F R I D A Y NOVEMBER 7, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 109
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
U. one of 19 honored for excellence in women’s health
ARTS & CULTURE REVIEW
“Glory” is convincing, captivating
BY MILES HOVIS
her expose. Frustrated for months by Wigand’s paranoia, Brenner only got the access she needed once Brenner’s wife kicked him out of his house. Without anyone else to turn to, he called Brenner, she said. Together, they hid out at a New York City Marriott, where Wigand put his life back together and Brenner collected
Brown University and Women and Infants’ Hospital of Rhode Island are joining Harvard Medical School and Boston University Medical Center as a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the honor on Oct. 27, and the designation could lead to increased grant money for the hospital and the University. To be eligible for the award, administrators had to go through an intensive application process that began in April and continued through last week. “It’s a highly competitive process,” said Dr. Maureen Phipps, assistant professor at Brown, associate director of research at Women and Infants and director of the collaboration. “We’re very honored to be counted among this year’s recipients.” There are only 19 centers in the nation, each selected by the Department of Health and Human Services. Phipps cited the unique qualities of Brown and the state of Rhode Island as factors in the center’s current and future success. She said Rhode Island’s small size makes it easy for health care organizations to cooperate. Phipps said she was extremely pleased by the number of community partnerships the center has formed. “There’s so much willingness at the community and state level to be part of this,” she said. She noted several aspects of the University that promoted unique
see BRENNER, page 4
see HEALTH, page 4
BY JEN SOPCHOCKCHAI
“The Glory of Living” is not a play for the faint of heart. In fact, it may be one of the most disturbing, riveting productions to ever hit the Brown stage. The play, written by Rebecca Gilman and directed by Professor of Theatre, Speech and Dance Lowry Marshall, relates the story of Lisa and Clint, a trailer park-hopping couple that becomes mixed up in a string of murders. Both plot to abduct unsuspecting young girls on the side of the road. Meanwhile, Clint abuses Lisa without flinching, and she meekly endures his blows. The strong suit of Marshall’s production of Gilman’s work is realism — the set, the southern accents and even the bruises could not be more convincing. The show’s set is just as if Marshall had taken a chainsaw to a house and dragged a whole cross section of it intact into Leeds Theatre. The changes made to said set are microscopic — a lot of time is spent moving a pile of dirty clothes from one side of the room to the other, seemingly for naught, but in the end the attention to detail really makes all the difference. The often-tedious process is like prepping a car for the Indy500 with four or five crewmembers rushing the stage for fine-tuning. “Glory’s” cast is full of talented and courageous actors. Katie Hunt ’07 plays Lisa and masters the art of body language. She is particularly skilled at making herself appear small and insecure and, surprisingly, her constant screaming and weeping never grows tiresome. Nicholas Hoge ’05 plays it smart and charming as Clint. Expect to feel very guilty about liking his character. Hoge alternates parts with James Lowe ’05, who, when not playing the male lead, steals the show as Lisa’s lawyer, Carl. see REVIEW, page 5
Photo courtesy Brown University Theatre
“The Glory of Living” plays Nov. 6-9 and 1316 at Leeds Theater.
Kerry Miller / Herald
Marie Brenner P’04 is a writer-at-large for Vanity Fair and a former staff writer for The New Yorker, but she got her start in journalism as a ice cream peddler.
Vanity Fair writer Brenner P’04 shares “war stories” BY MONIQUE MENESES
Marie Brenner’s first break as a journalist was a job pushing an ice cream cart, she told a crowd in Carmichael Thursday in the third of a series of Herald lectures. Today, Brenner P’04 is a writer-atlarge for Vanity Fair, with the claim to fame of having written the story that inspired the film “The Insider.” But, in 1974, Brenner was a struggling college grad, pushing her way out of credit card debt with the help of an ice cream cart. Fascinated by the way Upper East Side mothers always chose lemon, while Harlem mothers went for cherry ice cream, Brenner started keeping a notebook. And, after enough 95 degree days, she went home and typed from her notes the trials of an ice cream vendor. “I knew it wasn’t Proust,” she said. Nevertheless, her first piece, “Confessions of a Push-cart Peddler,” appeared in New York magazine, launching, with a stipend of $300, Brenner’s 30year journalistic career. But it is big tobacco, not ice cream, that made Brenner famous. In 1994, former Brown and Williamson executive Jeffrey Wigand was anxious to blow the whistle on the company, which had refused to remove toxic additives from its cigarettes. But after Wigand agreed to advise the Food and Drug Administration in its case against the cigarette industry, he started receiving phone threats against his daughter. Later, after Wigand testified for the FDA and agreed to an interview with “60 Minutes,” B&W launched a smear campaign against him, and Wigand received a bullet in his mailbox. Pursued by his enemies, and abandoned by friends, Wigand was “scared for his life,” Brenner said. It was under these circumstances, she said, that she began
Brown’s tuition seventh highest in nation Brown’s undergraduate tuition this year is the seventh highest in the nation and the steepest in the Ivy League, according to a survey published by the Chronicle of Higher Education last week. With a sticker price of $30,078, up 5.6 percent from last year, a Brown undergraduate education is the most expensive offered by any university. Its tuition was topped only by small colleges such as Kenyon College, Trinity College and Hamilton College, all of which charge about $100 more. But few Ivy League colleges charge much less. An undergraduate education at Harvard University costs $29,060, up 5.9 percent from last year, while Institution Landmark College Sarah Lawrence College Kenyon College Trinity College Hamilton College Bowdoin College Brown University Wesleyan University Colgate University Brandeis University
Location Putney, Vermont Bronxville, N.Y. Gambier, Ohio Hartford, Conn. Clinton, N.Y. Brunswick, Maine Providence, R.I. Middletown, Conn. Hamilton, N.Y. Waltham, Mass.
I N S I D E F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 7 , 2 0 0 3 Farm animals have feelings too, author claims in reading at Brown Bookstore campus news, page 3
18 weeks of training pay off as Brown sophomore runs marathon with dad campus news, page 3
To Professor Keach, intellectual debate is more like war, says YoungSmith ’06 column, page 7
Dartmouth College costs $29,256, according to the Oct. 31 Chronicle article. Further complicating Brown’s ranking, the flat tuition rate at a college may not be the best way to calculate its cost, according to Brown News Service Director Mark Nickel. Financial aid packages, which reached a new national high this year, also influence how much the average student pays. “Brown tries to hold tuition rates as low as it possibly can,” Nickel said. And, when it comes to statistical evaluations such as the Chronicle’s “most expensive” list, he said, “the story is never as simple as it seems.” —Carla Blumenkranz Tuition $35,300 $30,824 $30,330 $30,230 $30,200 $30,120 $30,078 $29,998 $29,940 $29,875
Increase 2.9% 5.0% 5.6% 5.7% 5.0% 5.0% 5.6% 5.9% 5.6% 6.1%
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Sports columnist Josh Troy picks this week’s winners; went 5-8-1 last week sports, page 8
Swimming blasts through scrimmage, ready for the start of season sports, page 8
mostly sunny high 52 low 33