BOSTON—"I've been a wrestling fan for about 35 [years]...my son said to me last night, 'Bret Hart's is doing a book signing at B.U.' I just had to go."
Not something you'd expect to hear from a working mother of three, but that's exactly what you'd get if you stopped to chat with Claudia Carney, one of the first people in line at the signing of Bret Hart's new book, "Hitman." The retired wrestling entertainer signed books for over 200 adoring fans at the B.U. Barnes & Noble last night.
Carney pulled out a fading photograph that she asked Hart to sign. The picture was of her and her three smiling kids with Hart, fifteen years ago. Carney’s son, who told her about the event, still shares her passion for wrestling.
"And this little youngster is now a 27-year-old who goes to everything," she said as she pointed to him in the picture. Carney’s son bought her Hart's book for Mother's Day, which she said she could not put down. "I literally stopped short, I was like, I have to slow this fun-journey down," Carney said. "I just have to because it's almost over!"
Carney arrived two and a half hours early for the event to secure her spot in line, but others were not as lucky. The marquee of wrestling enthusiasts wrapped around humor section, through the social sciences and between current affairs — a span of roughly two-thirds of the wall space on that floor of the store.
The chatter among the crowd kept focused on Hart and wrestling. Questions of whether Hart could still put someone in a headlock, what his best move really was or whether he’ll accept an apprentice were passed about in whispers. None of the fans challenged Hart to an arm-wrestling contest, but a handful had a picture taken while in Hart’s trademark “sleeper hold.”
When asked if he would put the wrestling superstar into a headlock when he made it to the front of the line, Northeastern graduate James Brown did not hesitate for a second.
“Nope, not gonna do it,” said Brown, confidently. He and friend Bobby Imperato drove from Saugus, Mass. to meet Hart, whom they said, still has some fight left in him. Brown said he has no questions for Hart, whom he met 10 years ago in Boston. Brown, 22, and Imperato, 23, said they have been fans of wrestling since they were seven years old and that wrestling was a major part of their childhoods. When asked if they had any questions for the graying superstar, the two said they just wanted to say “thanks.”
“Just for signing the book, being willing to take the picture,” said Imperato. “Just for being here!”
The pair said they were confident that last night was Hart’s last time coming to Boston, and that this was their opportunity to see him one last time. Perhaps others in the room felt the same urgency, because the number of attendees almost doubled what the bookstore management expected, said Trade Department Manager Lisa Eaverone.
“We expected at least 100, but we weren’t sure how many more than that would come,” said Eaverone. “We’ve had some wrestlers before and we expected a big crowd from that past experience.” Triple H and Chris Jericho have come to the bookstore within the past two years and have helped it stand out as a successful stop for wrestlers.
“Just like last time we other wrestlers, we had [people bring] belts,” mentioned Eaverone. “That wouldn’t be weird to a wrestling fan, but it’s so unusual to see that in a bookstore.”
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BOSTON—Police are cracking down on vandalism in West Roxbury after multiple business owners reported that their property had been egged last week Monday, according to a statement released yesterday by the Boston Police Department.
Police and local business owners are convinced that the egging was a common Halloween prank executed by unruly adolencents. Regardless, store managers like Tom Moynihan were stunned to see it happen so early in the month.
"Basically just around the Halloween there, that Friday" is when the eggings start, said Moynihan. "I usually just pull [the eggs] back and not sell 'em to the kids."
Moynihan is one of the managers at the Roche Bros. supermarket in Roxbury, located about one-fifth of a mile away from the District E-5 Police Station in West Roxbury. Moynihan said that he traditionally cards kids just few days before Halloween, but he has not yet been asked to do so by BPD officers. The statement released yesterday said that grocers in the area had been notified of last Monday's act of vandalism and urged not to sell eggs to minors, but today was the first that Moynihan had heard of either.
Store manager Ahed Rajeh of White Hen Pantry was asked to stop selling eggs to minors by police officers who visited the shop. The store is located immediately next to the the police station in Roxbury.
Although he said that he will comply with the BPD's requests, Rajeh said he fears more restrictions may come soon. Rajeh mentioned that police officers appeared eager to hold him accountable for vandalism if he did not agree to the requests of the officers.
"The accusation they throw at us is not true" said Ahed Rajeh about a comment a police officer made to him that grocers were knowingly selling eggs to kids who could shell out the cash.
The BPD has pledged to arrest and charge anyone caught throwing eggs. Violators who throw eggs at other people will be charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon -- a crime with a maximum penalty of two and a half years in jail or up to $1,000 in fines.
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BOSTON—Video recordings of classes may be available to B.U. students who miss class for religious holidays if a new pilot program from the Provost's office is implemented.
As part of the new program, biology professor Ulla Hansen was asked to record one of her classes last Monday in observance of Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish holiday celebrating the New Year. The recording is not yet available to her students, but Hansen said that it will be accessible online.
But for COM sophomore Rachel Udwin, Prof. Hansen's recordings are of no help. Udwin did not attend her classes on Tuesday and Wednesday in observance of Rosh Hashanah. She spent both days in prayer at Morse Auditorium, an experience that took up roughly 11 hours of her time, according to her estimate.
"I think [recordings] would have definitely helped," said Udwin, "because all I have now are someone else’s' notes."
Udwin explained that although she has been able to catch up, borrowed notes were still inferior to seeing and hearing her professors give the lecture. And although Udwin gave her professors advanced notice of her absence, it was her responsibility to acquire notes from her classmates.
Ahmed Abdelmeguid, a junior in CAS, had a different opinion from Udwin. According to Abdelmeguid, recorded classes are asking too much of professors and may encourage students to simply skip class without fear of falling behind.
"It would require a lot from a professor, who’s probably doing research, to provide every lecture for classes that a student has missed," said Abdelmeguid. "I have never heard of teachers doing this before, nor do I think that it should be required of them."
The IR major missed three classes on Wednesday to participate in the Islamic holiday, Eid ul-Fitr, a day of celebration that marks the end of the month-long fast, Ramadan. Like Udwin, Abdelmeguid also got notes from a classmate but added that even if the notes weren't enough, he could easily seek first hand instruction by going to his professors' office hours.
Students who attend college in Massachusetts are protected by state law when they miss classes to observe religious holidays. The law (Chapter 151C of the General Laws of the Commonwealth) states that students who miss class because of religious duties "shall be excused from any such examination or study or work requirement, and shall be provided with an opportunity to make up such examination, study, or work requirement." The provision goes on to state that "no adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to students" if they do miss class.
But not all professors adhere to that policy, said Kip Lombardo, the director of student activities at the B.U. Hillel House.
"We have had to work with Marsh Chapel to remind faculty and staff about that," said Lombardo, who also teaches writing seminars at B.U. The responsibility of balancing academic and religious lifestyles also falls upon the student, said Lombardo. He advocates that students plan ahead to avoid conflicts. On Yom Kippur, for instance, participants are not supposed to eat, drink or do work for 26 hours.
"If you have a test of Friday, you can't tell your professor you can't take it because Yom Kippur was on Thursday," said Lombardo. "You'd better have studied the weekend before."
According to Lombardo, there are roughly 3,500 Jewish undergraduates at B.U., and about 80 percent of them observe Jewish holidays. Yom Kippur is only one of 115 religious, ethnic and civic holidays that was recently published by Purdue University for the 2008-09 academic year. Of the 115 holidays, 18 occur in October.
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BOSTON—Dozens of volunteers floated in and out of the non-profit bicycle refurbishing warehouse of Bikes Not Bombs for the weekly volunteer night held on Wednesdays. The number of participants has more than tripled in the past year, said senior volunteer Kit Transue.
"It's all word of mouth," Transue said, proudly. Although there was no formal list, newcomers accounted for about a quarter of last night's group, Transue estimated. He added that another quarter of the group were people who had only been there one or two times before. Transue manages BNB’s volunteer nights with fellow cyclist Christopher Adams. The two attributed the explosion in popularity to the growing number of bike owners popping up all over the Boston area and a trend toward humanitarianism.
Groups from Fidelity, City Year (an Americorp branch), MIT, and Boston University, to name a few, have helped out at BNB, squeezing 30-40 people into a workshop meant to hold far less, said Adams. The assistance is still dearly appreciated by the older volunteers who sort, deconstruct and pack used bicycles that they collect from all around Boston. The bikes that are in usable condition are put into shipping crates and sent to impoverished communities by the hundreds. Since it’s creation in 1994, BNB has shipped over 32,000 bikes to nine different countries. All of this has been accomplished by volunteers like the ones that show up on Wednesday nights.
The nonprofit has had successes in other areas as well. This year was the 21st BNB Bike-a-Thon, which saw a 250 percent increase in money raised, said Adams. The event had roughly 400 registered riders, each held to a minimum pledge of $150 to participate, according to the BNB website.
"And that's just one year's growth," commented Adams. He mentioned that the organization has matured over the years from a “scrappy punk thing” that was funded by small alternative rock concerts to a growing enterprise with two locations – the workshop and a self-sustaining used bike store further down the street.
Jasmine Laietmark is an office assistant who has been with BNB for four years. She attributed the nonprofit’s success to the workshop space that they acquired in late-December of 2006.
"We're now taking in more bikes than ever each year, and this year, that'd be about 6,000 bikes," said Laietmark. She added that the shop is also “booming” and has its own blog website to display specialty bikes the shop finds.
Laietmark said that it would not be possible without the cooperation from individuals and institutions who help to donate, locate or process bikes that might otherwise end up in landfills.
"It's pretty amazing how many bikes just get abandoned,” said Laietmark. “Boston's just full of people... who live here only for a few years and then move on and leave their bikes behind." Coincidentally, it is also a diverse group of “seasonal” members who process and care for these bikes, said Laietmark.
"People do come from pretty far,” Laietmark said. “Most of them bike here, of course."
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