Most people who pursue dreams in Hollywood end up being disappointed, but Christian Lander is not one of them. Best-known for his blog “Stuff White People Like,” Lander appeared at an event hosted by the University Programs Council last Thursday in Newcomb Hall. After the talk, he shared his story in a one-on-one interview.

Working as a copy writer after graduating, Lander said he enjoyed his job but sought alternate outlets for his humor. In January 2008, he came up with a list of “Stuff White People Like,” which quickly evolved into a blog.

The blog “Stuff White People Like” soon became an Internet sensation, accumulating 20 million hits since its debut. Lander began to get calls from major newspapers and, eventually, from talent agencies hoping to strike a book deal.

By March 2008 Lander had quit his job and signed a book deal with Random House. On July 14, 2008, “Stuff White People Like: A Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions” became a New York Times best-seller.

The list includes black friends, scarves and beards, but is meant as a joke, Lander stressed. He said he includes himself in the “white people” at whom he pokes fun.

“I encourage everyone to make fun of white people,” Lander said.

Capitalizing on his ability to laugh at himself and people like him, Lander’s list of “Stuff White People Like” expanded, and in 2010 he published a second book, “Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle’s Sweaters to Maine’s Microbrews.”

Despite the success currently enjoyed by the racially conscious comic, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. After majoring in English and history during his undergraduate years at McGill and completing a graduate program at the University of Arizona, Lander ultimately dropped out of a PhD program at Indiana and moved with his wife to Los Angeles.

Even now, the future of the “Stuff White People Like” creator remains uncertain.

“I’ve hit my wall,” Lander said. “Things have a shelf life in terms of making stuff good. If I don’t have something really quality, I’m not going to put it up.”

The humorist advised aspiring writers to write what they believe in. “Don’t write with the intention of getting popular,” he said.

With its subtle criticism of modern furniture, expensive sandwiches and kitchen gadgets, Lander said his blog tackles class issues, not racial ones.

“You don’t have to be white to be white,” Lander said. “You just have to be rich.”

The University honored field hockey senior midfielders and 2012 Olympians Paige Selenski and Michelle Vittesse at halftime of the women’s basketball team’s 62-52 victory against Florida State Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena.

Selenski and Vittesse each contributed a goal to the U.S. national team’s 4-2 upset of world No. 1 Argentina at last October’s 2011 Pan American Games final in Guadalajara, Mexico. The victory meant the national squad automatically qualified for this summer’s Olympic Games in London.

Selenski, a native of Shavertown, Pa., is a three-time All-American, garnering first-team honors for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Her 73 career goals rank third for Virginia all-time.

Vitesse, from Cherry Hill, N.J., joined Selenski on the 2010 All-America first team and earned third-team recognition in 2009.

Both Selenski and Vittesse redshirted the 2011 season to fulfill their national team obligations and will return to Virginia for action in 2012.

—compiled by Fritz Metzinger

A bill introduced by Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg, which would require people to show a photo ID in order to vote, passed the House of Delegates yesterday and now awaits approval by the Senate.

Cole hopes House Bill 9 will discourage voter fraud by “[improving] the integrity of elections without denying anyone their lawful right to vote,” he said in an email.

Voters without a form of identification would still be able to cast a provisional ballot said Justin Riemer, a deputy secretary at the State Board of Elections. Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Albemarle, however, said he opposes the legislation because voter fraud does not significantly impact the election process.

“Voter fraud is a boogieman,” Deeds said. “There [are] so few cases of it. This legislation is like killing a gnat with a sledgehammer.”

Deeds said, instead of improving the election process, HB 9 would suppress voter turnout.

“You can’t convince me we have a big problem to address,” Deeds said. “One more roadblock is just not necessary in my view.”

Kyle Kondik, director of communications at the University’s Center for Politics, said Republicans across the country have been bringing up voter ID laws for the past year.

“[Voter identification has] been talked about a lot … especially because of the way a lot of the Republicans took control of a lot of state houses in the big wave of 2010,” Kondik said. “There’s been a movement by national legislators to protect against voter fraud.”

Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union, said the bill was specifically designed to suppress turnout of “racial minorities, low-income people and the elderly,” as they are less likely to have identification.

HB 9 requires the Board of Elections to compare voters’ signatures to their records to determine their authenticity. Willis said this gives government bureaucrats too much power to decide who may vote.

“[The bill] asks members of the Board of Elections to be handwriting experts,” Willis said.

HB 9 allows voters to use several forms of identification, including a Social Security card, driver’s license and employee ID.

After starting the season with two comeback wins, the No. 9 Virginia women’s tennis team will look to continue its stellar play and build momentum today in a doubleheader against West Virginia and ACC rival No. 60 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

The Cavaliers (2-0, 0-0 ACC) stole wins against No. 19 Tennessee and No. 15 Texas in their opening weekend, with No. 75 junior  Erin Vierra’s win on the sixth singles court capping off a desperate comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the Longhorns.

“The fact that it came down to the last court built our confidence that, in tough moments, we’ll be able to pull through,” Vierra said.

Virginia has leaned on a standout singles quartet of upperclassmen – No. 29 senior  Emily Fraser, No. 30 senior Lindsay Hardenbergh, Vierra and No. 85 senior  Hana Tomljanovic – during its successful start to the 2012 season. The squad has claimed 8 of 12 available singles court points.

The Cavaliers, however, dropped both doubles points in the opening weekend. Head coach Mark Guilbeau said he will look to turn things around on the doubles courts today.

“I want the kids to be able to play on either side equally, but truthfully they may be more comfortable on a certain side and with a certain partner,” Guilbeau said. “We’re starting to do very specific plays that incorporate those sides.”

West Virginia (0-2, 0-0 Big East) comes into today’s dual following losses against Ohio State and Morehead State at the season’s start. The Mountaineers have managed just two singles court victories this season and won only a single set in their 7-0 defeat against the Buckeyes.

Virginia Tech (2-0, 0-0 ACC), on the other hand, enters its rivalry clash with Virginia on a high after taking down Elon and East Carolina in its opening matches. The Hokies aim to defeat their in-state nemesis for the first time in their program’s history.

“Virginia Tech is obviously a rival,” Guilbeau said. “We’ve got to be on our toes and excited.”

Finding early success in the ACC will be key for the team, with matches against heavyweights No. 3 Duke, No. 8 North Carolina and No. 14 Clemson on the horizon.

“We have about 30 dual matches, and I’m just asking the team to take each one and value it like never before,” Guilbeau said. “If we’re really truly excited about going in there and playing, I think that brings confidence.”

Despite the daunting prospect of playing two full-length duals in a span of a few hours, the Cavaliers are confident their rigorous training and conditioning will allow them to come out on top.

“As a coach, you can work with them as hard as they’ll allow you,” Guilbeau said. “And they’re giving me the skies as a limit.”

The action kicks off today at 10 a.m. against West Virginia, followed in the afternoon with the match against Virginia Tech at 4 p.m.

Virginia head coach Steve Garland fist-pumped his way across the mat at Memorial Gymnasium in a defining moment Sunday as the No. 22 Virginia wrestling squad clinched a share of the regular-season ACC championship by handing No. 13 Maryland its first loss of the season, 22-14.

It was the Cavaliers’ (7-1, 4-1 ACC) first win against the Terrapins (13-1, 3-1 ACC) in six years, dating back to before Garland became the team’s coach. “That’s been one of the focus points since I’ve been here; getting Virginia over the hump … beating [Virginia] Tech and beating Maryland,” redshirt sophomore  Jon Fausey said. “It was a big win for Garland, and a big win for all the fourth and fifth years on this team that had really been living in that shadow.”

The ACC matchup was the last for the senior Virginia matmen, who had never beaten the Terrapins. This year’s Maryland squad is the highest-ranked opponent the Cavaliers have ever beaten.

“Make no mistake,” Garland said, “that’s the biggest dual meet win in program history.”

Virginia will finish at the top of the final ACC regular season standings for the first time since 2006. Having controlled its own destiny for a solo championship before the match, Maryland must defeat Duke if it wants to share the title with Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The Cavaliers came out of the gates with guns blazing, taking the first five fights to amass a 16-0 lead at the midway point. Sophomore  Gus Sako dominated Maryland sophomore Ben Dorsay in the 149-pound bout before redshirt junior  Jedd Moore followed with an upset of No. 11 senior Terrapin Kyle John at 157 pounds which whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

“Dual meets are all about momentum, and we pulled the upsets,” Garland said. “When Jedd Moore upset Kyle John, the roof almost came off the place.”

Maryland finally earned a win in the sixth match of the day when 165-pound No. 2 junior  Josh Asper outlasted No. 14 redshirt freshman  Nick Sulzer to nab a 4-3 victory. The win extended Asper’s perfect record to an impressive 22-0 this season.

The Maryland matmen further closed the deficit to 16-7 in the 174-pound tussle when Virginia freshman Vinny Waldhauser lost by major decision to No. 15 redshirt sophomore  Jimmy Sheptock.

But No. 14 Fausey soon clinched the match for the Cavaliers and continued his dominance in the 184-pound division by pinning redshirt sophomore  Ty Snook 21 seconds into the second period. While the Memorial Gym crowd erupted, Fausey jumped up, flexed his arms and engulfed Garland in a bear hug.

“I don’t know what the numbers were, but just to see the whole gym full … was pretty awesome,” Fausey said. “Because it’s not just for us and for the coaches, it’s for [the fans] too.”

The Terrapins took the last two bouts in the 197- and 285-pound classes to close out the scoring. No. 5 redshirt sophomore  Christian Boley scored an 11-2 major decision against senior Ryan Malo, and No. 8 sophomore Spencer Myers beat redshirt freshman Derek Papagianopoulos in a 6-1 decision.

Now that the ACC regular season competition is finished for Virginia and the conference tournament seeding is decided, the team is beginning to shift its focus toward preparing for the postseason.

“We have four or five duals left before the ACC [tournament] and we have seven weeks left until [the NCAA Tournament],” Fausey said. “We’re just training for March.”

The Cavaliers next take to the mat at 6 p.m. this Saturday for a dual against Rutgers at Memorial Gym.

The University plans to participate this semester in a trial program launched last week called The Faculty Project, which allows professors to record their lectures online and make them available to the general public for free.

The Faculty Project is one of the programs marketed by Udemy, a for-profit organization which uses videos, discussion boards and article archives to teach online courses.

“Our target audience is anyone who is interested in lifelong learning, such as business students, students who want to attain their MBA or students that would like to take courses that they weren’t able to before,” Faculty Project Director Tim Parks said. “We want to create an ongoing resource that builds access for the future.”

Batten Institute Executive Director and Darden School Prof. Michael Lenox plans to teach a course this semester called Foundations of Business Strategies for The Faculty Project.

In his courses, Lenox plans to synergize classroom and online lectures, though the online course will not reflect the classroom discussion.

More than 900 students have currently registered to take part in Lenox’s course.

“There is a hunger for broader life-long learning, and people always try to learn more about practical subjects such as business,” Lenox said. “[The course is] pitched at a level that is applicable to both graduates and undergrads.”

Parks said 4,000 students have already registered with The Faculty Project since the program launched on Jan. 26.

“In addition to testing the waters for new forms of learning, these courses also make classroom time more efficient,” Parks said. “Instead of continuously rehashing information in class, professors can convey core knowledge on the Internet and require their students to watch the videos before class, making the class lecture more useful and interactive.”

There are more than 100 students enrolled in every class in The Faculty Project. Classes are not capped, however, according to Udemy co-founder Gagan Biyani.

Lenox, though, said online discussion boards with more than 65 students make it impossible for students to exchange ideas effectively.

“I think what is happening is that standard lectures are becoming commodified,” Lenox said. “The real value is from the classroom experience.”

Lenox said he admired Udemy for democratizing education and maintaining a very high level of engagement. “The market potential goes far beyond … who is enrolled,” he said. “People are always involved in the business community.”

Other participating schools include Duke University, Stanford University and Dartmouth College.

The ACC’s two top scoring defenses will clash tonight when the No. 19 Virginia men’s basketball team battles Clemson at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers (17-3, 4-2 ACC) edged North Carolina State 61-60 last Saturday to notch their second-straight win and remain within a game of catching up to ACC leaders Duke, North Carolina and Florida State. During last week’s game, coach Tony Bennett’s squad sputtered offensively, connecting on just four second-half field goals. The Wolfpack (15-7, 4-3 ACC) also out-rebounded Virginia by a staggering 40-20 margin, giving Bennett and his rebounding squad cause for concern heading into the meat of the ACC schedule.

“[We’re] coming off of a hard-fought game against NC State where we were fortunate to come away with a victory,” Bennett said. “Certainly it showed us some areas we need to improve on to continue to be successful. They really took it to us on the offensive glass … they hurt us on the interior.”

The team will “have to go to work on those areas” in preparation for facing Clemson tonight, Bennett added.

The Tigers (11-9, 3-3 ACC) defeated Wake Forest 71-60 at home last Saturday.

Clemson has yielded only 59.7 points per game this season, second only to Virginia’s mark of 50.6 points.

While the Cavaliers have relied on a slow-tempo offense to limit opposing teams’ offensive opportunities, the Tigers prefer an up-tempo game where they can take a high volume of shots. Coach Brad Brownell’s group complements the Cavaliers’ plodding offensive pace with its ability to force turnovers and impel teams to take ill-advised shots. Bennett sees parallels between the two teams’ stout defensive strategies.

“Each of us wants to make the other work for real quality possessions or quality shots,” Bennett said.

Clemson is suffering an unusually mediocre start to its campaign after averaging 16 wins through its first 20 games during the last five seasons. In addition to losing an excess of talent in the last two years, including All-ACC players Trevor Booker and K.C. Rivers, the departure of coach Oliver Purnell to DePaul University before this year has also played a role in the drop-off. Purnell took Clemson to postseason tournaments in six of his seven years, an unheralded achievement at a school not normally known for its basketball prowess.

Virginia is also experiencing an unusual year — its season has been uncharacteristically spectacular. In their third season led by Bennett, the Cavaliers are having their best season since 2006-7, when the team last reached the NCAA Tournament. The squad’s 14-1 start was the best since the 1981-82 season, which featured three-time national college player of the year Ralph Sampson.

While this year’s team doesn’t have a player of Sampson’s caliber, its stellar seniors once again rescued the Cavaliers against N.C. State. Senior forward Mike Scott and senior guard Sammy Zeglinski combined for 30 of Virginia’s 61 points with Zeglinski regaining his touch from behind the three-point arc with a 4-for-5 performance.

More importantly, Scott and Zeglinski steadied Virginia in the raucous environment of the RBC Center.

“I think the experience of being in some settings on the road and having some veteran guys certainly helped,” Bennett said. “I think [Scott and Zeglinski] were used to that [situation.]”

Virginia will need their upperclassmen to continue to produce at home if they want to hit shots against a tenacious Clemson defense.

The game will start tonight at 7 p.m.

Multiple assailants assaulted and robbed a University student and a visiting friend around 3 a.m. Saturday morning on the 1000 block of Wertland Street.

Charlottesville Police identified one suspect as 22-year-old Andre Maurice Jackson.

Jackson fled the scene after the robbery. Charlottesville Police, however, apprehended Jackson shortly thereafter at Page and Eighth Street.

The two victims sustained bruises, lacerations and abrasions. They declined treatment, Charlottesville Police Lt. Ronnie Roberts said.

Roberts said Charlottesville Police are still looking for the other suspects.

—compiled by Abby Meredith

Jodi Kantor, the author of “The Obamas,” an insider account of the Obama family, visited the Miller Center of Public Affairs yesterday evening to discuss her best-selling book.

Kantor, a reporter for The New York Times, spent five years working on the book, which focuses particularly on the first lady.

“The narrative that runs through the heart of this book is the story of [Mrs. Obama’s] turnaround,” Kantor said. “[In] scene after scene, and anecdote after anecdote, you see her forge her own path and define the role of the first lady.”

Kantor hopes the book will provide insight into how change can be accomplished through the political system and how the political system can, in turn, change those within it..

The book has sparked considerable political controversy since its Jan. 10 release, Kantor said.

The first lady spoke out against Kantor’s portrayal in a Jan. 11 interview on “CBS This Morning.” Kantor told the Miller Center audience she found Mrs. Obama’s response “strange” because the first lady said she had not read the book. Kantor said Mrs. Obama’s response was because of her negative perceptions of the way media in general depicts the first lady, not necessarily, her portrayal in “The Obamas.”

“[Mrs. Obama] wasn’t sure it was the best thing for her family, but believed in the potential for his presidency,” Kantor said. “As far as whether she’s come to terms with [the lifestyle] — all of my reporting has indicated that she has.”

Kantor also discussed the evolution of the Obama partnership in light of the mounting pressure of the presidency. The public glamorizes the Obamas’ lives in the White House, but their lives are restricted by media attention. These restrictions are “emblematic of the presidency’s strange combination of power and powerlessness,” Kantor said.

The working relationship between the Obamas could see marked change as the 2012 election period continues.

“As you will see on almost a daily basis, Michelle Obama is playing a much more important role in her husband’s political message,” Kantor said. “The question is to what extent is [she] saving him politically, and to what extent does that reflect a private change in their partnership as well?”

Barbara Perry, a senior fellow and associate professor in the Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program, said Kantor’s book may draw more supporters to the president in 2012. “I think that because this book is the first of this kind on the Obamas in the White House, it will have an impact on the people’s vision of the first couple,” she said.