DePaul Women Close Regular Season On a Good Note

The DePaul Women's basketball team ended their regular season at Cincinnati on Monday blowing out the Bearcats 67-47. Sam Quigley lead DePaul in the victory scoring 18 points while Deirdre Naughton added 14. DePaul finished the season winning four of their last six games wound up with an overall record of 22-8. The Blue Demons finished fifth in the Big East with a conference record of 10-6. Naughton was the team's leading scorer this season averaging 15.7 points per game. She also lead the team in total rebounds. The first round of the Big East tournament begins this Friday at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The Big East tournament will change their bracket style to include all 16 conference team. In previous years only the top 12 teams from the conference were invited to the tournament. For any fans out there who planning to make the trip to Hartford, tickets are on sale and range from $20 for the opening games to $30 for the championship game.

Theatre School Presents: Bud, Not Buddy

On March 31, the theatre school will present the production of Bud, Not Buddy at the Merle Reskin Theatre. I know it's not 'till the end of the month, but it's something to look forward to so here are some of the event details. Bud, Not Buddy is a 1999 children's novel by Christopher Paul Curtis. The book is the winner of the 2000 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature, as well as the Coretta Scott King Award that is given in recognition of outstanding African-American authors.

The story follows the journey of a young African-American orphan, Bud, as he discovers clues in the search for his father in Depression-era Michigan. An advertisement leads him to adventures in Chicago, where he finds community among a group of jazz musicians and an unexpected sense of home.

This production will be taking place during March 31-May 23. In addition, on Thursday, 5/14, and Saturday, 5/16 the production will be interpreted in American Sign Language. Tickets are $8 with DePaul and group discounts available. Check out http://theatreschool.depaul.edu for more information. 

Ahh..the therapy of blogging.

[WARNING: this post may a get a little sentimental.]

 I am a pretty big advocate of the blogging-is-separate-from-journalism camp, but over the past few days, I have realized one way in which blogging may be better, believe it or not.

 Now, I do not quite know how to preface this, because an outpouring of sympathy is by no means what I want or need. This past weekend wasn’t the best. A close friend of mine from the University of Chicago died in a car accident Saturday night. Seems unrelated, but here’s what it made me realize about BLOGS:

 1. They are supportive and therapeutic: whether it is through supportive comments or just going on the site to read everyone else’s posts (which I have done about 29583723 times in the past few days). I would absolutely not go to a highly journalistic news website to cheer me up or find support.

2.  They let you express how you feel. I can’t pretend that I am giddy and hyper and happy right now, so I can’t right a post that sounds giddy and hyper and happy (which, unfortunately, I think I usually do—yikes). Blogs can be about anything and express whatever emotion they want at the time. News cannot.           

So, while I still stand that blogging and journalism are completely separate entities, I have a new respect for blogging. I feel like in all our discussions we have felt a need to make one ‘good’ and the other ‘bad,’ but really, that is not the case. Blogging and journalism serve different social functions, and right now, I’ve turned to blogging.

 Thanks for keeping this so entertaining, everybody!                                             

SLI Workshop

Throughout the quarter I have been submitting blog postings regarding DePaul’s Student Leadership Institute or the SLI.  The last workshop I went to had a speaker who knew more than enough about leadership and had some very impressive credentials such as working with NBA teams on their motivation and confidence.  On March 6^th in room 220 from 2-5 p.m. of DePaul’s Lincoln Park student center there is going to be the last SLI workshop for the quarter entitled Leadership as Service.  There will be a key note speaker like each workshop the SLI puts together and you will be given the chance to get to better know fellow students through group activities.  

Although you cannot get credit for attending the workshop in order to attain the leadership certificate I have attended these workshops and I have not registered before going.  I have learned a lot of valuable information through SLI and their workshops so I encourage anyone who wants to learn something outside of class periods to stop by the workshop.  For more info on SLI you can visit their website at http://studentaffairs.depaul.edu/sli/

Here's an awesome way to save money!

With the economy in its current state, it certainly seems like everyone's trying to buckle down and save their cash; living in Chicago can be pretty expensive, though. Couple that with the fact that a lot of us have tuition and bills to pay, and that doesn't leave a lot of money left over for food or fun. I found out about this neat website that looks like it might save you a few bucks the next time you find yourself wondering what to do with your weekend. It's called the Groupon.

Every day, the Groupon offers something different to do in Chicago at a discounted price: a lot of times it's restaurants, but sometimes it's other things like discounted Second City tickets (today, for instance, it's tickets to a boxing tournament). The deals aren't always that exciting, but it can be a nice way to A.) save money and B.) find out about new stuff to do around Chicago.

Here's how it works: you can check out whatever today's deal is by going to http://groupon.thepoint.com/. If you're interested in what they're selling that day, you sign up by giving them your information. The catch is, each event requires a certain amount of people to sign up before it'll happen: if they get the required amount (and in my experience, they ALWAYS do), you'll get an e-mail the next day with a printable coupon for whatever you just bought. It's pretty cool, because it exposes local businesses to more customers, and it saves us money.

DePaul Nearly Upsets Villanova

DePaul nearly upset Villanova last Wednesday at home, but came up just short losing 74-72. DePaul opened up a six point lead early in the first half, but the Wildcats came back to take a five point lead with seven minutes to play. With just under five minutes to go in the first half and trailing by one, DePaul went on a 14-5 run, closing the first half with an eight point lead. Dar Tucker opened the second half with a jumper, giving DePaul a double digit lead against the then number 12 team in the country. Corey Strokes hit a 3-pointer for Villanova with 11:20 to go, giving them the lead 47-44. Villanova then took a double digit lead with eight and a half minutes to play. DePaul was able to cut the lead to two points with 53 seconds to play on a Matija Poscic lay-up. DePaul was forced to play the foul game down the stretch and Villanova was able to hit all their free throws. Dar Tucker made a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left making the final score 74-72. Will Walker had a big game for the Blue Demons scoring 23 points and shooting 6-11 from behind the arc. My prediction was that Villanova would roll over the Blue Demons and DePaul would finally win a conference game against St. John’s. I was way off. St. John’s easily beat the Blue Demons at Allstate Arena this Saturday. Two bright spots in that game were Dar Tucker’s 24 points and Mac Koshwal’s double-double. DePaul will have two more shots at a Big East win, both on the road. Wednesday they will travel to West Virginia to battle the Mountaineers, and they will finish the season in Washington D.C to take on the Georgetown Hoyas.

Women's History Month at DePaul

Image courtesy of womensrights.change.org.

Did you know that March is Women’s History Month? To ring in International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 5, the university’s Women's Center will be hosting events at the Student Center on the Lincoln Park campus.

From 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. in Room 120, there will be a luncheon featuring Laura Washington, an Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor who teaches journalism here at DePaul. Washington is also an award-winning journalist/columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. During the luncheon, there will be a discussion of the following topic: “Was Gloria Steinem Right About 2008 Being a Watershed Year of History-making in Politics and Social Justice and, if so, Where do Women Stand in 2009?”

Next, from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. in Room 314, there will be a panel discussion with activists and survivors from San Salvador Atenco, Mexico where there is a brutal history of women’s rights violations (that received much publicity in 2006 and still continue today). The presentation will be in Spanish with translation.

The last event of the day is guest speaker Dr. Andrea Smith from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. in Room 120. Smith is a Cherokee scholar and anti-violence activist known for her work in Native Feminist Liberation Theology. She also co-founded INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and the Chicago chapter of Women of All Red Nations. Smith will be speaking on the topic: “Another Politics is Possible: Women of Color Organizing.”

All of these International Womens Day events on Thursday are free.