News: Lindsay Faber & Ben Geldon

City & Campus New Editors Geldon was born seven weeks premature at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., prompting his parents to switch their first child's planned first and middle names -- from Isaac Benjamin to Benjamin Isaac. The newborn fit squarely in his dad's palm. "We purposely called him 'big' because he was so teeny," said his mother, Marji. Now that B.I.G. has grown, fortunately, into a big boy, he's about to take on a pretty big task in itself: After a year of skillfully covering crime and legal affairs, the College sophomore has been elected as The Daily Pennsylvanian's new city news editor. He'll oversee and edit about half of the paper's 20 beat reporters. Friends describe Geldon as shy when you first meet him, but stress that he's friendly, honest, trustworthy, intelligent, organized, hardworking and funny. Still, some take issue with Geldon's sense of humor. "He likes to tell really bad jokes," said friend Melissa Wong, a College sophomore, and "laugh at them for 10 minutes" while everyone else can hardly crack a smile. Geldon's glee can be a strange sight: Wong said Geldon looks like he's having "an epileptic seizure" while he laughs. -- Scott Lanman · The one thing that stands out about Tenafly, N.J., native Lindsay Faber is her compulsiveness, according to friends and parents. Her mother Betty --Ewho the Russophilic Faber refers to as Bettuschka -- said Lindsay's anal nature "has nothing to do with her toilet training. She was toilet trained very gently." Still, Betty Faber maintains that her daughter's penchant for "organization" manifested itself early on. "As soon as she learned to write she made schedule lists for herself," Betty Faber said. "And we're not talking 'do this, then do this,' we're talking about '8:03 to 8:12, shower; 8:12 to 8:14, dry off; 8:15 to 8:32, dry hair." Fortunately, organizational skills are a positive in a campus news editor, who is responsible for training and editing the 10 beat reporters. Faber's journalistic skills -- built up over three semesters as a beat reporter -- and excellent managerial skills should also help make her a first-rate editor. Faber is also well known for her phobias. The incoming editor avoids movies because she is so afraid of the dark, according to College junior Charlie Moskowitz, a friend of Faber's since freshman year who she recently began dating. While growing up, Faber was also afraid of dogs, water and people. Friends say Faber has gotten over her fear of people. The tall brunette has also become quite popular with the men of Penn, especially the DP's male reporters, who she affectionately refers to as her "boys." -- Dina Bass