rollin’ rollin’ rollin’... from the editor This is my very last issue of DEconstruction. So, in an obligatory sentimental letter from the editor, I would like to thank some people who have helped make this experience amazing. Along the way, multiple professors have guided my writing and designing skills, teaching me to explore beyond the classroom. The English Department funded and supported this magazine prior to it becoming an RSO; for that start and their continued investment in our succes, thank you. Without these people, it would have been like writing in the dark. Of course, our many contributors who offer talent, hours, and creative work to the project. Clearly, their work forms the heart of our publication as well as the inspiration to continue working on it. Most importantly, thank you to my staff for dedicating themselves to an unpaid and unregulated endeavor. Their hard work, witty writing, last-minute pitching in, consistent creativity, and loyalty have helped this magazine grow better with each issue. I have been lucky to lead a team who sees the value in an open forum for communication. I leave this magazine in good hands, hands that will use creativity and smarts to better the publica- tion. My best wishes and encouragement go out to the students who will run and contribute to future issues of DEconstruction. Enjoy! Love & Luck, Kimberly Jo Coles DEconstruction Staff Editor-in-Chief Kimberly Coles Lead Review Editor Jenna Swiren Layout Designers Kimberly Coles Sarah Levit t Wallace McKelvey Amy Saltzman K athryn Santora Treasurer K athryn Santora Secretary Jessica Eisenbrey Publicity Nicole Eryan Copyeditor Tany a Servis Lead Editors Amy Saltzman Wallace McKelvey Contributing Writers Kimberly Coles Jasmine Pues Jessica Eisenbrey Kyle Rougeau Nicole Eryan George Saad Kathleen Hebblewaite Amy Saltzman Molly MacMillan (blog) James Adams Smith Wallace McKelvey Colleen Stewart Mike Pina Jenna Swiren Cover Art K athryn Santora Check out the DEconstruction blog at... http://deconstruction.wordpress.com/ Featuring General Savvy Articles Reacting to the Virginia Tech Tragedy George Saad 3 What the dot com culture forgot to ask James Adams Smith 5 UDSIS: an improvement or a mistake Colleen Stewart 7 Guide to...Writing Emo Poetry Kathleen Hebblewait 9 NBA Playoff Preview Mike Pina 11 A Senior’s Take on College Jenna Swiren 13 Reluctant Senior Musings Nicole Eryan 14 Quibbles & Bits Staff 15 What’s your fantasy? Jasmine Pues 16 Delaware’s Own Piece of Glory Kyle Rougeau 17 Reviews Grindhouse Wallace McKelvey 19 Black Book James Adams Smith 21 Hot Fuzz Wallace McKelvey 22 Concert Review: Third Eye Blind Amy Saltzman 23 Lullaby by Chuck Palahnuik Kimberly Coles 25 Know Your Local Bands Jessica Eisenbrey 26 DEconstruction Reacting the the Virgina Tech Tragedy ~ george saad Before I start, I want to express that my thoughts, student population, but I don't think I am the prayers, and condolences are with the victims and only person who reacted this way. It's easier to families of the Virginia Tech shooting. This incident make fun of our police's inadequacies than it is was disgusting and tragic, and although I am going to cope with what happened. It just is. to talk about how we reacted to the incident at Delaware, I don't mean to suggest in any way that I wanted to write this article about how the we can truly understand what those students and police were not around to stop the criminal who families are going through in Virginia. held up students at gunpoint in the University Courtyards parking lot a few weeks ago, yet When I heard about the Virginia Tech shooting, they were effectively able to catch my roommate I didn't really know how to react. Anger? (who is 21 by the way) walking across that same Horror? Fear? Sadness? All of these seemed parking lot with an open container of beer a few appropriate. I think most of campus, or the peo- weeks earlier. ple that I've talked to anyway, reacted with I wanted to some combination of talk about these steps: how alcohol is too much 1. Check Facebook of a point of and hope for a sta- emphasis for tus update from the police any and all friends here when at Virginia Tech. they should Possibly write on be focusing the friend's wall. on the gun- People men and actually from rapists, the Virginia probably real crimi- got on the phone. nals of this town. 2. Step back and seriously think I wanted to about what things imply that would be like if, stuff like God forbid, something like that were to hap- what happened at Virginia Tech can be avoided pen here. if the police work hard enough and more effi- ciently. 3. Conclude that police reaction here would be worse and more fatalities would occur. But I can't write all that. It's not fair to the police, and it's not fair to the victims at Virginia 4. Make a joke about Newark Police and/or Tech. The truth of the matter is that no matter UDPD. how hard the police work, bad things are still going to happen. I don't want to get too "psych major" here, but in times of extreme psychological trauma, it is We as a student population evaluate the police really easy to use humor as a defense mecha- force here based on results - something we nism. I don't want to speak for the whole UD haven't found the police to be producing. What Summer 2007 I want to suggest is that we begin to evaluate And no matter how much we want to put in on the police based on their effort. The police force the police, there's no real way to stop it entirely. is in a position too important to be infected with This is the world we live in. Bad things just laziness and apathy, and if that's their crime happen. than we should nail them to the wall. They'd deserve it. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. {} There’s certainly no justification for it. {} But that's not their crime. Their only crime is Instead of worrying about the police doing their that there are too many bad people out there for job, we should worry about doing ours. And our the police to stop. It's too easy for a person to job is simple. Go to class. Go to work. Go to get a gun. And if we made it harder for people parties. Go to the club chess team meeting. Go to get guns, it would be too hard for good peo- do whatever it is you do that people like Cho ple to defend themselves from bad people who are trying to scare you out of doing. We'll never steal guns or use other weapons. be able to guarantee our safety, but by doing our jobs, we can guarantee that Cho never wins. We live in a world that relies on people being trusted to be decent human beings, being trust- My friend Micah said that the UD equivalent of ed to respect the lives of those around them. what happened at V-Tech would be a gunman Some people don't deserve that trust, and that's opening fire in Russell dorms and then going to the reason tragedies like what happened at Smith hall and continuing. The consensus Virginia Tech happen. That's why Columbine among my friends was that if such a scenario happened. And 9/11. And what happened at occurred, far more than 33 students would die. Town Court two years ago. The police here just wouldn't be ready. Bad things happen. There's no rhyme or reason Are they right? I don't know. All we can do it to it. There's certainly no justification for it. hope and pray that we never find out. 4 DEconstruction What the dot com culture forgot to ask ~ james adams smith "There are no significant bugs in our released Myspace, Facebook, Blogger, Xanga. We know software that any significant number of users these names like gods. We can post our pic- want fixed" tures, our thoughts, our hobbies, and our inter- -Bill Gates ests-anything extracted from our lives. And with our eyes fixed to the screen, we type away, At the stroke of a key, the world as we knew it with little thought. The anonymity afforded by began to change. First came Microsoft in 1975, a computer screen and keyboard offers ever followed by Apple's Macintosh in 1984. The more opportunities to retreat from face-to-face evolution had begun. Click by click, we began society, darting across the Web, editing ones to submit parts of our lives to the Internet. own personality and character at will. Conceived for government technology, and long the cozy province of computer nerds, the Yahoo! Google. MSN. These are our engines to Internet rapidly spread to anyone with a PC and the information highway: our software gods a phone line. that answer our prayers 6,500,000 times. We have replaced our religions with web-browsers. The initial forays seemed innocent enough, even Addictive networking systems, blogs, online welcomed, as personal functions such as bank communities and other Internet outlets condi- accounts, criminal histories, and transcripts tion our attitudes and behavior much as other became quickly accessible, just a few easy clicks media technologies do, but here we can actually away. contribute to the technology. Our ill-informed opinions, passions, fantasies, insults and mis- Summer 2007 spellings can be instantly broadcast to the This is the Computer Age-our modern day world, without the interference of sound judg- Renaissance-where everyone must feel like a ment, judicious editing or self-respect.