THE PENDULUM
STYLE
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 4, 2009 11 PAGE 19
Off-campus students opt for
opposite sex roommates
Laura Wainman
Special Pnojects Editor
A typical college male’s apartment
is littered with three staples; posters
of hot, scantily clad women, piles of
video games and a sink full of dirty
dishes. But junior Roger Black lives in
a world of pink furniture, clean dishes
and real women — the price he pays
for having female roommates.
Black had never planned to live
with two girls. But once he made the
decision to move off campus and
realized most of his friends did not
want to follow, he knew he couldn’t be
picky about who he lived with when it
came to gender. He placed an E-Net ad
and waited to see who would respond.
When he met up with juniors Asheton
Brown and Kristen Wrenn, everything
fell into place.
Black is one of many Elon students
who have opted for co-ed living
situations and welcomed the change.
Despite the pink and girly feel
of his apartment. Black said he has
maintained his masculinity in his own
room, which he said he eiyoys keeping
as messy as he wants.
“It really wasn’t that tough to
adjust, actually,” Black said. “I think
any roommate situation is a little
awkward in the beginning as you are
learning each other’s personalities
so you can live well together, but
those things aren’t gender specific.
To be honest, I thought it was harder
sharing my room with a guy freshman
year than living in an apartment with
two girls."
Senior Courtney Ramery, who
shares her apartment with seniors
Keegan Calligar and Will Maier,
also said she felt the transition was
surprisingly easy.
“I think it was a bigger change
adding a third person to our apartment
than the fact that a guy was moving
in," Ramery said. “But I definitely
feel much safer having a guy in the
apartment.”
Despite the benefits, Ramery has
experienced her fair share of awkward
moments.
“If (Maier) has friends over and
I need to go take a shower, I have to
walk to and from the bathroom in my
towel in front of his friends, which is
embarrassing,” Ramery said.
Though some universities across
the nation have started allowing
students of the opposite sex to live in
the same dorm room, the only co-ed
options for Elon students are in off-
campus housing.
“I think it is a pretty controversial
topic, but in the end I don’t think it
would end up working out anyways,”
senior Katie Burtzlaff said. “My
situation works because we all have
our own space and privacy, which 1
think is important when living with
the opposite sex. It would be hard for
guys and girls to have that level of
privacy in the close quarters of a dorm
room.”
Unlike Black and Ramery, who
did not know their co-ed roommates
before living together, Burtzlaff and
her other roommates had all known
senior Ben Kaufman since freshman
year.
“Since we had all been friends for
so long, (Kaufman) just fit right in,"
Burtzlaff said. “We were comfortable
with each other already and knew
one another’s habits. I would advise
anyone thinking about a co-ed living
situation to be friends first so you are
familiar with different living styles,
and I would definitely recommend
having your own rooms so you can
have privacy.”
While Black said he is eryoying his
current living situation and gets along
with the girls, he said he is planning
on living with at least one guy next
year.
“I think we might hang out more
and maybe talk sports — it’s just guy
stuff, you know?” Black said.
Online retailer rejects labels in
favor of musical independence
Christina Frfwarritt
Christina Edwards
Copy Editor
Labels get thrown around a lot in
the music industry, and the original
meanings of words shift and get lost
by association to a particular sound.
Pop music can be extended to mean
any popular music, and indie music
is anything on an independent, not
corporate, label.
So strip back the preconceptions of
genres for a second and look past the
current top-40 at the largest online
retailer of independent music: CDbaby.
com.
CD Baby is a site for musicians who
are unsigned or not signed by a msuor
label to distribute music on a wide-
ranging level. A quick glance at the
main page of the site reveals a variety
of participating artists, ranging from
country's Texas Tenors to Bandgard's
alternative rock to Girlyman’s three-
part harmony folk-pop.
The Web site is set up so artists can
register and begin selling their music
either as orders for hard copies of CDs
or as digital downloads through the
site.
Artists receive a large percentage of
the cut from sales made, a promised
$6 to $12 per album, depending on the
selling price of the album. No albums
are ever pulled off the Web site for low
sale numbers.
CD Baby occasionally features
albums from bigger names in music, but
will only sell music that is completely
the property of the musician rather
than tied to a miyor label.
The site provides an opportunity for
new artists to showcase their work in a
way that can potentially reach a large
audience in a place where they aren’t
competing against artists with the
marketing and airplay that comes with
being on a m^or label. The top artists
on CD Baby are bands and musicians
most listeners have probably never
heard of.
PHOTO COURTESY OF COBABY COM
Alisan Porter's debut album is a top seller on
CDbaby.com, a Web site favoring independent
musicians rather than mainstream artists.
CD REVIEW
One of the top artists on the site,
with several of her songs in the top-10
acoustic downloads, is singer Alisan
Porter with her debut, self-titled album.
Porter is known for her role as the
title character in the 1991 John Hughes
film “Curly Sue," and her later role in
the 2006 revival of “A Chorus Line."
Porter’s debut CD is a compilation of
original pop-rock songs, all written
or co written by Porter showcasing
an earthy acoustic sound with a voice
that's Christina Aguilera’s range with
an edge more akin to Ann Wilson.
The album ranges from “C’Mon," a
catchy, radio-friendly up-tempo track
to the emotional, epically orchestrated
tracks “For Us,” and “Into the Fire." Her
lyrics are poetic “when appropriate and
catchy in the more pop-inspired tunes.
Porter's voice is unique and her
riffs have edge and soul. Her debut is
definitely something to check out, and
is a perfect example of the gems that
can be discovered on CD Baby, even
if they haven't been discovered by a
major label — yet.
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