The Bears (14-4 overall, 6-1 UAA) beat Rochester 83-78 and topped Emory 99-88 in the final two contests of a four-game home stand.

Senior guard Dylan Richter, the Bears’ leading scorer at 17.3 points per game, dropped 56 points combined in the two games, including a career-high 33 against Emory.

Richter was nearly automatic from three-point range in the first half against the Eagles, cashing in five of seven attempts. He scored 16 of the Bears’ first 24 points, turning an eight-point deficit into a two-point advantage. The Bears took control from there, clamping down on defense and finding the open man on their offensive possessions.

Sophomore guard Alan Aboona led the display of precision passing with 10 of the Bears’ 14 first half assists. He finished with 12 total in the game.

The Red and Green took a 35-24 lead after Aboona lobbed a pass inside to sophomore forward Chris Klimek, who finished a layup and was fouled. Klimek missed the free throw, but the play secured momentum for the Bears.

Later in the half, freshman forward Matt Palucki scored seven straight points for a 46-30 lead, bringing the crowd to its feet for Emory’s final possession. A three-pointer by the Eagles made it 46-33 at the game’s midway point.

After scoring 21 points in the game’s first 20 minutes, Richter continued to put on a show in the second half, hitting four more three-pointers. In 38 minutes of play, he finished with nine makes on 13 attempts from downtown.

The Bears led 72-59 with 10:17 to play, but Emory would not go away quietly. The visiting team continued to apply a full-court press and harass the Bears’ ball-handlers in the half-court set. The Eagles’ three-point shots began to fall as well, helping them close in to 82-74 with 4:20 left. An errant pass by Klimek allowed the Eagles to retain possession, and they responded with a three-point basket to draw within five.

After Palucki hit two free throws at the other end, a reach-in call on sophomore guard Tim Cooney sent Emory to the free throw line for a one-and-one. But Emory’s Justin Resnick missed the first free throw, and Aboona found Palucki for a layup to make it 86-77 with under three minutes to play. Palucki had 19 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench.

Emory resorted to an ultimately futile fouling strategy for the remainder of the game.

“It’s tough with [Emory] because they’re really up-tempo,” Richter said. “They push the ball on the break and they’re full-court pressing the whole game, so it’s tough to keep up, but at the same time we tried not to play at their tempo—we tried to get it our pace. So once we get it to half-court, we set up a play, and we try to keep running our stuff.”

Two days earlier, junior guard Ben Hoener’s career-high 20 points off the bench helped the Red and Green eke out a win over Rochester. Wash. U. didn’t trail after the 9:08 mark in the first half, but its largest advantage was only 10 points. Rochester came within one point twice in the final six minutes, but the Bears managed to stay ahead each time.

“One of the things our team takes a lot of pride in this year is that we have a lot of depth…and we don’t really have drop-off coming in off the bench,” Hoener said. “And when your team is that deep, and there’s so many guys that contribute, you can maintain a high level of focus, a high level of play for a long time. And that definitely helped [against Rochester], especially in the second half.”

Richter poured in 23 points Friday on seven for 11 shooting, including three for seven three-point shooting.

Senior center Alex Toth had 10 points, seven rebounds and five steals, and Klimek chipped in 15 points on six for eight shooting.

The Bears will face Rochester again on Friday, Feb. 3, and Emory on Sunday, Feb. 5, but this time the games are on the road.

“It’s tough to go back-to-back with these two teams, and it’s tough to go on the road,” Richter said. “So we’re going to take [Monday] off, rest up a little bit and then prepare this week.”

Aslo see

Video: How to raise a dragon show

Although the fireworks took place earlier in the week, a profusion of dance numbers, sparkles and costumes set the crowd of the 16th annual Lunar New Year Festival (LNYF) ablaze with excitement.

When the lights dimmed in Edison Theater on Friday and Saturday evenings, students were treated to a three-hour-long sample of both traditional and modern Asian dances.

This year, the LNYF celebration was focused on the Year of the Dragon.

“The theme of this year’s show was to be a dragon. To be a dragon is to learn your strengths and to develop your own independence, your own individual differences from others—the journey to becoming your own individual,” junior Kathee Li, LNYF executive director, said.

The performances at the show ranged from samul nori, a traditional Korean drum performance, to an Asian pop performance, a fashion show and the traditional Philippine tinikling dance.

Proceeds from the event were donated to Youth for 3.11, an organization that has helped young people volunteer in northern Japan following the major earthquake and tsunami that affected the region last March.

“We’re really excited to be donating to Youth for 3.11 this year partly because it’s a platform formed by college students; it’s a network of college students and young people trying to rally to support those who have been affected by the disaster in Japan,” Li said.

According to the performance’s philanthropy chair, sophomore Miki Maruyama, the group planned to raise $1,500 to donate to the charity. Although she has not tabulated the total amount of money raised, she expects it to exceed the goal.

“We haven’t counted all of it yet, but we were definitely close to that by the time the show came around, so I am pretty sure we met it,” she said.

According to Maruyama, the LNYF executive board chose Youth for 3.11 as its charity, because the members wanted to make sure that the affected areas of Japan continue to receive aid.

“I think we will make a pretty big difference. They [Youth for 3.11 executives] said the amount of public interest is decreasing so they need all the support they can get. They still need the manpower and the resources to rebuild, there is still a lot of work to be done and there are still a ton of people displaced; it will definitely help to send more volunteers to the north,” she said.

Audience members said they enjoyed the performance.

“I was very impressed,” junior Grace Preston said. “A lot of college productions, you can tell they are college productions but this one looked professional.”

Freshman Elynna Youm was a performer in the show. She said it helped her to grow and work on her own strengths.

“When we first started out our performance we weren’t dragons, but after we performed, we were dragons,” Youm said.

Students in the nearly three-hour show performed traditional garba, raas and bhangra dances, as well as Bollywood fusion and hip hop.

The performance, hosted by Ashoka, occurred three times Friday and Saturday, raised almost $2,100 for Jaipur Foot, an organization that provides prosthetic limbs for amputees in India and other countries, Priyanka Patel, co-cultural chair for Ashoka said.

Both the Friday and Saturday night shows were completely sold out. Only a few tickets remained for the Saturday matinee performance.

”It was very well-attended. It ended up being very fun; the skit was very funny. We were trying to make it more applicable to the audience as a whole,” Patel said.

In addition to numerous traditional and modern dances, each show featured a performance by AC/Desi, a group of student singers and musicians who perform hit Bollywood songs, a candle lighting ceremony and a fashion show.

While in the past only the senior class had its own individual dance, this year the freshman, sophomore and junior classes had their own dances as well. All of the performances were scattered throughout the overarching skit.

“I really enjoyed it; the dancing was excellent. What I really liked was how they brought in the tradition and the charity and everything so it felt like I was going to more than just a dancing show,” senior Jennifer Lapp said.

At the show, members of the Ashoka executive board voiced their hopes to spread South Asian culture throughout campus in a way that gets everyone involved.

Some students noted they were pleased with the event’s inclusiveness.

“I thought it was great, I really liked the theme,” sophomore Ahkianne Wanliss said. “It was really down-to-earth, easy for everyone in the audience to relate to—and not just the Indian students here…people put in a lot of time for it and did a great job.”

Ashoka members also used the occasion to express their group’s goal for the coming year: to build a stronger community within both Ashoka and the University as a whole.

With additional reporting by Lauren Olens and Michael Tabb.

Students at Washington University celebrate the Cardinals’ game 6 win on the South 40.

Gordon-Levitt, a long-time indie actor, achieved fame through more mainstream Hollywood movies such as “10 Things I Hate About You,” “(500) Days of Summer,” “Inception” and his latest release, “50/50.” HitRECord is Gordon-Levitt’s personal online collaborative project that shares its profits with all artists who contribute.

Gordon-Levitt burst onto stage and down the aisles of Graham Chapel, greeting a sea of open arms, camera flashes and screams with a camera of his own. “Are we recording?” was his catchphrase of the night.

Throughout the night, Gordon-Levitt invited students to share their experiences at the movies by using the hashtag #hitRECordWashU on Twitter. Unabashed students tweeted their experiences about throwing up in a movie, dressing up as characters or going on a father-daughter date to “Borat,” among other experiences.

Freshman Becca Brenner was invited onstage to talk about her tweet about getting her first kiss while at a showing of “Epic Movie.”

“I love him, and I wanted to meet him. My tweet was funny, and it’s true. It made a good story, and other people probably could relate,” Brenner said. “I’m never going to have that opportunity again.”

HitRECord’s newest products include “The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories,” a collection of charming one-liner stories and puns. Members of hitRECord contribute different aspects of the book, from illustrations to the original stories themselves. Some stories are narrated and turned into accompanying animations later. Sophomore Anneliese Hernandez was invited onstage to narrate the line: “King Midas wondered what would happen if he touched himself.” This sound file will apparently be used as an actual voice-over for this ‘tiny story.’

Amanda Garcia, director of services for Congress of the South 40 and organizer of the event, was very pleased with the turnout for the event and how the event went. “I was so excited because it was exactly what I was going for with the interactive audience participation, and the audience was just really responding to what he was doing. It wasn’t someone just talking, but being a part of the whole thing,” she said.

Gordon-Levitt proved that his breadth of talent includes more than just acting, as he performed songs from hitRECord’s first anthology of artworks, photos and music, entitled “RECollection.” Gordon-Levitt sought to rekindle the nostalgia of an old movie theater and the unique bond shared by a crowd of strangers in a dark room.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt sings “Words We’re Wailing” at hitRECord WashU in Graham Chapel on Tuesday, October 25, 2011.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt sings “Any Day Now” by Sam Cooke

Student Life talks to Rabbi Andy Kastner about Sukkah City St. Louis.

Williams, playwright of works such as “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “The Glass Menagerie,” attended Washington University for one year.

The three-day celebration began with a presentation led by Henry I. Schvey, professor of drama and of comparative literature in the College of Arts & Sciences. Schvey has studied Williams and his works extensively.

According to Schvey, although Williams spent a large portion of his life in St. Louis, he actually hated the city, and his short stint as a student at the University was miserable.

“He lived more of his life in St. Louis than in any other place,” Schvey said. “It was the city he loved to hate.”

The presentation focused on St. Louis’ effect on Williams; the playwright featured many St. Louis landmarks, like Forest Park and the Jewel Box, in his work. The city also houses some of the theaters where Williams’ plays were first produced. Williams is buried in Calvary Cemetery, only 15 minutes from campus.

Although Williams was not fond of St. Louis, Schvey explained that his time in the city was essential to his success as a playwright, comparing his relationship with St. Louis to James Joyce’s with Dublin.

“Williams needed St. Louis to provide him with the anger and the profound sense of outsiderness that provides the heart and the poetry for his plays,” Schvey said.

This “outsiderness” refers to the fact that Williams’ family did not fit into the St. Louis community. His family moved to St. Louis from Columbus, Miss., and was unaccustomed to the less genteel Midwestern town. He was mocked for his Mississippi accent and his mother’s Southern-belle etiquette.

Williams also dealt with instability in his family life. His father was an alcoholic and his parents fought constantly. His family moved nine times while living in St. Louis. This instability led Williams to develop an extremely close relationship with his older sister, Rose.

Schvey said that Williams’ tumultuous family life in St. Louis provided inspiration for one of the playwright’s best-known works, “The Glass Menagerie.”

According to Schvey, William’s feelings of isolation only deepened after his year as a student at the University. He explained that Williams, whose tuition was paid by his grandparents, saw the school as an opportunity to prove himself to his family.

However, Williams left the University with a profound sense of failure after coming in fourth in a playwriting contest for one of his classes.

Schvey explained that although Williams may not have enjoyed his time at the University it was here that he truly developed his passion for writing, as described by his close friend and colleague at the University, Clark Mills.

“He had a fanatical and inexhaustible energy in his writing,” Mills said. “He wrote because it was a fatal need.”

Sophomore Sarah Palay, who is involved with many of the Performing Arts Department’s productions, found the biographical aspect of Williams’ plays fascinating.

“His intimacy with and love for his sister enabled him to create astoundingly relatable characters and relationships,” Palay said. “I think his ability to do this is probably why his plays are so admired and widely read.”

Schvey concluded by saying that Williams’ complex relationship with St. Louis was necessary because his need to escape from his lonely and unstable life there led him to become a successful playwright.

“Tom Williams was imprisoned as a young artist here in St. Louis, and he needed to leave home to grow and become free,” Schvey said. “But without the home to provide contrast, he would have been nothing.”