson’s presidency, AuB was a “res-ervoir of goodwill” to the uS, after the unhealed wounds of the civil war, the sacrifices of AuB presidents Dodge and kurr and the “decapitation of College Hall,” the uS are now seen as the antagonist. khalidi denounced the “right wing American evangelism” that pushes Congress into “automatic endorsement” of Israeli decisions and criti-cized the uS for disguising
its Peace Process as a char-ity. He praised the indepen-dence of the South of leba-non from Israeli occupation as the “triumph of man over machine.” Yet he also blamed the Arab countries’ lack of unity for the “fratri-cidal Palestinian discord.” khalidi said that he still be-lieves the only respite from the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict is the Two State Solu-tion, which wasn’t very pop-ular when he proposed it long ago. But khalidi does not claim that this solution brings any justice: “There is no justice this side of the grave.” on a lighter note, khalidi said that nowhere else in the Middle East has he seen the same concentra-tion of “indigenous talent” as in AuB and that “this cam-pus is second to none in the Arab World.” In conclusion, khalidi told the graduating students they should make their children proud and stay as the hope of the coun-
try and the region, instead of abandoning lebanon.Earlier, as the procession of professors waited to take the stage, Provost Ahmad Dallal, with a large smile on his face, used the term “festive” to de-scribe their mood. Dean of Student Affairs Marun kisir-wani, in the same spirit, said the Commencement Ceremo-ny is the “happiest moment for students and professors.” the Call Center, a kind of temporary headquarters in the Hostler complex destined to oversee the event and manage emergencies, com-prised of elements of both the Visitor’s Bureau and the Of-fice of Communications. Di-rector of Information Hikmat Beaini felt reassured that the ushers were well trained and ready for the task ahead. He praised the operation as smooth and effectively coor-dinated. Although there was an age limit (no child under 8 was to be admitted unless their parent is graduating),
security was inconvenienced by the number of infants present, in particular 2 loud ones whose mothers tried to gain access to closed areas in order to change their dia-pers. there was also the inci-dent of some allegedly forged tickets that kept ushers baf-fled until the Call Center got involved. the 3 day class boy-cott was not yet forgotten as pamphlets were distributed among students and parents with slogans such as “AuB is a family not a corpora-tion” and “AuB survived the civil war and will not be de-stroyed by high-handed and short-sighted policies of the current administration.” the authors of the pamphlets re-main anonymous.
continued from page 1
President Dorman giving his speech. Photo courtesy of AUB
Gnôthi seautón
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CAMPuS NEWSOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
Nostalgia takes its toll: Classes of ‘75 and ‘85 recieve their diplomas in July 2010
rami DiabStaff Writer
Nostalgia takes its toll: Classes of ‘75 and ‘85 get their diplomas in
July 2010 Fouad Badaoui 100 AuB alumni from the class-es of 1975 and 1985 attend-ed their long overdue Com-mencement Ceremony on July 2, 2010 at the Assembly Hall. the event, organized by the World Alumni Associa-tion of AuB (WAAAuB) and the Alumni relations, has been on the drawing board for the past 6 months, and was originally proposed by one of the alumni.
1975 and 1985 were both dif-ficult years in Lebanon and the violence was so extreme that the Distribution of Di-plomas was cancelled both times. Decades later, on July 2 2010, at around 6:00pm, Assembly Hall was filled with the families of the grad-uating alumni. In contrast to the attendees of the Com-mencement Ceremony of the class of 2010, they were mostly the graduates’ chil-dren and spouses rather than their parents. With nostal-gia, several organizers work-ing with WAAAuB chapters around the world like Ginane Maalouf explained that final-
ly receiving their degrees was like “a dream come true.” 1975 Valedictorian Flare Ma-jali welcomed back her fel-low graduates and remind-ed them of the good old days. “Let’s pretend yesterday we sat at the milkbar” she said, as she recollected the final days of her life as an AuB stu-dent. to many, the ceremo-ny represented a much need-ed closure. Majali regrets not having any transcripts or parties because of their sym-bolic meaning, which would have been much better than that of a silent goodbye: “we left in a haze, in the middle of the night, sometimes literal-
ly, sometimes figuratively.” looking at the campus now, she notices that “some names have changed, but the vision remains.” 1985 keynnote speaker Dr. kamel Abdal-lah spoke of the “emotional attachment” he will always have for the campus and of an unofficial graduation cer-emony he tried to have with his classmates. Abdallah re-minded his old classmates of the pledge they had made at that ceremony, to change the world and not compro-mise their dream. He then asked them: “did we change the world, or did the world change us?”
Career and Placement Services presents $200,000 to FAID
on Monday, June 5, the Career and Placement Servic-
es office headed by Dr. Maryam Ghandour present-ed a check worth $200,000 to AUB’s financial aid budget, to be distributed to qualified applicants as best seen fit. this generous contribution was made possible by AUB’s annual Job Fair, an assem-blage of dozens of incoming firms, companies, employ-ment groups, and businesses which flock to AUB campus each year equally distribut-ing themselves between West Hall the Green oval. As is the custom with every year, the greater percentage of reve-nue which annually nourish-es the financial aid budget is raised from membership fees paid by these certified insti-tutions as a contingency to their enrollment in the Job Affair. Ghandour began her career at AuB in the early year of 1990 after graduat-ing with a PhD in Counseling for College Students in High-er Education from Columbia university with a minor in Student Personal Adminis-tration. Since she was hired
as a university counselor in 1990 and up until she took of-fice as founder and leading specialist of the Office of Ca-reer and Placement Services at AuB in 2003, Ghandour, in parallel to her scholarly responsibilities as Assistant Professor of Psychology, has lavishly contributed some significant changes to the AuB community within her comfortable twenty years op-erational stay at AuB. Ghan-
dour has founded a multi-tude of initiatives varying from personal, academic, and career counseling AuB pro-grams to the Freshman ori-entation Program (FroP) and the Sophomore orienta-tion Program (toP not SoP) which both serve to better af-filiate and familiarize new-ly enrolled students with life on AuB campus. Yet anoth-er program recently founded under the Career and Place-
ment Service Office is the Oc-tober Special Employment Day which also seems to have gained some momentum in its two years of inception cur-rently serving as a mini Job Fair further introducing stu-dents to diverse job oppor-tunities. In celebration of this years 15th anniversa-ry for the Office of Career and Placement Services at AuB, Ghandour and her as-sociates have managed to in-
crease the financial aid sup-port from a measly $25,000 to a staggering $200,000 over the years – no light hearted feat to say the least. All in all, the AuB community is sure-ly grateful for the Office of Career and Placement Ser-vice’s success and endorses its mission in granting quali-fied students the much need-ed university education and career cruising opportunities they so richly deserve.
AuB President Peter Dor-man said the event was “unique by any measure” as he congratulated the alum-ni on the same “outstand-ing achievement” as he had the class of 2010 less than a week before. But, accord-ing to him, the classes of ‘75 and ‘85 had the added pride of going through those diffi-cult years and making it back for a “long overdue” ceremo-ny in order to finally “close the chapter.” Dorman hoped they had found the things he had wished for the 2010 class to find throughout their ca-reers.
Fouad BadaouiSenior Staff Writer
President Dorman presented with the check. Photo: Salim Batlouni/Outlook
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CAMPuS NEWSOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
over two months have passed after the stu-dent revolution and
the raging fire of the move-ment has faded away, leav-ing no more than a washed-out memory in the minds of the AuB community. But is this event an isolated inci-dent or is it a recurring pat-tern that keeps repeating it-self over and over again. Not only did the students en-rolled in the movement sep-arate over differences which in turn have slowed down the movement and paralyzed their efforts, but also wasted the university’s resources by boycotting classes. A tragic unnoticed loss of over $50 for every student who missed a class, that’s not counting the lost attendance grade. that is, if every student had about three classes a day, two days of missed classes with about 400 students participating in the movement meant losing over $60,000. that number would have been much larg-er if the boycott continued in the following week.the past has shown us that other causes that Arabs lob-bied for in our region similar-ly failed, with the lack of ef-fort and right means used being the reason. Words are the only weapon that we Ar-abs have shown to be compet-itive at using over the years. Yes words, is what we Arabs know how to produce perfect-ly.the struggle for Palestine and the liberty of its people to live freely in the lands of their ancestors, the right of the students to a decent caf-eteria services, the lebanese march towards independence and real democracy, the struggle of Egyptians to earn democracy after over three decades of repression. Count-less causes in which we failed to have our true demands ful-filled because of our reluctant laziness when it comes to the
the struggle for independence of the generation of defeatsIzzat HusriehStaff Writer&Zeid HreishContributing Writer
Israel, had to offer. this has brought the Arab world noth-ing but despair and count-less disappointments, which have caused and encouraged extremism in the region.Few of the students, who joined the march against the increase in tuition fees, know the real facts behind the de-cision of the administration. A well-informed audience is central to fulfilling the aims of any movement pursuing a genuine noble cause. March-ing behind the protesters just because one wants to show his support for his/her friends or to brag about how he/she got to skip class and appear “cool” is neither a suf-ficient reason, nor a genuine motivation. While the words of late president Bliss along with AuB slogan which have been overused by protesters
real work.AuB community is nothing but a part of the bigger pic-ture, which includes leb-anon and Middle Eastern community at large. While lebanese students have done nothing but echo the actions of their fathers who protested in Down town Bei-rut, none lebanese members of the student body saw this as a rare opportunity to prac-tice their right to “freedom of speech” which they have been denied in their countries of origin. We are not arguing against the cause and move-ment but the way of thought and implementation.A series of useless march-es and countless thoughtless protests is what the gener-ation of Arabs, who grew at the time of the defeat of the Arabs in the 1967 war with
Photo: Michel Saab/OutlookAuBites barricading oSB during the protest last May.
might guarantee them the right to express their discon-tent with the unforeseen in-crease in tuition, it also guar-antees other students the abundance to attend classes without being forced violent-ly to boycott.What the USFC didn’t re-alize is that our needs don’t stop here but extend to many abandoned areas that no one of the student representa-tives care for. those needs in-clude but are not bound to, the stinking AuB registra-tion-related advisory servic-es, the long awaited rehabil-itation of food services, and the unfair online registration system… What we are try-ing to say is that if the uSFC leaders really cared about this noble demand of keeping AuB accessible to all class-
es of people, they would have worked more than handed out meaningless speeches, defined an exact plan with sufficient alternatives, and lead a well informed and mo-tivated audience who would have been able to defend the cause they believed in.
Trying to find a
love supreme
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CAMPuS NEWSOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
on Monday, May 10, the American Uni-versity of Beirut’s own
Debate Club and Insight Club, in collaboration with Adam Deen’s Lectures and Debates, hosted a debate under the title, “Is Athe-ism Rational?” The event was open to anyone, includ-ing professors and students from other universities.the event was scheduled to begin at 5:00pm, in West Hall’s Auditorium A, but luck-ily someone suggested chang-ing the room to Bathish Audi-torium. It was clear that due to such a debatable topic, the event was highly anticipated because by 5:10pm nearly all the seats were filled, and by the time that the event start-ed at 5:15pm, the room was fully occupied. the title of the event had lived up to its con-tentious name and lured nu-
Debate Club and Insight Club host debate on the rationality of atheismEdrees ElrachidiStaff Writer
to the event. First Year Civ-il Engineering Student ta-her Farshoukh thought that it was “very interesting to hear what others think” and “hopes that our politi-cians will someday debate in a similar manner”. Busi-ness Sophomore Ahmad Suk-kar left with the conception that “atheism was refuted, and theism was left on logical grounds. It was one of a kind”. Computer Science Graduate ramie Sarieddine thought “it was a good debate, but the debaters were arguing on different frequencies: one was AM the other was FM, but overall it was good”. Dr. Johns said that it was “con-structive and should be done again”. Deen remarked that “[the event] raised some in-teresting questions about the tenability of atheism. If any-thing we’ve gotten people to rethink their questions on the matter.”
cause we don’t have a natural explanation to a phenomena, it doesn’t necessarily follow that we simply use a super-natural one to explain it. He made a comparison to the An-cient Greeks who would use supernatural explanations to everyday events like thun-derstorms, but now there are natural (i.e. scientific) expla-nations of these events.the 20-minute speeches were then followed by a 10-min-ute rebuttal by each debater, which were then followed by a five-minute closing state-ment. After the five-minute closing statement, there was a one hour question and an-swer session where the audi-ence members had the chance to ask the debaters questions to clarify their arguments. After this, the event was for-mally finished, but there was an informal question and an-swer session between the au-dience members and the de-baters present there.Most of the audience mem-bers left with high regards
ty of occurrence. often in sci-ence and math, when there is infinitesimal probability of an occurrence, it can be ne-glected due to the high prob-ability of other occurrences. Similarly natural law cannot have a relationship with the universe though it can ex-plain some phenomena with-in the universe.In his 20-minute speech, Dr. Johns began by saying that the point of the debate “is to [seek] out the grounds and truth of a problem” and that it would be difficult to “inquire into a problem by getting a 20 minute barrage of vastly com-plex arguments. [We] have to slow down examine the de-tails very carefully”. Further-more, Dr. Johns claimed that he wasn’t really “here to win a debate”, and claimed that “nobody can prove that God doesn’t exist…I’m just going to argue that there isn’t suf-ficient evidence to believe he exists”. He argued that Deen’s points were all “con-troversial” and that just be-
merous attendees.the debate was between Dr. Chris Johns, a Professor of Philosophy at AuB, who was “pro”-atheism, and Adam Deen, an International lec-turer on Muslim Apologetics, who was “con”-atheism. It be-gan with a 20-minute open-ing speech by each debater.Deen began by defining what an atheist is and pointed out that “according to the En-cyclopedia of Philosophy an atheist is ‘someone who maintains that God does not exist’ i.e. one who main-tains evidence of [God’s] in-existence”. So “[his] job was to prove that God exists” and therefore atheists maintain no evidence to believe oth-erwise, which makes their argument illogical. one ar-gument was that the “fine tuning of the universe is [ei-ther due to] natural law, chance, or design. It is nei-ther natural law nor chance. therefore it is design”. It cannot be chance because of the infinitesimal probabili-
last month, the Biology Student Society (BSS) held an interesting
sportive event. Current BSS junior representative and Ju-nior Biology Major, Ali Haid-ar contacted Dr. Jad Melki, Assistant Professor of Jour-nalism and Media Studies at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at FAS, AuB, in hopes of arranging a friendly volleyball match that would unite students and professors alike in a stir-ring spectacle of sportive fes-tivity. the game took place at the rightmost Charles Hos-tler Student Center Basket-ball arena, transformed into a volleyball court and was launched at about 8:30 car-rying through until 10 pm. Ironically enough, the team players divided themselves such that the game was es-
fessors confidently win-ning two of three rounds at scores of twenty five (profes-sors) to sixteen and nineteen (students) respectively, their roll of victories was met by an abrupt and unexpect-ed blow of defeat - twen-ty five (students) to twenty three (professors), ouch! But did the professorial team let that tarnish their fine repu-tation? “The game was fun and both the students and the faculty showed great athletic spirit, but the stu-dents will need a lot of prac-tice before they can dream of posing any serious threat to us. Maybe next year!” stated Professor Jad Melki. Despite the loss of the Biol-ogy students, Biology Major Amjad Kanj was not will-ing to give in modestly de-claring, “they may have won the battle, but they have not yet won the war!” The
(Engineering), kassem kas-sak (FHS), and Samer el Dika (AuH), Noel Ghanem (Biology), Wasim Masri (En-gineering), rola khatib (FHS), Mariette Awad (En-gineering), Ibrahim Farah (library), Fadi karameh (Engineering), Barbara lier-mann (Engineering), tarek Ghaddar (Chemistry), Arne Dietrich (Psychology/SBS), and of course Bilal kaafara-ni (Chemistry). This episode of manic vol-leyball (professors vs. stu-dents) was a smashing suc-cess, leaving the professor victorious and the students, well, smashed! However, it would be rather unjust not to mention the cohe-sive and united strategic plays of our fellow students which seemed only to esca-late in intensity as they ad-vanced into the game. In fact, with the league of pro-
sentially a match between professors and students, al-most as if the students were planning their defeat right from the very beginning! the team of Biology juniors and seniors comprised Amjad Kanj, Omar Nawfal, Elias Saidy, Mohammad Ali rida, Elie Najjar, and Roy Khal-ifee. As for the team of pro-fessors, players shuffled be-tween several members including Jad Melki (Me-dia Studies/SBS), Eveline Hitti (AuH), Youssef Mou-neimne (CrS lab), Walid Sa-far (Business), and Houssam El-rassy (Chemistry). oth-er professors who normal-ly play along with the latter aforementioned bunch and are thus liable to participate in future volleyball matches vs. students, include krzysz-tof Fleszar (Business), Na-dine Darwish (Biology), Faek Jamali (AuH), Ali Yassine
Biology Student Society volleyball tournamentrami DiabStaff Writer team of professors howev-
er seem once more to have a different opinion of the match, “one more thing,” said Dr. Melki, “our facul-ty are ready to defeat any student team that can mus-ter up the courage to face our fury. We will make their defeat so painful, that stu-dents will give up sports all together and confine them-selves to the library - where they belong. Now go back to your books and tests and leave sports to us - the real athletes - and stop crowding the gym!” All in all the vol-leyball match was successful at uniting students and pro-fessors and paved the way for future sportive encoun-ters between the two teams in hopes that student-teach-er relationships may ex-pand far outside classrooms and into the sportive battle fields!
Alejandro?
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ArtS & CulturEAUg 10, 2010
Absolace launches Resolve[d]; their first official debut album Press release
Stemming out with a new style of progressive metal music; Absolace
marks the coming together of individuals hailing from very diverse musical back-grounds, and is the brain-child of drummer Greg Car-gopoulos. For the first time after 3 years of writing, they have finally joined togeth-er to release their first offi-cial debut album resolve[d]; a move which will thrill their wide fan base across the Mid-dle East.What brought this band to-gether was their mutual pas-sion for music and their con-verging tastes in Progressive metal. their shared love for some of the most prolific acts in rock and metal cemented the bond, and their diverging musical training backgrounds made this union even more re-markable. What makes this band live lineup so unique is its diverse mix, bringing stars from var-ious cultural backgrounds to-gether. the band is comprised of: Nadim Jamal (Vocals) from lebanon, Ben Harris (Bass) from Australia, Greg Cargo-poulos from Greece (Drums), Jack Skinner (Guitars) from uk, and kyle roberts (keys, Synths, Samples) from uk.Absolace do not hand out a
simple regurgitation of the same old sound. they have managed to infuse the ener-gy, life experience, and cul-tural awareness of their time into a musical genre already steeped in a history of social relevance. “This will be the first time Ab-solace comes together as a band to perform, and we are really looking forward to it, we have worked very hard for this and just hope people en-joy the final product.”Nadim Jamal (Vocals)A general pursuit of instinct, rather than a convention-al rock band dynamic is one
strong grasp of rhythm. the lyrical content of the record is at times cathartic, and is based on the vocalist’s experi-ences that have affected him in a profound way. “through being involved in several bands of various genres over the years, my style has developed and I’ve incorporated other sounds and musical approaches which have all made their way into resolve[d].” says Na-dim Jamal“We are all really excited about starting to play live. We have been rehearsing a lot, putting in hours and hours in
of the strongest distinctive-ness of Absolace. the creative method utilized by the mem-bers of Absolace espouses a holistic manner of thought, rather than placing a narrow-minded emphasis on individ-ual parts. the result – resolve[d] – is the product of a long process that took place at several dif-ferent locations between Sep-tember 2008, and June 2009, mainly in the band’s home studio in Dubai. From the outset, the core of the album’s musical configuration has re-volved around rhythm, nota-bly because of the drummer’s
Photo: Courtesty of AbsolaceAbsolace
AuB Choir Spring concert — a concert to be remembered
Having been with the AUB choir for 10 years now, AUB pro-
fessor and choral director Paul Meers is taking his fi-nal bow. On Monday May 10, the AUB choir and cho-ral society, along with the National Chamber Orches-tra of Lebanon, performed a Bach ensemble at Assem-bly Hall, with familiar and not-so familiar pieces inter-woven throughout the eve-ning. For this year’s spring
concert, the music pieces featured Cantatas 50, 140 and excerpts from major works of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Bach, a German baroque organ-ist and contrapuntist who composed mostly keyboard music and, till this very day, is still regarded as one of the greatest creators of the Western music. throughout the whole eve-ning during the event, one could not but notice the au-dience’s exuberance with the choir’s heartfelt performance. Beginning with the choir’s powerful rendition of Bach’s
bagh and bass Hadi Fakhred-dine.Paul Meers always believed that for you to sing that you should ‘‘Sing as if your whole life depends on it’’, and in-deed, on this particular night, that was exactly what the AuB choir did. Following the concert, a celebration in hon-or of Meer’s 10 years of contin-uous dedication to AuB choir took place in Cello. It has been an exceptional decade for the AuB choir and choral society, and the loss of Paul Meers will leave a resounding final note in AuB. His dedication, encouragement, and teaching
Cantata 50, till the final performance of Dona Nobis, the AuB choir delivered a performance that was by all means grandeur and is sure to leave a lasting legacy as Mr. Meer’s final, trium-phant farewell. the night also featured performance by three soloists. Guest ten-or soloist Ziad Nehme, Mez-zo Soprano singer Yara Abu Er rubb, and Bass so-loist Hadi Fakhreddine lit-erally mesmerized the au-dience with their graceful performance. the ensemble also featured a riveting duet with soprano Yasmina Sab-
Lojy Kamel & Maya TerroStaff Writers
OUTlOOk
ability have only propelled the choir to perform at their best, which they certainly did Monday night. Paul Meers praised the choir for its final concert, stating “I was really pleased with the performance from everyone: orchestra, soloists, and especially the choir. they did a truly mag-nificent job. And the tributes from choir and audience were really moving too. It has been a real pleasure and privilege to lead the AuB Choir and Choral Society for the past ten years, and I know they will do even greater things offered in the future.”
the studio to make us sound as tight as possible. Everybody in the band has really put in so much effort to learn their parts as fluently as possible.” Greg Cargopoulos (drums)resolve[d] will mark a new approach to Progressive met-al and offer a fresh new look at the tantalizing and promis-ing future that awaits Absol-ace. their extensive music tal-ent and knowledge has been learned throughout years of determination and incredible breakthrough work, and now it’s their time to share the richness of their cultural and musical flavor with the world.
the name “Abu Naji” may ring countless bells for many mem-
bers of the AuB community and the reasons are not sur-prising. Outlook conducted an in-terview with Mahmud El-Meel (also known as Abu Naji), proprietor of Bliss Street’s ‘minimarket’ “Epi-dor”. The market has re-cently relocated which has led many students to join a Facebook group called “EPIDOR - ABU NAJI - BLISS street the past and the future... we SUPPORT you.” The group has over 650 members.
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out oF tHE BoxOUTlOOk AUg 10, 2010
Local market foreclosed but relocates to supply AUBites’ constant demandEdrees ElrachidiStaff Writer
Outlook: Can you explain why your market was relocat-ed?
Abu Naji: the shop was moved because the landlord intends to demolish the build-ing [that contained the previ-ous shop] and it’s ultimately his right to do so. this tran-sition phase was probably a larger burden on our cus-tomers than it was for us. they had to get accustomed to the new location. the pre-vious location (across AUB’s main gate) served as a meet-ing place and departure site for many customers. thank-fully we’re still doing well as we didn’t move too far away; we’re still on Bliss Street.
O: How long have you been here?
AN: I’ve been on Bliss Street since 1987. the shop actual-ly existed since the early 70s, but it wasn’t until 1987 that I assumed responsibility.
O: Were your old customers the same ones that you’re getting today or was there a change in customers?
AN: Generally speaking our reliance is mostly on the uni-versity’s students, faculty,
and staff. When the univer-sity’s closed, this street is of little value. The street’s life comes solely from the univer-sity, so our customers haven’t changed.
O: How did you publicize your new location?
AN: Initially we started spreading the word that we would move and that we were searching for a place on this street. And thank God we found this place.
O: How would you compare the level of commerce that ex-isted in your old shop with that of your new shop?
AN: to be honest, it would be difficult to make a compari-son because when we moved
alize that when anyone enters the shop, we make sure they feel at home and take their time. Finally we have an hon-est reputation. Suppose a stu-dent paid for his purchases with a hundred dollar bill and I gave him back the change. The guy wouldn’t ensure if he received the right change and if I tell him to count his change he would say some-thing like, “There’s no need for that, Abu Naji. Do I not trust you? If I don’t trust you then I shouldn’t come here in the first place.” [The AUB community] are our family.
O: Anything else you’d like to add?
AN: Honestly, I never realized that the AuB community had such a high regard of us. Ap-
there weren’t any classes (due to the reading period and in-ter-semester break), and the summer term has just start-ed. It seems that, so far, there hasn’t been much of a differ-ence though. Hopefully as time passes things will im-prove and people will get used to the new location.
O: Are there any competitors that sell the same products that you do?
AN: Without too much pride, the products we offer aren’t what lure our customers. It’s our love and brotherhood that ties us to AUB’s community; that’s what makes them come to us. We also know what they want, so we offer those prod-ucts, and make everything easy to find. You probably re-
Be on the lookout
with Outlook!
Photo: Salim Batlouni/OutlookAbu Naji ever ready to serve AUBites.
parently, it’s not just at AUB, but other places in the Middle East. We’ve received frequent phone calls from alumni working in various countries inquiring about how we’re doing. I’d like to thank them all, be they students, employ-ees, faculty, staff, or alumni [of AuB]. they sympathized with us, supported us, and stood with us. All we wish is the best for them.
Maroun kisrwani
Cleo Cacoulidis
Antonios Francis
Mohamad Yahia Hamade
Marwan Ali Jaafar
Mariam El Ali
tala kardasrasha Salem
John Hajjar
Simon Barakat
Fouad BadaouiElie El khouryWajiha Jurdi KheirTarek TutunjiMoussa Chalah
Mohamad Al-MedwarTariq BuhilaigahDima HajjQater Al Nada MohsenMichel Saab
Deedee Jilani
The OuTlOOk TeAm
Chairperson
Faculty Advisor
responsible Director
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Editor
Arabic Editor
News Executives
layout Director
Member at large
Senior Staff Writers
Staff Writers
Photography Editor Photographers
Cartoonist
12
out oF tHE BoxNews in pictures
“Man, I was just miscalling you... why did you answer!”
AUBite drowns butterflies.
Go to class, or else.
World’s biggest radish
AUB’s Post Office employee Loutfi Hage-Hassan found a sixteen kilogram radish in his Bekaa farm of Haoush En-Nabi. Hage-Hassan told outlook his radish entered
Guinness World records as the biggest radish in the entire world.
“I’m telling you, my radish is pure and natural,” Hage-Hassan assured outlook. He hopes to break the world record that he set yet another time during this year’s radish season. Outlook will be on the lookout!
the prize-winning radish.
this epic layout is courtesy of Yahia, the best EIC ever!
